Murphy, Geoff

Young Guns II

This time around, the Brat Packers (Emilio Estevez, Christian Slater, Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland) are on the run from the law and making a break for the border. Sutherland is yanked from his school-teaching job back East and extradited for trial, until he's liberated by the other members of the gang. There's a memorable scrap between Phillips and Slater, and a couple of pretty decent firefights, but all in all this is rather forgettable fare. It taps into the futility and camaraderie of classics like The Wild Bunch and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but Sam Peckinpah or George Roy Hill it ain't. Jon Bon Jovi adds to the Rock-Stars-in-the-Old-West feel of this one, rife as it is with non-period dialogue and long, blowy hair. Still, fans of the original movie may find plenty to like in this sequel, even if it comes across as being a bit tired and turgid (notice there never was a Young Guns III). --Jerry Renshaw

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

The success of Under Siege made a sequel mandatory according to Hollywood's rules of maximum revenue, and as sequels go, this one's not half bad. Steven Seagal returns as former Navy SEAL and skilled chef Casey Ryback, who's trying to spend quality time with his niece on a cross-country train trip. But as luck and action-movie formulas would have it, the train has been hijacked by a demented genius (Eric Bogosian) who is using the train as a moving platform to seize computerized control of a top-secret U.S. satellite that is capable of causing earthquakes from space. Seagal has to stop the train or the villain (whichever comes first), and the action is fast and furious on its way to a high-speed climax. He's not as wacky as Tommy Lee Jones in the first Under Siege, but Bogosian has got a delirious quality that serves the comic-book plot, and action fans get more than their fill of dazzling stunts and special effects. --Jeff Shannon

The Quiet Earth

The "last man on Earth" sci-fi sub-genre is reasonably well represented by director Geoff Murphy's The Quiet Earth, a 1985 film from New Zealand that earned plenty of Kiwi kudos in its day but still fails to measure up to the great expectations engendered by its premise. Bruno Lawrence is Zac Hobson, a techie who's involved in "Project Flashlight," a vast energy grid that allows war planes to circle the planet without ever refueling (leave it to "the Americans," who are blamed for the whole ensuing mess, to come up with such a diabolical idea). When what Zac drolly describes as "a malfunction" (thereafter known as "the Effect") occurs early one morning, he awakens to discover that he's apparently the only survivor, human or otherwise, of a catastrophe that has altered the very fabric of the universe. Lawrence is terrific in these early scenes, which find him gradually losing his marbles as the gravity of his situation sets in; wearing nothing but a woman's slip, he stands on a balcony and grandly addresses an "audience" of cardboard standups (from Queen Elizabeth and Hitler to Bob Marley and Alfred Hitchcock), declaring himself "president of this quiet Earth." But effectively sustaining such weirdness is tough, and although Murphy, to his credit, doesn't over-rely on special effects and scientific gobbledygook, the film isn't up to it. Turns out Zac isn't the only survivor, and when first a pretty young woman (Alison Routledge) and then a Maori man (Peter Smith) appear, the director tries to balance the human dynamics with the sci-fi elements (seems the Effect may not be over after all) to awkward and unsatisfying effect, and the film loses most of its momentum. As for the ending, well, safe to say that it will leave some viewers perplexed, others feeling that they've been bamboozled, and still others thinking that its mystery and lack of explicable closure are perfect. --Sam Graham

At exactly 6:12 am government research scientist Zac Hobson (a powerhouse performance by Bruno Lawrence of SMASH PALACE and UTU) awakens to discover that he may be the last man on earth: homes highways and entire cities are deserted. Empty planes have fallen from the sky. Every living thing has disappeared. But for Hobson the ultimate shock is still to come months later when he finds that he is not alone. With the addition of a beautiful young woman (Alison Routledge) and a Maori trucker (Pete Smith) the apocalypse suddenly becomes very personal.What has happened to everyone else on the planet? Why has Zac himself survived? Will sexual tension lead to sudden violence? And what is the ultimate responsibility for a man of science when the end of the world may be just the beginning?System Requirements:Length: 91 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: R UPC: 013131414691 Manufacturer No: DV14146

The Magnificent Seven - The Complete First Season

PILOT: Seven men unite to save a Seminole Indian village from The Ghosts of the Confederacy, a group of renegade soldiers threatening complete annihilation. The Seven courageously defend the village from the pillaging soldiers in this electrifying series premiere. ONE DAY OUT WEST: J.D. (Andrew Kavovit) volunteers to serve as a sheriff when a Federal Judge comes to clean up the town, and Judge Travis enlists the Seven to protect it. WORKING GIRLS: The town takes in a group of 'working girls' escaping from their vengeful master. SAFECRACKER: An ex-safecracker traveling through town is forced to return to her nefarious ways by an adamant ex-partner. WITNESS: Mary's (Laurie Holden) young son visits, only to be haunted by his memories of a rogue townsperson. Erza's (Anthony Starke) con-artist mother comes into town. NEMESIS: Chris pursues the man he believes is responsible for the murder of his wife and sons. The rest of the seven try their best to keep Chris from doing something he might regret. A reporter follows the men around to get a story. THE COLLECTOR: The Seven get involved when a "collector," Guy Royal, attempts to buy a string of homes: the future home of the railroad. Royal's hired gun has a bone to pick with Chris over an incident many years back. Josiah (Ron Perlman) is excited with his former love, saloon singer Emma comes to town. MANHUNT: Vin takes the lead in a manhunt to catch an escaped prisoner who took a local woman hostage. The girl's father, the local preacher, seeks vengeance. INMATE 78: Chris is arrested and thrown into a gulag-type prison camp while intervening in the arrest of an innocent man. He's subsequently informed that the sheriff identifies drifters who look like they have money, and arrests them on trumped-up charges until their families pay the bail. Vin, Ezra and the boys search for Chris when he doesn't return.

Freejack

Bounty hunters from the future raid the present to provide new bodies for the super rich in the all-out pedal-to-the-medal sci-fi thriller Freejack directed by Geoff Murphy (Young Guns) and sparked by the imagination of Alien and Total Recall veteran Ronald Shusett. Emilio Estevez Mick Jagger Anthony Hopkins and Rene Russo star keeping pace with the scenic supersonic excitement. Prior to a crash race car driver Alex Furlong (Estevez) is snatched from his cockpit and hurled into the futureworld of 2009. He's dead. And running for his life. He's a "freejack" a stranger in the strangest of lands. And a relentless "bonejacker" (Jagger) can collect millions bringing him in.Running Time: 110 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY UPC: 085391637325

The Last Outlaw

For some men the Civil War never ended. Graff (Mickey Rourke) is one of these men. With his gang of former Confederate soldiers he roams the country robbing Yankee banks. Graff is a tough and demanding leader whose renegade band follows him without quesiton until one bank robbery turns into a bloody massacre. When graff threatens to put down one of his soldiers injured in the shoot-out Eustis (Dermot Mulroney) his right-hand man recognizes Graff for the ruthless bloodthirsty killer he is - a man who must be stopped at any cost. His first mistake is to shoot Graff face to face. His second is not to try to bury him. As Eustis leads the gang towards the Mexican border they soon realize that not only is Graff still alive but he's hunting then down cold-bloddedly mercilessly one by one. eustis is up against the man who taught him everything he nows - a man who's hungry for death thirsty for revenge. The question is how to beat such a man. the answer lies behind a cocked pistol.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. UPC: 026359097027

Blind Side

In this bloody action- packed pyscho-thriller death is waiting on a dark road-- but Doug and Lynn Kaine (Ron Silver Rebecca DeMornay) are ill prepared. When they accidentally kill a policeman who staggers into the path of their truck the Kaine's decide its better to hit and run but unknown to them one man has witnessed the accident and he's not ready to forget what he's seen. Days later Jake Shell (Rutger Hauer) appears on the Kaine's doorstep. He's looking for a job a home and a whole new life; and he soon drops some heavy hints about a murder he witnessed on a dark road. But it's only when the Kaine's hire this darkly ominous stranger that the terror really begins. His bizarre sexual practices take their toll on the Kaine's beautiful young assistant. And as Shell moves closer and deeper into their lives- they soon realize they have only one option. And you can call it self defense... or simply call it murder.Running Time: 98 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 026359093524 Manufacturer No: 90935

Cult Fiction: The Quiet Earth

At exactly 6:12 am, government research scientist Zac Hobson (a powerhouse performance by Bruno Lawrence of SMASH PALACE and UTU) awakens to
discover that he may be the last man on earth: homes, highways and entire cities are deserted. Empty planes have fallen from the sky. Every living thing has disappeared. But for Hobson, the ultimate shock is still to come months later when he finds that he is not alone. With the addition of a beautiful young woman (Alison Routledge) and a Maori trucker
(Pete Smith), the apocalypse suddenly becomes very
personal. What has happened to everyone else on the planet? Why has Zac himself survived? Will sexual tension lead to sudden violence? And what
is the ultimate responsibility for a man of science when the end of the world may be just the beginning?

Under Siege/Under Siege 2

Goodbye Pork Pie