Dan Aykroyd

Ghostbusters Double Feature Gift Set (Ghostbusters/ Ghostbusters 2 and Commerative Book)

Prepare to spend some quality "slime-time" with Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2, together for the first time in this exclusive DVD gift set. These spooktacularly successful fillms captured the imagination of audiences around the world and redefined the action-comedy genre in the process. This gift set includes the two films, each with an assortment of otherworldly extras, and a deluxe Collector's Scrapbook, loaded with production notes, character sketches, insider info and more. Because when it comes to supernaturally classic comedy, Who you gonna call?

50 First Dates (Widescreen Special Edition)

With generous amounts of good luck and good timing, 50 First Dates set an all-time box-office record for the opening weekend of a romantic comedy; whether it deserved such a bonanza is another issue altogether. It's a sweet-natured vehicle for sweet-natured stars Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, and their track record with The Wedding Singer no doubt factors in its lowbrow appeal. But while the well-matched lovebirds wrestle with a gimmicky plot (she has no short-term memory, so he has to treat every encounter as their first), director Peter Segal (who directed Sandler in Anger Management) ignores the intriguing potential of their predicament (think Memento meets Groundhog Day) and peppers the proceedings with the kind of juvenile humor that Sandler fans have come to expect. The movie sneaks in a few heartfelt moments amidst its inviting Hawaiian locations, and that trained walrus is charmingly impressive, but you can't quite shake the feeling that too many good opportunities were squandered in favor of easy laughs. Like Barrymore's character, you might find yourself forgetting this movie shortly after you've seen it. --Jeff Shannon

Tommy Boy (Holy Schnike Edition)

Before his death, comedian Chris Farley made a pair of surprisingly successful comedies that teamed him with Saturday Night Live colleague David Spade. Their relationship in each film was pretty much the same, but then so was Abbott and Costello's or Laurel and Hardy's (not that Farley and Spade are in their league). In Tommy Boy, Farley plays the ne'er-do-well son of a successful auto parts manufacturer (Brian Dennehy). When Dad drops dead just after marrying a young new wife, it's up to Tommy (aided by sarcastic bean-counter Spade) to rescue the company by taking over for his father. Black Sheep features a slightly different plot: This time, Spade is hired by Farley's brother (Tim Matheson), a candidate for governor, to keep Farley (an accident-prone buffoon) out of sight until after the election. Farley has a likable quality that is exploited by continuous slapstick centered on his clumsiness, both physically and socially. --Marshall Fine

The Blues Brothers (Widescreen 25th Anniversary Edition)

After building up the duo's popularity through popular recordings and several performances on Saturday Night Live, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd--as "legendary" Chicago blues brothers Jake and Elwood Blues--took their act to the big screen in this action-packed hit from 1980. As Jake and Elwood struggle to reunite their old band and save the Chicago orphanage where they were raised, they wreak enough good-natured havoc to attract the entire Cook County police force. The result is a big-budget stunt-fest on a scale rarely attempted before or since, including extended car chases that result in the wanton destruction of shopping malls and more police cars than you can count. Along the way there's plenty of music to punctuate the action, including performances by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, and James Brown that are guaranteed to knock you out. As played with deadpan wit by Belushi and Aykroyd, the Blues Brothers are "on a mission from God," and that gives them a kind of reckless glee that keeps the movie from losing its comedic appeal. Otherwise this might have been just a bloated marathon of mayhem that quickly wears out its welcome (which is how some critics described this film and its 1998 sequel). Keep an eye out for Steven Spielberg as the city clerk who stamps some crucial paperwork near the end of the film. --Jeff Shannon

Trading Places (Special Collector's Edition)

The fun begins when the rich and greedy Duke Brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) wager a bet over whether born loser Valentine (Eddie Murphy) could become as successful as the priggish Winthorpe (Dan Akroyd) if circumstances were reversed. The Dukes have the money to make this happen but when Valentine and Winthorpe catch on they arrange for a rich and riotous payback!System Requirements:Running Time: 116 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 097361223841 Manufacturer No: 122384

In this crowd-pleasing 1983 comedy of high finance about a homeless con artist who becomes a Wall Street robber baron, Eddie Murphy consolidated the success of his startling debut in the previous year's 48 Hours and polished his slick-winner persona. The turnabout begins with an argument between super-rich siblings, played by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche: Are captains of industry, they wonder, born or made? To settle the issue, the meanies construct a cruel experiment in social Darwinism. Preppie commodities trader Dan Aykroyd (perfectly cast) is stripped of all his worldly goods and expelled from the firm, and Murphy's smelly derelict is appointed to take his place, graduating to tailored suits and a world-class harem in record time. Eventually the two men team up to teach the nasty old manipulators a lesson, cornering the market in frozen orange juice futures in the process. Director John Landis (The Blues Brothers) doesn't have the world's lightest touch, but he hits most of the jokes hard and quite a few of them pay off. Trading Places is also a landmark film for fans of Jamie Lee Curtis. --David Chute

Coneheads

Grosse Pointe Blank

Hit man Martin Q. Blank (John Cusack) is in an awkward situation. Several of them, actually. He's attending his high school reunion on an assignment; he's got a rival hit man (Dan Aykroyd) on his tail; and he's going to have to explain to his old girlfriend (Minnie Driver) why he stood her up on prom night. This amiable black comedy, cowritten by Cusack and directed by Jonathan Demme protégé George Armitage (Miami Blues), has the feel of Demme's Something Wild and Married to the Mob--which is to say its humor is dark and brightly colored at the same time. Cusack and Driver are utterly charming--as is the leading man's sister, Joan, who plays his secretary. (Ms. Cusack received an Oscar nomination for her next role, in In & Out.) Alan Arkin is also very funny as Martin's psychiatrist. --Jim Emerson

Here's the killer comedy hit that's loaded with outrageous fun! For Martin Blank (John Cusack -- HIGH FIDELITY, SERENDIPITY), a hit man stuck in a career rut, attending his 10-year high school reunion is about the last thing he's in the mood for! But when the prospects of rekindling an old flame (Minnie Driver -- GOOD WILL HUNTING) and pulling off one final job convince him to go, things are looking up ... that is, until Martin's arch rival (Dan Aykroyd) shows up aiming to blow the competition away! For hilarious comedy entertainment that's packed with action, GROSSE POINTE BLANK is a surefire knockout!

Trading Places (Special Collector's Edition) [HD DVD]

Paramount Trading Places: Looking Good, Feeling Good Edition HD-DVD
The fun begins when the rich and greedyDuke Brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) wager a bet over whether born loser Valentine (Eddie Murphy) could become as successful as the priggish Winthorpe (Dan Akroyd) if circumstances were reversed. The Dukes have the money to make this happen,but when Valentine and Winthorpe catch on they arrange for a rich and riotous payback!

In this crowd-pleasing 1983 comedy of high finance about a homeless con artist who becomes a Wall Street robber baron, Eddie Murphy consolidated the success of his startling debut in the previous year's 48 Hours and polished his slick-winner persona. The turnabout begins with an argument between super-rich siblings, played by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche: Are captains of industry, they wonder, born or made? To settle the issue, the meanies construct a cruel experiment in social Darwinism. Preppie commodities trader Dan Aykroyd (perfectly cast) is stripped of all his worldly goods and expelled from the firm, and Murphy's smelly derelict is appointed to take his place, graduating to tailored suits and a world-class harem in record time. Eventually the two men team up to teach the nasty old manipulators a lesson, cornering the market in frozen orange juice futures in the process. Director John Landis (The Blues Brothers) doesn't have the world's lightest touch, but he hits most of the jokes hard and quite a few of them pay off. Trading Places is also a landmark film for fans of Jamie Lee Curtis. --David Chute

The Great Outdoors

This hit-and-miss 1988 comedy pairs John Candy and Dan Aykroyd in a story of one family's summer vacation all but ruined by the uninvited appearance of another, more loutish family. Howard Deutch (Some Kind of Wonderful) directs from a half-hearted John Hughes script, which reduces Hughes's jokes-and-epiphanies formula (The Breakfast Club, Home Alone) to true gaudiness. On the other hand, Annette Bening makes her screen debut here. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, production notes, trailer, optional French soundtrack, and optional Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh

Sneakers (Collector's Edition)

This enjoyable thriller, written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson (the screenwriter of Field of Dreams), follows a raggedy group of corporate security experts who get in over their heads when they accept an assignment poaching some hot hardware for the National Security Agency. Robert Redford plays the group's guru, an aging techno-anarchist who has been hiding from the feds since the early 1970s; his companionable gang of freaks includes Dan Aykroyd, David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell, the late River Phoenix, and Sidney Poitier, as a veteran CIA operative turned "sneaker." The technological black box that everybody is after, an array of computer chips that can decode any encrypted message, isn't a very plausible invention, but it's a serviceable McGuffin, and the megalomania of the master plotter played by Ben Kingsley has more resonance than most. Modest inferences can be drawn about the very latest high-tech threats to civil liberties. --David Chute