Don Movie Reviews

"Two-Lane Blacktop" makes me think of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road."

The acting of the two leads is stale, but their good looks make up for it. You could almost feel the Girl's wanderlust; her character is admirable for rejecting convention in search of a larger life. G.T.O. is obviously in need of pyschiatric help, but the hitchhikers he picks up are fascinating. (It's a bonus that Harry Dean Stanton is one of them.)

See "Two-Lane Blacktop" if you just want to peacefully zone out for a couple of hours.

"Two-Lane Blacktop" makes me think of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road."

The acting of the two leads is stale, but their good looks make up for it. You could almost feel the Girl's wanderlust; her character is admirable for rejecting convention in search of a larger life. G.T.O. is obviously in need of pyschiatric help, but the hitchhikers he picks up are fascinating. (It's a bonus that Harry Dean Stanton is one of them.)

See "Two-Lane Blacktop" if you just want to peacefully zone out for a couple of hours.

If John Landis's "American Werewolf in London" is the funniest werewolf film, and Mike Wadleigh's "Wolfen" is the grimmest, then Joe Dante's twisted and gruesome "The Howling" is by far the sleaziest---and when I say sleazy, I mean it in the nicest possible way.

"The Howling" is about investigative news anchorwoman Karen White(played competently though underwhelmingly by Dee Wallace-Stone), who in the course of investigating a notoriously brutal serial killer (she arranges to meet him in a screening booth of a porn shop, no less!), nearly becomes one of her erstwhile subject's 'works of art'.

The traumatized White agrees to follow the celebrity Dr. Wagner(veteran actor Patrick Macnee, who brings aplomb and class to the proceedings)'s advice, and decides to take a sabbatical to the Good Doctor's health-spa resort and retreat in the Northern California mountains with her husband Bill (played by real-life husband Christopher Stone). This seems a welcome reprieve from White's high-pressure career, particularly as the most troubling element of our heroine's recollections concern what she thinks she saw of the Killer in the dim and flickering light of the porno booth: a bestial, glittery eyed, fanged creature.

White takes Dr. Wagner's advice, packs herself and husband Bill off to "The Colony", and begins a roaringly good excursion with all the amenities of a high-end health spa, such as mud baths, morning exercises, yoga, meditation, and of course---flesh-eating and howling at the full moon. In the process, you're treated to some pretty raucous bloodletting, a densely creepy and deliciously terrifying atmosphere, exquisite werewolf effects by Rob Bottin (a Rick Baker disciple who later produced the goopey effects for "The Thing"), and gratuitous Kevin McCarthy and Slim Pickens.

Beneath its sleazy and nihilistic modernist elements, Joe Dante's "The Howling" is stoutly traditional, drawing on all the elements from the classic werewolf films: fog-shrouded forests, lycanthropic legendry, a lady in peril, and the voracious appetite of the transformed Beast. Dante has conjured real terror here.

As for the Special Edition, "The Howling" has never looked better, and the 5.1 remastered soundtrack will have you glancing over your shoulder for red eyes in the darkness. The DVD is stuffed with special features, including mercifully deleted scenes, amusing outtakes, bloopers, and interesting commentary from Dante, Wallace-Stone, and John Sayles. You get a Making Of documentary, a promotional featurette, and much more---certainly enough to sate the hungriest Wolf-in-Man's-Clothing.

Some have criticized the characters in "The Howling" for behaving unrealistically: standing rooted to the spot while the werewolves transform for instance, rather than running for their lives. But for me, that adds to Dante's vision, which is the stuff of nightmare. In the realm of Dream, of course, when presented with The Horror Which Kills, none of us can run: we remain frozen with terror, unable even to scream, while the Thing's teeth sprout from bleeding, ulcerated lips, while talons distend from its twisted and gnarled fingers, while the ribbons of hair sprout across its body and its spine grows long, twisted, deformed. While it hunches, and begins its low, throaty, rumbling growl. While it prepares to spring...

We are frozen in fear. How could we run?

Dee Wallace is amazing as the well known tv reporter Karen White. Christopher Stone is great as her, cautious and scared for his beloved wife, husband. The supporting cast is also extremely effective, yet I do not recognize their names...This DVD is fantastic. This is the second DVD version of The Howling, this Special Edition one being a must have DVD for all collecters. Buy this movie. Its amazingly effective and sends endless chills throughout your body.

If John Landis's "American Werewolf in London" is the funniest werewolf film, and Mike Wadleigh's "Wolfen" is the grimmest, then Joe Dante's twisted and gruesome "The Howling" is by far the sleaziest---and when I say sleazy, I mean it in the nicest possible way.

"The Howling" is about investigative news anchorwoman Karen White(played competently though underwhelmingly by Dee Wallace-Stone), who in the course of investigating a notoriously brutal serial killer (she arranges to meet him in a screening booth of a porn shop, no less!), nearly becomes one of her erstwhile subject's 'works of art'.

The traumatized White agrees to follow the celebrity Dr. Wagner(veteran actor Patrick Macnee, who brings aplomb and class to the proceedings)'s advice, and decides to take a sabbatical to the Good Doctor's health-spa resort and retreat in the Northern California mountains with her husband Bill (played by real-life husband Christopher Stone). This seems a welcome reprieve from White's high-pressure career, particularly as the most troubling element of our heroine's recollections concern what she thinks she saw of the Killer in the dim and flickering light of the porno booth: a bestial, glittery eyed, fanged creature.

White takes Dr. Wagner's advice, packs herself and husband Bill off to "The Colony", and begins a roaringly good excursion with all the amenities of a high-end health spa, such as mud baths, morning exercises, yoga, meditation, and of course---flesh-eating and howling at the full moon. In the process, you're treated to some pretty raucous bloodletting, a densely creepy and deliciously terrifying atmosphere, exquisite werewolf effects by Rob Bottin (a Rick Baker disciple who later produced the goopey effects for "The Thing"), and gratuitous Kevin McCarthy and Slim Pickens.

Beneath its sleazy and nihilistic modernist elements, Joe Dante's "The Howling" is stoutly traditional, drawing on all the elements from the classic werewolf films: fog-shrouded forests, lycanthropic legendry, a lady in peril, and the voracious appetite of the transformed Beast. Dante has conjured real terror here.

As for the Special Edition, "The Howling" has never looked better, and the 5.1 remastered soundtrack will have you glancing over your shoulder for red eyes in the darkness. The DVD is stuffed with special features, including mercifully deleted scenes, amusing outtakes, bloopers, and interesting commentary from Dante, Wallace-Stone, and John Sayles. You get a Making Of documentary, a promotional featurette, and much more---certainly enough to sate the hungriest Wolf-in-Man's-Clothing.

Some have criticized the characters in "The Howling" for behaving unrealistically: standing rooted to the spot while the werewolves transform for instance, rather than running for their lives. But for me, that adds to Dante's vision, which is the stuff of nightmare. In the realm of Dream, of course, when presented with The Horror Which Kills, none of us can run: we remain frozen with terror, unable even to scream, while the Thing's teeth sprout from bleeding, ulcerated lips, while talons distend from its twisted and gnarled fingers, while the ribbons of hair sprout across its body and its spine grows long, twisted, deformed. While it hunches, and begins its low, throaty, rumbling growl. While it prepares to spring...

We are frozen in fear. How could we run?

Dee Wallace is amazing as the well known tv reporter Karen White. Christopher Stone is great as her, cautious and scared for his beloved wife, husband. The supporting cast is also extremely effective, yet I do not recognize their names...This DVD is fantastic. This is the second DVD version of The Howling, this Special Edition one being a must have DVD for all collecters. Buy this movie. Its amazingly effective and sends endless chills throughout your body.

The film revolves around a candy salesman (Keanu Reeves) who has just returned from WWII only to realize that everything he thought was so important and true to him before he left were no longer. While on a sales assignment, he bumps into a beautiful woman who is on her way home from college. After speaking to her for a while, he discovers she is pregnant. The bad part is that this lady is unmarried and must face her very strict parents. Reeves' character agrees to pretend to be her husband just for show, but ends up falling madly in love with her.

The cinematography in this film is exquisite. Most of the movie takes place in one of the most beautiful vineyards ("Las Nubes" or "The Clouds" in the film) I have ever laid eyes on.

If you would like to watch a movie filled with a lovely romance and even lovier landscapes, watch this film!!!!!!

Paul's background is economically exposed at the start of the movie. A man returns from World War II, hoping to greet his wife whom he met and married just before shipping out. He dreams of a meaningful life, surrounded by a loving family. His small goals are those of an orphan who has had a lonely life and whose ordeals in battle have condensed his wishes to the simple, important things. Sadly his wife, Betty, is more interested in money and its trappings. She has a lot of spirit but little heart or interest for Paul's modest ambitions. He no sooner arrives than he is pushed out the door to earn some money selling chocolates; a job he wasn't enthusiastic about even before the war.

At this point we are still grounded in the real world, although Paul has an unearthly element to him that is hinted at. For example, any soldier that writes a letter to his wife every day, despite receiving virtually no replies, has more than the average dose of hope and optimism. The real world serves as a backdrop for the rest of the film, contrasting starkly with the soft images, haunting score and honest dialogue that characterises life at the Aragon Vineyard. On a train journey to one of his sales calls, Paul meets Victoria Aragon. She forms a bridge, between these two worlds, that Paul traverses in a series of jerks and lurches. A run of accidents result in Paul volunteering to help the beautiful but miserable young woman. I'm certain these accidents represent fate taking a hand in the lives of two who are destined for love.

Victoria is played by Aitana Sanchez-Gijon in her first English speaking role. Victoria's problem, being unmarried and pregnant, is magnified by having to face a traditionalist family and a strict and passionate father, Alberto. The solution seems obvious to the chivalrous Paul. He suggests playing the part of her husband, a man who fears responsibility and will soon leave her. In this way Paul hopes her honour will be maintained in the eyes of her family and any bitterness will, instead, fall on his absent shoulders. It is a good plan, only complicated in execution by the couple's growing love and Paul's desire for the rich family life that Victoria takes for granted. The turning point seems to come during a family ritual, performed after picking the harvest. All the married women are enticed into a large wooden vat to crush the grapes. This prosaic activity is actually a lusty and sensual attempt to harness the ancient powers of some fertility god. Not even Paul can stand against Victoria's almost unwitting seduction. This is truly one of the sexiest pieces of footage I can remember seeing; and all without resorting to nudity or the sharing of body fluids.

Another rope around Paul's neck is the family's patriarch, Don Pedro Aragón, played with amazing assurance and grace by Anthony Quinn. Don Pedro seems to see through all deceptions, going straight to the heart of the matter. He guides, prods and manipulates Paul to discover, and even pursue, his love of Victoria. In fact if I have any criticism of the film it is that next to Anthony Quinn, Keanu seems like a wooden doll, particularly during the preparations for the drunken serenade. But even this seems appropriate for Paul's character, so inexperienced in the ways of family.

Several Journeys take place in the film; Paul's path from orphanage to family, Victoria's reluctant steps from deception to honesty, her father Alberto's change from taskmaster to loving parent. Even the audience takes a journey. We start out wanting to escape our troubles with a little light entertainment and walk away looking inward, trying to decide if we are on a path as fulfilling as that of Paul and the Aragón family. "A Walk in the Clouds" clearly rejects mindless materialism, a philosophy mirrored by Paul's war-bride rejecting him. Instead we are asked to believe that family, honest labour and honour make up the soil our soul should take root in. We may not all have root stock as steeped in tradition as the Aragon's but like Paul, perhaps we will have the sense to recognise rich earth when we see it.

Naturally, the teacher meets his parents later that day and gives him one chance to re do the paper. He does it, is on the way to deliver it, and hits the limo of movie producer Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti). Wolf ends up with the story, makes a movie about it, and Jason now can't convince his parents that he wrote the story.

This movie works primarily because Muniz is charming on the screen. It's essentially adults against kids, with Giamatti really taking a beating. He spends a large amount of the film dyed blue from head to toe because of some pranks the two teens pull on him. He has made some enemies of some adults as well, stepping on them while he has gotten to the top. When they find out the kids are after him, they all want a piece.

I also liked Amanda Bynes. This is the first thing I have seen her in and she does a great job. She sticks by Jason and helps him whenever things look bleak. Watch also for a cameo by Jaleel White, the former star "Urkel". He's grown up and plays off his earlier success nicely.

This movie will mostly appeal to the teen generation. It's silly fun, but harmless as well. With the number of movies targeted at teens these days that are so sexually charged, this one is just good clean fun. I recommend it.

Stallone plays a detective from 1996 known affectionately as the "Demolition Man", who finally puts away Snipes after years of work. Phoenix has the last laugh though, and Spartan is locked away as well for a crime he never committed. 36 years later, Phoenix escapes from cryoprison and John Spartan is thawed out to reluctantly attempt to reapprehend his old foe.

This movie is packed with the great action scenes you expect to see from Stallone and Snipes, but what really sells it is the comedy. The movie never takes itself too seriously, and scenes like Simon Phoenix in the museum or the information booth, and John Spartan putting the moves on Lenina Huxley get laughs that would make Adam Sandler green. "Demolition Man" is just great entertainment as well as an old personal favorite, and it's obvious that the cast had a blast making it.

Sure the film doesn't know whether it's an Sci-fi action thriller or a comedy but it still works as one hell of an entertaining movie. The whole cast is in top form so that helped the movie even more.

Season series releases of TV shows are doing quite well in the marketplace; Paramount is not maximizing their profits by dribbling out two episodes per DVD sold seaparately -- not from me, anyway!

My theory is that they will inevitably release TOST as season series sets -- and finally add in enough extras that folks who bought a scattering of the 2-episode DVD's will pony up for the season sets as well. Shameless money-grubbing, this. Has Paramount been infiltrated by Ferengi?

I bought this DVD because I have read some of the books and I thought It would be really cool to see If It was as great as the books, IT WAS! There are only two things that bothers me and that Is the fact that It's edited and that there aren't very much fighting In the first episodes (this volume), the real fighting begins in The Tournament Saga!
But It sure Is worth the money, but If you buy this, I recommend you to buy some of the other volumes while you're still shopping, becuase It's really annoying when It ends, you just want more, more and more!