Don Movie Reviews

This is a first for me. I don't usually buy an item based on a total stranger's opinion and now I know why! This item was a complete waste of my money. I budget myself to only one or two movies per month and unfortunately after reading those reviews I decided to purchase this ridiculous waste of a DVD. I purchased this particular movie for the William Shatner episode. I was led to believe that it was better than the episode in "The Twilight Zone - Movie". NOT!! What a joke. All is not lost though...I really enjoyed "Time enough at last". I actually felt sorry for the guy.

Besides the TV Plays that you will buy this for, there are some DVD goodies (extras.):
Special "Inside the Twilight Zone" Section Written by Marc Scott Zicree
Biographical info on Rod Sterling
History of the Twilight Zone
Cast information
A season-by Season commentary
They claim to be digitally re-mastered yet there are still a few glitches and snow.
Episode 8 "Time Enough at Last" November 20, 1960

Henry Bemis (Burgess Meredith) has a healthy interest in reading; he is surrounded by people that underestimate its worth. He is conspired against by the bank president and even his wife. He works in a bank and spends his afternoons in the vault catching up on his reading. I will say no more as you and Mr. Bemis are about to enter the Twilight Zone.

Burgess Meredith will be found in several of the Twilight Zone episodes and again as the narrator of the 1983 Twilight Zone movie.

Episode 22 "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" March 4, 1960

The typical neighbors, like Claude Atkins and Jack Weston, are out doing neighbor things like mowing their lawn. They stop to hear a weird sound and see a strange light. It is assumed to be a weird meteor. All of a sudden the power goes out and nothing works no phones, no cars, nothing. This is the last moment before the real monsters came out.

Episode 123 "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" October 11, 1963

Mr. Wilson (William Shatner) is a salesman that is recovering from a nervous breakdown he had in an airplane. He is on his way down in a propeller commuter plane. You know something is amiss with him as he realizes he is next to the emergency window, over the wing. Of course his psychiatrist, Dr. Martin, would not let him fly home unless he was well. In the middle of an electrical storm, he looks out the window and I will say no more as you are about to enter the darkest part of the Twilight Zone.

This episode will be included in the 1983 movie with John Lithgow playing Mr. Wilson.

Episode 54 "The Odyssey of Flight 33" February 24, 1961

An international Jet flight, Global 33, is heading for Idawiled airport. On the way they get a sensation of great speed and go through some unknown barrier. Captain Farver (John Anderson) looses all external electronic guidance. He goes down for a closer look. I will not say anything more as you have now entered the Twilight Zone.

I wonder if we have a current remake, would Global 33 lose global positioning.

This second volume of Collection One might be the best of the entire Collection. "Time Enough at Last" and "Oddyssey of Flight 33" features two excellent stories with amazing and unforgettable endings. Another classic is "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," featuring William Shatner, who plays a man recovering from a nervous break down. His flight with his wife proves to be horrific. "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" is a classic exploration into social psychology and mob mentality when a gang of residents on a quiet street are convinced that an alien invasion has occurred.

This second volume is well written with wonderful acting by Burgess Meredith and William Shatner. Highly recommended!

I was totally unprepared for how much I liked this movie. It is an interesting hybrid of Kenneth Grahame and Monty Python which probably works against it for a lot of people who expect one or the other and that is really too bad because the film has so much to offer. Although released by Disney (they own the film rights for the book in America thanks to their 1949 animated film ADVENTURES OF MR TOAD), the film was not made by them which accounts for the lackluster treatment it was given in this country. It went directly to video, was retitled in the process (it was originally THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS like the book), and has already been withdrawn from circulation. So much for it's rather sad history. The good news is that there are still plenty of copies to be had and at very good prices too but probably not for long so grab it while you can. While director-writer-star Terry Jones does take several liberties with the book, he remains true to the spirit of Grahame's work and that is the important thing. The performances from Jones, Eric Idle, Nicol Williamson, and especially Steve Coogan in the principal parts are truly extraordinary. Antony Sher as the Chief Weasel is an absolute delight and the cameos by former Python members and well known British television performers only add to the fun. The production design is stunning from the quirky costumes to the underground homes of Badger and Mole and the period motor cars that Toad dispatches are a wonder to behold. The BRAZIL like subplot concerning the dog food factory has bothered some people but it is in keeping with Grahame's views on rural destruction and urban blight and it also happens to be highly effective. The brief musical numbers scattered throughout the film add a touch of the surreal with The Weasel's Song (a wickedly funny parody of CATS) as delightful as it is unexpected. MR TOAD'S WILD RIDE is not a great movie but it is a highly creative one. It leaves you with a surprising number of sequences that will have you returning to it without really knowing why. Shame on Disney for treating it so shabbily. Let's hope that they will release it on DVD as that is the least that it deserves. An ideal movie for adults and children, it is as Mr Toad would say, "Glorious, simply glorious!"

This movie was barely released in theaters. Great adaptation of the Wind in the Willows stories, with excellent characterizations. Funny and very well-done--not just for kids.

This Terry Jones version of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is a superbly well made film. Enjoyable by both children and adults, my only regret is that it is not available on DVD. This film is witty, charming and very imaginative. Terry Jones excels as Toad with Eric Idle supporting him as Ratty. Every child should see this version.

A Brief History of Time is an uncomfortable combination of autobiography and a bibliography of some (generally Hawking dominated) concepts in cosmology. While it does go into more depth (and is slightly more entertaining) than Stephen Hawking's Universe does when it covers these topics, the movie is greatly distracted by anecdotes about his life. Some of these offer an entertaining glimpse into his life and personality, some into how certain of his and other scientests' ideas were come across, but others are pointless and annoying, and on the whole they distract from the science, which is really the most interesting topic the film could cover.

It does deserve some props for being, visually, slightly superior to Universe. The Phillip Glass soundtrack also provides a nice ambience throughout, but it often seems inappropriate, and would be much more enjoyable to hear on its own. A Brief History of Time is something to watch if you're interested in learning some details of Stephen Hawking's life, an introduction to his work, or were dissatisfied with Universe, but, even if it lacks visually, I feel Universe was much more inspiring during its better moments.

This short film is about a monumental cosmologist attempting to delve into the unknown in order to know it. It poses the question as to whether there is a God behind the universe or a self-contained boundless system running blindly by its own physical laws (or perhaps there is a God but one who is impersonal to the universe). Today there are two theories about the expansion of the universe. Some believe that it will continue to expand forever while others think it will slow down, contract, and collapse with the cycle continuing infinitely. Hawkings clearly thinks the latter is more plausible. This probably explains his agnostic stance on creationism, while many theologians would naturally be more inclined to reject the theory of a collapsing and expanding universe because it does seem to do away with the idea of a "beginning" and "end." As an ignoramus in the field of physics and cosmology, I found this film to be a good compliment to his book (which is a read somewhat difficult for a person without a background in physics). Hawking's idealism is vibrant as he sounds hopeful that scientists are close to developing a unified theory of the universe that will be explicable not only to philosophers and scientists, but to the average person as well. This films only flaw is that it doesn't have captions telling us who is being interviewed and what their relation is to Stephen, but that's only a minor one at most.

This delightful documentary gives a keen look at the intimate parts of Stephen Hawking's remarkable life. Interviews of friends, family members, and colleagues are artfully weaved with pictures of Hawking, computer graphic illustrations, and the commentary of Hawking himself. Along with the overview of Hawking's life we get fascinating bits of physics and philosophy that challenges his mind and everyone else's. If you have an interest in popular physics, then this would be a worthy purchase.

This isn't a spectacular documentary, it stays true to the accepted style that is both entertaining and at times predictable and plodding. It is humorous though, the opening scene involves a chicken and some stars, and much of Hawking's narration is filled with wry wit.

The First portion of the film is almost solely devoted to the early years of Professor Hawking's life. He wasn't good at school we learn surprisingly. He was never as attentive as he later wished he should have been. However, his genius was enough, and he got his degrees. However, it was being diagnosed with ALS that forced him to focus on what really interested him, the aftermath of which has been the cosmologist we know today.

Further into the movie there is a discussion of black holes, which is the subject of Hawking's first successes in physics. This segment alone I consider worth the price of admission, however an even stronger segment comes next; a discussion of the origin and outcome of the universe in which we live. It's all concluded by some whimsical observations by Hawking. This isn't a classic, but for those that don't have the time to jump into many works of cosmology and physics and philosophy, this provides entertainment and a fair dose of where physics stands today.

I wouldn't say that this is the best movie I have ever seen but it is pretty good. The story is interesting and the martial arts is great but it still needs work. If parents let their kids watch it they should be there.

I have seen this movie several times, and I still rewatch it. After seeing it the first time rented; I immediately went ut and bought it. This movie is not for some because it takes an imagination to truly enjoy. If you truly enjoy fantasy and a movie that makes you think about the message, this may be one for you.

This is a fun film and fighting kung fu kangaroos actually looks really good, leaps and bounds better than any of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films.

Sometimes forced, but also very forward and real as well. My own grandmother lived in the very same retirement community featured in the film before it reached theaters, and many of the bittersweet scenes are very genuine to me , handled well by an excellent cast of seasoned actors (some of most poignant scenes for me are when things are acknowledged without dialogue...seeing people of your own generation passing away before your very eyes as practically an everyday occurance, for example...). The grandparent talking about having to be parted with his grandchild someday--regardless of his destination--was something I could relate to in my own life, as I`m sure many people can; the topic is timeless.

Now in my thirties, I look back at the relationships between generations, the subject of divorce becoming more of a reality that was increasingly hard to ignore in my own generation, and the way we treated Seniors in general and do today as well. The characters are not the passive and doddering old folks we`ve come to stereotype; they have lives of their own, individual personalities, and their "eccentricities" are those of everyday people and how they approach both life and death.

Yes, the soundtrack in particular is reminiscent of "E.T." and "An American Tail", and yes, it is overdone in parts and very `80`s, but the main story revolves around not the Sci-Fi elements, but around the relationships of friends and loved ones facing the reality of aging. See it for that, and don`t miss the great chemistry between the likes of Jessica Tandy ("pre-Miss Daisy" with her husband Hume Cronyn), Don Ameche, Maureen Stapleton, Wilford Brimley, et.al. Take away what you will from the movie; it has enough touching and funny moments worth seeing.

COCOONS is a film about extraterrestrials who visit Florida to rescue some comrades lost during an earlier journey. They rent a large house with a pool next to a retirement community. The swimming pool is used by the newcomers to store some large cocoons which have magical qualities providing instant youth to those who submerge themselves in the pool's waters. Eventually this amazing fact is discovered accidentally by three of the neighboring old codgers (Hume Cronyn, Don Ameche and Wilfred Brimley) and from that point on life among the senior set is changed forever. Brian Dennehy plays the part of the leader of the crew from outer space and the rest of the supporting cast includes Jack Gifford, Steve Guttenberg, Tawnee Welch and Tyrone Power Jr.

COCOONS received Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (Don Ameche) and Visual Effects. The main competition for Oscars in 1985 came from OUT OF AFRICA. Ron Howard has directed some other excellent movies including A BEAUTIFUL MIND.

I've long been a bog fan of Ron Howard. I loved his acting and I also love his directing, past & present. To me, this movie ranks as one of his best.

In all fairness to the Christians that have written reviews, I'd have to agree about the language issue. I probably would've cut back on the profanity if I'd have written the script. But on the other hand, this movie didn't have the typical nudity & violence that many movies did in the 90's and still do today. So, on that end of things, it's a much better movie.

I saw this movie at a friend's house back in the 80's. Back in the fall of 2000, I bought a used copy off of the internet for myself. I usually watch it 2 to 3 times a year. I'm still amazed at the themes that are in this movie. You'll find things like marriage, family, friendship, moving on, handling tough times, and priorities, among the many. I always find myself re-examing my life after I see it.

To those that emjoyed it, I agree wholeheartedly with what's been said by those reviewers. To those that didn't, I would simply ask this: How does this movie rank with movies that actually make the theaters today? Think about it.

I have been a fan of the Critters Movies, since I was a little Boy. I remember being about three years old and sitting on my fathers lap, watching these Movies. I was really scared. Now I watch them and I'm not that scared, there just very good campy fun. And there is little to no gore, and maybe 3 Adult Terms, through the hole film.

In the second film, "Critters 2: The Main Course," we find the hero of the first film returning to his hometown to spend easter with his Grandmother. But when his Grandmother purchases mysterious eggs for there Easter festivitys, he realizes (to later) the eggs are the spawn of the Aliens. And now the pesty little hair-balls have invaded a hole town. THE BEST IN THE SERIES.

Two years since the first Krite attack at the Brown's Farm, the Critters have left their Eggs behind and are ready to hatch. Now Brad Brown ( Scott Grimes) returns to Grover's Bend to have easter Vacation with his granny now finds out that the past is not dead at all as the Krites now cause havock on Easter Day, even our Shapeshifting Bounty Hunter pals " Ug", " Lee" and " Charlie" return and must wipe them out.

A perfect and excellent sequel which is far superior to the first one, this one has it all: Action, suspense, romance, some sad moments, gore, a little nudity, Aliens, and the infamous Ball of Critters. This even has the best part of the movie that will make you guys cheer in amazement, is when " Lee" the bounty Hunter transforms into a half-nude but beautiful Playboy Model right in front of your eyes played by the lovely Blondie " Roxanne Kernohan". Even the Soundtrack is great and this is a must see sequel.

The second Critters film is not as good as the first one but it is fantastic anyway! The story is marvelus...you can almost cry when Lee dies.When all the critters gets into a giant critter-ball is a cool idea! There are not to many victems but they who gets killed,gets killed verry nasty! As the worlds biggest Critter fan can i just say one thing...THEY HAVE TO BE RELEASED ON DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was disappointed by this film. It sounded like something that I would really like. I was kind of intrigued at the beginning and I watched carefully throughout the whole thing but, for me, it just never came together to be anything moving. I mean, I think I understood the artisitic statement he was trying to make, but it had no emotional effect on me. Just boring, like reading a text book, you know? A thinking man's movie. But I have to say, there were some really cool shots. But I guess it really felt a student film. A pretty good student film. But a student film, none the less. I don't know. Maybe I don't get it, but I didn't like it. And I usually like these oddball kinds of things.

Poor Einar the Lonely (another of Guy Maddin's hapless heroes) has fallen a victim to the disfiguring pestilence that has been dropping from a great height onto the Canadian/Icelandic community of Gimli, Manitoba. He drags himself to the Gimli Hospital, a strange place where puppet shows are used in place of anaesthetic and the 13-year-old nurses ignore Einar in favor of Gunnar. Gunnar is the occupant of the bed next to Einar's; Einar's initial jealousy turns to friendship... but as the two men begin to exchange confidences, a secret comes out that makes them deadly enemies.

Although the story is set in "a Gimli we no longer know", there really is such a place as Gimli, and there is a real Gimli Hospital. The Gimli of the film seems to exist in a time warp in which it is always 2 A.M., 1930; there is a late-night atmosphere over everything, and even the sun seems to give off an artificial light. The production values and the overall look of the film recall the early days of sound films ("White Zombie", "Vampyr", etc.). Maddin has taken great pains to recreate the technical limitations of those old movies, right down to the scratch and hum on the soundtrack.

Imagine either SCTV doing a parody of Ingmar Bergman or Ingmar Bergman doing a segment for SCTV-- in fact, in certain shots Kyle McCulloch (Einar) and Michael Gottli (Gunnar) resemble Joe Flaherty and John Candy. There's a great deal of deadpan silliness to this film, but you can't help but like the characters (Gunnar is hapless too); there's no directoral irony that invites us to look down on the cast. This is a film that walks a fine line between honest emotion and kitsch.

In that vein, one of the extra features provided with the DVD is the short film "The Dead Father", which has its comedic moments but is ultimately touching and will resonate with those who have lost a family member only to have him or her show up in their dreams. It's a serious film with funny overtones; sort of the flip side of "Tales of the Gimli Hospital". The last ten minutes are especially poignant.

Maddin provides a rollicking, often digressive commentary; it may not tell you everything you want to know, but it's a lot of fun to listen to.

Guy Maddin is the weirdest of the weirdest of the weird, so it's not surprising that some customer reviewers who generally like "wierd stuff" were disappointed by this, his first and most uncompromising full-length outing. He's way more idiosynchratic and insular even than early Lynch or Cronenberg. There is actually a coherent and macabrely funny story here about a male rivalry between two patients in the weirdest of all hospitals during the legendary (for Icelandic Manitobans, of which I am one) smallpox epidemic in the Icelandic settlement of Gimli. But after the movie's (really gross and distastefully misogynous) climactic revelation about the secret history that binds the two men, it loses itself in incomprehensible and very boring artsy nonsense.

The film didn't say much to me on a first viewing, but parts of it have stayed with me. It really only deserves 3 stars as a whole, but I'll give it 4 because the early montage sequence featuring a series of bizarre (but historically faithful!) Icelandic grooming rituals is a surrealist treat, and both the VHS and DVD include Maddin's first film, the short film "The Dead Father," which is maybe the most emotionally lucid thing he's ever done and very funny for those who like black, surealistic humour. Further caveats: the production values and the acting are on a par with Ed Wood (the director, not the Burton movie), so don't expect polish, but the male leads have genuine charisma and Maddin has a superb visual sense, although it's more on display in his second feature, the ravishing "Archangel."

PEOPLE GET READY FOR A SUPRISE! I thought Critters 4 was a very good movie but it just didn't fit with the critters movies.Now I dont want to spoil it but I am afraid I have to.Get ready!IN Critters 4 there are only 2 critters and the rest you barrely see in one part at the end.They are NOT rado active.It only shows the critters in like...4 parts and they only kill 2 people not including the troops that you didnt see dieing in the end.In part 4 Ug is so mean and he even kills some body,slaps a woman, nearly kills Charlie, Nearly kills a boy, and even hates everybody, very selfish and greedy and HATES Charlie and ervery body but himself.This part made me cry and not spaek for nearly 2 hours.This movie is great but has not enough critter action ,made Ug living hell, and does not deserve to be a critter movie.Check out some other rviews by me and they're not all bad opinions!

I have been a fan of the Critters Movies, since I was a little Boy. I remember being about three years old and sitting on my fathers lap, watching these Movies. I was really scared. Now I watch them and I'm not that scared, there just very good campy fun. And there is little to no gore, and maybe 3 Adult Terms, through the hole film.

The fourth, and to date final film in the series, "Critters 4," was a great idea. The movie takes place about 100 years after the third film, and follows Charlie from the doomed apartment building to the deck of a salvage crew. But once the crew discovers the eggs, the try to return there vessel to the owners, which have all but dissipeared. The Slowest and unfortunatly worst film (even thought the plot was the most thought-out).

Critters4 is the most marvelus seince-fiction,horror epics i ever have seen!!! The three others was fantastic and so they are,but the last one is an perfectly hit!
The movie starts where "Critters3" ended. There is onley two krite eggs left in the whole world.
Charlie find the eggs and is about to blast'em but he gets an message from his Alien-bountyhunter buddy that he is not eloud to kill any other lifeforms if it means exterminating off the species,instead Charlie got an mission to put the eggs in a pud and send them upp to space,is he going to sucsess?? if you whant the right anshwer then borrow this lovely movie TO DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a pretty good Cheech and Chong movie even though they were in decline, as a matter of fact, it's a pure masterpiece compared to Still Smokin' and Corsician Brothers but in this movie Cheech and Chong didn't smoke and marijuana and it has Cheech's girlfriend Donna, who was in Next Movie and Nice Dreams. If you're in the mood for a Cheech and Chong movie, watch this one, it's my third favorite Cheech and Chong movie behing Next Movie and Up in Smoke.

Cheech & Chong are back in this their fourth lead feature film. The DVD Features screen are the neon signs. So just click to the neon sign you want to make adjustments thereof. What is really nice is when you click on the "Aspect Ratio Selection", you have the choice of widescreen or full screen. Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong are funny again and this is an easy movie to follow. As usual NOT for children to see. Cheech & Chong are working at a car wash in Chicago. They lose the job (what else is new with these two?) and then go on to form a rock band. Later they head for Las Vegas. What kind of trouble can these two men get in to now? Rip Taylor is a riot in this film. He will have you laughing at both ends. Lots of Las Vegas locations. The next Cheech & Chong film is STILL SMOKIN' (1983). They also did some work in IT CAME FROM HOLLYWOOD (1982).

This is the funniest to my oppinion, doesn't have enough buds in it but don't watch it withoit it...

For a show that talked about respect for other life forms, The Man Trap comes across as a B-monster story with one goal being to kill the monster before it destroys you tale that was commen with many B-Monster pictures. It also really showed the limites to what Gene Roddenberry had to deal with in a weekly TV series. The budget was always pretty moderate to work with, so Gene did not have the resources to transform actors into alien beings every week. They just could not afford the creature make-up designs needed to make it look creditable. So they ended up meeting a lot of beings from different planets that looked human or humanoid, because of production deadlines and using what they had, on the script, set design, and casting. That plus a good music score. So for this first story where we actually meet an alien creature. It looks like a B-Monster suit that the wardrobe department put together at the last moment. Very fake and not very scary. It was a real setback for Gene Roddenberry because he wanted the Star Trek universe to look as good as possible. But this was not the way to do it. Thankfully such B-monster stories were never used again. However later in the series, we meet much more realistic aliens.

The Man Trap-This episode, in which we meet a salt-craving creature with shape-changing abilities, was the first Trek episode to air. While decent enough, it certainly is not an exceptional episode. While it is conceivable that this was the only episode completed in time, more likely it was selected because it was not what NBC had called 'too cerebral'. Other factors that NBC might have liked include the fact that it was largely planet-based and had an alien that 'looked like an alien.' While this episode does touch on loneliness, the subjectivity of beauty, and all creatures' right to survival, it does no more than touch on these themes. As an action episode, it's no more than passable, and again everything from the delivery of the lines to the music is slow, slow, slow (compared to even one year later). The episode is, quite honestly, most memorable for 1) the well-designed vampire, and 2) the shock-value of humans being preyed upon. (2.5 stars)

The Naked Time-This episode, in which a virus causes the crew to lose their inhibitions, was the best offering yet from the new show. The episode commences with an effective teaser, and the story unfolds at a good pace once aboard the Enterprise. The basic premise is a good one, since it enables the cast to both playfully embellish their roles and have some serious ruminations. The episode certainly has its share of action, and is one of the more creative 'Enterprise in danger' shows. We are also introduced to adult themes such as tradeoffs between duty and responsibility on the one hand and joyous, unconstrained intoxication on the other. Some of the soul-searching monologues are a bit much though for characters who weren't exactly our friends yet (this was the 3rd show to air), and as others have noted Nimoy-who seems to really need to believe in the material-was not terribly effective here. The same can (as usual) be said of Takei, and the inclusion of a 'drunken Irishman' character was also somewhat unfortunate. The boomerang premise is also kind of silly, but what the heck, enough hating; this is Star Trek, and it's a good episode. (4 stars)

"Man Trap" Dr. McCoy encounters his old flame. But is it really her?

"The Naked Time" A strange virus infects the whole crew & forces them to act strangely. Contains the WORST cost-cutting effect ever...a MANNEQUIN is used to act as a dead person