Hand Clapping Movie Reviews
Family movie reviews for "Hand Clapping" sorted by average review score:
Five On The Black Hand Side
Released in DVD by MGM/UA Video (16 October, 2001)
Average review score: 
A Soul Cinema Classic
Wish they made movies like this now....Five on the Black Hand Side follows the familiar seventies vein of confronting political issues in Black films. The subject matter of Black Hand Side ranges from the Black family, to interracial dating, to the Black political conciousness that unfortunately is lacking in recent days. I would highly recommend this movie to every Black person, in particular every Black family. This movie is a true, and unfortunately rare gem.
An AfroAmerican Classic !!!!....A Must See For All Races!I can remember seeing "Five On The Black Hand Side" as a teenager in Los Angeles California at the Baldwin Hills Movie Theater in 1973. This movie gave me a sense of being very proud of my blackness, It gave me hope in being who I am...To walk with dignity and hold my head and not be ashamed of who I am. Every human being on this planet earth regardless of race, color or creed should be proud of their heritage and most of all, be very proud of THEMSELVES and to go for your positive dreams..This movie represents just that.I strongly suggest this movie to be purchased from AMAZON and add it to your movie collection.
Navy Seal * Hand To Hand Combat For Police Officers
Released in DVD by Loti Group (01 January, 2003)
Average review score:
Excellent training film for police officersIn this film, C.J. Caracci teaches some good hand to hand combat techniques useful for police officers. He gives a very compete instruction on every technique, and explains what details are important in succesfully employing the techniques. Caracci also shows counter moves to some of the techniques, which helps you pay attention to the important details.
The techniques shown are very simple to learn. I do not have much experience on martial arts, but still I had no difficulties on learning the techniques. And as a police officer, I have had a chance of testing some of the techniques in real life situations, and in my experience they work very well.
Caracci teaches also some little tricks you can use with other techniques than those instructed here. So, even if your departmental policy demands you to use different tehniques than in the film, you can still benefit from those tricks.
Run time: 1:44
Cool Hand Luke
Released in DVD by Warner Studios (06 November, 2001)
Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, and Strother Martin
Paul Newman gives one of the defining performances of his career, and cemented his place as a beautiful-rebel screen icon playing the stubbornly tough and independent title character in Cool Hand Luke. And before he became familiar as a sidekick in 1970s disaster movies (Earthquake and the Airport movies), George Kennedy won an Oscar for playing Dragline, the brutal chain-gang boss who tries to beat loner Luke's cool out of him. It's a classic rebel-against-the-repressive-institution story in the line of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest or The Shawshank Redemption. Certain moments have become classics--particularly the hardboiled egg-eating contest, and the immortal line (drooled by Strother Martin, as a sadistic redneck prison officer), "What we have here is a failure to communicate." And don't forget, Luke is also the source of the oft-quoted driving ditty, "I don't care if it rains or freezes, long as I have my plastic Jesus, right here on the dashboard of my car..." He is cool, all right. The digital video disc is in anamorphic widescreen and digital stereo. --Jim Emerson
Average review score:
Classic and classically boringI have to admit Newman puts up excellent performance in Cool Hand Luke. But the film is really quite boring and Luke just gets annoying after a while. He annoys because he doesn't really want to escape prison and just wants to get caught. Of course this just serves to emphasize his existentialist nature, but it ends up being silly to a skeptic like myself.
did I miss something ??I was really looking forward to watching this film, but after the first hour I almost turned it off. To say that it develops slowly would be an understatement; nothing much happens until about one hour 20 minutes into the film. I thought it could've easily been reduced to 90 minutes without losing anything.
I did enjoy the first escape scene, where Luke brilliantly and mercilessly messes with the bloodhounds, and George Kennedy's performance was deserving of his Oscar. It was mainly the Luke character (figuring out his motivation) I had trouble relating to. Other than his charming smile, I found little else to appreciate about him. Unlike Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, I did not find myself sympathizing with this character.
Overall, I would say this film is highly overrated and would recommend to anyone to rent it and watch it once before buying.
Classic American cinemaA terrific film that gets better with age. There's not a false note or misstep in this movie. It becomes more relevant and rewarding as the years go by, and it's earned it's status as a classic American movie.
So why did I mark this down one star? This film deserves the DVD Special Edition treatment and all we have here is the film and a few brief production notes. This is one of Warners first releases in the DVD format and it's well overdue for a deluxe re-release with interviews, commentary, relevant documentaries and perhaps the screenplay. It's a crime that films like Road Trip get the deluxe treatment and worthy films like this miss out.
Still, this is an okay transfer and the mono sound is clear enough. If you love this film, you won't let the lack of features stop you from making a purchase anyway.
Hit Man in the Hand of Buddha
Released in DVD by Tai Seng Video (11 December, 2001)
Average review score:
Good Movie, and I'll tell you why!This was a good movie, because it wasn't boring at all. Even with it slow beginning. But the end gets it's props. I like this movie as well, because it had meaning to. This was an ok movie. I'm buying more as we speak.
Must See for Hardcore Martial Arts FansHwang, one of the premiere leg men in the history of the martial arts genre, is at his best in Hit Man in the Hand of Buddha. This film includes the usual fantastic leg work from Hwang, but also some of the better stick-fighting scenes I have ever seen. True fans of the genre should sit back and enjoy the work of one of the true greats to ever grace the martial arts screen. Well worth the watch, although I would recommend finding a copy with subtitles rather than the dubbed English.
Great Kung Fu Flick! deserves better DVD.Hwang plays the hero in this movie and displays his awesome kicking abilities. This movies' got allot of fight sequences and should be a part of your Martial Arts movie library, but the DVD should be better. The Martial Arts Theater Collection are all in full screen format. The movie is clear and watch able with some dirt, specks, and lines through the film, but not enough to bother you. The DVD should be in Wide screen and it is not, no extra futures are available and it is only in the annoying English sound track, if you like that it's ok I guess. I brought the movie already, so if a better version is released, I guess I'll get rid of this one. The English dubbed version just drives me crazy because of the way it sounds and the little Ocean Shores logo that pops out during the first chapter of the movie along with a copyright message in the middle of the ... movie ... me off. My opinion is if you collect DVDs for their fullest potential like Extra fetures, origianale and multiple sound tracks, and Original Widescreen format skip the MARTIAL ARTS THEATER COLLECTION. Trust my reviews I have 60 Martial arts DVDs and some of the companies I buy from make these old school and new school Kung Fu flicks look Excellent.
Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Living Color
Released in DVD by Disney Studios (04 December, 2001)
During the mid-'30s, Mickey Mouse's fans ranged from the more than one million children who were members of the Mickey Mouse Club to Franklin Roosevelt, Mary Pickford, and the Nizam of Hyderabad; theater marquees announced "A Mickey Mouse Cartoon" with the feature titles. These wonderful shorts, many of which have never been released to the home market, remind viewers just how charming Mickey was before his popularity and role as a corporate symbol restricted his behavior. In these cartoons Mickey's personality was boyish, appealing, and slightly mischievous. The superb animation emphasizes that impish appeal. When Mickey dances with a deck of cards in "Thru the Mirror," he displays a stylish grace Fred Astaire might envy; in "Brave Little Tailor," his expressions and body language reveal his thoughts as he outwits Willie the Giant. It's virtually impossible to watch him without smiling. These shorts overflow with color and motion, and their lavish visuals pack an increased impact in an era of minimal television animation. Only Walt Disney would spend the money to animate a full deck of cards, a band flying through the air in a tornado, or a clutch of semitransparent ghosts, and only his animators could make those characters live on the screen. The prints have been lovingly restored without pumping up the color too much: the nuances of the delicate watercolor backgrounds still come through. Parents, Disney buffs, and animation fans will want this superb collection in their home libraries. Unrated: suitable for all ages. --Charles Solomon
Average review score: 
Wonderful treatsThe shorts are wonderful and they can be play either in closed-captioned (CC) or subtitled but for the rest of DVD features such as introductions by Maltin, Pencil Tests and a few others they are not closed-captioned or subtitled and that was very disappointing.
"Mickey. I'm a Mickey mouse man."Mickey Mouse rules. To quote the great Tracy McGrady:
"Mickey. I'm a Mickey mouse man."
And so am I.
Pleased with MickeyI love these collector's editions! I'm so glad that Disney put these classics together. I actually have all 7 of these limited collector's editions and thoroughly am enjoying watching them! The Mickey Mouse in Living Color is just really fun to watch. Mickey is of course one of the "classics" and I'm so glad to have this one in my home
Animaland
Released in DVD by Image Entertainment (21 July, 1998)
Starring: Animaland and David Hand
David Hand came to the Disney Studio in 1930, where he directed 70 short cartoons, served as supervising director on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bambi and as animation supervisor on Victory Through Air Power. In 1944, he moved to England to set up an animation studio: the shorts he produced there have not been seen in the U.S. in nearly 50 years. Although these cartoons are interesting historically, they're not particularly funny or entertaining. The characters are highly derivative: Ginger Nutt, the squirrel who appears in four of the films, is essentially Thumper with shorter ears and a longer tail, but Ginger lacks the vivid charm that makes Thumper come alive on the screen. "The Australian Platypus" is too predictable and too cute--problems that the stolid pacing only amplifies. "The Ostrich" recalls the "Swing Symphonies" Walter Lantz made around the same time, especially the production number "Don't Hide Your Head in the Sand," performed by hieroglyphics in an Egyptian ruin. Although it goes nowhere, that sequence showcases a graphic imagination missing from the other films. The Animaland series reveals that David Hand, like animation greats Ub Iwerks and Bill Tytla, never equaled the work he did for Walt Disney. --Charles Solomon
Average review score:
Charming, but the audio quality is very poor.These are classic cartoons with a wonderful romantic quality, but I find the audio quality (or lack thereof) to be distracting at times.
one of my favorite animated DVDs!Animaland is an exceptionally clever and enjoyable collection of cartoon shorts, with the unique ability to keep the attention of both children and adults. David Hand and his production team did not simply mimic the style of Disney's cartoons, but tried to push the envelope, developing clever plots, strange characters, and sometimes surreal settings. Most of the shorts are fast-paced action stories, with minimal dialog. When the characters do speak, they often have British accents. Some of the shorts are introduced by an off-screen British narrator, who, parodying instructional nature films, gives "scientific" information about the lead animal. The original music is catchy, perfectly timed with the visuals, and provides good instrumental sound effects. The animation is sophisticated, as we'd expect from Hand's reputation as a key Disney animation director. My favorite is "The Ostrich" in which a male Ostrich steps into a two-dimensional Egyptian Hieroglyphic to pursue a female Ostrich. The vocal lyrics to that segment are hilarious, and the animation mesmerizing.
A few comments on the reviews below. Comparisons with Disney characters are misleading; Animaland characters have personalities of their own - often very British. The audio to the DVD is fabulous in view of the date of the source material. Yes, the cartoons are charming and comparatively wholesome, but we're not talking Teletubbies here. The two words I'd use are "zany" and "intelligent".
Wholesome Cartoons for Concerned ParentsTired of the seeming lack of wholesome shows for kids? Concerned about what seems like an endless stream of materialism, immorality,etc. finding it's way into even THEIR stuff too? We viewed ANIMALAND after borrowing from the Lancaster County public library. Not only do the vintage cartoons lack these things but they may actually learn something as well! Wish there were even more out there. THUMBS UP!
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Released in DVD by 14 ()
Starring: Nancy Allen and Bobby Di Cicco
The happy hysteria--or total insanity--that was Beatlemania is brilliantly evoked in this charming, entertaining 1978 movie from director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump) and executive producer Steven Spielberg. It's February 1964. The Fab Four are making their first trip to America, and four Jersey girls (plus a couple of reluctant boys) are determined to get face to face with them--at their hotel, at their historic appearance on Ed Sullivan's TV show, or otherwise. They do so with varying degrees of success, and in ways that are amusing and clever, as are the depictions of the Beatles themselves (the real Fabs appear only in archival footage; in the film, their stand-ins are seen only from the back, from the waist down, and so on). Best of all, the soundtrack is filled with actual Beatle music. This one's an unexpected treat. --Sam Graham
Average review score:
Captures Beatle-mania perfectly!Two words about this movie: totally hilarious! I caught this flick on MuchMoreMusic (the VH-1 of Canada) on Saturday night. First I only saw the last third of the movie. I watched it, not completely grasping the plot, but yet I enjoyed it a lot. Then they played a repeat a couple hours later and I watched the whole thing.
Oh God, it just cracked me up completely. Especially Rosie, the chubby Paul-insane groupie. Every time when she heard (on the radio) that they were announcing to win free tickets, she would drop whatever she was doing and dash to the nearest phone ("I know the answer!!") to try to win.
Basically what the story is about is: a group of young people go on a road trip to NYC to try to meet the Beatles who are performing live on Ed Sullivan. They plot to sneak into the hotel the Beatles are actually staying at! Now which groupie hasn't thought vaguely of doing this at one point? LOL.
They made the movie feel pretty real. The fandom. That's just my opinion. They had actors playing Ed and the Fab Four themselves (not showing their faces though, obviously). And the fans shrieking and screaming throughout the movie: very real. I've seen on TV the real performance they did on Ed Sullivan's and I'll tell you, the screaming was present throughout. They just couldn't contain themselves. Alas: Beatlemania.
I really recommend this movie to any Beatles fan but also fans of fun comedies with a musical twist.
buy this or you are not a true beatles fanZemeckis' genius shows in this relatively less talked about movie. Warner must immediately put this movie out on DVD. They would probably sell atleast a 100k copies. Infact they must re- release this movie in all theatres.
I can't wait for the DVD of this one. Please let me know if it is available anywhere ...
I can't wait for the DVD of this one. Please let me know if it is available anywhere ...
What about captions?I have seen this film but I cannot rent it anywhere! I would like to buy it but I do not know whether the tape has the captions in Portuguese... I guess there is no Portuguese caption, but... Do anyone know the DVD of this film? Does it exist? If you want to talk to me about this film, send me an e-mail! Bye, Renato
Bambi
Released in DVD by (21 August, 1942)
It always comes up when people are comparing their most traumatic movie experiences: "the death of Bambi's mother," a recollection that can bring a shudder to even the most jaded filmgoer. That primal separation (which is no less stunning for happening off-screen) is the centerpiece of Bambi, Walt Disney's 1942 animated classic, but it is by no means the only bold stroke in the film. In its swift but somehow leisurely 69 minutes, Bambi covers a year in the life of a young deer. But in a bigger way, it measures the life cycle itself, from birth to adulthood, from childhood's freedom to grown-up responsibility. All of this is rendered in cheeky, fleet-footed style--the movie doesn't lecture, or make you feel you're being fed something that's good for you. The animation is miraculous, a lush forest in which nature is a constantly unfolding miracle (even in a spectacular fire, or those dark moments when "man was in the forest"). There are probably easier animals to draw than a young deer, and the Disney animators set themselves a challenge with Bambi's wobbly glide across an ice-covered lake, his spindly legs akimbo; but the sequence is effortless and charming. If Bambi himself is just a bit dull--such is the fate of an Everydeer--his rabbit sidekick Thumper and a skunk named Flower more than make up for it. Many of the early Disney features have their share of lyrical moments and universal truths, but Bambi is so simple, so pure, it's almost transparent. You might borrow a phrase from Thumper and say it's downright twitterpated. --Robert Horton
Average review score:
Movie for Hypocrites....We all cry when Bambi's mother dies and yet in the real world, hunderds of deer are shot every year and who cries for them? What did they do to deserve getting shot? We cry when a animated animal dies, but we do nothing to save the real animals from such a fate. The human race is really phooney.
BAMBI to DVD in 2005!!Bambi will be released in Disney's Platinum series in 2005, followed by the Jungle Book in 2006 and Cinderella in 2007.
For more releases visit my post under aladdin (platinum series collection)
For more releases visit my post under aladdin (platinum series collection)
Excellent!This is my favorite movie of all time! I loved it from the first time I watched to today. One time, I even watched it once everyday for two weeks straight. This movie has gotten me through hard times and whenever I have watched a movie that has really scared me, I watch this and I feel so much better afterwards. Bambi has a powerful message and still affects me to this day. I hope others enjoy it as much as I do.
Hand Maid May - Maid to Order (Vol. 1)
Released in DVD by Pioneer Video (14 August, 2001)
Average review score:
Another great anime!This anime is truly one of the best I have seen. It's funny, cute, but most of all, it's has something what some of the anime I've seen don't have-PLOT. This series has more plot than Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon combined. Although I like Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon, I still like Hand Maid May, too. But parents beware, rated PG-13 UP
Wonderful anime!This is the first 4 Hand Maid May! This is truly a great anime series! BUY THESE!
This is sooooo cute!When I first saw this in a store, I said that is was cute. So I bought it, and I watched it, and I love it! It's one of the best anime series I have ever seen! Great animation, too!
Band of the Hand
Released in DVD by Columbia Tristar Hom (28 January, 2003)
Starring: Stephen Lang and Michael Carmine (II)
Band of the Hand was executive-produced by Miami Vice creator Michael Mann, but this violent relic of the '80s begs for a smarter script and Mann's directorial flair. Instead it's got TV's "Starsky"--Paul Michael Glaser--seemingly asleep at the wheel, barely controlling a rainbow coalition of bad actors as punky Florida jailbirds, given a second chance when they're dropped into the treacherous everglades and whipped into a crack unit of urban warriors by a gruff marine (Stephen Lang) who supervises their juvenile "reform." One of the reluctant recruits has a girlfriend (fresh-faced newcomer Lauren Holly) who's tied up with local drug lords (Larry Fishburne, James Remar), and the inevitable showdown offers guerilla warfare in pastel shades. Wretched dialogue and lackluster action don't stop this from being a Vice-like guilty pleasure, populated by garishly costumed stereotypes and ending like the pilot for a TV series that never happened. Even the DVD liner notes admit the movie is "infamous"; accepted on those terms, it's a hoot. --Jeff Shannon
This movie during its period dealt with the issues of gender within the African-American community as well as racism and socialism. I wonder if "Barbershop" got their idea from this movie!