Aging Movie Reviews

Partners, is a low budget, comedy adventure, that features the odd pairing of Casper Van Dien, with David Paymer. Van Dien is "Axel", a drifting pickpocket and petty thief. Paymer is "Bob", a man who has had enough, and won't take it any more. To prevent his employer from stealing software he developed, Bob has abandoned his wife, and run off, with the program in a briefcase chained to his wrist. He is on board a bus bound for LA, when the opportunistic Axel, lifts the case. Soon the two men are "partners" in the scheme to sell the valuable contents.

After procuring a car, the two set off for LA. There, with the help of Bob's beautiful Japanese girlfriend "Lin" (Seiko Matsuda), they plan to sell the stolen goods to an Asian buyer. After hitting town, they settle in at a motel, and begin to make their moves, doubling the selling price for the goods, at the meeting with the Asians. Axel renews ties with his estranged girlfriend, "Angel" (Vanessa Angel), and leaves the valuable briefcase with her for "safekeeping". A detective (Jennifer Lewis) is also hot on Bob's trail, determined to recover the missing software. With millions at stake, the players scamper to recover the briefcase, arrange an exchange, and then double cross and kill each other. The open-ended finish is interesting, and Bob does prove that he is not a total nerd.

Not great by any means, Joey Travolta's production is on par with a made for TV movie. The comedy isn't "laugh out loud", and the acting won't win any awards, but Partners is still entertaining, as the offbeat Van Dien/Paymer pairing, works just well enough. There is brief nudity, but not of the "angelic" variety. This little adventure, with some light comedy thrown in, is worth at least rental consideration. This feature does not have subtitles.

This movie could have been awful. Some things about it are, kind of - some of the acting is wobbly, some of the pacing is a little slow. But it's unexpectedly funny, with a great starring role for David Paymer (a brilliant actor who's spent his entire career playing sidekicks and minor characters). There's some real chemistry between him and Casper van D., and the script is genuinely clever. Starts out very amusingly, and about thirty twists, turns and reverses later, it ends with a final reverse I did NOT see coming. Not art, but a great guilty pleasure. Compared to your average straight-to-video feature: way more intelligent character interaction, way less of the usual by-the-numbers, been-there-done-that kind of thing. Take a chance, it's cheap.

Ever since Starship Troopers, this hot guy still seems to manage a good movie here and there. This is fortunately one of those unexpected good movies. In an action/comedy, Mr Van Dien seems to adjust to his role as a drifter quite well, opposite his on-screen partner. He drops his pants again for the camera, reminiscent of Starship Troopers, so girls and guys can drool once again. But aside from the eye candy (including Casper in jeans a tight singlet throughout - costume department must have had fun), the script is also very funny and enjoyable, for a reasonably lower budget movie. At the end of the day, Partners will not win any major academy awards, but is enjoyable movie around 85 mins.

Although I am impressed with the covers of these DVD's, I am extremely disappointed with these DVD's in general. Dic/uAV corp have been releasing these episodes in completely random order, in an age where almost every company is releasing DVD's as full sets.

Take for example, Simpsons, Family Guy, Smallville, and MegaMan Cartoon, released by professional companies. All these DVD's are being released in episode chronological order, full and complete. These have been selling like mad, and fans are very satisfied with the product they are sold.

However, Dic/uAV (i've never even heard of this company) decices to screw any remaining shred of order in these episodes and toss them to consumers randomly, and incomplete. They even put shows from completely unrelated series onto the disks!!! i.e. Putting Sonic Underground episodes on a Mario DVD??? That's wrong for so many obvious reasons.

As for the DVD's themselves, they are poor. The quality is just average, the menus are terribly sloppy, and the extras are really dumb (ex. a stupid Mario quiz hosted by Inspector Gadget-and what in the world? Inspector Gadget???).

These DVD's are poor. Random episodes, low budget production. We need these classic cartoons

in chronolgical order so we can enjoy them to their fullest. I've never heard of this uAV corp, but they need to do some serious work on the production and organization of these DVDs. They are ruining classics!

We need these episodes released as a set and in chronoligical order!!!

This dvd contains 6 episodes of super mario bros3 cartoon.
The animation look more like a videogame than a cartoon.Although its nice it still remain second best to the original super mario cartoon but if you like it,then buy it

I recommend this to EVERYONE. And I mean EVERYONE! Except for the people who think songs in Chalk zone are dumb. The songs in this are very very annoying and stupid. So don't buy unless you like chalkzone and are a fan of mario.

Ok, I should have rented this movie from the library first before wasting my money on this stink burger...

The sub was too big and there was too much walking space, they ripped off too many scenes from Crimson Tide and Hunt for the Red October which were far better movies then this one. I strongly recomend you buy something else like Crimson Tide or Das Boot if you like submarine movies.

I have seen some pretty cheesy movies with bad acting, but Counter Measures has to be in the top five worst films of all time.

The story line, which has some great potential, is completely destroyed by the poor acting ability of the cast. Dudikoff can't even salute correctly - and he is supposed to be a SEAL??? Alexander Keith, while very attractive, does a very poor job convincing the viewer that she is a military solder. As for her role, I have heards better screams out 1950's era b-movies.

The scenes inside the sub where just as bad. Was that a Russian sub or the Starship Enterprise. I've seen houses with less room than the sub had.

The Special FX were attrocious, I've seen more realistic explosions using green plastic army men and firecrackers.

All in all just a very bad film and a complete waste of time.

This movie is a great undiscovered movie hit. With the hard hiting excitement you want. This movie has great combination of top gun/ Hunt for Red October. I highly recommend this movie to any action packed film enthusiast.

I agree with the first reviewer. I was looking forward to watching this serial but the transfer to DVD is so poor that I gave up after the 2nd chapter.

Yes, I too have fond memories of this serial,but this is a poor quality transfer, inferior even to vhs copies I have come across in the past. 'Nuff said.

I mistakenly purchased this DVD (PHANTOM EMPIRE: Part 2) thinking I'd get the entire serial, but all in all, this is a pretty fun viewing. Gene Autry falls into a subterranian city named Murania, and must fight to stay alive against the wicked queen that rules there. Very silly robots about in this story, with short-brimmed cowboy hats on top of their box-like features. A rebellion is being planned, as on the surface of the earth evil scientists plot to steal radium from the Radio Ranch. On top of all this, Radio Ranch is endangered by Gene Autry's inability to make it to perform on his radio show!
Complete with horse chases, sword fights, and deadly technology, this is a fun serial to watch. The print isn't great, but it is watchable and costs little for the entire collection. A very rare entry into the science fiction/western genre and a lot of fun!

I agree with the first reviewer. I was looking forward to watching this serial but the transfer to DVD is so poor that I gave up after the 2nd chapter.

Yes, I too have fond memories of this serial,but this is a poor quality transfer, inferior even to vhs copies I have come across in the past. 'Nuff said.

I mistakenly purchased this DVD (PHANTOM EMPIRE: Part 2) thinking I'd get the entire serial, but all in all, this is a pretty fun viewing. Gene Autry falls into a subterranian city named Murania, and must fight to stay alive against the wicked queen that rules there. Very silly robots about in this story, with short-brimmed cowboy hats on top of their box-like features. A rebellion is being planned, as on the surface of the earth evil scientists plot to steal radium from the Radio Ranch. On top of all this, Radio Ranch is endangered by Gene Autry's inability to make it to perform on his radio show!
Complete with horse chases, sword fights, and deadly technology, this is a fun serial to watch. The print isn't great, but it is watchable and costs little for the entire collection. A very rare entry into the science fiction/western genre and a lot of fun!

Framed is one of Timothy Dalton's best pieces of work. But this version has been cut to shreds. The original is four hours long. With this DVD, half the film is missing and it was not padding they cut. If you can find the full version, then great, buy it. Just don't purchase the two hour version.

I am a fan of Timothy Dalton and was elated to see this movie being released for I have both a copy off of A&E tv and
a copy of the orginial via a good friend but when I played this I was simply heartbroken!! DVD's can hold so much more so why did they release such a version? The plot is very hard to follow and the movie doesn't flow like it did in the full version! If you can somehow obtain this version from British TV or the A&E copy by all means go for that and see what you are missing!

yes, this version has been cut, cut a lot! I don't know how I would react to this version if I weren't so familiar with the original. I miss the missing footage. It added texture to a work that is now little more than plot. Why do this on DVD? and to a character driven film? The original is more than twice as long as this version.I long for the original.

This movie was much better the first time I saw it, when it was called Copycat with Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter and Harry Connick Jr.

Horrible acting by all the supporting characters, too many half-baked and poorly explained threads all over the place, incompetant police and FBI agents/procedure, and not really that hard to figure out who the killer is.

Bringing a degree of disbelief suspension to movies is one thing, but to think that if the FBI and Police from 9 states were so unable to find any suspect, that they wouldn't have run the backgrounds thru on everyone involved with the case is just stupid.

Police aren't that dumb.

And it was kinda funny seeing Kim Delaney who is obsessively paranoid and over-protective of herself all movie long to instantly drop all her wards the moment the movie is about to end and you/we know the killer is about to show up.

Yea that would be the killer who gave himself away halfway thru the movie with his [crummy] acting.

kim delaney is excellent in this movie about a serial killer who's inspired by her best selling book! The whole time you're wondering 'who dunnit'. This one's good!

Closer and Closer is a thrilling film in which someone is inspired by a book which kate (Kim Delaney) writes, a book based on a murderer.The film is great, its one were you'll be asking yourself till the end 'Who's The Murderer ?' A film to watch.

Two stars for the complete collection. One of Stephen King's better mini-series in "The Stand" is mixed with some less than stellar efforts in the King department. I truly enjoyed "Cujo" (despite a specific deviation from the book that actually made a better movie) but cannot say the same for "The Langoliers" and especially the "Golden Years." "Thinner" is in the middling range of King adaptations. For me, it would have been better to purchase "The Stand" and "Cujo" alone. For King completists however, this might be the way to go.

"The Langoliers" is great and "The Stand" is monumental. If "Cujo" is an acquired taste, I have not acquired it. "Golden Years" starts out all right and has its moments but peters out to nothing at the end. I haven't yet watched "Thinner."

For all those Stephen King fans this is one package you cannot beat. You get all those great miniseries you have seen on TV in one package...great enough for hours of excitement.
Would have been more then three stars if not for the lack of the stereo quality in some of the movies (it was monoural) but still a horror lovers dream.
I wish there was another set like this.

Ok, the topic is great... the Soviet repulsion of the Nazi military might. But the war-time propaganda, the lack of depth of the "documentary", the missing facts, and the poor quality of the film make this a horrific failure when one considers the title.

I don't care if this is a known propaganda film used for recruiting in the United States during WWII... it simply has no social context sixty years later. Shouldn't we be concerned with the facts of the Nazi siege and the Soviet repulsion as they relate to a deeper understanding about the two nations of the 20th century that produced the worst dictators (Hitler and Stalin)?

Consider the following facts:

1) There was a major event in the 20th century, commonly referred to as "World War II", when most of the nations of the world were at war.

2) During that event Nazi Germany terrorized all of Europe (and especially the Soviet Union), through their military might and demonic plans (the Holocaust).

3) The Nazi's invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

4) The Soviet Union repulsed the Nazi invasion.

I would guess that the mentally ill and the recently born make up the vast majority of the population that isn't aware of the above-mentioned facts. This movie is for them.

Before viewing this film one should be historically aware of the circumstnces surrounding the reasons for its production. It is part of the "Why we fight" series that was shown to new recruits that were about to become part of this tremendous worldwide conflict. This is truly a propaganda film that was intended to show our "allies", the communist Russians, in a favorable light. The intent was to instill a purpose into these recruits that we were fighting an evil force, the Nazi Germans, together with the Russians. Anybody who is historically educated in this time period realizes that the United States government no doubt realized the horrors that Joseph Stalin himself was capable of. But to attempt to rally the recruits by villianizing our allies would not serve well, therefore kind portrayal of the communists was essential. Although the awful behavior of the German invaders is documented here, there is no mention of the atrocities committed by the Russians on their German captives. I think anybody interested in history as well as nostalgia will enjoy this film when realizing the historical context in which it was produced.

Yes, this is propaganda. But this is also a rare film. You will see a million WWII movies that gloss over the russian side of the story. They fought bravely with their backs against the wall and prevailed against some serious odds. The director had to work with the russian propaganda footage, and so it is a glimpse into their world at the time. It is a rare film because it does not brand the whole nation "evil". And, actually, it gives you a piece of history you don't know.

Ok, the topic is great... the Soviet repulsion of the Nazi military might. But the war-time propaganda, the lack of depth of the "documentary", the missing facts, and the poor quality of the film make this a horrific failure when one considers the title.

I don't care if this is a known propaganda film used for recruiting in the United States during WWII... it simply has no social context sixty years later. Shouldn't we be concerned with the facts of the Nazi siege and the Soviet repulsion as they relate to a deeper understanding about the two nations of the 20th century that produced the worst dictators (Hitler and Stalin)?

Consider the following facts:

1) There was a major event in the 20th century, commonly referred to as "World War II", when most of the nations of the world were at war.

2) During that event Nazi Germany terrorized all of Europe (and especially the Soviet Union), through their military might and demonic plans (the Holocaust).

3) The Nazi's invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

4) The Soviet Union repulsed the Nazi invasion.

I would guess that the mentally ill and the recently born make up the vast majority of the population that isn't aware of the above-mentioned facts. This movie is for them.

Before viewing this film one should be historically aware of the circumstnces surrounding the reasons for its production. It is part of the "Why we fight" series that was shown to new recruits that were about to become part of this tremendous worldwide conflict. This is truly a propaganda film that was intended to show our "allies", the communist Russians, in a favorable light. The intent was to instill a purpose into these recruits that we were fighting an evil force, the Nazi Germans, together with the Russians. Anybody who is historically educated in this time period realizes that the United States government no doubt realized the horrors that Joseph Stalin himself was capable of. But to attempt to rally the recruits by villianizing our allies would not serve well, therefore kind portrayal of the communists was essential. Although the awful behavior of the German invaders is documented here, there is no mention of the atrocities committed by the Russians on their German captives. I think anybody interested in history as well as nostalgia will enjoy this film when realizing the historical context in which it was produced.

Yes, this is propaganda. But this is also a rare film. You will see a million WWII movies that gloss over the russian side of the story. They fought bravely with their backs against the wall and prevailed against some serious odds. The director had to work with the russian propaganda footage, and so it is a glimpse into their world at the time. It is a rare film because it does not brand the whole nation "evil". And, actually, it gives you a piece of history you don't know.