Kelly's Heroes

Starring:Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O'Connor, Donald Sutherland, Gavin MacLeod, Hal Buckley, Stuart Margolin, Jeff Morris, Richard Davalos, Perry Lopez, Tom Troupe, Harry Dean Stanton, Dick Balduzzi, Gene Collins, Len Lesser, David Hurst, Fred Pearlman, Michael Clark, George Fargo
Director: Brian G. Hutton
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

This tongue-in-cheek 1970 variation on The Dirty Dozen looks less fresh than it did in the year of its release, but it still has some enjoyable moments. Clint Eastwood stars along with Donald Sutherland, Harry Dean Stanton, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O'Connor, and Gavin MacLeod in the story of American soldiers who try to steal gold behind enemy lines in World War II. Sutherland's hippie G.I. doesn't have the sardonic and timely appeal he did during the Vietnam War, but the film's irreverence and several of the performances are worth a visit. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Great Movie.......2007-06-12

Outstanding - - Clint Eastwood & many stars make this an enjoyable movie.

Kelly's Heroes.......2007-05-06

Clint Eastwood has always been a favorite of mine and his protrayal
of the enterprising fighting soldier is standard of his image as
top quality movie star. The product is good with great color and
sound.

Thanks

I still love this movie.......2007-04-04

I first saw this movie when I was a kid and was just a WWII buff. I can honestly say, though, that since then I will make a point to watch it whenever I see it. While it is not high art by any stretch, it is an eminently watchable movie that is well paced and has iconic characters you'll remember well after you see the movie (who could forget Oddball). In fact, I'm going to go watch it right now...

Simply a great film..........2007-03-20

One of my all time favourites, Kelly Heroes somehow manages to find comic relief, humor and irony in the otherwise dismal environment of war.

Under the mask of wartime confusion, the guys pull of the 'perfect caper.' You just have to wonder just how often such a real event must have taken place.

The action in this movie flows very well and the performances by Sutherland, Savalas and Rickles are superb. I must have watched this film 25 times by now and never tire from or get bored with it.

Highly recommended - but not for under 12yo.

RW -||-

Very subtle, but hilarious.......2007-03-16

The hordes of reviewers that have written earlier on this movie have covered the plot, and how funny this movie is, and how "1970s" it is. I want to add a bit about the subtle points in this movie that are really good. Telly Savalas does an excellent job as the lungs-of-brass Sergeant who goes along for one reason only, and that is to keep all the men under him alive. How he does this and the efforts he goes through are all kept in the movie, and that could not have been easy to do. Carroll O'Connor's General is another lungs-of-brass type, but his focus is to get close enough to the real action to share in the glory. He, however, is so completely clueless as to be, well...believable! Sutherland's Oddball is everybody's favorite. What is really funny though is how everyone in theater (combat theater) knows him. Then there is the whole subject of the marching band and how it gets involved. Yes, the story in the movie is pretty superficial, but the subtleties in this movie are what really make it go, and make it one of the most satisfying Eastwood movies ever made.

Kelly's Heroes / The Dirty Dozen (Double Feature)

Average customer rating:

Deceptive Packaging

Kelly's Heroes / The Dirty Dozen (Double Feature)
Starring: Clint Eastwood , Telly Savalas , Don Rickles , Carroll O'Connor , and Donald Sutherland
Director: Brian G. Hutton , and Robert Aldrich
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Where Eagles Dare
Hang 'em High
Clint Eastwood - Westerner (The Outlaw Josey Wales / Pale Rider / Unforgiven Single Disc Edition)
The Great Escape
Play Dirty

ASIN: B000NA1WH2
Release Date: 2007-05-22

Description

Atten-hut! Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin lead these tales of combat that mix firepower with tongue-in-cheek attitude. Eastwood's misfit troops are in the army and in the money when they slip behind enemy lines to steal Nazi gold. Donald Sutherland, Telly Savalas and Don Rickles are among the larcenous heroes in Kelly's Heroes [Side A]. The Dirty Dozen [Side B] is the influential granddaddy of hard-hitting ensemble action flicks, a tale of jailed losers volunteered in the army way for a suicide mission. Marvin plays the tough-as-nails major who bullies his squad (Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, Sutherland, Savalas and more) into a fighting unit that can win this war any of a dozen ways. Fall in for action!

Customer Reviews:

Deceptive Packaging.......2007-06-05

I already own both films but purchased this as the case described "Dirty Dozen" as being a 16x9 transfer. It is not. Further, special features are listed for this film that are not actually on the disc. I knew I was in trouble when the film began with the Turner logo. Old transfer. "Kelly's Heroes" IS 16x9 as it was on the single feature release.

In addition, it appears the newly repackaged "How the West Was Won" suffers from the same deceptive packaging by being labeled "enhanced for widescreen TVs" when it is not and is also an old Turner master.

People are bound to complain so it's hard to believe Warner Home Video, previously very reliable, would do this intentionally. Something is defintely wrong in their QC department these days.

Average customer rating:

A varied selection
STOOGES in decline
More classic slapstick from the Stooges
An OK DVD!
Four great shorts, two weak ones.

The Three Stooges - Spook Louder
Starring: Curly Howard , Larry Fine , Moe Howard , Stanley Blystone , and Lew Kelly
Director: Del Lord , and Edward Bernds
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Three Stooges - Merry Mavericks
Three Stooges - Healthy Wealthy & Dumb
The Three Stooges: Curly Classics
The Three Stooges - Cops and Robbers
Three Stooges- Nutty But Nice

ASIN: B00004U1ET
Release Date: 2000-09-05

Product Description

Digital mayhem ensues in this spooktacular selection of the trio's six funniest fear fests:

Spook Louder (1943): Traveling salesman, The Three Stooges, meet their toughest customers when an inventor hires them to guard his spooky home while he is away. Things get really grim when three spies disguised as monsters show up.

Mummy's Dummies (1948): The Smiling Egyptians is a used-chariot lot run by the Stooges in ancient Egypt. Business is booming until they make the mistake of selling a lemon to the chief of the palace guard, which lands them in hot water with the king.

Shivering Sherlocks (1947): When an armored car robber strikes, the Stooges are rounded up for interrogation. A cafe owner vouches for them and they are freed, but it isn't long before they come face to face with the bloodthirsty robber and his hatchet man.

The Ghost Talks (1949): The Stooges have a job to do, but it isn't going to be easy. Their job is to remove a suit of armor from the Smorgasbord Castle. The problem: the armor doesn't want to leave until the ghost of Lady Godiva returns for their rendezvous!

Hokus Pokus (1949): A beautiful con artist uses Moe, Larry and Shemp as character references in her scheme to defraud an insurance company. But when a famed hypnotist casts a spell on the Stooges, no one can insure what happens next.

Fright Night (1947): In Shemp's first short as a member of the Stooges, the three are trainers at Muscle Manor, a macho gym for boxers. When a gangster threatens them, they use cream puffs -- including a live one! -- to soften their champ up for losing.

Customer Reviews:

A varied selection.......2006-07-27

The 6 shorts presented here vary in quality, though I wouldn't classify any of them as horrible or significantly below-par. None of them are what I would consider bona-fide classics, but there are some great shorts here. The shorts included are:

'Spook Louder' (1943), the title film. I agree this is kind of a mediocre effort and that it doesn't really have a great plot or a lot of resolution at the end, but it is really fun, with a lot of great scenes, like the ones with the boys working as door-to-door salesmen, the hall with all of the clocks in the haunted mansion, and the kitten on the piano. Overall it does have a nonsensical and inconsistent plot, but sometimes you just want to laugh instead of worrying about how smooth the plot is or whether the ending had any resolution.

'Mummies' Dummies' (or 'Mummy's Dummies,' as it's labelled on this disc) (1948) is one of the so-called "Missing 60," shorts which were unavailable and unbroadcast for quite a long time. This is a really good short, featuring the boys as crooked used chariot salesmen in ancient Egypt. They sell a lemon to a man who turns out to be the Chief of the Palace Guards and are duly brought before King Rootentooten, though they escape death and are made chamberlains when they cure the king's horrible toothache. After this they find out about a plot to cheat the king and a number of other people out of their tax money, and when they foil the bad guys, the king rewards them again, this time saying one of them can marry his daughter. Although it doesn't really fit with the theme of this disc, since it's not really a fright film!

'Shivering Sherlocks' (1948) is another of the best shorts on here. The boys are suspected of being behind a robbery, but they pass the polygraph test at the police station and are free to go. They go to a restaurant owned by their friend Gladys (Christine McIntyre), which they lied to the cops about working at. They eventually end up going with Gladys to a spooky old house she just inherited to make sure she won't be getting cheated, and this house of course turns out to be the place where the real crooks are hiding out, along with a creepy-looking creature named Angel. However, I'm told that the remake, 'Of Cash and Hash' (1955), is actually better, because it explains a lot of the loose ends in this one. Here, for example, there are a lot of plot holes: Why were the boys hiding in a garbage can at the beginning? Why were they able to identify Lefty Loomis? How did Gladys manage to get untied? Why did the cops arrive at the house just as the bad guys were getting knocked out and captured? It's also a bit embarrassing to watch Moe trying to recreate the scene Curly has with the oyster soup in 'Dutiful But Dumb' (1941). Those mannerisms and physical reactions just didn't fit his own comedic personality.

'The Ghost Talks' (1949) is a sub-par effort, partly because it has something that shouldn't talk (a suit of armor) talking. There are some funny scenes, but overall it's not a very inspired short. The boys are deliverymen who come to an old house on a very stormy night, trying to pick up some furniture that has to be moved, but don't get very far because of the hokey talking suit of armor, who says he is the spirit of Peeping Tom, the man who accidentally caught a glimpse of Lady Godiva on her famous ride a thousand years ago. Tom says he's not going anywhere, even though he's one of the things that has to be transported. He says that Lady Godiva is going to come back for him that night. (On a side note, the voice of Tom is done by Phil Arnold, though many people think it was Curly, since the suit of armor's voice sounds a lot like his real-life normal speaking voice.)

'Hokus Pokus' (1949) has the boys taking care of Mary, a woman who lives upstairs. Little do they know that Mary is only using them so that she'll get a check for $25,000 from the insurance company and that she isn't really unable to walk. While they're at work, they paste up a poster advertising a hypnotist, Svengarlic, who is coming to the area. They think he might be able to hypnotise Mary to walk, but he ends up using them as his subjects. They eventually end up on a flagpole many stories above the ground, and are broken out of their spell when a man on a bicycle accidentally runs into Svengarlic. They crash through a window just as Mary is receiving her check, blowing her story about being unable to walk. Perhaps not one of their very best, but it is pretty good, and it's special to me because it was the first Shemp short I ever saw.

'Fright Night' (released in 1947, though actually made in 1946) has perhaps been overrated a bit because it was Shemp's first short after he rejoined the team. I think it's good, but not one of their greatest. It's probably due to the fact that he needed some time to perfect his character (though one can see how naturally he fit back in after so many years away, like riding a bike), and they all needed a bit of time to adjust to the change in their lineup, develop a new dynamic between the three of them. This was also done when everyone thought this would just be a temporary filling-in until Curly got better, and one can only imagine how the other two must have been missing him and wanting him to be there with them. (This film had originally been written for him.) And one can only imagine how audiences must have felt during its original theatrical run, wondering what was going on, since Curly's health problems were not made public and, to the best of my knowledge, there was never any official announcement about the change in lineup. I personally don't find it as great or impressive as other fans do, but it's certainly far from a weak or bad short. Although this short also doesn't really fit in with the spooky theme of the disc, apart from the title!

All in all, these are enjoyable shorts, even if not all of them are 5-star material or among their classics. It's a nice collection to have, even in spite of the varied quality.

STOOGES in decline.......2005-10-10

After viewing this collection of Stooges shorts, I can say with assurance that I'm NOT a big Shemp fan. Shemp's performance as Curly's replacement in five of the six shorts just didn't cut it for me. I'll take Curly's wild, obnoxious-yet-cute antics over Shemp's less-than-lucid-wimpy-pushover schtick every time. And when it comes to physical comedy-- you know, the whole pratfall thing-- not even the likes of Chevy Chase could come close to mastering the art of being literally fall-down funny as Curly was. It appears the die-hard Stooge-o-Philes were right about the team's post-Curly misadventures not bein' quite up to snuff...

Sadly, the one short that DID have Curly was subpar; the whole pie-throwing angle felt like something that was tacked on to try and compensate for a fairly weak story... an effort that failed miserably. On the upside: at least the pies that hit the various characters were real ones, and not just big ol' dollops of whipped cream in pie pans. It just goes to show you that, even while trying to get by on weak writing, the Stooges were sticklers for realism... heh.

As for the rest of the presentation, there were times where it was apparent that the beloved trio sorely missed the most popular Stooge ever. Well, missed by the other Howard brothers, anyway; Larry looked like he couldn't care less. He was probably just happy he still had a job! Anyhoo, this "separation anxiety" would pop up on rare occasions when Moe or Shemp would imitate some of their ailing brother's on-screen mannerisms... and not do a very good job of it. Fortunately, their little Curly moments would last just a couple seconds before they reverted back to their usual selves. Sadly, their regularly-scheduled characterizations weren't quite enough to lift this collection of mini-misadventures above mediocrity.

`Late

More classic slapstick from the Stooges.......2004-06-15

In SPOOK LOUDER,the Stooges are hired by an inventor to sublive in his home while he takes a business trip to Washington. But they're met by three burglars in Halloween costumes. FRIGHT NIGHT(don't let the title befuddle you) is where the Stooges(Shemp's first,replacing his ill,popular brother Curly) are fight managers and are ordered by mobsters to make sure that their boxer friend,Gorilla Watson wins a fight against Chopper Kane. In SHIVERING SHERLOCKS,the Stooges inspect an estate mansion that their friend Gladys Harmon(Christine McIntyre) is selling. In MUMMY'S DUMMIES,set in Egypt,the Stooges swindle the Chief of the Palace Guards by selling him a broken down used chariot(it fell apart upon his leaving the dealership). In THE GHOST TALKS,the Stooges as movers,remove the contents of a haunted mansion but have a hard time with a live knight in shining armor. The knight leaves with his love,Lady Godiva on horseback. In HOCUS POCUS,the Stooges help their friend Mary who pretends to be a wheelchair-bound invalid in order to collect money from an insurance company. FN,TGT,HP and SS were later remade respectively as FLING IN THE RING,CREEPS,FLAGPOLE JITTERS and OF CASH AND HASH. Great moral support from Christine McIntyre,Vernon Dent,Mary Ainslee,Symona Boniface,Stanley Blystone,Phil Arnold and Kenneth MacDonald.

An OK DVD!.......2002-06-14

Spook Louder is an OK DVD. One thing I don't like about it is that there are too many Shemp episodes. If they were going to release a Shemp DVD, Columbia should have released better episodes like "Crime On Their Hands", "Who Done It?", and "Tricky Dicks". Those are hilarious Shemp episodes. The only good Shemp episodes on this DVD are "Shivering Sherlocks" and "Mummy's Dummies". The other three are good, but there are better Shemp episodes out there. "Spook Louder" is a great Curly episode. Of course, I'm a Curly fan. But I also like Shemp. I am just very picky with Shemp episodes. I like every Curly episode except "Restless Knights". Overall, this is a pretty good DVD. There are just three episodes that are a little on the weak side. So, if you're a big stooge fan who likes Shemp, then this DVD is right for you.

Four great shorts, two weak ones........2002-01-15

SPOOK LOUDER is a pretty good DVD. MUMMY'S DUMMIES, SHIVERING SHERLOCKS, HOKUS POKUS, and FRIGHT NIGHT are great shorts. However, SPOOK LOUDER and THE GHOST TALKS were pretty weak. The best ones here are MUMMY'S DUMMIES and HOKUS POKUS. Pretty good DVD. Recommended!

Average customer rating:

Best Thomas Haden Church Movie --- EVER!
going to special school
What a piece of Crap
SO much better than Mystery Men
A real superhero spoof

The Specials
Starring: Paget Brewster , Thomas Haden Church , Kelly Coffield , Judy Greer , and James Gunn (II)
Director: Craig Mazin
Manufacturer: Geneon [Pioneer]
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000056OX4
Release Date: 2001-03-20

Amazon.com

"How do you get to be a Special? You go to a special school." The jibes one endures when a part of the "sixth or seventh best superhero team in the world." The Strobe (Thomas Haden Church) has become vain and self-absorbed, his frustrated wife Ms. Indestructible (Paget Brewster) has gone looking for love in the arms of the Weevil (Rob Lowe), and sex-mad, blue-faced punk Amok (Jamie Kennedy) is getting bored with being a good guy and longs for his supervillain days, when he could sneak a cigarette without publicity fallout. The team is like a bored group of kids stuck indoors on a rainy day, and inaction and frustration has led to backbiting, infighting, love affairs, and long-held grudges. The hilariously disastrous unveiling of their action figures (with such absurd accessories as "a giant meat thermometer") is the final straw: the Specials are no more.

On the surface The Specials looks like a sitcom version of Mystery Men with a droller sense of humor ("Remember the time we caught and drained the Blister?"). The sly script drops the misfit bunch into a suburban world where superheroes are just another part of the media and marketing landscape. First-time director Craig Mazin is a little clumsy putting it all together and perhaps too effectively captures the bland, everyday-ness of the setting, but he tweaks familiar clichés with straight-faced absurdity. The underplayed performances and deadpan gags soon catch up to the concept, and by the end it emerges as the funniest, smartest superhero parody in ages. --Sean Axmaker

Description

The Specials, the seventh greatest superhero team in the world, need to improve their image. Unfortunately, they spend more time bickering about love affairs, fiances and publicity, then they do catching Super Villains. However, The Specials' luck may soon change. The Weevil (Rob Lowe), The Strobe (Thomas Hadden Church), Amok (Jamie Kennedy) and the rest of the The Specials hope to gain immortality with their own line of action figures... the superhero equivalent of an Academy Award. Tensions mount when the unveiling of tehh The Specials' toy line makes them look utterly ridiculous. With their dreams shattered, they start fighting amongst themsleves and The Strobe, disgusted with it all, disbands the group. This band of misfit superheroes must now decide whether to go their separate ways or reunite, realizing that whether or not the world needs The Specials, The Specials need each other. Before they can save the world, they'll have to save themselves. This hilarious comedy from Regent Entertainment does for superhero movies what Scream did for horror films and Austin Powers did for spy movies.

Customer Reviews:

Best Thomas Haden Church Movie --- EVER!.......2003-06-10

For anybody just becoming a fan of Thomas Haden Church, I'd advise you to see this movie.
This is Thomas at his best (also, it was before his brunette period! - if you don't believe me, see that new episode of "Lucky" called 'The Method' that he was in. He's USUALLY a blonde).
I like almost every character in this movie and there is never a dull moment!
You'll find yourself quoting the scene where they discuss the action figure celebration in the boardroom, which turns into an arguement
about Amok's actions.
The Great Strobe needs his own comic book. Badly. Just as long as Archie Comics and Ken Penders aren't involved.
I have another suggestion to new Thomas Haden Church fans, avoid "Susan's Plan... Dying to Get Rich" and "3000 Miles to Graceland".
Both movies are bad and... I hate that hairdresser chick in SP:DTGR. She's just scary.

going to special school.......2003-05-13

something that i didnt see in any of the current reviews is a mention that this is kind of a mock-u-mentary. what does that mean??? well, for one it means that the production values are low, likely because of a lack of budget, but i would argue that the production value complements and plays with the nature of the specials, the 6th or 7th greatest super team.

one guy gave this film a 1, wich i do not agree with at all. from reading the review, it seems to me that this person was looking for an 'eye candy' movie, which, usually superhero movies are predisposed to being, but this film is entirely driven by the characters. the movie would have been fine without the 2 min of effects at the end, and i was suprized to see them, they did in fact look better than the production value of the rest of the film suggested, very likely that is where a good hunk of the films budget went.

it is realy tempting to give this movie more than 4, but i dont think it deserves 5.

i am a fan of Thomas Hadden Church, and though this is not one of his best roles, fans of him, or the other actors will like this movie

What a piece of Crap.......2002-03-05

I picked up the specials looking to see some heroics or comedy or drama. What I got was a load of trash. This film is an uninspired attempt to make a "superhero genre" movie by people who have never seen, read, or heard of a comic book or a cartoon. The characters are abysmal, the dialoge stinks, and it seems the entire "special effects" budget was reserved for the last 2 minutes of the film.I kept waiting for something or anykind of plot to develop. This movie started poorly and got progressivly worse. Save your money and buy a copy of Mystery Men. This film made my all time 5 worst list of films, second only to "YOR hunter from the future"

SO much better than Mystery Men.......2002-02-07

Don't get me wrong Mystery Men was good... But this movie (the Specials) Is GREAT! I was laughing the whole way through and just enjoying the fun original script and simply Superb cast! Whoever cast this film knew what they were doing because they had some of the funniest and coolest actors around. I can't recommend this dvd enough. It's funny, cool and enjoyable... And if that wasn't enough the dvd has heaps of special features including some great deleted scenes... check it out it really is hillarious!!!

A real superhero spoof.......2002-01-24

A nice little 'cult' film. It is a more deadpan and less goofy version of "Mystery Men", which was funny, but never really lived up to its potential. This film is funny,with some nice, but inconsistant writing. The story is about very unheroic superheroes, and the realtivly banal lives they lead. If you expect them to go fight villans, you will be disappointed. In fact until the end, you never see them use thier powers. It is a very funny film, and a nice example of an odd and engaging film.

Average customer rating:

One of the Better Slayers Movies
Entertaining, but too short.
ADV IT'S ABOUT DARN TIME BUT WELL WORTH IT!
It's pretty good.

Slayers Return
Starring: Megumi Hayashibara , Maria Kawamura , Eric Opella , Marty Fleck , and Rick Piersall
Director: Hiroshi Watanabe (II)
Manufacturer: Adv Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Anime & Manga | Genres | DVD | Video

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( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Slayers Great
Slayers: Gorgeous
Slayers - Excellent
Slayers - Premium
Slayers: The Motion Picture

ASIN: B0000EMY92
Release Date: 2003-11-25

Customer Reviews:

One of the Better Slayers Movies.......2004-02-26

I have every Slayer DVD published for the US market. The best one is still the first one, namely the Slayer Movie. The rest of the DVDs went down hill from there. This is not to say that they are not amusing, but they just don't live up to the expectation raise by the first DVD.

These are what I like about this disk:
1. Great voice acting. Both the English and Japanese voice performances are great.
2. Great background design. The world of the Slayers movies is beautiful.
3. Fascinating characters. Lina Inverse, Naga the Serpent and Selena are all cute.

These are what I dislike about this disk:
1. Not much of a story. There were a handful of laugh out loud moments and not much more.
2. Not much animation. If you look at the movie carefully, you will notice that in most part of the picture nothing is moving. Only the character speaking is animated in most frames while the rest of the characters are infuriatingly still.

I recommend this DVD only to people who are fans of Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent. I will also recommend this DVD to people who appreciate good voice acting. If you don't belong to either of these groups, you will probably regret your purchase.

Entertaining, but too short........2003-12-23

Finally, more Slayers to add to my wonderful collection. God bless ADV films. That said, I enjoyed this movie for the several laugh out loud moments that you can always count on with any Slayers release. The story is full of really cool characters (including a female warrior monk, a colossus, a samurai warrior, and what appears to be a Mexican wrestler, to name a few) who each get too little time to shine. The bulk of this otherwise fast-paced film is a too-long chase scene in which too little happens for a short film with such a cool cast. The tertiary heroine (Lina and Naga being the primary and secondary) is a novice swordswoman who just wants to protect her village from an evil group bent on world domination. Sure this "group" consists of only two people, but you should always aim high, right? I was bothered (like everyone else) by the cutsey/squeaky quality of Lina's english voice. It's not bad, but it just isn't comparable to Lisa Ortiz' legendary performances in the TV series. I'm not a subtitle snob, but this time I enjoyed the Japanese version more than the english. I guess the only other real complaint about this adventure is that I left wanting more. Really, that's a pretty big compliment. If you liked "Book of Spells" and "Slayers the Motion Picture", you'll like this one as much.

ADV IT'S ABOUT DARN TIME BUT WELL WORTH IT!.......2003-12-12

I would like to first say thank you to ADV for finally pulling the Slayers Motion Pictures out of the musty closet so Slayers fans can have closure on the Movie series. "sort of"

The movie takes place after the defeat of Joyrock in Slayers Motion Picture and lives up to being a sequal. "just not a direct sequal" To me there is an equal blend to the comedy and action. I own all the Slayers Movies on VHS "Japanese of course" and when I first saw this movie I literaly died laughing as did my friends...there is nothing more exciting than seeing a bunch of college guys rolling on the floor laughing at a cartoon :) Anyway the gist is Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent meet this girl "Selina" after they blow up a restaurant. Selina's town has been imprisoned by a sect run by just 2 followers who are trying to unearth a secret weapon made by the elves. It just happens that the elves left the thing buried next to Selina's town and gave them a vague warning not to unearth the thing. Well the weapon gets unearthed and chaos ensues...if I say anymore the story will be ruined, rest assured it's funny! "and yes Lina blows up lots of stuff"

I have been a Slayers fan for over 5 years now and everytime I show the series or movies to friends new and old I get the same reaction. "OMG that's too funny" I strongly recomend this to anyone who has a sense of humor and if you like it watch some more because ADV is blessing us with Slayers Great in January which "IMO" is the funniest Slayers yet!

It's pretty good........2003-11-26

If you're a 'Slayers' fan like I am then, this movie is for you. "Slayers: Return" has more action than laughs than 'Slayers: Book of Spells' and the motion picture. It deals a little more on the serious side and does have some humorous moments. Nevertheless, this movie does entertain.

The movie stars our favorite heroine and sorceress supreme, Lina Inverse, and her self proclaimed rival, Naga the Serpent. (Sadly, the characters from the original TV series are no where to be seen...hopefully, ADV will quickly release the newest 'Slayers' movie called "Slayers: Premium" which has all the original cast!!) Also to note, all the Lina and Naga story lines are before the first TV season. They are hired by a young lady to save her village from a bunch of warriors. The warriors are looking for a great treasure that is hidden near the village and are forcefully making the villagers search for it. Well, I'm not going to give too much away, but needless to say, things always go awry if Lina and Naga are apart of it!

As I said before, this installment of `Slayers' has more action than any of the movies/OVA I have seen so far. Also, the storyline is actually better than the first movie, although it's rather lacking in the comedy department (which is the reason why I gave this four stars). Like all the movies/OVAs, `Return' does not compare to the original TV series. Hey, but it's `Slayers' and I'm pretty happy with what I can get!!

I watched the dubbed version and it was ok. They used the same voices from the previous movie and OAVs. I feel they should of used the original English voice actress (from the TV series) for Lina. The original English voice actress nearly captured the Japanese voice actress portrayal of Lina. This voice actress doesn't come close. Since it's a different company, they have to use their own actors. Oh well. The animation (like all the OVAs/movies) is better than the TV series. As for the DVD itself, I didn't find any problems (although I haven't watched the Japanese version yet) and the menu was easy to use. The movie was played in the letter box frame. The DVD has (of course) the English and Japanese version with English subtitles. For extras, it has the Slayers Return Trailer and the ADV Previews.

Amazon.com

There is trouble in Izmer. With the emperor dead from an assassin's poison, the 16-year-old princess Savina (Thora Birch) inherits not just the throne but also the royal scepter, which has the power to command gold dragons. With a youthful idealism, she decides all people should be equal, from lowly commoners to the ruling-class, magic-wielding mages. This doesn't sit well with the mages, so Archmage Profion (Jeremy Irons) leads a revolt in the Council against Savina's rule, forcing her to relinquish the royal scepter. In order to maintain her power, she decides she needs the rod of Savrille, which can control red dragons. To retrieve it, she hires two bumbling thieves, Ridley (Justin Whalin) and Snails (Marlon Wayans), and an apprentice mage (Zoe McLellan). The true trouble in Izmer is the fact that it's a poorly imagined world that cribs more from Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark than it does from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game that shares its title. Director Courtney Solomon optioned the rights to the game in 1991, when he was 21, and should have spent the years since then drafting a coherent script. Mediocre special effects take precedence over story, and the actors try to make up for that by hamming it up. Irons, in particular, covers his embarrassment by chewing the scenery and spitting it out. Often unintentionally funny, Dungeons & Dragons is that fun kind of bad movie, whose cult status would be all but guaranteed if it weren't for a slow second act mired in the boring bumbling of the awkward thieves. Still, there are plenty of laughs to be had. --Andy Spletzer

Customer Reviews:

This was a joke right?.......2006-12-03

This was almost as bad as those nerdy guys out in the park acting out scenes from the game in their cheaply made costumes. Well, actually I'd rather watch them than this movie. At least I can throw things at them. All I have to say for this movie is wow...I would not want this put on my resume if I had any involvement in it.

Not as bad as most would have you believe........2006-10-22

While not a masterpiece of any kind (the film barely exceeds mere competence) I didn't find D&D to be as bad as the negative reviews claimed. I put off watching it for so long for this reason, but it was enjoyable enough.

Comparisons to the LOTR trilogy are inevitable, so I'm not going to avoid it. I didn't really like the LOTR trilogy. It just seemed to be a bunch of movies that everyone was forced to like and if you didn't then there must be something wrong with you. Yes, they are much, much better made than the rather quaint D&D, but if you want a smaller, unassuming fantasy ride then don't completely rule this movie out.

The visual effects and production design of D&D are very similar to Paul Anderson's Mortal Kombat. Yes, it looks fake, but with just a little bit of suspension of disbelief you'll not even notice. I have a feeling that Courtney Solomon tried really hard to make it a good film but his talent doesn't extend as far as his enthusiasm.

In terms of character and story it is all pretty bland and generic. There's nothing in this movie that you haven't seen somewhere else. The actors do their best with the tepid dialogue and almost manage to not look embarrassed. The best thing about the film is it's surprisingly ferocious (maybe a bit too OTT) sound design. And the Dragon fight at the end was impressive for a medium budget film.

I was actually surprised to find Joel Silver's name on the closing credits. I will assume that without him the film would have been a REAL stinker. And what's with that ending?

Either way, I am still interested in the sequel.

The DVD is in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with a very loud Dolby 5.1 sound design.

This "movie" is truely awful.......2006-04-09

I'm a big fan of the role playing game called Dungeons and Dragons. However, this pile of dung masquerading as a movie bears no resemblance to the game. Do not waste your time watching this atrocity. This movie is just plain bad, bad, bad!

A setback to the genre.......2006-04-08

Like everybody else... I feel the need to qualify the beginning of my review by saying that I have been a fan of DnD and fantasy for well over a decade. When I first heard this movie was coming out I was extremely excited, and friends and I went to see it on one of the first nights. When I left.... well, I wondered how, after soooo many years of waiting and finally getting a real big screen debut for the genre, they could drop the ball so very very badly. The worst part is, there was a really good movie in there somewhere, just dying to get out. They clearly did their work on the special effects, which were excellent, but they tripped very badly with the dialogue and storyline. Even the casting (take away the dialogue) wasn't all that bad. Everybody certainly looked the part, but it all ended up feeling very contrived. The comic relief was heroically unfunny, and the "serious" scenes turned out to be the true cause for amusement.

Now, several years (and viewings), later, I don't hate the movie.... I just look at it as a wasted opportunity. Had they really done their homework on this one, I truly think this could have launched the fantasy genre into the mainstream, but as it is I think it did more harm than good. It reinforced the idea that DnD is stupid, hokey, and a game played only by strange repressed teenagers. I had hoped that this could open the door for things like the "Dragonlance" Chronicles, or some of the "Forgotten Realms" storylines to make it into production (much like X-Men did for the comic book genre). Alas, such will have to wait.

All told, this is an average movie that fans of fantasy, with suitably low expectations, can enjoy. It could have been so much more, and I think that is where a lot of the fans venom is coming from. Try to enjoy it for what it is, because our movie options in the genre are severely limited, and despite its flaws there are some redeeming qualities that make it fun enough to watch.... that being said, I've also heard rumor that the movie gets that much better after a couple beers. Enjoy.

Dung and a drag........2006-03-30

OK, first things first true believers - The Curmudgeon is NOT a D&D fan. I've nothing against it or anything (I don't think it's nerdy or whatever), it's just never been my bag. But I was VERY excited when I saw this movie was being released. Why?

Simple - the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, which was by far the coolest cartoon of the 1980's. It smoked He-Man, Thundercats and any other contender and became one of THE best experiences of childhood. So while a movie based on the board game would have been cool, I was secretly hoping for a movie based on the cartoon. Come on - Hank and his flaming bow and arrow? Sarcastic Eric and his shield (you'd think the Dungeon Master would have thrown a SWORD in there too?), Bobby the Barbarian.. and let's not forget the uber bad-ass - Vengar himself. Let's face it folks - done right, it would have been AWESOME.

But we didn't get that - we got, well.. who knows? The plot is so incoherent and amateurish it could have been based on a game of Hungry, Hungry Hippo's. And whilst great acting is never the prime goal in these sorts of movies, special mention MUST go to the utter lack of any conviction the actors here have in their performances, coming across as just stepping out of a Snow White pantomime.

And then there's Jeremy Irons. Bit of a superb actor is our Jeremy, and I'm sure he thought at first he had signed up to a classy fantasy movie, thinking perhaps of Sir Alec Guiness in Star Wars. Then he read the script and saw the talentless monkeys he was working with and went full out into giving the worst performance of his entire career, not so much saying his lines as yelling them and spitting at the camera in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. Easily the best thing of the movie.

The producers obviously thought it was going to do well judging by its laughably hopeful ambiguous ending. Not a chance in hell, guys. You had your chance and you blew it with this dragon turd of a film.

Stick with the boxset of the cartoon, and see how fantasy really SHOULD be presented.

The_Curmudgeon_Hates_You@yahoo.co.uk

Average customer rating:

Great Movie
Kelly's Heroes
I still love this movie
Simply a great film...
Very subtle, but hilarious

Kelly's Heroes [Region 2]
Starring: Clint Eastwood , Telly Savalas , Don Rickles , Carroll O'Connor , and Donald Sutherland
Director: Brian G. Hutton
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( K ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0000649K8

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Customer Reviews:

Great Movie.......2007-06-12

Outstanding - - Clint Eastwood & many stars make this an enjoyable movie.

Kelly's Heroes.......2007-05-06

I still love this movie.......2007-04-04

Simply a great film..........2007-03-20

Very subtle, but hilarious.......2007-03-16

Average customer rating:

Born to Be Wild
Starring: George Anderson , Ward Bond , Ralph Byrd , Davison Clark , and Anna Demetrio
Director: Joseph Kane
Manufacturer: Gotham Distribution
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Thrillers | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Adventure | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

Action & Adventure | Independently Distributed | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Action & Adventure | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

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Independently Distributed | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0007OP1AI
Release Date: 2005-03-29

Average customer rating:

Great Movie
Kelly's Heroes
I still love this movie
Simply a great film...
Very subtle, but hilarious

Kelly's Heroes [Region 2]
Starring: Clint Eastwood , Telly Savalas , Don Rickles , Carroll O'Connor , and Donald Sutherland
Director: Brian G. Hutton
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video