L.A. Law - The Movie

Starring:Corbin Bernsen, Susan Dey, Larry Drake, Richard A. Dysart, Jill Eikenberry, Dann Florek, Michele Greene, Harry Hamlin, Alan Rachins, Susan Ruttan, Michael Tucker, Bruce Davison, Steven Williams, Gedde Watanabe, Josie Davis, Jason Peck, Bruklin Harris, Hrothgar Mathews, Claudette Mink, Ingrid Torrance
Director: Michael Schultz
Studio: Studio Works
Product Type: DVD

Product Description

Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, a multidimensional study of one of the biggest business scandals in American history. The chronicle takes a look at one of the greatest corporate disasters in history, in which top executives from the 7th largest company in this country walked away with over one billion dollars, leaving investors and employees with nothing. The film features insider accounts and rare corporate audio and video tapes that reveal colossal personal excesses of the Enron hierarchy and the utter moral vacuum that posed as corporate philosophy. The human drama that unfolds within Enron's walls resembles a Greek tragedy and produces a domino effect that could shape the face of our economy and ethical code for years to come.

DVD Features:

Available Audio Tracks: English (Unknown Format)
Commentary by: writer-director Alex Gibney (Unknown Format)
Deleted scenes
"The Making of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" featuring research footage and exclusive interviews with writer-director Alex Gibney and investigative journalist Bethany McLean
Enron company skits
Enron commercial
Where are they now?: updates on the executives, traders, and whistleblowers
A gallery of Enron cartoons
The original Fortune magazine articles

System Requirements:

Running Time 110 Mins.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

One of the greatest scandals in American corporate history is chronicled in the riveting documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Based on the bestselling book by Fortune magazine reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkin, and directed by Alex Gibney (who also produced The Trials of Henry Kissinger), the film is an epic morality tale, drawing upon a wealth of insider interviews and archival material to show how Enron, once the nation's seventh largest corporate entity, essentially faked its bookkeeping to report profits that never existed. The corrupt and closely-guarded mismanagement by Enron executives (including Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, later placed on criminal trial) is revealed through such heinous concepts as "Hypothetical Future Value" (a way of reaping fortunes based on false profit projections) and the use of offshore "shell" companies to hide the massive losses that eventually toppled the company (along with the venerable Arthur Anderson accounting firm) and left 20,000 employees jobless. As a maddening portrait of hubris and white-collar crime, Enron transcends political and corporate boundaries by showing how smart and powerful men grew blinded by greed and brought ruin upon themselves, along with thousands of otherwise innocent victims. For better and worse, it's a perfect double-feature with eye-opening 2004 documentary The Corporation. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Well done all around.......2007-06-20

Well made and interesting documentary, that tells the whole story of Enron from start to finish. Amazing how much free reign businesses have these days, and how greed & corruption can flourish.

Wickedly Entertaining, Shocking.......2007-06-20

This documentary on the collapse of "energy giant" Enron plays out like a gripping crime thriller. Fraud abounds and lies pile upon lies until a business that took decades to build comes crumbling down in a matter of weeks.

Writer/Director Alex Gibney provides a model of documentary filmmaking in this taught story of corporate greed. Using news footage and trial coverage, Gibney avoids the "talking heads" trap that hobbles most documentaries. There are talking heads in this film, the most prominent of which is Fortune senior editor Bethany McLean. As co-author of the book on which the movie is based, McClean offers fascinating analysis on the financial industry and the corporate stupidity that led to Enron's downfall.

But it's the film and sound footage that make this movie a must-see. To hear a flustered Jeffrey Skilling stumble through a non-explaination of Enron's finances and finally call his questioner an "a**hole" is hilarious; sound clips of Enron traders laughing gleefully while engineering California's rolling blackouts are nothing short of chilling.

We've been hearing about Enron now for six years, now. I never understood what exactly Enron did before seeing this film. Now I don't feel so ignorant, as this documentary makes clear that at times Enron didn't know what Enron did. One Enron trader puts it best in saying, "I had a lot of questions about what was going on, but I didn't ask them because I didn't want to know the answers."

Watch this movie and stay for the bonus material. As the Enron convictions continue to roll in half a decade after the fact, "The Smartest Guys in the Room" gives profound insight into the corruption and incompetence leading to the scandal.

Long, Repetitive and Biased.......2007-06-10

The content of this documentary (?) could easily fit in a 30-minute piece. There is an attempt to sensationalize things. For instance, they make a big fuss about the trips made by top execs to Baja, making a tenuous connection to the risk-taking culture at Enron. There is practically nothing of substance. For instance, one would like to know more details about the actual shady dealings that Enron went through, rather than a depiction of trading room banter. Very shallow.

Works on computer only.......2007-05-29

Watch out, this one only runs on a computer & that wasn't made obvious in the description. That's what WMVHD means. If you want the DVD which plays on a regular DVD player, buy the 1-disc set which is actually a valuable one to have. It's a very good story, very enlightening & informative.

Excellent.......2007-05-28

Just can't stop watching this movie again and again. I'll recommend it to anyone.

Average customer rating:

Fine movie, but slow at the beginning...
Suddenly Last Summer
really puts the "gothic" into Southern Gothic...
Don't wish for this kind of summer vacation!
One of the Scariest Films I've seen

Suddenly, Last Summer
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor , Katharine Hepburn , Montgomery Clift , Albert Dekker , and Mercedes McCambridge
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

A Place in the Sun
BUtterfield 8
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Deluxe Edition)
Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theatre Archive)
Long Day's Journey Into Night

ASIN: B00004TWZH
Release Date: 2000-08-15

Amazon.com essential video

This black-and-white film adaptation of Tennessee Williams's Southern gothic play is perhaps more famous for the rumored off-screen shenanigans of its stars than for its over-the-top repressed sexuality (only Williams could pull off that paradox, and pull it off he does). Supposedly, stars Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor battled for screen time; Hepburn warred very publicly with director Joseph Mankiewicz; and a postaccident Montgomery Clift relied heavily on painkillers and support from friend Taylor during the grueling shoot. Even this, however, cannot top the events of the film itself, revolving around the unseen playboy Sebastian and his mysterious death, which has something to do with young boys, a decadent European vacation, and Taylor in a provocative wet, white bathing suit. To give away the plot would spoil the fun, but suffice it to say that what Taylor saw was so horrible it drove her nuts, and Sebastian's mother (Hepburn) wants her to have a lobotomy in order to keep it from coming out; Clift is brought in to do the procedure. It's all a hoot and a holler, but as played by the two leading ladies (both of whom nabbed Oscar nominations), it's also compelling, chilling, and utterly gothic. Taylor gives a fierce performance, as the climaxing monologue that reveals Sebastian's "secret" rests entirely on her shoulders, and Hepburn plays brilliantly against type as Sebastian's manipulating, overbearing mother. Only Clift, saddled with a dreary character in charge of plot exposition, fails to deliver. Adapted by Gore Vidal. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews:

Fine movie, but slow at the beginning..........2007-07-01

I like the movie and the acting is mostly great. My only problem is with Montgomery Clift, who is slightly stiff in this movie, yet I still like him. Elizabeth Taylor and Katherine Hepburn give stellar performances.

Basically, Cathy (Taylor) is locked up in a mental institution with Clift as her psychiatrist. He needs to find out the shocking truth of why her cousin died the summer before. Her aunt Violet (Hepburn) wants her to have a lobotomy so the truth cannot come out. I won't say what happens, but the end is satisfying. I'd watch this again.

Suddenly Last Summer.......2007-06-26

A lurid Southern Gothic tale adapted by Gore Vidal from a one-act Tennessee Williams play, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "Suddenly, Last Summer" is a trifle campy and overheated, but rich with smart, biting dialogue. Hepburn is haughty and indomitable as an overprotective mother, while Taylor is rivetingly sensual even in apoplectic fits of distress-witness the climactic flashback scene. Mankiewicz handles themes of forbidden desire and depravity with consummate skill, making this a memorable "Summer" indeed.

really puts the "gothic" into Southern Gothic..........2007-06-10

SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER is one of the strongest Tennessee Williams film adaptations, and that is due in no small part to Gore Vidal's fiery screenplay and the first-rate main players of Taylor, Hepburn and Clift.

The story opens in 1937. Eccentric and wealthy Southern widow Mrs Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn) enlists the services of prolific mental health surgeon Dr. Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift). Cukrowicz specialises in performing the revolutionary frontal lobotomy procedure on those patients whose entire lives are consumed by their illnesses.

Mrs Venable introduces Cukrowicz to her troubled young niece, Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor). Ever since Catherine accompanied Violet's dead son Sebastian on his last trip to Europe, Catherine has been plagued by fearful fits of insanity. In return for some important funding for his surgery, Mrs Venable wants Catherine to be the next patient for Cukrowicz.

But what exactly happened to Sebastian on that fateful final trip...and why does Mrs Venable desperately want Catherine to forget it...?

Here in SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, a horrifying journey into sweat-stained asylums and heavily-veiled secrets, Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn deliver tour-de-force performances. A lot of people still find Montgomery Clift somewhat lacking here, but a lot of that does come back to the character he plays, who is very much overshadowed by the two women. There is also some fine work from Mercedes McCambridge as Catherine's weak-willed mother.

Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award (in addition to Hepburn), but failed to win, partly because this was during the period when her tumultuous private life essentially got her blackballed; though she did manage to grab the Golden Globe for her performance--in direct competition with Hepburn.

SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER remains a searing and shocking movie experience. If you have never seen it, do yourself a favour and buy it today. You'll be riveted from beginning to end.

The DVD includes a bonus video montage of stills; talent profiles for the main players, and the trailer for "28 Days". (Single-sided, dual-layer disc).

Don't wish for this kind of summer vacation!.......2007-05-15

Suddenly, Last Summer starring Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, and Katherine Hepburn was quite a provactive film for 1959. Themes of homosexuality, cannibalism, and implied incest makes this film interesting right up 'til the very end. You won't believe the shocking truth about the unseen and unheard Sebastian. Catherine (Taylor) and Sebastian were cousins, during a summer vacation, something horrific happened to Sebastian, and it traumatizes poor Catherine into a mental hospital. Catherine's aunt, Mrs. Venable (Hepburn) wants her lobotimzed, she is so desperate to hide the truth about her son, she'll do anything not to let her son's private life come out. Fascinating performance from Hepburn and while Clift is great to look at, his performance suffers due to the fact he was relying heavy on pills and booze to help through the shoot (he was in a car crash three years prior to filming this movie, he was in a lot of physical pain). Anyway, you'll either love or loathe this film but it's defintely gonna leave you shocked in your seat. Enjoy!

One of the Scariest Films I've seen.......2007-04-05

"Suddenly, Last Summer" - is one of the scariest films I've seen. Directed in 1959 by Joseph Mankievitz and based on one of Tennessee Williams' plays, it deals with very disturbing and uncomfortable subjects. Elizabeth Taylor is sensational, playing Catherine, the girl who may have lost her mind after having witnessed her cousin's bizarre death that occurred "suddenly, last summer" during the vacation. Katherine Hepburn is magnificent as his adoring mother who wants the disturbing memories been surgically removed from the girl's memory.

Production design, set decorations, and costumes are absolutely stunning. Both, Hepburn and Taylor received very deserving Oscar nominations for the best leading performance.

Average customer rating:

Sometimes it's good to be bad!
This movie could of been way better.
You make me feel so good
bad girls extended cut
an entertaining female version of Young Guns

Bad Girls (Extended Cut)
Starring: Madeleine Stowe , Mary Stuart Masterson , Andie MacDowell , Drew Barrymore , and James Russo
Director: Jonathan Kaplan
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Action & Adventure | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Bandidas
Buffalo Girls
The Quick and the Dead
Boys on the Side
Doppelganger

ASIN: B0006HBV50
Release Date: 2005-02-01

Amazon.com

Viewers of this Hollywood-processed movie should prepare to suspend disbelief: the four prostitutes turned outlaws will have flimsy excuses for being adept in gun slinging, stunt riding, and world knowledge. But this Western trips over a poor script of laughable plot points (secret plans are left out for wandering eyes, loot is taken without resistance) and a story that sticks forever in second gear. Never better or worse than Young Guns, with these intelligent actresses only part of the scenery. Drew Barrymore comes off the best, along with James LeGros as a meek rancher. --Doug Thomas

Description

Madeleine Stowe, Andie MacDowell, Drew Barrymore and Mary Stuart Masterson star in the wild Western story of four fallen women on the run. Branded as outlaws, pursued by a posse and tracked by Pinkerton detectives, the four must ride together to stay alive. But when they're double crossed by a gang of ruthless desperados, the women decide it's time to stop running, and start fighting! BAD GIRLS is a rough-riding, straight-shooting, fun-filled adventure that writes a whole new chapter in the lore of the Western hero!

Customer Reviews:

Sometimes it's good to be bad!.......2007-02-26

Boy, I sure do love this movie! That's quite a statement as I generally don't care a whole lot for westerns. This one is a bit of a different sort of western, however. We get to see Madeline Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson AND Andie McDowell all in one film! I've never cared much for Drew Barrymore, but I concede she does a pretty good job in this movie.

Madeline Stowe still looks good today, but this movie was made in 1993, when she was @ the very apex of her beauty. On top of being gorgeous & having a "mystery" about her (which intoxicates me so!) she is also a bona-fide accomplished actress. It's great to see her go from a naieve woman in THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS to being a tough-as-nails, no nonsense cowgirl in the present flick. She is a much more diverse actress than most women in Hollywood. Now if only she'd agree to a candlelight dinner with me.....

Anyway, this DVD has often been thought of as a female version of YOUNG GUNS. Well, perhaps. However, in my mind, BAD GIRLS is the far more entertaining of the two (I found YOUNG GUNS rather boring). Also, one nice thing about the film is that it is NOT a film that's just set about to glorify male-bashing. While it does set about to accurately depict examples of unfair treatment of 19th century women, it never becomes "preachy." Moreover, our cowgirls stumble across some nice fellas who help them out.

If you like westerns, you may or may not like this one. If you like un-conventional westerns where the main characters are pretty girls (not too many other movies can compete in this category), then this movie is a must. It was filmed in Texas and California & some of the screen shots had gorgeous scenery and a few of the sets really made me feel like I was back in the old west.

This movie could of been way better........2007-02-16

I've seen this movie a couple of times over the years and thought it was decent. Like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, Bad Girls begins with the abuse of a prostitute whose vengeance sets the whole plot in motion. But in Bad Girls, plot development is synonymous with costume changes. Chaps, corsets, silks and flannel -- for women on the run who carry no baggage other than their historical baggage as former prostitutes, these four desperadoes scam more new outfits than a bevy of runway models. And at least one of them had to be packing a curling iron. But, okay, this is Hollywood after all, and what's the point of having four women starring in a movie if they don't at least look good, albeit illogical.

The really grievous problems with Bad Girls are its lack of plot and undeveloped characters. On the lam after the most trigger-happy of the bunch, Madeleine Stowe, kills a customer who's roughing up one of the other girls in the brothel, they have very little sense of purpose once they're on their own. With a vague plan of heading toward the Oregon Territory to run a sawmill, Bad Girls moves forward in episodic fashion as they encounter one difficulty (or love interest) after another. You can practically picture it as a weekly TV series that poses hour-long detours on the road to the elusive Oregon Territory. The barrenness of the plot would be less noticeable; however, if there were at least some solid characters to hang the story on. Stowe nicely plays the sternness of her character against the delicacy of her features but even her tough-gal posture is belittled when she is whipped by one man and rescued by another. Masterson, considering her range as an actress of intelligence and physical dexterity, is given surprisingly little to do. As for the others, MacDowell flirts and Barrymore pouts, though each does what she does very well.

The Cinematography is respectable, as is the directing for what the shooting schedule allowed. Not an extraordinary film, but one that entertains on one level. That and the sexual component really didn't need the exposure it received in this film. In other words it couldve been handled more tastefully, or axed altogether.

You make me feel so good.......2007-01-14

A female centered Western - this movie kicks butt. I saw this as a teenager when it came out in 1994. Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andie MacDowell and Drew Barrymore star as prostitutes on the run. They killed an abusive customer in a justifiable homicide, withdrew their money from the bank and set out for Oregon. Their money is in turn stolen by bank robbers. Oh, and Pinkerton detectives are chasing after them. It's awesome.

bad girls extended cut.......2007-01-11

I love bad girls very much that i had to get the dvd you now.

an entertaining female version of Young Guns.......2006-12-19

that's how I view this movie... beautiful and popular actresses, lots of action, and a not-to-bad story line. This is one of those movies you can put in during a party and it's entertaining for any short amount of time people choose to look at it... and if you do decide to sit down and get into the movie, it makes it that much better.

Sex - Life in L.A. Part 2: Cycles of Porn

Average customer rating:

Porn life
A Glimpse Into The World Of Porn

Sex - Life in L.A. Part 2: Cycles of Porn
Starring: Johnny Law , Holden Grey , Vin Nolan , Sergio Anthony , and Rocky
Director: Jochen Hick
Manufacturer: Tla
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Gay & Lesbian | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

General | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

Exposed: The Making of a Legend
Sex Life in L.A.
Zona Rosa - Male Strippers
Dante's Cove
Raw, Exposed, Untold: Exposing The True World Of Exotic Male Dancing

ASIN: B000BR9RQA
Release Date: 2005-12-27

Description

Sex/Life in L.A. 2: Cycles of Porn is a revealing glimpse into a world where sex, art and business collide in the City of Angels. It's been seven years since the filmmaker's first documentary portrait, and director Jochen Hick is checking in with some of his previous subjects: Adult film stars Kevin Kramer, Cole Tucker and Matt Bradshaw. But sexuality is constantly evolving, and styles, tastes and even new technology are providing a new supply of up-and-coming talent. Hick deftly explores a culture in which young men occupy a house outfitted with webcams for a sexy chat site, and nomad filmmakers rove the country looking for impromptu stars of their condom-free "bareback films." The dreams, disappointments and unwavering reality of the gay adult industry are all opened up with insight and humor in this riveting film that made festival audiences around the world cheer.

Customer Reviews:

Porn life.......2007-03-09

Well, it's about guys who make their living through sex. Either by internet, movies, etc. Interesting, but for renting only. A few nudity scenes.

A Glimpse Into The World Of Porn.......2006-01-23

Sex/Life in L.A. 2: Cycles of Porn is a fascinating look into the world of porn that is a follow up to Jochen Hick's 1998 Sex/Life in L.A. Hick revisits Kevin Kramer, Cole Tucker, Matt Bradshaw, and finds some new porn stars, or at least wannabes along the way. Although I found it to be quite intriguing it really only touches the surface and it left me wanting more. The film begins with a look behind the scenes at Chi Chi LaRue's "Live and Raw Hotel", a hotel filled with webcams and host to a bevy of boys, filming every moment for the world to see. Focusing on the trials and tribulations of the boys we follow their ups and downs, dreams and desires. More seasoned veterans like Matt Bradshaw, Cole Tucker, and Kevin Kramer are featured and we get a glimpse into where they are now. Surprisingly Cole Tucker is not like his onscreen persona and it was nice to see what a down to earth guy he was, much like the rest of them. A controversial subject is touched upon with the director of bareback videos and his search across country via a motor home in the search of new stars. Sex parties, drugs, and more sex round out the film that just begins to scrape the surface but is worth a look nonetheless. Hopefully Hick won't let so much time go by before he revisits this industry and let's hope he digs a bit deeper.

Average customer rating:

Beware, It CAN happy to YOU
The Thin Blue Line
Early Errol Morris film still packs a wallop
Incredible, gripping documentary film that exposes an extreme miscarriage of justice
It changed my position on the Death Penalty

The Thin Blue Line
Starring: Randall Adams , David Harris (III) , Gus Rose , Jackie Johnson , and Marshall Touchton
Director: Errol Morris
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Gates of Heaven
Capturing the Friedmans
Harlan County, U.S.A. - Criterion Collection
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control
The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

ASIN: B00094AS72
Release Date: 2005-07-26

Description

Academy AwardÂ(r)-winner* Errol Morris broke new ground with the "riveting" (LA Weekly) film that dramatically reenacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas. So powerful and convincing that it helped free an innocent man from prison, The Thin Blue Line is "one of the finest documentary features ever made" (Boxoffice). On November 28, 1976, when drifter Randall Dale Adams was picked up by teenage runaway David Harris, his fate was sealed. That night, a police officer was shot in cold blood. And though all the facts pointed to Harris, a sociopath with a lengthy rap sheet, Adams was convicted of capital murder. Was Adamsguilty? And if not, can Morris unlock the secrets of this baffling case? *2003: Documentary Feature, The Fog of War (with Michael Williams)

Customer Reviews:

Beware, It CAN happy to YOU.......2007-02-05

this is a must see documentary! investigative reporting at its best! this story assisted in setting Randall Adams, an innocent man, free. I can't help but think that Errol Morris also wanted to point out how our system has become a big game of wins and losses at any and all expense. unfortunately we have forgotten this lesson all too soon. speaking from experience. Get this documentary and beware. It could happen to you too!

The Thin Blue Line.......2006-11-10

Excellent. Best documentary I have seen. Very effective way of doing all the interviews just by getting comments without interviewer present asking questions. Don't have to get the interviewer's spin through the questions on the topic. Just the facts, ma'am.

Early Errol Morris film still packs a wallop .......2006-04-27

Errol Morris' documentary works are unique in that one often remembers the story telling and film making techniques employed as much as the subjects being examined. Here, for example, there's a moody Philip Glass score, artful slow-motion dramatizations of witness testimony, and- in what has evolved into a typical Morris trademark- inserts of props and old movie clips to underscore what interview subjects are saying. In one scene, for instance, we see a haunting image of a swinging watch on the end of a chain when one of the subjects discusses how the female police officer on the scene was ultimately hypnotized to help her recall details of the crime. To his credit, however, Mr. Morris never quite lets his showmanship, as memorable as it can often be, upstage the subject at hand. As a result, "The Thin Blue Line" ultimately resulted in an innocent man being set free.

Unfortunately, viewers won't learn that fact from this DVD, which includes just the movie and no further information about the wheels that were set in motion after the film was released. The only "extra" here is a 27-minute episode of Mr. Morris' "First Person" TV interview program, which features an interview with a man who is an expert on "extreme evil". The interview subject spends the show enthusiastically talking about lovely folks like the Boston Strangler and Hitler, then- in the best moment of the show- suddenly gets tongue tied and is at a loss for words when Morris asks him, "Now, what do you think there is about you that makes you so interested in heinous crimes and truly evil acts?" It's a hoot.

In any event, the TV episode is an interesting little addition to the DVD, and it does tie in somewhat to the theme of "The Thin Blue Line", but I would have preferred some specific, after-the-fact information about the movie itself rather than a sample of Mr. Morris' TV show.

Still, aficionados of true-crime stories and documentary film making shouldn't hesitate to pick up this DVD. More than fifteen years after the fact (yes, it's already been that long since this movie was in theaters), "The Thin Blue Line" remains powerful and engrossing, making you truly care about both the specific case in question and the larger criminal justice issues the case illuminates.

Incredible, gripping documentary film that exposes an extreme miscarriage of justice.......2006-03-29

This is a frightening look at how badly justice can miscarry.

It's the true story of Randall Dale Adams, who was wrongly convicted of murdering Dallas, Texas police officer Robert Wood. This gripping documentary lets the story tell itself, with the group of people that were directly involved in the case, witnesses, law enforcement officers, the judge and the lawyers. The film, with an incredible music score that sounds like musical teardrops, pulled me deeply into this real life drama to the point one wonders how in the world could something like this happen to an innocent man.

Notice what is stated about the prosecutors in Dallas.

First Assistant District Attorney Douglas Mulder, the prosecutor in this case, should have been interviewed for this Thin Blue Line DVD that was released.

What would have happened to Randall Dale Adams, if the public had not viewed this film?

The book, Adams V. Texas, tells the story of Randall Dale Adams.

It changed my position on the Death Penalty.......2006-02-04

After seeing this film, I am now opposed to the death penalty. I do not believe it is immoral for the state to take the life of a murderer, but where the possibility exists that an innocent person could be executed, there "life" should be taken by imprisonment until death, preserving the possibility of a repeal.

The film is shocking in recounting the conduct of the Dallas judicial system, which came within hours of executing a totally innocent person.

Cop-bashers will find much to cheer about in this film, but I believe that ordinary law-abiding people will be challenged by the innocent mistakes made by some individuals, as well as see first-hand that less-than-innocent "shortcuts" to justice as well as outright fraud that nearly took the life of Randall Adams.

See it for yourself. You will not be sorry you did.

Average customer rating:

"Myrl Redding didn't fail the law.The law failed Myrl."
In the same class as Unforgiven
The Jack Bull: A good TV movie
WOW
Gripping

The Jack Bull
Starring: John Cusack , John Goodman , L.Q. Jones , Miranda Otto , and John C. McGinley
Director: John Badham
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Action & Adventure | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Made-for-TV Movies | Television | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Television | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

Westerns | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( J ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Money for Nothing
Max
Hot Pursuit
True Colors
In Pursuit of Honor

ASIN: 6305504024
Release Date: 1999-08-31

Amazon.com

The Jack Bull was produced for and premiered on HBO, but it's easily the most respectable job that feature director John Badham (Saturday Night Fever, WarGames) has done in the past two decades. The title refers not to a piece of livestock but a metaphorical Jack Russell terrier that, once it's annoyed enough to close its jaws on something, will hang on to the point of death.

That would be Myrl Redding (John Cusack), a horse-breeder of limited means but a deeply entrenched sense of justice. His independence galls Henry Ballard (L.Q. Jones), the crusty land baron out to set his brand on most of the countryside. Ballard insults and cheats Redding several times over, and his men beat Redding's horse trainer and friend, an Indian (Rodney A. Grant). When Redding seeks redress from the law, its agents can't be bothered (the local magistrate is in Ballard's pocket). So Redding musters a vigilante army to enforce his own law.

Scratch this handsome but rigorously unromanticized Western--fully an hour passes without a shot being fired--and you find the classic Heinrich von Kleist book Michael Kohlhaas transposed to Wyoming Territory on the eve of statehood. The script--by the star-producer's dad, Dick Cusack--is sturdy and uncompromising, willing to engage the knotty ambiguities of embracing vigilantism even in a just cause. Badham's decision to treat the authorities (Scott Wilson, Jay O. Sanders, John Goodman) as period caricatures is regrettable. But John Cusack is solid as a figure of utterly matter-of-fact integrity. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

When wealthy landowner Henry Ballard sets up a toll gate and takes two of Myrl Redding?s horses in lieu of payment, Redding is enraged. But when those horses are starved and beaten almost to death, he demands justice. So begins a personal feud that becomes a war .. a war that becomes a manhunt ... and a trial that will lead to a bloody kind of Western justice.

Customer Reviews:

"Myrl Redding didn't fail the law.The law failed Myrl.".......2007-02-17

I had never heard of this movie when I saw it in the store.It seemed to have all the makings of a western,but I hadn't associated John Cusack or John Goodman with Westerns.I was also not familiar with most of the other actors in the movie.One of the liner notes stated,"Gritty western harks back to John Wayne and Clint Eastwood classics.".Since that would be a lot to stand up to,I thought I would give it a try.
Was I ever impressed! This is a fine crafted Western movie in all respects. It has a great storyline that grabs your attention right in the beginning and holds it completely up to the end .Just as the story comes to its unusual end ,and we don't want to let go; we are eased back to reality with a moving song and music by Bob Dylan,"Ring Them Bells",sung by himself.
This gripping saga is quite unlike any Western that I can think of. When I finished ,I read all the reviews and found some real interesting things.The story is based on a book written way back in the year 1810.And that it was written in German and had nothing to do with America and the Old West.It must have been a teriffic piece of creative work to adapt it to the location and time of Wyoming Territory obtaining statehood.The outdoor scenes were filmed around Calgary,Alberta and the movie is filled with excellent scenery and excellent use of photography in creating appropriate moods and atmosphere.While there is some shooting,it is very minimal,except for the scene where the Military uses massive gunfire and even a Gatlin gun to mow down a few Indians in an ambush. The movie deals with a lot about personl feelings,corruption and outrageous application of justice. In the fast development of the Old West, during the times when these areas were Territories,it was no time for delaying or unlawful application of justice. Redding,who was being unjustly treated by people and their misuse of power;gave the "system' a chance to work;failing that,he had no other recourse than to take matters in his own hand,and get his justice.
This movie brings home the idea that;

"Justice delayed is justice denied."

This is a fine,powerful story with a lot of thought ,meaning and feeling ,so well crafted that it certainly ranks up there with the best.It deserves to be considered a classic for many reasons.

In the same class as Unforgiven.......2007-02-06

What fantastic value DVD this is. Hard to believe this was a TV movie - kudos to HBO, once again.
This is an un-romanticised view of the West - telling it like it was. A man of integrity might get justice in one way, but it will cost him dearly in another. From photography in washed out colours, to the slow burn build of events that means guns don't actually get used until late in the movie, this is set out to be both realistic and unflinching. This asks the question - Just what is the value of going vigilante? What is the real cost? Is getting the justice you ask for worth any price? And the wonderful (and certainly non -Hollywood) thing is, you are left to make up your own mind, there are no easy answers.
John Cusack is just terrific here - you might find it a stretch to see him in a Western, but he is utterly credible in a tough role. Miranda Otto as his wife is perfect casting, and in fact the whole supporting cast is spot on - except maybe some of the chief decision makers of the territory who are somewhat two dimensional. Enjoy John C. McGinley (Perry from `Scrubs') in a minor role, and John Goodman in a pivotal role - albeit only in the last third of the movie.
Music by Lennie Niehaus is similar but less minimalist than his score to Unforgiven, and adds in a wonderful way to the poignancy of the movie, along with some spectacular landscapes which crop up from time to time. I'm sure Dick Cusacks (john's dad) would be proud of the end result of his script, produced by his son.
Don't be put off by the fact this is a TV movie - it certainly rises way beyond its genesis to be something of a classic, born from the mould of `Unforgiven'.

The Jack Bull: A good TV movie.......2005-10-17

HBO did a good job making this movie. Actors such as John Cusack and John Goodman add a seriousness and flavor that might not be brought out by anyone else. Both Johns are supported by a very able cast and a wonderful script by Cusack's father, Bill. Directed by John Badham, who makes great use of the scenery, compels watchers back to turn of the century Wyoming territory. But the grit on the actors and the harshness of the conditions portray a reality that could easily been lost by less competent hands.

WOW.......2005-10-11

AT first, I gotta admit, I did not really like it. But I kept thinking about it, and I knew there was more to this movie.
The acting is unreal, excellent, the best. There is no doubt. John and Goodman.. WOW.
I read other's reviews, and then I pondered, YES.. this was a great movie. It has so much more then other westerns. It explores more, it reaches farther, and give it a try.. I doubt you will not be pleased it touched your life.

Gripping.......2005-09-10

If you are a John Cusack or Western fan then you will like this movie. Gripping from the opening scene, "The Jack Bull" takes you a dramatic tale of life on the frontier in the 1800s. John Goodman does an excellent job playing the fair, but just judge.

Average customer rating:

Obscure Gem From the Eighties
WOW! Finally on DVD!
Strange and crazy, but true things happens in big cities.
A.K.A The Adventures of Ramrod The Pimp
"Just another happy go lucky day on the vice squad."

Vice Squad
Starring: Season Hubley , Gary Swanson , Wings Hauser , Pepe Serna , and Beverly Todd
Director: Gary Sherman
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Suspense | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Mystery | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( V ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Class of 1984
Hardcore
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
Magic
Visiting Hours

ASIN: B000CEXF60
Release Date: 2006-02-21

Description

Season Hubley (HARDCORE) stars as Princess, a loving single mom turned Hollywood hooker who can provide any depraved pleasure for the right price. But when a volatile cop (Gary Swanson) uses her to trap a sadistic killer, Princess becomes the prey of a psychotic pimp known as Ramrod (a mind-blowing, take-noprisoners performance by Wings Hauser). Tonight, the neon jungle of Los Angeles will explode in an orgy of vengeance and violence. And the only outlaws more desperate than the hustlers, whores and freaks that rule the streets are the VICE SQUAD. "You may think you've heard of every sickness and perversion movies like to titter about," wrote Rex Reed in The New York Daily News, "but there are quite a few in VICE SQUAD you've never dreamed possible!" Pepe Serna (SCARFACE) and original MTV VJ Nina Blackwood co-star in this vicious `80s action smash from the creator of the `schoolgirl hooker' hit ANGEL and the director of DEAD & BURIED.

Customer Reviews:

Obscure Gem From the Eighties.......2007-05-25

In the eighties there were two indelible portrayals of psychotic pimps, Morgan Freeman as Fast Black in "Street Smart" and Wings Hauser as Ramrod in "Vice Squad". Unfortunate for Freeman, "Street Smart" was a rather forgettable venture but Hauser was luckier. Hauser's contribution is reason alone to see "Vice Squad" but the picture is so much more. The film works on two levels. Firstly, it's a cinema verite document of the vice scene in Hollywood. Secondly, it's a dark comedy about the proclivities of the johns that frequent the strip. A personal fave of mine is Season Hubley in Frederick's of Hollywood bridal wear to fulfill a rich john's fantasy. The film is also beautifully photographed in all it's neon decadence. I note this because some would dismiss "Vice Squad" as "B" movie fodder. The cinematographer here is John Alcott who won an Oscar lensing Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon". "Vice Squad" may not be for all tastes but I thought it was great.

WOW! Finally on DVD!.......2007-01-24

Back a few years ago, this movie was really hard-to-find on VHS. Anchor Bay, as always, has done a stellar job on the presentation of this movie. Everything from utilizing the original movie poster artwork for the DVD cover, to the picture quality- it's all perfect. If you like trashy, gritty, and violent movies, this movie will deliver big time. I remember it was released in 1982, but kept being brought back as an added feature at the drive-ins here in Toronto, right up until 1984. If you are a fan of early '80s movies, and with a lot of violence, but a great plotline that will keep you captivated, "Vice Squad" will not disappoint!

Strange and crazy, but true things happens in big cities........2007-01-19

This is a very good action movie that will probably more likely than not make the average veiwer amazed (but then again maybe not) that this kind of stuff actually goes on in big cities.

A.K.A The Adventures of Ramrod The Pimp.......2006-04-19

Vice Squad is a pretty cool movie. This was back in the day when crime dramas were nice and gritty without any real message to get across. Plotwise it's kept basic: Season Hubley's a hooker. An "outlaw" hooker coz she ain't got no pimp. She's also an equal opportunity hooker catering to foot fetishists, golden shower enthusiasts and amputees. She helps the cops nail a psychotic pimp named Ramrod(Great name. I have to laugh ever time this name is spoken in the film), he escapes custody, then the search is on for the vice suad to find either Hubley or Ramrod before Ramrod gets his revenge on the sneaky hooker. That's all it really is. Ramrod arms himself and searches the streets of Hollywood for Hubley. Hubley continues to do her job, meeting an interesting bunch of "johns" along the way. B movie regular Wings Hauser appears to be having the time of his life playing Ramrod, a character who should earn his place right next to Cape Fear's Max Cady or Blue Velvet's Frank Booth. Hubley is a decent actress in this, but I certainly don't see what all the guys in this film are drooling over(then again I must consider the guys doing the drooling). The film was directed by Gary Sherman who horror fans may remember as the director of Dead and Buried as well as Poltergeist 3. A very fun piece of junkfood for around midnight on Saturday. Leonard Maltin calls it "dull and sleazy", but he's only half right. Plus, Maltin's a schmuck. A priceless theme song sung by Hauser as well.

"Just another happy go lucky day on the vice squad.".......2006-03-09

According to the film Vice Squad (1982), the streets of Hollywood seem to be the place to be if you're a hustler, hooker, pimp, fiend, junkie, pusher, freak, weirdo, drag queen, deviant, reprobate, toe sucker, or just a degenerate miscreant in general...co-written and directed by Gary Sherman (Death Line, Dead & Buried, Poltergeist III), the film features Season Hubley (Escape from New York), Gary Swanson (The Bone Collector), and Wings Hauser (Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, Tales from the Hood). Also appearing is former MTV video disc jockey Nina Blackwood, Beverly Todd (They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!), Lydia Lei (Doctor Detroit), Fred `Rerun' Berry ("What's Happening!!"), and Hispanic character actor Pepe Serna (Red Dawn, Silverado), whom your may remember as Al Pacino's henchman who lost a few inches off the top via a chainsaw in the 1983 Brian De Palma film Scarface.

Season Hubley plays a single mother with a young daughter, relatively new to town, who makes ends meet as a prostitute named `Princess'. As she's preparing to send her daughter away for the weekend so that she can hit the streets to ply her trade, she gets a frantic phone call from another streetwalker named `Ginger' (Blackwood), who's since gone into hiding after a vicious beating she received from her psychotic cowboy pimp named Ramrod (Hauser). Princess, who's what's known as an `outlaw' (she works for herself), tries to give Ginger some advice, but it's pretty much a waste of time as Ginger's kind of stupid, possibly due to the fact Ramrod cracked her in the skull a few too many times (Ramrod eventually catches up to Ginger and whips her Mommie Dearest style with a `pimp stick', which is basically a bent out of shape clothes hanger). A vice detective named Walsh (Swanson) makes the scene and vows to get Ramrod after seeing his overly sadistic handiwork. To this end he enlists the aid of Princess (actually, he blackmails her) to lure Ramrod into a trap, which is successful, but a wily Ramrod manages to escape custody and is back on the streets...with a vengeance. As you can imagine, old Ramrod is pretty P.O.ed about being set up (one might say he's seething cauldron of hostility, with serious anger management issues), so after equipping himself with a few, choice weapons (including a switchblade that looks more like a machete), he begins scouring the streets for Princess, who's unaware of his subsequent escape (and the beating she's surely in for once Captain Insano catches up to her). Walsh and his colleagues are now desperately searching for either Princess or Ramrod before the nastiness goes down, sticking mainly with the latter as his trail of carnage is much easier to follow (Princess continues to work, taking on various clients including a rich weirdo and a sleazy conventioneer, among others). The situation eventually comes to a head as the vindictive Ramrod catches up to Princess, and Walsh and his crew catch up to Ramrod, who isn't about to go down without a fight.

Vice Squad is a mean, grimy, sleazy, nasty and misogynistic film, seeped with a strong sense of realism driven by the composite characterizations and various location shots. On the surface the main characters seem pretty standard (a hooker with a heart of gold, a sadistic pimp, an overworked veteran vice cop who's seen too much), but the lead actors manage to infuse enough in terms of personal touches to keep things interesting. I originally saw this film a number of years ago on cable, and since then whenever I hear the name Wings Hauser, my mind immediately goes to the character he played here, mainly because his presence so fills the screen. The one scene that really sticks with me is during the sting operation. The cops bust in on his pad, attempt to subdue him, but he manages to grab Princess and use her as a shield with one arm, while beating her over the head with a barstool with the other arm. Hauser didn't appear to be holding anything back, and I will admit sometimes it did seem a little comical, but more often than not it provided for some pretty tense stuff. Swanson, on the other hand, felt reserved most of the time, which would seem in tune with the character as if I were a vice detective cruising Hollywood's mean streets, I probably wouldn't want to get to close to the ever present slime and moral decay for fear it might glom on...I thought Season Hubley also did very well as a woman who does what she feels she must for her and her daughter to survive, basically disconnecting herself from the harsh, nasty, seedy reality of her job if only to keep from taking her own life out of misery. Keep an eye out for the late, great Fred `Rerun' Berry, as a hustler named `Super Pimp', in a short, but memorable scene in which Ramrod is shaking him down for information, right before he uses his giant switchblade to do something very unpleasant...let's just say Rerun won't be dancing for awhile. As far as Ms. Blackwood, I didn't even recognize her in her role, given her character's used and seriously abused appearance. This is a very violent film, but the really brutal bits aren't shown as the scenes ends prior to the nastiness, usually picking up again during the aftermath, supplying the viewer enough visuals to draw their own mental images. I thought director Gary Swanson did a wonderful job as the pacing rarely slowed down. I especially liked the latter half of the film, as the story breaks off into three, separate threads, one following Princess, the second Ramrod, and the third Walsh and the police. We're constantly switching between these three elements until they finally converge near the end, providing for a highly climatic and satisfying finish.

Anchor Bay Entertainment provides a good-looking anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) print on this DVD release. There is a noticeable graininess in some scenes, but it didn't draw away from the images on the film. Other than that, the print is very clear and sharp. The Dolby Digital mono audio comes through well, although some of the dialog was kind of muffled at times, making me wish there were English subtitles provided, but there aren't. None of Anchor Bay Entertainment's past releases feature subtitles, which always seemed odd to me given their general commitment to quality overall. As far as extras included, there's an audio commentary track with director Gary Swanson, a theatrical trailer for the film, two radio spots, a poster and still gallery, and a five page insert booklet with liner notes provided by Richard Harland Smith, a staff writer for Video Watchdog Magazine.

Cookieman108

By the way, Hauser himself sang the theme song titled `Neon Slime', played at the beginning and end of the film. Also, I learned cops get pretty upset when you steal their paper clips.

Average customer rating:

losing isaiah
losing isaiah
superb
What's best for Isaiah?
honest

Losing Isaiah
Starring: Jessica Lange , Halle Berry , David Strathairn , Cuba Gooding Jr. , and Daisy Eagan
Director: Stephen Gyllenhaal
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Why Do Fools Fall in Love
B.A.P.S.
The Rich Man's Wife
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
Antwone Fisher (Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B0000A2ZNM
Release Date: 2003-09-09

Amazon.com

Jessica Lange is a social worker who falls for an abandoned newborn and breaks all the rules by bringing him home. Halle Berry is the homeless druggie who dumped the baby. One of the film's best attributes is that it reveals everyone's perspective, though much of the story is told from Berry's point of view. Strung out on crack, Berry's character thinks nothing of hiding her baby in a cardboard box near a dumpster before going off for a fix. We watch Berry painfully pull herself up out of the gutter and make a life for herself. She embraces decency and sobriety and becomes the person she might have always been had her childhood been different. After Lange and her amiable spouse (David Strathairn) have formed strong family ties with this difficult child, they find themselves fighting to keep him when Berry decides she wants Isaiah back. Naomi Foner's clever script reveals a legal system that is as much a character in this painful story as the attorney (Samuel L. Jackson) who takes on the case pro bono. Though the film ultimately flounders under a hesitant ending, Lange is such a dynamo that this tragic story still comes recommended. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Customer Reviews:

losing isaiah.......2007-02-27

is a powerful movie to watch and learn about love of a different race..

losing isaiah.......2006-07-05

Very nice heart touching story. Sadly there are also real stories like this one that don't normally have this happy ending, but the story does touch a lot of hearts. I enjoyed it.

superb.......2006-07-02

Losing Isaiah Is the best from Hallie Berry. It is the best i have seen in a long long time. I wish ms.berry won an award for this film. ms.berry did well on this as crack addict trying to regain custody of her son. I like how she was tough to jessica lange and her husband. samuel l. jackson did well too as ms. berry's attorney. I didnt like jessica lange and her husband were nasty to ms.berry

What's best for Isaiah?.......2005-09-21

Perhaps the biggest complaint I have with custody battles is that they are ultimately based around the selfishness of the adults involved, whether it be a battle between the child's mother and father, or between the biological parent(s) and the foster parent(s). "Losing Isaiah" is an example of a movie that uses this sad truth to tell a compelling story.

Normally, I'd be quick to write off someone like Halle Berry's character (a former crack addict who abandoned her baby in an alley) as someone unfit to raise this child. I'd also be uneasy about tearing Isaiah away from the only home he's ever known. Thankfully, this film does not end there.

After the courtroom decision is rendered, we see a much different Isaiah than the playful, cheerful child we first encountered. Did anyone bother to stop and ask him what he wanted? In an ideal world, someone would have. Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world, but at least we have people who (albeit a little slowly) realize this mistake in "Losing Isaiah." Were I to be given the assignment of filming a movie based around a custody battle, this is the kind of movie I would make.

honest.......2005-09-16

Very good movie. Halle always shines in whatever type of role she plays. Man she can act.

Average customer rating:

I Can'T Be That Drunk--I Can Still Feel My Head
Dragonfly: The Movie
Lost in Distribution
Modest debut for Francis Ford Coppola's son Roman
groove fest

CQ
Starring: Jeremy Davies , Angela Lindvall , Élodie Bouchez , Gérard Depardieu , and Giancarlo Giannini
Director: Roman Coppola
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

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

4-for-3 Drama | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Science Fiction & Fantasy | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Danger: Diabolik
CQ
Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy
Gwendoline - Unrated Director's Cut (aka - The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak)
The Virgin Suicides

ASIN: B00006CXH2
Release Date: 2002-09-10

Amazon.com

Jeremy Davies is a different kind of American in Paris. In the heady days of 1969, this aspiring director edits a silly sci-fi spy adventure by day while spending his nights obsessively filming his own life, much to the frustration of his stewardess girlfriend (Elodie Bouchez), who tires of his using his camera to avoid intimacy. First-time director Roman Coppola (son of Francis) creates a slight but fun picture steeped in 1960s movie lore: the film-within-a-film is a pop-art spectacle that recalls Barbarella, Modesty Blaise, and Danger: Diabolique, while its Italian producer (Giancarlo Giannini) is a high-living Dino De Laurentiis. If the film is slight, the details are right, from the opulent and outrageous sets to the meticulously retro special effects to the groovy music by Mellow. You could think of CQ as Coppola's 8½, about a man so busy filming his life he forgets to live. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Captivating and sexy, CQ takes you behind the scenes of a sci-fi thriller being filmed in 1969 Paris but set in 'futuristic' 2001! Jeremy Davies (Saving Private Ryan), newcomer Angela Lindvall, Gerard Depardieu (Green Card) and Billy Zane (Titanic) shine in this "unpredictable, stylish and original" (Boxoffice) movie where past meets future, reality blurs with fantasy, and tight leather catsuits are the perfect accessory for a ray gun that can stop time! Novice filmmaker Paul (Davies) has just been given the chance of a lifetimeto direct the super spy film Codename Dragonfly. But when he starts to believe that the stunningly beautiful 'Dragonfly character (Lindvall) is seducing him from within the film Paul risks his new positionand his sanityto join her in an adventure beyond even his imagination!

Customer Reviews:

I Can'T Be That Drunk--I Can Still Feel My Head.......2007-06-11

Don't be fooled by the stellar cast: it just proves that sybaritic actors will do anything to support their lifestyles! This film is a paean to such 60's effluvia as CANDY, THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN, LORD LOVE A DUCK, DOCTOR YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING, and CAN HIERONYMOUS MERKIN EVER FORGET MERCY HUMPPE AND FIND TRUE HAPPINESS, and seems more like a film student's desparate attempt to turn in something for his final project, when he hasn't got a clue. The words "inane" and "stupid" come to mind but are too complementary. It just not a film you can get into or care about. The Coppola name (director) notwithstanding--not Francis Ford--this makes my list of the 10 Worst Films of All Time. Oy.

Dragonfly: The Movie.......2006-06-29

I give this film 4 stars because I strongly feel that this should have been a full feature film about Dragonfly.

Lost in Distribution.......2006-03-19

Sofia Coppola may have got all the kudos with The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation, but, from a 60s movie buff's point of view, the other Coppola kid, Roman, turned out an even more enjoyable feature, CQ. Shame that no-one saw it. Barely released in the US (and not released at all in most countries), it's an engaging little number that pits underground cinema against Eurotrash moviemaking at a time when people still thought even pulp cinema could be the stuff of revolution (1969-70 to be precise).

A riff on Sullivan's Travels and 8½, it sees Jeremy Davies' editor of Franco-Italian co-pro 'Codename: Dragonfly' struggling to come up with a new ending while making his own personal film with borrowed equipment. Oh, and falling in love with the fictional main character, confusing film and reality (not only is he too busy documenting `the truth' of his life to see it around him but he even enters the film to sort out a plot hole) and possibly being targeted for retribution by Gerard Depardieu's fired firebrand director. (The door panel that Depardieu breaks that is later framed and given to the editors is actually one that Francis Ford Coppola smashed on one of his films!)

Filled with sly 60s cinema references from Fellini to Warhol (even the trailer he cuts for the film is inspired by the one for Dr Strangelove) and with some character touches straight out of James Joyce, the visual influence is much more Danger: Diabolik than Barbarella (John Phillip Law even appears in the film within the film), and Dean Tavoularis' spot-on production design and Robert Yeoman's superb photography are both pitch-perfect. Davies, so irritating in Soderbergh's disastrous Solaris, is quietly fine here, Jason Schwartzman has fun as a bizarre hybrid of a young papa Coppola mixed with Roger Corman via Austin Powers, Giancarlo Giannini does Dino de Laurentiis to a tee (with Sofia Coppola cameoing as his mistress), and there's good work from Dean Stockwell and Massimo Ghini as well. At the end of the day there's not much there, but Coppola's love of moviemaking makes it surprisingly joyful to watch if you're in a receptive mood. And MGM's DVD is filled with extras, both interesting and appropriately self-indulgent.

Modest debut for Francis Ford Coppola's son Roman.......2006-03-18

There are two films within a film in this campy debut from Roman Coppola. There is the introspective black and white, experimental, "student" sort of film that the young director Paul (Jeremy Davies) is making in his Paris apartment, and there is "Dragonfly," a kind of Barbarella (1968) sci-fi space shoot 'em up that he ends up directing. These might be seen as the twin realities of the young film maker: on the one hand there are those short films you made at USC or UCLA film school to get your degree; on the other, there are those mindless commercial entertainments that Hollywood needs to crank out for the masses. These represent the bookends of the young director's reality.

The third film, the film that exists over and above these two, is the film that Roman/Paul would like to make, a film about what it is like to be a young film maker amid the crass commercialism of the producers, the seductive lure of the glamor that is the film maker's world, and the daily often tedious work of the actual film making. In other words, Roman Coppola is self-exploring in public. He is the novelist as a film maker.

"Dragonfly" itself is indeed Barbarella without the benefit of Terry Southern's contributions to the script or the services of Jane Fonda. It is unconsciously campy and a satire on such films. Model Angela Lindvall, five feet ten and three-quarters inches tall, anorexically thin, and sporting some very serious hair, plays Dragonfly with a kind of Barbie doll intensity. It is immediately obvious that she has the muscle tone of the languid and the athletic ability of a preteen. Yet her character is a "for hire" secret agent skilled in the martial arts and the use of weapons. Playing opposite her is Billy Zane as "Mr. E" a kind of Che Guevara revolutionary who is absurdly stationed on the far side of the moon where he is training revolutionaries.

In the introspective black and white film, Paul sits on the commode and talks to the camera much to the disdain of his live-in girlfriend Marlene (French actress Elodie Bouchez, best known for her work in the outstanding The Dreamlife of Angels (1998)) who would like him to pay more attention to her.

This might be compared (distantly) with Francois Truffaut's La Nuit Américaine (Day for Night) from 1973 in which the great French director plays himself making a film--in other words a film within a film. Jeremy Davies reminds me somewhat of the sensitive, boyish actor Jean-Pierre Leaud, who played in that film after gaining prominence in Truffaut's Les Quatre cents coup (1959). It is easy to see Truffaut's influence on Roman Coppola, as indeed Truffaut has influenced many directors.

I don't think CQ ("Seek You") was entirely successful mainly because I don't think Roman made the transition from the self-indulgence and showiness characteristic of the very films he is satirizing to the mature project that addresses itself more directly to the needs of the audience. There is some fancy camera work with mirrors and characters seen from interesting angles, and some beautifully constructed sets, and some witty dialogue amid some telling satire of filmland people and their world (especially producer Enzo played by Giancarlo Giannini and Dragonfly's idiot second director), but we are never made to care about what happens to any of the characters, this despite the fact that Davies is a very sympathetic actor.

Some of the jokes in the film include the three-day five o'clock shadows on the faces of the young actors. (That style is almost contemporary--not sixties-ish.) The hairstyles of the women with the beehives and such hinted of 1969, the year of the main film, but the eye makeup again was more contemporary than sixties-ish since it lacked the very heavy black eyelashes and eye liner that one recalls. To get it right, Roman should have reviewed, e.g., Blow-Up (1966) or Elvira Madigan (1967), films I am sure he has seen. Another is the view of Paris in the year 2001 as seen from 1970. It is futuristic in a silly way, and recalls some science fiction that exaggerated the technological changes that would take place. Orwell's 1984 (from 1948) has not yet arrived, nor has the overpopulated, polluted world from Blade Runner (1982).

Appearing in small roles are Dean Stockwell as Paul's father, and veteran French film star Gerard Depardieu as Dragonfly's original director.

Bottom line: worth seeing if only because it is the first film of the son of Francis Ford Coppola who may yet do something to rival the great works of his father. By the way, this might also be compared to The Virgin Suicides (2000), his sister Sofia Coppola's first film, just to see who is more likely to best please Dad. I'm taking no bets.

groove fest.......2006-01-24

space age chic with stunning visuals, great music and a hypnotic story. I thought it dragged at times but was well worth the delightful pseudo-psychedelic trip and ingenious, albeit pretentious and self mocking, twists.

Average customer rating:

Lame story
L.A. Law is back.

L.A. Law - The Movie
Starring: Corbin Bernsen , Susan Dey , Larry Drake , Richard A. Dysart , and Jill Eikenberry
Director: Michael Schultz
Manufacturer: Studio Works
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Comedy | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Drama | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Television | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Practice - Volume One
Hill Street Blues - Season 1
Boston Legal - Season One
Boston Legal - Season 2
Law & Order, Trial By Jury: The Complete Series

ASIN: B0000EMYGP
Release Date: 2004-02-03

Description

LA Law: The Movie reunites the cast of the award winning television series for a two-hour network film. Nearly the entire original cast returns to the fictional law firm, McKenzie-Brackman. Following the series finale, founding Partner Leland McKenzie (Richard A. Dysart) retires thereby leaving Douglas Brackman Jr. (Alan Rachins) as Senior Managing Partner. Another former Partner is summoned in effort to stop the execution of a past client. However, the prosecution is lead by his old flame Grace Van Owen (Susan Dey). Meanwhile, McKenzie-Brackman divorce attorney, Arnie Becker (Corbin Bernsen) deals with his own divorce from his estranged wife. In addition to the memorable cast of the series, the reunion also includes new additions to the firm.

Customer Reviews:

Lame story.......2005-02-09

This movie is as bad as the series last 3 seasons. A reunion-movie without Diana Muldaur, Amanda Donohoe, John Spencer and Jimmy Smits - please!

L.A. Law is back........2004-01-20

The L.A. Law reunion movie was very nice to see. The plot was a little lame and it would of been alot better if Jimmy Smits was in it. Maybe with this release they will do what other studios have done and release the series on dvd in boxed sets.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Explore Your Mind:History 9pk

L.A. Confidential

Like Water for Chocolate (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Amc Monsterfest: Cult Classics Collection 2 Vol 1

Manx Trains And Trams