Illegal

Starring:Illegal
Studio: ROAN
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

10 lesser-known but excellent Film Noirs make it to DVD

Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 4 (Act of Violence / Mystery Street / Crime Wave / Decoy / Illegal / The Big Steal / They Live By Night / Side Street / Where Danger Lives / Tension)
Starring: Van Heflin , Robert Ryan , Janet Leigh , Mary Astor , and Phyllis Thaxter
Director: Fred Zinnemann , John Sturges , and André De Toth
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Ace in the Hole - Criterion Collection
The Woman in the Window (MGM Film Noir)
Myrna Loy and William Powell Collection (Manhattan Melodrama / Evelyn Prentice / Double Wedding / I Love You Again / Love Crazy)
Cult Camp Classics 4 - Historical Epics (The Colossus of Rhodes / Land of the Pharaohs / The Prodigal)
Tyrone Power: The Swashbuckler Box Set (Blood and Sand / Son of Fury / The Black Rose / Prince of Foxes / The Captain from Castile)

ASIN: B000PKG7DE
Release Date: 2007-07-31

Description

Ex-World War II pilot Frank Enley (Van Heflin) is a respected contractor and family man. Then his troubled, gimp-legged bombardier (Robert Ryan) shows up with a gun and a score to settle. Perhaps neither man is what he seems to be as director Fred Zinnemann (The Day of the Jackal) guides a searing Act of Violence, "the first postwar noir to take a challenging look at the ethics of men in combat" (Eddie Muller, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir). Murder lives on Mystery Street. John Sturges (The Great Escape) directs a revealing-for-the-era procedural about a Boston cop (Ricardo Montalban) solving a whodunit with the help of a Harvard forsensic expert (Bruce Bennett). Welcome to CSI Noir.

Customer Reviews:

10 lesser-known but excellent Film Noirs make it to DVD.......2007-04-25

This collection is the DVD debut for all ten of these films, and I don't even know if any of them are available on VHS. I've only seen them thanks to Turner Classic Movies playing them at odd hours, along with other cable channels presenting them over the years. They are excellent but not well remembered film noirs. I would rate them all between 4 and 5 stars. I thought I would list their descriptions, stars, and special features below, not in any particular order:

Crime Wave: (1954) Starring Sterling Hayden and Gene Nelson. An ex-con is trying to go straight, but circumstances force him into crime one more time. Gene Nelson plays a hard-nosed cop. Note a young Charles Bronson playing a minor role.
Commentary by James Ellroy and Eddie Muller
Crime Wave: The City is Dark
Theatrical trailer

Decoy: (1946) Starring Gene Gillie and Edward Norris. Sci-Fi meets Film Noir in this story of a woman who will stop at nothing to retrieve 400K stolen in a robbery. Gillie would make Barbara Stanwyck proud as she chews up man after man in her quest.
Commentary by Stanley Rubin and Glenn Erickson
Decoy: A Map to Nowhere
Theatrical trailer

Illegal: (1955) Starring Edward G. Robinson and Nina Foch. Robinson plays a D.A. whose upwardly mobile career faces a train wreck when a man he convicted is executed and then found to be innocent. After he hits bottom he resurrects his legal career, this time as a criminal attorney. The plot can be hard to follow, but Robinson's performance is great.
Commentary by Nina Foch and Patricia King Hanson
Illegal: Marked for Life
Behind the Cameras: Edward G. Robinson
Theatrical trailer

The Big Steal: (1949) Starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. The lead duo from "Out of the Past" trade wisecracks and insults in a cross-country chase over a suitcase full of stolen money. For once, Mitchum is actually not the bad guy. Almost too much fun to be considered Film Noir.
Commentary by Richard B. Jewell
The Big Steal: Look Behind You

They Live By Night: (1948) Starring Cathy O'Donnell and Farley Granger. The story of an escaped convict trying to live a normal life with the help of his girlfriend. Granger plays the convict who isn't entirely bad, but not entirely reformed either.
Commentary by Farley Granger and Eddie Muller
They Live By Night: The Twisted Road
Theatrical trailer

Side Street: (1950) Starring Cathy O'Donnell and Farley Granger. Granger plays a struggling husband trying to make ends meet when he spots some cash lying around in an office one day. He takes the money, but finds out it is much more than he thought. When he tries to return the money, he gets caught up in a murder mystery. Hitchcock-like in its twists and turns.
Commentary by Richard Schickel
Side Street: Where Temptation Lurks
Theatrical trailer

Where Danger Lives: (1950) Starring Robert Mitchum and Faith Domergue. The plot is somewhat unbelievable, even for Film Noir, but Mitchum gives a strong performance that makes it worthwhile. Mitchum plays a doctor who becomes taken with a patient. Due to a concussion, his judgement becomes clouded and he believes he has murdered the patient's husband. He and the woman go on the run, have some strange adventures, and then Mitchum realizes what kind of illness his new girlfriend was being treated for in the first place.
Commentary by Alain Silver and James Ursini
Where Danger Lives: White Rose for Julie
Theatrical Trailer

Tension: (1950) Starring Richard Basehart and Audrey Trotter. Basehart plays a mild-mannered man whose salary and disposition are not enough for his wife. She leaves him for a tough and wealthy man. Why Basehart would want her back is anyone's guess, but he does and plans to murder his wife's new boyfriend. The tough guy is murdered, but not by Basehart's character.
Commentary by Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward with Audrey Trotter
Tension: Who's Guilty Now?
Theatrical Trailer

Act of Violence: (1948) Starring Van Heflin and Robert Ryan. Van Heflin plays a family man trying to adapt to life after the war and internment in a prison camp. Enter Robert Ryan, who plays a man with Terminator-like determination in his quest to murder Heflin's character for something that happened during their joint stay in the German prison camp.
Commentary by Dr. Drew Casper
Act of Violence: Dealing With the Devil
Theatrical Trailer

Mystery Street: (1950) Starring Ricardo Montalban and Sally Forrest. Montalban plays a detective who, working with a forensics expert, tries to solve a murder case and exonerate the lone circumstantial suspect. One of the first films I know of to use science to help solve a murder decades before DNA made this aspect of crime solving so interesting and important.
Commentary by Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward
Mystery Street: Murder at Harvard
Theatrical Trailer

Average customer rating:

Self-righteous garbage
A must-see!
A brilliant mutli-layered exploration of human beings linked by the fast food business
Terrible
urrrppp!

Fast Food Nation
Starring: Wilmer Valderrama , Catalina Sandino Moreno , Ana Claudia Talancón , Juan Carlos Serrán , and Armando Hernández
Director: Richard Linklater
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000MEYKAU
Release Date: 2007-03-06

Amazon.com

If you're still eating that fast-food burger after watching Super Size Me, you might not feel too hungry after watching Fast Food Nation, a fictionalized feature based on Eric Schlosser's bestselling nonfiction expose. Director Richard Linklater, who cowrote the screenplay with Schlosser, guides a topnotch ensemble cast through a peek behind the veil of how that Big Mac is born. Much of the film focuses on the illegal immigrants who work in the loosely regulated meat-packing industry, and actors including the luminous Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), who plays a desperate but outraged laborer. Greg Kinnear also delivers a spot-on performance as a fast-food chain marketing manager, trying frantically to discover the source of stomach-turning contamination in the company's meat. Stories are woven in unexpected ways, and cameos by the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, and especially Bruce Willis keep the narrative fresh. The film has a point of view, but thanks to Linklater's deft touch, is never didactic. As Willis's character slyly says, "Most people don't like to be told what's best for them." Agreed, yet Fast Food Nation likely will help the viewer be more conscious of what's on the end of that fork. --A.T. Hurley

Extras from Fast Food Nation

Fast Food Nation Arcade-Style Game

Beyond Fast Food Nation

Super Size Me
Fast Food Nation (Paperback)
Fast Food Nation: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture

Stills from Fast Food Nation

Description

Inspired by the incendiary New York Times bestseller that exposed the hidden facts behind America's fast food industry, Fast Food Nation combines an all-star ensemble cast lead by Greg Kinnear, Wilmer Valderrama and Avril Lavigne with riveting, interlocked human stories to serve up "a firecracker of a movie that jumps off the screen" (Rolling Stone). When a marketing executive (Kinnear) for the Mickey's burger chain is told there's a nasty secret ingredient in his latest culinary creation?"The Big One"? he heads for the ranches and slaughterhouses of Colorado to investigate...but discovers the truth a bit difficult to swallow.

Customer Reviews:

Self-righteous garbage.......2007-07-03

I hate to give this sanctimonious diatribe about the evils of capitalism one star, because it doesn't deserve any. Seriously, this is quite possibly the worst waste of time ever, I can see myself on my deathbed lamenting the time I wasted watching this worthless claptrap.

Schlosser's book was both informative and enlightening, but the movie, chocked full as it was with stereotypes and misguided, opinionated drivel, was neither. From the hapless, forlorn illegal immigrants and their abusive coyotes and supervisors to the stupid, idealistic kids to the greedy, uncaring company executives, the cast of characters seem to have been taken straight out of a stereotype catalog. And the constant refrain throughout the movie had very little to do with the fast food industry, except to repeatedly point out that "there is s#!t in the meat". More, it was a general stab at the capitalist system and the evils of for profit ventures. I wonder if Schlosser felt guilty about taking the money he was paid for having his book and his reputation slaughtered like the cattle in the closing scene. Which, BTW, was the only part of the whole movie that was not completely disingenuous, as the meat industry is pretty disgusting when you think about it. Not that I am a vegan or anything, mind you.

I can only assume, that if capitalism and profit are so horrible, that the producers of this, to use the term loosly, FILM, donated their take to worthy animal and human rights organizations. Otherwise they are not only lousy filmmakers, but hypocrites to boot. Maybe they would be happier in Cuba or North Korea or someplace like that.

On the bright side, no one can ever accuse Plan 9 from Outer Space or Robot Monster of being the worst movie ever. The bar has just been set to a new low.

A must-see!.......2007-06-17

Those who see Fast Food Nation as simply a movie about hamburger or even the fast food industry miss the point. Fast Food nation uses the fast food industry as a metaphor for the degradation of EVERYTHING from the land to the lives of ranchers to the the people who work within the death machine which is modern corporate culture. It is broad in its scope, but it must be. The banding together of young people to fight the ills they saw through direct action gives hope for the future.

A brilliant mutli-layered exploration of human beings linked by the fast food business.......2007-06-16

"Fast Food Nation" is a superb reworking of Eric Schlosser's 2001 book by Schlosser and director Richard Linklater.

Set mostly in and around the town of Cody on the Mexican-American border, "Fast Food Nation" follows three story threads all linked by the fast food business.

Mickey's burger chain has a problem - fecal matter in its burger patties -so it sends out its new marketing manager Don Henderson (Greg Kinnear) to find out what is going on at the meat packing plant that supplies all their patties.

Uni-Globe Meat Packers employes many illegal Mexican immigrants. The immigrants are exploited and brutalised by a the company - treated little better than the animals processed at the plant. An evil supervisor at the factory Mike (Bobby Cannavale) drives around in a red pickup, treats the Mexicans with contempt, and coerces women staff members into sex - he is like the devil himself and the factory can be seen as a kind of hell for the animals and workers.

Amber (Ashley Johnson) works on the counter at the Mickey's restaurant in Cody oblivious to the evils of the nearby meat-packing plant. Through some college friends and her uncle she is slowly awakened to the plight of the workers and animals, and prompted to take action.

"Fast Food Nation" features a number of brilliant cameos by Kris Kristofferson (rancher), Bruce Willis (tough company negotiator) and Ethan Hawke (Amber's uncle) but the entire cast is excellent. It also features a great score from "The Friends of Dean Martinez".

"Fast Food Nation" succeeds because - save for the evil supervisor Mike - it doesn't paint the good and bad guys in black and white. It doesn't offer easy answers either.

A brilliant, multi-layered film from creators Linklater and Schlosser.

Terrible.......2007-06-13

This was by far one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Don't waste your time or money! I truly enjoyed the book, but the movie really had nothing to do with the book. The topic of "poopy" burgers was hardly addressed as the whole movie revolved around illegal immigrants. It was full of propaganda and rather un-American.

urrrppp!.......2007-06-05

Warning: watching the last three minutes of this film can lead to vegetarianism. Based upon Eric Schlosser's devastating book about the fast food industry by the same title (2001), this fictional film never quite finds its focus. The ostensibly main character disappears half way through, never to reappear. It's not clear which of the many sub-plots is the main narrative. But I still recommend the movie. When corporate hack Don discovers that there are more than chemical additives to Mickeys "Big One" burger, namely fecal matter, he travels to the Uniglobe Meat Packing Company to find out what's wrong. Lots, it turns out. You'll find yourself back in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906), what with illegal immigrant labor on the cheap, animal cruelty, horrible sanitation, hazardous work conditions, employee abuse, pitiless corporate greed, and more, all to feed our fast food habits. You'll never think about a Big Mac in the same way, nor should you, thanks to this mediocre movie that nevertheless provides some serious social commentary.

Average customer rating:

Stupid softcore DVD
good, but could be better
Lolida and the Sex Patrol
No more legal sex! Bite your tongue! [:-\
Passable

Lolida 2000: The Forbidden Stories
Starring: Jacqueline Lovell , Jake Kealy , Danielle Williams (II) , David Squires , and Skylar Nicholas
Director: Cybil Richards
Manufacturer: SURRENDER CINEMA
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 6305337373
Release Date: 1999-04-20

Customer Reviews:

Stupid softcore DVD.......2006-11-10

Don't buy this disc unless you are a real Jackie Lovell fan. The best thing in this DVD is Lovell's dance at the end!

good, but could be better.......2005-09-27

I thought the women in this video are very pretty; I think the brunett that was in the prison with her would have made a better Lolita, but that's a personal opinion. The only problem I have with this movie is that it's not enough. I can't put my finger on it, but it leaves you wanting more. This is very good if that's what the writers intended, but I would personally like to see more female acton.
In short I think the movie is good.

Lolida and the Sex Patrol.......2005-08-17

Oh my goodness, they've outlawed sex! That is the premise for this hokey so called Sci-Fi Semi-Porn film. At some future, unspecified, (probably 2000 since Lolida 2000 is the title, course it's 2005 and it didn't happen) date the sex act and anything connected to sex has been outlawed. (and you thought prohibition was extreme) So what we have here is a sex film, where sex is banned but hark, never worry, Lolida or is it Lolita, this is so... confusing, is here to save the day.

Lolita/Lolida (Jacqueline Lovell) is a government censor, tasked with reviewing all video recordings and destroying those which recorded sexual activity. Now I don't know about you but it's pretty hard to watch people engaging in sex and not get turned on even a teeny weeny little bit. So pretty soon our censor is getting in the mood and pleasuring herself. Apparently Lolita/Lolida then decides that it's a dumb law that "The Society" has dreamed up, which I could have told her if she'd asked me and starts beaming these randy reels she viewed back through "The Society" networks to bounce around space to free the sexually repressed public, at which point we get to see the erotic videos as well.

The videos consist of a trinity of erogenous vignettes, the first of which features the well endowed Gabriella Hall (Famalien), as Sherry, who keeps having dark nightmares of alien abduction when she was young. Eventually she gets abducted again, (The green aliens missed her) gets thrown in lockup, naked with a similarly attired male, named Sasha, from Eastern Europe. After a few hours and despite the fact that they're both scared sh*tless, after comforting each other for awile, they decide to have one last fling. The aliens apparently missed the action and bring the uncoupled couple out to the examining table and asked them to couple again, so they and we can watch. It is at this point that Sherry has an epiphany and decides to make a career move. She decides she really likes performing naked in front of aliens and decides to become the spaceship slut. After all green was always her favorite color.

In vignette deux, a starship pilot named Casey (Skylar Nichols) is incarcerated, that means jailed, in an underground penis, I mean penal colony, where she undergoes excruciating sex at the hands of the warden dyke, her feline, that's a type of alien, cellmate Maya (Nikki Nova), tries to be her lesbian lover. Finally she finds a guy prisoner to skewer her, ahh but that's a no no and he is dragged off to parts unknown by the two guards to be beaten mercifully. This is all getting to much for Casey, so she escapes but just as she gets free of the prison she discovers that it's all been a virtual reality mind trip, perpetrated on her by Kelvans another alien race. (I wonder if they're the green guys?)

For the last and most bizarre vignette, which involves time slippage, we start in a truck stop restaurant. Jake (Jake Kealy) is washing his face in the restroom when Keely (Heather James), waltzes in and proceeds to seduce him. (Happens in truck stop rest rooms all the time. Didn`t you know?) After Keely leaves we get into some great special effects (you know flashing colored lights and so forth) and when Jake emerges from the rest room the restaurant is now in the fifties but Heather is still the waitress. This format is repeated twice more, first in a western saloon, again with Heather and then in a prehistoric cave where two cave ladies (Heather and friend) take a fancy to Jake while their cave men watch. Eventually the cave men get the idea and shove Jake out of the way and continue while Jake admires their primal urges.

Finally we go back to our heroin or is it heroine, I'm getting confused again.... Anyway we go back to Lolita/Lolida who proceeds to honor us with her very own sensual strip tease. Hooray!

I know I gave away the whole story, didn't I? Well you don't expect me to believe you'd watch this movie for the story do you?

Conclusion

Another so called Sci-Fi Semi-Porn film? It seems that almost all the randy movies that come out lately have a hokey science fiction plot, but we don't watch these movies for the story line do we? I doubt if anyone who has seen this movie would consider this a science fiction movie. Instead like other similar movies like Femalien and Alien Files, they would probably label it a Softcore Erotic picture with a extremely weak sci-fi tie in.

This DVD comes with the following Special Features:
~ Surrender Cinema Trailer Reel
~ Girls of Surrender Cinema
~ Casting Couch Porno....Promo
~ Website Information (which don`t work)
~ Actor Filmographies

I gave this movie a low four star rating because even though it is a below average movie in the commercial sense, it is a better than your average hokey Sci-Fi Semi-Porn extravaganza. All the great bodies, didn't hurt either

No more legal sex! Bite your tongue! [:-\.......2005-07-28

When I first heard of this one, I couldn't send away for it quickly enough. Any production featuring Gabriella Hall will always find it's way into my library! If I could, I'd probably marry her. (try to anyway). [:-) But when I eagerly looked for her in the show, my hopes began to fade. Her scenes were so dark, almost couldn't recognize her. DOES NO ONE REMEMBER HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN SO HER BEAUTY CAN BE APPRECIATED!

These modern "Directors" try to create moods and excitement with weird lighting and lots of camera cuts. Where has all the true "show biz" talent gone? HEY! Don't you know that the STAR LADIES are the excitement that I'm paying to see! Not your fancy camera work. Wise up guys.

The only thing close to sexual excitement I could find was in the alien prison scene, One of the female guards was very aggressive and not hard to look at.

And talk about bad story plots! This one started out, in an interesting way, but soon got so boring that I started skipping forward, looking for sexual activity. Now, you must understand that I've been an avid SciFi fan for more years than you'd want to admit, but this one really left me wanting. The concept was OK, they just didn't put it together well enough for me. But then, I am only a dirty old man. What do I know.

Passable.......2003-09-12

If you like softcore this is not bad. Unfortunately, there is too little of Jacqueline Lovell, who is the only real standout in the whole video. If you are bored by most softcore, this one will not do anything for you.

Average customer rating:

Family drama
Review for "My Family"
My Family - Mi Familia
great history of Latios in South West America
Mi Familia

My Family
Starring: Jimmy Smits , Edward James Olmos , Esai Morales , Eduardo López Rojas , and Elpidia Carrillo
Director: Gregory Nava
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0001CNQX0
Release Date: 2004-04-06

Description

Three-generational epic saga of the Sanchez family as told by the eldest son.

Customer Reviews:

Family drama.......2007-05-30

I loved this movie and have seen it five times. It charts the generations of a hispanic family in Los Angeles and gives a rich insight into Mexican culture. It's funny, sad, absorbing, and very well acted. For anyone interested in Mexican culture, it's a "must see", and would be especially interesting to anyone living in Los Angeles.

Review for "My Family".......2007-05-13

Not only was this film well done and very entertaining, it was perfect for use in my "Racial, Ethnic, & Gender Relations" course at a local community college.

My Family - Mi Familia.......2007-03-15

If you are Mexican American or Latino for that matter and were born and raised in California, then you can definately relate to this great tale. And for those of you, any race, who are family oriented, or were born to a big family then this movie is for you too. My Family if a wonderful demonstration of how families have unconditional love for one another, stick together, and are proud of each other matter what. It also shows the struggles of immigrant parents coming to our great country to make a better life for their family. This movie has it's comedy, drama, and action beautifully orchestrated, and also a great soundtrack. This movie is a must see by all.

great history of Latios in South West America.......2007-01-09

This movie is a great example of what life was like over the last couple centuries for those Latios living in the South West region of the United States. Some of who without moving went from being Mexicans to living in a new country without the benefits of being a citizen. A great example of the struggles raising a family during that time.

Mi Familia.......2007-01-04

One of the best Latino oriented films i've seen besides 'Selena' and 'La Bamba'. The story is very good and the movie is nice to see especially if you're a Latino. It's been a movie i can enjoy with my family, which is very rare. The DVD features aren't much, but I recommend that people see this movie.

Average customer rating:

don't break the rules
The Transporter in Blu-ray: Action, Suspense, Romance and Fast Cars!
The Transporter
Could be the dumbest movie ever...
All action with a story included

The Transporter (Blu-Ray)
Starring: Jason Statham
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: Blu-ray

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ASIN: B000ICLRIY
Release Date: 2006-11-14

Amazon.com

Move over, Vin Diesel, because The Transporter, Hong Kong action veteran Corey Yuen's English-language directorial debut, is revving up to steal your thunder. As the other top-billed action star to emerge in 2002, British hunk Jason Statham--previously seen in Snatch, Ghosts of Mars, and The One--plays a hard-driving courier for well-heeled underworld clients. He follows simple rules: (1) Stick to the deal; (2) Don't ask names; and (3) Don't look in the packages he transports. All's well until he violates rule 3, discovering a Chinese beauty (Qi Shu) in the trunk of his tricked-out BMW, and foiling a deadly plot to smuggle Chinese slaves through the port of Marseilles. The first hour is ass-kickin' fun, and the stuntwork is impressive throughout, even as the plot degenerates into a predictable series of bone-breaking showdowns. Statham boasts an appealing combination of brains and brawn, suggesting the suave versatility of a promising career. Coproduced by action auteur Luc Besson and filmed on dazzling French locations, The Transporter is an action fan's delight. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is the best as what he does: transporting dangerous or illegal goods with no questions asked. But his last shipment, a beautiful young woman kidnapped by international slave traders, brings deadly complications to his delivery plans. Now Frank must kick into overdrive in a nonstop action-packed fight to save his precious cargo - and his life.

Customer Reviews:

don't break the rules.......2007-06-20

The Transporter is Jason Statham's first big solo role in a movie, and it is a success with the followups of Transporter 2, Crank, and the anticipated upcoming film "War", where he fights one on one against Jet Li. Jason has participated in several films before Transporter in somewhat lesser roles such as "The One" and "The Italian Job", but the Transporter finally lets this man shine - and he brings a character to the screen - Frank Martin - who is intelligent, skillful, strong and one downright cool guy.

The movie has a good and promising beginning, showing off the cool factor of Frank Martin immediately. Followed quickly by an intense car chase scene, the movie never lets up after that - whether it be action or suspense. The story is not too interesting, but it is put together well. Frank discovers that a package he is transporting is carrying a live body inside. Frank's "tough-guy attitude" is worn down and he breaks his own rule by opening the package. The receiver of the package is no dummy, and realizes that Frank broke the rules and has his car destroyed. Frank, fortunately absent from his car during the explosion, seeks revenge but ends up with company along the way by accident - the girl inside the package. From here the story begins to take off as Frank becomes entangled in the situation all the more.

While there isn't a tremendouns amount of action, the spacing of action works well enough. The final 20 minutes are huge, easily containing the best scenes in the movie. I especially liked the fights in the bus garage and the final highway truck scene which reminded me very much of the truck scene from "Raider of the Lost Ark".

Transporter is a great movie for Jason Statham. I really enjoy this guy, and see a good future for him. His martial art skills are truly entertaining, as is his stunts and acting. This is an hour and half of just great relax entertainment.

The Transporter in Blu-ray: Action, Suspense, Romance and Fast Cars!.......2007-05-29

I loved this movie! The story was new and creative! If you like action movies and actor Jason Statham, you'll love this movie. Filmed in the French Riviera!

Video-Blu-ray: This movie enjoys a good transfer-not perfect- but good! You still see some video noise and image grain. Overall, Just slightly better than the SD in term of details with extra grain.

Audio: simply impressive!

Bottom line: You can't go wrong with this one! Action, suspense, romance and fast car chases. If the image grain bothers you, try the SD version-it's not as grainy.

The Transporter.......2007-05-09

Totally wonderful film. Tons of action , but none of is unbelievable (this is NOT Spiderman, thank God). I am personally very attached to the location, in and around Nice, which I visit often. Statham is very cool and low key; Shu Qi is totally delicious. Her English is to die for. The French Commissaire is just wonderful. The driving action (this from a pretty crazy driver) is very satisfying. Luc Besson for ever!! As good as the best of James Bond...

Could be the dumbest movie ever..........2007-04-17

This could be the dumbest movie ever made (and that's a bold statement to make when one considers that "Underworld" also exists). Sadly, unlike "Underworld" there is no leather clad Kate Beckinsale to drool over. Instead, we are treated to a movie that could easily be confused for a map of the human DNA (but a human with an extra chromosome).

Jason Statham, so likable in "Snatch", "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "The Italian Job" is thoroughly wasted in this flick. When he's not busy escaping from his tricked out house, driving fast whilst looking cool and beating up on clichéd Euro trash delivers lines such as "Rule #1. Never change the deal" and is expected to act with a straight face when he's the recipient of this type of drivel - "You're always complaining, except when we make love. Then you say nothing.". Thankfully, the one thing Stetham is great at is keeping a straight face. But you won't. Not if you have a brain, that is.

All action with a story included.......2007-04-17

I went into watching this movie with no knowledge of what it was about. I ended up in the end of it loving it. This movie is an "all action" flick with a story included. Actually it isn't just one story, it is a couple of them. The stunts in this movie and the special effects is outstanding. If you like action flicks, you will love this one. I recommend this movie to anyone that loves action flicks and is a Jason Stantham fan as well. BTW, he does have his shirt off in a couple of scenes in this one.

The Transporter (Special Delivery Edition)

Average customer rating:

don't break the rules
The Transporter in Blu-ray: Action, Suspense, Romance and Fast Cars!
The Transporter
Could be the dumbest movie ever...
All action with a story included

The Transporter (Special Delivery Edition)
Starring: Jason Statham , Qi Shu , Matt Schulze , François Berléand , and Ric Young
Director: Corey Yuen , and Louis Leterrier
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0009VBTNM
Release Date: 2005-08-23

Amazon.com

Description

Customer Reviews:

don't break the rules.......2007-06-20

The Transporter in Blu-ray: Action, Suspense, Romance and Fast Cars!.......2007-05-29

The Transporter.......2007-05-09

Could be the dumbest movie ever..........2007-04-17

All action with a story included.......2007-04-17

Average customer rating:

Great comedy!
Great Movie
Born in East L.A.
Good, politically incorrect ethnic humor!
Funny as Hell'o

Born In East L.A.
Starring: Chastity Ayala , Eddie Barth , Larry Blackmon , Bret Chafe , and Miguel Delgado
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Cheech & Chong's Next Movie
Up in Smoke
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Cheech and Chong's Still Smokin'
Cheech and Chong - Things Are Tough All Over

ASIN: B0000714BQ
Release Date: 2003-01-07

Customer Reviews:

Great comedy!.......2007-04-18

Hispanic-American Rudy (Cheech Marin) is just having a fine day until an immigration raid as he's wrongfully prosecuted as an illegal immigrant. He doesn't know a word of spanish and forgot to bring his wallet and ID, he's forced to be deported to Mexico as he must find a way to get back to the U.S. even if he has to work for a club owner (Daniel Stern) for money.

Entertaining, underrated and hilarious cult comedy written and directed by Cheech Marin in based on his comedy parody album of the same name. Co-starring Paul Rodriguez, this lighthearted comedy has good laughs and an original storyline from Marin fresh off his Cheech and Chong stuff, this is one of the best and funniest comedy movies i've ever seen for i highly recommend it.

The DVD here has good picture and sound with both fullscreen and widescreen versions and one extra which is the theatrical trailer.

Great Movie.......2007-03-29

I personally love this movie, first time i saw it, a long time ago, i didnt like it because I was a Kid,,, then i saw it a few years later and love it,,, now i went to amazon and looked for it,,, its now on my collections... Its not a huge Classic movie, but it makes you have a good tome.

Born in East L.A........2007-01-06

I have been waiting for some time to buy this movie because it was one of my all-time favorites when I first saw it on television. Waiting to see if it would appear at a discount price (about $5-$7)I decided to go ahead and purchase it. I was disappointed to find out that this version had the shorten-version that did not show the marriage on the float at the end of the movie. Only then did I learn this movie had two different endings. Regardless, since it was one of my favorites, I decided to keep it anyway.

Good, politically incorrect ethnic humor!.......2006-11-11

What made this film funny is that Cheech Marin's character Rudy Ramos tried to behave as the straight guy while acting out just about every bad Mexican joke that's ever been told. In this respect, it's one gaffe right after another.

BTW I also got a big kick out of Paul Rodriguez as the cousin, Javier, who acted like the picture of Jesus with the phone behind it was talking to him... at one point, he obediently brings "Jesus" a can of beer, LOL!

If only the real situation were not so depressing. I went to Tijuana in December '88 with a buddy who's an American citizen (he's of Mexican descent, but looks Egyptian... so the border guards never gave him any trouble), and came back across at the end of the day wondering why any sane person would want to live there. As bad as Tijuana is, however, I've heard it's nowhere near as bad as Calcutta ( =Tijuana if it was hit by a bomb).

Funny as Hell'o.......2006-08-24

Too funny. Send a copy the mexican border, both sides should see this movie!

Average customer rating:

a great medical drama
Suspended In Suspense
If the Caregivers do Harm?
Timeless classic
Scary stuff from the 70's

Coma
Starring: Geneviève Bujold , Michael Douglas , Elizabeth Ashley , Rip Torn , and Richard Widmark
Director: Michael Crichton
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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Looker

ASIN: 0790743671
Release Date: 1999-10-26

Amazon.com

Something is awry at Boston General Hospital. Dr. Wheeler's (Genevieve Bujold) friend Nancy goes in for a routine procedure, but never comes out of the anesthesia and slips into a coma. Wheeler learns that a tissue sample from the young woman went to the lab, then soon finds out that a high number of patients have become comatose recently. She digs a little deeper and finds a conspiracy mired in hospital politics, running afoul of the head of anesthesia, Dr. George (Rip Torn) and the head of surgery, Dr. Harris (Richard Widmark). Nobody believes the young MD, not even her boyfriend Dr. Bellows (Michael Douglas), but she soon uncovers a black-market trade in body parts, conducted offsite at the Jefferson Institute, a state-of-the-art coma-care facility. As a thriller, Coma certainly has its moments (the scene where a hit man is buried under a pile of frozen-stiff cadavers is an inspired touch), but it's not without its problems. Director Michael Crichton is an MD himself, and the film has a seamless, almost mechanical structure and plotline (taken from the Robin Cook novel). However, the movie's cold, detached feel works against it at times, making the suspense scenes oddly more effective but rendering the emotional content of the characters rather flat. Douglas in particular seems to not put much into his performance; Bujold, on the other hand, is strong and resourceful as the movie's protagonist. More telling, perhaps, is the way that the story shows its age in a time when medical ethics have changed and the phrase "organ harvesting" has made its way into our lexicon. --Jerry Renshaw

Description

Before he created "ER" Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Twister) adapted and directed (his debut behind the camera) this chiller from Robin Cook's best-seller about a sinister medical conspiracy. Genevieve Bujold, Michael Douglas and Richard Widmark star as doctors caught in its web.

Customer Reviews:

a great medical drama.......2007-03-17

Although this film is almost 30 years old, it is still a hot topic today. If you enjoy medical dramas with sociatal meaning, you'll enjoy this film. The ending will leave you chearing (and thinking)!

Suspended In Suspense.......2006-07-26

It was good to see some familiar actors and actress give us excellent performances in what is normally called a horror movie or thriller. The twist at the end will cause most people to remember the movie for a long time.

If the Caregivers do Harm?.......2006-03-28

The beginning show a hospital operating room. The patient is a good friend of Dr. Susan Wheeler, and undergoes a routine operation. There is a momentary problem. When the operation is over her pupils are fixed and dilated; she is brain dead, and transferred to the ICU. An anesthetic reaction? Why was this patient tissue-typed? The central computer ordered a random test. Dr. Susan visits the computer room to investigate all occurrences of coma in the past year. Some of the deaths were unexpected: patients were young and healthy. But Dr. Susan has violated protocol. This invasion of privacy is smoothed over. Next, there is another unexpected case of coma. The hospital doesn't like Dr. Susan's interest in this. Coma patients are usually transferred to the Jefferson Institute.

Dr. Susan learns how a patient can be killed in an OR: administering CO instead of O2. There are traces which might be overlooked in an autopsy. But Dr. Susan's car won't start, and a stranger seems to be following her. She and Dr. Mark take a weekend vacation. On the way back they visit the Jefferson Institute to look around. Upon her return to the hospital, a janitor tries to tell Dr. Susan something. But the janitor is electrocuted by a killer who makes it look like an accident! Later Dr. Susan finds a tank with a hose leading somewhere. There is a remotely controlled device that connects to OR8, where the coma cases originate. But now the stranger stalks Dr. Susan in the lonely halls of the hospital. There is an exciting chase that ends in the morgue. [The idea of a person discovering a hidden crime then being pursued is common to many adventure films.]

Dr. Susan takes the tour of the Jefferson Institute, and stays behind to explore. She hears that the body parts from the coma victims are harvested and sold to the highest bidder from around the world! Dr. Susan is discovered, but outwits and escapes her pursuers. But she gets a surprise when she reports to the Hospital Administrator! Something happens, and Dr. Susan is scheduled for OR8. Dr. Mark finds and disables the device, saving Dr. Susan's life. This happy ending leaves the consequences implied.

This film has held up well over the decades. Details of hospital care have changed since that time, there is more fear of incurable diseases. The recent scandal in harvesting body parts has made this "science fiction" a case "ripped from the headlines". Science marches on, however implausible it appeared three decades ago. Some of the minor characters have become more famous in films.

Timeless classic.......2005-09-02

A great movie from start to finish. Young Genevieve Bujold and Michael Douglas give outstanding performances. Everyone in the movie is great. An excellent "conspiracy theory" come true movie. A good add for your DVD library.

Scary stuff from the 70's.......2005-06-30

This is a good flick that hasn't lost it's appeal. Michael Crichton's direction is good, I thought, not heavy at least by our standards now. Someone is killing patients at famed Boston Memorial Hospital and getting away with it until Genvieve Bujold loses a friend. She suspects murder but she doesn't know how or why.

Rip Torn is the anesthesiologist and the head of the department and mounts a formidable, sexist and spooky opposition. Richard Widmark plays the head of the hospital. I always liked Widmark, kind of a maverick, always accountable for a solid effort.

The closing scenes in the "Jefferson" site, you'll know what I mean when you see it, are so startling as to make you gulp. Bujold's escape scenes at the end are classic.

We are introduced to Bujold when she's taking a shower and all I could think of was 'thank God we didn't have to sit through her boyfriend Michael Douglas taking a shower.' Didn't we see enough of him . . . no too much of him in "Basic Instinct" a few years later? There's a nice cameo by Ed Harris, very early in his career, who looks so young you think he's 14.

Good movie. 4 stars. Larry Scantlebury

Average customer rating:

pobre inocente!
Maybe it's me
Mandatory viewing for Castro apologists
Befire Night Falls
Life is its' own reward

Before Night Falls
Starring: Javier Bardem , Johnny Depp , Michael Wincott , Hector Babenco , and Sean Penn
Director: Julian Schnabel
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00003CXRG
Release Date: 2001-05-22

Amazon.com

Based on the posthumously published memoir by Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls is artist-director Julian Schnabel's second exercise in artist biography, but where Schnabel's earlier film Basquiat was relatively conventional, this film is bolder in both style and execution. Schnabel is perhaps too enamored of his subject as a noble martyr, lending the film a somewhat inflated sense of importance. Still, it's rare to see an artist's life and work so elegantly interwoven, and Before Night Falls uses all of Arenas's life as its canvas, from impoverished youth to lively gay freedom in mid-1950's Cuba; imprisonment during Castro's antigay regime; and to New York City in 1980, followed by Arenas's battle with AIDS and subsequent suicide (depicted here as assisted) in 1990.

Through these extreme rises and falls, Arenas is always writing, his typewriter his most faithful lover and weapon (by way of smuggled manuscripts) against the dark forces that surround him. As Time magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, Arenas is "a serious actor's dream role: to be a gay Jesus in a modern Passion Play," and Javier Bardem--the first Spanish actor to receive an Oscar nomination--inhabits the role with subtle ferocity, charting this emotional odyssey with outer reserve but blazing infernos of internal passion. And while Schnabel suffers from a hyperactive camera, there's poetry here--visual, dramatic, and literal--and vibrant humor to temper the deep tragedy of Arenas's life. Schnabel also uses his actor friends to good advantage: a nearly unrecognizable Sean Penn adds an ironic touch to his brief appearance as a peasant, and Johnny Depp is both funny and fearsome in dual roles as a drag queen and vicious army interrogator. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

pobre inocente!.......2007-04-19

javier bardem stars as cuban poet reinaldo arenas in this stolid and overlong biopic (with pretensions of artiness) that lets us know that castros cuba is not a workers paradise especially if youre a flitty gay poet. better in its longings than in its execution.

Maybe it's me.......2007-03-31

This movie just didn't do much for me. I found it agonizingly slow, and another annoying testament to an artist who had to die to be appreciated; who worked his entire life producing only to remain penniless and uninsured even in his final days. If Castro's Cuba is so bad, what does that say about America? Anyway, I will say that the cinematography was beautiful and it did transport you to another world, and that I always appreciate - the beauty of the color, the music, the earth, sea and sky. I appreciated the fine art of Johnny Depp, I must have missed Sean Penn.

I guess it depends on what you want to see it for. There are some rather nasty torture scenes and nudity. Not a date movie, but if you are studying art or the artist himself, go for it.

Mandatory viewing for Castro apologists.......2006-12-21

In my head i'd mistakenly assumed that Fidel Casto was the acceptable face of dictatorships....he has designer label kudos,and is much beloved by some with a left wing disposition.
Upon watching this marvellous but somewhat sprawling film my wrong assumption became very apparent as i learnt about gay people being sent to concentration camps and beaten up. Castro's speeches effectively intermingle with the film and the general rhetoric reminded me of Hitler(who was of course worse)

Befire Night Falls.......2006-08-14

This story is so fascinating that I couldn't stop feeling that the drive to create and to be true to one's identity and sexual preference had to be overwhelming to cause the writer, Arenas, to survive and escape the homophobic surroundings in Cuba under Castro. Johnny Depp is unbelievably wonderful as both the sadistic lieutenant and the transporting Drag Queen.

Life is its' own reward.......2006-08-03

I read the book many years before seeing the movie. Both are testimonies of the mystery of the human spirit, the wonder and love of life, and the ugliness of human hatred.

Average customer rating:

Remember the movie Airplane?!
Pretty hilarious
only for collectors of Anna
Don't waste your money
great

Illegal Aliens
Starring: Anna Nicole Smith , Joanie Laurer , Lenise Sorén , Gladys Jimenez , and Patrick Burleigh
Director: David Giancola
Manufacturer: Mti Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000NJLLUG
Release Date: 2007-05-01

Customer Reviews:

Remember the movie Airplane?!.......2007-06-17

Ok, I am an Anna fan, and she is really funny! She always has been. This movie is very "b" but it is supposed to be a parody.First off parody of Charlies Angels. Secondly, the numerious 70's and 80's references should clue everyone in. I think Anna had fun making this movie. Once again Anna as Anna is Anna at Anna's best! Much better than I anticipated.I am Glad the world has a chance to see Anna having fun! Recommend it to fans of Anna and people who like hot girls and comedy.

Pretty hilarious.......2007-06-15

I'm not a fan of the late Anna Nicole Smith, but I felt sorry for her and didn't hate her. She was definitely HOT when she first arrived on the scene in the 1990s, but the furor of media coverage during her fight for the hundreds of millions of dollars her late husband left her seemed to have gotten to her. I found episodes of her reality TV show to be pretty hilarious, if not a little exploitive and over-the-top. However, I didn't think she was much of a talent...until I happened upon Illegal Aliens, the comedy released after her untimely and unfortunate death. Sure, this isn't a superstar film, but it's hilarious--and I'm not even a fan of hers! The movie makes fun of so many things that it's hard not to laugh. Anna is surprisingly good in her part. I'm sure most people will diss this movie, but Illegal Aliens is a great laugh if you have nothing else to do.

only for collectors of Anna.......2007-06-01

Silly, stupid, cheaply made movie. But only bought to have for a collectors item. Also bought the Anna Nichole TV Series Collection and it was more entertaining even tho I already saw every show when it was aired. At least it was funny and made me laugh.

Don't waste your money.......2007-05-22

This movie is an insult to Anna Nicole's memory which says a lot when you remember she was a gold digging, fat, whiny drug addict it is hard to insult her.

It will make you uncomfortable, squirm with embarrassment for the bad acting in this film by both her and Chyna doll.

Blacks hate being portrayed as shucking and jiving, well this is another film where woman are portrayed as the dizzy, dumb blond version of shucking and jiving and it is just as uncomfortable to watch. It is humiliating.

great.......2007-05-11

A grest movie for any anna fan her best movie and very funny a must have
anna get the last laugh at her critics

DVD:

DVD

SOS Coast Guard, Vol. 2, Chapter 7-12 (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: The Three Musketeers

400 Not Out! - Brian Lara's World Record Innings