Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Special Edition) (1968) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is one of the last big budget fantasy musicals before these films became just too expensive to produce. But Dick Van Dyke was at his zenith here and Sally Ann Howes was marvelous as well. Note that Ian Fleming wrote the original story and as a tribute there were two Bond actors in the cast. Gert Frobe as the King and Desmond Llewyn as Mr. Coggin. But I was very dissappointed to see this DVD released in the Pan and Scan format. I really don't understand why MGM/UA remastered the film in the THX process and used a clean beautiful video transfer and doesn't present the film in its original widescreen format. At one-third of the film is missing and its really difficult to watch this now considering I had owned the widescreen laserdisc of this film.

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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls start your engines. You're about to take an incredible ride with one of the most wonderful family films of all time! Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has never looked or sounded better. Dick Van Dyke stars as eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts, who creates an extraordinary car called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It not only drives but also flies and floats as it leads him, his two children and his beautiful lady friend, Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes), into a magical world of pirates, castles and endless adventure.

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The Staircase (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)Based on a true story, THE STAIRCASE is one of those uplifting Christian movies heavy on morals and faith, and thanks to an intelligent script and very good performances, it works.
Barbara Hershey gives a smooth and touching performance as Mother Madeleine, a dying nun who wants to see the completion of a chapel in the Santa Fe territory before she dies. This seems impossible when the architect "forgets" to put in a staircase to the choir loft. Without the funds necessary to complete the staircase, that dream seems unlikely...until a mysterious stranger named Mr. Joad shows up out of nowhere and offers to build a spiral staircase with no charge. CSI's William Petersen gives a strong understated performance as Joad, whose mission becomes both a blessing and a curse as the original contractors (David Clennon and Justin Louis) don't want Joad to do the staircase. It may all play out with predictable results but it's sincerity is so genuine, it's a fine little film.

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The Tigger Movie 10th Anniversary Edition (Two-Disc Edition + Digital Copy) (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)There have been so many Pooh-related feature films, direct-to-video films and television series that it's getting difficult to keep track of them (word is that there is another theatrical feature in the works). To the best of my recollection, "The Tigger Movie" was produced by the television division but was very successful in its theatrical release and was followed up with "Piglet's Big Movie."
This is actually quite a nice film. The amazing thing about these characters is how flexible they are for so many stories. The plot here revolves around Tigger's family background and his search for his "family tree." The animation, apparently done in Japan, is very fluid and suggestive of the earlier films -- and the domestic artists behind it are among the best in the business, including Floyd Norman and Toby Bluth.
John Fiedler, as Piglet, is the one remaining cast member from the original films, with Jim Cummings voicing Pooh and Tigger and none other than John Hurt taking over the narration from Sebastian Cabot.
It sure is nice to see "Songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman" in the credits. This was technically their last film for Disney, though its success surely should have resulted in others. My favorite of their songs is "Round My Family Tree," but they all have the delicate charm of their other Pooh songs. They also collaborated with Kenny Loggins on "Your Heart Will Lead You Home," which got a lot of airplay.
The DVD offers a handful of bonus features -- several games, mostly, plus a storybook version read by the great Corey Burton and a digital copy. But it is particularly good to see two short episodes from the Emmy-winning "New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" series. Each episode relates to the plot of the feature. Wouldn't it be great if the series was packaged season-by-season on DVD? Hmm?


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Pokémon: The First Movie (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)My review is purely from a parent's perspective:
I have twoboys, 9 and almost 11. They love Pokemon. They loved Ninja Turtles,Power Rangers, Star Wars, etc. so you know they are prone to being led by commercialism. Pokemon encourages nurturing, caring, and ideals like honesty, acceptance, and forgiveness. The good trainers protect and care for Pokemon. The bad guys exploit them and put their own selfish motives ahead of the Pokemon. The middle-can-be-turned-around characters learn from their mistakes and are forgiven by the main characters. Even Jessie and James occasionally show remorse and are treated with compassion.
Do Pokemon battle? Yes. Unlike Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and Star Wars, however, a Pokemon doesn't have to be hurt or killed to be defeated. Their weapons are inner strengths that they are born with. And no trainer worth his salt lets his Pokemon get injured. It's not hard to take the lessons from Pokemon and apply them to the reality of the child.
It's like Beanie Babies -- I know they're making a fortune leading our kids around by the nose. But it's relatively benign and I watch every video with them to make sure nothing changes. On a long trip in the truck, I let them play the two CD's -- the music is actually very enjoyable for me (and I'm 46!) and contains no bad language.
And I liked Pikachu's Vacation film much better than the actual Pokemon movie... but my boys loved both!

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This is the first movie of Pokemon and also includes the first battle between Mewtwo and Mew!

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The Towering Inferno (1974) Review

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(More customer reviews)Irwin Allen decided to follow up his "The Poseidon Adventure" success with the 1974 suspense-thriller "The Towering Inferno," a movie which also garnered an impressive 10 Oscar nominations and is released as a 2-disc DVD special edition this week.
Whereas in "The Poseidon Adventure" the leads had to travel up, the only way is down for Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Wagner and Faye Dunaway. Attending the opening night gala the guests are trapped on the 129th floor of the world's tallest building which becomes an inferno thanks to the shoddy wiring system installed by chief builder James Duncan (Holden) and his electrician son Roger Simmons (Chamberlain).
Newman plays Doug Roberts, the proud architect behind the Glass Tower, a skyscraper, which dominates the San Francisco skyline at a height of 138-story's. Returning from a long vacation Roberts immediately recognizes that something is wrong and he is proven correct when a circuit breaker burns out and ignites garbage on a lower floor.
While the script can be a tad melodramatic at times, the effort put into this movie is obvious. Nominated for Best Picture and winning for best cinematography, best special effects and best song, the movie was a smash hit and still holds up well today in this age of blockbuster special effects extravaganza's.
As with "The Poseidon Adventure" the previous DVD release was sorely lacking in special features and has been replaced with three hours of extras. Joining the nine all-new featurettes which includes a retrospective, a look at the special effects and the art design is the AMC Backstory on the making of the movie, 32 deleted or extended scenes and an audio commentary by film historian F.X. Feeney.
Feeney's commentary is fascinating and comprehensive, covering all aspects of the production from the writing and dialogue all the way through to the sets and the sense of anticipation director John Guillerman builds up from the start. Feeney tells us that this movie was a milestone for Hollywood in that it was the first time two studios had co-produced a feature. Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox owned two separate books, "The Tower" by Richard Martin Stern and "The Glass Inferno" by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, and both planned to make two competing movies on the same subject.
It was Allen who stepped in and proposed the historic deal and the two studios agreed, splitting first the cost and then the profit equally.
Though not for the full length of the feature special effects director Mike Venzina and stunt coordinator Branko Racki both individually comment on individual scenes. Verzina discusses eight scenes and Racki talks about nine separate scenes. Their observations are largely technical in nature and center on their selective specialties.
The longest of the documentaries is once again the AMC Backstory which runs 22:08. It is in this featurette that we learn that the model used for shots of the tower was itself seven stories high, that William Holden became aggravated with Faye Dunaway's tardy-ness to the set and that despite the media attempting to portray conflict between the two stars Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, the two actually got along well together with a mutual respect and friendly competition (as evidenced by a funny blooper).
The other featurettes range from 4:28 in length (on the directing of the movie) to 9:15 on the writer Stirling Silliphant. But they cover a wide range of topics from a retrospective by the cast and crew "Inside the Tower: We Remember" (8:16) in which Richard Chamberlain likens the set to being at a really glamorous Hollywood party day after day with the standard six star dressing rooms being increased to 15 to the architecture of the tower in "Still the World's Tallest Tower" (8:28) which compares The Glass Tower to other real-life skyscrapers and the impact these high-rise buildings have on the surrounding communities.
Other topics touched on include the safety aspects employed on the production in "Putting out fire" (4:58) in which Allen comments "You'd better have all the camera's rolling because fire waits for no man," and also reveals that firemen were on the set each day to "Running on fire" (5:52) which discusses the work of the stuntmen and includes the facts McQueen did not like anyone else doing his stunts and even Newman and Chamberlain did a number of their own stunts.
Also on this special collector's edition are 32 deleted or extended scenes that range from the 40-second "Still Waiting for the Elevator" which featuresshots of crowds of people pushing and shoving each other at the elevator and Holden's character assessing the situation on the telephone to the 2:55 clip "Four Alarm Fire" which covers the spreading of the fire through the building, the call from security requesting a four-alarm fire and shots of fire engines screaming through the streets of San Francisco.
All of the deleted or extended scenes were originally part of a longer television broadcast. Unfortunately their condition has deteriorated and they were deemed of too poor quality for Fox to include them through the popular DVD technique of seamless branching alongside the theatrical cut on the first disc.
Rounding out the special features on this release are three 1975 articles from "American Cinematographer" which run for a combined 83 pages and which, like those on "The Poseidon Adventure" DVD release, include selectable images which take the viewer to image galleries. These articles are all technical in nature and include discussion on how the movie was photographed and the work of the action unit. There are also six storyboard comparisons and five image galleries that range from shot compositions and costumes through to publicity and conceptual sketches.

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A dedication ceremony at the world's tallest skyscraper turns into a high-rise catastrophe when a defective wire in its systems-control panel causes an electrical flare-up. Within minutes the gala event turns into a hellish inferno, as a raging fire traps society's most prominent citizens on the top floor. Winner of three Academy Awards, this spectacular suspense thriller features dazzling special effects and a star studded cast including Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden and Faye Dunaway. **Commentary by F.X. Feeney - Film Historian **Scene Specific Commentary by Mike Vezina, Special Effects Director on X3 **Scene Specific Commentary by Branko Racki, Stunt Coordinator on The Day After Tomorrow **32 Extended and Deleted Scenes and 1 Alternate Opening Sequence **Inside the Tower: We Remember Featurette **Innovating Tower: The SPFX of an Inferno Featurette **The Art of Towering Featurette **Irwin Allen: The Great Producer Featurette **Directing the Inferno Featurette **Putting out Fire Featurette **Running on Fire Featurette **Still the Worlds Tallest Building Featurette **The Write Stirling Silliphant Featurette **AMC Backstory: The Towering Inferno Featurette **6 Storyboard Comparisons **Vintage Promotional Materials: NATO Presentation Reel, Original 1974 Featurette #1, Original 1974 Featurette #2 **Irwin Allen 1977 Interview *Trailer Farm: The Towering Inferno Teaser, The Towering Inferno Trailer, The Poseidon Adventure Trailer **Interactive Galleries: *American Cinematographer Article *The Towering Inferno and How It Was Filmed *Photographing The Dramatic Sequences for "The Towering Inferno" *"Action Unit" Lives Up To Its Name While Shooting "The Towering Inferno" **Stills Galleries: *Shot Compositions *Publicity *Behind the scenes *Conceptual Sketches *Costumes *Cross-promo Fox on BD Trailers

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Ricky Steamboat: The Life Story of the Dragon (2010) Review

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DISC ONE:
Documentary Chapters:
Growing Up
Training
Traveling
Mid-Atlantic
The Dragon
WrestleMania III
World Champion
Fire Breathing Dragon
Mentoring
Hall of Fame
Legacy
Special Features:
Ricky's First Car
Mike Graham Remembers Richard Blood
Ricky Forgets His Name
Having a Positive Attitude
World Wide Wrestling - February 16, 1982
Tuesday Night Titans - April 5, 1985
Steve Lombardi Remembers Ricky's First Match in the WWE
The Body Shop
All-Star Wrestling - June 22, 1985
Becoming the Dragon... The Three Moments of Truth
Chris Jericho Meets Ricky Steamboat For The First Time
Tuesday Night Titans - September 10, 1986
Update with Gene Okerlund
Superstars - January 31, 1987
Dragon in the Oven
Superstars - April 11, 1987
Return from Japan
World Championship Wrestling - March 18, 1989
William Regal Remembers Watching Ricky Steamboat & Ric Flair
World Television Champion
WCW Saturday Night - September 19, 1992
Ricky Steamboat's Induction into the WWE Hall of Fame - April 4, 2009
DISC TWO:
NWA World Tag Team Championship Match
Jack & Gerry Brisco vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat & Jay Youngblood
Starrcade November 24, 1983
NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Boogie Jam March 17, 1984
(Commentary by: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat & Matt Striker)
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. Cowboy Bob Orton
Capital Centre July 20, 1985
Lumberjack Match
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. The Magnificent Don Muraco
Maple Leaf Gardens September 22, 1985
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Boston Garden August 9, 1986
Intercontinental Championship Match
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. Randy "Macho Man" Savage
WrestleMania III March 29, 1987
(Alternate Commentary by: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat & Matt Striker)
DISC THREE:
2 out of 3 Falls Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Clash of the Champions VI April 2, 1989
United States Championship Match
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. Lex Luger
The Great American Bash July 23, 1989
WCW World Tag Team Championship Match
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes vs. Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyzsko
Clash of the Champions XVII November 19, 1991
Iron Man Challenge Match
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. Rick Rude
Beach Blast June 20, 1992
No Disqualification Match for the WCW World Television Championship
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. Steve Austin
Clash of the Champions XX September 2, 1992
(Alternate Commentary by: Ricky Steamboat & Matt Striker)
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. Chris Jericho
Backlash April 26, 2009
Pretty much what I expected it too be. Most of the matches you'd expect (Savage, Flair, and his comeback match against Jericho) and a few surprises. Cannot wait for this set to be released.

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BBC History of World War II: Hiroshima (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am from Hiroshima. My father was 15 years old and was deployed as a student worker at a ship yard at the time. He does not talk much about his experience, but told me bits and pieces about what he saw. When I was an elementary school student, we had to watch the video footage of the victims that was extremely graphic. So nothing in this program was new to me, although it was very interesting to see how nuclear fusions started inside the bomb.
Having said that, I think this program is a good overview for people who are not familiar with the event. It talks about how the bomb was developed, the political circumstances, the US military mission, GIs who engaged in the mission, and of course, the effect on the people in Hiroshima. There is little criticism or political overtones in the way the program was made, although it is clear that there were terrible misunderstandings between Japanese and US leaders, and that a handful of Japanese extremists led the country into ruins.
I wish the program talked more about the way the atomic bomb affected people long after the event. There is one section that describes the "mistery illness" that plagued the survivers, but it did not talk about the deformed babies born to the mothers who were pregrant at the time, or the cancers that many of the survivers suffered later in their lives. The program also did not mention anything about the American POWs who were detained in Hiroshima at the time. They all perished along with thousands of people of Hiroshima. I am not sure how many Americans know this.
My father is fine. His family lived in the suburbs so none died because of the event although some of the family heirlooms had burn marks that were visible even decades later. My mother's grandparents, however, lived right by the T-shaped bridge that was used as a target so no remains were found. I remember my grandmother used to go to the annual memorial service every year. Although it was somewhat difficult for me to see the suffering of people reenacted in the program, the stupidity of the leaders, and the happiness and the joy that Americans were feeling after the bomb was dropped (not because I am bitter or critical of their actions, but because they really did not realize what was going on in Hiroshima and that they opened the door to a new era of nuclear threats), we need programs like this so we can learn from the history and remember that the war is savage, no matter what side you are on, and that the war should really be the last resort to resolve a conflict.

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