Abandoned (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)Imagine waking up and taking your boyfriend to the hospital for a routine procedure, only to find out that an hour later he turns up missing. Not in the computer system, not on the grid at all. Pretty devastating, wouldn't it be?The final movie filmed by the late Brittany Murphy, Abandoned, comes packed with quite the punch. From one twist to another, we chase after Mary who's being chased by hospital administration- to name a few, who think she's lost her mind. She's leading to believe that her boyfriend Kevin, Dean Cain, has gone missing and not a single employee believes her. When Detective Franklin, Jay Pickett, steps in to investigate he finds more than he bargained for. After a day of thinking this super blond psycho fits the bill, he gives up his efforts to help her only to later find the answers to solve the puzzle.
This bone tingling suspense thriller will put viewers at the edge of their seats, chomping at finger nails and picking at those loose fibers on the cushions in the couch! Miss Murphy will be greatly missed, however this movie is sure to go down in the history of Cinema for the excellence in its dramatic prose.
Rest In Peace, Brittany. This movie serves her fans some closure, if you will, and shall be included as part of her wonderful Filmography

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Mary Walsh delivers boyfriend Kevin to a hospital for routine outpatient surgery. But when Mary returns to take him home, he's mysteriously vanished. An administrator can find no record of him, and a police search turns up nothing. Increasingly frantic, Mary's taken to staff psychiatrist Dr. Bensley, who pronounces her unstable. Now she must not only find her missing boyfriend, but prove her own sanity as well. When a stranger informs her he knows Kevin's whereabouts and demands a $10 billion ransom, she has one hour to comply and her boyfriend's life hangs in the balance. Forced to embezzle the money from the bank where she works, Mary soon discovers the shocking truth behind the disappearance. Now time is running out and she must take matters into her own hands to save herself.

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The Hannibal Lecter Collection (Manhunter / The Silence of the Lambs / Hannibal) (1986) Review

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(More customer reviews)This review refers to the Special Edition DVD of "Hannibal"(MGM)...
After the first viewing of this film I had it set in my mind that this was a three star movie.I thought it was pretty good, but it was no "Silence". I watched it again on this outstanding DVD, and viewed it as a seperate story from "Silence of the Lambs".I am glad I did, because it was the second time around that I realized what a great movie it is in it's own right.Under the direction now of Ridley Scott,a terrific screenplay by David Mamet and Steven Zaillian,stunning photography by John Mattheson, the haunting score by Hans Zimmer, and with a brillant cast, "Hannibal" is a thrill ride you won't soon forget.
Based on the novel by Thomas Harris,the story picks up 10 Years after Dr. Lector(Anthony Hopkins) has made his escape. He is living in Italy and seems to be quite restless. After learning that his "beloved" Clarice(Julianne Moore)has been disgraced in a botched drug bust, he comes out of hiding and cleverly draws her into his web once more.The story is a bit more complex than that though.Along the way Clarice must deal with a cunning Agent(Ray Liotta) who is out to humiliate her, and a wealthy man who was a victim of Dr. Lector's, survived quite disfigured and is now out for revenge.Then there's the Italian Detective who has discovered the identity of Lector as well as the huge reward and decides to try his luck as well.Well, we all know by now what happens when you mess with Dr. Lector.You will never think of Ray Liotta as a "goodfella" again after you see what the Doc has planned for him! The story is a roller coaster ride of thrills and chills.Lots of suspenseful and nail biting scenes. This film is definetly not for the sensitive viewer.
There is no one else who could ever be Dr. "Hannibal" Lector other than Sir Anthony Hopkins. He's as terrifying as ever. Julianne Moore does a perfect take on a tougher and more mature Agent Starling.It's a departure for Ray Liotta from his usual style but he is perfect as the despicable nemesis to Clarice.I would also mention Giancarlo Giannini gives a great performance as the pitiful detective. The make up and special effects are so good, that I won't even mention who performs such an excellent job as the angry disfigured millionaire. I did not even realize who it was the first time until the end credits, and don't want to give it away for first time viewers.
Fans of this film will delight in this DVD. First of all the transfer is gorgeous. All the beautiful cinematography of Italy and it's famous historical landmarks are breathtaking, The picture is in the theatrical release widescreen. Choose between DTS or Dolby 5.1 Surround. The sounds are clear and distinctive and the score will take your breath away. Images and colors are excellent as well.This is a two disc set. There's a ton of goodies to watch. You can spend all day with Hannibal or watch a different feature each time you view the film. I especially enjoyed "Breaking the Silence" which runs well over an hour and encompasses every phase of the making of the film(it's broken into segments if you have something particular you are interested in.) The segment with Hans Zimmer was wonderful.For a full list of the featurettes please see the tech. info.It may also be viewed in French or Spanish and has subtitles in those as well as English for those who may need them.Altogether a dynamite package.
Get reaquainted with Dr. Lector,but remember..mind your manners at dinner!....Have fun...Laurie

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Disc 1: HANNIBAL Disc 2: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS Disc 3: MANHUNTER

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The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (Nicolas Geesner, 1976)
I find myself more willing to forgive a film for not sticking to its literary roots when I've seen the film first, and such is the case with The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. It's hard to believe it's been almost thirty years since I first saw this film, but it is; when I rented it last weekend on a nostalgia trip, I found that it's lost none of its brilliance over time.
Much of that has to do with the performances of the two principals, Jodie Foster (fresh off her success in Taxi Driver) and Martin Sheen (three years after Badlands, three years before Apocalypse Now). Foster plays a thirteen-year-old girl menaced by pedophile Sheen, but takes care of herself quite nicely in that regard (in fact, Foster's character here might have been the poster-child for what is known today as empowerment). There's a subplot going on about Foster's mysterious father, whom no one ever sees, and a related coming-of-age one about her falling in love with the nephew of a member of the local constabulary. All of it is handled quite nicely, and while things are rushed, they're done as well as they can be; chalk it up to Laird Koenig adapting his own novel for the screen. It's almost enough to forgive the large gaps those who have read the book will notice, and Gessner's almost amateurish handling of the passage of time (it seems almost as if Foster and the nephew, played by Diary of Anne Frank/Return to Horror High star Scott Jacoby, go from wary acquaintances to lovers overnight, since Jacoby does nothing to show the passage of weeks except add snow to the scene; he must not have ever lived in Cleveland, where snow on Halloween may be uncommon, but does happen now and then).
Highly underrated atmospheric suspense. A must-see for Jodie Foster fans. ****

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Some little girls can be murder! Thirteen-year-old Rynn (Foster) is a gifted prodigy who lives in a big old house with her reclusive father...all alone. Or does she? When Rynn's nosy landlady and a lecherous neighbor (Sheen) begin to susupect that this little girl is hiding a dark and dangerous secret, Rynn is determined to preserve her isolated existence at any cost - and stop those vicious rumors dead in their tracks!

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The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Review

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(More customer reviews)Pulp entertainment of the highest order, "The Silence of The Lambs" is terrific filmaking, and a movie worth owning for any horror/suspense fan. Unfortunately, the Blu-Ray release is sure to disappoint, as it looks strikingly similar to a finely upconverted DVD, albeit one with a fair amount of film grain. Yes, sharpness is slightly improved, but it's only really noticeable in a handful of scenes, and the difference is hardly impressive; the same can be said for the Blu-Ray's slightly-improved colors.
Some are attributing this to the MPEG-2 encoding, but really the problem lies with the film master source, which just isn't that great. Another contributing factor is the cinematography and lighting of the film, which just doesn't lend itself all that well to hi-def. The underwhelming DTS-HD 5.1 audio fares no better, again probably due to the limitations of the original audio source; the overall sound is flat with the rear channels and sub-woofer barely used, if at all. To top things off, this Blu-Ray release includes most, but not all, of the extras found on the previous DVD releases, meaning if you're a hardcore "Silence" fan, you'll want to to hang on to your old DVD(s).
Of course, the Blu-Ray edition does currently offer the best visual and audio presentation of this film, but the difference is decidedly unimpressive and contains far greater film grain than any of the previous DVD incarnations, to boot. As a side note, I want to state that I have no problem with film grain per say, and will always take the naturally grainy-albeit-sharp look of film over a waxy-looking DNR "remastering" any day of the week. Yet, when the only appreciable gain of a Blu-ray upgrade over its (1080P upconverted) DVD counterpart is a barely perceptible upgrade in sharpness, slightly stronger colors and extra-heavy doses of film grain (much of it stemming from a worn-looking master), then I say stick with the DVD, as the trade-off simply isn't worth it.
Regarding special features, while the majority of the bonus features included on the Blu-Ray are simply ported over from the 2007 DVD release, the Blu-Ray does contain one exclusive: a picture-in-picture commentary / trivia track called "Breaking The Silence", which has factoids mixed in with occasional snippets of new interviews from Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald, Anthony Hopkins, and screenwriter Ted Tally. Unfortunately, it sounds cooler than it really is; while the interview snippets are pretty good, there is no making-of footage of any kind included in the PIP, and the factoids mostly contain information that is recycled from earlier (more compelling) bonus features. Also, there are annoyingly long stretches throughout the film in which the PIP track simply disappears. Overall, a mediocre exclusive bonus feature at best, and decidedly inferior to Criterion's audio commentary track (or the previously made making-of docs, for that matter).
So, for those who DO NOT OWN any DVD edition of "Silence of The Lambs", this is what it boils down to:
- The Blu-Ray is currently reasonably priced here on Amazon.com and (depending on your tolerance for film grain) is therefore worth picking up;
- For hardcore "Silence" fans, they should seek out both the Blu-Ray AND the Criterion DVD, as the Criterion disc contains special features that are not contained in any other edition of this film on home video, particularly an outstanding (and exclusive) audio commentary track that includes Foster, Hopkins and director Ted Demme. As I type this, it's still the overall best making-of feature made for "Silence", IMO.
- Be advised that the Criterion DVD has the weakest visual presentation of the various DVD releases, as the picture on that disc is in non-anamorphic widescreen, which is why I recommend the Criterion version to Criterion collectors and hard-core "Silence" fans only;
- For the price conscious, the 2001 "Special Edition" DVD can be had for under $5.00, has good (anamorphically-enhanced) video and (5.1 Dolby Digital) audio, and a nice set of special features, including the same hour-long making-of doc ("Inside the Labyrinth") that is included in both the Blu-Ray and 2007 DVD edition; although it lacks interviews from Foster and Demme, it's probably the best making-of feature that's been produced for "Silence", outside of the superior Criterion audio commentary.
- As for those who ALREADY OWN "Silence of The Lambs" in either the 2001 or 2007 DVD incarnations, there really is no compelling reason to upgrade to the Blu-Ray edition, unless you are an obsessive-compulsive Hi-Def completest with money to burn. The fact is, both the 2001 and 2007 DVD editions contain comparable audio and visuals that perfectly represent the original look of the film (although the 2001 "Special Edition" DVD release has a slightly greener hue to its video transfer, while the 2007 transfer has a slightly redder hue) and both editions look perfectly fine upconverted via 1080P. Never mind the naysayers who hate DVD upconversions, as there are some of us who can settle for "good enough" with certain films and save our hard-earned cash for far worthier hi-def material.

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A psychopath nicknamed Buffalo Bill is murdering women across the Midwest. Believing it takes one to know one, the FBI sends Agent Clarice Starling (Foster) to interview a demented prisoner who may provide clues to the killer's actions. That prisoner is psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins), a brilliant, diabolical cannibal who agrees to help Starling only if she'll feed his morbid curiosity with details of her own complicated life. As their relationship develops, Starling is forced to confront not only her own hidden demons, but also an evil so powerful that she may not have the courage or strength to stop it!

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Bugsy Malone (1976) Review

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(More customer reviews)The DVD that is being shipped is an import from Hong Kong, and was marked for all zones, so it should play anywhere. Very nice copy with a good clean picture and dolby 5.1 sound.
Titles are in english and chinese, but there are no annoying subtitles on the screen when you play it. I have been waiting for years for this to come out in DVD and I am very happy with the DVD.

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Asian release of award winning DVD directed by Alan Parker (1976) and starring Jodi Foster and Scott Baio. A child gangster determined to rule over New York City. Instead of throwing fists or bullets, the prohibition-era kiddie mobsters sling confections at one another. When he learns that a rival gang has developed a secret weapon capable of firing sweets as quick as a machine gun shoots bullets, he sets out to heist the high-tech tart-launcher. Multi winners of BAFTA Awards. Original English dialogue with English/Chinese subtitles. Digital Dolby/5.1. NTSC. Panorama Ent. 2002.

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The Brave One (Widescreen Edition) (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Trauma, severe trauma, can unleash aspects of the human personality that may appear as a stranger within. Such is the premise for this well-constructed film by Neil Jordan (screenplay by Roderick Taylor and Bruce Taylor), and while the neither concept of trauma-altered personality or revenge tales is new, THE BRAVE ONE alters the vengeance idea just enough to make it credible and to even draw the viewer into believing that what the character is doing is justified and right! And that is perhaps the most frightening aspect of this terrifying film.
Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) is a night radio talk show performer, a woman who walks the city of New York gathering sounds and observing the mysteries of the 'safest big city' and relates her observations poetically to a large radio audience. Erica is engaged to young physician David (Naveen Andrews) and the couple are very much in love. One night on an evening stroll with their dog they are attacked by thugs, beaten with pipes, and David is killed while Erica narrowly survives. Upon awakening from her coma she is devastated by her loss of David and becomes a strangely haunted woman, unable to sleep, unable to get immediate help from the police, and turns to purchasing a gun in an attempt to right the wrongs she has suffered. This new 'person' or 'stranger within' happens to witness a murder in a little store and to her amazement she responds by killing the murderer. A similar situation happens on the subway where two thugs threaten people, threaten Erica, and Erica again responds by killing the thugs. She feels driven to avenge the death of her David, but at the same time fears her own inner stranger. Erica returns to her radio show, under changing instructions form her boss Carol (Mary Steenburgen), and finds the changes in her psyche result in bracing her listeners about fear on the streets. In her audience is Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard) who has personal problems related to the fact that he has been unable to arrest a known killer. Mercer connects with Erica in various ways, she interviews him for her show, and the two bond. Erica trusts Mercer, wants to share what she is doing, yet hears his frustration about not being able to seek his own brand of revenge frustration against the oily killer he pursues, and decides to eliminate that trauma for Mercer. As the tension builds, the identity of Erica's assailants is discovered, and how she deals with these thugs (and with Mercer's interaction in the solution) forms the surprising ending for the film.
Too little has been written and said about the quality of performances from both Foster and Howard in this tense thriller. These two actors deliver performances so sensitive in execution that memories of previous similar films evaporate. This is a tough film to watch for all the violence not only on the screen but from within the characterizations by the actors (with the capable direction of Neil Jordan), but it is for this viewer one of the strongest films of the year. Perhaps now that the DVD can be viewed within the safety of the home more people will pay attention to a film that deserves awards. Grady Harp, February 08

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"Why don‘t they stop me?" Erica Bain wonders. Bain, a popular N.Y radio host, watched her fiancé die and nearly lost her own life to a vicious, random attack. Now she discovers a stranger within herself, an armed wanderer in the urban night, out for vengeance and at war with her own soul. Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster, as Erica, joins Oscar nominee Terrence Howard, as a determined cop hot on her trail. Erica?s future is uncertain, but one thing is not: THE BRAVE ONE is a high- tension thriller that packs a visceral and emotional punch.

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Inside Man (Widescreen Edition) (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)The one note about Spike Lee films is that you're never sure what you're going to get. I'm not really a fan, I find that his films are too convoluted with extraneous detail and somewhat over produced. Inside Man retains all the elements of a solid bank robbery/caper film, whilst also giving us Spike Lee's trademark of gritty, street-wise irreverence.
The problem with Inside Man is that it's impossibly unbelievable with a plot that strains the realms of credibility; combine this with it's over-long running time and you have a film that features some great performances by it's cast - Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer and Jodie Foster - but ultimately sags a bit in the middle and ends up becoming rather ponderous.
Lee manages to pull off a handful of effective scenes, but he doesn't have the flair to bring the whole movie off with real conviction. An enigmatic master criminal (Owen) - who spends most of the movie wearing a mask - plans and executes a "genius plan" in which he and several masked companions take over a Lower Manhattan bank and brutally seize several dozen of its customers as hostages.
The NYPD negotiator given the task of dealing with these crooks is an affable junior detective, Detective Keith Frazier (Washington) - under a cloud of suspicion from a previous case - he soon surmises that the perpetrators don't actually want the bank's money. Enter smarmy and elegant New York political insider Madeline White (Foster) who knows everybody and even has the ear of the Mayor.
Madeline is hired by the chairman of the bank's board of directors (Plummer) to oversee the crisis and make sure that certain secrets he has in his safe-deposit box stay secret. The bulk of the film involves the standoff between the bank robbers and the NYPD as they try frantically to ensure that the hostages remain safe.
Of course we know the hostages survive because Lee inserts interview footage of them after the heist is over, this device, however, tips off the outcome, dissipates suspense and quickly becomes tiresome. This is just one of the many techniques Lee uses to clutter the movie's structure and prevent the plot from unfolding as quickly as it should.
Obviously, everyone has something to hide, particularly the bank president, but when his past is revealed, it finally appears with a bit of a thud, with the movie going through to much difficulty to arrive at very little. In all fairness, Inside Man has some interesting things to say about race, money, power and the ethics of urban living, particularly in New York and the performances are wonderfully cynical and gritty.
Washington is sexy and strong, Foster is skillfully odious as the icy, sophisticated and amoral Madeline who cares for nothing but chasing big bucks, Owen is morbidly compelling as the determined heavy and Plummer is letter-perfect as the guilt-ridden bank honcho.
Lee, however, just doesn't seem able to bring all the disparate elements of a heist film into a convincing and gratifying whole and in the end; the movie is vaguely unsatisfying and impossibly far-fetched. Mike Leonard August 06.

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Academy Award winner Denzel Washington, Academy Award nominee Clive Owen and Academy Award winner Jodie Foster star in this intense and explosive crime thriller. The perfect bank robbery quickly spirals into an unstable and deadly game of cat-and-mouse between a criminal mastermind (Owen), a determined detective (Washington), and a power broker with a hidden agenda (Foster). As the minutes tick by and the situation becomes increasingly tense, one wrong move could mean disaster for any one of them. From acclaimed director Spike Lee comes the edge-of-your-seat, action-packed thriller that The Wall Street Journal calls "a heist film that’s right on the money."

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Contact (Snap Case) (1997) Review

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(More customer reviews)In 1985, Pulitzer-prize winning author and astronomer Carl Sagan (1934-1996) wrote a brilliant "what-if" scenario in his novel entitled "Contact". In the novel, Carl Sagan created a scenario in which his protagonist, a radio astronomer named Dr. Eleanor Ann 'Ellie' Arroway, discovers an extraterrestrial radio transmission that is clearly from an intelligent alien source. The discovery causes intense debate between the proponents of science, religion and government that eventually leads to some very compelling questions on the nature of faith itself. In 1997, the novel was transformed into a film of the same name under the direction of the well-known director Robert Zemeckis, who had previously directed "Forrest Gump" (1994, for which Zemeckis won the Oscar for Best Director), "Death Becomes Her" (1992), "Back to the Future" (1985) and "Romancing the Stone" (1984).
Carl Sagan, with assistance from writers Ann Druyan, James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg, slightly modified the original story by giving Dr. Arroway (played by Jodie Foster) a more personal adversary in another astronomer, Dr. David Drumlin (played by Tom Skerritt). At the beginning of the film, a brief exploration of Dr. Arroway's childhood (played by Jena Malone) is provided that helps to establish her purely scientific perception of reality that resulted in part from the passing away of her father, Ted Arroway (David Morse), who had also encouraged her love of science, astronomy and radio communications. As an astronomer, Dr. Arroway dedicated her work to the SETI project (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), which Dr. Drumlin considers frivolous and potentially damaging to Dr. Arroway's credibility. With her governmental funding cut, Dr. Arroway eventually gets private funding after she approaches one of the world's richest and most influential men, S. R. Hadden (John Hurt). With funding secured, Dr. Arroway's search continues at the Very Large Array (VLA) near Socorro, New Mexico. With her unorthodox method of personally listening to outer space static, Dr. Arroway suddenly and unexpectedly hears a bizarre set of sounds. She immediately gets her team, which includes Kent Clark (William Fichtner), busy working on analyzing the signal, which likely comes from an extraterrestrial source. Once verified, she announces her discovery to the world via the news media, to the disdain of governmental officials including Dr. Drumlin, National Security Advisor Michael Kitz (James Woods) and then President Bill Clinton (himself via archive footage). It also gains explosive response from very religious individuals who don't necessarily share Dr. Arroway's enthusiasm, except for Father Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey), whom Dr. Arroway met in Puerto Rico in a more than casual sense. The content of the message itself raises some very large questions.
What really brought Carl Sagan's vision to life in "Contact" was placing it within a contemporary timeframe. This included the use of many real events, people and places that included CNN, the VLA, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and many cameos from current politicians the television personalities (Jay Leno, Larry King, Geraldine A. Ferraro, Geraldo Rivera to name only a few). Also, Robert Zemeckis placed actors within archival footage in much the same way as he did with the film "Forrest Gump" in 1994. All of this, as well as superb acting from the principal actors (Jodie Foster, Tom Skerrit, Matthew McConaughey, John Hurt, William Fichtner and James Woods), great cinematography, wonderful sets and great special effects make this a brilliant film. Other memorable characters include Rachel Constantine (Angela Bassett), Richard Rank (Rob Lowe), the NASA Mission Director (Tucker Smallwood) and Joseph (Jake Busey). Some of the most memorable scenes in the film include Dr. Arroway hearing the message at the VLA, the public response, the political discussions, Dr. Arroway meeting S.R. Hadden, the machine, Dr. Arroway's relationship with Palmer, the pinnacle event and its aftermath.
Overall, I rate "Contact" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars. In my opinion, it portrays many very probable debates and reactions if astronomers ever actually do discover intelligent extraterrestrial communication signals. I applaud Carl Sagan for his vision, as well as Robert Zemeckis and the many actors and other people involved with the making of this very engaging and compelling film.

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After an astronomer discovers communication emanating from the star Vega, she leads an international team in deciphering it, and travels through space to contact the senders of the message.Genre: Feature Film-DramaRating: PGRelease Date: 3-FEB-2004Media Type: DVD

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