Rating: 
Summary: Is Amazon Screwey?
Review: Since when does Star Trek Reviews end up on a review page for "That Was Then... This Is Now" staring Emeilio Estevez, Craig Schaifer, and Kim Delany? I Think Amazon.com has finally gotten to big to manage their own content!!!However, this movie is one of the best movies that Emelio Estevez has acted in. We all know that [Estevez] had better rolls and was a more passionate actor during the earlier part of his career, that [this movie] demonstrates his acting ability. The story is simple: two boys grow up together and feel like they are brothers. One of the boys [Estevez] gets caught up in the wrong crowd and ends up in jail. The other boy played by Schaifer tries to help [Estevez] stay on the straight and narrow. Good story by the auther of the "The Outsiders", S.E. Hinton.
Rating:
Summary: Is Amazon Screwey?
Review: Since when does Star Trek Reviews end up on a review page for "That Was Then... This Is Now" staring Emeilio Estevez, Craig Schaifer, and Kim Delany? I Think Amazon.com has finally gotten to big to manage their own content!!! However, this movie is one of the best movies that Emelio Estevez has acted in. We all know that [Estevez] had better rolls and was a more passionate actor during the earlier part of his career, that [this movie] demonstrates his acting ability. The story is simple: two boys grow up together and feel like they are brothers. One of the boys [Estevez] gets caught up in the wrong crowd and ends up in jail. The other boy played by Schaifer tries to help [Estevez] stay on the straight and narrow. Good story by the auther of the "The Outsiders", S.E. Hinton.
Rating:
Summary: A wealth of special features...
Review: The contents of the DVD are as follows (information from www.startrek.com): Disc 1
THE FILM
-The original theatrical version, presented in widescreen format enhanced for 16:9 televisions. Sound is Dolby Digital English 5.1, English and French Dolby Surround. -Commentary by William Shatner and Liz Shatner (daughter and author of "Captain's Log - William Shatner's personal account of the making of Star Trek V - The Final Frontier") -Text commentary by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda, co-authors of the "Star Trek Encyclopedia." Disc 2
THE STAR TREK UNIVERSE:
-"Herman Zimmerman: A Tribute" - An examination of the visual influences production designer, Herman Zimmerman, has had on Star Trek since he first joined the Trek family on "Star Trek V." This retrospective illustrates what Mr. Zimmerman has contributed to not only the Star Trek features but also the TV series The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. Includes interviews with Zimmerman, John Eaves (concept artist), Harve Bennett (producer), Penny Juday (project coordinator) and Michael Okuda (scenic artist). -"Original Interview: William Shatner" - An original, unedited interview with William Shatner, filmed during the production of "Star Trek V." -"Cosmic Thoughts" - In "Star Trek V," the crew of the Enterprise are searching for God and, as it turns out, spirituality has its place in the universe of Star Trek. This featurette examines the theme of religion throughout the TV series, the Star Trek movies and the annals of science fiction as a whole. Interviews include Ray Bradbury (sci-fi author), David Brin (scientist, sci-fi author), Frank Drake (head of SETI Institute), Charles Beichman (JPL, Terrestrial Planet Finder Project), Ted Peters (Exo-Theologists teaching at Berkeley), Eugene W. Roddenberry (son of Gene Roddenberry), Louis Friedman (executive director of the Planetary Society), Ralph Winter (executive producer) and David Loughery (screenwriter). -"That Klingon Couple" - Actors Spice Williams and Todd Bryant reminisce about when they portrayed Klingons Captain Klaa and Vixis. -"The Green Future?" - "Star Trek V" opens on location in Yosemite National Park and an environmental tone is woven throughout the film. This featurette gives a snapshot of the global environment of the future. Interviews include David Siegenthaler (Yosemite ecologist), Richard Turco (UCLA Institute of the Environment) and Julia Parker, a Native American spokesperson with insights into Man's impact on the environment. PRODUCTION:
-Harve Bennett's Pitch To Sales Team - A pep talk by producer Harve Bennett to the Paramount sales team, firing them up about "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier." -The Journey - Behind-The-Scenes Documentary - Memories of how "Star Trek V" was conceived, produced and directed. Interviews include William Shatner (director), Leonard Nimoy (actor), Ralph Winter (executive producer), Harve Bennett (producer), David Loughery (screenwriter), Michael Okuda (scenic artist), Andrew Lazlo (cinematographer), John Eaves (concept artist) and Herman Zimmerman (production designer). -Make-Up Tests - An assembly of camera tests for various characters from the film. -Per-Visualization Models - Spaceship model makers rehearse special effects moves with models. -Rock Man In the Raw - Design elements and test footage of the aborted Rock Man costume. -"Star Trek V" Press Conference - A reconstruction of the multi-camera press conference held on the last day of shooting for "Star Trek V" and hosted by William Shatner. -Deleted Scenes - A variety of deleted scenes from "Star Trek V." ADVERTISING
-Trailers - The teaser trailer, theatrical trailer and the trailer for The Complete Adventures of Indiana Jones. ARCHIVES
-Production Gallery - An assembly of stills and footage that capture behind-the-scene moments of production. -Storyboards Unfortunately, this will NOT be a director's edition, so no new scenes or footage or special effects will be added. 1989; 107 minutes; RATED PG for mild sci-fi/action violence, brief language, and cheap special effects.
Rating: 
Summary: You couldn't PAY me enough to take this DVD
Review: The only reason why I didn't give this movie 0 stars is because the lowest Amazon.com will go is one star! :-) In a story that many fans consider apocryphal, the Enterprise is captured by an emotional, renegade Vulcan named Sybok... who just happens to be Spock's long-lost half brother ! And if that isn't stupid enough, Sybok's quest is to find nothing less than God himself (!) in a plot lifted straight from one of the worst episodes of the original series, "The Way To Eden". The story begins with a bad case of the cutes in a meandering, stupid prologue set in Yosemite park on Earth. Yes, that's actually Kirk, Spock and McCoy singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"! Then it gets even worse when the story finally moves into space. Scene after scene after scene that should have been dramatic are incredulously played for -- unfunny -- laughs. The special effects (the only Star Trek film after "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" where they were not done by ILM) are sub-par. Most of the regulars look like buffoons, especially poor Jimmy Doohan whose Scotty knocks himself unconscious on a beam in the ship (!?), and Nichelle Nichols who dances "nude" in one of the stupidest scenes in the entire series. The editing and overall focus of the story is confusing, careeming wildly from dark, heavy, supposedly "meaning"-filled drama to stupid humor. David Warner, an otherwise superb actor, is totally wasted in a useless role as a drunken Federation ambassador whose character serves no real purpose. And even the Klingons -- in what at the time was a new, "Next Generation"-era of respectability -- end up looking and acting like idiots. And William Shatner's direction is just plain incompetent and boring in this horrible travesty. This film should never have been made, and the blame can be put almost entirely on Shatner himself, who not only directed but shares co-story credit. However, in Shatner's defense -- not that I'm letting him off the hook completely, mind you -- the film had major, major budget problems. Originally slated to be in the forty-million dollar range, Shatner had to watch as it was chopped down to thirty, then further emasculated to barely twenty-five-million (a paltry sum for a huge special-effects-filled science fiction film). The ending to the film, originally intended to be much more spectacular and pyrotechnic (perhaps a climax worthy to all the talky buildup?), had to be almost completely rewritten and cheapened. I'm sure that this Special Edition of the movie will have some decent extras... but you know what, I don't care! I wasted two hours of my life watching this film that I will never get back, and I'll be danged if I will waste another two hours. But I WOULD listen to an audio commentary by William Shatner if he said "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." over and over again for the length of the film. Now THAT would be worth buying!!!
Rating:
Summary: You couldn't PAY me enough to take this DVD
Review: The only reason why I didn't give this movie 0 stars is because the lowest Amazon.com will go is one star! :-) In a story that many fans consider apocryphal, the Enterprise is captured by an emotional, renegade Vulcan named Sybok... who just happens to be Spock's long-lost half brother ! And if that isn't stupid enough, Sybok's quest is to find nothing less than God himself (!) in a plot lifted straight from one of the worst episodes of the original series, "The Way To Eden". The story begins with a bad case of the cutes in a meandering, stupid prologue set in Yosemite park on Earth. Yes, that's actually Kirk, Spock and McCoy singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"! Then it gets even worse when the story finally moves into space. Scene after scene after scene that should have been dramatic are incredulously played for -- unfunny -- laughs. The special effects (the only Star Trek film after "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" where they were not done by ILM) are sub-par. Most of the regulars look like buffoons, especially poor Jimmy Doohan whose Scotty knocks himself unconscious on a beam in the ship (!?), and Nichelle Nichols who dances "nude" in one of the stupidest scenes in the entire series. The editing and overall focus of the story is confusing, careeming wildly from dark, heavy, supposedly "meaning"-filled drama to stupid humor. David Warner, an otherwise superb actor, is totally wasted in a useless role as a drunken Federation ambassador whose character serves no real purpose. And even the Klingons -- in what at the time was a new, "Next Generation"-era of respectability -- end up looking and acting like idiots. And William Shatner's direction is just plain incompetent and boring in this horrible travesty. This film should never have been made, and the blame can be put almost entirely on Shatner himself, who not only directed but shares co-story credit. However, in Shatner's defense -- not that I'm letting him off the hook completely, mind you -- the film had major, major budget problems. Originally slated to be in the forty-million dollar range, Shatner had to watch as it was chopped down to thirty, then further emasculated to barely twenty-five-million (a paltry sum for a huge special-effects-filled science fiction film). The ending to the film, originally intended to be much more spectacular and pyrotechnic (perhaps a climax worthy to all the talky buildup?), had to be almost completely rewritten and cheapened. I'm sure that this Special Edition of the movie will have some decent extras... but you know what, I don't care! I wasted two hours of my life watching this film that I will never get back, and I'll be danged if I will waste another two hours. But I WOULD listen to an audio commentary by William Shatner if he said "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." over and over again for the length of the film. Now THAT would be worth buying!!!
Rating:
Summary: A Sign Of The (Cinema) Times
Review: This movie deserves its R rating. It is filled with vulgar/obscene language that was not in the book. The movie producers thus ruined a perfectly good story for young teens.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad language spoils a good story.
Review: This movie deserves its R rating. It is filled with vulgar/obscene language that was not in the book. The movie producers thus ruined a perfectly good story for young teens.
Rating:
Summary: Glad it was made into a movie
Review: This was the last S.E. Hinton book to be made into a movie. Of course the book was better, but that goes without saying (for most films). Two very close teens, Mark, and Bryon live together with Bryon's mom. Mark's parents killed each other in a fight when Mark was a child. Bryon grows to maturity, and Mark wants to hold on to the good ol' days. Bryon gets a girlfriend and things look serious. Mark get's jealous and resentful. Mark turns to drug dealing, and deals some drugs to Bryon's girlfriend's brother, M&M. M&M loses his mind and is drugged out in a hippie type drug house. Things get heated between these two brothers, and Bryon is faced with a life changing decision. Good coming of age drama. Emilio Estevez wrote the screenplay to the Hinton book, but,unlike the other projects, she had nothing to do with the making of this movie. Morgan Freeman plays a very "cool" bartender in this movie.
Rating:
Summary: In Search of ....God
Review: Undermined by a incredible shrinking budget, a optical effects company that frequently failed to deliver and a story concept as big as...well God...The Final Frontier failed to generate the buzz Paramount was hoping for. That was a big surprise. Shatner's concept was originally much larger than the canvas provided for this picture. Suppose the Enterprise crew met God or certainly a creature that was involved in the creation of our life forms. Shatner and his writer had to keep scaling down the project as they saw their budget diminish and Paramount's interest in the film fade. Personally, I believe that Paramount originally treated TFF as their contractual obligation film. Shatner's contract required Paramount to give him a shot at directing. They lived up to the letter of the contract. The fact that TFF is much better than can be expected is a bonus. The story is fairly simple; Sybok a renegade Vulcan in touch with his feelings blackmails the Federation into supplying him with a ship to search for God. Essentially, Sybok and his followers take Federation, Klingon and Romulan diplomats hostage in so that the Federation will mount a response. The Enterprise is sent to investigate and free the prisoners however they can. Sybok and his followers manage to gain control of the Enterprise and, he in turn, manages to seduce members of the crew to help him achieve his goal. Sybok has detected an area of space where he believes the Supreme Being is located and takes the Enterprise there. Kudos to Lawrence Luckinbill an underrated performer who brings fire and wit to the character of Sybok. Originally Sean Connery had been offered the role but turned it down. I don't know that he could have played it an better than Luckinbill. As with all Trek films, every actor gets a character moment or sequence. Some are better than others here. I personally love the opening sequence of the film where Kirk, Spock and McCoy are camping. Shatner's directorial debut in the Trek series suffers from some major dramatic flaws. Surrounding these dramatic flaws are some great character and comedic moments for the original cast. There's a number of powerful scenes jammed in this movie but, unfortunately, they couldn't escape to the film they deserved. Clearly Shatner had much more in mind when he committed to doing this picture. Unfortunately, the subject matter was far too broad to be handled in this film. The special edition will include a new transfer and there will be a number of special features including a director's commentary (at least I'm told). I'm not actually reviewing the new edition here as I haven't seen the new transfer yet. The Final Frontier's concept was an idea near and dear to Roddenberry's heart. He suggested the same plot for the first Trek film. I don't know that Roddenberry could have done it any better or if anyone could have. This is a difficult subject to write and perform convincingly.
Rating: 
Summary: TALK ABOUT NOT FOLLOWING THE NOVEL......GEEZ!
Review: Well,I was disappointed to say the least. I bought this movie because I had read the book with my 7th grade reading class. There was NO WAY I could show this movie to them. I knew it had a R rating but figured I would take the chance. Besides all the profanity, the movie DID NOT follow S.E. Hinton's story line. Emilio Estevez (he wrote the screen play ) defiated from it in so many ways. There are too many to list now. Even the ending was totally NOT the book. The character of Mark was played by Emilio and he "over acted" big time. I was not impressed by him. Kim Delaney is a great actress but the character of "Cathy" was NOT as protrayed in the book. The character of Bryon was by far the closest of all of the characters. Oh, and the character of Charlie....it was played by Morgan Freeman. Need I say more? This is definitely the movie that upholds the cliche'....THE BOOK IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE MOVIE!!!!!!!! I say...don't waste the [money], like I did!
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