Rating: Summary: Another great JC DVD RELEASE Review: tHIS DOUBLE DISC release has plenty of goodies to keep the fans occupied for a while. The picture quality is swell i must say. Especially on a widescreen telly. It's not john's best pic but it's an enjoyable one with great tongue in cheek kurt russell performance. THe action set pieces are excellent too. It's homage to great martial arts films down the years. Carpenter mentions this in his commentary, names a couple of old films he was influenced by. THe commentary is a good laugh, kurt and john reminiscing about the time they made it (fall and xmas 85). When they see an actor one says to the other 'so, what's denis dun up to now' and the other says ' oh he's doing well, in a tv show' and you can tell they don't really give a fiddler's. Kurt admits that he hadn't seen the film of late..'it's great to see the film cause i hadn't seen it in a while, you know, ..hey..i hadn't seen it since it came out' Kurt is quite giddy throughout, often bursting into laughter at the slightest prompting. You can tell this guy laughs at his own jokes a lot. It's obvious that the two didn't script this commentary because they break off into tangents a lot. John mentions that his son Cody loved the movie when it came out and this precipitates a 5 minute dialogue about their sprogs.John boasts 'Yeah, Cody is surpassing me at the keyboards, he's really good.' and Kurt counters ' Yeah my kid is into the whole Led Zeppelin thing on guitar, he's gettin' real good now' and John retreats '.. ok, anyway getting back to big trouble...' and Kurt laughs uncontrollably. It's easy on the ear, so it is. The other extras are fairly interesting, some alternate scenes and an extended ending, nothing too exciting here, some stuff about the effects, a featurette, some trailers, and best of all the 1986 music video of the title song performed by John Carpenter and friends. It's bad. So bad i had to watch it 5 times. Enjoy!!
Rating: Summary: Jack Burton: "We really shook the pillars of hell didn't we! Review: No horses**t Jack! This is a classic movie. When this movie came out it was very unique. A mixture of comedy/action/and horror all in one. Kurt Russell is great as this bumbling truck driver in a situation way out of his league. He comes up with one liners so stupid they are laughable. A great movie and DVD well worth the money!
Rating: Summary: Incredible Review: I've probably watched this movie on DVD 15 times. My kids love it even my wife who is not into action movies loves it. This movie has a quality about it that resonates with just about everyone that watches it. The effects while dated still look great, and John Carpenters storytelling really comes through. The story never bogs down and moves along very quickly to a huge fight scene at the end for the grand finale. The only weak part of this dvd is John Carpenters band, The Coup De Villes, playing as the end credits roll. While the man seems to know a thing or two about writting a musical score for a movie, his song writing skills are somewhat...........bad. Great movie. My highest possible recommendation.
Rating: Summary: Funny Action Yarn! Review: This is a great treatment of a hilarious action yarn. The DVD is loaded with extras. This is such a fun movie to pop in the DVD Player and watch. Kurt Russell does a magnificent job of playing Jack Burton. The movie moves along at a nice pace and has some pretty cool effects for the time. I was ecstatic with the DVD. Nice setup with cool extras. It's great to see some of my favorite movies get cleaned up and put on DVD.
Rating: Summary: Martial Arts Madness Review: This is one of the best martial arts films. Many of the martial arts fighters are experts in kung fu which makes the scenes more realistic and accurate. Kurt Russell and Kim cattrall star in a very fun film that you never get sick of watching. I recomend this to all people into martial arts, comedy and action. A great Dvd that I would not pass up.
Rating: Summary: There was Big Trouble before Crouching Tiger Review: Since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon achieved such acclaim, people might like to also watch this little gem from the 1980s. It features martial arts action, with a bit of "wire work," and a pretty good story involving Chinese mythology set in modern times. What I'd like to comment on the most, though, is the quality of the DVD. I originally had this on a store-bought VHS, pan and scan. The quality was so low that - even though I enjoyed the film - I questioned spending the money on the DVD. I'm glad that I did, though. The DVD print is crystal clear. The special effects come across *very* well and seamlessly blend with the live action much better than they did in the old VHS. Plus, with the widescreen, the action is less cramped and makes more sense. Don't be fooled by the poor quality of previous VHS cuts of this movie. The DVD looks and sounds terrific - like a totally new film!
Rating: Summary: A full tilt rollercoaster ride Review: Horror master John Carpenter went a little outside his style to make this 1986 film starring his favorite actor Kurt Russel. Russel stars as a wise guy truck driver (is there any other kind?) who finds himself as a reluctant participant in a Chinese supernatural battle that also has the fate of the world hanging in the balance (naturally). What results is (like the Amazon review states) a full tilt comic blast of thrills, a few chills, and a few spills, even though the story and action is utterly ridiculous, and the acting is overly campy, but its supposed to be and that just makes the movie all the more fun. Russel shines in his role as the reluctant hero(and clearly has fun in his role), and Kim Cattrall is good as one of the damsals in distress. Imaginitive creature effects, makeup, and special effects seal up this Carpenter package, and thus makes this one of Carpenter's more enjoyable movies.
Rating: Summary: Classic Review: this movie started it all. a classic must see. Mortal Kombat?? Naa Big Trouble is way better!
Rating: Summary: What A Movie! Review: Out of all the movies in 1986, this should have been a box office hit, I think it got terrible promotion. Released the 2nd of July 1986, This movie has action and an interesting story line. Kim Cattrall looked stunning. I loved the lightning guy, I still think he is cool. If you think the movie is good wait until you see the DVD, The DVD is stunning with two discs. The first Disc is the movie and a few extras. The movie is translated into beautiful widescreen. It's like watching it in the movie theatre. The second disc has many extras including deleted scenes and an '80s styled music video. Which is fun to watch. Buy this DVD you won't regret it.
Rating: Summary: One of the Biggest Films of 1986 That Was Never Big Review: Carpenter admitted he was ahead of his time with this movie since Hong Kong cinema has only recently become popular in the US. What today's Hong Kong-inspired movies don't have though is a lot of comedy, and this movie delivers it in spades. Jack Burton is a real buffoon, but he thinks he can accomplish anything. Pretty much everyone reading this knows someone like Jack Burton, so it's amazing to see a charcter like that be the top star of an action movie. You feel like you know this guy since he always bites off more than he can chew. The action scenes are all very good, and there are many Carpenter-isms in the movie. Had someone else directed this, it might not have been so good. The DVD is rock-solid. The video transfer is remastered so well, that it looks like it was made much later than 1986. The sound is nice too, but the biggest part of this 2 disc set is the extras. There are so many extras, it took me hours and hours to go through them all. I don't know why Fox would make a special edition out of a movie like this, but I won't complain. Maybe Fox finally realized they badly marketing this film in 1986 and caused its quick box office... Their atonement is well received.
|