Ballistic Ecks vs. Sever

Actors: Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu, Gregg Henry, Ray Park, Talisa Soto
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: December 24, 2002

If you have a hearty appetite for fiery explosions, heavy ordnance, and nonsensical mayhem, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever is just for you. This mindless action flick is so wrong-headed that even its ungainly title is inaccurate: as expert assassins on the fringes of government intelligence, FBI agent Ecks (Antonio Banderas) and Defense Intelligence agent Sever (Lucy Liu) aren't battling each other at all. Instead, he's trying to find his missing ex-wife (the stunning but expressionless Talisa Soto) and young son, while she's pursuing an agency turncoat (Gregg Henry) who's stolen the ultimate micro-technology for clandestine killing. United against a common enemy, Ecks and Sever lay waste to half of Vancouver (the film's budget-conscious location), and it all makes as much sense as meatballs on a vegetarian menu. Banderas and Liu look fabulous as corpses pile up around them, but Thai action director Kaos (a.k.a. Wych Kaosayananda) must have confused his nickname with the incomprehensible plot of his movie. --Jeff Shannon

Tremors

Actors: Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Michael Gross, Shawn Christian, Susan Chuang
Directors: Brent Maddock, Ron Underwood, S.S. Wilson
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Release Date: November 29, 2005

Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward star as two country handymen who lead a cast of zany characters to safety in this exciting sci-fi creature comedy. Just as Val McKee (Bacon) and Earl Basset (Ward) decide to leave Perfection, Nevada, strange rumblings prevent their departure. With the help of a shapely seismology student (Finn Carter), they discover their desolate town is infested with gigantic man-eating creatures that live below the ground. The race is on to overcome these slimy subterraneans and find a way to higher ground, in this enjoyable thriller co-starring Michael Gross and Reba McEntire.

They’re back! The giant underground creatures that terrorized a desert town in Tremors are now plowing their way through Mexican oil fields, gobbling up everything and everyone around-and only one man can stop them! In the style of its predecessor, this comedy sci-fi creature feature reunites Fred Ward as down-on-his-luck Earl Basset and Michael Gross as gung-ho survivalist Burt Gummer, two desert desperados who take on the task of destroying the monsters. Partnered with them is Christopher Gartin, a young guy in need of kicks, cash, and a career change, and Helen Shaver, a sexy and intrepid scientist who’s seen it all…until now. Together they devise an ingenious plan for tracking and killing the creatures. Tremors 2 is filled with high-speed action and plenty of laughs-until the predators wise up.

Those morphing, man-eating monsters are shaking things up again in the dusty little town of Perfection, Nevada – and survivalist Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) is the only solution to the latest in evolution! Aided by a couple of young local entrepreneurs (Shawn Christian and Susan Chuang), Burt pits his impressive knowledge of weaponry against the newest and deadliest generation of Graboids. If Burt andhis new partners can’t find a way to stop them, then the creatures that put Perfection on the map will wipe it right off the face of the earth. Tremors 3 promises earth-shaking, explosive, edge-of-your-seat entertainment.

Get ready to be shaken to your core by the all-new prequel to the original Tremors! When workers in a remote mining town of Rejection, Nevada, fall prey to an unseen creature, the mine’s owner, Hiram Gummer (Michael Gross), great-grandfather to Tremors’ Burt Gummer, hires a mercenary to destroy the carnivorous creatures before they swallow up his profits. What follows is an all-out assault that takes the battleground from deep in the earth to a suspense-filled showdown on the streets of Rejection! Tremors 4:The Legend Begins will thrill you with incredible action sequences, awesome bonus features and earth-shaking special effects created by the award-winning team behind the original box-office hit, Tremors.

DVD in Tin Case

Total Recall

Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Rachel Ticotin, Ronny Cox
Directors: Paul Verhoeven
Studio: TriStar Pictures
DVD Release Date: September 18, 2001


Band of Brothers

Actors: Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, Donnie Wahlberg, Frank John Hughes, Neal McDonough
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Widescreen, NTSC
Studio: HBO Home Video
DVD Release Date: November 5, 2002


Xmen

Actors: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, James Marsden
Directors: Bryan Singer
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Release Date: February 7, 2006

Rambo Trilogy

Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna, Bill McKinney, Jack Starrett
Directors: George P. Cosmatos, Peter MacDonald, Ted Kotcheff
Studio: Artisan Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: May 28, 2002


Highlander

Actors: Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown, Roxanne Hart, Beatie Edney
Directors: Russell Mulcahy
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
DVD Release Date: April 16, 2002


T2

Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Earl Boen
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Release Date: June 3, 2003

Imagine, John Lennon

Actors: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, David Bowie
Directors: Andrew Solt
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: December 6, 2005

It can hardly be a coincidence that this "deluxe edition" of John Lennon – Imagine should be issued in late 2005, a couple of months after what would have been the former Beatle's 65th birthday and mere days before the 25th anniversary of his death. Whether that's cynical, poignant, or just good marketing is moot; what matters is that Lennon's impact, not just as a musician but as a public figure, remains largely undiminished. The film, released theatrically in 1988, will already be familiar to many fans. "Narrated" by Lennon himself and culled from hundreds of hours of footage, much of it home movies shot by John and Yoko Ono, Imagine is a substantial, reasonably illuminating portrait of the man, warts and all, from childhood through the Beatle years, his solo career, and his life with Yoko straight up to his fatal encounter with Mark David Chapman. It's the new bonus features that are the principal draw here; but whether or not they qualify as "deluxe" is arguable. The Lennons' radio interview with a BBC reporter is notable mostly for John's patience in the face of idiotic questions like "Is love very important to young people today?" The ten or so minutes spent with Lennon's school headmaster, William Ernest Pobjoy (love the name), yield little insight, especially considering that the two were at the
school at the same time for just one year, half a century ago; likewise, a new "making of" documentary with Ono, writer-director Andrew Solt, producer David Wolper, and others isn't exactly ground-breaking. However, a previously unreleased performance of "Imagine," with Lennon and some unknown accompanists on acoustic guitar, is nice, as is some heretofore unseen footage of the Lennons at home on their Tittenhurst Estate. Add to that a fine transfer and Dolby digital sound, and you have another addition to the filmed legacy of the Beatles--a subject that, for many of us, will never be old news. --Sam Graham

Hello Kitty

Actors: Laura Summer, Melissa Fahn
Directors: Tony Oliver
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Release Date: September 2, 2003

Includes:
Hello Kitty Goes to the Movies
Hello Kitty Saves the Day
Hello Kitty Becomes a Princess
Hello Kitty Plays Pretend (only available in this set)
Hello Kitty Tells Fairy Tales (only available in this set)
Limited-edition jewelry box

The Three Musketeers

Actors: Wayne Allwine, Tony Anselmo, Bill Farmer, Russi Taylor, Tress MacNeille
Directors: Donovan Cook
Studio: Walt Disney Home Video
DVD Release Date: August 17, 2004

The unlikeliest heroes in any queen's court would have to be janitors Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy, who dream of adventure in Disney's animated feature The Three Musketeers and get their wish under dubious circumstances. Though the trio aspires to perform brave deeds on behalf of their monarch, Minnie Mouse (who pines for a fantasy beau that looks a lot like Mickey), they are held back as servants by the head Musketeer, Pete. What they don't know is that Pete secretly schemes to get rid of the queen but has, thus far, failed in his efforts. Desperate, he appoints Mickey and his bumbling friends guardians to Minnie--on the assumption she'll be all the more vulnerable--but underestimates their determined, if slapstick, resourcefulness. Good, classic Disney comedy meets storybook romance in this short (68 minutes) animated feature, which features songs and familiar melodies by Tchaikovsky, Strauss, and Beethoven. --Tom Keogh

Charlies Angel

Actors: Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, Bill Murray
Directors: McG
Studio: Sony Pictures
DVD Release Date: March 27, 2001

For every TV-into-movie success like The Fugitive, there are dozens of uninspired films like The Mod Squad. Happily--and surprisingly--this breezy update of the seminal '70s jiggle show falls into the first category, with Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore (who also produced), and Lucy Liu starring as the hair-tossing, fashion-setting, kung fu-fighting trio employed by the mysterious Charlie (voiced by the original Charlie, John Forsythe). When a high-tech programmer (Sam Rockwell) is kidnapped, the angels seek out the suspects, with the daffy Bosley (Bill Murray in a casting coup) in tow. A happy, cornball popcorn flick, Charlie's Angels is played for laughs with plenty of ribbing references to the old TV show as well as modern caper films like Mission: Impossible. McG, a music video director making his feature film debut (usually a death warrant for a movie's integrity), infuses the film with plenty of Matrix-style combat pyrotechnics, and the result is the first successful all-American Hong Kong-style action flick. Plenty of movies boast a New Age feminism that has their stars touting their sexuality while being their own women, but unlike something as obnoxious as Coyote Ugly, Angels succeeds with a positive spin on Girl Power for the new millennium (Diaz especially sizzles in her role of crack super agent/airhead blonde). From the send-up of the TV show's credit sequence to the outtakes over the end credits, Charlie's Angels is a delight. --Doug Thomas