The Spanish Moss Murders

At long last the wait is over
Before "The X-Files", Darren McGavin was reporter Carl Kolchak whose news stories would focus on the supernatural and science fiction aspects of a story. "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" only ran a short (it was only about 20 episodes)season on ABC. Although it lacked the creative fire power of the two TV movies (Producer/director Dan Curtis, director John Moxey and writer Richard Matheson were not involved with the series at all), the best episodes had a sharp sense of humor and a couple of young contributors that would make their mark elsewhere (the creative team behind "Back to the Future" and the writer-producer of "The Sopranos" were both contributors to the series). I realize that writer/creator Jeff Rice ended up suing Universal over the TV series but do wish that an interview with him or commentary tracks had been included.

Released to coincide with the new "The Night Stalker" TV series produced/written by Frank Spotnitz ("The X-Files", "The Lone Gunmen"), the series is...

To have and have not
Just for the record I want to make it clear that I am reviewing the DVD box set of the TV series 'Kolchak: The Night Stalker' unlike at least half of the other reviewers on these pages who have reviewed the original Telemovie.

As for my review, let me add my voice to the chorus in saying how wonderful it is to finally have all 20 episodes of the series on DVD. The show has been a favourite of mine since it's initial run in Australia, and has never lost its sparkle, largely due to excellent performances by the cast.

I'm not going to cover the actual content here, other reviews that were on the right subject have done that well enough.

I am VERY disappointed in the manner the series has been released. Universal needs to understand that double sided DVDs are a thing of the past. I hate them; they are difficult to look after, and due to the 4-pass process, more prone to failure.

Surely with the cost of media today, it would not have made a...

Another great example of how "not" to do a film to DVD transfer!
First let me say that I have worked in the video industry, Broadcast, VHS Duplication and now DVD authoring and replication business for 15 years. I understand video and quality.

Secondly let me say that I love the Night Stalker Series and was anxious as hell to see it released some day on DVD.

The day that this set came out I bought it and that night started watching it.

Now the bad part: The quality of the film to video transfers are some of the worst I have seen. The light levels of the projection device were so low that all night scenes are so dark that nothing, absolutely nothing can be seen in some parts. Other parts are so dark that only vague shadows can be seen. I took the discs to work and scoped them out. The white and black levels are in acceptable ranges of 100% white and 7.5% for black. This is not the problem. The film to video transfer had insuficiencent projection level to resolve the images.

Night Stalker looks like a bad...

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Camino Al Infierno

Camino al Infierno
I order this movie because I couldn't find it in any other place. However when I received this product, the product was incomplete. In other words content was missing. It was not a complete movie. Why? I do not know. But I am just not happy that what I order is not complete. Thank you very much.





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Big Nothing

The worst laid plans
This is one of the more enjoyable "bumbling amateur criminals" movies that I've seen.

It's a UK/Canadian production but it's set in the U.S. and it stars David Schwimmer in my favorite movie role of his to date. His lugubrious manner is perfectly complimented by bouncy, James-Cagney-like Simon Pegg, a British comedian donning a perfect American accent. Their screen chemistry is wonderful.

Joining them is another Brit with another perfect American accent plus tremendous sex appeal, Alice Eve, playing a third kooky wheel in this unlikely team of extortionists. I gotta say: the acting by everyone (Brit, American, and Canadian) is top-notch.

The script by Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Andrea and American Billy Asher tries to avoid cliches -- or at least improve on them -- and Andrea's direction gives the film a slightly surreal touch altho the film retains a down-to-earth quality.

That surreal touch plus its dark quality may limit this film's appeal,...

A gothic comedy!!!
I loved this film. The first "gothic comedy", I would say! It's very funny, yet surprisingly dark. So you'll go from laughing your head off to jumping in your seat thinking "WTF"? A very original movie based on a classic premise. Pegg rocks, as usual, I'm a huge Spaced fan and wasn't disappointed! Definitely a geeky yet intelligent movie, worth watching a few times. Laughs and shocks guaranteed in equal measure. Awesome soundtrack too, are they going to release it?

A whole bunch of dark fun
Just a joy for me to watch! I haven't ever been let down yet by Simon Pegg (the guy from Shawn of the Dead) and his wit plays off of Schwimmer's drollitivity(?) perfectly. The chick is dynamite and she mentally kicks the crap out of the two men who are smart enough to acknowledge it with just the right amount of self deprecation. The plot constantly twists and turns and the comedy is all black. That's key for me. Give me laughs couched in morally questionable (or directly sinful) situations and I'm happy as a clam.

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Gray Matters

Funny and light, it's not for cynics
This movie was fun, and refreshing because it was not an upchucking of dismal lesbian social commentary or the ' happily ever after isn't part of the lesbian culture' message being sold by cynical women directors seeking like and kind in their audiences.

Instead, it's refreshingly light but only just as believable as any hetero mainstream romantic comedy and thus it doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is. The lesbians are no more realistic than Julia Roberts was as a hooker in Pretty Woman, meaning you'll believe them only if you want to believe them.

Understanding what a romantic comedy is, we dove in with very little reservation and popcorned our way through to an ending that came after some surprising lifestyle insights in a "I wish my family had said that" kind of speech.

After watching this movie the first time, we showed it to a number of our straight friends and they enjoyed it too. There is a message in that. Drop the 'our lot in life'...

Gray Matters is Great!
Great is all I can say. I have been so bored with every romantic comedy that has come out in the past five years. Finally a movie with heart, soul and originality. The cast is superb, the writing is fantastic and it's a great postcard of New York City. I laughed and I even shed a tear or two! This should have been the comedy of the year. I highly reccomend it. Molly Shannon is also hilarious--some of her funniest acting yet.

DVD
Excellent movie with good performances from two of Hollywoods most beautiful and talented actresses, Heather Graham and Bridget Moynahan. A funny lighthearted romantic film.

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Ricky

Finally, The Incredible HULK is on DVD Season wise
After being accidently exposed in his laboratory to a massive dosage of gamma radiation, David Banner (A Research Scientist) physiology was dramaticaly effected.

Normally peaceful, quiet man, David now found that once angered, he turn into the Incredible Hulk, a huge, powerful seven foot greenish, manlike monster of immense strength and primitive passions.

David knew and remember what happened at the start of his transformation but had no recollection of what he had done when he was the creature. He searched for a cure traveling around the country taking all sort of odd jobs in order to provide food and clothes for him self and in the same time avoiding the pursuit of investtigative reporter Jack McGee who suspected his secret but had no solid proof.

The Incredible Hulk was based on the 1962 comic-book character created by Stan Lee.

After two pilot movies in 1977, "The Incredible Hulk" a two parts first movie originally aired on November...

Read People....
With the exception of the two 1977 pilot episodes, there is only one(747)episode here in season 1 already in the "Ultimate Collection, the other 9 episodes are not, they are previously un-released episodes, & I personally am glad to see more of the "Hulk" on DVD, when season 2 is released, that might warrant a gripe about already released episodes in the "UC", but for now, this is not exactly a waste of money.

Complete with GREAT remastering
Like so many other Hulk fans, I WAITED a few years for the complete season to finally come out. I ignored the "Ultimate Collection" set issued in 2003, in the hopes that a season by season box set would arrive. It finally did, and I'm thrilled. Although there isn't much in terms of bonus material, (the interview with Kenneth Johnson is the same as the intitial release of the pilot episode) the quality of remastering is good. Picture is very clean and clear and the sound is good mono. It would have been nice to have some commentary from the celebrity guest stars. Though they were not well known at the time (Loni Anderson, Gerald McRaney) it still would have been nice to have them reminisce about their appearances on the show. Despite these minor quibbles, it's nice to have all of season one COMPLETE without the cuts and edits when it appeared on syndication. Great set for Incredible Hulk fans!

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Knight of the Phoenix: Part 2

The Best Sci-Fi show of the 80's now on DVD
Knighr Rider a shadowly flight of a man, who does not exist. Michael Long (David Hasslehoff) is a Las Vegas police Lt. who gets caught up in a scam by a man and a beautiful woman. They shoot him point blank and leaves him for dead. An esentric millionare who doesn't have much time to live finds him, saves him, and gives him a new Idenity as "Michael Knight". The man who saves him is Willton Knight a self-made millionare who was affected by this man and woman as well.

Michael wonders after getting his strength back what everyone is doing coming in and out of a place all hours of the night and so he goes to investigate and finds his car, or is it? It infact is the "Knight Industries Two-Thousand" or K.I.T.T for short. A talking car that helps him to take down the women and men and four years of adventure begins.

New Knight Rider is a cool as ice
It's hard to match the original classic series, but the new Knight Rider manages to be fun and cool. It's a little lightweight, to begin with. This is pure saturday afternoon popcorn TV. So don't expect Lost or the new Battlestar. I like Val Kilmer as the voice of Kitt, and I also warmed to the Mustang after a while. The new lead actor is good in a different way to Hasselhoff was, he seems a little more vulnerable.

If you like shows with cars, good looking women and fun action storylines. You'll like this.

Knight Rider on DVD - This quality set comes fully equipped
Since I have been an avid Knight Rider fanatic since I was six years old, I picked up the first season DVD boxed set on release day. I have to say, I am very impressed. You might expect a $40 set of DVDs from a campy '80s TV show to be equally campy in their presentation (think Columbia House's own Knight Rider DVD knockoffs), but you'd be wrong. This is a top-quality set. There's a good number of cool extras, the menus and navigation are fantastic, and the video and sound quality of the episodes themselves are astounding. Knight Rider DVDs are finally here, and to my great relief, they did them RIGHT.

The four discs in this set are double-sided, so the publishers were able to save money on the cost of printing discs, keeping the price of the set low. Points to them for that. When you first load up a disc, the unforgettable KR theme music starts and your options are provided in a cool, perspective-shifted layout that has an effect like KITT's scanner behind it. Once...

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The Road to Calydon

Double-dip needed? Maybe not...
If you already own the Anchor Bay (AB from here on out) release of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" - Season 1 you may want to hang onto it.

This release has only the series. The 5 made-for-tv movie "specials" which introduced the character and truly started the series are *not* included. These were on the AB season 1 release. There is no word on whether these will be available separately.

The AB release had the 13 season episodes on 4 disks while this release uses only 3. This indicates there will be more compression, but the jury's still out on whether or not the episodes have been cleaned up beyond what AB did.

On the AB release, the sound was remixed into a 5.1 Dolby Digital while this release is 2.0 (which was the original sound mix). This may or may not be a drawback depending on your outlook.

The primary draw for this release is the use of subtitles which the AB release did not have (the major drawback of the AB release IMHO)...

Protector of the People
Hercules Season One, an 8-disc DVD Collection, collects all 5 TV pilot movies and the 13-episode first season (1994-1995) of the syndicated action series based on the popular Greek mythological figure.

THE STORY

The critically-acclaimed �Hercules the Legendary Journeys� aired in syndication for 6 seasons from 1994 till 1999. Based on the popular hero from Greek mythology, the story followed the adventures of Hercules and his friend Iolaus as they traveled the earth defending mortals against the tyrannical gods who plagued them, namely his step-mother Hera, Queen of the Gods and his half-brother Ares, the God of War. The series� brilliant combination of action and adventure, special effects and adaptation of Greek mythology was a critical as well as commercial success, drawing strong ratings and a cult-following.

THE DVDS:

Disc 1:

Movie 1: �Hercules and the Amazon Women� � Hercules and Iolaus embark on one last great adventure...

Hours of entertainment at a good price.
I pre-ordered this set as soon as I found out about it and I'm glad I did. I watched Hercules (and Xena) for years while it was on TV and miss it, so I get my fix when I need it now. Hercules and Iolas have a positive buoyancy and a "nothing is sacred" humor that is sadly lacking in a lot of hero action series so it's also refreshing to watch. This set has all the Action Pack movies as well as Season 1 (which includes the Xena trilogy), pamphlets, etc and supposedly a commemortive coin (though I found none in my package and there was no customer service number to call inside either, that was one downer). But the quality is good, the beginnings are the original beginnings, which is fun, and you get to see Zeus when he was played by Anthony Quinn, Lucy Lawless when she was playing bit parts, and Ares before Kevin Smith personified the role so well. In fact, though a Xena fan (and I know I will be making some Xena fans angry when I say this) I must say that the Hercules set is much...

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