DVD Talk DVD Reviews https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/list/DVD Video DVD Talk DVD Review RSS Feed en-us Barnaby Jones - The Complete Collection DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/70393 Sun, 17 Jan 2016 13:43:29 UTC Skip It

CBS/Paramount began releasing the popular detective drama Cannon (1971-76) to DVD in 2008 and its even longer-lasting spinoff, Barnaby Jones (1973-1980), in 2010. In sharp contrast to the label's excellent transfers of other library shows filmed in 35mm (Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Hawaii Five-O, etc.), episodes of Cannon utilized complete but prehistoric video transfers that looked pretty terrible. When they got around to releasing the first season of Barnaby Jones, CBS/Paramount ponied up the money to create new transfers of those shows. They must not have sold as well as they thought they would. No more season sets of either followed after Cannon's second and Barnaby's first, in 2010.

When indie label VEI sublicensed both from CBS/Paramount and announced Complete Collection boxed sets, I hoped against hope that both shows might be remastere...Read the entire review

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Cannon: The Complete Collection DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/69826 Sat, 03 Oct 2015 13:32:00 UTC Rent It

Cannon.
Starring William Conrad.
With Guest Stars Barry Sullivan, Murray Hamilton, Tim O'Connor. Special Guest Star Buddy Ebsen.
Tonight's Episode: Fat Man on a Soft Transfer

Act One

Hoping against hope, I thought that maybe - just maybe - in the five-plus years since CBS/Paramount released Cannon Season Two, Volume Two, the last half-season set of the popular 1971-76 private eye show to see the light of day, the company might have seen the wisdom in remastering the whole series, and that VEI, distributor of Cannon: The Complete Collection, would be able to boast of new, high-def transfers.

The DVD market has dwindled, of course, and Blu-ray seems to have settled into a niche market, but for distributors like CBS/Paramount there's still plenty of money to be made licensing catalog titles into syndication, on cable, and innumerable foreign market...Read the entire review

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The Equalizer: The Complete Collection (plus CI5: The New Professionals - The Complete Series & A Congregation of Ghosts) DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/66180 Tue, 07 Oct 2014 13:58:57 UTC DVD Talk Collector Series

The original, television version of The Equalizer (1985-89), starring British actor Edward Woodward as a retired former intelligence operative formerly with "the Company" (read: CIA), was a moderately popular but often misunderstood series. Television critics who didn't look at it very closely dismissed it as TV's answer to Death Wish (1974) and the inferior spate of urban-vigilante thrillers that followed that equally fascinating and misunderstood one.

The violent, dirty, pre-gentrified New York City of The Equalizer (omnipresent graffiti is like a supporting character) certainly cohabitates the same milieu as Death Wish, but the similarities pretty much end there. In fact, The Equalizer is much more like a cross between the classic existential Western series Have Gun - Will Travel (1957-63) and the understated, cynical espionage novels of John le Carré (Read the entire review

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in Search of... (Season 6) DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/61730 Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:56:35 UTC Highly Recommended

(Because in Search of…'s format remained unchanged as did the general quality of the show itself, this review is identical to my simultaneous reviews of the program's other five seasons save for the list of each season's episodes. The reader is nonetheless obligated to read all six reviews. Or else.)


"Lost civilizations. Extraterrestrials. Myths and monsters. Missing Persons. Magic and witchcraft. Unexplained phenomenon. in Search of… cameras are travelling the world seeking out these great mysteries. This program was the result of the work of scientists, researchers, and a group of highly skilled technicians." - Host Leonard Nimoy


Often when old TV shows are released to DVD there's a strong desire on the part of those who watched it when it was new to revisit it, followed by great disappointment that the series isn't nearly as entertaining as one imagined...Read the entire review

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in Search of... (Season 5) DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/61729 Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:56:35 UTC Highly Recommended

(Because in Search of…'s format remained unchanged as did the general quality of the show itself, this review is identical to my simultaneous reviews of the program's other five seasons save for the list of each season's episodes. The reader is nonetheless obligated to read all six reviews. Or else.)


"Lost civilizations. Extraterrestrials. Myths and monsters. Missing Persons. Magic and witchcraft. Unexplained phenomenon. in Search of… cameras are travelling the world seeking out these great mysteries. This program was the result of the work of scientists, researchers, and a group of highly skilled technicians." - Host Leonard Nimoy


Often when old TV shows are released to DVD there's a strong desire on the part of those who watched it when it was new to revisit it, followed by great disappointment that the series isn't nearly as entertaining as one imagined...Read the entire review

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in Search of... (Season 4) DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/61728 Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:56:35 UTC Highly Recommended

(Because in Search of…'s format remained unchanged as did the general quality of the show itself, this review is identical to my simultaneous reviews of the program's other five seasons save for the list of each season's episodes. The reader is nonetheless obligated to read all six reviews. Or else.)


"Lost civilizations. Extraterrestrials. Myths and monsters. Missing Persons. Magic and witchcraft. Unexplained phenomenon. in Search of… cameras are travelling the world seeking out these great mysteries. This program was the result of the work of scientists, researchers, and a group of highly skilled technicians." - Host Leonard Nimoy


Often when old TV shows are released to DVD there's a strong desire on the part of those who watched it when it was new to revisit it, followed by great disappointment that the series isn't nearly as entertaining as one imagined...Read the entire review

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In Search Of... The Complete Series DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/59132 Sun, 06 Jan 2013 02:42:15 UTC Highly Recommended

"This series presents information based in part on theoryand conjecture. The producer's purpose is to suggest some possibleexplanations, but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries wewillexamine." - spoken at the conclusion of the opening sequence for everyepisode
 
The Show:
 
Ahh, 1976.  The United Stateswas celebrating its 200th year of existence, we were justgettingover or fascination with Pet Rocks, and elephant bell bottoms and moodringswere in fashion.  It was also a time whenAmericans, by and large, were infatuated with pseudoscience (afterreading thepreceding sentence, is it any wonder?). UFOs, pyramid power, and the Bermuda...Read the entire review

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Katt Williams: American Hustle The Movie DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/31486 Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:44:35 UTC Recommended

The Film:
If you're not familiar with comedian Katt Williams, it's a bit hard to describe him--as evidenced by the pull quotes used on the packaging for his latest DVD, American Hustle The Movie. Jet magazine says that Williams is "...one of today's most popular comedians." I would agree with that. Meanwhile, someone over at Rolling Stone calls Williams "the next Richard Pryor." Now this statement I have problems with, because while Williams is funny, there will never--and I mean never ever--be a next or another or any other Richard Pryor. But both of these quotes are prime examples of how difficult it is to describe Williams in a way that is easily palatable to the mainstream public, without being offensive. But I'm not worried about that, so I'll describe the comedian in a way that sums it up perfectly: Katt Williams is a funny-ass motherf**ker.

Aside from his...Read the entire review

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BloodRayne 2 DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/30156 Fri, 31 Aug 2007 07:42:12 UTC Skip It

The Movie:
I come bearing bad news. Uwe Boll has made another lackluster film. I know you're probably thinking "This can't be true!" But alas, Boll's losing streak continues in the form of "Bloodrayne 2: Deliverance."

The story (or lack thereof) involves Rayne attempting to rid a western town of a vampire gang led by Billy The Kid. In order to save the townspeople and eliminate the evil, Rayne has to round up a gang of vampire killers to finish the job.

The main problem as I see it is that Rayne is one of the single wimpiest and most easily defeated heroes to ever grace the screen. She gets pistol whipped and knocked out by an old fart, she has to assemble a team of vampire killers because she can't do the job herself, and she gets thrashed in the climactic battle with Billy The Kid. The only reason she never croaked was because people kept saving her life. Where's River when you need h...Read the entire review

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Rain DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/29860 Fri, 17 Aug 2007 09:09:37 UTC Skip It

The Movie:

OK, here's a rhetorical question for you: How awful is Rain? The not-so-rhetorical answer: Pretty darn awful.

But awful can be watchable, at least intermittently, and this loosely based adaptation of V.C. Andrews' 2000 novel holds mild campy appeal. Well, make that very mild campy appeal.

In this sappy sudser, director Craig DiBona and screenwriter Andrew Neiderman serve up a buffet line of groan-inducing clichés, with its ingénue heroine traipsing through clunky subplots that run the gamut from secret children and clashes of culture to rape and murder.

The storyline is shaggier than Austin Powers' diary. Rain Arnold (Brooklyn Sudano) is a 19-year-old African-American woman living with her parents and two siblings in a crime-infested ghetto. Rain is the quintessential good girl - forthright and selfless, polite and compassionate. She sings i...Read the entire review

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National Lampoon's Spring Break DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/27032 Fri, 16 Mar 2007 05:53:27 UTC Skip It

The Movie

The National Lampoon franchise used to mean something, comedy. The franchise was responsible for great movies like National Lampoon's Animal House and National Lampoon's Vacation. However, over the few years, the quality has plummeted with horrendous films that only use National Lampoon as a brand name.

Their latest endeavor is National Lampoon's Spring Break. It is not funny and actually is not much of a movie. "Spring Break" is a seventy minute production that plays out like a non-censored spring break edition of E!: Entertainment Television's Wild On! with Brooke Bruke. The only difference is that Nikki Zi...Read the entire review

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Pope John Paul II DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/26953 Sun, 11 Mar 2007 01:59:08 UTC Recommended

Not being Catholic, I can't claim any deep or special knowledge of Pope John Paul II's life or his works. I was of course aware of the broad, general mileposts of his life and career while he was alive, but I can't say I closely followed the man. So I was genuinely surprised and quite moved, actually, by the epic TV movie Pope John Paul II, starring both Jon Voight and Cary Elwes as the 20th century's most popular pontiff. Clocking in at three hours, and filmed at actual locations in Poland and Italy, Pope John Paul II tells the fascinating true story of Karol Jozef Wotjtyla, the first Polish pope, and an inspiration to millions of people, of all faiths, all over the world.

I had read superficially about John Paul's background, but Pope John Paul II gives a...Read the entire review

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Spin DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/26785 Wed, 28 Feb 2007 01:00:55 UTC Skip It

The Movie:

The DVD case for Spin promises a thriller marked by sensuality and hot Latin music. Now, that's what you call some serious spin. Instead, this movie boasts awful production values, a hackneyed script and some very sexy people doing some very bad acting. In other words, it has all the makings of a pretty good porn flick.

But no such luck. The most scintillating thing about this soap opera are its muy caliente actresses in tight-fitting outfits flouncing around to a reggaetón soundtrack.

Beneath the pedestrian filmmaking is crusty, old-fashioned melodrama. Inez (Elika Crespo) and Dolores (Catalina Rodriguez) are fellow waitresses in Miami's Little Havana who dream of making it big in the music industry. Dolores has the pipes and sex appeal for singing stardom, while Inez, no slouch in the looks department herself, has the brains and drive to ma...Read the entire review

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National Lampoon's Pledge This! (Naughty Version) DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25696 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 23:56:48 UTC Skip It

THE DVD

Last month, out of a deep, fervent love for all things Jason Mewes, I rented the direct-to-video comedy, "Bottoms Up." It didn't come as a paralyzing shock that the picture was atrocious, but what struck me wasn't the script's lack of wit or the director's incompetence. What hurt the most was Paris Hilton single-handedly defacing the art of acting.

"Pledge This!" comes to the DTV market after two years on the shelf, and, much like "Bottom's Up," there's a good reason nobody would touch it outside of National Lampoon. The title is aimed solely at horny pre-teens who couldn't care less about filmmaking; they're only here for the free peeks at boobs and Paris in her underwear. On those requirements alone, "Pledge This!" does just fine.

The thinly-drawn story concerns a group of ugly girls looking to pledge, and eventually subvert, the hot girl sorority run by Victoria Engl...Read the entire review

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The Groomsmen DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/24831 Sat, 04 Nov 2006 18:05:08 UTC Rent It

In 10 Words or Less
Boys will be boys

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: A good indie film
Likes: Ed Burns, Jay Mohr, John Leguizamo, Donal Logue
Dislikes: post-Clueless Brittany Murphy
Hates: Cheaters

The Movie
Casts packed with big-name talent have a long history in film, rangingfrom the silly (the Cannonball Run movies) to the excellent (Ocean's11), and everything in between. Of course, when you sign a lot of bignames, your budget skyrockets, which doesn't work for an Edward Burnsfilm, where the costs are always kept low.

So instead of hiring superstars, Burns pulled together a cast ofwell-known and well-liked B-list actors to tell his intimate suburbanstory, topping things off with a high-gloss femal...Read the entire review

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Headspace DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/23416 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 07:29:45 UTC Recommended

The Movie

You have to wade through a lot of inherent problems when you set out to make a low-budget horror movie: limited funds, an overglutted marketplace, jaded genre fans, etc. And lots of times the creators of the Low-Budget Horror Movie don't even bother trying; all they're after is a colorful "hook," a marketable villain, enough shock footage to fill a trailer, and a somewhat alluring DVD cover to bring the viewers in. Stuff like mood, pacing, and originality rarely even enter into the equation.

Which makes a movie like Headspace such a quiet little surprise. I certainly wouldn't go on record calling it a brilliant horror film, but there's a notable amount of talent, style, and (most importantly) effort on display here, and those components go a pretty long way to keeping the flick in a viewer's good graces.

Directed by a first-timer who clearly has some talent, Head...Read the entire review

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Land of the Blind DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/23142 Wed, 09 Aug 2006 14:46:28 UTC Rent It

In 10 Words or Less
Absolutely power corrupts absolutely good movie concepts

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves:
Likes: Ralph Fiennes, Donald Sutherland
Dislikes: Lara Flynn Boyle, dystopia
Hates: Politics

The Movie
Here in 2006, politics have lost a lot of the humorous touches that have powered "Saturday Night Live" and satirical films like Dick and Three Kings. A movie like American Dreamz should have been a great skewering of the political malaise in America, but it didn't work. It might be because politics, the ones behind the nuclear threats worldwide, the Middle-East crises and similar nightmares, are scarier now, and harder to laugh about. That might be the reason why Land of the Blind,...Read the entire review

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Sarah Silverman - Jesus is Magic DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/22017 Sat, 03 Jun 2006 17:00:45 UTC Recommended

In 10 Words or Less
Just another pretty face with a filthy, filthy mouth

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Stand-Up, "Tenacious D"
Likes: Sarah Silverman the woman
Dislikes: Sarah Silverman the actress
Hates:

The Movie
A comedic concert movie generally lives or dies on the strength of the comic's material, as there's usually nothing else to see. A comic, a mic, an audience and a lot of jokes. That's what Jesus is Magic is at its core, as Sarah Silverman takes a California stage and delivers a wandering collection of stories and observations.

I've seen a lot of Silverman, good (her TV gigs) and bad (her various films), and I've enjoyed her non-acting work, but I can't say I've seen much of her stand-up act befo...Read the entire review

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Bloodrayne DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21850 Wed, 24 May 2006 01:15:46 UTC Rent It

The Movie:

With the accolades of hate thrown onto his first two video game adaptations, House Of The Dead and Alone In The Dark, notorious filmmaker Uwe Boll has fast become one of the most despised director's in the industry today. Some how and for some reason, however, his films continue to be profitable and the man keeps working and with BloodRayne, his latest video game adaptation, he even managed to score an Oscar winner to play a fairly important part. The fates truly shine upon you, Uwe, and for this, bad movie fans the world over remain ever thankful.

The story centers around a vampire-human half-breed, referred to in the film as a dhampir, named Rayne (Kristanna Lokken of Terminator 3) who, when we first meet her, is being used as a circus freak. We soon learn that the head of the evil vampires, Kagan (Sir Ben Kingsley of Ghandi!!) killed h...Read the entire review

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House of 9 DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/19980 Fri, 03 Feb 2006 03:54:14 UTC Rent It

The Movie

Take 33% Saw, 33% My Little Eye, 33% Cube, and 1% Dennis Hopper as a priest with a hilariously misshapen Irish accent, and you're close to understanding what goes on in the House of 9 -- only it's not as dark as Saw, as slick as My Little Eye, or as devilishly clever as Cube.

All of which means that House of 9 is a latecoming, also-ran entry in the "dark side of reality TV" canon. It's also a distressingly dry and intermittently silly little thriller ... although one that's not totally without merit, provided you're an open-minded fan of the genre fare.

Here's the gist, and by "gist," what I really mean is "the entire plot." Nine total strangers awaken in a creepy, deserted mansion. They hear a voice over an intercom that says, essentially, "last person breathing gets out of this locked building with 5 million bucks in their...Read the entire review

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Dirty Deeds: Unrated DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/19927 Tue, 31 Jan 2006 04:33:39 UTC Skip It

The Movie

So inept, low-rent, and shamelessly derivative is David Kendall's Dirty Deeds that I'm absolutely stunned that it doesn't arrive bearing a "National Lampoon Presents" banner. And if you've ever been tied down and forced to sit through a triple feature of Gold Diggers, Last Resort, and Dorm Daze, then you already know what I know: the formerly brilliant name of "National Lampoon" has long since become anonymous with "witless, laughless, worthless sex comedy."

But I digress; Dirty Deeds is not affiliated with National Lampoon. It's just that the flick is so damn awful I can't imagine how it wouldn't be.

Plot: A wise-ass high school senior decides to tackle the legendary "dirty deeds," activities that require a contestant to do numerous very stupid things, while offering no clear indication as to said contestant's motivation. (If the complet...Read the entire review

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Boss 'N' Up DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/19368 Tue, 20 Dec 2005 10:24:45 UTC Rent It

The Movie:

While he may have lost some of his street credibility after appearing on television hocking Chryslers with Lee Iacocca on the golf course, Snoop Dogg proves he can still keep it real by starring in this bizarre modern day blaxploitation drama with musical interludes directed by Pook Brown.

When the movie begins, Cordé Christopher (Snoop) is sitting in jail. Soon his lawyer shows up. After he's done hitting on her and daydreaming about dancing girls with fresh panties, we learn how he got there through a few flashback scenes. You see, way back when, Cordé was a grocery clerk who was always getting into trouble with his boss at work as he had a much better eye for the hotties than he did for the produce he was assigned to.

Fed up with his dead end job, Cordé wants to make some real coin and start living the easy life. He wants the American Dream, he tells his buddie...Read the entire review

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Citizen Verdict DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/19037 Wed, 30 Nov 2005 22:33:45 UTC Skip It

The Movie:

Jerry Springer couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. Which is ironic because you'd think he would have been perfect for the role that he played in Citizen Verdict. The 2003 film directed by Philippe Martinez is all about reality-trash TV gone wrong and raises a lot of social, moral and political issues.

The basic idea behind the film is that with the popularity of reality television and the drama that you see on Court TV, why hasn't somebody combined the two? The show itself is entitled Citizen Verdict and is a three hour court room brawl in which a man's life hangs in the balance. The kicker is that much like American Idol, the audience gets to call in and vote if the defendant is guilty or not. Whether a person lives or dies is based on the American public instead of a group of jurors. Of course you can't believe everything that you see on TV s...Read the entire review

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The Defender DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/18496 Mon, 31 Oct 2005 20:22:39 UTC Rent It

The Movie:

In this day and age of political unrest and widespread chaos across the globe, it's a small comfort, but a comfort none the less, that we've still got Dolph Lundgren to keep the world safe for freedom. Not content to simply 'act' he's now made his directorial debut in The Defender, and you know what? Despite how stacked the odds were against him, being Dolph and all, the movie doesn't suck. It's brainless, unrealistic, and riddled with cliches, but really, it doesn't suck.

Set in modern America with the 'War On Terror' in full swing, the President of the United States (played here by Jerry Springer… seriously, that Jerry Springer is the President in this movie) and his allies are trying to push through Congress a plan that they hope will eventually result in world peace but it's meeting with a lot of opposition and the President knows that they'll have to take mor...Read the entire review

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