DVD Review
DVD reviews originally written for the Barclays in-house SF magazine
Collateral (2004)
Out now on both sides of the pond in similar editions is Michael Mann’s latest, Collateral. This stars Tom Cruise playing a hitman taking a taxi ride to all his targets, and it’s a fine performance once you can shake the idea that he looks like Swiss Toni. Jamie Foxx seems to be the flavour... »
Dead Heat (1988)
A buddy cop story with the novelty that one of the cops is a zombie. Director Mark Goldblatt is better known as the editor of action movies such as Terminators 1 & 2 and Armageddon. Anchor Bay have spent considerable time doing justice to this zombie movie which became moderately popular during the strange... »
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (1966)
Directed by William ‘One-Shot’ Beaudine towards the end of his career, this is almost unwatchable, although the ‘concept’ drags it through and some scenes have a camp value. It kicks off as a standard Western in Arizona, and you can spot Jim Davis (later to star on TV in Dallas) as one of the assorted... »
Q The Winged Serpent (1982)
Another old classic re-release in an improved R1 version is Q The Winged Serpent. This was made in 1982 by Larry Cohen (writer of the more recent Phone Booth), and features the title character killing assorted NYC residents as well as a whole lot of other plot points which would look crazy if I wrote... »
Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
A mismatched crew and passengers are stranded in the desert, and try to build a new plane to escape. This is a remake of the old Robert Aldrich movie which starred Jimmy Stewart and Richard Attenborough and which often turns up on Sunday afternoon TV. This time, instead of Cold War tension, we get Dennis... »
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (snappy title eh?) is the second directorial effort by Tommy Lee Jones, who also stars. He plays an aging cowboy whose friend is killed in suspicious circumstances. When the local authorities cover things up, our hero takes things into his own hands, digs up the body and... »
Dreamcatcher (2003)
Lawrence Kasdan has adapted Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher. You’ve got a director with a serious pedigree tackling unexpectedly populist material, and the difference here from say, Ang Lee, is that Kasdan embraces the stupidity of the whole thing and has created a classic of B-movie cinema, albeit with a massive budget and high production values. There... »
Revenge (1990)
Just after the release of Man On Fire, I dug out an old Tony Scott movie called Revenge, released on DVD in both theatrical and director’s cuts. It makes a very interesting companion piece to the later movie, treating a similar story as one of revenge rather than redemption. Kevin Costner stars as a... »
The Core (2000)
A team of crack scientists (ouch) drills to the earth’s core to prevent a global disaster. The Core takes parts of several better movies (mostly Armageddon, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Fantastic Voyage) and comes up with something very average, with the occasional inspired moment. The only surprising thing is... »
Alien Vs Predator (2004)
Years ago I remember spotting the Alien head in the Predator 2 spaceship, and since then we’ve had comic books and video games linking the two franchises, so it was inevitable that Alien Vs Predator would turn up as a movie. Surprisingly the director chosen was Paul W.S. Anderson, who is the target of... »