Collection ID 50
Director: Paul Michael Glaser
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura
Genre: Action
Studio: Braveworld Productions   Release date: 1987   Rated: R   
Language (Country): English, English (Predator only), French (Not on Running Man) (USA)
Summary: A wrongly-convicted man must try to survive a public execution gauntlet staged as a TV game show.
My Rating:
My Review:

Collection ID 458
Director: Brett Ratner
Starring: Ken Leung, Jackie Chan, Tom Wilkinson, Tzi Ma, Robert Littman
Genre: Action
Studio: New Line Cinema   Release date: 1998   Rated: PG-13   
Language (Country): English, French (Spawn only) (USA)
Summary: Two cops team up to get back a kidnapped daughter.
My Rating:
My Review: Screenplay by Ross LaManna and Jim Kouf. Directed by Brett Ratner (57 movie credits - This is his second feature film (previous was Money Talks with Chris Tucker)). Brett Ratner has been good for Chris Tucker, and deservedly so. This film, and Ratner's previous helped launch Chris Tucker's career, and it marked the beginning of Brett Ratner's meteoric rise. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan make the perfect buddy cops (yes it’s a genre - Re: In the Heat of the Night, 48 Hours, Lethal Weapon). Chris Rock is sassy and smack talking. Jackie Chan is respectful and a little lost. In this movie Jackie Chan plays Hong Kong inspector Lee and Chris Rock plays L.A.P.D detective Carter. The two mis-matched cops are teamed up in an international caper to catch some Chinese kidnappers who've taken the consul's 11 year old daughter. This movie has it all; action, comedy, and a couple of crime fighting detectives who get the job done. The fastest hands in the east meet the biggest mouth in the west. I give this buddy cop comedy a 5 out of 5.

Collection ID 1171
Director: Brett Ratner
Starring: Ken Leung, Jackie Chan, Tom Wilkinson, Tzi Ma, Robert Littman
Genre: Action
Studio: New Line Cinema   Release date: 1998   Rated: PG-13   
Language (Country): English, French (Spawn only) (USA)
Summary: Two cops team up to get back a kidnapped daughter.
My Rating:
My Review: Screenplay by Ross LaManna and Jim Kouf. Directed by Brett Ratner (57 movie credits - This is his second feature film (previous was Money Talks with Chris Tucker)). Brett Ratner has been good for Chris Tucker, and deservedly so. This film, and Ratner's previous helped launch Chris Tucker's career, and it marked the beginning of Brett Ratner's meteoric rise. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan make the perfect buddy cops (yes it’s a genre - Re: In the Heat of the Night, 48 Hours, Lethal Weapon). Chris Rock is sassy and smack talking. Jackie Chan is respectful and a little lost. In this movie Jackie Chan plays Hong Kong inspector Lee and Chris Rock plays L.A.P.D detective Carter. The two mis-matched cops are teamed up in an international caper to catch some Chinese kidnappers who've taken the consul's 11 year old daughter. This movie has it all; action, comedy, and a couple of crime fighting detectives who get the job done. The fastest hands in the east meet the biggest mouth in the west. I give this buddy cop comedy a 5 out of 5.

Collection ID 349
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, Seymour Cassel, Brian Cox
Genre: Romance
Studio: American Empirical Pictures   Release date: 1998   Rated: R   
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: The king of Rushmore prep school is put on academic probation.
My Rating:
My Review: Jason Schwartzman plays Max Fischer a 15 year old kid who knows it all… Bill Murray plays Herman Blume, wealthy industrialist ready to change his life. Olivia Williams plays Rosemary Cross, the first grade teacher pursued by Max and Herman. The story is delightfully complicated social morass involving all three characters and their tender feelings. The story is a simple three way love affair, but the characters are highly evolved, critically detailed and extremely complex. The direction, dialog, and editing are masterful. Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson have crafted an intricate and thoughtful script. Direction by Wes Anderson was essential to the success of this psycho-drama where three generations converge. The cast makes the movie perfect. The acting is flawless and perfectly adapted to the characters. Seen primarily from Max's point of view, we are carried along on his adrenalin fueled journey of uncertainty, trepidation and bold embrace. The lies the friendships, the first blush of love, the quest for acceptance, knowledge and a place in the social order of his peers. Mas is desperately seeking to experience as much as he can. He's trying to catch up with something he doesn't quite understand - The ideal life is always out of reach, deceivingly easy to quantify, extremely difficult to posses. He constantly tests, pushes and probes. One of my favorite Wes Anderson films. I give it a 5 out of 5.

Collection ID 1081
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, Seymour Cassel, Brian Cox
Genre: Romance
Studio: American Empirical Pictures   Release date: 1998   Rated: R   
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: The king of Rushmore prep school is put on academic probation.
My Rating:
My Review: Jason Schwartzman plays Max Fischer a 15 year old kid who knows it all… Bill Murray plays Herman Blume, wealthy industrialist ready to change his life. Olivia Williams plays Rosemary Cross, the first grade teacher pursued by Max and Herman. The story is delightfully complicated social morass involving all three characters and their tender feelings. The story is a simple three way love affair, but the characters are highly evolved, critically detailed and extremely complex. The direction, dialog, and editing are masterful. Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson have crafted an intricate and thoughtful script. Direction by Wes Anderson was essential to the success of this psycho-drama where three generations converge. The cast makes the movie perfect. The acting is flawless and perfectly adapted to the characters. Seen primarily from Max's point of view, we are carried along on his adrenalin fueled journey of uncertainty, trepidation and bold embrace. The lies the friendships, the first blush of love, the quest for acceptance, knowledge and a place in the social order of his peers. Mas is desperately seeking to experience as much as he can. He's trying to catch up with something he doesn't quite understand - The ideal life is always out of reach, deceivingly easy to quantify, extremely difficult to posses. He constantly tests, pushes and probes. One of my favorite Wes Anderson films. I give it a 5 out of 5.

Collection ID 440
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, John Loder, Desmond Tester, Joyce Barbour
Genre: Drama
Studio: Gaumont British Picture Corporation   Release date: 1936   Rated: Not Rated   
Language (Country): English (UK)
Summary: Mr. Verloc is part of a gang of foreign saboteurs operating out of London. He manages a small cinema with his wife and her teenage brother as a cover, but they know nothing of his secret. Scotland Yard assign an undercover detective to work at the shop next to the cinema in order to observe the gang.
My Rating:
My Review: Screenplay by too many to mention. Based upon a novel (same name) by Joseph Conrad. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho (1960), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), The man who knew too much (1934)). Starring Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, Desmond Tester and others. Here's another Hitchcock film made on the eve / just before WWII. Readying the UK population for war was clearly on Hitchcock's mind as he directed many of the movies from the late 30s into the 40s. This pre-American espionage thriller features a story about terrorism. Called sabotage during the era of this film, this movie tells the tale of foreign agents committing acts of terrorism on British soil. A young American woman moves to England with her German? husband. While she tends to her son, and domestic activities, Mr. Verloc is involved in something nefarious. The movie opens with a London blackout (predating intentional blackouts during Luftwaffe raids). The power plant has been sabotaged with sand. When the foreign agents aren't satisfied with that, they escalate matters, instigating a train station bombing. As the agent prepares to carry out this plan, Scotland Yard is hard at work, trying to break this 'cell' of terrorists. It doesn't take long before they've got their man. There's only one problem. In a panic, this cowardly agent has sent his wife's innocent son out to the train station with an armed bomb under arm. The ending contained some shocking scenes, and an unexpected twist. Classic Hitchcock. Excellent writing (based on a novel), direction and acting (especially that of Silvia Sydney). Unfortunately there were no subtitles, the accents were thick at times, and the sound work was poor. This film hasn't aged well. I give it a 3 out of 5.

Collection ID 682
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, John Loder, Desmond Tester, Joyce Barbour
Genre: Drama
Studio: Digiview   Release date: 1936   Rated: Unrated   
Language (Country): English (UK)
Summary: Mr. Verloc is part of a gang of foreign saboteurs operating out of London. He manages a small cinema with his wife and her teenage brother as a cover, but they know nothing of his secret. Scotland Yard assign an undercover detective to work at the shop next to the cinema in order to observe the gang.
My Rating:
My Review:

Collection ID 1155
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, John Loder, Desmond Tester, Joyce Barbour
Genre: Drama
Studio: Gaumont British Picture Corporation   Release date: 1936   Rated: Not Rated   
Language (Country): English (UK)
Summary: Mr. Verloc is part of a gang of foreign saboteurs operating out of London. He manages a small cinema with his wife and her teenage brother as a cover, but they know nothing of his secret. Scotland Yard assign an undercover detective to work at the shop next to the cinema in order to observe the gang.
My Rating:
My Review: Screenplay by too many to mention. Based upon a novel (same name) by Joseph Conrad. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho (1960), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), The man who knew too much (1934)). Starring Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, Desmond Tester and others. Here's another Hitchcock film made on the eve / just before WWII. Readying the UK population for war was clearly on Hitchcock's mind as he directed many of the movies from the late 30s into the 40s. This pre-American espionage thriller features a story about terrorism. Called sabotage during the era of this film, this movie tells the tale of foreign agents committing acts of terrorism on British soil. A young American woman moves to England with her German? husband. While she tends to her son, and domestic activities, Mr. Verloc is involved in something nefarious. The movie opens with a London blackout (predating intentional blackouts during Luftwaffe raids). The power plant has been sabotaged with sand. When the foreign agents aren't satisfied with that, they escalate matters, instigating a train station bombing. As the agent prepares to carry out this plan, Scotland Yard is hard at work, trying to break this 'cell' of terrorists. It doesn't take long before they've got their man. There's only one problem. In a panic, this cowardly agent has sent his wife's innocent son out to the train station with an armed bomb under arm. The ending contained some shocking scenes, and an unexpected twist. Classic Hitchcock. Excellent writing (based on a novel), direction and acting (especially that of Silvia Sydney). Unfortunately there were no subtitles, the accents were thick at times, and the sound work was poor. This film hasn't aged well. I give it a 3 out of 5.

Collection ID 1716
Director: Tobe Hooper
Starring: David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia, Lew Ayres
Genre: Horror, TV Movie
Studio: Warner Bros. Television   Release date: 1979   Rated: PG   
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: The successful writer Benjamin "Ben" Mears returns to his hometown Salem's Lot, Maine, expecting to write a new novel about the Marsten House. Ben believes that the manor is an evil house that attracts evil men since the place has many tragic stories and Ben saw a ghostly creature inside the house when he was ten. Ben finds that the Marsten House has just been rented to the antique dealers Richard K. Straker and his partner Kurt Barlow that is permanently traveling. Ben meets the divorced teacher Susan Norton that is living with her parents and they have a love affair. Ben also gets close to her father Dr. Bill Norton and his former school teacher Jason Burke. When people start to die anemic, Ben believes that Straker's partner is a vampire. But how to convince his friends that he is not crazy and that is the truth?
My Rating:
My Review: A made for TV movie based on Stephen King's novel. This 'Movie' was originally produced and released as a mini-series (2 episodes in November of 1979) on television. Although IMDB doesn't list it, Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Masacre, Poltergeist) directed this movie. IMDB doesn't list the credit under the movie or the Tobe Hooper listing. Starring David Soul, Lance Kerwin, Lew Ayres, Julie Cobb, Kenneth McMillan, James Mason and others. The screen play written by Paul Monash, is based on a Stephen King novel (same name). The digital version I purchased from Apple is 183 minutes long (same as the DVD/Blu-Ray version). This horror flick is set in a sleepy community on the coast of Maine. The main character has just returned home after a lifetime away, in order to write a novel about the creepy old mansion on the hill. Little does he know that the lingering evil in the old Marsten house has attracted the attention of something most vile. The old mansion on the hill soon becomes the epicenter for a vampiric infestation. This a great vampire movie. While the cliche's are all there, and the character acting is mediocre. The movie shines with deft camera work, excellent pacing, outstanding music, lighting and sets. Dripping with suspense, this thriller manages to plunge the viewer into a sublime state of horror which creeps me out to this day.

Collection ID 616
Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: James Woods, James Belushi, Michael Murphy, John Savage, Elpidia Carrillo
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)   Release date: 1986   Rated: R   
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: Director Oliver Stone ("Platoon", "JFK") offers up this brilliant, engrossing true-life account of the violent civil war in El Salvador as told through the perspective of a has-been journalist trying for one last grasp at glory and finding the true horror of war. James Woods is freelance journalist Richard Boyle, who leaves San Francisco broke with his drug-addled, disc-jockey buddy (Jim Belushi) to cover the escalating conflict and hopefully return to his former stature as a war correspondent. What he finds is a nation torn by random violence, shifting ideologies, poverty, and the malevolent influence of the United States. Boyle tries to make sense of the brutality he sees while extracting his girlfriend from the war zone and saving his own life. Featuring John Savage ("The Deer Hunter") as an earnest photojournalist, this is a fascinating and riveting depiction of the bloody strife that tore apart a nation and mirrored the disillusionment of the Vietnam era. "--Robert Lane"
My Rating:
My Review: Salvador: A historically based thriller on speed. Directed by Oliver Stone, starring James Woods and James Belushi. Not for the timid, this violent movie focuses the camera on the men behind the lens. A movie about journalists on the razor's edge in war ravaged El Salvador, this picture cruises along fueled by adrenalin and stray bullets. The main characters enter the scene after fleeing no-win scenarios in the states. The movie starts out in 5th gear and never relents. This depiction of political corruption and violent death squads feels so real that I found myself flinching when the bullets started whizzing past. An outstanding achievement. I'm glad I bought a copy