Follow @screenit

SCREEN IT DVD CAPSULE REVIEWS Site Directory: Home Page Free Newsletter! DVD Reviews This Week's New Movies Complete List of Movies (alphabetical) Movies Listed By MPAA Ratings Movies Listed By Genre This Week's New Videos Complete List of Videos (alphabetical) Videos Listed By MPAA Ratings Videos Listed By Genre Advertise On Screen It! Visitor Survey Send Us Your Comments/Questions First Time Visitors Official Movie Pages & Other Links Less filling than our full-length reviews but still informative, our DVD capsule reviews offer technical and supplemental information for each release, along with a quick look at whether the title is any good and/or entertaining or enjoyable. BABY'S DAY OUT Length: 99 minutes Screen Formats: 1.85:1, 16x9, Full Screen (Pan & Scan) Languages: English, French Subtitles: English, Spanish Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Sides: 2 Extras: Scene selection/Jump to any scene. Running audio commentary by director Patrick Read Johnson. 5+ minute featurette about the film, including clips from it, behind the scenes footage and various interviews. Theatrical trailer for this film as well as "Breaking Away," "My Bodyguard," "Rookie of the Year" and "The Sandlot." Baby Bink (Adam and Jacob Worton) is out on the town for the day, visiting wondrous places and seeing fantastic sights. The only problem is, he's traveling alone! Frantically hunted by his mother (Lara Flynn Boyle) and turned into a celebrity by the media, Baby Bink stays one stead ahead of a trio of bumbling con artists (led by Joe Mantegna) eager to collect the reward money being offered by his wealthy parents. Cool, calm, collected and totally unaware of the havoc he wreaks, Baby Bink's day trip is a hilarious mix of comedy and groundbreaking special effects (for 1994). Written and produced by John Hughes, this film followed the success of his earlier "Home Alone" films and pretty much stuck with the same formula (kid undermines the mind guys in a slapstick environment). The film will obviously appeal to a certain viewer demographic and if you can stomach all the cutesy material, you might find the effort - to some degree - entertaining. However, if you can't do that and/or don't like seeing young kids put in harm's way - even for a comedy where you know they'll be okay -- you might want to skip it. Baby's Day Out is now available for purchase by clicking here. MY BODYGUARD Length: 96 minutes Screen Formats: 1.85:1, Full Screen (Pan & Scan) Languages: English, French Subtitles: English, Spanish Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Sides: 2 Extras: Scene selection/Jump to any scene. Theatrical trailer. 5 TV Spots. Clifford Peach (Chris Makepeace), an easygoing teenager, is finding it less than easy to fit in at his new high school, where a tough-talking bully (Matt Dillon) terrorizes his classmates and extorts their lunch money. Refusing to pay up, Clifford enlists the aid of an overgrown misfit (Adam Baldwin) whose mere presence intimidates students and teachers alike. But their "business relationship" soon turns personal as Clifford and the troubled loner forge a winning alliance against their intimidators - and a very special friendship with each other. Ruth Gordon, Martin Mull, Joan Cusack and John Houseman round out a topnotch cast in this delightful coming-of-age comedy and triumphant tribute to the underdog. Marking the directorial debut of actor/producer turned director Tony Bill (who produced "The Sting" and appeared in "Shampoo"), this little 1980 flick successfully plays off the old, picked-on underdog plot to which most kids and adults can relate. While nothing outstanding, the film is certainly engaging and easy enough to watch, and is filled with some decent performances, including from Baldwin (not part of that other Baldwin acting clan) as the hulking hero, Dillon as the creep/bully and Makepeace (who earlier scored a hit in "Meatballs") as the average kid caught up in a bad situation. My Bodyguard is now available for purchase by clicking here. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR Length: 103 minutes Screen Formats: 1.85:1, 16x9, Full Screen (Pan & Scan) Languages: English, French Subtitles: English, Spanish Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Sides: 2 Extras: Scene selection/Jump to any scene. 3 Theatrical trailers. 7 TV spots. 5+ minute featurette about the film, including clips from it, behind the scenes footage and various interviews. The ultimate fantasy for a Little Leaguer comes true and a whole city is electrified with baseball fever in actor Daniel Stern's 1993 debut behind the camera. When the cast is removed from his broken arm, clumsy 12-year-old Henry Rowengartner (Thomas Ian Nicholas) is shocked to find that his arm has become a 100-mile-per-hour thunderbolt. His throw from the bleachers directly to home plate alerts the last place Chicago Cubs and before you can shout, "play ball!" he is signed as their new ace pitcher. With a few pointers from an aging star pitcher (Gary Busy), young Henry actually manages to pull off the impossible. Since most every boy - and many girls - grow up wanting to be professional ballplayers when they're adults, the filmmakers behind this effort - writer Sam Harper and actor turned filmmaker Stern - move up the timeframe by having their protagonist - winningly played by Nicholas - do just that, but as a kid. The result is an amiable and moderately enjoyable film - as long as you're a kid or still have some kid left in you. With a mostly predictable plot and material obviously aimed for a young demographic, the film thankfully doesn't strike out, and may hit a home run with its target audience, but don't expect much from an adult perspective (beyond it taking care of business by entertaining the little ones). Rookie of the Year is now available for purchase by clicking here. THE SANDLOT Length: 101 minutes Screen Formats: 2.35:1, 16x9, Full Screen (Pan & Scan) Languages: English, French Subtitles: English, Spanish Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Sides: 2 Extras: Scene selection/Jump to any scene. 5+ minute featurette about the film's production, including clips from it, behind the scenes footage and interviews with some of those involved with it. Theatrical trailer. 7 TV spots. It's the early 1960s and fifth-grader Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) has just moved into town with his folks (Karen Allen and Denis Leary). Kids call him a dork - he can't even throw a baseball! But that changes when the leader of the neighborhood gang recruits him to play on the nearby sandlot field. It's the beginning of a magical summer of baseball, wild adventures, first kisses, and fearsome confrontations with the dreaded beast and its owner (James Earl Jones) who live behind the left field fence. Soon nine boys have become best friends, Scotty is part of a team, and their leader has become a local legend in this hilarious and warmhearted comedy. Taking a nostalgic and obviously not completely realistic look back the summers of yesteryear when things seem more innocent and optimistic - at least from an adult's viewpoint looking back at their childhood - this1993 film from writer/director David Mickey Evans and co-writer Robert Gunter is a moderately enjoyable if fantastical piece of kid-based entertainment. The Sandlot is now available for purchase by clicking here.