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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. BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Length: 99 minutes Screen Formats: 2.35:1, 16x9 Languages: English, French Subtitles: English, French, Spanish Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS Sides: 2 Discs Extras: Scene selection/Jump to any scene. Running audio commentary by director John Carpenter. 3 Theatrical trailers (1 in Spanish) and 6 TV spots. 8 Deleted Scenes (some with or without simultaneous storyboards, others in work print or video versions) and 1 Extended Ending. Production Notes - Onscreen text taken from the 1986 theatrical press kit. Music Video: Coupe De Villes "Big Trouble in Little China" Making of Featurette - A behind the scenes look at the film including clips from the film, behind the scenes footage and interviews with various cast and crew members. Selected filmographies for various cast and crew members. 2 Magazine Articles - From "American Cinematographer (June '86) and Cinefex (November '86) including the full text and photos. Richard Edlund Interview - Interview with the film's Visual Effects Supervisor with 2-angle playback (One is the interview with a montage of behind the scenes stills appearing in a small window, the other is the stills in full frame). Still Gallery - Hundreds of images from the film, behind the scenes shots and publicity stills of the cast, director, props, weapons and vehicles, make-up and creature effects, set design, artwork (sketches, etc.) Hard-boiled truck driver Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) finds himself caught in a bizarre conflict within and underneath San Francisco's Chinatown when an ancient Chinese prince and Chinatown crime lord kidnaps a beautiful green-eyed woman (Kim Cattrall), who is the fiancé to Jack's best friend. Jack must help his friend rescue the girl before the evil Lo Pan uses her to break the ancient curse that keeps him a fleshless and immortal spirit. Jack must battle demons, goblins and other terrors as he makes his way through the magician's dark domain. Something of a cult favorite now as well as when it was first released, this 1986 film is long on Indiana Jones type action and adventure, special effects and plenty of intentional, over-the-top camp. Directed by John Carpenter ("Halloween," "Starman"), this multi-genre film may look dated at times (thanks to the antiquated special effects that actually looked decent in their day) and come off as stupid at others, but it's a mostly entertaining and enjoyable diversion thanks to its persistent tongue-in-cheek attitude, the successful blend of action and comedy, and Russell's performance as the swagger-filled anti-hero. Big Trouble in Little China (Special Edition) is now available for purchase by clicking here. CHAIN REACTION Length: 106 minutes Screen Formats: 1.85:1, 16x9 Languages: English, French Subtitles: English, Spanish Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS Sides: 1 Extras: Scene selection/Jump to any scene. Theatrical trailer for this film, as well as "Big Trouble in Little China," "Point Break" and "Unlawful Entry." 2 TV Spots. Eddie Kasalivich (Keanu Reeves) is a machinist in a Chicago-based alternative energy research lab. There, they are attempting to remove hydrogen from water and thus create an unlimited, pure and free form of energy. The removed solution is unstable, however, and has the researchers baffled. Yet, one night Eddie discovers the secret to make it work, but the next day the lab, and a good chunk of Chicago, are blown up. The FBI wonders what this lab was really up to and questions Paul Shannon (Morgan Freeman), the older, distinguished partner, as well as Lily Sinclair (Rachel Weisz) a scientist, and Eddie. Soon the FBI, represented by Agent Ford (Fred Ward), thinks that Eddie and Lily are terrorists and the two then make a run for it. From that point on, Eddie and Lily must figure out who's responsible as they uncover a covert CIA operation. Director Andrew Davis returned to the big-budget, action-thriller with this 1996 film after his smaller scale follow-up to "The Fugitive," "Steal Big, Steal Little" flopped both commercially and artistically. Although this film has its share of decent moments - and obviously benefits from the presence of Morgan Freeman as a mysterious bureaucrat- overall it's really just a mediocre thriller following the same sort of wrongly accused protagonist plotline that fueled the earlier Harrison Ford flick. There are some decent chase/suspense scenes, but by the end, the implausible moments start coming too fast (the protagonist manages to sneak into a top secret, heavily guarded CIA facility and go right to where the bad guys are, later works at will to rig the place to blow up, and outraces a nuclear explosion on his motorcycle, etc.) and the film progressively begins to unravel. Freeman seems somewhat constrained in his role and Keanu falls short of the magic he mastered in "Speed," but Weisz, in one of her first cinematic roles, shows signs of bigger and better things to come. Chain Reaction is now available for purchase by clicking here. POINT BREAK Length: 117 minutes Screen Formats: 1.85:1, 16x9 Languages: English, French Subtitles: English, Spanish Sound: Dolby Digital 4.1, DTS Sides: 1 Extras: Scene selection/Jump to any scene. Featurette - 3+ minute look at the film with clips from it, some behind the scenes footage and interviews with various cast and crew members. 2 Theatrical trailers for this film, as well as ones for "Chain Reaction," "Big Trouble in Little China" and "Unlawful Entry." Clean-cut FBI rookie Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) is assigned to infiltrate a band of surfing, skydiving, and thrill-seeking bank robbers and bring them down. He meets up with Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), a charismatic adrenaline junkie who may be their leader. As he infiltrates the gang, the agent becomes involved in their lives and ultimately must choose between duty and friendship. Whether all of the well-staged action sequences and high testosterone levels offset the stiff performances and occasionally bad/silly writing and related plot developments is debatable, but there's no denying that this is a film that will play well to mainstream male viewers. Despite that and its brawn over brains aura, some may be surprised that the film was directed by a woman - Kathryn Bigelow ("Blue Steel," "Near Dark") - which may explain the absence of the traditional T&A shots or gratuitous nudity that's usually present in such films. Definitely falling into the "guilty pleasure" category, the film isn't anything great and certainly doesn't feature Keanu Reeves or Patrick Swayze's finest thespian performances. Yet, it works within its own parameters and delivers the action goods often enough to its target audience to earn a recommendation for those looking for a fix of action/adventure adrenaline. Point Break is now available for purchase by clicking here. UNLAWFUL ENTRY Length: 107 minutes Screen Formats: 1.85:1, 16x9 Languages: English, French Subtitles: English, Spanish Sound: Dolby Digital 4.0, DTS Sides: 1 Extras: Scene selection/Jump to any scene. Running audio commentary by director Jonathan Kaplan. Featurette - 4+ minute look at the film, including clips from it, behind the scenes footage and interviews with various cast and crew members. Theatrical trailer for this film as well as "Big Trouble in Little China," "Chain Reaction" and "Point Break." 2 TV Spots. A tense thriller that plays on the fears of contemporary urban life as well as age-old sexual anxiety, the film stars Kurt Russell and Madeline Stowe as Michael and Karen Carr, a couple with everything - good looks, a happy marriage and a gorgeous house in an upscale section of Los Angeles. This all changes the night their home is broken into and Karen is terrorized at knifepoint by a burglar. Officer Pete Davis (Ray Liotta) --the comforting, supportive policeman who arrives at the scene of the crime - seems like a godsend, that is, until he starts worming his way into the couple's life in an increasingly inappropriate and disturbing manner. Despite some gaping plot holes and some of the usual contrivances found in thrillers such as this, the film actually works quite well, thanks in part to Russell's "everyman" character who's pushed and pushed until he finally acts, and Liotta's absolutely terrific performance as a cop who gets creepier and more dangerous as the story progresses. Kudos to director Jonathan Kaplan and screenwriter Lewis Colick for not taking the story and theme of an overbearing police state too far and/or getting too preachy about that. Unlawful Entry is now available for purchase by clicking here.