I remember renting this in 1998 and not liking it very much, so I rented it again, four years later, to see if I would like it any better. Well, besides understanding the plot more, not much has changed. Not to say that it's a bad movie, far from it! But instead of resembling the other Star Trek movies, which are mostly so darn good, it drags it down to an ordinary, "run of the mill" sci-fi flick. Though the plot is fairly neat, in the end the best things about it are the awesome special effects, the beautiful scenery on the Ba'ku planet, the appearence of F. Murray Abraham as the delightfully sinister Son'a commander, and the fantastic music by Jerry Goldsmith (especially during the beginning of the closing credits). You'd especially expect better from director Jonathan Frakes, whose "First Contact" might just be the best in the whole series! It's worth seeing if you're a Star Trek fan, but I'd definitely classify it as one of the least of the Star Trek films.

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS

While the plot can be a little confusing at times (I had to watch it twice to understand everything), this is a well-made western, with great music and lots of action. One day a mysterious stranger rides into a town, in which a conflict is ocurring between two families, both of which want the other out and to rule the town. The Stranger takes up a job with one of the families, the Rojos. But thanks to his quick wit & quick draw, he ends devises a plan that will destroy both families. The main thing that bugs me is that the DVD sound is so lousy that I need to set it up so that it has English subtitles at the bottom. Otherwise, you can't understand a word anyone's saying!
Rating: 3 outta 5

FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE

A step up from the first one. This time, the Man With No Name (now a bounty hunter) forms a partnership with an old adversary of his, in order to track down a ruthless killer. Plenty of plot twists, more first-rate music by Ennio Morricone, and again plenty of action. (Plus: I don't need subtitles with this one!)
Rating: 4 outta 5

THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY

A true "epic western", that by far surpasses both of the previous two. This time around, the Man With No Name has a smooth-going parntership with Elli Wallach. They soon learn of a cache of $200,000 in gold hidden somewhere, and set out to find it. But another man is also searching for the money (Lee Van Cleef). The movie is full of betrayals and re-partnerships, and more betrayals, until all three men meet up in a spectacular climactic showdown. An excellent western, with absolutely brilliant music. One of the five greatest westerns ever made, as well as the most influential.
Rating: 5 outta 5

Overall, this is perhaps the best western series ever made. True, to non-western/non-Eastwood fans, all three films would surely seem boring and overlong (especially the third one). But to fans of westerns and/or Eastwood, this set is definitely a must-buy.

. I really enjoyed it! It has a very creative story that rolls out very well-done, with plot twists here and there. The ending is very thought-provoking; it's what you'd call a "thinking man's sci-fi".

Now, it is definitely true that the movie overemphasizes on special effects. This is VERY evident in three main scenes:
a) The scene in which Mr. Scott flies Captain Kirk all around the Enterprise is soooooooooooooooooooooooo long! The only thing that saves it is the beautiful score by Jerry Goldsmith, but I still have to fast forward.
b) When the Enterprise sloooooooooooowwly floats out of dock, once again takes forever. There's a beautiful shot of the Enterprise flying towards the camera, and slowly revealing the sun, but nothing more.
c) The scene where the Enterprise is flying through V'Ger, though showing off some very impressive and creative backgrounds, is absolutely endless, and I REALLY have to fast forward.

But aside from that, the only thing I can think of that I don't like is the uniforms: everyone looks like they're at a PJ slumberparty! (Paramount wisely threw them out and replaced them with the really cool uniforms used throughout the rest of the original movieseries.)

The new "Director's Edition" DVD is an absolute must-buy for any Trek fan! The best things are the all-new special effects and sound mix. You get to see a more clear view of the inside of V'Ger, as well as a full view of the outside of the huge V'Ger ship (which looks really cool)! The new sound truly expresses the magnificence of Jerry Goldsmith's beautiful score! The special features are passable, but not great (mainly consisting of three documentaries). The real gem of the two-disc set is the restored film itself...

You can tell by watching this movie that the makers intended for it to be a classic. While its not that, its not a necessarily BAD movie...it just you have to be in the right mood to watch and enjoy it. Infact, if you are in the right mood, then its highly enjoyable entertainment!

The plot is more realistic than the original and the special effects way better, but something's still missing...like the unmistakable element of fun the that made the original SO DARN GOOD!! This new (relatively speaking) takes itself FAR TOO SERIOUSLY!!! That brings the movie down a great deal, but its still neat to watch how the makers handled things and changed things around a lot.

Overall, while it is definitely no match for the original, which is in my opinion the ultimate B-movie classic, its definitely worth seeing...it one of those things you call a "guilty pleasure".

The first couple of times I saw "Legend", I didn't really like it. The story felt sooo contrived, the acting by Tom Cruise and Mia Sara wasn't all that great....it seemed like a waste of excellent make-up and surrounding. The only things I really liked were: 1)The score by Tangerine Dream, which I thought was very mystical and enchanting, and 2) The preformance of Tim Curry, who shines as the Lord of Darkness, and to me is the best personification of the Devil/pure evil ever captured on film (except for the voice of Mercedes McCambridge in "The Exorcist, but you can't really see him, so that doesn't count).

Then I heard about the new "Ultimate Edition" that just came out, and that the new Director's Cut featured on the first disc surpassed the U.S. release greatly. I got intensely curious, and thought I'd check it out and buy it. Well, it turns out the reviews were right; the Director's Cut IS better. The story isn't contrived at all now (since it adds on about twenty minutes)! And the score by Jerry Goldsmith, thought definitely not among his best work, is more along the line of traditional fairy tale scores...and best of all, it removes the stupid rock song at the end! JOY TO THAT!! Unfortuanately, the acting doesn'y improve much, but it does give the characters of Jack and Lily much more depth, and spent more time focussing on their love relationship (which helped the movie out A LOT). Overall, a vast improvement over the U.S. release.

The Ultimate Edition DVD is verrrry nice, and includes an awesome case, as well. The making-of documentary is interesting enough, though it would've been really nice to see Tom Cruise in their, too. Also, before I saw the making-of docmentary, I felt the whole plot of Legend seemed too cliche...but since director Ridley Scott explains quite thoroughly that that's what he was going for (a traditional fairy tale story), I look at the movie much more differently now. The menus are really cool. The lost scenes are fairly interesting, though one can see why they were taken out (especially the "Fairy Dance" sequence, which seemd to silly and stratched too far away from the story).

Conclusion: A very worthy buy for fantasy fans, if only just to see the outstanding preformance of Tim Curry.

The first couple of times I saw "Legend", I didn't really like it. The story felt sooo contrived, the acting by Tom Cruise and Mia Sara wasn't all that great....it seemed like a waste of excellent make-up and surrounding. The only things I really liked were: 1)The score by Tangerine Dream, which I thought was very mystical and enchanting, and 2) The preformance of Tim Curry, who shines as the Lord of Darkness, and to me is the best personification of the Devil/pure evil ever captured on film (except for the voice of Mercedes McCambridge in "The Exorcist, but you can't really see him, so that doesn't count).

Then I heard about the new "Ultimate Edition" that just came out, and that the new Director's Cut featured on the first disc surpassed the U.S. release greatly. I got intensely curious, and thought I'd check it out and buy it. Well, it turns out the reviews were right; the Director's Cut IS better. The story isn't contrived at all now (since it adds on about twenty minutes)! And the score by Jerry Goldsmith, thought definitely not among his best work, is more along the line of traditional fairy tale scores...and best of all, it removes the stupid rock song at the end! JOY TO THAT!! Unfortuanately, the acting doesn'y improve much, but it does give the characters of Jack and Lily much more depth, and spent more time focussing on their love relationship (which helped the movie out A LOT). Overall, a vast improvement over the U.S. release.

The Ultimate Edition DVD is verrrry nice, and includes an awesome case, as well. The making-of documentary is interesting enough, though it would've been really nice to see Tom Cruise in their, also. The menus are really cool. The lost scenes are fairly interesting, though one can see why they were taken out (especially the "Fairy Dance" sequence, which seemd to silly and stratched too far away from the story).

Conclusion: A very worthy buy for fantasy fans, if only just to see the outstanding preformance of Tim Curry.

Though the premise is really cool and some intentional humor is pretty funny (in one scene a vampire woman says, "My husband says I have a drinking problem."), the most funny scenes are unintentional. Everything is just so overdone...the acting, the gore, EVERYTHING, that it just turns out to be a comedy in the end. This has 99.9% no relation to the TV movie "Salem's Lot" (also a great vampire movie), but in the end is very entertaining. Has to come to DVD!

This is on my top three fantasy movies (the others being "Conan the Barbarian" and "The Lord of the Rings"). The story is very original (about a race of immortals living among us in secrecy), the acting great (especially that of Sean Connery, who absolutely steals the show as the immortal mentor Ramirez), and the sword fighting scenes (though they seem a bit dated) are exciting and well-choreographed. It also features an A+ musical score by Michael Kamen, with some great Queen songs added in.

The "Immortal Edition" DVD is fairly impressive. The sound and picture quality (especially picture) are kind of disappointing for something "digitally mastered in THX", but exceptional. The special features consist mainly of Queen music videos (infact, the second disc is nothing more than a CD with three Queen songs), but the talent bios are surprisingly long and interesting. But in the end, the coolest feature by far is the AWESOME metallic case it comes in. A must-but for any fantasy fan!

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!

This is a surprisingly scary movie that's best watched late at night! Though the plot is basically the same as any other vampire flick (strange deaths occur in a small town and someone finds out its vampires but hardly anybody believes him so he takes matters into his own hands), "Salem's Lot" delivers the goods and is at times, very scary, both as in "creepy feeling" scary and "jump right out at you" scary. I've seen both the full length miniseries and the theatrical movie, and I'd have to side with the miniseries as the better of the two; though slow at times, it also includes much more into the story and gives better character developement. A must-buy for any horror fan!

"Batman"
This is one of my all-time favorite films of all time; I can't think of one wrong thing in this movie. Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson are perfect as Batman and The Joker, both giving some of their greatest preformances ever. All the supporting actors are great, too. And the score.....I can't praise it enough; that Danny Elfman is a genius! This is on Tim Burton's Top 5.
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Batman Returns"
A good sequal, although it doesn't come anywhere near the first. Michael Keaton is back as Batman, good as ever. Danny Devito is perfectly twistedly sinister as The Penguin, and Michelle Pfeiffer is superb as the seductive Catwoman. Clever action sequences, but it just gets too darn depressing for a Batman flick, and there aren't quite enough scenes with the Dark Knight.
Rating: 3 out of 5

"Batman Forever"
Now this is more like it! This action-packed, highly enjoyable film is by far the best of the sequals. Val Kilmer is great as Batman, a worthy successor to Michael Keaton. Tommy Lee Jones is delightfully sinister as Two-Face, and Jim Carrey was, as my review book says, "born to play the Riddler". Chris O'Donnell passes as Robin, but he often just comes off as a spoiled brat. The special effects are excellent, and the plot is pretty neat, though corny and very unrealistic at times: in other words, exactly like a traditional comic book!
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

"Batman & Robin"
Ugh. Mediocre acting by all involved (George Clooney as Batman? Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl? Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze?! puh-leeze), with the exception of Michael Gough as Alfred; action scenes that totally defy logic (the Batmobile and Robin's motorcycle riding down a practically 90 degree angle giant statue?! puh-leeze), and a just plain stupid plot. Great eye-candy special effects, but besides that, there's not much to enjoy. The kind of movie you watch when your brain is on Off Mode.
Rating: 2 out of 5

Like I said in the title, the four pack boxed set isn't worth buying; just go out and buy the first three, or even just the first and third, for low prices at Circuit City or something.