Splash was big news in 1984. It was the sole reason for a renewed Disney Studios forming its Touchstone Pictures subsidiary. This was so they could get away with displaying Daryl Hannah's nude bottom! It was also big news for launching the film career of Tom Hanks, who immediately became a massive box-office comedy draw in the 80s. For Ron Howard, it was the breakaway success that guaranteed he'd be able to pursue as diverse a directorial career path as he wanted to. It's a simple romance tale, spiced up by making the female lead a mermaid. The stroke of brilliance in the script was in making the comedy happen around the two leads, while letting them believably convey they are hopelessly lost in love. The comedy comes from the ever-reliable John Candy as a larger-than-life womanising older brother, and Eugene Levy as a scatty scientist. Although New York looks a little different today, the movie has hardly aged at all. Which is just as well since it boldly begins "This morning." On the DVD: Splash offers a transfer that has some defects, but colours and dark areas seem just about right. We're spoiled for extras, with a warmly nostalgic Howard joining a key production crew commentary in reminiscing on how much fun they had making the movie. There's a half-hour documentary ("Making a Splash") interviewing everyone involved, including some archival footage of the late Candy. Best of all are the original Audition Tapes for Hanks and Hannah, which reveal the consummate professionals these once-hungry stars really are. --Paul Tonks
Scorching the streets clean... Flamethrowers ready as the alleyways of skid row are set ablaze with the brutal vengeance of one man... The Exterminator!John Eastland has been to ‘Nam and he’s seen things... Things you wouldn’t believe. Surviving torture and witnessing the brutal deaths of his friends, John returns home to a tough neighbourhood in New York and his loving family. But when some local thugs take a crippling dislike to his best friend Mike, leaving him paralysed, something snaps in John. Did he fight the Vietcong for this? Taking the law into his own hands, Eastland sets out to clean the streets of every low life, good for nothing gang banger, mobster and ghetto ghoul across the city in director James Glickenhaus’ (McBain) brutally violent vigilante classic. Special Features: Also Includes an Interview with James Glickenhaus Collector’s Booklet by Author Calum Waddell
Someone to Watch Over Me is a stylish, smart film noir directed by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner). The movie stars Tom Berenger as a New York cop and family man who falls for the rich and beautiful witness (Mimi Rogers) he's assigned to protect. Scott, who always displays a distinctive eye for extraordinary art direction, does something here he should be doing a lot more often: directing contemporary noir. Berenger and Rogers rise to the occasion, seemingly aware that they're making something special. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
Sharon Stone plays the title character, a gun moll with a heart of gold who takes a seven-year-old boy under her wing when her mobster friends threaten to rub him out (after killing his entire family). This remake of John Cassavetes' l980 film should probably have been nipped in the bud; Stone is totally miscast in the title role. As for the other characters, they don't inspire much sympathy or even interest in the audience, not even the cute kid. Why do directors feel the need to do remakes of good movies? As problematic as Cassavetes' films tend to be, Sidney Lumet should have known better than to take this on. Sharon Stone fans may enjoy this film, but there are plenty of disappointing problems that tend to get in the way. --Jerry Renshaw, Amazon.com
Christopher George Robert Ginty and Samantha Eggar star in filmmaker James Glickenhaus' riveting story of a Vietnam vet gone berserk after a New York street gang leaves his best friend paralysed. Driven by revenge John Eastland becomes a one-man task force who annihilates his buddy's attackers then sets out to bring down the city's entire dark underworld. To the public he's a hero but to law enforcement officials The Exterminator is a psychopath capable of dangerously underminin
Finally witness the Directors Cut featuring never been seen footage from one of the most cold-blooded tale of vengeance ever to hit the screen. Christopher George Robert Ginty and Samantha Eggar star in filmmaker James Glickenhaus' riveting story of a Vietnam vet gone berserk after a New York street gang leaves his best friend paralysed. Driven by revenge John Eastland becomes a one-man task force who annihilates his buddy's attackers then sets out to bring down the city's entire dark underworld. To the public he's a hero but to law enforcement officials The Exterminator is a psychopath capable of dangerously undermining an entire government administration. Soon The Exterminator gets caught in the cross-hairs of local police the C.I.A. and the ruthless gangs in a nerve shattering game of cat and mouse that explodes into a surprise climax!
Set among the Italian-American community of Manhattan and adapted by Vincent Patrick from his own novel, 1984's The Pope of Greenwich Village just about gets by on its charm. It stars Mickey Rourke as Charlie, a small-time grafter who is on the point of making his big move and breakaway. Unfortunately, the pull of family ties means that he's hampered by his cousin Paulie (Eric Roberts), an ambitious and excitable idiot who manages to cock up absolutely everything he turns his hand to, bringing down Charlie with him every time. After he gets the pair of them sacked from a restaurant, Paulie helps set up a safecracking deal with older hand Kenneth MacMillan. Trouble is, theyre robbing the local mafia boss. Rourke and Roberts' relationship is modelled closely on that of Harvey Keitel and Robert DeNiro in Scorcese's Mean Streets, only without quite the same harrowing consequences. This being the 1980s there's much De Niro-esque methodology, which generally consists of repeating lines at least twice ("Fix your tie! Fix your tie!"). The element of improv sees the film veer off course occasionally, while Darryl Hannah is her usual oddly semi-detached self in the role of Rourke's girlfriend. However, it's Roberts' performance as the exasperating and energetic Paulie which carries the film, with solid support from numerous Goodfellas and Sopranos regulars. On the DVD: The Pope of Greenwich Village arrives on disc in a decent enough but hardly pristine print. The sole extra is the original trailer, which means the only real benefit of acquiring this on DVD is storage convenience. --David Stubbs
Based on a play by Miguel Pinero Short Eyes is made up of a series of appalling episodes in prison in which inmate Bruce Davison is depraved by fellow inmates. Their reason for this is that he is a short eyes the prison slang for a man who sodomizes little boys. Despite their own notorious past they believe Bruce to be the scum of the earth and proceed to treat him accordingly.
Tom Hanks was a relatively unknown TV actor with a sitcom as his biggest credit when relatively unknown director Ron Howard (best known for his own sitcom acting) cast him in this surprise hit. It made stars of Hanks, Daryl Hannah and John Candy and an A-list director out of Howard. Hannah is a mermaid who comes to Manhattan in search of Hanks, the guy she has twice saved from drowning. Hanks runs a business with his loveable, blowhard brother (Candy), whose goal in life is to have a letter published in Penthouse. When this perfect woman shows up, Hanks can't believe his luck and plunges into a dizzyingly romantic relationship, unaware of her sea-water secret. But the mermaid needs to soak and unfurl her tail from time to time, which leads to complications, including her capture by the government for scientific study (what else?). Hanks is winningly charming and Hannah is a perfect match in this enjoyably high-spirited comedy, though the biggest laughs belong to Candy. --Marshall Fine
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