Video Review articles from November 1 1993

Video Review archives from November 1 1993

Pioneer 'Cinema-Wide' rear-projection TV. (Evaluation)
November 1, 1993... CONTACT: Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., 2265 E.220th Street, Long Beach, CA 90801-1720; (213)PIONEER VR Rating **** EVEN THE MOST AVID MOVIE BUFF--With his collection of hundreds of "letterboxed" laserdisc movies and his...

Videonics TU-1 Thumbs Up. (editing tool) (Evaluation)
November 1, 1993... PROS; Great for introducing hobbyists to their first edit controllers. Makes good window dubs. CONS: Doesn't allow Insert Editing or Audio Dubbing. CONTACT: Videonics, 1370 Dell Avenue, Camp-bell, CA 95008; (800) 338-EDIT or (408)...

Ambico V-6325 Editing Effects Processor. (Evaluation)
November 1, 1993... PROS: Color and detail enhancement. Transitions, special effects. CONS: NO time base corrector. Slight glitches at transition points. CONTACT: Ambico, Inc., 50 Maple Street, Norwood, NJ 07648; (201) 767-4100 or (800) 621-1106. LIST PRICE:...

Videonics EditMaker Editing Controller. (Evaluation)
November 1, 1993... PROS: Handles real-time readouts and forthcoming VITC-equipped VCRs. Helpful tutorial video. Extensive special-effects library Can produce high-quality multiple copies of edited master tape. CONS: Real-time usage can result in slow...

Video Review buyer's guide: 1994 annual report. (Cover Story)
November 1, 1993... A FASCINATING FACT-PACKED PORTFOLIO OF VIDEO PRODUCT INFORMATION FOR THE HOME-ENTERTAINMENT ENTHUSIAST! Everybody is into the future of video. Major companies formerly unrelated to the video-entertainment industry--the Baby Bells, for...

Televisions: giving new meaning to "the big picture." (Buyers Guide) (Cover Story)
November 1, 1993... BIG AND BOLD: TVs, IN NEW AND FAMILIAR FORMATS, EXPAND NOT JUST THE IMAGE BEFORE YOU BUT THE VIDEO HORIZONS AHEAD OF YOU. When it comes to televisions, bigger and bolder is technologically where it's at as exemplified by the brand-new...

VCRs: taking control of your entertainment time. (Buyers Guide) (Cover Story)
November 1, 1993... JOG/SHUTTLE DIALS, VCR PLUS+, AND CABLE BOX CONTROL ARE AMONG THE LATEST VCR INNOVATIONS TO HELP YOU STAY IN CHARGE OF YOUR VIDEO TIME. The control you have over your video enjoyment is largely dependent on the type and quality of the...

A/V receivers: bringing it all back home. (audio/video) (Buyers Guide) (Cover Story)
November 1, 1993... TOTAL SYSTEM CONTROL, DIVERSITY, AND AUDIOPHILE SOUND MAKE A/V RECEIVERS THE CLEAR CHOICE FOR HOME THEATER ENJOYMENT. The core of the home-theater concept is the happy marriage of video and audio, the bringing together in your living room...

Camcorders: capturing your dreams. (Buyers Guide) (Cover Story)
November 1, 1993... CAMCORDER IN HAND, YOU ARE INCONTROL OF HOW A MOMENT IN LIFE--EVEN YOUR FAMILY'S LIFE A GENERATION FROM NOW--WILL BE REMEMBERED AND SAVED. There's nothing like holding the world in the palm of your hand. And with a camcorder, that's just...

Laser disc players: picture perfect with sound to match. (Buyers Guide) (Cover Story)
November 1, 1993... IT'S TAKEN OVER TEN YEARS FOR THE PUBLIC TO GET COMFORTABLE WITH THE LASER-DISC CONCEPT...AND IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT! Would you run out and buy a machine that was 1) simple to opera e, 2) easy to connect to your home-theater system, and 3)...

Unforgiven.
November 1, 1993... Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris. Directed by Eastwood 1992. Rated R. Warner LV disc, CLV/CAV, 131 min. $39.98, now available) Maybe I expected too much from Eastwood's revisionist western after it rode off...

Zbigniew Rybczynski.
November 1, 1993... Four works: Tango (1980), Steps (1987), The Fourth Dimension (1988), The Orchestra (1990), all created by Zbigniew Rybczynski. (Voyager 2-disc set, CAV/CLV, 118 min., $100.00, now available) Rybczynski (pronounced rib-chin-skee) is...

2001: A Space Odyssey - 25th Anniversary Edition.
November 1, 1993... Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood Directed by Stanley Kubrick. 1968. Rated G. (MGM/UA 3-disc set, CAV, 139 min., letterboxed, $69.98, now available) The most astonishing thing about 2001 is how little it has dated. Twenty-five years after its...

The Reluctant Debutante.
November 1, 1993... Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, Angela Lansbury, John Saxon, Sandra Dee. Directed by Vincente Minnelli. 1958. (MGM/UA disc, 94 min. plus supplementary material, letterboxed, $34.98, now available) Anyone looking for some easy-to-take,...

This Could Be the Night.
November 1, 1993... Jean Simmons, Paul Douglas, Anthony Franciosa, Julie Wilson, Joan Blondell. Directed by Robert Wise. 1957. B&W (MGM//UA disc, 103 min. plus supplementary material, letterboxed, $34.98, now available) Anyone looking for some easy-to-take,...

Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles.
November 1, 1993... Teresa Stratas, Renee Fleming, Marilyn Horne, Haken Hagegard. Metropolitan Opera production conducted by James Levine. Directed by Brian Large. 1992. (DG/PolyGram 2-disc set, 177 min., now available) That a lavish new American opera, John...

7 Faces Dr. Lao.
November 1, 1993... Tony Randall, Barbara Eden, Arthur O'Connell, John Ericson. Directed by George Pal. 1964. (MGM/UA disc, 100 min., $34.95, now available) George Pal brought to the screen the kind of fantasy and wonder more commonly linked with Walt...

Tom Thumb.
November 1, 1993... Russ Tamblyn, Peter Sellers, Alan Young, Terry-Thomas, June Thorburn. Directed by George Pal. 1958. (MGM/UA disc, 98 min., $34.95, now available) George Pal brought to the screen the kind of fantasy and wonder more commonly linked with...

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.
November 1, 1993... With voices of Michael J.. Fox, Don Ameche, Sally Field. Directed by Duwayne Dunham. 1992. Rated G. (Disney tape, 84 min., $22.99, now available) If your kids are bored with vacation activities and itching for something fresh on your...

Harry Connick, Jr.: The New York Big Band Concert.
November 1, 1993... Harry Connick Jr. Directed by Jill Goodacre. 1992. (Sony Music tape, 60 min. $19.98, now available) If you still don't "get" what makes Connick so popular, this tape ought to convince you. A red-hot, double-barreled, A-1 killer-diller,...

Whirly-Bird.
November 1, 1993... Count Basie and his Orchestra. 1965. (Vintage Jazz Classics, 45 min., B&W, mono, $25, now available) This isn't quite "the greatest of all Basie bands" as the package heralds. Basie had greater units in both the late 1930s and 1950s than...

Russian Ballet: The Glorious Tradition, vol. 1.
November 1, 1993... Mikhail Baryshnikov, Ekaterina Maximova, Vladimir Vasiliev, Igor Zelensky, others. Various directors. 1993 compilation of 1971-91 material. (Video Artists International tape, 65 min., $39.95, now available) You will note I have graven...

The Ghost Breakers.
November 1, 1993... Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, Paul Lukas. Directed by George Marshall. 1940 (MCA/Universal tape, 85 min., B&W, $14.98, now available) Released to coincide with celebrations of Hope's 90th birthday, these too-long-unavailable early Hope...

My Favorite Blonde.
November 1, 1993... Bob Hope, Madeleine Carroll, Gale Sondergaard. Directed by Sidney Lanfield. 1942. (MCA/Universal tape, 78 min., B&W, $14.98, now available) Released to coincide with celebrations of Hope's 90th birthday, these too-long-unavailable early...

The Kids Are Alright.
November 1, 1993... The Who. Directed by Jeff Stein. 1979. (BMG tape, 108 min., color & B&W, $19.98, now available) Previously available on home video only on a now-obsolete RCA SelectaVision disc, director Stein's valentine to The Who may well be the best...

Goin' to Town.
November 1, 1993... Mae West, Paul Cavanagh, Marjorie Gateson. Directed by Alexander Hall. 1935. (MCA/Universal tape, B&W, 74 min., $14.98, now available) With sexual violence seeming to know few bounds in movies nowadays, the Mac West musical comedies that...

Dennis the Menace: Animal Antics.
November 1, 1993... Animated featurette. Directed by Michael Maliani. 1986. B&W. (CBS/Fox tape, 35 min., $9.98, now available) With Dennis on theatrical big screens this summer, kids will probably never be the same with this role model around. Nor their...

Song of Sacajawea.
November 1, 1993... Animated featurette. Narrated by Laura Dern. Directed by John McCally. 1993. (Rabbit Ears tape, 30 min., $9.95, now available) Here's a worthwhile look, from Rabbit Ears' fine series of American Heroes and Legends, at a young Native...

Indecent Proposal.
November 1, 1993... Robert Redford, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson. Directed by Adrian Lyne. 1993. Rated R. (Paramount tape, 119 min., priced for rental, Oct. 16). Despite star-power aplenty and a tantalizing sex-versus-money plot, there's little to finally...

Jack the Bear.
November 1, 1993... Danny DeVito, Gary Sinese, Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Directed by Marshall Herskovitz. 1993. Rated PG-13. (Fox tape, 98 min., $94.98, Oct. 6) A boy's eye-view of the world from the man who brought you "30-Something." The critical consensus:...

Indian Summer.
November 1, 1993... Alan Arkin, Diane Lane, Elizabeth Perkins, Vincent Spano. Directed by Mike Binder. 1993. Rated PG-13. (Touchstone/Disney tape, 98 min., $94.95, Sept. 22) Big Chill goes to camp. "[The cast] is an overqualified bunch for the shenanigans...

Married to It.
November 1, 1993... Beau Bridges, Mary Stuart Masterson, Ron Silver, Cybill Shepherd. Directed by Arthur Hiller: 1993. Rated R. (Orion tape, 110 min., priced for rental, Sept. 22) Completed in 1991 but not released until earlier this year. It's about yet...

Fire in the Sky.
November 1, 1993... D.B. Sweeney, James Garner, Henry Thomas. Directed by Robert Lieberman. 1993. Rated PC-13. (Paramount tape, 111 min, priced for rental, Sept. 15) A close encounter but no cigar for this alledgedly true tale of extraterrestrial abduction....

Alive.
November 1, 1993... Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton. Directed by Frank Marshall. 1993. Rated R. (Touchstone/Disney tape, 123 min., $94.95, Sept. 1) Based on an actual 1972 plane crash, there isn't much star quality but there is cannibalism. "The...

Point of No Return.
November 1, 1993... Bridget Fonda, Gabriel Byrne, Anne Bancroft, Harvey Keitel. Directed by John Badham. 1993. Rated R. (Warner tape, 109 min., priced for rental, Sept. 1) This American remake of 1991's street-urchin-turned-hit-woman La Femme N/kits took...

The Bodyguard.
November 1, 1993... Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston, Gary Kemp. Directed by Mick Jackson. 1992. Rated R. (Warher tape, 130 min., $99.95, now available) Some critics seemed strangely distracted by Costner's bad hair day, but most noticed that Houston did well...

The Crying Game.
November 1, 1993... Stephen Rea, Miranda Richardson, Forest Whitaker, Jaye Davidson. Directed by Nell Jordan. 1992. Rated R. (LIVE tape, 112 min., $94.98, now available) The year's top dramatic thriller, with a few more sizzlingly unexpected twists than the...

Sommersby.
November 1, 1993... Richard Gere, Jodie Foster, Bill Pullman. Directed by Jon Amiel. 1993. Rated PG. (Warner tape, 157 min., $94.95, now available) A heart-on-its-sleeve 19th-century romance that left stone-hearted modern-day scribes unmoved. "An unabashedly...

Passion Fish.
November 1, 1993... Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, Vondie Curtis-Hall. Directed by John Sayles. 1992. Rated R. (Columbia TriStar tape, 136 min., priced for rental, now available) Much more than a buddy movie, with McDonnell as a soap star who returns to her...

Tarzan Escapes; Tarzan Finds a Son; Tarzan's Secret Treasure; Tarzan's New York Adventure.
November 1, 1993... Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan. Directed by Richard Thorpe. B&W. 1936-42. (MGM/UA 4-disc set, approx. 340 min., $99.95, now available) Long before Superman or Batman there was Tarzan, the 1912 brainchild of Edgar Rice Burroughs...

West of Zanzibar; The Unholy Three.
November 1, 1993... Lon Chaney, Lionel Barrymore, Mary Nolan, Warner Baxter; Lila Lee, Elliott Nugent. Directed by Tod Browning; Jack Conway. 1928/1930. B&W. (MGM/UA 2-disc set, approx. 166 min. plus supplementary material, $44.98, now available) Most of...

The Single Standard; The Kiss.
November 1, 1993... Greta Garbo, Nils Asther, John Mack Brown; Lew Ayres, Conrad Nagel. Directed by John S. Robertson; Jacques Feyder. 1929. B&W. (MGM/UA 2-disc set, silent with original music score, approx. 137 min. plus supplemental material, $44.98, now...

Going Hollywood; Rosalie; Broadway Rhythm.
November 1, 1993... Bing Crosby, Marion Davies; Nelson Eddy, Eleanor Powell; Tommy Dorsey, Lena Horne, others. Directed by Raoul Walsh, W.S. Van Dyke, Roy Del Ruth. B&W 1933/37/44. (MGM/UA, $19.98 each, now available) The new MGM Musicals VIII series reveals...