The Arena (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)Unlike the reviewers before me I was not familiar with the actresses in this movie. I was familiar with the original low budget movie from the early seventies. I bought this DVD hoping for an improved movie. I was quite dissapointed. This movie followed a similar but different storyline. Some of the original dialog and camera angles were used. They found some nice halls to film the "Rome" locations in. The Arena looked purpose built and they actually had crowds of spectators. Unfortunately everything else was worse. The original had two great catfights plus three arena duels plus the final rebellion/escape. This movie only repeated the last two arena duels, one of which was shot at night so dark I was unable to see what was going on. The girls in the original movie all have quite distinct and interesting personalities. Not so in this one. The voiceover narration used intead of showing the story did not help either. I suggest you buy the original Roger Corman classic instead - The Arena (aka Naked Warriors) (1973) -- DVD. This review was bases on the DVD versions of both movies.

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In an age of Gladiators, the power that was Rome held its empire together with the might of its armies, the sweat and tears of its conquests, and the cheers and bloodlust of its citizens - glorified in the deadly spectacle of The Arena. Stolen from their homelands, the fiery Druid maiden Bodicia, exotic slave girl Jessemina, and the powerful barbarian Flavius, are pitted against each other as gladiators by the sadistic Roman Governor Timarchus. Banished by Caesar, Timarchus unleashes his frustration on his gladiators, staging extravagant spectacles of combat, orgy and death. In a violent world where only the strong survive, love and hate, life and death, are separated by an instant. Format: Color, DVD, NTSC Language: English Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.) Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Number of discs: 1 Rated: R (Restricted) Studio: New Concorde DVD Release Date: August 28, 2001 Run Time: 92 minutes

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StarCrash (Roger Corman Cult Classics) (1978) Review

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(More customer reviews)Luigi Cozzi's Star Crash (a/k/a The Adventures of Stella Star) is one of my all-time favorite movies. Usually dismissed as a cheap Italian Star Wars knock-off, it's actually much, much more than that: it's a cheap Italian knock-off of all three Flash Gordon serials, Barbarella, hundreds of pulp space operas and comic books, and a half-dozen Ray Harryhausen movies.
It literally has everything: a scantily clad heroine, a comic relief robot, stop-motion monsters, lightsabre duels, space amazons, space troglodytes, a galactic villain with a beer belly, ray guns, ludicrous spaceship miniatures, beach ball planets, blinking Christmas tree light stars, an eclectic international cast that includes Joe Spinell, David Hasselhoff, Marjoe Gortner, Robert Tessier, and an apparently stoned-out-of-his-mind Christopher Plummer... and a marvelous musical score by Academy Award-winning composer John Barry!
I've long lamented that there wasn't a quality, authorized DVD edition of this personal favorite available, and the thought that in a few days I'll have a high-definition, widescreen copy on Blu-Ray is exciting. Ever since I read director Cozzi's article about the origins of and the making of the film in Future magazine (anyone remember that companion mag to Starlog, later known as Future Life?) back in '77, I've been fascinated with the film, and when I finally saw it on VHS with some friends around 1990, I couldn't believe just how much giddy, shameless, stupid fun it was.
There isn't much I don't love about the movie, to be honest. Caroline Munro is gorgeous, the special effects are psychedelic, the characters so ridiculous and earnest... it's pure, rainy Saturday afternoon bliss, and vastly more entertaining than ANY of the Star Wars prequels or the mind-numbingly boring and overrated Avatar.


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Prepare yourself for a vintage science fiction adventure film you will never forget, as the sultry Stella Star (Caroline Munro) and her alien sidekick Akton (Marjoe Gortner) team up with robot lawman Elle (Judd Hamilton) on a high adventure to save the universe. It is a cosmic mash-up of daring escapes, wild special effects, beautiful women in sexy space bikinis and nonstop action on a dozen alien worlds. Roger Corman presents the ultimate European space opera, a colorful and dazzling chase through the galaxy that will blast you through the blackness of a hundred million nights! Kicked into hyperspace by a maelstrom of ingenious low-budget special effects and the talents of Academy Award winning composer John Barry, the film was a smash hit in 1979 when the wild and humorous sci-fi adventure hit theatres. For over 30 years the film has gained a massive cult following, inspiring devoted legions of Crashers, fan clubs and more. Now, for the first time on Blu-ray, the film is presented in a deluxe two-disc special edition.

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War of the Planets/War of the Robots Review

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(More customer reviews)Every week, my son and I have "bad movie" night, and this particular night was spent watching, "War Of The Planets." It is unknown to me what the other reviewers were expecting when they bought and viewed this Italian "epic" but with the general tone of disappointment, I'd say they expected waaaay too much.
We sat there for the 90 minutes enjoying one of the worst movies ever made. Furthermore, we EXPECTED it to be bad and not the second coming of 2001: A Space Odyssey! Probably the funniest thing about this so-called movie is the fact that the makers of this film probably thought they had a hit on their hands, since it came out around the same time as Star Wars. Well, obviously this flick is terrible to the point of being rediculous and, not surprisingly ended up being a dud.
My adviced to you is simple: for one night, go ahead and pretend you're dumb, put in this dvd, and enjoy some of the best bad film making ever to hit no one's screen!

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