ElasticDog’s DVD Library

Total Number of DVDs: 312
Last Updated: 26 May 2008

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Page Number: 7 / 25

Director: Rob Cohen
Starring: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Rick Yune
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: PG-13

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 5.7 (36,567 votes)
Duration: 107
Release: Jan 2002
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780783257907
Purchased On:

Summary: A guilty pleasure with excess horsepower, "The Fast and the Furious" efficiently combines time-honored male fantasies (hot cars, hot women, hot action) into a vacuous plot of crystalline purity. It's trash, but it's "fun" trash, in which a hotshot Los Angeles cop named Brian (Paul Walker) infiltrates a gang of street racers suspected of fencing stolen goods from hijacked trucks. The gang leader is Dom (Vin Diesel), ex-con and reigning king of the street racers, who lives for those 10 seconds of freedom when his high-performance "rice rocket" (a highly modified Asian import) hurtles toward another quarter-mile victory. Racing is street theater for a lawless youth subculture, and Dom is a star behind the wheel--charismatic, dangerous, and protective toward his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), who's attracted to Brian as the newest member of Dom's car-crazy team.
Director Rob Cohen treats this like Roman tragedy for MTV junkies, pushing every scene to adrenaline-pumping extremes; when his camera isn't caressing a spectrum of nitrous oxide-enhanced dream machines, it's ogling countless slim 'n' sexy race babes. The undercover-cop scenario cheaply borrows the split-loyalty theme perfected in "Donnie Brasco"; a rival Asian gang adds mystery and menace; and digital trickery is cleverly employed to explore the fuel-injected innards of the day-glo racecars. It's about as substantial as a perfume ad, but just as alluring, and for heavy-metal maniacs of any age, Diesel's superblown '69 Charger proves that Detroit muscle never goes out of style. "--Jeff Shannon"

2 Fast 2 Furious

Director: John Singleton
Starring: Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Cole Hauser, Ludacris
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: PG-13

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 5.0 (26,962 votes)
Duration: 108
Release: Sep 2003
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780783285214
Purchased On: 10 May 2008

Summary: Like the high-revving imports and American muscle cars that roar down the streets of its south Florida setting, "2 Fast 2 Furious" is tricked out to the max. While Vin Diesel opted for his "XXX" franchise, this obligatory sequel to "The Fast and the Furious" benefits from Diesel's absence, allowing returning star Paul Walker to shine while forging a lively partnership with rising star Tyrese, who fulfills his sidekick duties with more vitality than Diesel could ever muster. The Miami/Dade locations are another bonus, lending colorful backdrop to the most dazzling street-racing sequences (both real and digitally composited) ever committed to film. The plot is disposable--former cop Walker and jailbird Tyrese are recruited by the FBI to dethrone a thuggish kingpin (Cole Hauser)--but director John Singleton keeps the adrenalin pumping, enlisting a rainbow coalition of costars (including rapper Ludacris and Chanel supermodel Devon Aoki) to combine a hip-hop vibe with full-blown action while showcasing hot babes, edgy humor, and some of the coolest cars that ever burned rubber. Heed the movie's warning, kids: Let the stuntmen do the driving. "--Jeff Shannon"

Fearless

Director: Ronny Yu
Starring: Jet Li, Shido Nakamura, Betty Sun, Yong Dong, Hee Ching Paw
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: Unrated

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 7.7 (13,608 votes)
Duration: 104
Release: Dec 2006
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 0025193168320
Purchased On:

Summary: A moving and inspiring story of redemption and personal triumph in the face of great odds, "Jet Li's Fearless" is the based-on-facts story of Chinese folk hero Huo Yuanjia (Jet Li). The son of a martial-arts master whose greatest strength was his restraint, Huo grows into an unbeatable fighter whose pride and thoughtlessness lead to a chain of tragic losses. After a classic wanderer-in-the-wilderness penance, Huo reinvents himself as a mature instructor of Wushu, a martial arts system that embraces all forms of fighting without preference or pre-judgement. He also becomes a populist symbol, at the dawn of the 20th century, of China's refusal to entirely capitulate to the boot of Western colonialists. Taking on whatever European, American, or Japanese fighter the outsiders bring in to demoralize the natives, Huo becomes a legend that, in real life, is still revered. Thrillingly directed by Ronny Yu ("Warriors of Virtue"), "Jet Li's Fearless" is a dazzling action movie that transcends its breathless fight sequences with Huo's sportsmanship virtues, i.e., knowing when you've won by example, rather than by the fist. Jet Li is superb in the role. "--Tom Keogh"

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Director: John Hughes
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones, Jennifer Grey
Genre: Comedy
Rated: PG-13

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 7.9 (49,408 votes)
Duration: 102
Release: Oct 1999
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780792158844
Purchased On:

Summary: Like a soda pop left open all night, "Bueller" seems to have lost its effervescence over time. Sure, Matthew Broderick is still appealing as the perennial truant, Ferris, who fakes his parents out and takes one memorable day off from school. Jeffrey Jones is nasty and scheming as the principal who's out to catch him. Jennifer Grey is winning as Ferris's sister (who ends up making out in the police station with a prophetic vision of Charlie Sheen). But there's a definite sense that this film was of a particular time frame: the '80s. It's still fun, though. There's Ferris singing "Twist and Shout" during a Chicago parade, and a lovely sequence in the Art Institute. But don't get it and expect your kids to love it the way you did. Like it or not, it's yours alone. "--Keith Simanton"

The Fifth Element

Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Milla Jovovich, Chris Tucker
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Rated: PG-13

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 7.2 (83,593 votes)
Duration: 125
Release: Dec 1997
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780800195175
Purchased On:

Summary: Ancient curses, all-powerful monsters, shape-changing assassins, scantily-clad stewardesses, laser battles, huge explosions, a perfect woman, a malcontent hero--what more can you ask of a big-budget science fiction movie? Luc Besson's high-octane film incorporates presidents, rock stars, and cab drivers into its peculiar plot, traversing worlds and encountering some pretty wild aliens. Bruce Willis stars as a down-and-out cabbie who must win the love of Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) to save Earth from destruction by Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman) and a dark, unearthly force that makes Darth Vader look like an Ewok. "--Geoff Riley"

Fight Club

Director: David Fincher
Starring: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: R

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 8.7 (205,194 votes)
Duration: 139
Release: Jun 2000
# of Discs: 2
UPC: 0024543000358
Purchased On:

Summary: 2-Disc set is loaded with Extra Punch!

Bonus Features
Four audio commentaries by the cast and crew, including David Fincher, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter.Five deleted scenes and outtakes.Original sketches, oil paintings, storyboards, publicity stills and lobby cards.17 behind-the-scenes vignettes.Anamorphic widescreen formatLanguages:English 5.1 surround; English and French Dolby SurroundAnd much more!

Final Destination

Director: James Wong (IV)
Starring: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Tony Todd, Kristen Cloke
Genre: Drama
Rated: R

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 6.6 (28,926 votes)
Duration: 98
Release: Jun 2004
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780780631687
Purchased On:

Summary: While hardly a spiritual upgrade of the slasher film, this high-concept teen body-count thriller drops hints of "The Sixth Sense" into the smart-aleck sensibility of "Scream". Helmed by "X-Files" veteran James Wong, who cowrote the screenplay with longtime creative partner Glen Morgan, "Final Destination" is an often entertaining thriller marked by an unsettling sense of unease and scenes of eerie imagery. It suffers, however, from a schizophrenic tone and a frankly ludicrous premise. A high school Cassandra, Alex Browning (Devon Sawa of "Idle Hands"), wakes from a preflight nightmare and panics when he's convinced the plane is doomed. His ruckus bumps seven passengers from the Paris-bound plane, which immediately explodes into a fireball on takeoff, but fate hasn't finished with these lucky few and, one by one, death claims them. Wong brings such a funereal tone to these early scenes of survivor's guilt and inevitable doom that the already far-fetched film threatens to veer into unplanned absurdity. Thankfully, the tale loosens up with a playful morgue humor: one of the victims winds up the splattered punch line to a grim joke and elaborate Rube Goldbergesque chains of cause and effect become inspired spectacles of destruction. "Final Destination" is a pretty silly thriller when it takes itself seriously, and the filmmakers play fast and loose with their own rules of fate, but once they stick their tongues firmly in cheek, the film takes off with a screwy interpretation of the domino effect of doom. "--Sean Axmaker"

Final Destination 2

Director: David R. Ellis
Starring: Ali Larter, A.J. Cook, Michael Landes, Tony Todd, Terrence 'T.C.' Carson
Genre: Horror
Rated: R

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 6.3 (18,087 votes)
Duration: 91
Release: Jul 2003
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780780642324
Purchased On:

Summary: "Final Destination 2" begins with a well-orchestrated multicar pileup on a freeway--a horrifying accident that turns out to be a premonition, as seen by a young woman (A.J. Cook) who saves herself and several other people by blocking a freeway on-ramp. Thus, as in the first "Final Destination", a prescient vision disrupts the destined plans of death, and death goes to extreme lengths to correct matters. What makes "Final Destination 2" entertaining is that the characters can only survive by learning to recognize the signs of impending doom--and the signs are basically the cinematic foreshadowing that moviemakers use to invoke suspense. This, combined with some elaborately complicated and gruesome deaths, fosters a ghoulish humor that's more entertaining than the smirky self-referentiality of "Scream". "Final Destination 2" doesn't aspire to be a great movie, but trash has its pleasures. Also featuring Ali Larter as the only survivor of the first movie. "--Bret Fetzer"

Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within

Director: Hironobu Sakaguchi, Motonori Sakakibara
Starring: Ming-Na, Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: PG-13

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 6.4 (24,484 votes)
Duration: 106
Release: Oct 2001
# of Discs: 2
UPC: 9780767864541
Purchased On:

Summary: Earth is a desolate wasteland in "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within". Humanity has been decimated by an invasion of Phantoms, insubstantial aliens that extract and devour the spirits of living things. The few remaining humans have retreated to a handful of cities that are protected by massive bio-energy shields. The beautiful Dr. Aki Ross (voiced by Ming-Na) and her mentor Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland) have discovered that the energy signatures of eight key Earth spirits can cancel out and destroy the Phantoms. With the help of Captain Edwards (Alec Baldwin) and his band of marines, they must scour the globe for the last two remaining spirits before General Hein (James Woods) manipulates the refugee government into attacking the aliens with an orbital laser that may also destroy the Earth.

Hironobu Sakaguchi's film is taken from the popular "Final Fantasy" video game franchise, which is particularly well suited to film adaptation with its series of original stories, but the movie features entirely new characters and settings. And like "Toy Story" and "Shrek", "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" is completely computer generated. Unlike those cartoon comedies, though, "The Spirits Within" is a serious science fiction drama with astonishingly human digital actors. Aki, the female lead, appeared in a full-page spread in "Maxim" magazine's Hot 100 list--and was indistinguishable from the real-life models. The setting and conflict make for incredible action, but it's the larger issues, character interaction, and human elements that really make the movie shine. "The Spirits Within" is not simply a science fiction movie, in the same way that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is not simply a kung fu flick. The result is a fantastic summer movie with better action and more emotion than "Pearl Harbor", and actors more lifelike than those in that other video game movie, "Tomb Raider". "--Mike Fehlauer"

Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children

Director: Tetsuya Nomura, Takeshi Nozue
Starring: Steve Burton, Rachael Leigh Cook, Steve Staley, Wally Wingert, Quinton Flynn
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Rated: PG-13

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 7.6 (14,565 votes)
Duration: 101
Release: Apr 2006
# of Discs: 2
UPC: 0043396118966
Purchased On:

Summary: The question facing any viewer of the Japanese CG feature "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" is: do you have to know the games on which it's based in order to understand the film? And the answer is: it certainly helps. But even complete novices (i.e., most parents) in the "Final Fantasy" world will find some entertainment in its wealth of fantasy-based action, and the animation never fails to astonish. Picking up two years after an epic battle between the forces of good (represented by brooding soldier Cloud) and evil (Cloud's former general, Sephiroth), "FFVII" opens in the devastated city of Midgard, whose youthful occupants suffer from a ghastly disease known as Geostigma. A trio of brothers arrives with what appears to be a cure for the plague, but their gesture conceals a more sinister purpose: to revive Sephiroth and bring about the end of the world. Cloud and his companions must once again rise to the occasion to stop the siblings and the revived Sephiroth from unleashing total destruction. Complex and self-referential to the point of occasional incomprehension, "Final Fantasy VII" will definitely be most appreciated by fans of the game series, but if others can look past the numbing dialogue and frenetic action (which is a bit too intense for very young children), the film offers a carefree and action-packed viewing experience. The two-disc set contains the original Japanese language version of the film as well as an English-dubbed edition (Rachel Leigh Cook and Christy Carlson Romano, among others, provide the vocal talent) and a version edited for the Venice Film Festival. A 30-minute featurette that recaps the "Final Fantasy" story up to "VII", as well as a making-of documentary, deleted scenes, and promotions for future "Final Fantasy VII" games and products round out the extras. "--Paul Gaita"

First Strike

Director: Stanley Tong
Starring: Jackie Chan, Jackson Liu, Annie Wu, Bill Tung, Yuri Petrov
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: PG-13

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 6.2 (4,400 votes)
Duration: 85
Release: Mar 1999
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780780622678
Purchased On:

Summary: Action-god Jackie Chan does his best James Bond impression with this ecstatic sequel to the classic "Supercop". The bare-bones plot has Chan in pursuit of international terrorists, but the narrative quickly gives way to an unceasing barrage of insane stunt work (including a nitro-fueled ski chase and a grandiose fight scene set inside a functioning shark tank). As with most of the aging star's recent films, there is more of an emphasis placed on big, impersonal (albeit impressive) stunts rather than the close-up combat that made him famous; but the end result is still a must-see rush for longtime fans, and a great introduction for newcomers eager to see what all the well-deserved fuss is about. The scene where Jackie takes on multiple goons while armed only with a ladder is one of his most jaw-dropping set pieces ever--and that's saying quite a lot. Be sure to stick around for the closing credits of gags gone awry, which graphically prove that Chan is truly the hardest working man in show business. "--Andrew Wright"

Fletch

Director: Michael Ritchie
Starring: Chevy Chase, Joe Don Baker, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Richard Libertini, Tim Matheson
Genre: Comedy
Rated: PG

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 6.6 (11,217 votes)
Duration: 98
Release: May 2007
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 0025193289223
Purchased On:

Summary: Gregory McDonald's lightweight mystery novel about an undercover newspaper reporter cracking a police drug ring is transformed by screenwriter Andrew Bergman ("Blazing Saddles", and writer/director of "The Freshman" and "Honeymoon in Vegas") into a fairly sarcastic and occasionally very funny Chevy Chase vehicle. Enjoyment of the film pivots on whether you find Chase's flippant, smart-ass brand of verbal humor funny, or merely egocentric. If you don't like Chase, there's really no one else worth watching (Geena Davis is sadly underused). Chase seems born to play I.M. "Fletch" Fletcher, a disillusioned investigative reporter whose cynicism and detached view on life mirrors the actor's understated approach to comedy. Fletcher offers Chase the opportunity to adopt numerous personas, as his job requires numerous (bad) physical disguises, and much of film's humor centers on the ridiculous idea that any of these phony accents or bad hairpieces could fool anyone. These not-so-clever disguises are put to use when Fletch becomes involved in the film's smart but continually self-mocking two-part mystery. As well as trying to gather drug-smuggling evidence against the LAPD for a long-overdue newspaper story, a rich and apparently terminally ill stranger also offers Fletch a large payoff to kill him. While the film does a fairly good job juggling both of these plots, not to mention tossing in a love interest as well, it's subservient, for better or worse, to Chase's memorable one-liners and disguises. Followed by two forgettable sequels that lack both the original's wit and Chase's attention span. "--Dave McCoy"

From Dusk Till Dawn

Director: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, Ernest Liu
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: R

My Rating:

IMDB Rating: 6.9 (46,672 votes)
Duration: 108
Release: Jun 1998
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9781558908451
Purchased On:

Summary: From a match made in heaven comes a movie spawned in hell! Young hotshot director Robert Rodriquez ("El Mariachi", "Desperado") teamed up with "Pulp Fiction" auteur Quentin Tarantino (offering his services as writer and co-star) to make this outrageous, no-holds-barred hybrid of high-octane crime and gruesome horror. QT plays Richard Gecko, a borderline psychopath who breaks his career-criminal brother, Seth (George Clooney), out of prison, after which they rob a bank and leave a trail of dead and wounded in their bloody wake. Then they hijack a mobile home driven by a former Baptist minister (Harvey Keitel) who quit the church after his wife's death and hit the road with his two children (played by Juliette Lewis and Ernest Liu). Heading to Mexico with their hostages, the infamous Gecko brothers arrive at the Titty Twister bar to rendezvous for a money drop, but they don't realize that they've just entered the nocturnal lair of a bloodthirsty gang of vampires! With not-so-subtle aplomb, Rodriguez and Tarantino shift into high gear with a nonstop parade of gore, gunfire, and pointy-fanged mayhem featuring Salma Hayek as a snake-charming dancer whose bite is much worse than her bark. If you're a fan of Tarantino's lyrical dialogue and pop-cultural wit, you'll have fun with the road-movie half of this supernatural horror-comedy, but if your taste runs more to exploding heads and eyeballs, sloppy entrails and morphing monsters, the second half provides a connoisseur's feast of gross-out excess. "Bon appétit"! "--Jeff Shannon"

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