About this product: If you like Police or rock in general, having this dvd is a must. It appears the best songs in a powerful performance. It's good to see Sting, Copeland, and Summers togheter playing with charming!!
Besides, this dvd has songs like synchronicity II, Roxanne, Don't stand so close to me and others, that in the vhs version did not appear.
Buy it!!
About this product: "We're done," says Stewart Copeland near the end of Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out, his homemade documentary about the rise and eventual fall of the group that ruled the planet during their '70s-'80s heyday. "When you get to where you're going, the ride is over." Yeah, but what a ride it was. Some 20 years after the Police (Copeland, Sting, and Andy Summers) disbanded for good, the drummer, now a film composer, edited the 50-plus hours of Super 8 footage he shot way back when, compiled a new soundtrack, wrote some voice-over commentary, and put together a film that, while considerably less than perfect, provides genuine insight into the chaotic, ultimately deadening world of rock superstardom. It all starts in '76, when the original band formed in England; by 1978, Copeland narrates, "we were ready to shed the leprous scab of (our) wretched history… and sally forth to the promised land of America." Fame and fortune ensued, and along the way, Copeland filmed everything--not just the inevitable scenes inside their tour van and backstage, but pre-gig sound checks, recording sessions, in-store promo appearances … Hell, he even recorded the band while they were making their videos, and there's one remarkable sequence in which he sets up his camera on a tripod behind his drum kit, then turns to address the viewer in mid-performance ("There's a little fight going on in front of the stage," he tells us). The camera work is often pretty shaky, and the performance footage is primitive, not to mention loud and distorted, but somehow that fits Copeland's fly-on-the-wall approach; and the soundtrack, live and studio versions of familiar tunes that Copeland "lobotomized" and "de-arranged," is revelatory. Perhaps best of all, the film offers Copeland a chance to tell us how it all went wrong. By the time of Ghost in the Machine, Sting (who comes off as his usual standoffish, mostly-humorless self) was no longer collaborating with other musicians in the studio. What's more, "(the) adulation started to feel like obligation," and while being rich and famous was swell, the price they paid was "our vibe, our essence." Part documentary, part travelogue, part video diary/confessional, Everyone Stares helps capture that essence again. --Sam Graham
About this product: All the evidence that Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland deserved their 2003 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is right here in this two-hour (including bonus features) DVD package. Unfortunately, not a lot of that evidence is visual; the Police's videos--at least the 10 directed by Derek Burbige--seem thrown together and uninspired, consisting mostly of the trio half-heartedly lip-syncing or merely horsing around (the four later ones by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme are a considerable improvement). We do get to see Sting at his most punk (a '78 live version of "Can't Stand Losing You") and most iconic (the "Every Breath You Take" video), and the 48-minute Ghost in the Machine-era documentary is interesting. But it wasn't MTV that got the Police into the Hall; it was superb musicianship and wonderful songs. And here in their digitally remastered glory, they all sound great. --Sam Graham
About this product: In addition to spawning the popular Naked Gun movie franchise, Police Squad! had a lasting impact on TV comedy, and it's still a guilty pleasure. Hot from the success of Airplane! two years earlier, the ZAZ team (brothers David and Jerry Zucker and writing partner Jim Abrahams) decided to spoof TV cop shows, using the late '50s Lee Marvin series M Squad and the popular series format of Quinn Martin Productions (e.g., The Streets of San Francisco) as their template for supremely silly, gag-laden satire. With Airplane! star Leslie Nielsen as straight-faced detective Frank Drebin and Alan North as Drebin's befuddled boss, Capt. Ed Hocken, this half-hour series quickly established an irresistible combination of nonstop sight gags, non sequiturs, and repeated routines ("Cigarette?" "Yes, it is") that dared viewers to pay close attention or miss the laughs if they didn't. Ironically, this very quality--you had to actually watch the show instead of casually listening for punchlines--is what ultimately sealed the series' fate. After only six poorly rated episodes, Police Squad! was canceled without fanfare, and six years passed before Drebin returned as the bumbling hero of The Naked Gun.
Will all six episodes on one DVD, ZAZ fans can get reacquainted with a series that was arguably ahead of its time. In addition to the rib-tickling disparity between onscreen episode titles and narrated titles, and "special guest stars" (including William Shatner, Robert Goulet, Lorne Greene, and others) who get killed in the opening credits, loyal viewers could count on a weekly dose of hilarity from Nielsen, North, and their supporting players. Character actor William Duell appeared each week as shoeshine boy "Johnny the Snitch," capable of answering literally any question if you repeatedly greased his palm (a gag that led to info-seeking cameo appearances by Dick Clark, Dr. Joyce Brothers, baseball manager Tommy Lasorda, and others). And while original Mission: Impossible costar Peter Lupus poked fun at himself as the dim-witted Det. Norberg (later played by O.J. Simpson in the Naked Gun movies), Ed Williams--an actual high school science teacher--is hilarious as "Mr. Wizard"-like lab technician Ted Olson, who dispenses dubious science lessons to unsuspecting children. The fast-paced barrage of humor guaranteed that every episode would deliver as many hits as misses, and while some of the jokes have lost their punch, Police Squad! still delivers the belly-laughs... and always will, as long as humans have an appetite for shameless stupidity. --Jeff Shannon
On the DVD Two episode commentaries by the Zucker brothers, Jim Abrahams, and producer Robert K. Weiss are good for a laugh, as the ZAZ team laughs at their own material and recalls the rigors of a 5-day shooting schedule, battles with network censors (also outlined in the revealing "Production Memo Highlights" feature), and the never-shown "celebrity guest death" of John Belushi, who actually died shortly after the gag was filmed. Comedian and writer Robert Wuhl's commentary is more autobiographical and somewhat perfunctory (he barely remembers the episode he wrote), but contains a few nuts-and-bolts details about the show's production. The 10-minute Leslie Nielsen interview shows the gracefully aging star in fine form as he recalls his affinity for the ZAZ brand of humor; the brief gag reel offers about a dozen on-set bloopers (several from crude workprint sources); "Behind the Freeze Frames" is an extended outtake to illustrate the elaborately faked "freeze frame" gag that ended each episode; and "Celebrity Death Shots" is a list of guest-star death gags proposed (and mostly used) for the series. Also included are casting tests for Alan North and Ed Williams, and an animated producers' photo gallery of Police Squad! sets, props, and scenery. --Jeff Shannon
About this product: Jackie Chan has become a genre unto himself, and watching Police Story, you'll understand why. The plot is minimal: Chan is a hero cop involved in a raid that goes wrong. He's assigned to guard a witness, the kingpin's attractive female secretary (Brigitte Lin). For the rest of the film, Chan's protecting himself from the secretary, from the gangsters out to silence her, and from his own jealous girlfriend (Maggie Cheung). But watching Chan for plot is like watching porno for existential themes. While most modern action films steal cues from Westerns, Chan condenses those open mesas into the dense throngs of modern Hong Kong--and tosses in Buster Keaton slapstick. For example, when the opening raid goes haywire, there's an unbelievable car chase through the steep huddle of a hillside shantytown. That's through. No roads, just shacks. Flimsy shacks. As the film progresses, Chan scales a speeding bus using an umbrella, uses cow dung as an excuse to break into some Shaolin moonwalking, and transforms an urban shopping mall into a demented gymnasium (think clothes racks, escalators, and lots of plate glass displays). Chan is amazingly versatile both physically and emotionally--and he's a secure enough star-director to let his costars shine, too. --Grant Balfour
Amazon.com essential video This classic Jackie Chan picture opens with one of the wildest police action set pieces ever filmed, an extended chase that includes the total destruction of a hillside shanty settlement, as fleeing crooks and pursing cops crash down through it with their vehicles. Overall, however, the picture is an awkward mixture of clashing elements. At first it is a little strange seeing Chan playing it (mostly) straight in a hard-edged police thriller. The fights are all extremely ferocious and real-looking, without the lighthearted slapstick stylization that leavens his best period vehicles, like Project A, Part II. The comedy elements (especially a recurrent cake-in-the-face gag) seem to come out of nowhere; they are no longer integral to the spirit of the movie. But there are wonderful set pieces, stunts, and action scenes, including Jackie struggling to answer a dozen jangling phones at once, when he's left alone at the police station, and the all-out, glass-smashing fervor of a climactic battle royal in a shopping mall. --David Chute
About this product: Before making a name for himself in Hollywood with the Rush Hour franchise, Jackie Chan was already an international superstar, thanks to Hong Kong films such as Police Story and its sequels. While not quite up to par with that film, Police Story 2 (released in 1988) still manages to pack quite the punch, picking up where Police Story left off. Chan's Ka Kui has been demoted from detective to traffic cop, something that depresses him but is a source of relief for his gorgeous girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung, Hero), who is hoping that they can live in peace. But hell hath no fury like a Triad member scorned, and Ka Kui finds himself a hunted man when the gangsters he locked away seek revenge. While the plot is familiar, the impeccably choreographed action sequences are a work of art. Exhibiting both strength and grace, Chan who also directed and co-wrote the screenplay as well as performed all his own stunts) is both heroic and comical as he fends off hordes of villains. He's in fine form, whether he's beating up his opponent or about to get bullied by a waif of a handicapped man. Chan is famous for including a blooper reel at the end of his movies, and while the bloopers for his later films appear almost forced--as if he had to scrounge around to come up with good material--his earlier pictures conclude with gasp-inducing mistakes that make the viewer wonder how one man's body can endure this kind of physical punishment. The DVD offers both the Cantonese version with English (and Spanish) subtitles, as well as a cheesy English dubbed treatment. Opt for the subtitles: The action will more than speak for itself. --Jae-Ha Kim
About this product: Astoundingly silly but incredibly popular, Police Academy is the first film in a seemingly endless franchise that takes aim at the men in blue. After a police academy drops all of its entrance requirements, all manner of misfits flood in, hoping to make it onto the force. One of these misfits, a lazy, aimless cadet played by Steve Guttenberg (Cocoon, Three Men and a Baby), was forced to enlist and tries whatever he can to get kicked out. But once he decides to stay, he tries anything and everything to finish his training, even as his drill instructor tries to shove him out. Featuring a wild bunch of strange supporting characters, from a female trainee who speaks below a whisper to a dominatrix instructor to a human sound-effects machine, Police Academy is mindless but fun. --Robert Lane
About this product: An elite U.S. counter-terrorism squad loses a member while decimating half of Paris in the reckless pursuit of Middle Eastern maniacs; a Broadway actor with a traumatic childhood secret is naturally hired to replace him. Oh--and they're all marionettes. South Park maestros Trey Parker and Matt Stone (along with co-writer Pam Brady) came up with this shameless satire of pea-brained Hollywood action flicks and even smaller-minded global politics, so don't expect subtlety or even a hint of good taste. Team America is soon on the trail of North Korea's evil Kim Jong Il, who treats us to a tender song about his loneliness before ensnaring Alec Baldwin and the rest of the oblivious Film Actors Guild (F.A.G. for short) in a plot to blow up every major city on the planet. Just as the mindless squad cheerfully demolishes everything in sight, so do director Parker and company. Throwing punches Left, Right, and in-between, the movie's politics leave no turn un-stoned; there's even time to bludgeon the musical Rent. It's offensive, irresponsible comic anarchy seemingly made by sniggering little boys. Painfully funny sniggering little boys.--Steve Wiecking
About this product: Astoundingly silly but incredibly popular, Police Academy is the first film in a seemingly endless franchise that takes aim at the men in blue. After a police academy drops all of its entrance requirements, all manner of misfits flood in, hoping to make it onto the force. One of these misfits, a lazy, aimless cadet played by Steve Guttenberg (Cocoon, Three Men and a Baby), was forced to enlist and tries whatever he can to get kicked out. But once he decides to stay, he tries anything and everything to finish his training, even as his drill instructor tries to shove him out. Featuring a wild bunch of strange supporting characters, from a female trainee who speaks below a whisper to a dominatrix instructor to a human sound-effects machine, Police Academy is mindless but fun. --Robert Lane
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