Release date: 1999-01-19
Run time: 510 min.
Price: $39.99
Review Big Picture:Army Pictorial Center 195 / Entertainment Distributing:
Release date: 1998-11-03
Run time: 240 min.
Price: $79.98
Review Savage Earth (4pc) / Mpi Home Video:
Release date: 1999-10-12
Run time: 208 min.
Price: $51.98
Review The World at War - The Final Solution / Hbo Home Video:This four-tape set by the same British producers responsible for the classic World at War series chronicles the Nazi obsession with killing all of Europe's Jews. Making intelligent use of archival photographs, newsreel footage, and extensive footage shot by the Nazis themselves, the series begins by tracing the roots of Nazism back to Germany's humiliation at the end of World War I. The rise of Hitler and the SS, his elite guard that evolved into being the enforcers of racial doctrine, is cogently presented in the first episode. The successive tapes each focus on a particular time period, as the Nazi determination to eliminate Jews built momentum, proceeding from a program of persecution to resettlement to outright mass murder. Holocaust survivors speak on camera in interviews, as do German civilians and former members of the SS. The film footage shown is often quite grisly, and some will find it difficult viewing, but the producers deserve credit for seeking out material, especially films shot by the Nazis themselves, that accurately depicts the horrors that took place. Indeed, without the strong visual component of the production, some of the chilling stories told by the survivors on film may be thought too horrible to be true. This is a remarkably straightforward look at one of the absolute horrors of history. -Robert J. McNamara.
Actors & Directors
- America's Historic Steam Railr
Run time: 270 min.
Price: $49.95
Review America's Historic Steam Railroads (9pc) / Goldhil Home Media:
Release date: 2000-10-31
List Price: $79.98
Price: $75.98
Review Big Picture Box / Image Entertainment:Five fascinating large-screen IMAX format films, each with extensive behind-the-scenes "making of" footage, in one box! "The Discoverers" (1994, 72 min. ) - From the earliest voyages that mapped the Earth to today's launches into space, this film examines our desire to expand the boundaries of knowledge. "Dolphins" (2000, 77 min. ) - Brimming with details about the complex lives of these fascinating animals, this ocean adventure film takes you into the very heart of the world of Dolphins. "The Living Sea" (1995, 77 min. ) - Come face to face with life-sized humpback whales, thousands of golden jellyfish and giant clams. Go 3,000 feet down to view strange creatures which live where sunlight never penetrates deep down. "The Magic of Flight" (1996, 81 min. ) - Relive the first flight of the Wright Brothers, soar with the world-famous Blue Angels and more in this technological thrill ride with some of the most amazing airborne footage ever captured on film. "Stormchasers" (1995, 67 min. [+]) - Join storm-chasing meteorologists who put themselves in the heart of extreme weather conditions-hurricanes, monsoons, and tornadoes-in order to understand how they form.
Release date: 2001-10-23
List Price: $119.84
Price: $75.00
Review War & Civilization (8pc) / Live / Artisan:
Release date: 2000-02-01
Run time: 750 min.
Price: $129.98
Review The 20th Century: A Moving Visual History, Boxed Set / Mpi Home Video:This 10-episode set devotes a video to each decade of the 20th century, and the results are mixed. The approach is fairly standard, utilizing archival newsreel footage or videotape shot for news programs to document the major events of each decade as well as using interviews with scholars and commentators to occasionally provide perspective. As the century began with hand-cranked film cameras and closed with endless news coverage on cable television, there is a great variety of material to draw from, and much of it is fascinating. However, devoting an hour or even more to each decade means that there is never much depth, and there is also an unfortunate lack of varying viewpoints. Most of the people interviewed in the various videos have a leftist perspective and, in some cases, such as the presentation of the Reagan years, the imbalance of viewpoint is striking. These videos do provide good overviews of the decades, and major events and characters are rendered in general terms, but at times a lack of depth and some curious editorial choices are frustrating. Still, the documentaries in this set do cover a tremendous amount of ground, and for the most part they do it in an entertaining and informative manner. -Robert J. McNamara.
Release date: 1998-03-17
Run time: 150 min.
Price: $39.98
Review Brain Sex (3pc) / Discovery Channel:
Release date: 1995-04-04
Run time: 240 min.
List Price: $69.98
Price: $70.00
Review Voices & Visions Vol 01 Box Set / Unapix Consumer Products:
Release date: 2000-06-20
Run time: 338 min.
List Price: $79.98
Price: $75.98
Review World Class Trains / Image Entertainment:Discover the world's most luxurious trains and re-live a bygone era, when the journey itself was the most significant part of the experience, rather than simply getting there. A journey where the passenger becomes a real traveller and is able to experience the much more gracious way of travel in a living re-creation of the golden age of rail. Included in this six part series are: "The Eastern Orient Express" - From Bangkok across the famous River Kwai Bridge, through Thailand and the jungles of Malaysia, into Singapore; "The Royal Scotsman" - Travel the breathtaking Scottish Highlands, where mountains, lochs and forests provide an ever-changing backdrop; "The Palace on Wheels" - Starting with a ceremonial departure from Delhi, on through Rajastan, the historical city of Chittogarh and the "Lake City" of Udaipur, the magical deserts of Jaisalmer and Jouhpur, into Bharatpur and Agra, arriving back in Delhi; "The Imperial Express" follows a route through central Europe which only a few years ago lay deep behind the Iron Curtain; "Rovos Rail" offers unique rail safaris through some of the most spectacular scenery in Africa; "The Great South Pacific Express" - Vast expanses of unspoilt countryside connect the vibrant cities and natural attractions of this southern perimeter of the world's largest ocean.
Release date: 1998-03-17
Run time: 225 min.
List Price: $49.98
Price: $179.95
Review Watergate, box set / Discovery Channel:On May 28, 1972, five men broke into the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D. C. , and bungled things so badly that they were arrested before they could even take anything. American politics has never been the same since. What seemed like a routine break-in was actually the tip of a mammoth political iceberg, which ran from the intelligence operatives to members of the White House staff and finally to President Nixon himself, a man whose mission to find dirt on his opponents led to his ultimate and extremely public downfall. This four-hour-plus Discovery Channel retrospective (produced in 1994) is, bar none, the most comprehensive, intelligent, and exhaustive documentary you could ever find on the subject. Going far beyond a basic rehashing of the events, Watergate takes the viewer painstakingly through the entire scandal, from break-in to resignation. Narrated by NPR bigwig Daniel Schorr, the documentary utilizes video footage, newspaper coverage, those infamous White House tapes, and most impressively, interviews with all the living participants in the Watergate scandal (with the exception of Henry Kissinger), some reading from their own notes. It's amazing to hear the details of America's biggest political debacle straight from the horses' mouths-Haldeman, Erlichman, Liddy, John Dean, even Nixon himself via his 1977 interview with David Frost. If anything gets short shrift, it's the award-winning muckraking adventures of two reporters named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (for that, check out the first-rate adaptation of All the President's Men). [+]Still, this is a clear-eyed portrait of Watergate from the inside, as never seen before, and covers this fascinating chapter of American history better than anything before it, and most likely anything to come. -Mark Englehart.
Release date: 1994-01-12
Run time: 360 min.
Price: $29.99
Review The Ring of Truth with Professor Philip Morrison - Set / PBS Home Video:
Release date: 1998-05-26
Run time: 219 min.
Price: $39.98
Review Eco-Challenge: British Columbia Series / Unapix Consumer Products:
Release date: 2000-09-26
Price: $79.95
Review Eisenhower: Warrior And President SET-Eisenhower: Warrior And President SET / A & E Home Video:
Release date: 1999-11-09
Run time: 600 min.
List Price: $79.98
Price: $89.50
Review CNN's Millennium Boxed Set / Turner Home Ent:A thousand years in 10 hours is an ambitious project, to say the least. But the team at CNN succeeds with its now-typical aplomb, as the team that brought us Cold War shares with us Millennium. "We know the history of our own country," narrator Ben Kingsley intones. But this series purports to give us "history from a global perspective, not through the eyes of the West. " Using reenactments and impressive computer graphics-used with inspiration for everything from rebuilding the 11th-century Pueblo Bonito to representing Freud's idea of the subconscious-the history of the world for the past 1,000 years is re-created. Each episode covers 100 years, from the 11th century's "Century of the Sword" to the 16th century's "Century of the Compass" to the final 100 years of the millennium in "Century of the Globe. " Segmented by time and place, Millennium focuses on five topics in five separate locations in each episode. The wealth of topics is mind-boggling: the spread of Islam, Mongol conquests, the rise of Gothic spires across Europe, Australian Aborigines, the trail of Marco Polo, Black Death, Chinese naval power, the Ottoman Empire, the religious conversion of the Mayans, the Mogul Dynasty, science, slave trade, the Industrial Revolution, to name just a fraction of the stories told. Granted, given the constraints of covering 1,000 years in a mere 10 hours, the video may leave you longing for more, but what a way to whet your appetite for history. -Jenny Brown.
Release date: 1999-10-19
Run time: 144 min.
Price: $49.95
Review Genius / Cromwell Productions Ltd.:
Release date: 2001-09-21
Run time: 240 min.
List Price: $59.95
Price: $74.89
Review Chasing the Sun - A Century of Flight, Vols. 1-4 / Homevision:From the Wright Brothers to supersonic flight, Chasing the Sun chronicles a century of aviation achievements that changed the world. These four one-hour documentaries, produced by KCET/Hollywood for public television, trace the often tumultuous 100 year history of commercial aviation. Blending archival material with original production footage and interviews, this is the tale of an industry advanced by daredevils and innovators, some who soared to dazzling accomplishments and others whose dreams crashed around them.
Release date: 2000-06-27
Run time: 250 min.
Price: $59.95
Review History of Sex (4pc) / A&E Home Video:From medieval talking penises and naughty priests to sexuality as transcendence in the Kama Sutra, the History Channel's five-part History of Sex debunks the myth of history's innocence. In Ancient Civilizations, Mesopotamian men considered women property and believed that divine masturbation created Egypt, that there were no virgins, and that some mummies had erect phalluses. In classical Greece, husbands had their pick of sexual partners and proper wives went dildo shopping. The Eastern World considers the spirituality and teaching of sex, including Chinese pillow books. The Middle Ages examines both denigration of the body and lusty, bawdy frivolity as well as the fashionable art of codpiece stuffing. The political extremes of repression and excess continue in From Don Juan to Queen Victoria with the pilgrims, the Marquis de Sade, frigid Victorian wives, and the golden age of prostitution and pornography. Finally, the 20th Century discusses the impact of motion pictures, automobiles, Stonewall, the pill, AIDS, and the Internet on sex. The series relies on upper-class men's historical records and therefore underrepresents women and homosexuals. However, the commentary from a diverse and insightful panel of academics and the rich selection of historic images make this a tasteful, informative history of sex. -Tara Chace.
Release date: 1998-03-17
Run time: 350 min.
Price: $79.98
Review How the West Was Lost: Part 2 / Discovery Channel:
Actors & Directors
- Robert H. Goddard
- Jonathan Fahn
- Adrian Malone
- Jaromír Hanzlík
Run time: 780 min.
List Price: $119.98
Price: $109.00
Review Cosmos Boxed Set (Collector's Edition) / COSMOS STUDIOS:When Cosmos was first broadcast in 1980, our world-and the context of Carl Sagan's eloquent "personal journey"-was a different place. The late Dr. Sagan would be pleased to witness the cooling of the cold war, the continued exploration of space, and ongoing efforts to curb our destructive dependence on fossil fuels. For Sagan's series is far more than a guided tour through "billions and billions" of stars and galaxies. It remains a profound plea for the unity of humankind, for the recognition that "we are a way for the universe to know itself," with an obligation to know our origin, our place in the universe, and our future potential. In the course of 13 fascinating hours, Cosmos spans its own galaxy of topics to serve Sagan's theme, each segment deepening our understanding of how we got from there (simple microbes in the primordial mud) to here (space-faring civilization in the 21st century). In his "ship of the imagination," Sagan guides us to the farthest reaches of space and takes us back into the history of scientific inquiry, from the ancient library of Alexandria to the NASA probes of our neighboring planets. Upon this vast canvas Sagan presents the "cosmic calendar," placing the 15-billion-year history of the universe into an accessible one-year framework, then filling it with a stunning chronology of events, both interstellar and earthbound. From the lives of the stars, to creation theories, functions of the human brain, and the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence, Cosmos asks big questions. When appropriate, Sagan offers big answers, or asks still bigger-and yes, even spiritual-questions at the boundaries of science and religion. [+]What's most remarkable about Cosmos is that it remains almost entirely fresh, with few updates needed to the science that Sagan so passionately celebrates. It is no exaggeration to say that Cosmos-for all the debate it may continue to provoke-is a vital document for humanity at a pivotal crossroads of our history. -Jeff Shannon.
| Models & Brands:
Big Picture:Army Pictorial Center 195, Savage Earth (4pc), The World at War - The Final Solution, America's Historic Steam Railroads (9pc), Big Picture Box, War & Civilization (8pc), The 20th Century: A Moving Visual History, Boxed Set, Brain Sex (3pc), Voices & Visions Vol 01 Box Set, World Class Trains, Watergate, box set, The Ring of Truth with Professor Philip Morrison - Set, Eco-Challenge: British Columbia Series, Eisenhower: Warrior And President SET-Eisenhower: Warrior And President SET, CNN's Millennium Boxed Set, Genius, Chasing the Sun - A Century of Flight, Vols. 1-4, History of Sex (4pc), How the West Was Lost: Part 2, Cosmos Boxed Set (Collector's Edition)Top headlines: Tidbits: Beard dating Phelps? Ew, no!: Millions of fans may be admiring Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps from afar, but Playboy pinup and fellow Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard isn't one of them. ›02:10 Electric bikes sell briskly as gas prices climb: The surging cost of gasoline and a desire for a greener commute are turning more people to electric bikes as an unconventional form of transportation. ›15:57 15 Aug, Fri Obama tells McCain to lay off character: The Democratic presidential candidate is criticizing Republican rival John McCain for questioning his patriotism and his judgment on national security matters. ›14:30 19 Aug, Tue 5Top: Infamous fired rock drummers: You know about The Beatles' Pete Best, but how about some other skinsmen who were given the pink slip by their bands? ›19:06 18 Aug, Mon At Sydney bar, cocktails is a spa treatment: Order a cocktail at Zeta Bar and you are likely to find yourself whisked away to a secluded area, blindfolded and fitted with headphones as scented mists are sprayed in your face. Instead of just giving customers a choice of shaken or stirred, patrons are offered a full sensory experience, which they liken to visiting a spa. ›14:07 19 Aug, Tue Fonz statue gets two thumbs up in Milwaukee: Theyre giving two thumbs up to the bronze Fonz in Milwaukee. Dozens of people lining the Milwaukee River downtown cheered as a bronze statue of the Happy Days character was unveiled Tuesday. ›20:09 19 Aug, Tue Abandoned ashes pile up at funeral homes: The abandoned ashes are stacked floor to ceiling in the basement of the Boston funeral home, tucked on shelves and in an unused dumbwaiter part of a growing problem nationwide. ›13:47 Sen. Joe Lieberman to speak at GOP convention: A Republican official tells The Associated Press that Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman will be speaking at the Republican National Convention. ›16:29 Bill Gates Answers Your Questions: The Microsoft co-founder and leading philanthropist answers selected reader questions in this exclusive NEWSWEEK forum. ›22:02 9 Oct, Tue Burmese Battle Spiritual and Economic Ills: Businesses are struggling, prices are rising and residents are facing a spiritual crisis. An on-scene report from post-protest Rangoon. ›18:10 11 Oct, Thu Windmills split town and families: John Yancy knows the futuristic towers are pumping clean electricity into the grid, knows they have been largely embraced by his community. But Yancey hates them. ›00:03 17 Aug, Sun Do Women Lead Differently Than Men?: Americans could elect our first female president in 2008. What the most powerful women of the past can teach us about how to rule in the future. ›21:39 6 Oct, Sat Book Excerpt: Vegetable Dishes I Cant Live Without: A book excerpt by Mollie Katzen. ›21:49 6 Oct, Sat Hirsh: Democracy's Strange Bedfellows: The champions of democracy often share an overly romantic view of how quickly it can flower in hostile soil. ›16:56 11 Oct, Thu 'Mercenary is a Slanderous Term': The founder of Blackwater defends himselfand his company. ›03:32 13 Oct, Sat Is it really just the economy, stupid?: The battle for electoral votes will be fought in high unemployment states such as Michigan, but also in places with relatively low unemployment such as Virginia. ›14:15 Scoop: Will Jamie Lynn's fairy tale end in tears?: Teenage mom Jamie Lynn Spears isn't talking about it, but rumor has it that her relationship with baby daddy Casey Aldridge may be crumbling. ›02:12 A Muslim Letter to Christians: In an unprecedented letter, Muslim leaders across the globe invite the worlds Christians to the table. ›14:33 11 Oct, Thu Bush offers strong support for Georgia: In a speech to veterans of foreign wars Wednesday, President Bush offered strong support for Georgia, condemning Russia's brutal crackdown in the former Soviet republic. ›09:27 It's salmon vs. gold mining in Alaska vote: Alaskans will soon vote on an initiative that pits fishermen against miners, and locals against each other . ›17:18 14 Aug, Thu Rogue monkey eludes Tokyo police: A rogue monkey holed up at a Tokyo train station for more than two hours on Wednesday before giving dozens of net-wielding police officers the slip among crowds of excited children and passersby. ›15:06 Never wait in line at the museum again: Private VIP museum tours will set you apart from the crowd at some of the world's best and most visited museums. ›15:12 Al Gore's Nobel Patrol: A vigilant fan of the former veep keeps watch as the Nobel Committee announces its peace prize. ›15:10 12 Oct, Fri European city breaks, from $762: Brush off your passport and take advantage of air and lodging packages to select European cities like Munich, Barcelona and Madrid, where youll stay close to transportation and all the action. ›14:58 |
