Recent content by Sam Hatch

Although I love the film for other reasons as well, I still the think the number one draw for me is that it presents a fully realized world for you to visit for a few hours. Car chases and gunfights aside, I find myself getting the most excited during the segment showing working class guys...

Don't worry about picking up 'The Rocketeer' on LD -- it's one of my favorite films, but that was always one of my least favorite laserdiscs. I didn't have the CAV edition, but the picture on the CLV disc is atrocious. The DVD is a big disappointment but is a revelation compared to the LD. If...

Am I reading this right -- are you telling me that the spitting-image photo of Chris Cooper behind bars on the Parole Hearing newspaper article (also titled 'The Jason Valen Case' or something similar) at approx. 1:39:34 on the DVD is actually a picture of Richard Lineback? Color me kooky if...

I haven't seen the Superbit edition of 'From Here To Eternity' as of yet, but I plan on picking it up soon. As far as I can tell, the Superbit monicker mainly implies the extra space given to sound and image bits. Most of the early releases have been newer films, but I'm very glad they're...

On the Chris Cooper tip, he still manages to fit in a cameo in the film -- his picture and story are on the coffee-'ring'ed newspaper right before the 'big scene'.

I've grown up with Kubrick films (my odd dad let me watch 'A Clockwork Orange' when I was eight or nine) and while I have a few problems here and there with them, I really enjoy watching his work. All except for 'Eyes Wide Shut', which felt like he was trying way too hard to make a Kieslowski...

I like it for the reasons everyone else stated, but there's one more... Luc Besson obviously thought this universe out since he's supposedly been inventing it since his teens, but above all else what sucks me into The Fifth Element is that it takes place in a fully realized world. I believe...

Loved it as well! The perfect example of a 'B' movie done right. The campy tone, constant visual jokes ("Prudent Aggression"/the 'mouse' pad/"Numm Nuts"/"Big Ben" Clock) and sly references (Bruce Davison painting/Scully the cat) coupled with an exaggerated Hitchcock-meets-Tim Burton style made...

I've inherited the gene as well. When folks suggest that I rent a certain title on DVD, I feel as if they's speaking in Swahili. I can't foresee myself ever renting a disc. At the most, I'll enter the store and buy a few used copies. That's unlikely as well, since they're usually so...

Forgot to mention something about Session 9 -- the featurette on the disc talking about the hospital and filming there was really freaky. The bit with (the actor who played Swanney in Trainspotting) mentioning that voices were telling him to jump off of the rooftop was thirty times eerier than...

I was disappointed in Session 9 as well, but am still glad to own it for its character work and excellent portrayal of dementia. I suppose it just wasn't supernatural enough to really creep me out. I'm with the Carpenter fans though -- there's some great oppressive terror in 'Prince'...

Did anyone else notice that some of the programs on the TVs during the neighbor montage seem to be of Japanese origin? Perhaps someone's watching Ringu or one of its sequels? I was thinking it might be another one of those scattered Japanese references for fans of the original. And aside from...

Yeah, and what if you didn't even have a phone to begin with? Would she ring up payphones on the street as you pass them by later -- or even call the cellphone of a guy next to you on a subway or something? "Yes, sorry to disturb you sir, but can you say 'Seven Days' to the a-hole on your...

I find plot and logic to be the horror genre's worst enemy. So many frightening efforts are derailed in the second act by the filmmakers' queasiness about scaring the living hell out of an audience. I don't want to see the horror 'de-fanged' for my comfort, I want to be absolutely brutalized by...

I'm just hoping for a release of 'Ringu 0: Baasudei' so I can enjoy that thread as well! Continue going round in ringus.. er, I mean circles! :)