Reviews Written by ash
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March 9, 2007
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August 27, 2002
Finally!
1 of 1 Yahoo! Users found this review helpful I won't bother going into the plot and characters here since that has all been said and done by many others, but I certainly want to mention what a blast it was to finally see 'Return Of The Living Dead' again at long last (and on DVD to boot). I hadn't seen this old High School favorite since the late 1980s, and I have to admit some surprise at how well it holds up years later. The riotous laughs are still there, as are the gross-outs and all of the great little background details (the eye-chart in the warehouse office, for example) that made this such a twisted delight when it was on Cinemax way back in 1986 and 1987.
**EXTRAS**
The audio commentary was pretty amusing at times, and very self-deprecating at others (Dan O' Bannon, while having grown proud of the film over the years, still loves to point out the technical shortcomings as they come up) and is definitely worth a listen to devoted fans of the film.
I wish I could say the same for the featurette, which doesn't really add a whole lot more to the experience than I had hoped. Sure, the conversations are spiked with humor and we are shown some really nice conceptual art, but very little else is offered up. Too bad.
The expected addition of the old movie trailers and commercials, however, is where this DVD really stumbles. I have no issue with the two cinematic trailers offered up (which I'm glad I hadn't seen before ever watching the movie as they give too many of the nasty surprises away), but running the exact same twin TV teasers over and over again with only Mr. Movie Voice saying "Advance Showing This Friday" or "Opening August 19" instead of "Opening Next Friday" gets *really* grating -- simply showing two of these would have sufficed.
Anyway, while the extras may be a bit underwhelming as a whole, it's the gleefully black-hearted main attraction itself that counts the most, and it's still well worth the bucks and a must-see for anyone who likes their zombie films served up with brains (excuse the pun) and a wink. ...
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In all of rock history, rare has been the album that appeared seemingly out of nowhere and stolen the breath away from everyone who has ever heard it. You might think me guilty of hyperbole, but ask yourself "can I possibly imagine an album in the last 52 years that has literally made every man woman and child in this great nation suddenly look at their lives in a different way and raise them to a higher spiritual plane?"
(OK, aside from the soundtrack album to 'Top Gun')
The answer, of course, is “no.” But it won’t be for much longer.
Far more than a crass, simple-minded attempt to cash-in on a hoary cultural phenomenon or some kind of youth-driven craze, 'Hip-Hop Tribute To Pink Floyd' is a work of love straight from the heart and soul of what drives us as a people. On an artistic par with The Colossus Of Rhodes (if said colossus was a CD), this collection represents the best of what we are capable of as a species: the noblest of our aims, the apotheosis of everything that makes us special, the culmination of countless centuries of advanced thought, restless innovation, and the kind of intense, fevered dreams that have powered all of humanity’s greatest achievements, from the Taj Mahal to the inside decor of Bucco De Beppos. This is a work that should have been included on the deep space Voyager probes launched back in the 1970s, for I can think of no finer introduction of humanity to a benevolent alien race than this.
Thankfully, this loss to other hypothetical civilizations beyond the Oort Cloud is instead an incalculable gain to our own. ‘Hip Hop Tribute To Pink Floyd’ is a masterpiece: a triumph of art over commerce that exerts a powerful spell on you from the instant your eyes alight on the brilliantly distinctive cover art. Once your blown senses finally get over the apparent ability of the U.S. dollar to bend light (and the first phat beats and tight rhymes of “Money” knock you flat on your unsuspecting ass), you will hurriedly examine the A-list of unnamed talent responsible for the superhuman task of bringing back the music of Pink Floyd to The Streets from where it was stolen by callous, opportunistic white men four decades ago. Not since U2 returned the music of The Beatles back to the Fab Four from the evil clutches of Charles Manson in a daring nighttime raid back in 1987 has music sounded this liberated, this free, this dangerously combustible and this incredibly moving.
I could go on endlessly attempting to convey the immensity of this achievement in this bland commercial forum, but it is time for you to do your part and take this revolution to the next level … your living room. Mere words can not do justice to the spectacular work encoded herein and the effect this music will have on your life. You MUST buy this release without hesitation. Consider it a gift to your descendants, since original copies of 'Hip Hop Tribute To Pink Floyd' will be trading for many times their current value by the time you shuffle off to that great gig in the sky. Moreso than 'Sgt. Peppers,' 'The Dark Side Of The Moon,' 'Thriller,' ‘Titanic,’ or ‘The Eagles Greatest Hits 71-75,' this is a work that belongs in every record collection the world over. ...