Author: King of the Island

The Big Hit

The Big Hit VHS cover art. Movie starring Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christina Applegate. With Avery Brooks, Bokeem Woodbine, Antonio Sabato Jr., Elliott Gould. Directed by Kirk Wong. 1998.

The Big Hit on VHS. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christina Applegate. With Avery Brooks, Bokeem Woodbine, Antonio Sabato Jr., Elliott Gould. Directed by Kirk Wong. 1998.

From the box:

The criminal anarchy is hilarious when a foursome of full-time hit men looking to score extra cash kidnap the boss’ goddaughter. And when the beleaguered wise guy Mel is set up to take the fall, underworld antics and domestic absurdities collide for a working weekend no one will soon forget.

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind VHS cover art. Movie starring Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr. With Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey. Directed by Steven Spielberg. 1977.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind on VHS. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr. With Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey. Directed by Steven Spielberg. 1977.

From the box:

We Are Not Alone.

In the night skies near his Muncie, Indiana home, power repairman Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) experiences something out of this world. His close encounter sets into action an amazing chain of events that lead to contact with the benevolent aliens and their Mothership.

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Read The Making Of: Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Making of Steven Spielberg’s Classic Film Paperback by Ray Morton (Author)

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2010: The Year We Make Contact

2010: The Year We Make Contact VHS cover art. Movie starring Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren. With Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea, Candice Bergen. Directed by Peter Hyams. Based on the novel by Arthur C. Clarke. 1984.

2010: The Year We Make Contact on VHS. Starring Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren. With Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea, Candice Bergen. Directed by Peter Hyams. Based on the novel by Arthur C. Clarke. 1984.

From the box:

While planet Earth poises on the brink of nuclear self-destruction, a team of Russian and American scientists hurtle to a rendezvous with the abandoned Discovery spacecraft and its sole known survivor, the homicidal computer HAL. Their mission: “awaken” HAL and unravel the puzzling skein of events that culminated in Dave Bowman’s last transmission, “My God, it’s full of stars!”

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12 Monkeys

12 Monkeys VHS cover art. Movie starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt. With Joseph Melito, Jon Seda, Frank Gorshin, Christopher Plummer. Directed by Terry Gilliam. 1995.

12 Monkeys on VHS. Starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt. With Joseph Melito, Jon Seda, Frank Gorshin, Christopher Plummer. Directed by Terry Gilliam. 1995.

From the box:

The Future Is History

Cole (Willis) arrives at a mental hospital, claiming to be a time traveler from the year 2035. His mission: to save humanity from a killer virus that will devastate the future world population. A beautiful psychiatrist (Stowe) initially classifies Cole as delusional, but she soon joins him in an adventure that will take them to the limits of human comprehension. As they race to unravel the secret of the 12 Monkeys, their paths cross with a one-card-short-of-a-full-deck mental patient (Pitt) and a renowned scientist (Plummer). Before long, Cole begins to question his own sanity in a chaotic world that offers many questions but few answers.

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The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz VHS cover art. Movie starring Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton. Directed by Victor Fleming. 1939.

The Wizard of Oz on VHS. Starring Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton. Directed by Victor Fleming. 1939.

From the box:

Judy Garland is bewitching in her immortal role as Dorothy, the Kansas farm girl who flew over the rainbow and forever into the hearts of the world. The film’s legendary status has seemingly transcended the medium itself, making it a permanent part of Americana and an everlasting cinematic treasure. The movie owes much of its magic to the extraordinary performance and voice of Judy Garland (who won a special Academy Award) singing the unforgettable songs of Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” “We’re Off To See The Wizard,” “If I Only Had A Brain,” “The Merry Old Land Of Oz” and more.

Dorothy’s only hope of returning home, say the Munchkins, is to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, the home of the magnificent and all-powerful Wizard of Oz. During her quest, Dorothy enlists the aid of a ‘brianless’ Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), a ‘heartless’ Tin Man (Jack Haley) and a Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr). With Toto, too, they must battle the Wicked Witch of the West for their dreams to come true. Long live Dorothy–and the Wizard of Oz!

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Computer Animation Magic

Computer Animation Magic on VHS. Directed by Geoffrey de Valois and Steve Michelson. 1986.

Computer Animation Magic on VHS. Directed by Geoffrey de Valois and Steve Michelson. 1986.

From the box:

A Multi-Million Dollar Special Effects Collection

Computer Animation Magic will take you on a delirious one-hour trip through a strange and magical world where anything can be created — swirling electronic logos, chrome dinosaurs, or a melancholy night club piano player. These are just a few samples of the futuristic wizardry you’ll witness in this incredible exposé on computer graphics.

You’ll see how computer graphics creates the dazzling flying-book from Amazing Stories as well as the unbelievable stained glass swordsman who comes to life in Young Sherlock Holmes — one of the finest electronic sequences in film history.

Computer Animation Magic will lift you up and keep you up for one exhilarating hour. This deftly-assembled collection displays the hypnotic works of over 150 production companies and artists from around the world, and took two years to complete!

Computer Animation Magic — it is the threshold of a new era in video realism.

Probably Never Available On DVD. Replace! Computer Animation Magic [VHS]

Volcano

Volcano VHS cover art. Movie starring Tommy Lee Jones. With Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffmann, Don Cheadle, Jacqueline Kim, Keith David. Directed by Mick Jackson. 1997.

Volcano on VHS. Starring Tommy Lee Jones. With Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffmann, Don Cheadle, Jacqueline Kim, Keith David. Directed by Mick Jackson. 1997.

From the box:

The Coast Is Toast.

“YOU’LL HAVE A HELL-LAVA TIME!”
— Time

“THIS IS THE VOLCANO MOVIE TO SEE!”
— Pat Collins, WWOR-TV

Quakes. Riots. Mudslides. Los Angeles has seen it all… almost. Get set for nonstop action, searing suspense and explosive special effects when Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones stars in “The first great action film of the year!” (Matt Levitz, Syndicated Radio).

Something unspeakably chilling is heating up The City of Angels. Beneath the famed La Brea Tar Pits, a raging volcano has formed, raining a storm of deadly fire bombs and an endless tide of white-hot lava upon the stunned city. Experience the pulse-pounding thrills as the dream capital of the world erupts into the stuff nightmares are made of.

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Vertigo

Vertigo VHS cover art. Movie starring James Stewart, Kim Novak. With Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. 1958.

Vertigo on VHS. Starring James Stewart, Kim Novak. With Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. 1958.

From the box:

The Alfred Hitchcock Collection

Critics have hailed Vertigo as legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock’s ultimate masterpiece. This haunting tale of obsession, fear and murder stars favorite Hitchcock leading man Jimmy Stewart as a troubled detective pathologically afraid of heights and obsessed with a lost love and her look-alike. Kim Novak gives the performance of her career as the bizarre heroine in what is felt to be “The Master’s” most humane yet frightening feature because it works on a psychological rather than emotional level.

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High Anxiety

High Anxiety VHS cover art. Movie starring Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman. With Dick Van Patten, Barry Levinson, Jack Riley, Charlie Callas. Directed by Mel Brooks. 1977.

High Anxiety on VHS. Starring Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman. With Dick Van Patten, Barry Levinson, Jack Riley, Charlie Callas. Directed by Mel Brooks. 1977.

From the box:

A Psycho-Comedy

Ray Berwick, the same man who trained thousands of birds for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic movie, “The Birds,” one of the actual pictures Brooks is spoofing, also trained the 200 pigeons who pursue and attack Mel in “High Anxiety.”

Mel Brooks’ renowned spoof of the most famous Hitchcockian classics — “Vertigo,” “The Birds,” “Psycho” and “Spellbound” — is one of his most outrageous comedy classics. After a Harvard psychiatrist (Brooks) takes over the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, he realizes that his predecessor died under suspicious circumstances. When events take a murderous turn, he is accused of the crime and left with a full blown case of High Anxiety.

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Bandits

Bandits VHS cover art. Movie starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett. Directed by Barry Levinson. 2001.

Bandits on VHS. Starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett. Directed by Barry Levinson. 2001.

From the box:

Busting out of prison, Joe (Bruce Willis) and Terry (Billy Bob Thornton) are on the run and out of money. That changes when they devise a scheme to place bank managers under house arrest the night before they rob their banks. But success as the infamous “sleepover bandits” isn’t the only change in store for them. As they cross state lines and federal laws, they meet Kate (Cate Blanchett), a sexy, eccentric housewife whose indecision as to which of the two bandits she wants could spoil their partnership for good!

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