Basic Instinct (1992) Review

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(More customer reviews)Basic Instinct is certainly a film that has not only aged well with time, it makes you wish they could still make a sexy erotic thriller this good today. With so much political correctness going on these days, a film like Basic Instinct would never be made quite the same way, had it been made today. Attacked while it was being filmed for it's quote "negative depictions of the Gay community" as well as a so called "date rape" scene, the film became controversial practically the day it became green lit.
Sharon Stone became an overnight sensation portraying the rich, seductive & powerful Catherine Tramell, a role that seemed tailor made for the actress. But in fact director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop, Starship Troopers) had to fight hard to prove to both Carolco Pictures and actor Michael Douglas that she was in fact the only person suited for the role. Having worked with Stone on his last picture, Total Recall (1990), Verhoeven knew that Stone had something special to give to the part and he finally got that message through to all those mentioned. I'd go so far to say that with the exception of her Oscar nominated performance in Martin Scorsese's Casino, Catherine Tramell is still Sharon Stone's best performance.
So what's the big deal between the R-rated & Unrated versions of Basic Instinct? Basically a little more violence and a little more sex. There's more stabs with the ice pick in the Unrated version (about 3 or 4), more shots of the victim actually being stabbed (courtesy of a man made puppet designed by Rob Bottin) and that's about it for the violence. The added sex has mainly to do with the first encounter between Michael Douglas's Nick Curran, and Sharon Stone's Catherine Tramell. The added scenes are hot & very well done, but overall, the result is still the same. The only other difference is the Unrated version includes an audio commentary with director Paul Verhoeven and director of photography Jan De Bont. This commentary is not available on the R-rated version. But both versions do include the 2nd commentary by Feminist critic, Camille Paglia, who praises the film as one of her all time favorite movies. Her commentary is quite informative and really gave me a lot of insight into the film that I never noticed before. Those of you who own the Special Edition Laserdisc that came out a few years back should be urged not to get rid of it. It's special features are quite different from those on these DVD versions. Even the Paul Verhoevan Commentary is different from the one on the DVD. Plus the DVD doesn't give you the option of viewing the final shot of the film with the alternate scoring conducted by Jerry Goldmith, although it is shown during the making of documentary. Still worth keeping.
I personally love how much the movie feels like an Alfred Hitchcock film. The dress Sharon wheres for the interrogation scene is very similar to the one Kim Novak wore in Vertigo. There are many references to Vertigo in the film, as well as The Birds, North By Northwest, Rear Window and a few others. This adds a lot of class to the picture that only enhances its creativeness. It may be a long time before another picture comes close to matching it.
Basic Instinct..destined to become a classic!
"I hate rugrats". - Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell

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Basic Instinct (1992) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Basic Instinct is certainly a film that has not only aged well with time, it makes you wish they could still make a sexy erotic thriller this good today. With so much political correctness going on these days, a film like Basic Instinct would never be made quite the same way, had it been made today. Attacked while it was being filmed for it's quote "negative depictions of the Gay community" as well as a so called "date rape" scene, the film became controversial practically the day it became green lit.
Sharon Stone became an overnight sensation portraying the rich, seductive & powerful Catherine Tramell, a role that seemed tailor made for the actress. But in fact director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop, Starship Troopers) had to fight hard to prove to both Carolco Pictures and actor Michael Douglas that she was in fact the only person suited for the role. Having worked with Stone on his last picture, Total Recall (1990), Verhoeven knew that Stone had something special to give to the part and he finally got that message through to all those mentioned. I'd go so far to say that with the exception of her Oscar nominated performance in Martin Scorsese's Casino, Catherine Tramell is still Sharon Stone's best performance.
So what's the big deal between the R-rated & Unrated versions of Basic Instinct? Basically a little more violence and a little more sex. There's more stabs with the ice pick in the Unrated version (about 3 or 4), more shots of the victim actually being stabbed (courtesy of a man made puppet designed by Rob Bottin) and that's about it for the violence. The added sex has mainly to do with the first encounter between Michael Douglas's Nick Curran, and Sharon Stone's Catherine Tramell. The added scenes are hot & very well done, but overall, the result is still the same. The only other difference is the Unrated version includes an audio commentary with director Paul Verhoeven and director of photography Jan De Bont. This commentary is not available on the R-rated version. But both versions do include the 2nd commentary by Feminist critic, Camille Paglia, who praises the film as one of her all time favorite movies. Her commentary is quite informative and really gave me a lot of insight into the film that I never noticed before. Those of you who own the Special Edition Laserdisc that came out a few years back should be urged not to get rid of it. It's special features are quite different from those on these DVD versions. Even the Paul Verhoevan Commentary is different from the one on the DVD. Plus the DVD doesn't give you the option of viewing the final shot of the film with the alternate scoring conducted by Jerry Goldmith, although it is shown during the making of documentary. Still worth keeping.
I personally love how much the movie feels like an Alfred Hitchcock film. The dress Sharon wheres for the interrogation scene is very similar to the one Kim Novak wore in Vertigo. There are many references to Vertigo in the film, as well as The Birds, North By Northwest, Rear Window and a few others. This adds a lot of class to the picture that only enhances its creativeness. It may be a long time before another picture comes close to matching it.
Basic Instinct..destined to become a classic!
"I hate rugrats". - Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell

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Basic Instinct (1992) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Basic Instinct is certainly a film that has not only aged well with time, it makes you wish they could still make a sexy erotic thriller this good today. With so much political correctness going on these days, a film like Basic Instinct would never be made quite the same way, had it been made today. Attacked while it was being filmed for it's quote "negative depictions of the Gay community" as well as a so called "date rape" scene, the film became controversial practically the day it became green lit.
Sharon Stone became an overnight sensation portraying the rich, seductive & powerful Catherine Tramell, a role that seemed tailor made for the actress. But in fact director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop, Starship Troopers) had to fight hard to prove to both Carolco Pictures and actor Michael Douglas that she was in fact the only person suited for the role. Having worked with Stone on his last picture, Total Recall (1990), Verhoeven knew that Stone had something special to give to the part and he finally got that message through to all those mentioned. I'd go so far to say that with the exception of her Oscar nominated performance in Martin Scorsese's Casino, Catherine Tramell is still Sharon Stone's best performance.
So what's the big deal between the R-rated & Unrated versions of Basic Instinct? Basically a little more violence and a little more sex. There's more stabs with the ice pick in the Unrated version (about 3 or 4), more shots of the victim actually being stabbed (courtesy of a man made puppet designed by Rob Bottin) and that's about it for the violence. The added sex has mainly to do with the first encounter between Michael Douglas's Nick Curran, and Sharon Stone's Catherine Tramell. The added scenes are hot & very well done, but overall, the result is still the same. The only other difference is the Unrated version includes an audio commentary with director Paul Verhoeven and director of photography Jan De Bont. This commentary is not available on the R-rated version. But both versions do include the 2nd commentary by Feminist critic, Camille Paglia, who praises the film as one of her all time favorite movies. Her commentary is quite informative and really gave me a lot of insight into the film that I never noticed before. Those of you who own the Special Edition Laserdisc that came out a few years back should be urged not to get rid of it. It's special features are quite different from those on these DVD versions. Even the Paul Verhoevan Commentary is different from the one on the DVD. Plus the DVD doesn't give you the option of viewing the final shot of the film with the alternate scoring conducted by Jerry Goldmith, although it is shown during the making of documentary. Still worth keeping.
I personally love how much the movie feels like an Alfred Hitchcock film. The dress Sharon wheres for the interrogation scene is very similar to the one Kim Novak wore in Vertigo. There are many references to Vertigo in the film, as well as The Birds, North By Northwest, Rear Window and a few others. This adds a lot of class to the picture that only enhances its creativeness. It may be a long time before another picture comes close to matching it.
Basic Instinct..destined to become a classic!
"I hate rugrats". - Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell

Click Here to see more reviews about: Basic Instinct (1992)

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Basic Instinct (1992) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Basic Instinct is certainly a film that has not only aged well with time, it makes you wish they could still make a sexy erotic thriller this good today. With so much political correctness going on these days, a film like Basic Instinct would never be made quite the same way, had it been made today. Attacked while it was being filmed for it's quote "negative depictions of the Gay community" as well as a so called "date rape" scene, the film became controversial practically the day it became green lit.
Sharon Stone became an overnight sensation portraying the rich, seductive & powerful Catherine Tramell, a role that seemed tailor made for the actress. But in fact director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop, Starship Troopers) had to fight hard to prove to both Carolco Pictures and actor Michael Douglas that she was in fact the only person suited for the role. Having worked with Stone on his last picture, Total Recall (1990), Verhoeven knew that Stone had something special to give to the part and he finally got that message through to all those mentioned. I'd go so far to say that with the exception of her Oscar nominated performance in Martin Scorsese's Casino, Catherine Tramell is still Sharon Stone's best performance.
So what's the big deal between the R-rated & Unrated versions of Basic Instinct? Basically a little more violence and a little more sex. There's more stabs with the ice pick in the Unrated version (about 3 or 4), more shots of the victim actually being stabbed (courtesy of a man made puppet designed by Rob Bottin) and that's about it for the violence. The added sex has mainly to do with the first encounter between Michael Douglas's Nick Curran, and Sharon Stone's Catherine Tramell. The added scenes are hot & very well done, but overall, the result is still the same. The only other difference is the Unrated version includes an audio commentary with director Paul Verhoeven and director of photography Jan De Bont. This commentary is not available on the R-rated version. But both versions do include the 2nd commentary by Feminist critic, Camille Paglia, who praises the film as one of her all time favorite movies. Her commentary is quite informative and really gave me a lot of insight into the film that I never noticed before. Those of you who own the Special Edition Laserdisc that came out a few years back should be urged not to get rid of it. It's special features are quite different from those on these DVD versions. Even the Paul Verhoevan Commentary is different from the one on the DVD. Plus the DVD doesn't give you the option of viewing the final shot of the film with the alternate scoring conducted by Jerry Goldmith, although it is shown during the making of documentary. Still worth keeping.
I personally love how much the movie feels like an Alfred Hitchcock film. The dress Sharon wheres for the interrogation scene is very similar to the one Kim Novak wore in Vertigo. There are many references to Vertigo in the film, as well as The Birds, North By Northwest, Rear Window and a few others. This adds a lot of class to the picture that only enhances its creativeness. It may be a long time before another picture comes close to matching it.
Basic Instinct..destined to become a classic!
"I hate rugrats". - Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell

Click Here to see more reviews about: Basic Instinct (1992)

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Basic Instinct (Collector's Edition) (1992) Review

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(More customer reviews)Basic Instinct is certainly a film that has not only aged well with time, it makes you wish they could still make a sexy erotic thriller this good today. With so much political correctness going on these days, a film like Basic Instinct would never be made quite the same way, had it been made today. Attacked while it was being filmed for it's quote "negative depictions of the Gay community" as well as a so called "date rape" scene, the film became controversial practically the day it became green lit.
Sharon Stone became an overnight sensation portraying the rich, seductive & powerful Catherine Tramell, a role that seemed tailor made for the actress. But in fact director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop, Starship Troopers) had to fight hard to prove to both Carolco Pictures and actor Michael Douglas that she was in fact the only person suited for the role. Having worked with Stone on his last picture, Total Recall (1990), Verhoeven knew that Stone had something special to give to the part and he finally got that message through to all those mentioned. I'd go so far to say that with the exception of her Oscar nominated performance in Martin Scorsese's Casino, Catherine Tramell is still Sharon Stone's best performance.
So what's the big deal between the R-rated & Unrated versions of Basic Instinct? Basically a little more violence and a little more sex. There's more stabs with the ice pick in the Unrated version (about 3 or 4), more shots of the victim actually being stabbed (courtesy of a man made puppet designed by Rob Bottin) and that's about it for the violence. The added sex has mainly to do with the first encounter between Michael Douglas's Nick Curran, and Sharon Stone's Catherine Tramell. The added scenes are hot & very well done, but overall, the result is still the same. The only other difference is the Unrated version includes an audio commentary with director Paul Verhoeven and director of photography Jan De Bont. This commentary is not available on the R-rated version. But both versions do include the 2nd commentary by Feminist critic, Camille Paglia, who praises the film as one of her all time favorite movies. Her commentary is quite informative and really gave me a lot of insight into the film that I never noticed before. Those of you who own the Special Edition Laserdisc that came out a few years back should be urged not to get rid of it. It's special features are quite different from those on these DVD versions. Even the Paul Verhoevan Commentary is different from the one on the DVD. Plus the DVD doesn't give you the option of viewing the final shot of the film with the alternate scoring conducted by Jerry Goldmith, although it is shown during the making of documentary. Still worth keeping.
I personally love how much the movie feels like an Alfred Hitchcock film. The dress Sharon wheres for the interrogation scene is very similar to the one Kim Novak wore in Vertigo. There are many references to Vertigo in the film, as well as The Birds, North By Northwest, Rear Window and a few others. This adds a lot of class to the picture that only enhances its creativeness. It may be a long time before another picture comes close to matching it.
Basic Instinct..destined to become a classic!
"I hate rugrats". - Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell

Click Here to see more reviews about: Basic Instinct (Collector's Edition) (1992)

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On the Run 10 Movie Pack Review

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(More customer reviews)Get ready for "The Chase" of your life! The theme of the ON THE RUN 10 MOVIE PACK is the law, the mob and how to avoid getting caught in "Quicksand" after "A Killing Affair." "They Made Me A Criminal" is no alibi, Jack! With shootings that are "Cold Blood" and action that's "Fast and Furious," our "Plan For Escape" is "A Wild Ride" with many a "Detour" certain to "Impact" us all.
If fast-paced crime action is your thing, the RULE OF THE GUN 20 MOVIE PACK may be just what you're looking for!
.
The following alphabetized program list includes 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings for each title, plus years of release and their featured performers.
(6.5) The Chase (1946) - Robert Cummings/Steve Cochran/Peter Lorre (minor role)
(5.0) Cold Blood (W. Germany-1975) - Rutger Hauer
(7.3) Detour (1945) - Tom Neal/Ann Savage
(5.4) The Fast And the Furious (1955) - John Ireland/Dorothy Malone
(7.0) Impact (1949) - Brian Donlevy/Charles Coburn
(5.7) A Killing Affair (1986) - Peter Weller/Kathy Baker
(???) Plan For Escape ("Studio One") (1952) - Peggy Ann Garner
(6.4) Quicksand (1950) - Mickey Rooney/Peter Lorre/Jeanne Cagney
(5.2) They Made Me A Criminal (1939) - John Garfield/The Dead End Kids
(4.8) The Wild Ride (1960) - Jack Nicholson/Georgianna Carter

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Universal Soldier (Special Edition) (1992) Review

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(More customer reviews)Dolph Lundgren. Jean-Claude Van Damme. It was only a matter of time before these two muscle heads appeared in the same film, right? Lundgren's claim to fame came with his role as menacing Russian boxer Ivan Drago in the fourth "Rocky" installment. He then went on to a lengthy career of low budget B movie actioners that have become increasingly irrelevant (and increasingly hard to find). Van Damme is a different story, although his career has likewise gone into what appears to be an irrevocable tailspin. He started out making kickboxing films, but his appearance in Albert Pyun's "Cyborg" helped him move into science fiction and gun heavy action flicks. Of the Van Damme films I have seen, I would say his best effort is director Peter Hyams's 1994 flick "Time Cop." Others would probably cite this film, "Universal Soldier" as Jean-Claude's finest hour. I disagree. While there is much here to entertain lovers of shoot 'em up action, there really isn't anything very original about the movie. Don't get me wrong; I found plenty to enjoy in "Universal Soldier," but I don't think the movie is the end all be all of lower budget action films as some do.
The gosh darned government is up to their old tricks again in "Universal Soldier." Back in the Vietnam War the military started a program to develop perfect soldiers, namely soldiers who would follow orders without question, possess no moral scruples, and ones that could tote around an impressive array of firepower. Problem is the soldiers have to die first before the program leaders can do their work. These reanimated troops, the most important of which are Luc (Van Damme) and Sergeant Scott (Lundgren), now ride around in a specially outfitted trailer fulfilling combat missions. For example, when a bunch of terrorists take over a dam and hold hostages, the military brings in these super soldiers to make quick work of the situation. Nothing is perfect, however, when dealing with a Pentagon program. Universal soldiers need fancy injections of some strange fluid to keep them primed. Their bodies are also quite susceptible to temperature fluctuations; so much so that keeping these guys on ice is a daily ritual. What else can we expect with a bunch of dead guys? Things would quickly get rather rank if you kept reanimated corpses running around in the desert for hours on end. Fortunately, operations leader Colonel Perry (Ed O'Ross) has everything firmly under control. Or does he?
Nope. Luc perished in Vietnam in an attempt to stop Sergeant Scott from committing a dastardly deed against the local populace. He managed to bring the crazed NCO down before expiring, but memories of the incident begin to reemerge in Luc's mind. Before you can say, "I will break you" Luc escapes from the program with the help of a nosy reporter named Veronica (Ally Walker) and Sergeant Scott goes nuts. What follows is predictable in the extreme as Veronica and Luc roam the landscape in an effort to find the man responsible for turning him into a zombie, Dr. Gregor (Jerry Orbach), and then return home to his dear parents in Louisiana. Sergeant Scott's new mission involves hunting down Luc in order to turn him into dog food. Hotels are shot up, vehicles explode, bodies cartwheel through the air, and the inevitable showdown between Scott and Luc properly--if predictably--entertains. The movie even throws in a humorous scene involving Luc chowing down on plates and plates of food at a diner before beating a bunch of locals senseless (he hasn't eaten in decades, after all). Will Luc survive long enough to meet up with the 'rents for a heartwarming reunion? Will Veronica live long enough to file the story of a lifetime? How many people will Sergeant Scott kill? Tune in and find out.
I enjoyed "Universal Soldier" immensely despite the numerous plot holes. For instance, the movie insists on telling us that Luc needs to cool off with ice quite frequently or else he begins to wear down like one of those wind up toys. The use of ice becomes rather slipshod later on in the movie when it is impossible for Luc to take a break from battling Scott. In fact, in several scenes we see Van Damme's character wheezing and moaning like a senior citizen only to return to full combat readiness a few seconds later. Hmmm. Moreover, how in the heck is it possible for a guy who died twenty years ago to eat solid food with no ill effects? Easy--the script insisted on it. But who really cares, though? It's not like we're watching this film to see marvelous performances or deep, intricate dialogue. "Universal Soldier" exists to show us lots of explosions and bloody carnage, and we thankfully get plenty of that. Sergeant Scott has a thing for killing anyone who gets in his way AND for carrying around necklaces made out of human ears, which definitely helps his character stand out in a crowd. Luc isn't above inciting a little mayhem himself as evidenced during his bone crushing fight with Scott. By the time the credits roll most action film fans will likely let out a sigh of moderate satisfaction over "Universal Soldier."
The Special Edition DVD contains plenty of extras, including an audio commentary with Van Damme and Lundgren, a making of feature, background information on the careers of both stars, an alternate ending that would have put the kibosh on the sequel had the filmmakers ran with it, and a bunch of action film trailers--"The Rambo Trilogy," "The Punisher," and a couple of others. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this movie is learning Roland Emmerich directed it. The success of "Universal Soldier" gave him enough clout to move on to bigger, but not necessarily better, films. I recommend watching this one and skipping the lousy sequel.


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