Time travel in the movies is at an all time high in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Bill S Preston Esquire (Alex Winter) and Ted Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) are in danger of flunking History class. They're rescued by Rufus (George Carlin), a resident of San Dimas 700 years in the future--a future in which their band Wyld Stallyns has brought about world peace and the best water slides in the universe. Entrusted with a phone booth time machine, they pick up various historical personages to give a colourful stage show for their final exam. The hip 80s rock sensibility paved the way for many comedies that followed Wayne's World, with air guitar and phrases like "bogus" and "dude" entrenching themselves way beyond the film's cult following. The film spawned a number of spin-offs including a bodacious cartoon and comic book series. On the DVD: a trailer and a gallery of 20 behind-the-scenes photos will disappoint fans, even though it's interesting to see director Stephen Herek at work before he moved onto more serious films such as Mr Holland's Opus. However, the film has never looked better than in this transfer, and the effects still look terrific (especially the channels of Time). A Dolby sound mix also does wonders for Beethoven's keyboard improvs. --Paul Tonks
Rapid Fire was the penultimate film starring Brandon Lee before his untimely death on the set of The Crow. It's a standard martial arts thriller in which Lee plays Jake Lo, a young arts student who witnesses a gangland execution and is unwittingly drawn into a pitched standoff between the mafia, a Chinese drug syndicate and Ryan, a downbeat but resolute Chicago cop (Powers Boothe) determined to nail his prey. With a plot that careens through every genre cliché, Lee's smouldering looks and showy fighting skills carry the film. The martial arts sequences (which Lee co-choreographed) are nicely staged, but given the unusual settings--the penultimate fight takes place in a Chinese laundry--could have been even more inventive. The workmanlike direction by Dwight H Little (Marked for Death, Free Willy 2) fails to inject much into the material. In particular, traumatised by seeing his Special Agent father die in the Tiananmen Square massacre, Jake Lo's attraction to both a corrupt FBI agent and Ryan as surrogate father figures could have been given more resonance given the loss of Brandon Lee's own father at an early age. With hundreds of bloodless deaths, cringe-worthy dialogue and a dated power rock soundtrack, Rapid Fire looks and feels like a TV film. And on that level, at least, it's entertaining. On the DVD: The main feature is presented in letterboxed widescreen. Sound and picture quality are very good. Subtitles are provided for ten languages (Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norweigian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish) and in English for the hard of hearing. Extra features are limited to chapter selection and a theatrical trailer. --Chris Campion
The hit video game roars to life with amazing special effects and spectacular action sequences. In 2007 New Angeles is ravaged by earthquakes tidal waves and vicious gang wars. The evil tycoon Koga Shuko (Terminator 2's Robert Patrick) is obsessed with finding both halves of the Double Dragon a talisman which will give him awesome mystical powers. Teenaged brothers Jimmy and Billy (Mark Dacascos Scott Wolf) wind up with the missing half thrusting them into the adventure of their lives. Marian (Alyssa Milano) and her vigilante Power Corps help them summon all of their courage resourcefulness and martial-arts skills to stop the villain's evil plan. This high octane action spectacular crackles with the energy and humour of its heroes: buckle your seatbelt and enjoy the ride!
The Playgirls and Playboys team up as federal agents who fight amongst other things international terrorists who've stolen a trigger to a nuclear bomb.
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