A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Memphis Belle (1990) On October 12, 1990, Warner Bros. released Michael Caton-Jones’ “Memphis Belle,” a fictionalized account of a U.S. B-17 bomber’s 25 th and final mission over Nazi-occupied Europe in the spring of 1943. Starring Matthew Modine (“Vision Quest”), Tate Donovan (“Argo”), Eric Stoltz (“Mask”), and Sean Astin (“The Lord of the Rings”) and written by Monte Merrick (“Mr. Baseball”), “Memphis Belle” is a throwback to such classic World War II aerial combat films as “Twelve O’Clock High” and “Command Decision.” “Memphis Belle’s” U.S. premiere (it opened in Great Britain on September 7) took place just as American forces were involved in Operation Desert Shield, the biggest deployment of U.S. military might since the Vietnam War. Partly due to the war clouds hovering over the Middle East at the time, the film was not a big hit. It earned $27 million in the U.S.; considering that “Memphis Belle” had a budget of $23 million, it barely broke even in the all-important ...

Evita (1996) Directed by Alan Parker Written by Alan Parker and Oliver Stone, based on Tim Rice’s book for the stage version of Evita Starring: Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce, Jimmy Nail Ché : Tell me before I seek worthier pastures and thereby restore self-esteem, how can you be so short-sighted to look never further than this week or next week to have no impossible dream? Eva Perón : Allow me to help you slink off to the sidelines and mark your adieu with three cheers! But first, tell me who'd be delighted if I said I'd take on the world's greatest problems - from war to pollution, no hope of solution, even if I lived for one hundred years? Alan Parker’s Evita, which stars Madonna as Eva Duarte de Peron, Antonio Banderas as Che, and Jonathan Pryce as Argentinian dictator Juan Peron, is a flashy but superficial adaptation of the popiular 1979 rock opera. Like its title character, Evita represents the triumph of style over substance; we marvel ...

(C) 2007 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment In November 2007, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released a four-disc set titled Die Hard Collection. Issued simultaneously with the DVD and Blu-ray (BD)  premiere of that year’s   Live Free or Die Hard ,  Fox’s first BD box set consists of the first four movies of the Die Hard franchise that launched actor Bruce Willis into action hero super-stardom. (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has released subsequent compilation sets, including the five-film 25th Anniversary collection with 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard. ) What’s In the Box? The 2007 Die Hard Collection collects four BDs, one for each of the Die Hard films, in a slightly thicker-than-average multi-disc plastic jewel case. The discs themselves are first-generation Blu-rays with a storage capacity of 500 gigabytes and 1080p high definition video resolution. The set also offers lossless audio and smart menu technology that allows viewers to access me...

(C) 2015 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment As the 2015 holiday season – and the premiere of Disney/Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” – drew near, 20th Century Fox (yet again) re-released the six original “Star Wars” films that bear the studio’s iconic logo on home video. On November 10, Fox reissued its 2011 Blu-rays of “The Phantom Menace,” “Attack of the Clones,” “Revenge of the Sith,” “A New Hope,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” and “Return of the Jedi” in limited edition steelbook packaging. Like most of the major Hollywood studios, including Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bros. Fox depends on revenue from home video sales and legal digital downloads. And because the “Star Wars” franchise (including the Prequel Trilogy) is one of the studio’s crown jewels, Fox re-issues the films as often as it thinks that consumers will willingly tolerate. Finally, since a new “Star Wars” film series begins on December 18, Fox is eager to jump on the marketing bandwagon yet agai...