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DVD Battle Beyond the Stars
Twenty-first-century science fiction fans accustomed to special-effects orgies like The Matrix may snigger at the quaint, Flash Gordon-like spaceships in Battle Beyond the Stars. But executive producer Roger Corman's belated entry into the '70s sci-fi craze surpasses expectations with sharp performances and a witty script by John Sayles (his third for Corman, including 1978's Piranha). The story, lifted wholesale from Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954), finds the dictator Sador (John Saxon) threatening the planet of Akira. Its pacifist inhabitants are no match for Sador's devastating weapon, the Stellar Converter, but young Shad (Richard Thomas) decides to fight back. Borrowing the ship of notorious mercenary Zed the Corsair, he recruits a band of mercenaries, each of whom has a personal reason to join the fight. Among them are a lizard-like humanoid (Morgan Woodward), an improbable space cowboy (George Peppard), a zaftig female warrior (Sybil Danning), and brooding killer-for-hire Gelt (Robert Vaughn, reprising his Magnificent Seven role). Battle's final showdown is somewhat anticlimatic, but the surprisingly stellar cast (which includes Sam Jaffe and Darlanne Fluegel) and the indie spunk of Sayles' script, with its light meditations on death and honor, will charm newcomers and repeat audiences alike. New Concorde's digitally remastered DVD features commentary by Sayles and Terminator 2 producer Gale Anne Hurd, Battle's assistant production manager. Oh, and those spaceships? Designed by Titanic director James Cameron. Still laughing? --Paul Gaita
What allows Battle Beyond the Stars to transcend its low budget, simple special effects and infinitely recycled plot? The most important aspect of filmmaking: Ideas.
This was one [heck] of a smart script. No surprise, since the writer is John Sayles, a screenwriter of impeccable literary sense. The dialogue of this film crackles better than most big-budget films I've seen, and as a result Darlanne Fluegel (as innocent maiden Nanelia), Robert Vaughn (ice-cool mercenary Gelt), Sybil Danning (who steals the show as dashing, comically busty Valkyr warrior Saint-Exmin), Earl Boen (as lead drone Nestor) and George Peppard (as Space Cowboy) all shine, having a field day with the incredibly brisk pace and economical character interactions. And there's great comic material here, which is like an amplification of the gently sardonic tone of Seven Samurai, the obvious ancestor of this film.
The richness of Sayles' conception of this world just draws you in -- even more so, I would argue, than Star Wars, because the depth of the philosophical implications behind the details is phenomenal. The "Facets" of Nestor, the on-the-run nihilism of Gelt the mercenary, and the communicative dilemma of the Kelvin -- it all points to very real human needs and psychological desires, hidden behind the comic-book action and tongue-in-cheek tone. Revel, as well, in the amount of attention paid to the design: Talking spaceship "Nell" is in the shape of a giant woman's body; the stingray menace of Gelt's ship; the different kinds of "hum" that each character's vehicle produces. Shows what you can do even with little money if you put some thought into it.
Though it doesn't have the mystique of Star Wars -- whose amalgamation of chivalric romance and science fiction created a new sub-culture -- Battle Beyond the Stars deserves applause for overcoming its humble origins. And for all of the rich background, it's one of the fastest-moving science-fiction films I've ever seen. Dig in if you've never seen it; celebrate it again if you have.
more stars than you think...
James Cameron, Gale Ann Hurd , James Horner names sound familar. Well they all did work on a little film called ALIENS. Get Roger Corman to throw in John Sayles a brilliant independent filmaker and script doctor and you have a pretty talented crew. Just released to DVD, this low budget space epic capitalized on the STAR WARS craze of the late 70's...with effects that were used in numerous other Roger Corman productions, this film actually had some quality....Its basically the magnificent 7 in space with Robert Vaughn recreating the same role he played in the original. Lots of fun, this will bring back good memories for those who saw it the first time around. The features really add a lot...Lots of commentary....Roger Corman is worth listing to. Known as perhaps the greatest low budget filmaker of all time (just check his list of credits produced over 300 films and directed another 50)...his book "How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood (And Never Lost a Dime)" is classic.
Fun knock off!
Admittedly this is one of a slew of "Star Wars" knock-offs. So it is a historical piece. It is a nice B-Move, and one that you can give your kids who want to see the Matrix or Kill Bill.
At the time of its original release in 1984, this modestly budgeted sci-fi excursion had the distinction of offering some of the first examples of purely computer-generated animation, an apt (and frugal) special-effects solution for a movie with a plot line rooted in computer games. Both the computer-generated visuals and the arcade game now look quaint, but writer-director Nick Castle's affable, good- hearted adventure holds up nicely, thanks to a clever premise--the title game is actually a test for prospective starship pilots, planted by embattled aliens under siege from an evil invader. When a restless teenager (Lance Guest) racks up an impressive score, he finds himself spirited away to the besieged planet and thrust into the midst of an intergalactic war. Apart from Castle's skill... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Nick Castle DVD Release Date: Released the 08 June 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Yes, that's right: five stars. It's a five star B movie, and one of my favorites. My dream is that some day they will figure out a way to release these old 3-D movies on DVD for home viewing. But whether or not they get it in 3-D, I hope someday to see this on DVD. "Spacehunter" is a total cheesefest, but brilliant in it's own way. It's my favorite of all of the "forbidden zone" mutant type movies. There are all sorts of strange deformed creatures running around that were created by a mad scientist. The best part is Michael Ironside, who is awesome as the Overdog, who is the head mutant of this particular forbidden zone. He runs a death maze the he feeds beautiful women into to see if they can survive. Best line: "I like her. I like her for the maze!" Check it out. More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Peter Strauss - Molly Ringwald Director(s): Lamont Johnson DVD Release Date: Released the 04 December 2001 Usually ships within 24 hours
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The surprising truth about Disney's 1982 computer-game fantasy is that it's still visually impressive (though technologically quaint by later high-definition standards) and a lot of fun. It's about a computer wizard named Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who is digitally broken down into a data stream by a villainous software pirate (David Warner) and reconstituted into the internal, 3-D graphical world of computers. It is there, in the blazingly colorful, geometrically intense landscapes of cyberspace, that Flynn joins forces with Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) to outmaneuver the Master Control program that holds them captive in the equivalent of a gigantic, infinitely challenging computer game. Disney's wizards used a variety of cinematic techniques and early-'80s state-of-the-art computer-generated... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Jeff Bridges - Bruce Boxleitner Director(s): Steven Lisberger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 January 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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With a tantalizing "what-if?" scenario and a respectable cast of Hollywood veterans, The Final Countdown plays like a grand-scale episode of The Twilight Zone. It's really no more than that, and time-travel movies have grown far more sophisticated since this popular 1980 release, but there's still some life remaining in the movie's basic premise: What if a modern-era Navy aircraft carrier--in this case the real-life nuclear-powered U.S.S. Nimitz--was caught in an anomalous storm and thrust 40 years backwards in time to the eve of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor? Will the ship's commander (Kirk Douglas) interfere with history? Will the visiting systems analyst (Martin Sheen) convince him not to? Will a rescued senator from 1941 (Charles Durning) play an unexpected role... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Kirk Douglas - Martin Sheen - Katharine Ross Director(s): Don Taylor DVD Release Date: Released the 30 March 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A rarely screened cult favorite from Paul Verhoeven, this story of medieval war and revenge should please action fans and admirers of the director and his semi-regular leading man, Rutger Hauer, but its graphic scenes of sexual violence earmark it for mature viewers only. Hauer stars as a 16th-century mercenary hired by a Western European ruler (Fernando Hilbeck) to assault a neighboring kingdom; when the king reneges on his promises to Hauer and his men, they kidnap his son's fiancee (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and hole up in a nearby castle. Hauer and Leigh are standouts in a strong cast that includes Tom Burlinson, Bruno Kirby, the late Brion James, and Susan Tyrrell; Verhoeven's realistic approach to the down-and-dirty facts of medieval life and the bloody aftermath of warfare offers a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Paul Verhoeven DVD Release Date: Released the 03 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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