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DVD Jack
Jack is Francis Coppola at his most pointless noodling, looking for the film he wants to make instead of just making it. Robin Williams stars as 10-year-old Jack, a boy with an inexplicable disease that ages him at four times the normal human rate. Kept at home like a contemporary Boo Radley, Jack becomes a neighborhood legend until his parents relent and send him to school. In time, the other kids befriend him and stay loyal as his hyperdevelopment puts a strain on his body and emotions. The idea is sound, but the execution is a bore. The best the script and Coppola can come up with are painfully long scenes in which Williams's character proves himself on the playground and in gross-out contests in a tree house. Coppola fishes around for signs of life and spontaneity in these scenes, but the film is actually best when Jack has to cope with certain feelings in his mature body (such as his attraction to a character played by Fran Drescher) that he isn't prepared for emotionally. Jack would have been a lot better if Coppola had embraced a plan from beginning to end and stuck to it. --Tom Keogh
Robin Williams is Jack, whose physical development happens four times faster than normal. (There are real ageing diseases but I gather none of them remotely resemble this fairy tale.) So here he is aged ten with the mind of a ten year old and the body of, er, Robin Williams. His parents are educating him at home under the tutelage of kind old Bill Cosby. But this leaves him terribly lonesome for the company of other children. So Jack is unhappy. Sad Jack. Seeing this, his parents relent and send him to school where, just as they fear, the kids tell him he is a freak and pick on him. So he is still unhappy. More sad Jack. But then he is picked for a basketball side and next thing we know everyone loves him and he has lots of little friends. Hurray! Happy, smiling Jack. But then, oh dear, he starts comparing himself with the other kids. They will live to be 70 or 80 and he will be lucky to make it to 20. And the whole issue of girls is starting to confuse him. So he has a bit of a breakdown and his parents take him out of school. Oh dear. Real sad Jack. But then they send him back again. Happy Jack. Cut to Graduation Day and Jack, now very old in dog years, has been declared the school's first valetudinarian valedictorian. He's gonna die soon and all his friends are unhappy. Sad Jack's friends. But Jack is not unhappy. Jack is proud. Jack makes a speech about shooting stars being the brightest in the sky. Everybody cries. Mom cries. Dad cries. Bill Cosby cries. Wise Jack. Happy Jack. Awful, awful awful sentimental car wreck of a movie.
Not A Classic But Standable
Don't expect a classic when you see this, because if you expect that then you're not going to like it, the movie is okay. It's just a heartwarming story that is more for the family then anything else, good though, Robin Williams displays good acting here.
It could have been good idea ...
... if Coppola and Williams had at least made a single mention of progeria. What's progeria, you say? Well, it's this very real, rare disease that causes children to age 10 years for every year they live. Of course, they don't look like an average adult, but then Robin Williams wouldn't have been able to run around acting like a kid for a couple of hours. However, if the crew had used the comedy aspects to hook viewers, and then give them information about progeria at the end, I would have been okay with it. But since they didn't, I will: http://www.progeriaresearch.org/.
Patch Adams raises two schools of thought: There are those who are inspired by the true story of a troubled man who finds happiness in helping others--a man set on changing the world and who may well accomplish the task. And then there are those who feel manipulated by this feel-good story, who want to smack the young medical student every time he begins his silly antics.
Staving off suicidal thoughts, Hunter Adams commits himself into a psychiatric ward, where he not only garners the nickname "Patch," but learns the joy in helping others. To this end, he decides to go to medical school, where he clashes with the staid conventions of the establishment as he attempts to inject humor and humanity into his treatment of the patients ("We need to start treating the patient as well... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robin Williams Director(s): Tom Shadyac DVD Release Date: Released the 22 June 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Bicentennial Man was stung at the 1999 box office, due no doubt in part to poor timing during a backlash against Robin Williams and his treacly performances in two other, then-recent releases, Jakob the Liar and Patch Adams. But this near-approximation of a science fiction epic, based on works by Isaac Asimov and directed, with uncharacteristic seriousness of purpose, by Chris Columbus (Mrs. Doubtfire), is much better than one would have known from the knee-jerk negativity and box-office indifference.
Williams plays Andrew, a robot programmed for domestic chores and sold to an upper-middle-class family, the Martins, in the year 2005. The family patriarch (Sam Neill) recognizes and encourages Andrew's uncommon characteristics, particularly... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robin Williams Director(s): Chris Columbus DVD Release Date: Released the 15 January 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Robin Williams and Annabella Sciorra star in this visually stunning metaphysical tale of life after death. Neurologist Chris and artist Annie had the perfect life until they lost their children in an auto accident; they're just starting to recover when Chris meets an untimely death himself. He's met by a messenger named Albert (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and taken to his own personal afterlife--a freshly drawn world reminiscent of Annie's own artwork, still dripping and wet with paint. Meanwhile a depressed Annie takes her own life, compelling Chris to traverse heaven and hell to save Annie from an eternity of despair.
The multitextured visuals seem to have been created from a lost fairy tale. Heaven recalls the landscape paintings of Thomas Cole and Renaissance architecture complete with... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Vincent Ward DVD Release Date: Released the 04 March 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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After the success of Jurassic Park in 1993, the floodgates opened for digital special effects, and Jumanji is nothing if not a showcase for computer-generated creepiness guaranteed to give young children a nightmare or two. Whether that was the filmmakers' intention is up for debate, since this is a PG-rated adventure revolving around a mysterious board game that unleashes a terrifying jungle world upon its players, including gigantic spiders, huge mosquitoes, a stampede of rhinos, elephants, and every other jungle beast you can imagine. Robin Williams plays a man-child who's been trapped in the world of "Jumanji" for 26 years until he's freed by two kids who've discovered the game and released its parade of dangerous horrors. A chaotic and misguided attempt at family... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robin Williams - Kirsten Dunst - Bonnie Hunt Director(s): Joe Johnston DVD Release Date: Released the 06 March 2001 This item is currently not available.
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There are two reasons to see Toys: some phenomenal visual spectacle and the utterly adorable performance of Joan Cusack. The story: When the founder of the Zevo toy factory dies, he leaves it to his militaristic brother Leland (Michael Gambon) instead of to his whimsical son Leslie (Robin Williams). When Leland starts making war toys (and worse, actual weapons masquerading as toys), Leslie is forced to stop being capricious and take on some authority. Toys is supposedly about innocence and peace, but really it's director Barry Levinson's cry of anxiety about modern-day playthings, particularly video games--which is almost psychic of him, given how video games have started to devour the entertainment market. Fans of Williams will enjoy his performance; the visual design... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robin Williams Director(s): Barry Levinson DVD Release Date: Released the 16 October 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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