Starman (Full Screen Edition)

Starman (Full Screen Edition)

Starman (Full Screen Edition)
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DVD details

Actor: Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen
Brand: BRIDGES,JEFF
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-08-25
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

DVD Reviews of Starman (Full Screen Edition)

DVD Review: Get the European Starman DVD
Summary: 5 Stars

I have had the VHS version of this film for years - purchased used from Hollywood video. Pan-and-scan, not the greatest fuzzy picture, mediocre sound (its difficult to remember how bad the VHS format was back when that was all we had). I went to watch this the other day and couldn't find it (I think I lent it to someone and never got it back), so, since I had been thinking about getting the DVD for quite a while I came to Amazon to order it.


Thanks to Wayne Klein's review I was immediately informed that the only version available on Amazon U.S. was a "full screen" version (yeccch) without any extras - and that there was a European version that was in wide-screen letterbox, Dolby Digital, WITH extras.

Well, that was a no-brainer for me. Since I had purchased a year or so go (from Amazon, I might add) a DVD player (Pioneer) that has all the bells and whistles, and ALSO plays PAL (the DVD format for Europe) disks, I immediately went to Amazon U.K. http://www.amazon.co.uk/ and ordered this DVD.

It arrived at my place in California (from England) air mail in about five days.

Let me tell you that this disk is AWESOME (let me mention again that regular DVD players in the U.S. will not play this disk - you must have a player that will play the PAL format. My Pioneer plays both PAL and NTSC - US format - disks). Amazingly clear and crisp picture and sound. From watching this DVD one would not guess that this film is a few years old.

I had never had the pleasure of watching Starman in widescreen with a sharp, clear picture and awesome Dolby surround, and it is almost like watching a whole new film. Hell, it IS like watching a whole new film. The extras are nice - a "making of" documentary, a voice-over narration by director Carpenter and actor Bridges.

My one possible gripe about the voice-over (and a small one, at that!) is that it was obviously recorded many years after the making of the film so Carpenter and Bridges sometimes go off on riffs that have little to do with the action onscreen - just at the point when some meaty commentary would have been nice.

On the other hand, the "riffs" that they get off on are fascinating. At one point Bridges (in commenting on the difficulty of doing love scenes) makes some statements that I found extremely interesting. It was something to the effect that in order to make love scenes believable the actors must really "open their hearts" to one another, because if they don't it just doesn't work onscreen.

He then goes on to say that when you DO open your heart to someone it makes it very difficult NOT to actually fall in love - but if you do (actually fall in love) it really "messes up your life". He says it's strange - part of "the job" is to open your heart. He says this is probably why there are so many romances between actors during the filming of movies.

I found his statements very profound.

I have loved this movie for years, and have watched it many times (and will, without doubt, watch it many times more) so I will leave the actual reviews of the film to the others here that like it as well as I do - *definitely a Five Star*.

However, if you like this movie as much as I do (and it definitely one of my all-time favorites) go for a PAL/NTSC DVD player (mine cost about $60.00) and DO go for the wide-screen, letterbox, Dolby digital surround version from Amazon U.K.

You will be glad that you did.

Ps. Once you have your PAL player you will begin to realize that there might be a lot of other disks that you might like to watch that are not available on the U.S. NTSC format and are only available on PAL.

By the way - this is a film the whole family can enjoy. For those who care (I don't) - there is one brief love scene that is basically just passionate hugging and kissing - no nudity. Also, Mr. Bridges' back is viewed briefly in the nude early in the film as he becomes the Starman.
Nice bod. :-)

Happy watching!
More Starman (Full Screen Edition) reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Description of Starman (Full Screen Edition)

An alien whose ship crashes in Wisconsin is found by a distraught widow and assumes the form of her dead husband. He convinces her to drive him to Arizona where his mothership must pick him up in three days or he will die. Government agents are after them
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: PG
Release Date: 1-MAR-2005
Media Type: DVD
While most movie buffs are likely to call Halloween the best movie from John Carpenter, others--die-hard romantics and anyone who cried while watching E.T.--might vote in favor of the director's 1984 hit Starman. It's easily Carpenter's warmest and most beguiling film, and the only one that ever earned an Oscar nomination. That honor went specifically to Best Actor nominee Jeff Bridges for his performance as an alien visitor to Earth who is knocked off course and must take an interstate road trip to rendezvous with a mothership from his home planet. To complete this journey he assumes the physical form of the dead husband of a Wisconsin widow (Karen Allen) who responds first with fear, then sympathy, and finally love. Carpenter's graceful strategy is to switch the focus of this E.T.-like film from science fiction to a gentle road-movie love story, made believable by the memorable performances of Bridges and Allen. It's a bit heavy-handed with tenacious government agents who view the Starman as an alien threat (don't they always?), but Carpenter handles the action with intelligent flair, sensitivity, and lighthearted humor. If you're not choked up during the final scene, well, you just might not be human. --Jeff Shannon
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