|
| SPECIES/C,
B+
US/1995/COLOR/WIDESCREEN 2.35:1/STEREO SURROUND, AC-3/108 MINUTES/DIRECTED BY ROGER
DONALDSON/STARRING NATASHA HENSTRIDGE, BEN KINGSLEY/MGM/38 CHAPS/THEATRICAL
TRAILER/CLV/THX/$3498
Species could have been called "The Fantastic Five," as the most
ridiculous group of alien hunters ever assembled try to track down the beautiful Natasha
Henstridge, whose great looks go a lot further than any story telling to achieve some
level of satisfaction from this stranger in a strange land tale gone astray. Species
begins on a promising note as scientists in a government laboratory are about to execute a
little girl, who, it turns out, has been born by combining human and alien DNA. Well,
she’s growing too fast so it’s time to get rid of her. Why in heaven’s name
the gas chamber though? Well, Ben Kingsley playing Fitch, the head of the project, sheds a
tear over the impending execution. Right. It hasn’t run down the length of his face
before the girl creature has kicked her way out of the glass chamber and the chase is on.
Fitch recruits a group to find the alien: Michael Masden is a government assassin,
Alfred Molina an anthropologist, Forrest Whitaker a psychic and Marg Helgenberger a
biologist, the perfect team to track Sil, as she is dubbed by Fitch. Before you know it,
Sil has been reborn as a gorgeous 21-year-old desperately looking for a mate. It’s
the human way to propagate, you know. She manages to kill and kiss a few people in her
frantic search for the perfect mate. Will these five crack trackers get to Sil before she
consummates. Get her a break guys, she’s only a growing girl.
The climatic confrontation winds up below ground in the sewers where Sil has morphed
into a pregnant Gigeresque creature a la Aliens. Sounds like the right locale. Species is
really pretty bad, bad enough to be enjoyable. Director Roger Donaldson moves the action a
brisk pace, but this is a script born of suspect DNA.
Species does look and sound great. The transfer is as immaculate as
Sil’s conception. Much of the film is set in dark locales and the detail is easily
discernible. Contrast levels could have had additional range, but the blacks are deep and
there is minimum grain in all the dark scenes. The sound is excellent. The delightful
little sonic details of Sil’s transformation are sure seduce film lovers. Don’t
be surprised to see a sequel created from alien DNA around the multiplex corner. How about
Species II: The Birth of a New Nation. |
| |
|
Laser Disc
Ratings
|
12
Monkeys Special/A-,B+ |
12
Monkeys/ B+,B |
1941
SE/ C-, B- |
a
la Mode/B+,B+ |
A
Pure Formality/C,B |
After the Fox/C+,B |
Alaska/B,B+ |
Albino
Aligator/C+,B |
Alfie/B,B |
Amateur/B+,C+ |
American
President/ B+, B+ |
Apache/C+,C+ |
Apocalypse Now/A-,A- |
Apollo
13 SpecialA,A |
Apollo 13//A,A |
Appaloosa/C+,C+ |
Assassins/C,A |
Bad
and the Beautiful, The/A,B+ |
Basquiat/C+,B |
Bend of the River/ B, B+ |
Belle Epoque/B+,A- |
Bhagdad
Cafe/B,B |
Big
Country/ B, C |
Big Deal on Madonna Street/B,B |
Big
Picture, The/B,B |
Big
Trees, The/C+,C+ |
Bingo
Long and His Traveling All-Stars/B+,A |
Blood and Wine/B,B |
| Blue Kite/B+,B |
Bogus/C,C+ |
Bordello of Blood/C-,A- |
Borderline/C+,B |
Bound/B+,B+ |
Brazil
Special Edition/B+,A- |
Bride
Came COD/B-,B |
Bringing
Up Baby/A,B |
Brute Force/B+,B+ |
Bulletproof/C,B+ |
| Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid/B,A- |
Call
Nothside 777/B+,C+ |
Camille
Claudel/ A, B+ |
Canterville
Ghost/C+,C+ |
| Caro Diario/A-,A- |
| Captain from Castile/B,B+ |
Casino/
C+, B |
Casper/C+,A |
Cause
for Alarm/C,B- |
Celestial
Clockwork/B+,B- |
| China Moon/B+,A |
Christmas in July/A,B+ |
Christopher
Columbus(1949)/C,C |
| Come and Get It/B,B+ |
Commandments/C+,B+ |
Courage Under Fire/B,A |
Crash/C+,B+ |
| Crimson Tide/A-,A |
Crossing
Guard, The/B,B+ |
Cutthroat
Island/C, A |
Dante's
Peak/B-/B |
Daylight/B,A- |
Dead
Man Walking/C+,B+ |
Dead Man/C+,A- |
Dead
Presidents Special/ B+,A |
Dersu Uzala/B+,B |
Diabolique(1995)/C+,C |
Diary
of Ann Frank/ A-,B |
Dodes'ka-den/ B+, B+ |
Double
Happiness/ B+,B+ |
Dragon/B+,A |
| Dune/C+,B+ |
Earrings
of Madame de.../ B+, B+ |
Enemy
Below/ B, B |
| Englishman Who Went..../C,B |
English Patient/B+,A |
Ermo/B-,B- |
Escape from LA/B-,A |
Everybody's
Fine/C+,C+ |
Executive
Decision/B+,A |
Eye
for an Eye/B,B+ |
F.I.S.T./B,B |
| Face-Off/B+,A |
| Family Thing/B,B+ |
| Farewell My Concubine/A-,A |
Far
Country/ B-, C+ |
Field
of Dreams Special/A-,B+ |
Field
of Dreams/ A-, B |
Fierce Creatures/B-,B+ |
| Fires on the Plain/B+,B |
Firestarter/C+,C+ |
First
Knight/ C-, B+ |
First
Wives Club/C+,B+ |
| For Whom the Bell Tolls/B-,B+ |
| French Kiss/B-,B+ |
| Fugitive,The(1947)/B-,B |
Frankie
Starlight/B+,B |
Freaks/B+,B |
Free
Willy 2/B-,B+ |
Funny Bones/A,A |
Get Shorty/ A, A |
Goldeneye/
B, A |
| Ghost Story/B,B |
Great
Escape(MGM)/A-,B- |
Great
Expectations/A,B+ |
Greystoke:
The Legend of Tarzan/B+,C |
| Grosse Point Blank/A-,A- |
Grumpier
Old Men/B-,B+ |
Gun
in Betty Lou's Handbag, The/B,C- |
Happy
Gilmore/ B-, A- |
| Hard Boiled/B-,B+ |
Hard Eight/B,C+ |
Harriet
the Spy/B,A |
Haunting,
The/A,B+ |
Head
Above Water/D+,B |
Heat/A-,B |
| Heaven
and Earth/B+,A- |
Helen
of Troy/C+,B+ |
| Henry V/A,B |
Hill,The/A-,B |
Hoop Dreams/A,A |
| Horseman on the Roof/B-,B |
Innocent,
The/ C, C |
Innocents,
The/ A, A- |
Interrupted
Melody/C+,C |
| Into the West/A,B+ |
Inventing
the Abbots/B-,B+ |
| Jack/C+,A- |
Jean
de Florette/ A-, B- |
Jumanji/
B+, B+ |
Kansas
City/D+,C+ |
Kentuckian/B-/B |
Kingpin/B,B+ |
Kolya/A-,A- |
Kwaidan/A,A- |
La
Dolce Vita/ A, B |
Last
Dance/B,B+ |
Last
Man Standing/C,B |
Last
Supper, The/B-,B+ |
League of Gentlemen/B,B |
Leave
Her to Heaven/B+,B+ |
Les
Miserables/ B, B+ |
Liar,Liar
Special/B+,A |
Lili/A-,C |
List
of Adrien Messinger/B,B+ |
| Lonely are the Brave/A-,A- |
| Lord of Illusions/B,A- |
Love
Jones/B,A- |
| Malice/B+,B+ |
| Mask,The/A-,A |
| Mi Familia/A-,A- |
| Michael/C+,A |
Miracle
of Morgan's Creek/B,B- |
Mirage/B,B- |
Mission
Impossible/C+,B+ |
Mona Lisa/B+,B+ |
Morgan/B,C+ |
Mulholland Falls/C+,B |
Muriel's
Wedding/ B, B+ |
My
Name is Nobody/C,C |
Mystery of Rampo/ A-, B |
| Natural Born Killers/B,B+ |
Nell/B,A- |
Net,
The/ C, B+ |
Nixon/B+,A |
Nothing
Sacred/B,C |
Old
Man and the Sea/B,B |
Othello/A-,B+ |
| Peeping Tom/A-,A- |
| Raw
Deal/B+,B |
| Red Firecracker,Green Firecracker/B+,A |
| Repulsion/A,A |
Restoration/B+,A |
Richard III/A,A |
Ridicule/A-,B- |
River Wild/B+,A- |
| Romy and Michele's High School Reunion/B,B |
Room
at the Top/A-,B |
Rosewood/B,B+ |
Scopio/B,C |
Seven
SE/ B+, A |
| Shawshank Redemption/A-,A |
| She/B,B- |
Shining
Through/C+,B |
| Silence of the Lambs/A,A |
| Sling
Blade/A,B+ |
Slingshot/A,A- |
Something
to Talk About/ B-, B+ |
| Spartacus Special Edition/A,A |
Species/C,B+ |
Star
Trek: First Contact/C+,A- |
Stars Fell on Henrietta/ C+,B+ |
Stealing
Beauty/B,B |
Strange
Days/ C+, B+ |
Striptease/D,A- |
Sudden
Death/ B, A- |
Sullivan's
Travels/B+,B |
Surviving
Picasso/C,B+ |
| T-Man/B,B |
That
Old Feeling/B-,A- |
That
Thing You Do/B,C+ |
They
Drive By Night/B,B |
| Thieves(Les
Voleurs)/B,B |
Things
You Do in Denver When You're Dead/D+,B+ |
This
Sporting Life/A-,B+ |
Timemaster/
D, C |
Tom
and Viv/B-,B- |
Tortilla
Flat/B+,B |
Trainspotting/B-,B+ |
Trees
Lounge/B-,B- |
| Trigger Effect/B-,B+ |
Two
Bits/C,B |
Unforgettable/C,C+ |
| Umbrellas of Cherbourg/B+,B |
Unzipped/B-,B- |
Usual
Suspects/ B-,C+ |
| Valdez is Coming/C+,B- |
Vengeance
Valley/B,C+ |
Vertigo/A-,A- |
Virtuosity/
C+, A |
Wait
Until Dark/B,B- |
Walk in the Clouds, A/ A-, |
Walkabout/B/B- |
Waterworld/ B+, B |
White
Man's Burden/ B, B+ |
White
Squall/ B,A |
| Whole Wide World/B,B |
Wicked
City/ B, C+ |
Wild
Bill/ C+, B |
Window
to Paris/ B,B |
| Witness/B+,A- |
| Wonderful,Horrible World Life..../B+,B |
|
