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Page last updated: 09/13/98 07:16:45 PM
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Title: Sphere Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote, Liev Schreiber Produced & Directed By: Barry Levinson Based on the book by: Michael Crichton Special Features: Behind the scenes "Making of" Documentary Shaping the Sphere: The Art of the Visual Effects Supervisor, Audio Commentary by Dustin Hoffman and Samuel L. Jackson, Interactive Menus, Production Notes, Theatrical Trailer, 3 TV Spots, Languages: English and French, Subtitles: Englich, French, and Spanish. <WHEW!!> Approximate Running Time: 135 Mins First off, let me just say this..."Congratulations Warner Brothers on yet another extraordinary DVD effort, chalk full of extra feature goodness...and all for the low SRP of $19.99!!" We all know that Warner Brothers has been the smartest company of the bunch with their three-teired pricing setup and they lived up to expectations with the Sphere DVD. This disc has so many special features to keep you entertained for hours on end, and to think, I only bought it for $14.99! Of course, I must start this with a basic review of the film. A team of "expeditioners" so to speak, sets off on a journey to the bottom of the mid-Pacific to investigate what could possibly be the most important discovery in the history of mankind: a huge spacecraft that plunged into the ocean -- 300 years ago!! The basics of their mission: find out what it is, where it came from, and if there is still life on board. The story takes an unimaginable turn when they discover a giant Sphere at the core of the spacecraft, and it's a struggle for them to make it back to the surface alive. The terror they encounter is like none they have ever seen before...a terror as near as their own thoughts. This is definitely one sci-fi flick that true fans don't want to miss. My personal opinion...the movie was great. Definitely not the best science-fiction movie I've seen in my lifetime, but very interesting nonetheless. This movie was lacking in several areas, though. First off, I personally would have liked them to dwell a little bit longer on the facts surrounding the mission, providing a clearer explanation of what and where the sphere came from. Although after a thinking about the subject for a while it is very easy to understand, but more depth would have made the movie more interesting. As for its relation to the book, from what I hear(I haven't actually read it), it's relatively close. There are some things left out, of course, but that can't be avoided when you try to compress a 300 page book into a 2 hour movie. The sound on this disc was superb. There were a lot of really cool low level woofer effects only possible with Dolby Digital 5.1. Slight recommendation...make sure your rear level speakers are turned up in this one. A lot of the movie effectiveness comes from the rear sound. The layer switch was evident in this movie, but I didn't write it down. I'll have that marked when I finish the review of the rest of the disc. As for the movie, again, I'll give it a great rating. Grab your popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the show. (All ratings are based on a 5 star level) Movie - * * * * Sound - * * * * 1/2
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