DVD Review: Prey

Prey
(DVD Prey)

Prey is an original TV-movie made for the Hulu streaming service in 2022 and later released to DVD in 2023, which serves as a prequel to the long-running series of “Predator” films that began with the eponymous Arnold Schwarzenegger film “Predator” in 1987. In all of the Predator films, single representatives of a technologically-superior hunter/warrior alien species are dropped off to hunt and kill one or more humans in an exotic location. In the original Predator, it was a Central American jungle, in Predator 2 it was the mean streets of Los Angeles.

 

The Predator is always armed with high-tech equipment, both for hunting tasks but also for repairing its own injuries if needed. And if they’re successful in their kills, they take heads and spines as trophies.

In Prey, the setting is the Great Plains and mountain region of the United States, but all the way back in the 1800s. And the prey being hunted is a combination of Comanche warriors and French trappers. the central character in Prey is Naru (played by Amber Midthunder), a young woman who has trained for the warrior arts but who isn’t allowed to join the men in hunts. Her self-taught skills are put to the test when the alien Predator pretty much wipes out most of the men in her tribe’s hunting party.

 

This film is extremely atmospheric and the quality of the production easily rivals the earlier feature films in the series. The focus on the Native American culture in the film is a refreshing change of pace — the film features a large Native American cast, and using your DVD player’s special menus, you can choose to view the movie with either a spoken English or spoken Comanche soundtrack. Longtime fans of the Predator franchise will find several nice “Easter eggs” connecting Prey to films set later in the continuity.

 

Prey is an excellent addition to the Predator series. I highly recommend this one! One note: Many of the action sequences in this film, especially in the final 20 minutes, are very dark — you may have to adjust your screen’s settings to make out all the details.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try all of the other Predator films, especially the 1987 original, which set the benchmark by which all the others are measured. Personally, my favorite is Predator 2 with Danny Glover.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official Prey web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Three Wise Men and a Baby

Three Wise Men and a Baby
(DVD Three)

For the past several years, the Hallmark cable channel has led the charge in terms of producing light-hearted “romance” movies for the Christmas season. They have a stable of recurring actors and actresses, whom regular viewers look forward to seeing in this seasonal films.

 

Three Wise Men and a Baby was a 2022 premiere that teamed up three of the most popular male stars of these lightweight feel-good films. Actors Paul Campbell, Andrew Walker and Tyler Hynes are Stephan, Luke and Taylor Brenner, three brothers all still living with or near their mother, Barbara (played by Margaret Colin – who played the girlfriend in the 1987 film Three Men and a Baby). Stephan is a pet counselor, Luke is a fireman and Taylor is a disgruntled video game designer. When a baby is left on the doorstep of the firehouse he works in, with a note addressed to him, Stephen finds himself taking care of the cute infant, until other arrangements can be made…and he quickly ropes his two brothers into the task, especially when their mom has to leave town to deal with an injured relative.

 

This one was written by Campbell, with Kimberly Sustad (another regular Hallmark actress), and the two actors really know their fellow thespians — the roles of the three brothers fit these specific actors to a “T” and it’s obvious this entire cast had fun working with each other. Though Hallmark does occasionally feature more serious plots, this is definitely one of the silly, goofy ones, with a health side dose of heartfelt sincerity — the three confirmed bachelors’ interactions with the baby boy are adorable. If you’re looking for a good introduction to Hallmark Christmas Movies, you can’t go wrong with this one!

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: The Witness for the Prosecution (2016)

The Witness for the Prosecution
based on the short story by Agatha Christie (DVD Witness)

I’ve never seen the original 1957 film, Witness for the Prosecution, starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton, despite being a life-long fan of Agatha Christie. Both that film and this TV-movie, are based on a Dame Agatha short story, originally published as “Traitor’s Hands” in the UK in 1925, and subsequently reprinted under the more familiar title. Christie also adapted her story as a full-length stage play, which premiered in 1953. Billy Wilder and his creative partners adapted it again for the feature film, and it has been adapted several times for television in both the UK and US.

 

This 2016 was written by Sarah Phelps and directed by Julian Jerrold, and goes places the previous versions did not. Set in the early 1920s, the mystery revolves around the brutal murder of a socialite, ostensibly by Leonard Vole, a much younger man (a recent WWI veteran) who she had been using as a gigolo. Despite the victim’s maid’s assertions that Vole killed her, he says his “wife”, a dance-hall girl, can provide his alibi. Vole’s attorney takes the case to court, only to have the “wife” turn on Vole and provide testimony on behalf of the prosecution in the case. But there are still more twists and turns to come.

 

The performances in this teleplay version of The Witness for the Prosecution were superb, with great work from Kim Cattrall as the victim, Monica Dolan as the maid, and Andrea Riseborough as Romaine, the “wife”. Billy Howle as Vole was hit-or-miss. But the film’s real star is the diminutive Toby Jones as Vole’s desperate attorney, John Mayhew. The film-makers actually turned this into Mayhew’s story, more than those more central to the mystery itself. This is a double-edged sword — Peters easily carries the film as the main character, but if you’re a purest and wish to see an accurate and fair adaptation of Christie’s actual story, this misses the mark.

 

Production design is great, but I had serious issues with how dark and muddy the cinematographers chose to make everything — 2/3rds of the film seem murky and foggy, and I ended up being very frustrated — I wanted to see the actors’ expressions and most of the time that was difficult. Ultimately, I can only give this adaptation of The Witness for the Prosecution a 6 out of 10 on BookGuide’s rating scale — there’s lots to recommend it, but also lots to be annoyed with. Your mileage may vary.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the 2015 video adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, by the same production team.] [Also available in traditional print format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this TV-movie ] | [ official BBC The Witness for the Prosecution web site ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

 

Hey mystery fans! Don't miss this month's Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group discussion of the works of Elly Griffiths. The April 2021 Just Desserts meeting, tonight at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom. For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts

DVD Review: From Friend to Fiancé

From Friend to Fiancé
[DVD From]

This is a typical Hallmark Channel romance movie — fluffy, lacking in any real depth, but still fun to watch. I first got hooked on the annual Christmas Movie marathons from Hallmark, and the channel’s executives soon discovered that viewers had an appetite for this type of feel-good romantic fare year-round. From Friend to Fiancé happened to air during one of their summer-themed periods. My wife got me interested in watching Ryan Paevey (a Hallmark Channel movie “regular”) a few years ago, after his long stint on General Hospital, and now I look forward to seeing any of these that feature him. In this one, Ted Cooper (Paevey) is engaged to the woman who used to be the “mean girl” in high school, and asks his childhood best friend Jessica (Jocelyn Hudon) for help in planning his wedding — a task she agrees to, only to realize she’s loved Ted for years and can’t believe she’s helping him marry someone else. It’s a simple plot, filled with typical misunderstandings and miscommunications. But the cast pulls it off with fun, gentle humor and sweetness.

Don’t go into this expected serious drama or anything — it’s just light, frothy fun!

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this TV-movie ] | [ Hallmark’s official From Friend to Fiance web page ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library – Public Service

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

New Booklist on BookGuide: Westerns on Film and Television (a DVD booklist)

New DVD Booklist

We've had several requests recently from customers for a list of all the Western films and TV series that the libraries have on DVD. While searching in our online catalog will ultimately take you to most of the titles you'll find on this "Booklist", we thought we'd make it a little easier to find all these Westerns in one single location. Thus -- this "Westerns on Film and Television" DVD list was created. This is a "snapshot" of most (hopefully all) of the Westerns on DVD in the Lincoln City Libraries collection. As the descriptive information on the page indicates, there are also additional titles available only via our Hoopla digital service (not on DVD), which are not included on this DVD list.

Whether you're a fan of the classics -- the films of John Wayne, James Stewart and Clint Eastwood -- or more modern fare, or you want to revisit western series like Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., The Magnificent Seven, or more -- you'll find plenty to browse through in this list.

At the time this list was "published" on our website, all titles included were owned by the Lincoln City Libraries!

Check out the list of recommended viewing at the following link: 

Westerns on Film and Television (a DVD booklist)

The House Without a Christmas Tree (on DVD)

The House Without a Christmas Tree

based on the book by Gail Rock [j DVD Rock]

This 1972 season holiday TV-movie, starring Jason Robards, Lisa Lucas and Mildred Natwick, was an annual viewing tradition for my family as I was growing up — it aired on CBS at the Christmas television season throughout the mid-to-late 1970s. Though originally created for the screen, it was subsequently adapated, by Nebraska author Gail Rock, into a best-selling 1974 novel. In fact, The House Without a Christmas Tree was the first of four TV-movies, and was followed by The Thanksgiving Treasure (1973), The Easter Promise (1975) and Addie and the King of Hearts (1976), all of which were novelized by Gail Rock.

However, it is this movie that is the most memorable. 10-year-old Addie Mills lives with her taciturn father James, and her Grandma Mills. James, is still in mourning over the loss of his wife years ago, and had forbidden the presence of a Christmas tree in “his” home. When Addie wins a tree, and all the trimmings, in a school contest, using techniques her father taught her, she’s proud to bring home the tree, only to have James insist it has to go. This leads to a family crisis, as James and his mother (Grandma) disagree over the tree. When Addie secrets slips out in the middle of the night to deliver her winning tree to another family, who are too poor to have a tree of their own — it leads to James realizing that he’s been treating his family badly for years, because of his bitterness over losing his wife.

The performances in this show are tremendous, especially in the relationship between Addie and her father. The story is set in the 1940s, in a fictional small Nebraska town, so there’s a definite local connection for this charming holiday classic, and I’m thrilled to see that The House Without a Christmas Tree is out again on DVD, after having disappeared from TV showings decades ago. If you, also, grew up with this special, it’s definitely worth revisiting. And if you’ve never seen it before, you’ve got a treat to look forward to!

[Also available in traditional print format.] [ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Addie Mills web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Murder She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery on DVD

Murder She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery

based on the book by Joanne Fluke [DVD Murder]

Alison Sweeney stars as Hannah Swensen, owner and operator of a small-town Minnesota bakery, in this first of several TV-Movie adaptations of the series of popular mystery novels by Joanne Fluke. In this “pilot movie” based on the first book in the series, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, Hannah feels compelled to investigate when a personal friend — also one of her suppliers of baking materials — is killed in his delivery truck right in back of her restaurant. Fearing the official “big city” investigator is looking in the wrong direction and doesn’t know the people of her small town, like she does, Hannah snoops around, eventually endangering herself. This is a typical “amateur detective” story, without too complicated a story, but Sweeney as Hannah and Cameron Mathison as investigator Mike Kingston have great screen chemistry. The rest of the supporting cast is excellent, and the plot, while not ground-breaking in any way, is still intriguing enough to keep you interested. I enjoyed this one a lot, even though I’d read the novel it was based on as a selection for the libraries’ Just Desserts mystery discussion group back in 2013. I look forward to seeing more of these! A total of four Murder She Baked TV-movies have been shown on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries cable TV network, although this is the only one released on DVD thus far!

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Aurora Teagarden Mystery Movies, The Gourmet Detective Mystery Movies or The Garage Sale Mystery Movies or The Flower Shpo Mystery Movies)
(Also available in traditional print format.)

([ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official Murder She Baked web site )

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you watch this one, or read the novel it is based upon? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Dracula (2007) on DVD

Dracula (2007)
[DVD Dracula]

This 2007 Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel is a stylish, visually appealing version this gothic tale. Marc Warren (whom I’ve enjoyed as Danny Blue in the con-game series Hustle, Rochefort in The Musketeers and The Gentleman in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell) plays Count Dracula as both sensual and reserved, and gives off a perfect menacing air. But it was actually the non-vampiric performances that impressed me the most — Tom Burke as Dr. John Seward, Dan Stevens as Lord Arthur Holmwood and Donald Sumpter as cult leader Alfred Singleton are all impressive. And David Suchet (Poirot) is quirky but earnest for the short time he’s on-screen as Abraham Van Helsing. But the women steal the show — Sophia Myles is doomed Lucy Westenra (the same year she starred in the CBS vampire series Moonlight!), and Stephanie Leonidas is quite memorable as Mina Murray.

Production design, set decoration, costumes and make-up are all top-notch. This 90-minute film is a visual feast. However, for those who are accustomed to today’s big-budget special effects and stunt extravaganzas, featuring horrific “monster” make-up and athletic “vampire hunters”, you need to be aware that this film is true to Stoker’s original novel, and the scares and thrills come from the atmosphere and characterizations, not from “shocks”. A classy production, and one that I recommend!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try reading the original novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, or the 1970s TV-movie adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot, starring David Soul of Starsky & Hutch fame. ]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ PBS Masterpiece Theatre’s official Dracula web page ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery on DVD

Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery
[DVD Real] 

Nice, classy adaptation of the first Aurora Teagarden novel by Charlaine Harris — which was one of her earlier mystery series, long before the Sookie Stackhouse books that ended up being adapted into the cable TV series True Blood.

Candace Cameron Bure is perfect as Aurora, and this TV-movie version of the story is filled with excellent character actors, familiar faces to anyone who watches TV shows that are produced in Canada (pretty much anything on the Syfy network). The mystery holds together fairly well, although there were some plot changes from the book.

Oddly, the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries cable network did this adaptation of the first book as their second Aurora Teagarden movie, and at this time they’ve produced four different TV-movies in the series. I look forward to seeing the rest.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the rest of the Aurora Teagarden TV-movies, or other recent Hallmark Movies & Mysteries movie series productions: A Garage Sale Mystery, The Gourmet Detective, Murder She Baked and The Flower Shop Mysteries.] [Also available in traditional print format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Aurora Teagarden Movies web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you seen this one, or read the series it is based on? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!