Paradise Lost - The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills

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A Blazing Indictment on the Judicial System.

SUPPORT THE WM3!!!

Well done unbiased documentary

Paradise Lost

Celluloid Propaganda

Paradise Lost - The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
Starring: Jason Baldwin , Steven Branch , Christopher Byers , John Mark Byers , and Melissa Byers
Director: Sinofsky, Bruce
Manufacturer: New Video Group
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Paradise Lost 2 - Revelations

Almost Home: My Life Story Vol 1

Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three

Brother's Keeper

Murder on a Sunday Morning

ASIN: B000AYEIY0
Release Date: 2005-10-25

Amazon.com

On May 6, 1993, the mutilated bodies of three 8-year-old boys were found in a shallow creek in West Memphis, Arkansas. A short time later police arrested three local teenagers, linking the boys' killings to a satanic ritual. One of the boys confessed. The intriguing court case was about to unfold as filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky ventured forth to make this documentary. They captured footage of not only courtroom proceedings but also interviews with the major players in trial--parents, suspects, lawyers. The documentary filmmakers, whose previous film, Brother's Keeper, is as intriguing of a crime story you'll ever see, tells this story without re-creations or flashbacks. The film makes a clear argument that the court trial may not be about witchcraft but a witch hunt. As with any great drama, the faces and situations are etched upon the viewer; however, we are dealing with real lives and real crimes (told gruesomely and necessarily by police photographs and videotape), and the impact is far greater. And so is the maddening ambivalence of the trial. Like the O.J. Simpson fiasco, a verdict is reached but the truth is questioned. Did police make fatal errors the night of the crime? Do last-minute clues lead to justice? Who's lying on the stand? As with Roger and Me and Hoop Dreams, we have a provocative single incident that holds a mirror to many of society's problems. The results are just more horrifying. The Emmy-winning film was followed four years later by Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. --Doug Thomas

Description

One of the most influential documentaries in recent years, the Sundance favorite PARADISE LOST is an emotionally raw, must-see crime doc from two of today's most exciting filmmakers--Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (the team behind Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Brother's Keeper). This dark odyssey began with the tragic murders of three 8-year-old boys, whose bodies were discovered in a shallow creek in West Memphis, Arkansas. The community demanded justice, and one month later the police delivered: three local teenagers accused of sacrificing the boys as part of a Satanic ritual. Despite overwhelming public antipathy towards them, defendants Damian Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley steadfastly maintained their innocence. Although the trial produced virtually no physical evidence connecting the defendants to the crime, the town, the jury, and the police felt that they had their killers, and used the young men's penchant for heavy metal music and black clothing and a fascination with the Wicca religion as evidence of their guilt. With unprecedented access to all the players, Berlinger and Sinofsky captured the events as they unfolded before their cameras. From actual courtroom footage and clandestine jailhouse interviews to behind-the-scenes strategy meetings and intimate portraits of grief-stricken families, PARADISE LOST is a shocking yet uniquely American real-life drama. DVD Features: Exclusive Trial Footage; Timeline of Events; Trial Updates; Theatrical Trailer; Filmmaker Biographies; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Customer Reviews:

A Blazing Indictment on the Judicial System........2007-08-24

When three little boys were murdered (and one of them mutilated), HBO was given exclusive rights to film everything. The crime scene, the parents reaction, and eventually the trial of the three teenage boys that were tried and, many say, wrongly convicted of the crimes. Having now seen the film, I'm not COMPLETELY convinced that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelly had nothing to do with the murders; but with the complete lack of evidence, except completely untrustworthy testimony, it's hard to believe they were convicted. The setup is this: On May 5, 1993 the bodies of Steven Branch, Chris Byers, and Michael Moore were found on a creek bed in a secluded part of the woods called Robin Hood Hills in West Memphis, Arkansas. Soon, the police had a confession from Jessie Misskelly, Jr. who implicated his friends Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin. This wouldn't be suspicious if not for the fact that at 17, Misskelly has an I.Q. of 72, making him borderline mentally retarted. And the fact that he was interrogated for many hours and the police took no notes nor tape recorded the first 2 hours of it. Anyone who's ever seen the Blue Collar Comedy Tour will recognize many of the inbred, rednecks that the Blue Collar boys frequently poke fun at. This town is filled with the stereotypical priests that pronounces "Jesus" as "Jeyzus." And the mother of Stevie Branch laughing "Oh my God, on TV" before telling the cameras about the loss of her son. Most viewers of this film agree that the most likely killer is Mark Byers, the stepfather of Chris Byers (the only boy who was mutilated). First of all, the man is creepy and makes some incriminating statements and most of the time when he's parading in front of the camera, it does all seem a little overdramatic. The film does seem to point out Mark Byers as the most likely suspect until one of the final scenes, after Echols has been convicted, when he makes his most incriminating statement. This is the only scene that made me think about his involvement in the crime. In the scene Echols says (I'm paraphrasing) "I always knew I'd be known for something, but not for this. People are going to be talking about me long after I'm dead." Even if the film does not truly expose who killed the children, it does show how flawed the judicial system is. The complete lack of evidence, the mistakes the police made in handling the case, and the irrelevant questions that were asked during the trial all point to a huge "miscarriage of justice." Whatever your opinion is on the murders and the convicted murderers, this is a truly eye-opening, must-see documentary.

GRADE: A

SUPPORT THE WM3!!!.......2007-08-01

This is a very well done documentary. It is unbiased and gives you a good look into what REALLY happend before, during, and after the trial. You are not pushed one way or the other, you have the chance to see real facts and draw your own conclusion as to what happend in this case. This is a dvd that I highly recommend.

Well done unbiased documentary.......2007-07-24

I saw this documentary on HBO's America Undercover when it first aired. It is a fascinating look at how easy it is for people to hate without gathering enough information to develop an informed opinion. The filmmakers do not choose a side, and I was able to form an opinion without feeling manipulated.

Paradise Lost.......2007-07-13

Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's intensely disturbing true-crime tale "Paradise Lost" examines the confounding details of the infamous kiddie murders at Robin Hood Hills. The children-killed-by-children theme is scary enough, but the trial and its outcome leave a sour, uncertain taste, as the prosecution case is built mostly around the confession (under duress) of one defendant, who's just on the cusp of being mentally handicapped. Be warned: this unnerving film contains graphic images of the victims. But just as unsettling is the feeling that in this case, our society and criminal justice system may have failed us--and those kids.

Celluloid Propaganda.......2007-05-16

Paradise Lost is an exercise in historical revisionism. Its producers aimed at spinning history with the hope that a trio of clearly guilty murderers would be released. This alleged documentary plays fast and loose with the facts that it presents while leaving inconvenient facts on the cutting room floor to present a false picture of three innocent lads being railroaded for crimes that they did not commit.

Paradise Lost is a dishonest documentary in that while the producers never state their opinions directly, they deliberately omit certain facts while twisting other facts so that they can present a distorted version of what really happened. For instance, the producers want you to believe that the convicted killers were really innocent, that there was no real evidence against them. The makers of this documentary want you to believe that the 3 teenagers were convicted due to their love of heavy metal, the works of Stephen King, the fact they wore black T-shirts and because there was a "satanic panic" in the community.

The documentary producers also use John Mark Byers, the stepfather of one of the victims, as a red herring. They insinuate that Byers should have been the top suspect instead of the 3 convicted punks. They conveniently leave out the fact that Byers had an airtight alibi and was cleared of suspicion following an intensive police investigation. This so-called documentary implies that since Byers is mentally slow, then he could have been the real murderer.

Paradise Lost was made along the lines of a Michael Moore documentary sans the comedy. Like a Moore documentary, Paradise Lost shows some of both sides of an issue, but upon further examination, it is clearly one sided. In this case, the bias is on the side of the convicted criminals. Facts that point towards guilt are either glossed over or entirely left out. Contrary to the movie, the trio were not convicted just because they wore black or liked heavy metal music. That is a gross distortion of the evidence against them.

Paradise Lost is one of those documentaries where if you do not know much about the subject, your response likely will be that what happened to the 3 convicts was a horrible miscarriage of justice. However, if you actually know a good deal about what really happened, your reaction is that the documentary itself was nothing but a sham and a fraud.

Paradise Lost is a sham and a fraud that is not worth either your time or your hard earned money. It is most definitely not recommended.

Average customer rating:

Great Documentary
Good Follow-up
Lesson learned or lesson forgotten?
Propaganda and a Witch Hunt to Boot
Interesting but ....

Paradise Lost 2 - Revelations
Starring: Michael Moore , Burk Sauls , Damien Wayne Echols , Kathy Bakken , and Jessie Miskelly
Director: Kathy Bakken , Joe Berlinger , and Bruce Sinofsky
Manufacturer: Docurama
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005MKOU
Release Date: 2001-08-28

Amazon.com

Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky return to the scene of the crime with this urgent follow-up to their harrowing 1996 documentary, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. That profoundly disturbing film chronicles the tragic and twisted case of three young men--Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley--who were convicted of the brutal 1993 murders of three second graders. The film suggests that perhaps their only crime was dressing in black and liking Metallica. To the townspeople, this smacked of Satanism and marked them as made-to-order suspects. Meanwhile, Mark Byars, the stepfather of one of the victims emerged from the film as a "Why-isn't-anyone-following-up-on-this?" suspect. Revelations, which, for those who missed the first film, efficiently recaps the case, and charts the trio's maddening appeals process (police browbeat a confession out of Misskelley, who has an IQ of 71, after 12 hours of questioning), as well as the efforts of a group of Internet advocates to "Free the West Memphis Three." Byers is back as well, and he is infinitely more terrifying than anything in Book of Shadows, Berlinger's Blair Witch sequel. We learn that Byers had all his teeth extracted in the years after the murders (human bite marks are among the new evidence introduced). We also learn that his wife has since died of undetermined causes. When Byers passes a suspect lie detector test, he exults, "I knew I was innocent." A further mystery is why both Paradise Lost films have not garnered the media attention or sparked the outrage that attended Errol Morris's The Thin Blue Line, which led to the release of an innocent man who was imprisoned for more than 10 years. Both films give new meaning to the concept of reasonable doubt. --Donald Liebenson

Description

Paradise Lost 2: Revelations revisits the 1994 Arkansas murder of three 8-year-old boys and the three teenagers convicted of the crime. A follow up to Paradise Lost, Revelations features new interviews with the convicted men, as well as with the original judge and police investigators. While focusing on advocates who believe the young men are innocent Revelations also includes footage of the stepfather of one of the victims, who some suspect might be involved in the crime.

A disturbing and moving documentary, Revelations is investigative journalism and advocacy at its best. This case, as with the OJ Simpson and Jon Benet Ramsy murder trials, for better or worse, will remain in the spotlight for years to come as an example of America's judicial system gone astray.

DVD Features: Filmmaker Filmographies; Exclusive Photo Gallery; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Customer Reviews:

Great Documentary.......2007-09-04

I'm really happy I decided to buy this dvd. I hadn't seen the first one, and I didn't feel lost watching this one. They did an incredible job in letting the truth speak for itself. I ended up buying the first one on VHS because I wanted to see everyone that was interviewed. I would've given it 5 stars if Mark Byers had been convicted by the end of the movie...

Good Follow-up.......2007-07-24

This follow-up to the documentary on the arrest and conviction of the West Memphis Three focuses a bit more on how the country became interested in the first film and starting a website and making some noise to get the three guys imprisoned for three horrific murders released. My impression of this film is that it is not as unbiased a the first and it doesn't seem to answer any questions I had from the first film ... just create more questions.

Lesson learned or lesson forgotten?.......2007-04-08

I loved Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. It had a great message, teaching us how important the notion of "innocent until proven guilty" really is. With that in mind, the sequel to it should have never been made.

The first movie focused on rightfully condemning those who were quick to judge three teenaged defendants, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jesse Misskelly, as guilty while ignoring the complete lack of evidence supporting this verdict. "Those boys wear black and listen to heavy metal music; they look like they worship Satan; they must have committed the murders," many people thought around West Memphis, Arkansas, the rural, backward community in which the murders took place. Watching the first Paradise Lost, we were shown exactly how absurd this thinking is. Somewhere between the making of that film and the making of its sequel, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, the films' producers lost sight of that important notion.

In Paradise Lost 2, the filmmakers are essentially judging one of the murder victims' stepfather, Mark Byers, as guilty of the Robin Hood Hills murders without really giving sufficient evidence to back this theory. There seems to be some evidence supporting his guilt (okay, a lot of evidence supporting it), but one can't help but wonder what facts the filmmakers are exaggerating, what facts they are manipulating, and what facts they are leaving out.

Mark Byers is a man who has never officially been a suspect in the West Memphis murders, and frankly there seems to be about as much evidence against him as there was evidence linking the murders to the three defendants who were found guilty of them. Mark Byers' main offense is that he looks like how a killer would look, or that he acts like how a killer would act. Sound familiar? Sounds ironic to me.

The "witches" in the first film were Damien, Jason, and Jessie and the witch hunters were exposed for what they were. In the second film, the monster is Mark Byers and the people chasing him with torches and wooden stakes are we who are ignoring the lesson learned from the first film.

Propaganda and a Witch Hunt to Boot.......2007-04-04

Paradise Lost 2 - Revelations is a poor excuse for a documentary. It never rises above the level of a tabloid. Logic and reason have been discarded in favor of attempting to paint the stepfather of one of the murdered boys as being the real killer. There is all sorts of grandstanding by likes of the unrepentant killers and their ignorant supporters.

A disturbing aspect of this documentary is the fact short shrift was given to 2 of the convicted murderers, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelly both of whom are plain looking. However, a huge amount of attention was paid to convicted murderer Damien Echols. This was done because Echols is quite handsome.

This movie is also a witch hunt. Specifically, it attempts to make the case that the real killer is one John Mark Byers who was the stepfather of one of the murdered boys. There is no attempt at balance here. All sorts of aspersions are cast on Byers without ever attempting to talk to Byers' dentist, doctors or the police officer who cleared Byers of suspicion via polygraph test. The producers of this documentary claim that Byers' wife died under mysterious circumstances. The claim was made that the dead children had bite marks all over them without disclosing that well before the documentary was made, the assertion about bite marks was thororughly discredited. Additionally, the documentary claims that Byers had all of his teeth removed without proof of it. The reality was that Byers had a disease that caused most of his teeth to fall out, but the documentary left that fact out to make Byers look as guilty as possible.

At the beginning of Paradise Lost 2 - Revelations, it was stated that most of the relatives of the 3 victims (who are the real West Memphis 3) did not want to be involved in the making of this production. Given the facts that the first Paradise Lost was horribly slanted in favor of the convicted murderers and also that this sequel was a witch hunt directed at Byers, it appears that the families of the victims showed very good judgment.

Interesting but ...........2007-02-07

Like it's predecessor, this is a fascinating and probing look at a case that continues to rouse many questions and controversies. Made a few years after the original "Paradise Lost", it is interesting to see where the people, especially the accused Memphis Three, had come to, and how they now viewed all that had happened. But a great deal of this documentary is just footage from the first - which is important in giving context - but it means that there is not all that much new content here. But what is there is very good, and very interesting. I just in some ways think it would have been better to have found a way of adding the new material onto the original documentary, turning into a single "extended version". If you watch the two together, chances are you will find this second one just a tad tedious because you will have already seen so much of it before.

Average customer rating:

Captivating
great movie!
Manic
Almost too true account. This movie is the real deal, in every way!!!
Moving Film

Manic
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Adrienne Rollo , Maggie Baird , Don Cheadle , and Blayne Weaver
Director: Jordan Melamed
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
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ASIN: B0000VLKVM
Release Date: 2004-01-20

Description

Don Cheadle (Traffic) is 'simply mesmerizing (Entertainment Today) in this piercing intimate and edgy ('sixty Second Preview ) drama about troubled teens hovering on the edge of sanity. Featuring an exceptional young cast, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt ( 3rd Rock From the Sun ) and Zooey Deschanel (All the Real Girls), Manic is a remarkable gem of a film (London Film Festival). At first glance, 17-year-old Lyle Jensen (Gordon-Levitt) seems eerily quiet and withdrawn. But he has a problem with anger, and this time his explosive rage has landed him in the juvenile ward of a mental institution under the watchful eye of therapist David Monroe (Cheadle). Can Dr. Monroe get Lyle and the other kids to open up, confront their demons and reclaim their lives?

Customer Reviews:

Captivating.......2007-03-31

I have owned this movie on VHS for some time now and intend on buying the DVD (I'll have a back up). I have watched it over and over and find it just as gripping and real as I did the first time.
I consider this my favorite movie of all time because (for once) I can actually relate to the characters on a very deep level. Its a very accurate depiction of what its like to fear yourself. To wish that you could rope in that dark side of your mind and control it, but sometimes you can't. That deep need and desire for an outlet for all the strife and pain and anger and hurt and sadness.
This is a very real movie. I love the way it is filmed. I love the way it is written. I love the way it holds me, fixated on the screen, until the very end. See what you think.

great movie!.......2007-03-24

I loved this movie! I've never watched a movie that was filmed entirely with a hand-held camera, so for the first few minutes the scenes made me a little dizzy because they jump around a lot. But, it's the way they filmed this movie that really made it stand out. It gave it a realistic effect, very raw and in-your-face. I thought the acting was really well done, and I could immediately feel a connection with the charactures as the movie progressed. I've been through a very similar experience in my life, and the way the film was depicted was precise and hit home for me. A few of the charactures in this movie had actually been in Psychiatric Hospitals, and had gone through group therapy and experienced mental illness first hand, so that gave the movie an even more accurate feel. The struggles are very real, it really is a true look into the lives of people who are not so perfect, but are more like you and me than you may realize.

Manic.......2007-01-15

The movie came fast and i enjoyed it very much. I always have a really good experience buying from amazon. i am never disappointed.

Almost too true account. This movie is the real deal, in every way!!!.......2006-12-28

Hello World,
Amazing filters and camera angles, who ever directed this film is destined for greatness. Amazing movie, one of the few I could watch, over and over again. I implore you to rent or buy.
FJE

Moving Film.......2006-11-05

I was in a psych ward earlier in my youth for a short time and so i have some experience in a place such as the one that this film takes place although it didn't have a teen ward where people of a similar age group stayed instead all ages were just thrown together unlike in this film.

the film which is about a teen played by joseph gordon-levitt (who has come a long way from his days on 3rd rock from the sun) who finds himself in a downward rage filled spiral that eventually leads him (by way of a vicious beating with a baseball bat) to what i would describe as a new age psych ward... i say "new age" or "experimental" because it seems to be more about therapy and discovery rather than your typical throw someone in a facility and dope him/her up and nothing much else which is the way most normal places are... this place however tries to really help the troubled teens breakthrough their own troubles and look within themselves to try and deal with things and try and look at life in a different way... the head guy in charge is played by don cheadle who is always solid.

the story basically follows gordon-levitt as he goes through life in the psych ward.. and the people he meets and his struggle with everything.

the cast who portrays the group of troubled teens does good job at presenting the viewer with the type of people one would find in such an experience... one not familiar with the subject i think would believe that in such a place it is just a bunch of complete psychos biting their own hands and mumbling about president lincoln which isn't true for the most part... you will find all types of people from the severe to the slightly disturbed to the person who may be dealing with alot at that time but eventually would get through it and i think the way it was done in presenting this type of balance was good to see.

i came away very moved from the story and i think that's the sign of a good film if you are touched in some way after it fade's to black.. if you come way moved like where you feel the need to come on amazon and write your feelings on what you just experienced hehe... so ya i think it did what it set out to do.

i especially thought michael bacall's performance was great (he also cowrote the story) and i very much liked the ending and was really touched by how the girl's painting matched with the bus i felt all tingly when that hit me.

so go out and rent or buy this and give it a chance maybe you will like it.. maybe you won't all i can say is i did.

Paradise Lost: The Life & Times of John Milton

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Paradise Lost: The Life & Times of John Milton
Starring: Paradise Lost
Manufacturer: Arts Magic
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000NA1WAE
Release Date: 2007-04-24

Description

`Paradise Lost, the Life and Times of John Milton' covers not only the life of this supreme poet, but also one of the most enthralling periods of British history.
Milton lived to see England torn apart by civil war. London, his capital city, was ravaged by the greatest plague since the Black Death, and was then destroyed by fire. This was the crucible from which Paradise Lost was created, and the program investigates not only the poem itself and its structure, but also what its true meaning was for Milton in the political and religious terms of the day.

Average customer rating:

Really a shame ...
DON'T BUY THIS DVD!!!
5 STARS FOR THE EPISODES, 0 FOR WB!!!
WHY WB, WHY???
Boycott these DVD's

Justice League - Paradise Lost
Director: Joaquam Dos Santos , and Dos Santos
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000096IBN
Release Date: 2004-06-01

Description

The galaxy's ultimate crime-fighting strike squad, Justice League, continues its on-going battle against enemies on the Earth and beyond! In "Paradise Lost," sorcerer Felix Faust turns Wonder Woman's Amazon sisters to statues of stone! Then, Superman is captured by the warlord Mongul and plunged into a gladiator-style fight to the finish on an alien planet. Now, only Green Lantern and Hawkgirl can save their caped friend from the battle zone known as "War World." Don't miss these two 2-part episodes, as the world's greatest super heroes answer the call for helpin this Volume 3 from the animated series!

Customer Reviews:

Really a shame ..........2006-01-01

This is one of the worse cases of price-gouging I've seen in quite a while.

Personally, I LOVE the JLU tv show and I wouldn't think twice to pick up a box set (if they'd just release one). However, to make fans of the show buy it (basically) episode-by-episode, is really ridiculous.

I'm sure there'll be a box set at some point, you'd do better to save your money until then. If you need a fix in the meantime, these discs would make better rentals.

DON'T BUY THIS DVD!!!.......2005-03-11

It's an understatement that many of us feel ripped off by WB's attempt to unfairly empty our wallets. If we refuse to buy these horribly priced episode dvds and at the same time purchase the available full season box sets that are of value then we can make some headway. They are in the business of making $$$. Slowing their cash flow will force them to give us consumers' products we demand or risk losing our disposable income. Die-hard fans of this series and other series must convince every parent to withhold from purchasing these dvds until full seasons are made available. C'mon WB, we love these shows and will pay for them. We only ask that you don't rape our wallets. Give us the full season box sets much sooner.

5 STARS FOR THE EPISODES, 0 FOR WB!!!.......2004-09-03

As most of the people here i must say i hate WB so much! We, Justice League Fans, want SEASON BOX SETS!!! we dont want single episodes to be release, we want them all...Paradise Lost DVD contains episodes "Paradise Lost" and "Enemy below" which are great episodes from season 1 of the show...Please WB, release the SEASON BOX SETS NOW!

WHY WB, WHY???.......2004-06-05

Ok, hands down Justice league is one of the best animated DC show ever put on TV. And with Lustice League Unlimited on the way, its going to be even better. Who wouldn't want to collect this shows on DVD. Now on the next matter, I've noticed how everybody else commented on the number of episodes on this DVD and other ones like it. Technically its only 2 epsisodes if you put the part 1's and part 2's together. I wouldn't mind paying $80 - $100 for each season if WB puts it out. The reason I gave this DVD only 2 stars is only because of the number of episodes in this DVD. Each individual episodes are 5 star worthy but if WB keeps on doing this, its not only gonna lose its fan base but also is going to lose its viewers eventually. Its about time to put out the seasonal box sets. DO THE RIGHT THING PEOPLE.

Boycott these DVD's.......2004-04-19

When will WB get a clue and release box sets of their great animated Justice League, Batman or Superman shows? Nothing like alienating the fanbase by releasing 2-3 episodes on separate disks. Its greed, pure and simple. It's the same thing they did with the Scooby-Doo series of DVD's. Milk the heck out of Mom and Dad, who will buy anything their kids want and then after enough time has passed (and enough money has been made) release box sets of the same episodes, that the parents will buy again. It's a (...), there's nothing more to be said about it. Don't give WB your money. Boycott these sad DVD releases. The person or persons in charge of this release schedule should be fired.

Goin' Coconuts & Lost on Paradise Island Double Feature DVD NEW is sealed case

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Goin' Coconuts & Lost on Paradise Island Double Feature DVD NEW is sealed case
Starring: Donny Osmond , Marie Osmond , Ted Cassidy , and Herb Edelman
Director: David Greene
Manufacturer: East West Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

ASIN: B000MVNMDY

Paradise Lost (Broadway Theater Archive)

Average customer rating:

Saved by Eli & Jo
The scintilla in all of us
Great performance! Don't overlook it.

Paradise Lost (Broadway Theater Archive)
Starring: George Bartenieff , Jo Van Fleet , Bernadette Peters , MacIntyre Dixon , and Cliff Gorman
Director: Glenn Jordan
Manufacturer: Kultur Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000067IYM
Release Date: 2002-04-30

Description

Clifford Odets' portrait of the Depression, Paradise Lost, was premiered by the Group Theatre in a ground-breaking 1935 Broadway production directed by Harold Clurman and starring Luther and Stella Adler, Yiddish theatre legend Morris Carnovsky, Elia Kazan and Sanford Meisner, among others. It became one of the Group's most controversial plays and remains Odets' favorite. Set in 1932, Paradise Lost unfolds in the modest two-family home of Leo and Clara Gordon as misfortune strikes them and the people running with them. Less concerned with plot so much as characterization, it conveys what one critic calls Odets' "rich, compassionate, angry feelings for people." "It is my hope," wrote Odets, "that when people see [it], they're going to be glad they're alive. And I hope that after they've seen it, they'll turn to strangers sitting next to them and say 'hello.'" "A moving evocation of an apparently lost genre." --The Christian Science Monitor. With Bernadette Peters, Eli Wallach, Fred Gwynne, and Jo Van Fleet.

Customer Reviews:

Saved by Eli & Jo.......2007-05-23

Clfford Odets play with a lot of depression and hopeless scenarios. Setting is in 1932 Depression era . No money,no hope & future. Business in the Eli Wallach and Jo Van Fleet family goes under. One Son dying of sleeping sickness. Another Son married to a Tart killed in crime attempt. Bad times get worst day by day finally culminatng in forfeiture of home-sweet-home mortgage and dispossession.One feels Odet's purpose in writing this play was to make his audience reach a level of guild and depression.Undoubtedly a classic work of genius, but if your looking for a cheery or happy moment in this flick, you won't find it here. Not a smile in a carload !

The scintilla in all of us.......2007-03-16

Clifford Odetts dramatized the American depression in a way that transcends time and space. It is of a rare and refined beauty which one must experience and absorb in order to fully appreciate. Depression seems to be the order of the day for the protagonists as they contend with life, memories and ineptitude. Intellectual superfluous men abound and political radicals skirt the staging of a home where its residents cope, carry-on and troop along suffering tragedies and circumstances, unable to accept their fate and forever awaiting a turn in their luck. All the while there remains a confused but ever-present faith in life and the meaning and values it preserves. It is indeed a play that makes you happy to be alive but in a more profound way than may be initially believed. Long after a first viewing it ferments in your thoughts to avidly flesh out a philosophy about truth and reason, life and meaning, the way we live and the effect it has on all. The acting is absolutely perfect. It is a long three act play and deserves repeated viewings. Immensely rich and a broadway masterpece by all standards.

Great performance! Don't overlook it........2003-01-22

I can't commend this highly enough. I saw it on the local Public Television station here in Chicago when it was first broadcast in the early 1970s, and it made a tremendous impact on me. This play, and the very similar "Awake and Sing," are depression era dramas written by Clifford Odets and originally produced for the stage in the mid 1930s, when they were the cutting edge of contemporary theatre and dealt with contemporary issues. These new DVDs contain television productions done with top-notch casts in the early 1970s. I found them unforgettable, and am delighted to be able to savor them again after 30-plus years. They're just as good as I remember.

They tell their stories from a rather specific perspective, i.e., that of well-educated middle- and upper-middle class Jewish families living in New York, and falling on hard times during the depression. These people have pretensions of gentility and high culture, but quickly-encroaching poverty is grinding at that façade and leaving them without much more than primal survival instincts. The main themes they deal with, as I read it, are familial love (and how it sometimes mutates into betrayal or hate under pressure of poverty), what we owe to our fellow humans and vise versa, grace or the lack of it under extreme pressure, and the wisdom or folly of optimism for the future. I expect there are themes, subtleties, and symbolisms that I overlook, but they're extremely rich brews of ideas that can keep you pondering long after having seen them. What they are most emphatically NOT is light entertainment. Dark and somewhat depressing, they explore how severe economic pressures degrade the quality of life, and poison relationships with our families, friends, co-workers, neighbors, community and government. In this, they are not the least bit dated, and show that while individual issues may vary with time, human nature doesn't.

All of the above may make Odets' plays sound a bit ponderous or academic, but they're really gripping dramas, done here by superb players. Eli Wallach's impassioned, desperately optimistic speech at the end of "Paradise Lost" always gets me a bit teary-eyed.

Customer Reviews:

Hollywood Strikes Again.......2006-03-25

Once again, corporate america is attempting to gouge our pockets (and our common sense) with this junk offering. I am a die-hard JLA fan but I refuse to give in to this DVD piracy. This is classic carrot-and-stick. Once they've exhausted these copies MAYBE they'll finally start offering complete seasons. Don't waste your money on this piece of garbage.

Real JLA fans will protest and fight this injustice.

Don't Buy This Piece Of CRAP.......2006-02-11

Get the full season. . .it's coming soon and will be a MUCH better collection than this palrty garbage.

Warner Bros. should be tarred and feathered for offering this as a "Collector's Edition" - it's just repackaged copies of the single DVD's they've released - not worth the money, not even worth their price as frisbees to toss at idiotic WB exec's heads.

Save your money and have some patience.

JLA Collectors BEWARE!.......2005-10-21

As a 56 year old JLA collector (completist) with every JLA comic ever printed, bought from the stands, AND a masive collection of JLA related items, I thought this was going to be THE video collection to have. IT ISN'T. READ THE OTHER REVIEWS!

What WE all want is "JLA Season 1"; JLA Season 2" etc. NOT some jumbled mixture of some of the episodes while missing others. If WB wants MY money, they will do like they have done for Smallville, and release each season, in a COMPLETE collection with EVERY episode, in the order of their TV showing.

Don't waste you money on this, no matter HOW good the video is. If it isn't complete, you will just have to buy more later and waste your money on duplicated episodes.

Buyer Beware.......2005-08-10

A few years ago I purchased B:TAS VHS tapes. Then I purchased the DVDs. Then I purchased the collected box sets. Don't make the same mistake I did. I was lucky enough to sell my double copies however I still lost plenty of money. Warner will release a complete season box set or else people will illegally make their own by downloading them or getting them off the black market. Warner will be extremely niave to let this happen. Be patient wait for the season box sets.

I agree with many reviewers.......2005-03-22

It's a rip-off, selling the episodes three at a time and at inflated prices. Insert sermon on the disintegration of integrity and mankind's slide into a moral abyss sticky with ignoble motivation and short-sighted thinking. Phooey.
The show itself was very good, the writing transending the level of many TV shows and movies. Fun for us boomers who grew up with stuff like this, filled with messages of hope and basic humanitarian values, not the holier than thou hypocrisy that passes for "moral values" today.

Average customer rating:

Paradise Review
Lost Paradise
Beautiful film, but this edition...
Unrealized Potential
Japanese controversy at its best

Lost Paradise
Starring: Kôji Yakusho , Hitomi Kuroki , Akira Terao , Toshio Shiba , and Tomoko Hoshino
Director: Yoshimitsu Morita
Manufacturer: Tai Seng
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000059XU8
Release Date: 2001-04-17

Customer Reviews:

Paradise Review.......2007-07-04

This movie is not for minors. I found this movie okay. I would watch it again and recommend it. The poem the movie was based on was well acted out in the movie. I was not offended by the explicit love scenes.

Lost Paradise.......2003-06-20

Just how much would one be willing to sacrifice for the one you thought was your one true love? Now what if you were both already married??

This film explores a relationship between a man and a woman who embark on a journey to discover the extent of their passion and love for each other. Don't expect the Western style, passionately choreographed love scenes, you won't find them here - it is just not done like that in Japanese film. Instead, look deeper at the sensuality of the emotions the characters are expressing for each other.

Though this film may not quite fit into the reality of relationships in the Western world where it is relatively simple to just get divorced and move on, if you keep in mind the film is in the context of the Japanese culture, then you might discover some interesting cultural insights. The truth is that in Japan this type of relationship (except the sequence of events in the very end of the film) happens quite often and just isn't talked about. This certainly influenced the strength and level of interest when it originally was released in Japan.

This is an excellent film - sensual, erotic, with the added element of revealing some of the Japanese cultural aspects of this type of relationship.

Beautiful film, but this edition..........2001-06-25

This film is beautiful, delicate, romantic, trully sensitive. But this edition only have one chapter!!! The whole film in only one chapter! A star the less for that. But, this film is wonderful.

Unrealized Potential.......2001-06-12

Given the popularity of this film in Japan a few years ago, I was expecting something more. In many ways, the plot is derivative of "In the Realm of the Senses". While I have very mixed feelings about "In the Realm of the Senses", it had much more emotional (some of it negative, but nonetheless meaningful) impact than "Lost Paradise." "Lost Paradise" suffers from an abundance of mediocre love scenes (when a few genuinely moving ones would be better), a predictable ending, and a huge lack of character development. While the situation presented is a bit controversial due to the nature of Japanese marital laws, the film's failure is its inability to make the audience understand, or care about, the motives of the characters on anything more than a surface level. By the end of the movie, our protagonists are little more than cardboard cutouts going through their predestined motions.

Japanese controversy at its best.......2001-02-16

Lost Paradise is a phenomenal movie. The basic premis of this movie is that a Japanese business man who is married falls in love with a housewife of a prominent professor. They begin an affair that proves to be both erotic and with dire consequences. Starring in this movie is the lovely Hitomi Kuroki. She does a wonderful job acting as well as being just stunning on screen.

This movie was not without out its controversy when it was released in Japan. It is legal for a male to have an affair, but it still remains illegal for a woman to do so. Hence....controversy.

Description

One of the infamous `Four Devils' of the Japanese pink movie scene, Hisayasu Sato delivers an original and thrilling whodunit that moves through the layers of reality. Reporter Nukada's next big assignment is the secret world of Japanese phone sex clubs. He gets in touch with Midori, a part-time employee at the Banana Club, but is startled to hear she's been implicated in the bloody death of a client with perverted tastes, Kihara. Sensing a bigger story, Nukada's uncovers a link between Midori and the late Kihara's wife and realizes that the situation is much more complex than he imagined. And in this world of blood-play and electro-sex, the biggest shock has yet to be announced...

Customer Reviews:

Very Trippy, Very Steamy, Artfully Shot Pinku Film..........2007-04-27

I have been on a bit of a Japanese Pinku film bender of late, and this
is one of the more interesting of my recent purchases...

Notorious director, Hisayasu Sato directed this little gem in 1989. The
fact that a Westerner can acquire obscure films such as this on DVD
nearly 20 years after the fact is wonderful. We have Arts Magic to
thank for a fine batch of classic Pinku films unleashed recently on the
unsuspecting, always-hungry exploitation loving populous. Arts Magic is
best known for lovingly bringing the delicious 'Angel Guts' series to
us last year...

Anyways, 'Survey Map Of Paradise Lost' (or 'Hard Focus') is a very
trippy and steamy, highly sexualized little slice of film. One of the
things I like best about these films, is the swift and expeditious flow
of the proceedings. Most of Sato's film clock in at around 65 minutes,
which is the perfect length for materials of this nature. 'Hard Focus'
can be a confusing experience for those that feel they need to
understand the reasoning behind every little thing that occurs, as the
story arc occasionally gets a bit twisted. But for me, that is part of
the charm...

Me and my lovely girlfriend found this film to be VERY erotic. If you
are into fetishized sexuality, you will very likely feel the same way.
This was also an artfully shot film, very stylized...

I think that is one of the main reasons that Sato's films work so well.
Many of the shots are framed up very artfully and composed perfectly.
This film is full of original and exciting P.O.V. shots (the bath-tub
stabbing, the camera under-the-grate shot, the video-within-a-video
sequences). I also rather enjoyed the quasi-disturbing, evil late
eighties Japanese Industrial soundtrack that would periodically surface
during disorientating sequences...

If you are a lover of exotic and under-the-radar fare, Pinku films, or
exploitation, you will probably enjoy this film. I realize movies of
this nature aren't for everyone, but if you are reading this review,
that most likely means that you are interested in this sort of
cinematic fare. If that's the case, give it a shot. Just don't go in
with expectations. Pornography this is not (but damn, is it ever hot!)

DVD:

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