I'd never heard of director/writer Evan Dunsky before seeing "The Alarmist", but I'm willing to search out films by him now.  "The Alarmist", about a sales rep(David Arquette) for a home security company whom finds out his boss is robbing from the homes he sells to, is funny, tense, and unpredictable!  Stanley Tucci is wondeful as the morally decrepit boss, and Kate Capshaw(Mrs. Speilberg) has never looked this good, EVER!!!

Complimenting her wonderful visage is the excellent looking transfer from COLUMBIA TRISTAR!  There are no artifacts present, fleshtones are excellent and the clarity is wonderful.  The dolby surround sound is mostly unnoticeable, but when it does come alive, it offers some worthwhile directional effects.

Writer/director James Bridges has only made one other film worthwhile, "Mike's Murder".  Still, "China Syndrome"  is not a bad film to be remembered for.  To begin with, it plays just as well today as when it did just before calling the end for nuclear power plants.  Jack Lemmon, Jane Fonda, and a younger Michael Douglas are all terrific here. 

The COLUMBIA TRISTAR transfer is SHARP!!! As far as clarity goes, check out Fonda's hair!!!!  No, seriously there's incredible detail in every frame. The sound, although mono, is also quite sharp.  Also of note, COLUMBIA TRISTAR has been recently offering a variety of subtitles on this and newer releases, Portuguese, Thai, etc!!!! GREAT JOB!!!

Frankly, we expected more from the director of "Usual Suspects", but this adaptation of a short story by Stephen King, leaves room for improvement.  While it does succeed in being disturbing, it's not clever, or even captivating, as was visible in his earlier work. The story is about a disturbed adolescent whom after finding out a neighbor is actually a nazi-in-hiding, decides to learn evil from him, so as to then carry on the past horrors in the present.

The dvd transfer from COLUMBIA TRISTAR is flawless.  When we viewed this in the theater, the sound wasn't nearly as elaborate as what's offered here with the active dolby digital 5.1 soundtrack.  It's virtually non-stop directional effects, for atmosphere "and" music.  The image is excellent, with great clarity in the darkest scenes, and consistent fleshtones and fine contrast in the very bright scenes, particularly near the end.  A featurette is also offered.

This reviewer considers "Bottle Rocket" one of the best comedies of the '90s.   With that said, she's a little disappointed in the dolby digital 5.1 sound mix!!!   It's not present!!!  I expected a more elaborate sound mix than the fine one offered on the laserdisc version, but the laserdisc version offers more consistancy in directional effects throughout the film.  The dvd transfer, however, looks great.   The detail in every frame is splendid.  There are a lot of close-ups here, and the detail to every single hair is obvious in this glossy transfer!!!!