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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.85:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer ( )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • French: Dolby Digital Stereo
  • German: Dolby Digital Stereo
  • Italian: Dolby Digital Stereo
  Subtitles
    French, Italian, English - Hearing Impaired, German - Hearing Impaired
  Extras
  • Theatrical trailer

All the Right Moves

20th Century Fox/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 87 mins . M15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Tom Cruise looks so much like one of my sister’s ex-boyfriends in this film, I forgot it was Cruise occasionally. Which was both a blessing and a curse, for where Cruise wasn’t, the boyfriend, ‘Butchy Boy’ as we brothers called him, was. Frightening.

This rather ordinary movie tells the story of Stefan Georgevich (Cruise), a star quarterback for the Ampipe High School football team (Ampipe is named after the steel mill the town was built around; American Pipe and Steel.) Anyway, he has big dreams of getting out of town and being an engineer rather than a steelworker like the generations before him.

Being a gifted footballer he is in line for several scholarships until one fateful game where he defends his co-players and insults the coach. The coach gets pissed and spreads the word he has a bad attitude and suddenly Stef can’t get arrested in this town or any other. Realising in his selfishness he has ignored the fundamentals of life around him, he finds his centre and begins rectifying the troubles in his life to try and become an engineer after all.

As far as films go, this one is so flat and predictable it wasn’t even amusing. Shot in 1983 at the beginning of Cruise’s career, it’s so gung-ho American dream it’s sickening. One thankful addition, however, is in Lea Thompson as Cruise’s girlfriend Lisa. Unfortunately, she doesn’t get anywhere near the same screen time as Cruise, but she does get her gear off which is really the only highlight in this otherwise sluggish, vapid and pandering film.

  Video
Contract

Yep, that’s right. Four yellow spots out of ten. This is among the worst transfers I’ve ever witnessed and coming from Fox, this is a joke. Cheap shitty films that don’t expect many sales get transfers like this and... ohhhh. I get it.

Picture quality varies from low-level grain to full-blown sandstorm throughout. Add to that the myriad film artefacts, the blue flares (see 00:09:00 and 01:15:08-20 for examples) and the constant film reflection in darker scenes and this spells visual nightmare. The quality is so poor it certainly doesn’t make watching this painful film any easier.

  Audio
Contract

Fortunately, the sound quality is good at least. Unfortunately though, we get a bevy of power ballads and early '80s radio rock to fill out the teen angle. Truly woeful. David Campbell’s score is of the style of the time, yet does lend some credit to the film, if not an Oscar-winning background sound.

Dialogue is all fairly well spoken and we’re rarely asking ‘what did he say?’. Sound effects are all okay as well, but practically ‘invisible’ as they should be. Overall the audio for this film, which is presented in seemingly standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround (regardless of whether a film will waste it or not... which it does here) is the best part of this disc alongside this next part; the extras...

  Extras
Contract

See all them yellow spots? All these are granted for the one inclusion here of the theatrical trailer. This is in far and away better condition than the film itself! I’ve never been so appalled in my reviewing life as to witness this role reversal. Delivered in 1.85:1 and 16:9 enhanced, this gets the gong because it sums the whole film up in it peppy 2:34 and looks better doing it.

  Overall  
Contract

My recommendation is that this is for the hardcore fans of Cruise or Thompson only, and even these people should think very carefully on it. Perfectly horrible visuals (including Cruise with his gear off) do nothing to help this film in the least. An appalling transfer and no extras will no doubt see this baby sitting on shelves long after DVD itself has been forgotten or society has crumbled or the steel mill gets shut down or something.

Avoid.


  • LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=2747
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      And I quote...
    "So you like Tom Cruise’s early works? Well look closer because this transfer is a right shocker."
    - Jules Faber
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Nintaus DVD-N9901
    • TV:
          Sony 51cm
    • Receiver:
          Diamond
    • Speakers:
          Diamond
    • Surrounds:
          No Name
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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