Jeff Probst, Stacey Stillman, Dir. Mark Burnett (II)

ASIN: B0001ZDKXI

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Here’s where it all began. The first season of Survivor dominated the ratings in the summer of 2000, helped spur the reality-TV craze, and inspired countless water-cooler jokes about getting voted off the island. The first season established the formula that would continue, with sometimes surprising variations, over numerous subsequent seasons: 16 people intended to represent the American mosaic are stranded far from civilization (in this case, the island of Pulau Tiga, off the coast of Borneo), struggle for food and shelter, compete in a series of physical and mental challenges, and at the end of each three-day episode vote out one of their fellow contestants. After 39 days, the one sole survivor who is able to outwit, outplay, and outlast the others wins a million-dollar prize. Because the Survivor craze preceded the craze for complete-season DVD boxed sets, the first season was represented on DVD and video by a 150-minute highlights package called Season One: The Greatest and Most Outrageous Moments. Now, all 13 episodes are available in a five-disc set (the fifth disc is …Outrageous Moments) that contains every challenge, every political maneuver, every next-episode preview and previous-episode recap, every tribal council including the famous finale, and the reunion show. If you started watching Survivor in the Australian Outback or later, this is the perfect opportunity to see how host Jeff Probst, scheming Richard Hatch, tough truck driver Sue Hawk, ex-Navy SEAL Rudy Boesch, athletic Kelly Wiglesworth, and the others got the ball rolling. If you did watch the first season, here’s your chance to relive it, and you also get an enthusiastic group commentary by host Jeff Probst (poking fun at himself) and contestants Hatch (talking the most, which should surprise no one), Boesch, and Gervase Peterson on the first and last episodes, plus some minor featurettes (seven minutes of footage of the contestants leaving L.A. for Borneo, David Letterman’s Top 10 featuring the contestants, and 10 minutes of new interviews with Hatch, Boesch, and Peterson). Many reality shows have come and gone in the meantime, but in terms of staying fresh over a long run, Survivor has outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted them all.

Jane Seymour & David Carradine

ASIN: B00004WGC2

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ASIN: B00009V7OP

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This was a great movie about the struggle of a young man from the mainland United States who experiences the harsh realities of the Hawaiian islands and its’ culture. The director of this movie used graphic representations of the “local” native hawaiian’s views on foreigners to depict a society based on drugs, violence, and crime. This however, is not the total truth. Being from the islands, I was able to see the contrasts between what is and is not factual. However, being foreign to the

Hawaiian islands might lead one who views this movie to stay away from this paradise. All in all, this is one of those must see movies for anyone who enjoys watching raw, on the edge action about an incredible society in the middle of pacific ocean.

Dir. Chris Cudlipp

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A romantic comedy about a lonely postman, a desperate hitchhiker, a gifted sculptor, an infatuated pilot, a blind sailor, a street kid, a mistress, a miner, a butcher, two thieves and a dead man. Walter and Claudia crashed into the story by plane. The others arrived in a bag of mail!

Harisson Ford, Anne Heche, Dir. Ivan Reitman

ASIN: 6305213283

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Most critics dissed this romantic comedy pairing Harrison Ford and Anne Heche, but Heche gives a great performance and the script has its moments. The premise finds Heche’s pampered New York magazine editor stranded on a tropical island with Ford’s burned-out bush pilot. Add water snakes, pirates and an uptight fiancé, and guess what happens?

The African Queen meets Swept Away in this sometimes labored romantic comedy by director Ivan Reitman. Fortunately, he cast an old pro in Harrison Ford, as Quinn Harris, a South Seas charter pilot who must ferry New York fashion editor Robin Monroe (Anne Heche) from one island to another–a hop that falls flat when they fly into a mammoth storm that causes them to crash on a deserted island. The pair resent and resist each other, until they are forced to team up to escape from the island–and some modern pirates who want their heads. If that part of the story is unconvincing, you can always focus on the smoldering comic chemistry between Heche, who displays strong comic instincts, and the ever-reliable Ford. The script is just an excuse for these two flinty characters to strike increasingly romantic sparks off each other, which is always enjoyable to watch.