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[tab title="Movie Review"]

Anaconda (1997)

"This film was supposed to be my big break and it turned out to be a big disaster."  Yes, those are actual lines spoken in this flick.  Jennifer Lopez says them to Jon Voight and the scene, which features Voight hilariously responding in his ridiculous accent "it's been a long time since I had a woman" is hilarious.  Yep.  Anaconda is back, baby!

"There are no special features, but the fact that the movie looks great on 1080p is enough for me to keep enjoying this beyond LAME flick"


And in this corner, weighing close to 300lbs, is the movie that hangs around everyone’s neck who paid $10 to see it 1997.  For me, I was living in Los Angeles and it was there at the AMC in Santa Monica where I first saw this LEGENDARY B-movie.  Oh, the memories!  The choking on the popcorn!  The laughter!  The relief that this movie, without a serious bone in its body, nailed its tone.  For me, that’s how my love for Anaconda, the flick that angered a nation, began.

And now Mill Creek re-releases this flick on a Blu-ray/DVD combo release!  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I know Mill Creek didn’t go all out with its release.  There are no special features, but the fact that the movie looks great on 1080p is enough for me to keep enjoying this beyond LAME flick.

Director Luis Llosa Urquidi, a Peruvian film director, can bring the B-movie hammer down like few others in the 1990s.  While he is known for hitting the action hard with movies like The Specialist and Sniper, it is Anaconda where he did his best/worst work and still it stands tall thanks to a cast that includes Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Kari Wuhrer, Jonathan Hyde, Owen Wilson, Vincent Castellanos, and a brief cameo from Danny Trejo.  And they are ALL in on the joke that is this fun-filled flick. {googleads}

Employing more than a little of the knowledge he learned while cranking out exploitation flicks for producer Roger Corman, Urguidi keeps things fast and focused as his audience is routinely amused by lousy dialogue and horrible accents while documentary filmmaker Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) takes a rag-tag crew of semi-professionals along with her to the Amazon.  They are in search of a lost tribe.

But something rather long and legendary finds them instead.  Alongside an “anthropologist” (Stoltz) and her cameraman (Cube), who always threatens to get the hell back to LA, the team discovers that they are all being manipulated by Paul (Voight).  He wants to capture the million dollar prize that is stalking them all: the anaconda!Anaconda (1997)

Taking the Sir Mix-a-Lot song quite literally, Jennifer “My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hon" Lopez fills her jungle bootie shorts well and Wuhrer, caught in the act with Wilson, provides ample enough looks at her equally legendary bosom.  This is B-movie terror-tory through and through and Urguidi is an excellent guide through the humid jungle.

Some of the effects no longer work.  That much is true; especially when the snake leaps out toward its victims and starts breaking bones with its tight embrace, but none of that derails the unintentional hilarity of watching Wilson and Ice Cube argue about how to best capture the anaconda.  And the hunting scenes are sidesplitting because the humans, suddenly armed to the teeth, are the ones being hunted by this scaly beast.  They just don’t realize it.

Nobody move.  Anaconda is now on sparkling blu-ray thanks to Mill Creek.

4/5 beers

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Anaconda (1997)

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Mill Creek Entertainment
Available on Blu-ray - May 14, 2019
Screen Formats: 2.40:1
Subtitles: None
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set; DVD copy
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Presented in a crisp 1080p transfer, Anaconda is a film of pristine B-movie beauty thanks to this transfer.  The monster flick doesn’t show much aging.  The film is dominated with reds and jungle-like greens that absolutely burst with color.  The clothes are detailed and the backgrounds burst with new details and a nice level of clarity.  Black levels are solid and skin tones are natural.  Shadows are defined and the film has a new depth previously unseen.  Audio wise, the DTS-HD MA soundtrack is clear and the dialogue is never lost or hard to hear

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

  • None

Blu-ray Rating:

  Movie 4/5 stars
  Video  4/5 stars
  Audio 2/5 stars
  Extras 0/5 stars

Overall Blu-ray Experience

2.5/5 stars

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[tab title="Film Details"]

Anaconda (1997)

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense adventure violence, and for brief language and sensuality.
Runtime: 89 mins
Director: Luis Llosa
Writer: Hans Bauer, Jim Cash
Cast: Jon Voight, Jennifer Lopez, Eric Stoltz
Genre: Horror | Action | Thriller
Tagline: When you can't breathe, you can't scream.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Is it just me or does the jungle make you really, really horny?"
Theatrical Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Official Site: https://www.facebook.com/anacondamovies/
Release Date: April 11, 1997
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: May 14, 2019
Synopsis: A film crew headed by anthropologist Steve Cale and director Terri Flores journey through a river to find a mysterious Indian tribe and shoot a documentary on them. They save a guy called Paul Sarone from a sinking boat. He offers to help in their search for the tribe, but he is actually a snake-hunter looking for legendary anaconda snake, and when Cale is bitten by some tropical insect, Sarone takes over the boat.

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[tab title="Art"]

Anaconda (1997)

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