Search - Blast From the Past on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 Content Advisory: Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Suitable for Teens Movie Release: 1999 DVD Release: 07/27/1999 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 52 mins Studio: New Line Home Video Members Wishing: 21 Genres: Comedy, Romantic Comedy, Comedy of Manners

In 1962, Calvin Webber (Christopher Walken) was a brilliant but somewhat paranoid scientist living with his Donna Reed-esque wife, Helen (Sissy Spacek), in Los Angeles. In the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a plane crashed into the Webber's yard. Mistaking the blast for "the big one," the Webbers moved into their elaborate bomb shelter to wait out the half-life of radioactive fallout. In the shelter, now a sort of time capsule, Calvin and Helen conceived and raised their son Adam (played as an adult by Brendan Fraser). For 35 years, Adam was raised on Jackie Gleason, Perry Como, and stories about life on the surface. Calvin taught his son about science, baseball, and communists while Mom taught Adam about dancing, good manners, and charming young ladies. Just in time, too, as Adam is sent to the surface to gather supplies and find a wife, preferably a nice, non-mutant girl from Pasadena with which to repopulate the world. Once this "fish out of water" story is set up, the fish, Adam, is set adrift in a sea of supermarkets and adult bookstores, but is soon caught by Eve Rustikov (Alicia Silverstone). Completely lost above ground, Adam enlists Eve's help to navigate his new world and find the supplies on his list. The literally sheltered Adam falls for this bitter, cynical, street-smart woman who grew up in a bleak Los Angeles with little use for love. Living with her gay roommate, Troy (Dave Foley), Eve has had her hopes chipped away by a long line of dead-end jobs and loser boyfriends. When the throwback Adam enters her life with his sunny disposition, seersucker jacket, and joy at seeing the sky, she can't help but fall in love. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide

Brendan Fraser - Adam
Alicia Silverstone - Eve
Christopher Walken - Calvin
Sissy Spacek - Helen
Dave Foley - Troy

This straightforward DVD release of Blast from the Past is as light on features as the story is in general. The disc includes widescreen and pan-and-scan versions of the movie on a single-sided, dual-layered disc. The widescreen version is a non-anamorphic transfer at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Both transfers seem to have been sourced from pristine prints, and exhibit neither scratches nor speckles. Colors are strong and accurate throughout, with excellent blacks and good shadow detail. Edge enhancement and compression artifacts are absent. The disc includes Dolby 5.1 and Dolby Surround tracks and English subtitles. Both audio tracks are clean, well-mixed, and unspectacular; for a movie of this kind, serviceable audio is perfectly adequate. Both tracks have a good punchy bass that will provide subwoofers with a fairly decent workout. The disc extras include the theatrical trailer, a corny "Love Meter," cast and crew information, and a DVD-ROM section (using PC Friendly) that provides detailed background on the film, access to the shooting script with the ability to look at a scene after reading the script section (the script can also be printed out), a copy of the early Internet Movie Database page on the film (and a link to the updated page), and a selection of elements taken from the original film site. The bonus section is nice, if not mentally challenging. ~ Steven E. McDonald, All Movie Guide