Customer Reviews

Somewhere Tomorrow [Slim Case]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I picked this DVD up for a dollar at a supermarket. The sound quality is terrible. It is so soft that I had to put one of my stereo speakers to my ear to hear it. Hopefully when you buy it through Amazon you will get decent volume.

The plot fits in pretty well with all of the books about life after death, beginning with Raymond Moody's Life After Life and, even before that, Seth Speaks, and running right through to the excellent books by Michael Newton. The premise is that after we die we leave our bodies and continue to exist. Don't expect too close an agreement with those books, though. This is, after all, just a story. There is no claim to accuracy.

There is a plane crash. It appears that both young men in the plane survived the crash, but then we see scenes indicating that one of the men died. Sarah Jessica Parker's character is the only person who sees him, apparently as a ghost. And she falls in love with him.

Why hasn't he gone on to Heaven, or wherever the dead are supposed to go? Is he there to help split up the budding romance between Sarah's mom and her cop boyfriend? Might he be there just to calm Sarah down about the upcoming marriage her mom is contemplating? Sarah is deeply hurt by the possibility that her mom may forget Sarah's deceased father and marry another man.

There is a surprise ending. I won't ruin it for you, but all I will say is that before you reach the last few minutes of the film, you don't know everything, or as Yogi said, It ain't over til it's over.

It's really a heartwarming story. I disagree with the other reviewer on this site, who described this film as a bit of fluff. It is more than that. I also notice that the other reviewer gave it the same five star rating that I did, so perhaps he sees it as more than just a bit of fluff. It's a beautiful story.

How close is it to reality? We'll just have to wait and see, won't we.

An extremely "low-budget" production only adds to the charm and innocence of this film! I seriously doubt that a movie of this kind could be made today because current audiences seem to expect and only respond to "in your face" entertainment. Somewhere Tomorrow is a truly exceptional film filled with magic and wonder! Highly recommended to viewers who enjoy simple, straight forward "fairytales" come to life. A great date movie and a very cool early 80's time capsule!

I would like to note that there are several versions of this film available on DVD. I am only familiar with the 89 minute release from "Legacy Entertainment". I'm mentioning this fact because the running times listed for this film range from 89 minutes to 91 minutes depending on which DVD you buy. I have yet to determine if there's actually 2 extra minutes of footage contained in the 91 minute version. My guess is that it has been time expanded or the production company is taking into consideration the "menu" or "titles" as part of the running time.

Unfortunately the transfer quality for the "Legacy Entertainment" version is very poor. I have not tried one of the other releases to compare quality. I would also recommend staying away from most other titles released by "Legacy Entertainment" because the quality can be quite horrible (worse than if you used an old VHS rental tape as the master).

I can only give three stars because of the poor DVD transfer.

Sarah Jessica Parker was quite a versatile child actress and subsequently turned into a very good adult actress as "Sex in the City" proved.

In "Somewhere Tomorrow" she played the vulnerable Lori whose loss of her father in a plane crash has deeply affected her.

While her mother appears to be picking up the pieces of her life, dating the local Sheriff, Lori is struggling to come to terms with the changes going on around her in which she feels she has no control.

And the biggest change for Lori is the selling of the family horse farm and her mother's decision to marry again.

However despite all these many trials and tribulations Lori is about to fall in love herself but the only problem is, is that Terry the boy of her dreams, played by Tom Shea is a ghost!

His death in a plane accident has left him "trapped" on earth and the only person who can see him is Lori!

We are treated to a delightful series of escapades as Lori and Terry try to work out what is going on and during this time love blossoms between the teenagers.

This is a tender, gentle story about loss, love, forgiveness and moving on with ones life.

Sarah Jessica Parker is wonderful as the fragile teenager Lori and Tom Shea is delightful as her ghostly boyfriend Terry.

Look out for Sarah Jessica Parker singing part in the film, she has a really good voice and the song is lovely!

Well worth a bucket of popcorn and a box of Kleenex!

This DVD release by Guilty Pleasures-Media Blasters is the full length version (91 minutes) I notice some scenes are missing on various releases listed below.

The DVD release for SOMEWHERE TOMORROW is very interesting because several DVD companies notably Digiview/Legacy (US/Canada)-Walmart (US)/ MRA (Australia Region 4)/Boulevard Entertainment-Woman's Own (UK Region 2) and finally AN OFFICIAL RELEASE BY THE COMPANY THAT CO-PRODUCED THIS FILM MEDIA-BLASTERS. I have every copy and studied the quality of the DVD transfer. Digiview, Walmart, Legacy and MRA are very grainy and choppy in places (Poor transfers). The Boulevard Entertainment (UK) and Media-Blasters (US) are perfect DVD picture (clarity/sharpness/no bleeding colours) quality and are clearly direct film transfers. Interestingly Media-Blasters (US) originally released 'Somewhere Tomorrow' on Video in the 1980s.

This is an entertaining twist of a story, with delights of joy and sadness, blended with humour about dealing with death of a loved one, in this case Lori's father. Somewhere Tomorrow was made in 1983. Despite the low budget it's got a great storyline, though you may need to watch it twice to understand the twist towards the end. A charming and moving film.

Thankyou Media-blasters for finally releasing the rare gem of a film on DVD.

SOMEWHERE TOMORROW

(1983)

Sarah Jessica Parker's first starring role. Romance weaves with the supernatural in this sensitive tale of a fate with circumstance. Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex in the City) plays a young girl, mourning over the loss of her father. Nothing it seems can break her sorrow. Fate intervenes one day in the form of a small plane crash that takes the life of a young man, who rather than ascending to the great beyond, finds himself still on earth and the object of Sarah Jessica Parker's affections. Together they must find out why he remains earthbound and unravel the mystery. Will answers be found ? Can love survive beyond death ? You will be touched by the answers as this compelling drama unfolds.

I'd guess the film is/was made for TV. Also look for Elizabeth Shue, in her film debut. A interesting note is Sarah Jessica Parker performs two onscreen songs in the film. (Not too shabby I might add.) One with her male co-star playing guitar and a solo accompanied by a piano. Basically, the movie is cutesie fluff, but very heartwarming and keeps you captivated as to what will occur. Could be very helpful for depressed children dealing with a family death.



2005 DIGIVIEW DVD


INTERACTIVE MENUS

STANDARD FULL FRAME

ENGLISH

COMPATABLE WITH ALL DVD PLAYERS / REGION FREE.

" The Secret of Life lies in the certainity of Death..For without it, we would not strive to leave our mark." This is just one of the profound insights that this very simple but extremely inspirational film. This little film has more value than the entire series of the shallow, self indulgent Sex In The City..

Sarah Jessica Parker stars as a teenager having trouble getting over the death of her father. As this movie starts Lori is upset that her mother is considering getting married to someone else given the premature death of her father just a few years ago. All of that is put on hold when the girl witnesses a small plane crash while she is out riding her horse one day. She goes over to check on the two in the plane crash and gets help. After help arrives and she is dismissed - while walking back home - she discovers the pilot (Terry) walking though the woods. She takes him to the hospital to get him help and they have a great conversation -- only eventually she discovers that Terry is dead and she has been talking to a goast. Both are shocked and Lori passes out.

Cut to a few weeks later she is sure she was dreaming or something but Terry shows up. He apparently went to his funeral and has discovered that she is the only one that can see him. Accordingly he needs her to contact his family etc. Also since it has now been weeks he is sure that she must play a role in the reason he has not moved on. So they embark on trying to figure out why he hasn't moved on and how to get that to happen. While the two try to do this they fall in love and also the goast helps Lori be a bit more accepting of her mother's decision to marry another man and to accept her dad's death.

Eventually the goast does move on and there is a great twist at the end that excellently explains how this girl could have been talking to a goast. It is also implied that she had this experience as a direct result of her dead father trying to send her a message about letting go. Additionally the pilot is not dead (although the plane crash was real) and Lori now has the opportunity to meet the real man and embark on a relationship with him.

This is not a fluf movie. I thought the scripting was thoughtful and accurate. For example when the girl first determines that the goast is real - she is scared! As anyone would be. He has to calm her down. Too many fluf movies such as "just like heaven" have the characters totally accepting of seeing a goast -- for plot purposes. Another issue that wasn't ignored was that Terry was older than her and he was aware of that. Both actors do a wonderful job. Sarah Jessica Parker was wonderful here.

I wish that Hollywood would remake this well with great stars of today such as Kirsten Stewart / Wentworth Miller. It was a truely smart romantic story with an unexpected message.

This is a teen romantic comedy/drama with some serious themes about death treated in a way that's very optimistic, to say the least. Teen Sarah Jessica Parker has to deal with her father's death, her mother's moving on to a new romance, and her own romance with ... a ghost. This is apparently pitched at a high school age audience but is well enough done for older folks to enjoy, if you go in for this kind of thing. I thought it had some originality, some good humor, no gaping holes that you can't fill in with a little effort, if you're inclined to. Sarah Jessica Parker sings in it, which is a bit odd given how awkwardly it comes off, but that brief moment may be of interest to fans.

The film is rated PG, has a "family film" feel, with just a little of what might be considered very mild adult situations. The film was obviously low-budget, but the production values and acting are good enough for the story.

As others have said, be careful which release you get. I have the Digiview release, which is very cheap used but only fair in video and sound quality. Still perfectly watchable, at least for me. You can sometimes find the Digiview DVD for a buck at discount stores. Luke73 says the Guilty Pleasures/Media Blasters release is better, so it might be worth the extra cash for you if you're particular.

I have now been able to compare TWO of the DVD versions available. One by "LEGACY" and one by "DIGIVIEW". The DIGIVIEW release sometimes comes in a THIN case. The picture quality on both releases is a bit "soft" but I believe that the DIGIVIEW version is slightly crisper (not by much). I would recommend that you purchase the one with the lowest price, and the DIGIVIEW version regularly shows up at 99 cent stores! The LEGACY version is also available in a box set called "Tales of the Heart" with three other films (challenge the wind, choices, silence of the heart). I would recommend that you avoid that box set at all costs because the transfers for the other films are quite horrible! The transfer of Somewhere Tomorrow on the box set is the same as the stand-alone LEGACY version.

I won't go into a review of the film itself because it has already been covered! I'll just say that if you like fairy-tales and tend to enjoy other "early 80's" entertainment... you'll love this one!

-JM

This is a review of the Digiview edition of this movie, which is still available here and there, for very little cash. The picture quality of this version is OK, about what you'd expect for the price, i.e. a little soft, somewhat grainy, colors not very saturated, but still fine to watch for the story. The sound is clear mono (if it's stereo, as the box says, I couldn't detect it), with a little static in a couple places but otherwise OK. The production values for a low budget film are pretty good. There are at the moment a couple other editions available through Amazon, including one that a reviewer (Luke73) says is better (the Guilty Pleasures/Media Blasters release), so it might be worth the extra cash for you if you're particular.

Other reviews do a good job explaining the plot. I'll just add that this is apparently pitched at a high school age audience but is well enough done for older folks to enjoy, if you go in for this kind of thing. It's a romantic comedy/drama with some serious themes about death treated in a way that's very optimistic, to say the least. I thought it had some originality, some good humor, no gaping holes that you can't fill in with a little effort, if you're so inclined. Don't be put off by the singing that runs over the menu at the beginning. The movie's better than that (though I do wonder why the singing ended up in it at all). Despite what the box says, this is rated PG, has a "family film" feel, with just a little of what might be considered very mild adult situations.

If you like this one and want to see something with some similar themes, but pitched at a far higher level, try Truly, Madly, Deeply (unfortunately hard to find at the moment).