After being visited by an eerie light on his 37th birthday, small-town auto mechanic George Malley (John Travolta) suddenly discovers that he's got a brain like Einstein's, powers similar to the Amazing Kreskin, and a voracious appetite for reading books (this is a great reading-is-cool movie). As George makes one new discovery after another, he attracts the attention of both scientists and government agents, while arousing the fears and suspicions of the local townspeople. Although the love story with single mother Kyra Sedgwick is not in the least phenomenal, the rest of the film works on the strength of its heartfelt charm, and strong performances by Travolta, Robert Duvall, and Forest Whitaker. Recommended. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—July 17, 2012—Buena Vista, 135 min., PG, $14.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1996's Phenomenon sports a nice transfer and features a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. The sole extras are trailers. Bottom line: a welcome Blu-ray debut for this solid Travolta vehicle.]
Phenomenon
(Touchstone, 123 min., PG, avail. Jan. 14) Vol. 12, Issue 1
Phenomenon
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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