Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on August 14th, 2006
Where your trusty columnist has joined the ranks of the Xbox owners…
Things have moved along like people have figured in the next-gen DVD wars, which is to say, there isn’t a clear winner since the last time we talked. There is some news from Paramount, being that Mission: Impossible III will release SD, Blu and HD DVDs all on the day and date (10/30 for those who are curious). The HD release and extras will be duplicated from the Blu-Ray extras, with the exception of a picture-in-picture commentary ...ith director J.J. Abrams and Tom Cruise. Whether Tom tries to induct J.J. into Scientology during the commentary or not remains to be seen, but the commentary will be exclusive to HD-DVD.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 13th, 2006
I've said it before, and as long as Warner Brothers keeps putting these classic discs out, I am going to keep on saying it. No studio respects their classic film catalog like Warner's. They have done marvelous things with their special editions of classic films, such as their fantastic 2-disc tin box release of King Kong. They have the largest collection of classic films on the planet, including the entire RKO Pictures catalog, and they are succeeding in introducing an entirely new generation of film fans to the best that cinema has to offer.
In addition to their wonderful single-title releases, they started releasing “Signature Collection” boxed sets of a couple of years ago. These are sets of films featuring a single actor or director, and they are packaged in beautiful boxes, complete with the original artwork for each film. This time around, they are focusing on five films by Ronald Reagan. Included in this box is the 1942 Best Picture nominee King's Row, 1949 film The Hasty Heart, the surprising (and way ahead of its time) drama Storm Warning, the inspirational baseball film The Winning Team and the beloved film Knute Rockne All American, which reminded the world to “win one for the Gipper”.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 12th, 2006
You would have to either be from another planet, been raised by wolves or be under the age of 15 to not have some sort of a personal history with Full House. The show was a staple of Friday night television for eight seasons, defying all logic and proving that the general public doesn't always know quality when they see it. The story about a non-traditional household was inexplicably popular, despite the fact that it got consistently poor reviews year after year. Even more surprising was how many careers came out of the show. Of course, Bob Saget went on to play a similar role as the host of America's Funniest Home Videos, but John Stamos went on to marry Rebecca Romijn... a match that nobody saw coming or truly understood. And then, of course, there is the multi-million dollar phenomenon that is the Olsen twins.
This particular season falls fight in the middle of the show's run. The big storyline here is the marriage of Uncle Joey and Becky, a plot line that runs from the proposal to the wedding and beyond. Other storylines include Stephanie getting glasses (apparently a major trauma) and one major character getting pregnant. I respect the fact that the show is trying to evolve, but in the end, this is just the same old soft crap that we have already seen for three previous seasons.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 11th, 2006
I think the fact that Invasion only ran for one season is more of a result of circumstance than anything else. The series starts with a very large hurricane hitting Florida, and the rest of the season dramatizes the aftermath of such a tragic event. Unfortunately, the series made its debut right after the real life hurricane Katrina wiped out much of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. With the 24-hour coverage of the real-life disaster plastered all over the airwaves, audiences just didn't feel much like unwinding with a dramatization of the very same experience.
It's a shame, too, because the hurricane aspect of the story was really just a catalyst to bring on the true story of the series. This was not a show about hurricanes, this was a show about extra-terrestrials. I am always a fan of sci-fi shows that masquerade as traditional dramas, and this one really pulls it off. One of the best things about shows like Alias and Lost is that they spawned other well thought out shows such as this one. It was not long ago that a show would start with a basic idea of characters and place, and the series would evolve over time. Now we are starting to see shows that have an entire couple of seasons planned out before the first episode is even shot (such as 24 and HBO's fantastic Carnivale). The result is a television program that plays more like a detailed mini-series. This is a winning proposition for both networks and fans, as the story builds slowly over time, a personal investment is made in the program.
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on August 11th, 2006
A CNet article from Austrailia explains that PC Blu-Ray drives aren't able to play Blu-Ray movies released by studios as there aren't PC video cards or chipsets capable of handling HDCP.
Not good.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 10th, 2006
Tell me if you've heard this one before... a high school girl is not allowed to join a certain club because it is boys only, so she dresses up like a (transvestite) boy to sneak into the club and prove that she has girl power!
Seriously, how many times can Hollywood make the exact same movie, before somebody sues somebody for copyright infringement? I understand the argument that each new generation of teens will pay big bucks to see the same crappy movie that has been made every couple of years for generations, but come on. Does nobody have any artistic integrity left?
Posted in: News and Opinions by Archive Authors on August 10th, 2006
Discussing the old school DVD’s that still sound and look great in the era of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technology.
The submarine film is tough to improve upon. With classics such as Das Boot, The Hunt for Red October, and even Crimson Tide, the submarine film genre is chock-full of movies with intense drama and claustrophobic action.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2006
It goes without saying that the James Bond franchise is the crown jewel of the MGM and Sony vault. And in preparation for Daniel Craig’s turn as the man who likes his martinis shaken and not stirred in Casino Royale, it was decided to let them run with some things in order to double-dip Joe Q. DVD Buyer. And in the UK, where Bond reigns supreme, these new “Ultimate Editions” of all the James Bond movies have just been released (don’t worry US fans, these are on their way in November).
The UK version ...f this collector’s set is somewhat snazzy, as there’s a locking metal attaché case that houses all of the films (20 in total), and each film gets a 2 disc edition to boot. So the bottom line is that if you’re a fan of Connery, Moore, Brosnan, Dalton and Lazenby, get that fridge by the TV installed and get a case of diapers ready, because you’re getting married to that furniture for the short and intermediate term with 40 discs of James Bond cinematic joy. I did some skimming of the titles, and decided to get this party started by watching Octopussy. I think the reason I might have gone with this is that I think this may have been the first Bond film I saw in the theater, and I remember it being a really cool thing to see as a tyke growing up as the son of a British mother.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2006
Well, there’s nothing quite like your first, and when producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman decided to bring about a barely 30 year old Scotsman named Sean Connery, whose most recent work was as a British soldier in The Longest Day, into the film version of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, who had any idea that Dr. No would become a culture landmark, let alone a movie franchise?
Now, one of the first things that comes to mind when you watch Dr. No, if you haven’t watched it in aw...ile (or at all) is that Michael Myers seems to liberally steal from this film when it comes to the Austin Powers trilogy. Connery (as Bond) goes to Jamaica to discover the reasons behind a disappearance of a colleague. There he meets his American CIA contact Felix Leiter (holy crap, that’s Jack Lord from Hawaii Five-O!) and with the help of some of the locals, they meet a mad scientist named Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman, Viva Zapata!), and he captures Bond and a female companion named Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress, Clash of the Titans), feeds them a lavish dinner while telling them about a plan to destroy the world for money, and James and Honey get out of the trap to eliminate them while James saves the world while telling Michael York about it (wait, stumbled into the wrong film there).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 8th, 2006
Synopsis
A group of masked criminals, led by Clive Owen, take over a Manhattan bank and hold everyone there hostage. Denzel Washington arrives on the scene as police negotiator, and he rapidly finds that his opponent is extremely clever, and appears to know every move the police will make even before they do. Complicating matters further is the arrival of Jodie Foster, an ice-cold fix-it woman hired by bank-owner Christopher Plummer to protect his interests: there is a safety deposit box he desperate...y wants to avoid having opened.
