DTS (English)

Four Brothers (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006

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With impressive urban dramas under his belt, John Singleton sets out to create another classic. Boyz n The Hood is always associated with this genre, in terms of quality it remains a classic drama. Four Brothers doesn’t attempt a serious get out of the hood type movie, but rather an action film with serious themes and tones. Well that’s not to say that there isn’t a laugh or two in here, because there sure is.

It’s a cold November night in Detroit; Evelyn Mercer enters a convenience store to …
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Goldfinger (Region 2)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 29th, 2006

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Synopsis

Of all the Bond films and the various images and gadgets that have come from it through 20 films, the one that probably crystallized most of these images is Goldfinger. You have the awesome Aston Martin car with the ejector seat, machine guns, and the like. You had the female who could kick ass and had a really cool name in Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman, Bridget Jones’s Diary). And you had Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton, Ten Little Indians) experiencing the most creative death to…
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Sahara (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 11th, 2006

Sahara tells the story of Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey) and his buddy Al Giordino (Steve Zahn) as they travel to a country called Mali in search for what the locals call “The Ship of Death”. This “Ship of Death” is a lost Civil War ship named the CSS Texas that has a huge cargo of what was thought to be gold. Once there, Dirk and his buddy run into Doctor Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz) who’s about to be executed for muddling in business that is, well, none of her business.

This “business” turns out to …
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Italian Job, The (2003) (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 9th, 2006

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The 2003 remake of The Italian Job is about five men named Charlie Croker (Marc Wahlberg), Handsome Rob (Jason Statham), Lyle (Seth Green), Steve (Edward Norton), and Left Ear (Mos Def) who are all part of a group that pull off elaborate heists. The leader of the pack, John Bridger (Donald Sutherland), has decided he wants to quit the game presumably to spend more time with his daughter Stella (Charlize Theron). The only thing is that he wants to commit one last going-away theft so that he can not only secure …
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Bone Collector, The (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 3rd, 2006

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The Bone Collector tells the story of a man named Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) who has been confined to his Manhattan bed after being injured on his job by a falling beam. Lincoln has since become a Quadriplegic who simply wants to kill himself, and his nurse (Queen Latifah) is planning on assisting him in his suicide. As he is planning this, Lincoln learns of a serial killer who has been abducting random people, throwing them in a taxi and proceeding to torture them in extremely gruesome manners. Lincoln…
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Octopussy (Region 2)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2006

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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 …
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Dr. No (Region 2)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 9th, 2006

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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…
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We Were Soldiers (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 1st, 2006

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We Were Soldiers unfortunately, was a film that didn’t really find its audience, and was also a casualty of the 9/11 attacks. Whereas Black Hawk Down was released in late December 2001/early January 2002 and made almost $110 million, We Were Soldiers was released six months later, and made $30 million less. Figure in the then-recent surge of big studio films of that genre in recent years, notably Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, perhaps We Were Soldiers was the film …
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Jimi Plays Monterey/Shake! Otis at Monterey

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 28th, 2006

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There was a time when no major groundbreaking events were captured on film. The thing is, it’s sometimes hard to know when something of historical significance is going to occur. Major events such as World War II and the fall of the Berlin wall were planned in advance (so to speak), so it was easy to set-up a camera and capture the event. Spontaneous events, however, were mostly passed over. As technology has progressed, however, it has become easier to capture important and notable moments on the fly. September 11, …
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About Schmidt

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 26th, 2006

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Jack Nicholson can make a convincing case for being one of the greatest actors of all time. He’s had his share of memorable moments in movies, with quoted lines etched in our brains. It took a while for me to get “You can’t handle the truth!” out of my head. He has also turned in outstanding performances in lesser known movies that have shown his range and dramatic ability. Alternate viewing recommendations to see Jack in action include Hoffa and The Pledge, among a variety of others….In About Schmidt, the follow-up effort by Alexander Payne (Election), Jack strips away the sunglasses, the eyebrow and the devilish grin, puts on 20 pounds, and gives us a performance that some have labeled as career defining.
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Tristan & Isolde

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 26th, 2006

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Let’s face it. Movies released in January usually aren’t very good. Yes, some of these movies are Oscar hopefuls that are released nation-wide, but only after being released in selected cities to quality for those Oscars. No, we’re talking about stinking piles of crap like Uwe Boll’s Bloodrayne here. Being that January is Hollywood’s cinematic dumping ground, it comes as no surprise that Tristan & Isolde was released during this very same month in 2006.

Delayed for nearly a year, Tristan & …
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Monterey Pop Festival

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 20th, 2006

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The 60’s have become something of a caricature of themselves. Take a girl with straight hair and flowers, throw in a “groovy” and a “man”, add some grainy photography, and you’re all ready to go. It is sometimes hard to remember that there was a time when this was not a kitchy formula, it was just the way that it was. This film is so authentically steeped in 60’s hippie culture that it almost doesn’t seem real when the footage starts rolling. Once the film begins to sink in, though, the viewer is completely drawn in …
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Trainspotting

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 20th, 2006

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I’ve seen people quote this film from time to time, and I never understood the attraction because I saw it once and forgot about it. After a bit of intrigue, I finally got my hands on a copy of the US version of this 2 disc set (though the UK version, with the orange cover and silhoulette image of Ewan McGregor on the cover looks much cooler) and gave it a spin, lo and behold, I discovered a pretty good movie.
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Chronicles of Riddick, The (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 1st, 2006

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The Chronicles of Riddick takes place about five years after the events of Pitch Black. Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) continues to fight for his life on Crematoria (what a name), a planet whose sun, apparently, is so blazingly hot that every 15 minutes it blankets everything beneath it basically vaporizing it. But that doesn’t really matter all that much now does it. For Riddick, who is one of the few surviving members of the Furions, has been captured by the Necromongers and now must find a way to po…
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Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) (HD DVD)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 28th, 2006

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The 2005 Version of Assault on Precinct 13 is an obvious remake of John Carpenter’s 1976 classic. Precinct, for Carpenter, was one of his first films made before his ultra famous Halloween. But if anyone has seen the 1976 version, you can easily know what will come from the 2005 version. Instead of making a possible change to the 2005 version, Director Jean-Francois Richet decided to use the similar theme of a police station being abandoned that Carpenter did. Instead though, Richet focuses on the corru…
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Wedding Singer, The (Totally Awesome Edition)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 18th, 2006

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Synopsis

Adam Sandler plays Robbie Hart, wedding singer in 1985, making a living covering other people’s songs, but happy with his life, until he is dumped at the altar. Total professional meltdown then ensues (in the big money scene that everyone saw in the trailers). Hope for romance still exists, however, in the person of Drew Barrymore, a waitress about to be married to a total jerk.

This is the film that demonstrated that Sandler was more than a one-trick pony, that the man could act i…
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Punch-Drunk Love

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 22nd, 2006

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A critically acclaimed Adam Sandler film? I’d never would I have thought I’d see the day. I guess if The Truman Show is one of Jim Carrey’s dramatic stabs, then the star of Big Daddy can give a romantic comedy a try. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia), using a story from the “Strange But True” category, combined with adding a touching tenderness to his characters, wrapped up with Sandler, playing a quiet, soft spoken man prone to fits of blind rage.

Sander is Barry …
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Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 24th, 2006

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After the transformation of the Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings books into hugely successful films, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to tackle C.S. Lewis’s famous novels The Chronicles of Narnia. Both of the aforementioned books into movies were excellent because, even though they didn’t include every little detail presented in the novels, fans still embraced the films for what they were. They brought a majority of the presented themes and ideas in the books and showed u…
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Unbreakable

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2006

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Synopsis

I think that by revisiting Unbreakable, and looking at it outside of M. Night Shyamalan’s other films (The Sixth Sense and Signs), there’s actually a pretty good movie going on there. I mean, a movie that grossed $95 million domestically can’t be considered a failure, right? It did, however, do amazing overall numbers, the international totals brought the film up to a near $250 million gross. However, I guess when you put them up against Signs ($227 million domestic, $40…
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Standing in the Shadows of Motown

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 23rd, 2006

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Synopsis

What bothers me about music, aside from the sanitized, overmarketing of a band or artist, is the way that those who play it for its enjoyment are cast aside so rudely and without thought. In Frank Zappa’s outstanding “The Real Frank Zappa Book”, he talks about appearing at a jazz festival with his group the Mothers of Invention, and witnessing the legendary Duke Ellington pleading for a $10 advance on his appearance fee. Quoting Zappa’s response; “We’d been together in one configuration or another …
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Walk the Line

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 19th, 2006

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Riding on the coattails of the successful and acclaimed film Ray comes the life story of Johnny Cash. Walk the Line, adapted from the novel The Man in Black, places Joaquin Phoenix in the role of the legendary country singer. Similarly to Ray, Walk the Line has garnished critical acclaim for both the film (which was a surprise omission in the Best Picture category at the Oscars) and the lead roles of Phoenix and Witherspoon (both of whom won best actor/actress and the Golden Globe…
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Bruce Almighty

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 6th, 2006

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Synopsis

For awhile, Jim Carrey looked to be taking the career path that Michael Keaton had previously established. Start off with strong, hilarious comedic performances, attempt to get into dramatic roles with some critical success, and fade into the sunset, with the occasional bad script choice. While Carrey hasn’t dipped into the Jack Frost period yet, with The Truman Show and Man on the Moon, Carrey had established the fact that he could pull off carrying a dramatic movie, and do it…
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My Summer of Love

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 27th, 2006

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Synopsis

Based on the novel by Helen Cross, and adapted for the screen and directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, My Summer of Love is an interesting story about two girls in Ireland (or England) who find friendship in each other’s company among a sea of desolation.

Mona (Nathalie Press, Chromophobia) lives above a pub that her brother Phil (Paddy Considine, In America) owns. But Phil, an ex-con, has found religion, and plans to close the bar and turn it into a gathering place for fel…
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Flightplan

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 17th, 2006

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Jodie Foster stars in this film as a propulsion engineer named Kyle Pratt who decides to take her six year old daughter Julia on a transatlantic flight aboard a brand new jumbo jet (which she helped design). Aboard the plane, her daughter goes missing. Naturally she has no clue what is going on as the captain (Sean Bean), nor the sky marshal (Peter Sarsgaard) are of any assistance. Foster calmly looks around the plane for her daughter wondering what has happened to her. We learn more and more facts about the daughte…
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Bridge of San Luis Rey, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 14th, 2006

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Synopsis

I was amazed that a film starring three Academy Award winners (Robert De Niro (Raging Bull), Kathy Bates (Misery), F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus) would be so ignored and passed over by the movie going public. Based on a novel by Thornton Wilder and adapted for the screen and directed by relative unknown Mary McGuckian, the film recounts a tragic incident where several people fell to their death from a bridge collapse. A monk by the name of Brother Juniper (Gabriel Byrne, The Us…
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