I watched the 1st season on SyFy, and again just recently on Blu-ray. It is an impressively well-thought-out production, with some elements that reminded me of the Babylon 5 series. All the acting is 1st rate, good special effects are sprinkled here and there that make it look quite realistc, plot devices move the story along without looking plugged-in, and a tension exists on-screen that makes you want to watch the next episode. There's a lot to like here, and I've seen enough of the 2nd season to say it is shaping up to be as good as the 1st!
Reviews
73 Reviews
Vikings
(2013–2020)
Are you not entertained?
9 August 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I read a few pages of 'Vikings' reviews and I am apparently the only one not entertained by murdering thieves slaughtering unarmed people just because they can. They might as well show a slaughterhouse braining cattle; it is the same sort of event. Although the evidence clearly points to this sort of activity going on much like this, it is not entertaining to watch. What really fixed it for me was on the next raid when the Vikings were offered peaceful trade and slaughtered them anyway. These are not heroes to me. Other reviewers pointed some obvious problems with certain characters such as the Viking leader and his wife, the impossible Swedish scenery and the ridiculous accents. I went in really wanting to like 'Vikings', but I don't.
Oz the Great and Powerful
(2013)
Not so fast, not so fast!
7 November 2013
Oz the .... will never be mistaken for a great movie or one that lets you forget about the classic Wizard of Oz. The pacing seems a little off sometimes and the dialog is occasionally stilted. That said, I was generally pleased with it. Some scenes & effects are obvious tributes to the 30's classic and were enjoyable. I've been put off by James Franco in other movies, but unlike many here I think he played a sleazy carnival con man who is slowly turned into a good guy fairly well. Rachel Weisz does the best with her role, but she had some of the best lines while others had more clunky dialog. Oz the Great and Powerful is worth seeing.
A decent remake that could've been better
9 September 2009
Warning: Spoilers
The Day... starts out well enough and has some good thoughtful ideas, but ultimately loses at the end after its innovations gets chipped away, leaving only derivative formula.
The Day... is faithful in many ways to the original, except that Klaatu doesn't really have a message for Earthlings. We are considered a planetwide pest that must be removed so that Earth may live. Thus it is reasonable that Klaatu isn't very talkative or in for chats with the gov't types sent to check him out, generally being rude hosts to the spacefarer.
With that setting I think the movie plays out fairly well, but there's problems. I didn't care for Benson's stepson; compared to the perky kid from the original, his role as a brat drags the movie down. Bates' Sec'y of Defense and her minions are typical Hollywood gov't. goons and get zero for distinctiveness, but they do move the story along in more or less the same way the Army idiots did in the '51 movie.
The biggest disappointment is GORT. GORT is great as he's originally introduced, and continues to represent the ultimate menace very well, until he doesn't. Then GORT gets Hollywoodized with flashy CGI stuff and is no longer GORT as we all know and love but a sort of nanobot locust swarm. The filmmakers seemed to know that the original GORT was cool, and his nanobot structure was a neat idea, but evidently they can't resist their addiction to CGI and mess him up. Bad decision.
The Day The Earth Stood Still is required viewing for sci-fi geeks and it is best seen immediately before or after watching the original. I like both but the original still rules.
The Day... is faithful in many ways to the original, except that Klaatu doesn't really have a message for Earthlings. We are considered a planetwide pest that must be removed so that Earth may live. Thus it is reasonable that Klaatu isn't very talkative or in for chats with the gov't types sent to check him out, generally being rude hosts to the spacefarer.
With that setting I think the movie plays out fairly well, but there's problems. I didn't care for Benson's stepson; compared to the perky kid from the original, his role as a brat drags the movie down. Bates' Sec'y of Defense and her minions are typical Hollywood gov't. goons and get zero for distinctiveness, but they do move the story along in more or less the same way the Army idiots did in the '51 movie.
The biggest disappointment is GORT. GORT is great as he's originally introduced, and continues to represent the ultimate menace very well, until he doesn't. Then GORT gets Hollywoodized with flashy CGI stuff and is no longer GORT as we all know and love but a sort of nanobot locust swarm. The filmmakers seemed to know that the original GORT was cool, and his nanobot structure was a neat idea, but evidently they can't resist their addiction to CGI and mess him up. Bad decision.
The Day The Earth Stood Still is required viewing for sci-fi geeks and it is best seen immediately before or after watching the original. I like both but the original still rules.
Apocalypto
(2006)
Great action, costumes and location shooting
21 June 2009
Warning: Spoilers
The filmmakers spent a lot of time & money making Apocalypto look authentic. Although the end result is something of a mishmash of New World cultures and periods, Apocalypto is visually one of the most fascinating movies released lately. From the the beginning depiction of the life of a hunter-gatherer tribe to the eye-popping scenes at the Mayan city, you'd have to be dead not to be enthralled by it all. More than anything, however, Apocalypto is an action movie, and there's plenty of it. From start to finish you will be on the edge of your seat. No doubt others have noticed the similarity of the chase sequence to that in the classic 'Naked Prey', but that's not a bad thing. I had the most difficulty with the arrival of the Europeans during the time of the Mayans. That along with the bloodthirsty nature of the natives' ceremony seemed more in the realm of the Aztec. That's Hollywood!
Cirque du Soleil: Varekai
(2003 TV Special)
As good as a circus gets
15 January 2005
This isn't the first circus with a story I've seen, but its the best. No animal acts, clowns in minicars or individual stand alone performances, this sort of circus is highly stylized with a usually vague story, singing and music to blend one act after another.
Some of the performers come from long lines of family acts, but there's also a fair number of Olympic caliber athletes looking to work their talent outside of competition. The acts are not all great, but are at least good and a few are exceptional. I thought it was pretty amazing that they are all done flawlessly in front of a live audience: Not one dropped prop, clumsy trip, dorky fall or wardrobe malfunction.
I'm not often drawn to the artsy/pouffy sort of humor. It tends to be too French for me, and it just doesn't appeal. Not all things French, just their humor. Any sound effects resembling gastrointestinal activity are apparently the ultimate comedy. The least appealing parts of Varekai involved that same French humor, and knocks the score down a little. I enjoyed the other comic acts in the show, whether they were French or not.
You can't beat a live circus show, but there are some advantages with watching this one on a widescreen. It was shot in HD format so it naturally takes in wider shots, and there's many angle shots, overheads and closeups that the live audience would never see. Colors are almost oversaturated but thats because so much of the circus is in bright primary colors. Varekai even has a DTS soundtrack and employs all the 5.1 system to good effect. The 2nd disc has some bio info on the performers and a short on getting selected and training for a live performance. The DVD set comes in a foldout box within a box, and gets an 8/10.
Some of the performers come from long lines of family acts, but there's also a fair number of Olympic caliber athletes looking to work their talent outside of competition. The acts are not all great, but are at least good and a few are exceptional. I thought it was pretty amazing that they are all done flawlessly in front of a live audience: Not one dropped prop, clumsy trip, dorky fall or wardrobe malfunction.
I'm not often drawn to the artsy/pouffy sort of humor. It tends to be too French for me, and it just doesn't appeal. Not all things French, just their humor. Any sound effects resembling gastrointestinal activity are apparently the ultimate comedy. The least appealing parts of Varekai involved that same French humor, and knocks the score down a little. I enjoyed the other comic acts in the show, whether they were French or not.
You can't beat a live circus show, but there are some advantages with watching this one on a widescreen. It was shot in HD format so it naturally takes in wider shots, and there's many angle shots, overheads and closeups that the live audience would never see. Colors are almost oversaturated but thats because so much of the circus is in bright primary colors. Varekai even has a DTS soundtrack and employs all the 5.1 system to good effect. The 2nd disc has some bio info on the performers and a short on getting selected and training for a live performance. The DVD set comes in a foldout box within a box, and gets an 8/10.
King of New York
(1990)
Crime war smackdown
10 January 2005
I'm struggling about whether King of... is merely a watchable movie about New York drug traffic wars or something more than that. At the moment I think it is mostly a good vehicle for Christopher Walken to show yet again why he plays the best crime boss of the modern era, as well as some earlier work by Laurence Fishbourne and Wesley Snipes.
The movie looks and feels older than it really is. This is my first look at a Ferrara movie, so I'm guessing he deliberately gave everything a cheap feel. It could just be shot with cheap film. Criminals and even cops die by the truckload, and Snipes/Fishbourne collectively engage in one the noisiest in-your-face death scenes that predates the knife fight in Saving Private Ryan, with weirded-out Caruso putting in his two cents. For all the bloodletting, there's not huge amounts of gore. The shock value is in the sudden lethal gunfire from a totally ruthless bunch.
This is the 2-disc Special Edition DVD, and I offer it as proof that the studios are whipping out so-so re-releases, adding a few extras that hardly anyone will watch, and giving DVD collectors severe feelings of inadequacy for not owning the latest 'anamorphic' remaster. Luckily, I don't care enough about this movie to have an older version. The main thing that takes up both discs is the movie, in widescreen and pan & scan, but I guess they felt too guilty to stuff it all on a two-sided disc. It looks about as good as it probably can, considering it wasn't' shot with beauty in mind, and the 5.1 soundtrack operates on all thrusters. the DVDs are 6/10 for being less than they appear.
The movie looks and feels older than it really is. This is my first look at a Ferrara movie, so I'm guessing he deliberately gave everything a cheap feel. It could just be shot with cheap film. Criminals and even cops die by the truckload, and Snipes/Fishbourne collectively engage in one the noisiest in-your-face death scenes that predates the knife fight in Saving Private Ryan, with weirded-out Caruso putting in his two cents. For all the bloodletting, there's not huge amounts of gore. The shock value is in the sudden lethal gunfire from a totally ruthless bunch.
This is the 2-disc Special Edition DVD, and I offer it as proof that the studios are whipping out so-so re-releases, adding a few extras that hardly anyone will watch, and giving DVD collectors severe feelings of inadequacy for not owning the latest 'anamorphic' remaster. Luckily, I don't care enough about this movie to have an older version. The main thing that takes up both discs is the movie, in widescreen and pan & scan, but I guess they felt too guilty to stuff it all on a two-sided disc. It looks about as good as it probably can, considering it wasn't' shot with beauty in mind, and the 5.1 soundtrack operates on all thrusters. the DVDs are 6/10 for being less than they appear.
The Searchers
(1956)
More than just a Western
24 December 2004
Warning: Spoilers
A story set in Texas, Monument Valley substitutes for the less dramatic Texan landscape. Only Hollywood would think that log cabins would make sense in a vast scrubby area with almost no trees, water or land you can actually make a living on. This is what popped into my mind when I saw the 1st scene. Its a fantastic photogenic country, but it ain't Texas. Fortunately you can learn to live with the substitution after a while.
John Wayne made plenty of standard gung-ho movies and even a few comedies, The movie is full of stereotypes. Murdering savage Indians on the warpath, stealing women and generally being a pain in the ass. Brave frontiersmen charge into an Indian village and shoot at anyone, moving or not. Feuds that last a lifetime. Classic Western music marking it as a product of WWII era. Etc... You could sign it off as almost a caricature of a Western. Racism, senseless slaughter of man and beast, brutality, etc.. , but what they miss is John Ford knew it was there when he made the film. When Wayne's character starts firing madly at the buffalo herd, when he shoots people in the back or determines to kill the girl that "The'Searchers' have been looking for because she's 'been living with a buck', you have to make the leap that he's playing an unlikeable bigoted murderous man by intent, and that this isn't a standard John Wayne role. His experience in the Civil War, warfare with Commanche and seeing his womenfolk raped and murdered has made its mark. John Ford telegraphs the message over and over again in dialog and scenes that a lot of bad things are happening, and even though some of the characters don't seem to know it and act like dumb bumpkins, the killing-that-begat-more-killing also gives the Commanche plenty of reasons to want to murder white settlers. Only near the end does Wayne soften a bit, apparently finally moved by the undying loyalty of the other 'Searcher' had for finding and protecting his 'sister', regardless of the life that was imposed on her or that she really wasn't his sister. This is difficult material in the PC days we now live in and except for some revisionist tripe it doesn't get touched with a 10 foot pole. Jeffrey Hunter plays the other Searcher. He was almost the Captain of the Enterprise in original Star Trek Series, playing it in the series pilot. There's several other notable actors.
Even though it has a higher purpose than one might first think, I can't give this movie a top score as there's just too much hokey stuff in it. The music just isn't my type. There's also a disjointed staging of scenes sometimes; characters are here one moment, then without any segue or sense of continuity, a new scene just starts and they're somewhere else. John Ford's strength is in capturing stunning landscapes, camera placement and framing a shot. In that he's been much admired and imitated.
The DVD looks good and with 1.85 anamorphic data gets about as much on a 16:9 screen as a DVD can. The sound is a bit simpler with just a 2.0 Mono. My subwoofer only thought it was getting something to do. A few extras amazingly include some location shots. 7/10
John Wayne made plenty of standard gung-ho movies and even a few comedies, The movie is full of stereotypes. Murdering savage Indians on the warpath, stealing women and generally being a pain in the ass. Brave frontiersmen charge into an Indian village and shoot at anyone, moving or not. Feuds that last a lifetime. Classic Western music marking it as a product of WWII era. Etc... You could sign it off as almost a caricature of a Western. Racism, senseless slaughter of man and beast, brutality, etc.. , but what they miss is John Ford knew it was there when he made the film. When Wayne's character starts firing madly at the buffalo herd, when he shoots people in the back or determines to kill the girl that "The'Searchers' have been looking for because she's 'been living with a buck', you have to make the leap that he's playing an unlikeable bigoted murderous man by intent, and that this isn't a standard John Wayne role. His experience in the Civil War, warfare with Commanche and seeing his womenfolk raped and murdered has made its mark. John Ford telegraphs the message over and over again in dialog and scenes that a lot of bad things are happening, and even though some of the characters don't seem to know it and act like dumb bumpkins, the killing-that-begat-more-killing also gives the Commanche plenty of reasons to want to murder white settlers. Only near the end does Wayne soften a bit, apparently finally moved by the undying loyalty of the other 'Searcher' had for finding and protecting his 'sister', regardless of the life that was imposed on her or that she really wasn't his sister. This is difficult material in the PC days we now live in and except for some revisionist tripe it doesn't get touched with a 10 foot pole. Jeffrey Hunter plays the other Searcher. He was almost the Captain of the Enterprise in original Star Trek Series, playing it in the series pilot. There's several other notable actors.
Even though it has a higher purpose than one might first think, I can't give this movie a top score as there's just too much hokey stuff in it. The music just isn't my type. There's also a disjointed staging of scenes sometimes; characters are here one moment, then without any segue or sense of continuity, a new scene just starts and they're somewhere else. John Ford's strength is in capturing stunning landscapes, camera placement and framing a shot. In that he's been much admired and imitated.
The DVD looks good and with 1.85 anamorphic data gets about as much on a 16:9 screen as a DVD can. The sound is a bit simpler with just a 2.0 Mono. My subwoofer only thought it was getting something to do. A few extras amazingly include some location shots. 7/10
They could make one a year ad infinitum
24 December 2004
I had trouble with ROTK in the theatrical release, and once again the DVD Extended Edition soothes my irritation with additional footage. In this case about 50 minutes of added footage, so you're looking at 250 minute commitment of time just for the movie, and if you want to see significant chunks of the extras, you'd better call in sick or forget the ball game, and order pizza. Its worth it, and if you pay attention you'll see Peter Jackson take an arrow from Legolas. It may play longer but a smoother flowing movie seems like a faster movie. Just don't pay attention to the clock.
The EE doesn't fix the problem with the big battle at Pelennor Fields aka Siege of Gondor. As soon as the ghost army arrives everyone else may as well take up making mayonnaise, because the ghosts spank the bad guys' collective ass. They should've figured out something else to keep the battle edgy. Up to that point it was exciting to see the Riders of Rohan charge and a realistically terrified Eowyn stick it to the Witch King.
The Frodo/Sam/Gollum segment is the strongest half of ROTK. If Frodo had any Spidey Sense it would've been tingling around about Chapter 38, but he was not himself anymore. Lugging The One Ring around has taken its toll. Sam is the hero and Middle Earth's Last Best Hope is saved by a gardener, which is better odds than being saved by a politician. Sam would've dived into a dragon's throat to rescue Frodo, and he does something just as hard and much ickier. The film doesn't quite get it across that Shelob is sentient, but it scores high on making her big, smelly and icky, although I was slightly disappointed that she didn't bleed very much green or yellow goo.
There's also a lot of finality in the 2 extra discs from the ROTK extended edition. End of Principle Photography, End of Pickup shooting, Last Oscar party, etc... They finished the movies almost 4 years ago and did some touchup pickup shots for it in the summer of 2003. There's more CGI in ROTK than in the previous 2 films combined. The WETA workshop must've wound up with a helluva server farm for all that rendering. It was nice that some of the actors bought the horses they rode on in the films, and there were some other touching 'end of' things happening.
This is the best group of movies ever made IMHO. If they never do anything else, the cast and crew have already done enough. Years from now, when they're old or gone, The Lord of the Rings will remain on the short list of serious movie fans, a point of reference to what great movies are. I've imagined lots of stories they could tell with the remaining Hobbits, and Legolas and Gimli were supposedly inseparable so they could've gone on to more adventures, like leading a bunch of dwarfs into Moria. One movie a year would be good.
The EE doesn't fix the problem with the big battle at Pelennor Fields aka Siege of Gondor. As soon as the ghost army arrives everyone else may as well take up making mayonnaise, because the ghosts spank the bad guys' collective ass. They should've figured out something else to keep the battle edgy. Up to that point it was exciting to see the Riders of Rohan charge and a realistically terrified Eowyn stick it to the Witch King.
The Frodo/Sam/Gollum segment is the strongest half of ROTK. If Frodo had any Spidey Sense it would've been tingling around about Chapter 38, but he was not himself anymore. Lugging The One Ring around has taken its toll. Sam is the hero and Middle Earth's Last Best Hope is saved by a gardener, which is better odds than being saved by a politician. Sam would've dived into a dragon's throat to rescue Frodo, and he does something just as hard and much ickier. The film doesn't quite get it across that Shelob is sentient, but it scores high on making her big, smelly and icky, although I was slightly disappointed that she didn't bleed very much green or yellow goo.
There's also a lot of finality in the 2 extra discs from the ROTK extended edition. End of Principle Photography, End of Pickup shooting, Last Oscar party, etc... They finished the movies almost 4 years ago and did some touchup pickup shots for it in the summer of 2003. There's more CGI in ROTK than in the previous 2 films combined. The WETA workshop must've wound up with a helluva server farm for all that rendering. It was nice that some of the actors bought the horses they rode on in the films, and there were some other touching 'end of' things happening.
This is the best group of movies ever made IMHO. If they never do anything else, the cast and crew have already done enough. Years from now, when they're old or gone, The Lord of the Rings will remain on the short list of serious movie fans, a point of reference to what great movies are. I've imagined lots of stories they could tell with the remaining Hobbits, and Legolas and Gimli were supposedly inseparable so they could've gone on to more adventures, like leading a bunch of dwarfs into Moria. One movie a year would be good.
One of the best westerns, with or without spaghetti
16 December 2004
TGTBTU is a work of art. It took an Italian director to get the Old West right, at least on screen, dumping the hokey musical scores and make believe good guy/bad guy cowboys and indians hokum that killed a lot of Hollywood westerns, while retaining the epic scope that the vast landscapes evoke (even if it was really Spain). This 3rd movie centering on the Man with No Name (not exactly true, but its catchy) was the 1st that Leone got the inimitable Ennio Morricone to score from the outset, and that score has such an impact there's no doubt it has a lot to do with TGTBTU's attraction through almost 40 years. It really sticks with you! This Ultimate Spaghetti Western was also elevated by a bigger budget and much stronger screen presence of its principal characters. Eastwood, Wallach and Van Cleef are true screen legends, competing any which way they can for the stolen bags of gold, culminating in the most famous gunfight in moviedom.
I also rate Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West a 10. It is a less revered movie than TGTBTU but in some ways is Leone at his absolute peak.
The 2 DVD pack is an absolute must for anyone with even a mild interest in film. The remaster is a wonder of restoration technology and looks glorious. It now has a 5.1 DD audio soundtrack that remains mostly at the front, with an occasional surround explosion or gunfire that surprises you. They've added 18 minutes to the film, essentially the initial release of the film seen in Rome, and if you're a Leone fan you can pick out at least some of the added footage. The additions were good overall; for the most part the story flowed better but there was some unnecessary fluff. The 2nd disc has some good featurettes that include some modern commentary by Eastwood and Wallach, a little documentary on the Civil War backdrop, trailers, and even a couple of deleted scenes! The DVD gets a 9.7/10, losing a bit because it is in a non standard case that has no reason to be higher and wider than usual.
I also rate Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West a 10. It is a less revered movie than TGTBTU but in some ways is Leone at his absolute peak.
The 2 DVD pack is an absolute must for anyone with even a mild interest in film. The remaster is a wonder of restoration technology and looks glorious. It now has a 5.1 DD audio soundtrack that remains mostly at the front, with an occasional surround explosion or gunfire that surprises you. They've added 18 minutes to the film, essentially the initial release of the film seen in Rome, and if you're a Leone fan you can pick out at least some of the added footage. The additions were good overall; for the most part the story flowed better but there was some unnecessary fluff. The 2nd disc has some good featurettes that include some modern commentary by Eastwood and Wallach, a little documentary on the Civil War backdrop, trailers, and even a couple of deleted scenes! The DVD gets a 9.7/10, losing a bit because it is in a non standard case that has no reason to be higher and wider than usual.
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
(2004 Video)
They'd be be better of at the Old Toons Home
16 December 2004
This isn't your father's Disney. The original Disney franchise players now reside in the Land Where Everyone is Nice, preschool toons rendered in kiddie-grade Pixarish 3D. Mickey always was a little wimpy but even Donald has been completely Dippified with the Evil Daisy Duck browbeating him at every opportunity. He was a WWII hero for chrissakes, selling War Bonds to defeat the Nazis! Goofy has become a caricature of himself and his goofiness has been choreographed to a perfect death, Huey Dewey & Louie can't stay conniving for more than 30 seconds without guilt spoiling it all, while Pluto would be better off on Animal Control's 3 Day Plan. Its not pretty, what they've done to these old Toons.
The only way to reclaim my interest after this would be Donald doing his popular 'Who's Your Daddy?' with Daisy sparking his enthusiasm. I'd like to see someone with a duckbill pull that off They could've made it an Easter egg, being ducks after all. I can give this one a 7 because kids like it. They don't know any better.
The only way to reclaim my interest after this would be Donald doing his popular 'Who's Your Daddy?' with Daisy sparking his enthusiasm. I'd like to see someone with a duckbill pull that off They could've made it an Easter egg, being ducks after all. I can give this one a 7 because kids like it. They don't know any better.
The Silence of the Lambs
(1991)
Sure its psychological, but is that a good thing?
1 December 2004
Warning: Spoilers
A possible spoiler in the text.
I'm more skeptical of this movie than some, although I do give an 8/10. Its sequel Hannibal reveals what interested Hollywood to begin with; a story about profoundly disturbed mind(s) that was a vehicle to unload nasty psycho segments onto a public thats been so desensitized it takes just that kind of imagery to get a horrified response. There's nothing new about that, and depending on the content I'm sometimes a willing victim. I'll give SotL credit for good acting and a good mystery that needs a solution, but they lost me when Claire most unprofessionally blunders into Bill's lair with no backup. Its a totally rookie move made to appear necessary by the fiction of the story. The peculiar relationship between Lechter and Starling is the most interesting part of the movie.
I'm more skeptical of this movie than some, although I do give an 8/10. Its sequel Hannibal reveals what interested Hollywood to begin with; a story about profoundly disturbed mind(s) that was a vehicle to unload nasty psycho segments onto a public thats been so desensitized it takes just that kind of imagery to get a horrified response. There's nothing new about that, and depending on the content I'm sometimes a willing victim. I'll give SotL credit for good acting and a good mystery that needs a solution, but they lost me when Claire most unprofessionally blunders into Bill's lair with no backup. Its a totally rookie move made to appear necessary by the fiction of the story. The peculiar relationship between Lechter and Starling is the most interesting part of the movie.
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
(2004)
Better when you see both
14 November 2004
Warning: Spoilers
Possible spoilers.
The Kill Bills really need to be watched one after the other for the best effect. I saw #1 a while back and was less favorable to it than after seeing them together.
I knew there were tributes to Asian martial arts movies in #1, but I'm not a big follower of those, so it wasn't until I saw #2 that I realized that there must have been quite a lot of references, because #2 is filled with Western tributes, mostly Spaghetti Western tributes. #2 has Leone written all over it, with even a dash of Peckinpah and Eastwood in the way scenes are staged, and you can hear Morricone's haunting epic music a mile away. I love catching on to references like that and Tarantino has gotten real good at it.
#2 is probably the better half. There's much more dialog, the sort of dialog that Tarantino does so well. and enough action to keep things going, including another Battle of the Bad*ss *itches with Thurman vs. Hannah, as well as a claustrophobic segment that I didn't know about that also worked as a good tie-in to Uma's martial arts training. #1 has some classic scenes besides just fights, though, that entertained me. The whole big scene leading up to the Crazy 88s battle has all kinds of things going on that you don't see the 1st time. 9/10 for both when seen together.
Both DVDs have extras, but #2 has the best with a Making Of and some premiere night music. I'm tempted to buy a movie just because it has a DTS soundtrack so the fact that both of these do is icing on the cake. Thus the DVDs also get a 9/10 but perhaps a bit weaker 9. You can see a combined Ultimate Special Edition coming with this duo as there must be more stuff they're holding back on, milking the DVD buyers with multiple releases I'm happy with these so it would have to be really something to tempt me.
I read some of the comments so-called professional critics made panning these movies. They just don't get it. Most of the discouraging words are about the blood and guts, but I thought segments like the Crazy 88s were cartoonish, just like the wirework in that segment, and was deliberate overkill to keep it from looking real. How can you take those blood sprays seriously? At least I think thats what Tarantino was up to, but I didn't ask him. Maybe he just likes to gross out wimpy movie critics. I mean so what if Lucy Liu gets a real deep buzzcut Some dissed him for lifting characters from old movies which is really a dumb*ss comment since he did it on purpose.
The Kill Bills really need to be watched one after the other for the best effect. I saw #1 a while back and was less favorable to it than after seeing them together.
I knew there were tributes to Asian martial arts movies in #1, but I'm not a big follower of those, so it wasn't until I saw #2 that I realized that there must have been quite a lot of references, because #2 is filled with Western tributes, mostly Spaghetti Western tributes. #2 has Leone written all over it, with even a dash of Peckinpah and Eastwood in the way scenes are staged, and you can hear Morricone's haunting epic music a mile away. I love catching on to references like that and Tarantino has gotten real good at it.
#2 is probably the better half. There's much more dialog, the sort of dialog that Tarantino does so well. and enough action to keep things going, including another Battle of the Bad*ss *itches with Thurman vs. Hannah, as well as a claustrophobic segment that I didn't know about that also worked as a good tie-in to Uma's martial arts training. #1 has some classic scenes besides just fights, though, that entertained me. The whole big scene leading up to the Crazy 88s battle has all kinds of things going on that you don't see the 1st time. 9/10 for both when seen together.
Both DVDs have extras, but #2 has the best with a Making Of and some premiere night music. I'm tempted to buy a movie just because it has a DTS soundtrack so the fact that both of these do is icing on the cake. Thus the DVDs also get a 9/10 but perhaps a bit weaker 9. You can see a combined Ultimate Special Edition coming with this duo as there must be more stuff they're holding back on, milking the DVD buyers with multiple releases I'm happy with these so it would have to be really something to tempt me.
I read some of the comments so-called professional critics made panning these movies. They just don't get it. Most of the discouraging words are about the blood and guts, but I thought segments like the Crazy 88s were cartoonish, just like the wirework in that segment, and was deliberate overkill to keep it from looking real. How can you take those blood sprays seriously? At least I think thats what Tarantino was up to, but I didn't ask him. Maybe he just likes to gross out wimpy movie critics. I mean so what if Lucy Liu gets a real deep buzzcut Some dissed him for lifting characters from old movies which is really a dumb*ss comment since he did it on purpose.
The Matrix Revolutions
(2003)
I thought it would stink but it doesn't
14 November 2004
Warning: Spoilers
Possible spoilers
After all the negative comments about Revolutions, I didn't have much hope for it when I popped the DVD in the player. I was pleasantly surprised.
Most people don't understand what's going on in the Matrix movies. They liked the dynamics, 'bullet time' slomo and cool style of the first one, more or less grounded in our world, then were disappointed greatly by Reloaded, and ignored Revolutions in droves.
I didn't like Reloaded much either, but thats another movie. Revolutions, on the other hand, is more my cup of java. They had a difficult casting problem with the death of the Oracle (Gloria Foster), and they managed an adequate 'patch' to their program. The Matrix is quite a bit like a computer program all the way through. In Revolutions, the final battle pits Neo against Smith (again) in the ultimate superhero-style battle. Any comic book fan should enjoy the fight sequence between them, but most people miss that that particular Agent Smith was really the Smith/Oracle, who at the critical moment does an interrupt of Smith's program and gives Neo the way in, so that main computer can delete the Agent Smith program (at the end of the fight in the crater). That is why Neo had to go to the machine city, so he could get plugged into the matrix at its mainframe core, or bus as it were, so the mainframe would get hooked directly into Agent Smith. Some of that stuff reminds me of the old movie Tron.
I'm a pretty crappy Mech game player but I really like the whole Mech thing, so the huge Siege battle with the Mech 'APU's lined up and fighting the losing fight against the hordes of Sentinels warmed my Target Lock and HUD display. A truly awesome display of combining multiple technologies to get something believable and lots of it on the screen.
I don't quite get the meaning of the 'Den of BDSM' and why the Merovingian hangs out there, unless the old file server just likes all his porn and it was an excuse to get Bellucci in a revealing red leather/latex outfit, and local BDSM shops had sales that week so it was an economical thing to do. Or it could be that being French says it all about the Merovingian and that was really decadent digital hell, as the mythical Persephone/Bellucci would indeed spend half her time there. Her only line was on perceiving Trinity's love for Neo, and thus underlined her own deal with the devil.
Of course there's lots of wirework in this movie. All the actors clearly worked hard, as it is a very physical movie. The acting is so-so. Hugo Weaving aka Elrond as Agent Smith is my favorite. The Matrix trilogy is deeper than most give it credit for.
The DVD presents the movie very well. You can see the actors pits, pores and goobles in great detail, and the audio works out all the speakers. There's a Making Of that I would've liked a lot more if the crew didn't spend so much time pimping their work. The DVD gets a high 8/10
After all the negative comments about Revolutions, I didn't have much hope for it when I popped the DVD in the player. I was pleasantly surprised.
Most people don't understand what's going on in the Matrix movies. They liked the dynamics, 'bullet time' slomo and cool style of the first one, more or less grounded in our world, then were disappointed greatly by Reloaded, and ignored Revolutions in droves.
I didn't like Reloaded much either, but thats another movie. Revolutions, on the other hand, is more my cup of java. They had a difficult casting problem with the death of the Oracle (Gloria Foster), and they managed an adequate 'patch' to their program. The Matrix is quite a bit like a computer program all the way through. In Revolutions, the final battle pits Neo against Smith (again) in the ultimate superhero-style battle. Any comic book fan should enjoy the fight sequence between them, but most people miss that that particular Agent Smith was really the Smith/Oracle, who at the critical moment does an interrupt of Smith's program and gives Neo the way in, so that main computer can delete the Agent Smith program (at the end of the fight in the crater). That is why Neo had to go to the machine city, so he could get plugged into the matrix at its mainframe core, or bus as it were, so the mainframe would get hooked directly into Agent Smith. Some of that stuff reminds me of the old movie Tron.
I'm a pretty crappy Mech game player but I really like the whole Mech thing, so the huge Siege battle with the Mech 'APU's lined up and fighting the losing fight against the hordes of Sentinels warmed my Target Lock and HUD display. A truly awesome display of combining multiple technologies to get something believable and lots of it on the screen.
I don't quite get the meaning of the 'Den of BDSM' and why the Merovingian hangs out there, unless the old file server just likes all his porn and it was an excuse to get Bellucci in a revealing red leather/latex outfit, and local BDSM shops had sales that week so it was an economical thing to do. Or it could be that being French says it all about the Merovingian and that was really decadent digital hell, as the mythical Persephone/Bellucci would indeed spend half her time there. Her only line was on perceiving Trinity's love for Neo, and thus underlined her own deal with the devil.
Of course there's lots of wirework in this movie. All the actors clearly worked hard, as it is a very physical movie. The acting is so-so. Hugo Weaving aka Elrond as Agent Smith is my favorite. The Matrix trilogy is deeper than most give it credit for.
The DVD presents the movie very well. You can see the actors pits, pores and goobles in great detail, and the audio works out all the speakers. There's a Making Of that I would've liked a lot more if the crew didn't spend so much time pimping their work. The DVD gets a high 8/10
Spartacus
(2004)
Good Miniseries
7 November 2004
There's some confusion about this Spartacus miniseries and the 1960 epic movie Spartacus. The stories are very similar because they both use the Howard Fast novel as a basis. The Kirk Douglas movie had another mission though as it was one of a group of movies made to regain the public's interest in the cinema with lavish spectacle. The scale of its production is much higher than the miniseries. What the miniseries has going for it is more historical accuracy; the gladiator/rebel army marched up Italy, got to the Alps and changed its mind (very puzzling), marched down to Italy's toe hoping to escape by boat but was foiled and was trapped for a time. They broke out only to quarrel amongst themselves and break up into at least two groups. This proved their undoing as the Romans first massacred the smaller group of Gauls and then defeated Spartacus in turn. Spartacus' body was never identified, but many were crucified along the road all the way to Rome. Spartacus and his army made the Romans pay in much blood and defeat leading up to his and their ultimate defeat, though, requiring 15 or 16 legions to chase them down. Spartacus is a favorite hero of the Communists, BTW, being the working stiff rising up against the ruling class, etc...
The 1960 epic is short on accuracy, instead showing the rebel army defeating the garrison of Rome and another legion or 3 along the way to Brundusium, only to turn back and get overwhelmed by multiple Roman armies. It was a closer match to the actual scale of events, as the rebels numbered around 90-100,000. But they both have the same love story tacked on along with treachery in the Roman Senate by ahistorical Roman Senators, and a Crassus obsessed with possessing the strength of Spartacus by possesing his woman.
The 1960 remains my favorite version simply because its a well-done big movie (I wouldn't want to be the one to reprise Olivier's Crassus!)although it was good to see a more accurate portrayal of the course of events shown in the miniseries. The acting was pretty good, with Spartacus' Visnjic a good choice for the title role.
The 1960 epic is short on accuracy, instead showing the rebel army defeating the garrison of Rome and another legion or 3 along the way to Brundusium, only to turn back and get overwhelmed by multiple Roman armies. It was a closer match to the actual scale of events, as the rebels numbered around 90-100,000. But they both have the same love story tacked on along with treachery in the Roman Senate by ahistorical Roman Senators, and a Crassus obsessed with possessing the strength of Spartacus by possesing his woman.
The 1960 remains my favorite version simply because its a well-done big movie (I wouldn't want to be the one to reprise Olivier's Crassus!)although it was good to see a more accurate portrayal of the course of events shown in the miniseries. The acting was pretty good, with Spartacus' Visnjic a good choice for the title role.
The Rundown
(2003)
Great action moments and so-so plot
2 November 2004
Warning: Spoilers
There could be something below that could be called a spoiler.
Its a stretch to give this movie an 8, even in my self-imposed 'don't-rate-any-junky-less-than-7-movies', but it did some things that got my attention that a 7 movie wouldn't. The opening sequence is done really well. I just love watching one guy kicking a bunch of other guys' a..es, and he was so nice and polite about it, trying to avoid hurting 'the team'. The supporting actors were all good or better. The Rock has talent and screen presence. Good effects. So its an 8. Its barely an 8 because the plot is mostly formula, there's no wild baboons in South America and Native South Americans don't have a unique indigenous highly developed martial arts style. So let's say its an 8-rated action movie because its fun to watch. You know the hero is indestructible and just like in 'WWF' will get up and dust himself off after being half-beaten to death or falling off a cliff.
The DVD has some good stuff on it. The crew had fun making the movie and there was a lot of joking around in the featurettes rather than a bunch of self-congratulations. The Rock has a double that could be his twin. Audio and video are adequate without being exceptional. The DVD is a 7.5/10.
Its a stretch to give this movie an 8, even in my self-imposed 'don't-rate-any-junky-less-than-7-movies', but it did some things that got my attention that a 7 movie wouldn't. The opening sequence is done really well. I just love watching one guy kicking a bunch of other guys' a..es, and he was so nice and polite about it, trying to avoid hurting 'the team'. The supporting actors were all good or better. The Rock has talent and screen presence. Good effects. So its an 8. Its barely an 8 because the plot is mostly formula, there's no wild baboons in South America and Native South Americans don't have a unique indigenous highly developed martial arts style. So let's say its an 8-rated action movie because its fun to watch. You know the hero is indestructible and just like in 'WWF' will get up and dust himself off after being half-beaten to death or falling off a cliff.
The DVD has some good stuff on it. The crew had fun making the movie and there was a lot of joking around in the featurettes rather than a bunch of self-congratulations. The Rock has a double that could be his twin. Audio and video are adequate without being exceptional. The DVD is a 7.5/10.
Dirty Pretty Things
(2002)
The Secret Life of Immigrants in London
2 November 2004
This smallish British drama is a nice change from the typical Hollywood fare. The story's underpinnings, the dark side of living as an illegal/probationary alien in London has a ring of truth to it although there's no claims to a true story. Stuff like this probably does go on. Aliens aka Hispanics do most of the work that Californians don't want to do so its no stretch for me to believe that immigrants from India, the Middle East and East Europe do the dirty work for the British. Dirty work in London includes everything including various sex acts and donating organs in exchange for doped up citizenship documents.
The acting is all quite good. Ejiofor and Tautou are excellent as intelligent but helpless victims of their alien status. Ejiofor as Okwe is perhaps a little too pure and squeaky clean morally but you could say thats what helps him keep his sanity, whereas Tautou as Senay is a bit unbelievable as being a Turkish immigrant. I pretended that she was from some northern Turkish province where Turks don't look or sound Turkish. Well she does have dark hair and eyes at least. I also had a problem understanding Okwe's discovery that starts up the major storyline, as in why the hell would anyone have done that? Once you can wrap yourself around these little problems the movie is engaging and you find yourself cheering for them to pull off their escape plans.
The DVD is good but not great, having only a short Making Of and some previews. Audio and video are good enough for what is definitely a dialog-driven movie. It gets a 7/10.
The acting is all quite good. Ejiofor and Tautou are excellent as intelligent but helpless victims of their alien status. Ejiofor as Okwe is perhaps a little too pure and squeaky clean morally but you could say thats what helps him keep his sanity, whereas Tautou as Senay is a bit unbelievable as being a Turkish immigrant. I pretended that she was from some northern Turkish province where Turks don't look or sound Turkish. Well she does have dark hair and eyes at least. I also had a problem understanding Okwe's discovery that starts up the major storyline, as in why the hell would anyone have done that? Once you can wrap yourself around these little problems the movie is engaging and you find yourself cheering for them to pull off their escape plans.
The DVD is good but not great, having only a short Making Of and some previews. Audio and video are good enough for what is definitely a dialog-driven movie. It gets a 7/10.
The Terminator
(1984)
One of the great Sci Fi movies
2 November 2004
The first time I saw this was on VHS and my eyes were riveted to the screen from the opening scene to the end credits. Some of the best films I've ever seen have been directed by unproven newbies on small budgets but with big ideas. This was John Cameron's big idea and of course the whole movie production was tense and always pressed for money, but the end result was one the best ever Sci Fi movies. 20 years later and its still fun to watch. I still say "I'll be back" sometimes in my deepest voice when I'm leaving the office.
Today I just saw it in glorious commercial-free HD from HDNet. It looked exquisite of course but I've been reading about remastering, compression and digitizing movies so I always wonder just what it is I'm seeing. Was it a digital transfer like the new Star Wars remasters? Probably not. It looked pretty good but I'm betting that Dish does some compression on HD signals, especially when they're on the Basic HD package list like HDNet is. Even so, it'd be hard to watch that smeary old VHS Terminator tape after seeing Ahnuld etal in High Definition!
Today I just saw it in glorious commercial-free HD from HDNet. It looked exquisite of course but I've been reading about remastering, compression and digitizing movies so I always wonder just what it is I'm seeing. Was it a digital transfer like the new Star Wars remasters? Probably not. It looked pretty good but I'm betting that Dish does some compression on HD signals, especially when they're on the Basic HD package list like HDNet is. Even so, it'd be hard to watch that smeary old VHS Terminator tape after seeing Ahnuld etal in High Definition!
Alice in Wonderland
(1951)
My favorite classic Disney
24 October 2004
Yes, this is the one. Little snippets from 'Alice' have actually been incorporated into my persona over the years. When I write notes to coworkers I sometimes draw the Cheshire Cat face on the note. The bureaucracy I work in sometimes reminds me of Wonderland. I don't have mushrooms that make me big on one side and small on the other, however. Alice's bizarre dream world has always appealed to me at a more adult level than most of the other old Disney classics, no matter what you may have heard what really happened with Snow White in the dwarf residence. Alice is interested in everything rather than just romance and ponders situations in a way that I find engaging.
The animation is just as elaborate as any Disney had made up to that point. Generally cheerful solid and pastel colors, it has been remastered with the same TLC that Snow White and Cinderella were. You have your choice of the original mono sound track or the remastered 5.1 track. I listened to the 5.1 and can't say that there was a lot of action on my surrounds or subwoofer. I sounded fine, just not very 5.1. I give the movie an 8.5/10.
The 2 DVD set has a bunch of extras. Included is the Mickey Mouse short that went along with 'Alice', titled 'Thru the Mirror' and the 1st Walt Disney TV broadcast, which featured 'Alice' and several Disney cartoons. At the dawn of TV they were still working out exactly what to do on screen, and this 1st Disney show was a get-together. The sponsor, Coca-Cola was served at the party in its old 8 oz bottles while the narrator blabbed about how refreshing it was. Actually that's not so bad as the barrage of disjointed sound bites commercial TV has now (and why I watch very little of it). Also included are trailers, a making of, some kiddie stuff, etc.. Overall a nice package and it rates a 9/10.
The animation is just as elaborate as any Disney had made up to that point. Generally cheerful solid and pastel colors, it has been remastered with the same TLC that Snow White and Cinderella were. You have your choice of the original mono sound track or the remastered 5.1 track. I listened to the 5.1 and can't say that there was a lot of action on my surrounds or subwoofer. I sounded fine, just not very 5.1. I give the movie an 8.5/10.
The 2 DVD set has a bunch of extras. Included is the Mickey Mouse short that went along with 'Alice', titled 'Thru the Mirror' and the 1st Walt Disney TV broadcast, which featured 'Alice' and several Disney cartoons. At the dawn of TV they were still working out exactly what to do on screen, and this 1st Disney show was a get-together. The sponsor, Coca-Cola was served at the party in its old 8 oz bottles while the narrator blabbed about how refreshing it was. Actually that's not so bad as the barrage of disjointed sound bites commercial TV has now (and why I watch very little of it). Also included are trailers, a making of, some kiddie stuff, etc.. Overall a nice package and it rates a 9/10.
Schindler's List
(1993)
You must see it at least once
12 October 2004
It gets a rare 10/10 from me although it is not on my Top 10 List, mostly because it isn't a movie that anyone really enjoys watching as much as one that needs to be watched. In any case I sure can't be in a laid back mindset ready to watch an action flick and substitute Schindler's List at the last second; I gotta be ready for it.
I've watched it 3-4 times, the first time in a theater with my sister who was dying of cancer and wanted to see it. I remember one of her sons theorized that the Holocaust never happened and it was a way to justify the destruction of the Nazi regime, or some other BS, that I've heard variations of before. They just don't have any grounding in history. Even the Nazis who were hung for it didn't deny it; they were just following orders.
Its quite a movie with all the talent both on and off the screen doing some of their best work ever. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes really should've won Oscars, but it won so many others I suppose they wanted to spread them around a little.
The fairly recently released DVD package is a bit of a throwback with an odd case and a single double-sided DVD. If there's some special reason for it I don't know what it is. It has a DTS soundtrack but the B&W video was quite harsh on my screen with very bright interior lighting sometimes bombing details to smithereens. I had to adjust my screen to watch it. I don't recall that on the old laserdisc or anywhere else. It gets quite a bit lower 7/10 rating.
I've watched it 3-4 times, the first time in a theater with my sister who was dying of cancer and wanted to see it. I remember one of her sons theorized that the Holocaust never happened and it was a way to justify the destruction of the Nazi regime, or some other BS, that I've heard variations of before. They just don't have any grounding in history. Even the Nazis who were hung for it didn't deny it; they were just following orders.
Its quite a movie with all the talent both on and off the screen doing some of their best work ever. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes really should've won Oscars, but it won so many others I suppose they wanted to spread them around a little.
The fairly recently released DVD package is a bit of a throwback with an odd case and a single double-sided DVD. If there's some special reason for it I don't know what it is. It has a DTS soundtrack but the B&W video was quite harsh on my screen with very bright interior lighting sometimes bombing details to smithereens. I had to adjust my screen to watch it. I don't recall that on the old laserdisc or anywhere else. It gets quite a bit lower 7/10 rating.
A powerful followup to the original Star Wars
12 October 2004
This is rated a scoutch lower than the 1st Star Wars flick, although it is right behind Aliens and slightly ahead of T2 as the best sequel ever. It loses 0.3 because of the disjointed forced emotions of Han and Leia, who have great repartee but romance is just not there. I didn't buy it anyway.
Other than that the movie is great. It still has some of the best action sequences around and numerous video games have lifted elements of it for combat and light saber duels. The CGI enhancements added in the 90's are less obvious and less intrusive than those in Star Wars, and really add or subtract little if anything. The epic scope of the power of the empire and the considerable abilities of the resistance are shown to great effect in ultra large scale space panoramas, and are breathtaking if you allow yourself to be taken in by it all.
The large scale gets a big help with a large screen. I think a lot would be lost watching this on a 27" TV. The DVD is part of the the Star Wars trilogy pack. The audio is even better than Star Wars, with even more LFE and surround action. This has to be the best remastering of film audio I've ever heard. The video is no less impressive, with nary a blotch or smear to be seen anywhere. Darth Vader looks like he's been cleaned and pressed just for this DVD release! This is as good as it gets 10/10.
Other than that the movie is great. It still has some of the best action sequences around and numerous video games have lifted elements of it for combat and light saber duels. The CGI enhancements added in the 90's are less obvious and less intrusive than those in Star Wars, and really add or subtract little if anything. The epic scope of the power of the empire and the considerable abilities of the resistance are shown to great effect in ultra large scale space panoramas, and are breathtaking if you allow yourself to be taken in by it all.
The large scale gets a big help with a large screen. I think a lot would be lost watching this on a 27" TV. The DVD is part of the the Star Wars trilogy pack. The audio is even better than Star Wars, with even more LFE and surround action. This has to be the best remastering of film audio I've ever heard. The video is no less impressive, with nary a blotch or smear to be seen anywhere. Darth Vader looks like he's been cleaned and pressed just for this DVD release! This is as good as it gets 10/10.
Gormenghast
(2000)
Ossified Medieval Culture
7 September 2004
This BBC mini-series is actually a combination of the books Titus Groan and Gormenghast. In 4 - 1 hour parts, being from the BBC they're really close to a whole hour as opposed to the usual 45 minute network episodes.
Gormenghast is an ancient kingdom that must be located somewhere in Europe, since it is populated with Europeans. More specifically, it is populated with really odd Europeans, which sounds more like Great Britain. In fact it is a fictional location in which Mervyn Peake has created an extremely ossified culture, technologically stagnant, that indulges itself in numerous obscure rituals that cover almost all routine events, written down in huge books and applied as if their lives depended on it.
The story centers around the Groans, who's male heirs rule as Earls. Titus is set to become the 77th Earl of Groan, and as he matures he sees it as his doom rather than his destiny, and comes to despise Gormenghast.
At first, however, he's just a baby and the story centers on his father and the odd ducks that are his family and servants. Into this mix is added Steerpike, a kitchen boy of huge ambition that finds ways to ingratiate, titillate and extort his way to a much higher position, hardly killing anyone at all to get there. The Groans and Gormenghast in general are so dense and caught up in the minutiae of their lives it takes them years to realize that there's a raccoon in the chicken house, so there's plenty of story to take up a 4 hour mini-series.
I read these two books once upon a time and hardly remember them. I believe the BBC series plays Steerpike a bit more sympathetic than the books did. The trilogy has been compared to LOTR and the Thomas Covenant trilogy, both of which I liked more than Gormenghast. Gormenghast is fiction not fantasy, there are no dragons, orcs or hobbits. The kingdom appears to be mostly medieval with some touches of modernity here and there. The closest thing to monsters are the huge Death Owls.
What makes the mini-series work is a very talented cast that bring their characters to life. They make it a pleasure to watch, if only once. 8/10
The 2 DVD set has a Making Of, Cast interviews, a few unrelated trailers. It is all shot in a peculiar not-quite 4:3 or 16:9 format, at least the way my hardware decoded it to the screen. Video and audio are strictly TV quality, with video colorful if a bit smeared and audio all upfront mono as far as I could tell. The DVDs get a 6/10 for getting it on my screen but not much else.
Gormenghast is an ancient kingdom that must be located somewhere in Europe, since it is populated with Europeans. More specifically, it is populated with really odd Europeans, which sounds more like Great Britain. In fact it is a fictional location in which Mervyn Peake has created an extremely ossified culture, technologically stagnant, that indulges itself in numerous obscure rituals that cover almost all routine events, written down in huge books and applied as if their lives depended on it.
The story centers around the Groans, who's male heirs rule as Earls. Titus is set to become the 77th Earl of Groan, and as he matures he sees it as his doom rather than his destiny, and comes to despise Gormenghast.
At first, however, he's just a baby and the story centers on his father and the odd ducks that are his family and servants. Into this mix is added Steerpike, a kitchen boy of huge ambition that finds ways to ingratiate, titillate and extort his way to a much higher position, hardly killing anyone at all to get there. The Groans and Gormenghast in general are so dense and caught up in the minutiae of their lives it takes them years to realize that there's a raccoon in the chicken house, so there's plenty of story to take up a 4 hour mini-series.
I read these two books once upon a time and hardly remember them. I believe the BBC series plays Steerpike a bit more sympathetic than the books did. The trilogy has been compared to LOTR and the Thomas Covenant trilogy, both of which I liked more than Gormenghast. Gormenghast is fiction not fantasy, there are no dragons, orcs or hobbits. The kingdom appears to be mostly medieval with some touches of modernity here and there. The closest thing to monsters are the huge Death Owls.
What makes the mini-series work is a very talented cast that bring their characters to life. They make it a pleasure to watch, if only once. 8/10
The 2 DVD set has a Making Of, Cast interviews, a few unrelated trailers. It is all shot in a peculiar not-quite 4:3 or 16:9 format, at least the way my hardware decoded it to the screen. Video and audio are strictly TV quality, with video colorful if a bit smeared and audio all upfront mono as far as I could tell. The DVDs get a 6/10 for getting it on my screen but not much else.
Stalingrad
(1993)
Russia 1,400,000, Germany 600,000
6 September 2004
That's roughly the fatality score in the nastiest battle of WWII. Russia won and cracked the Wehrmacht in more ways than one at this turning point. Russia always had a higher body count, at least until near war's end, because they used their infantry as cannon fodder, and civilians added to the count. Russia could keep throwing bodies at the Germans, but the Germans couldn't sustain such a loss as the Russians finally pulled off a pincer movement of their own.
Although the battle includes entire armies, it is small unit action that is on the screen. Platoons and companies, sometimes a battalion. Except for a few recurring characters, largely anonymous actors come and go on the screen. This has been criticized but that is what large scale war is; an anonymous action of brutal firepower where combatants are routinely blown up, ripped apart and smashed. Survivors keep their sanity by a crude apathy about their fate, only occasionally breaking down when a foxhole buddy, a long-lived survivor finally gets eliminated. Such a loss is hard for them to take.
Stalingrad is not the goriest war movie I've ever seen but there's enough. The segment through the sewers was more disturbing for me to watch. Gah! I also think the horrible winter conditions were done well. All in all I'm very glad I've never had to suffer all the extreme hardships almost everyone there had to.
Almost everyone except the elite, of course. The movie just dances around that fact a bit, but the truth is even under the worst conditions the leadership managed to keep themselves relatively well cared for. General Paulus did not have to walk to Siberia; he became a showpiece for Stalin, and to his dying day cursed Hitler for not allowing him to retreat and save his men. Its a big What-if in history as how that might have changed the course of the war. As it was, only about 6,000 of the German POWs made it back alive after the war from this battle.
The movie has a detached feel to it which I think is deliberate, to give the sense of what war is like. But as a result, you don't feel engaged with the actors on the screen. I don't think Stalingrad has a high replay value. You get a taste of what such a bitter battle might be like, but who wants such a bitter experience more than once? It's a good movie to see once.
The DVD has both original German and English dub audio. I watched the subtitles because I wanted to hear the actors on the screen even if I didn't know what they actually all said. My subwoofer was silent and if anything came out of the surrounds I didn't notice. Almost no extras. The DVD is 7/10
Although the battle includes entire armies, it is small unit action that is on the screen. Platoons and companies, sometimes a battalion. Except for a few recurring characters, largely anonymous actors come and go on the screen. This has been criticized but that is what large scale war is; an anonymous action of brutal firepower where combatants are routinely blown up, ripped apart and smashed. Survivors keep their sanity by a crude apathy about their fate, only occasionally breaking down when a foxhole buddy, a long-lived survivor finally gets eliminated. Such a loss is hard for them to take.
Stalingrad is not the goriest war movie I've ever seen but there's enough. The segment through the sewers was more disturbing for me to watch. Gah! I also think the horrible winter conditions were done well. All in all I'm very glad I've never had to suffer all the extreme hardships almost everyone there had to.
Almost everyone except the elite, of course. The movie just dances around that fact a bit, but the truth is even under the worst conditions the leadership managed to keep themselves relatively well cared for. General Paulus did not have to walk to Siberia; he became a showpiece for Stalin, and to his dying day cursed Hitler for not allowing him to retreat and save his men. Its a big What-if in history as how that might have changed the course of the war. As it was, only about 6,000 of the German POWs made it back alive after the war from this battle.
The movie has a detached feel to it which I think is deliberate, to give the sense of what war is like. But as a result, you don't feel engaged with the actors on the screen. I don't think Stalingrad has a high replay value. You get a taste of what such a bitter battle might be like, but who wants such a bitter experience more than once? It's a good movie to see once.
The DVD has both original German and English dub audio. I watched the subtitles because I wanted to hear the actors on the screen even if I didn't know what they actually all said. My subwoofer was silent and if anything came out of the surrounds I didn't notice. Almost no extras. The DVD is 7/10
Toy Story
(1995)
It's a Happy Movie! Ya there's spoilers
20 August 2004
Warning: Spoilers
I put this computer animated movie just on the cusp of being great. You can ignore the breakthrough aspect of the graphics and it remains a fun story with some very witty dialog. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen do great voice work as the lead toys, with Cowboy Bob's jealousy of new toy Buzz Lightyear providing the fuel for most of the story. They're both hilarious as Bob plays the brains, and hatches schemes for this and that, including spooking the evil kid next door who tortures and blows up toys for fun. Buzz is mostly on the job thinking he really is a Space Ranger, loses his self identity when he finds out he is just a toy, winding up as a tea time doll for a little girl. In the end, though, they come together and save the day and themselves just in time...8.7/10 This DVD is part of the Toy Story 2 Pack, but I believe the actual movie transfers are the same in all the retail packages. Quality animation always looks good on the big screen and this looks wonderful. This is a Buy and Hold to flesh out your collection to include 'Happy Movies' as my daughter puts it. The DVD is a solid 9/10
What is it with you, anyway?
15 August 2004
That comment is one the priceless moments in this the last movie of the Original crew. It could be the best of the bunch, or at least close to the Wrath of Khan and The Voyage Home. Its got a good story and upscale 'guest' casting. Even Christian Slater sneaks in for a cameo. The story was intended to mirror the Cold War tensions and eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union. It works, sort of. The crew gets around pretty good but if they'd done another movie some of them would be in wheel chairs. As Sulu says, 'it was good to see you in action one more time', and a reminder that Shatner and Nimoy really did do Star Trek before they started advertising for Priceline.
I saw this on the Special Edition DVD. I didn't see and don't know of anything that indicates that the film is any different than the earlier single disc release. Possibly there was less compression since the movie was on a disc pretty much all by itself. There's quite a few extras. I didn't watch them all but did see most of the individual cast member's thoughts about the movie and Star Trek phenomena. Some thought that there would be another original crew movie. I also watched the tribute to DeForest Kelley who had a lot to do with what made the original cast work so well, and also uttered this review's summary line to Kirk after he was smooching with the female changeling. The extras are nice but I didn't find a 'making of' anywhere which would've been nicer than just more armchair reminiscing and blabbing. Its worth it for the Kelley tribute and cast interviews. I'm not so sure I'd get any more 'Special Edition' Star Trek DVDs, however, since I already had the full set.
I saw this on the Special Edition DVD. I didn't see and don't know of anything that indicates that the film is any different than the earlier single disc release. Possibly there was less compression since the movie was on a disc pretty much all by itself. There's quite a few extras. I didn't watch them all but did see most of the individual cast member's thoughts about the movie and Star Trek phenomena. Some thought that there would be another original crew movie. I also watched the tribute to DeForest Kelley who had a lot to do with what made the original cast work so well, and also uttered this review's summary line to Kirk after he was smooching with the female changeling. The extras are nice but I didn't find a 'making of' anywhere which would've been nicer than just more armchair reminiscing and blabbing. Its worth it for the Kelley tribute and cast interviews. I'm not so sure I'd get any more 'Special Edition' Star Trek DVDs, however, since I already had the full set.
Tell Your Friends