Genocide from Biblical Times through the Ages

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Journey to the Center of the Earth (One Disc Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray Combo)

3D Review by a 3D Connoisseur
My ratings are based mainly on the QUALITY OF THE 3D, not the video content.

OOS EFFECTS:
There are about 25 out of screen effects that extend about 10% of the way, from the screen to the viewer, 44 effects between 25 and 30%, 6 at 40%, 3 at 50% and 3 more around 60%. If I had to pick just 3 of my favorite effects from this film, they would be the biting fish at up to 30%, the carnivorous plant around 35% and a glowing bird that flits around between 25% and 40% for about 20 seconds. There are lots of other nice effects for you to pick your own favorites from.

IN SCREEN / OBSERVATIONS:
The depth is, for the most part consistent from scene to scene and is natural to SLIGHTLY exaggerated looking because the footage is so crisp and clear. In fact, the live action 3D is done so well that in some outdoor scenes, the fact that it is actually an indoor set or green-screened, becomes noticeable. (Did I just complain about 3D being done too well?? Must be a full...

Blu-Ray 3D Review (and comparison to prior releases)
First some back-information on the releases..

Journey to the Center of the Earth has been released in at least 3 different Blu-Ray versions now:
Blu-Ray 2D (with 3D anaglyph (green/magenta glasses) + DVD + Digital Copy
Blu-Ray 2D + DVD + Digital Copy
Blu-Ray 3D + Blu-Ray 2D

The original Blu-Ray 2D w/ Anaglyph 3D wasn't so great, mainly because the required green/magenta glasses which made the video look terrible (it also showed much more ghosting and the 3D was nice but hard to watch an entire movie). This release was later replaced with a 2D only release.

The 2012 release is a REAL Blu-Ray 3D release (requires a 3DTV). The release is a single-disc with both Blu-Ray 2D and 3D versions on it (there is no Anaglyph version on here, so you will need a 3DTV to view it in 3D). It's also worth noting that there is no longer a DVD or Digital Copy included (There was, however, 8-dollars movie money for the 2nd movie coming out in early...

"Journey" is entertaining but rather shallow.
It's important to note straight off that this IS NOT a remake or a retelling of Verne's classic novel in any way. This story is surprisingly original.

The storyline, in brief, is about a college professor, played by Brendon Fraser (The Mummy and George of the Jungle) with his usual boyish charm who lost his brother 10 years ago when he went off to prove that Verne's novel wasn't really fiction. Now, out of a sense of guilt or obligation he takes in his brother's son each summer, well played by Josh Hutcherson (Zathura, RV, and Bridge to Terabithia. Hutcherson is in danger of being typecast as the bitter, rebellious...

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Donner Pass [HD]

Great little horror film
Donner Pass is a great little horror film with a nice amount of reverence for the genre. While not as gonzo as his films can be, I would liken it to a Rob Zombie film where you can sense the excitement and love for the genre in tiny details. The film has a little bit of everything, and although I wouldn't usually consider that a good thing, here it's done so well that it comes together nicely. It starts with a historical perspective of the setting's notorious past. It then jumps to present day and slowly, smartly builds tension subtly revealing more and more things that just aren't right. It then busts wide open delivering a lot of gruesome gore and also delivers a nod to the rape/revenge sub-genre. The end, I don't want to give away but it delivers a smart, unique explanation of what has transpired. Highly recommended.

An okay movie, worth a single watch!
Although a couple of folks may be in the minority of people who hated this film, I found it to be just another average entry in the many slasher movies of the genre; not bad, not great. Certainly the acting, directing, editing, and filmwork was presentable, but the overall theme was very typical. The ending did have a twist, but having seen so many of this type of movie, it was not a big surprise to me. Die-hard horror fans will want to see the film once, but try to watch it without getting too critical regarding authenticity or plausibility!

Fun Snowbound Slasher Flick
Donner Pass is a fun slasher movie with a couple of somewhat new ideas involved.
I again don't like to give too much away but So far this year and last year there were not that many good slasher flicks and I'm always excited to see a new one. I like a good Slasher in the snow flick and this one is pretty cool,No pun intended.
The gore is about an 8 out of 10 and it's done well..
I read some of the reviews and they gave much too much away.
It has some interesting characters and some really annoying ones but it brings out the basic slasher movie roster of teens and 20 somethings..
There was a cool twist and the story was pretty original as well.
I liked it and recommend it to other slasher lovers.

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Sony A65 Instructional DVD by QuickPro Camera Guides

This is a must for the a65 owner
This camera just does so much with out this dvd you just wont get the full knowledge you need to fully enjoy this camera. It moves very fast so if you are playing along with your camera in hand you will want the dvd remote control in your other hand. Yes it moves that fast.

A great instructional
I'm glad we got this. Not only a great guide, but great for remembering some great ideas for taking great pictures.

great read!
Being a pro photographer I had to skip a lot, but would be great if they had version for pro's. Going over to digital, anyone like to buy about 5000 worth 645 equipment cheap, just kiding, did I say its a great read! There's a lot of details, if I needed to start making Dslr camera's, but I am sure some of these details will become useful down the road, if I take enough genko and can remember the details.

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Never Again? Genocide since the Holocaust

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Genocide in the First Half of the 20th Century

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Hetalia: World Series 1 - Season Three

Don't steal Austria's "Happy Place" or Hungary will have your ***
Note: I know I'm a nerd, but who cares. I've reviewed Hetalia Season One and Paint it, White. Now is the time for the long awaited Hetalia: World Series - Season 3!
Also, I watched most of it on youtube, so I don't want to hear people complaining and ranting about reviewing a product that hasn't been released yet. It's called internet, idiots.

Anyway, World series will be my favorite because the cast brought in Spain, Hong Kong(can't wait to hear his voice) more Prussia, the Nordics (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland), more Prussia, and more awesomeness to the Hetalia world. Even though I watched almost all of the episodes, I'm actually just eager to hear Sweden call Finland his wife in the English version, if I don't hear that or if they change the script, I'm gonna cry!XD

Basically, Prussia takes over the entire show(Hungary will get him, trust me. Don't mess with her man!), you'll be seeing some episodes with Spain trying his hardest to...

YOU WILL LOVE THIS!
This show is for anyone who loves to laugh and learn. It has humor(duh), history(we learnin' ya'll!), and PASTA! This has got to be one of the best shows I have seen in my life and will always be one of my number one shows EVER! This is a must see show. I highly recomend it......so does my history teacher. LOL

Loved by Hetalia Fans
Gave this as a gift to 2 big fans of Hetalia. They are both 13 years old, one boy and one girl, and both have watched probably every episode of this anime series. Their word for this DVD: Awesome.

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Division III: Football's Finest [HD]

Wow!
Hilarious! If you love Andy Dick, which most don't...you will love this movie. He is amped up the entire time. It's like watching the best parts of his MTV show, for an hour and a half. Gr8 stuff!

Hilarious I laughed out loud a LOT
This movie is a total gem, entertaining and perfectly cast and edited. There were moments I had to replay right away because they were so funny. Like when the assistant coach, Paul Henderson's character, leads the prayer for the football team. Brilliant comedy. Andy Dick is a madman and yet he has pathos. My family has been quoting one liners from the movie ever since we watched.

The Andy Scenes Are Funny
Andy Dick is genuinely funny in this movie. He's a funny comic actor, but most of the reason it works is that he's playing a very funny character. Rick Vice, a psychotic coach with a checkered past, is the perfect vehicle for Andy to channel all of his crazy, scary talent into, and it works.

Other actors have their moments but I never felt they were as developed as Andy. Will Sasso and Adam Carolla have a funny running gag as sports reporters, and I wish there had been more of Mo Collins as the loopy president or dean of the small liberal arts college.

The problem with the film is that the main character, played by co-writer and director Marshall Cook, is that he's simply the Lead Character In A Sports Film. And an under-developed one at that. He at first comes across as lazy and cynical...and then he just walks through the rest of the film, ending up with a winning game and The Girl...and we're not sure why. I guess because he's the Lead Character In A...

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The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God's Delight in Being God

Surprised by God: infinitely more delightful than imagined!
I have to admit, when I first read this book, I wanted to throw it across the room. But earnestly searching scriptures (with the intent to prove the book wrong), I was forced to unhappily conclude that Piper was completely on the ball. Then the most amazing thing happened: as I reread the book with a heart of faith, my disturbed state of mind gave way to a liberating joy in the good news of the sovereign God who is infinitely worthy and glorious beyond our wildest imaginations. I've always known that God is big, but Piper's expositions have been the lynchpin to my realization that God is BIG; truly one whose ways are above our ways and whose thoughts are above our thoughts. And in light of this, the deep love of Jesus has become even more amazing to me: how such a God could love and die for sinners such as us.

To God alone be the glory!

Theology and passion become one
I have read practically all of Piper's books, including his classic Desiring God, and the Pleasures of God outranks all of them. Piper manages to accomplish something that very few theologians can: mesh theology and joyful devotion to God. Theology to Piper is by no means an end in itself; it is meant to direct God's people towards him with deeper understanding of his character. Piper is humble and yet strongly convicted in his apprehension of God and the ways in which he interacts with his son Jesus Christ and his people. He puts down all vying theologies with passion and scriptural weaponry. This book is not for the new Christian or someone trying to explore the character of God for the first time; it is for those who have meditated on scripture for some time but are looking to be impassioned by the Bible and apply its sublime truths in richer, more accurate ways. This book is like the Bible in that it prepares and motivates the reader for application, without w! hich it is...

Irresistible Grace
I first saw this book reviewed in the early 1990's. It aroused a double response of curiosity and suspicion. Like many a cynic I asked myself, "Now who's this guy and what's he spinning?" Against my natural inclination to dismiss it, I ordered POG. On receiving it I began reading and found my suspicions confirmed: here was another triumphal and insensitive adherent to the doctrine of the sovereignty of God.

Strangely, however, I couldn't stop reading. Despite months of scrawling angry counter-arguments in the margins of its pages I was drawn inexplicably to the sensibility of its core premise about God's delight in being God. To make this story short, I found myself, in the end, exhausted but surrendered to the portrait of God that Piper paints with the full palette of scriptural truth. And finally happy too, with the beginnings of the joy Piper wished for his sons in the Foreword.

Salvation history testifies to the fact that a distinguishing evidence of the...

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Belle de Jour (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Don't listen to the complaints; the quality is FINE
First, let's get something straight: Belle de Jour was shot 35 years ago in France. It's just not ever going to look as clean, sharp, and saturated as a newer movie. Director Martin Scorsese (who spearheaded its re-release) is a purist; he would not want to artificially "enhance" the picture at the risk of distorting Luis Bunuel's original vision.

Second, this DVD is non-anamorphic for very good reason: Belle de Jour was photographed in 1.66:1 widescreen. 16:9 enhancement would actually have CUT OFF some of the picture at the top and bottom. People who complain about the quality of this DVD simply don't know what they're talking about.

As for the movie itself, Belle de Jour is one of the few films about eroticism that really gets it right - it knows that eroticism is in the mind, not the body. The always luminous Catherine Deneuve plays Severine - a woman whose life is at once picture-perfect and fundamentally empty. She is married to a good provider, the handsome but boring...

Great exercise in surrealism, and yes the quality is fine!
"Belle de Jour" is generally considered to be director Luis Bunuel's masterpiece; a surprisingly revealing and seemingly personal venture into the world of eroticism and its deviances. It's a truly surrealistic exercise in ambiguity, fantasy, and reality. The line that separates them is blurred so much that the famously mysterious ending has had critics arguing for decades over its meaning.

The fantasy sequences are usually signalled by the sound of carriage bells, but by the end of the film the viewer is no longer able to differentiate between what is another one of Severine's fantasies and what is reality. Even Bunuel admitted to not knowing himself. He said that "by the end, the real and imaginary fuse; for me they form the same thing."

The gorgeous Catherine Deneuve, resplendent in her icy prime, portrays Severine Sevigny, the middle-class wife of Pierre, a doctor. She is frigid, virginal, yet seemingly happy enough in her bourgeoisie life and its trappings...

Bunuel's Masterpiece of Elegant Perversity
A maginificent erotic comedy. Bunuel directs with masterly assurance this icy comedy about a frigid housewife, Severine (Catherine Devenue) who goes to work at a Parisian brothel. Only here is she able to indulge in her masochistic desires by being forced to perform for her clientele. The sly joke is that her loving husband's patience and consideration is precisely NOT what she wants. She wants to keep her social respectability but needs the brothel as an outlet for her drives (Bunuel's point being the fairly well-worn one, even by that time, that bourgeois society has to suppress perversions and control female sexuality to maintain its power).

What's amazing is Bunuel's "respectable" treatment of this material. His cool and discrete approach brillantly contrasts with the frustrated sexual lives and fantasies we see on the screen. Brief nudity, no explicit sexual scenes, everything is done through inference and association. And what associations! Bunuel's...

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Kevin Hart: Laugh at my Pain [HD]

Best Comedian Out Right Now!
Kevin Hart is too funny! Saw this one at the theater twice (the first time people were laughing so loud/long, I missed some parts! lol). Definitely worth buying as he never gets old. I have been a fan for years and have his other dvds (I'm A Grown Little Man & Seriously Funny) and watch them all the time. Each time, it just gets funnier. You won't be disappointed with this purchase!

I couldnt stop laughing!
I can honestly say this is one of the funniest stand ups I have seen in a long time. I couldn't stop laughing when Kevin was talking about his dad. "alright, alright, alllllllright". Hahahaha..........definitely not something to watch with the kids. My 6 year old over heard it and he wont stop saying "alright, alright, alllllllright". He thought it was so funny. Glad I watched it on Comedy Central so some of it was edited. I am definitely buying the DVD to watch when the kids are sleeping. :)

I don't understand it at all...
I don't understand why people don't love this!! My friend, who's a Kevin Hart fan, told me that he didn't like it as much as his previous stand-up routines. I thought this was hilarious! I don't normally buy these things, but it was so funny, that I'll buy it.

I also wanna support "Chocolate Drop", cuz he's a hard worker. He has been doing commercials, movies, comedy stand-up routines, etc. eBay has commercials with him on YouTube. Xbox has an add with him promoting Forza 4. I wanna support his hard work.

He used to be my #2 fav Comedian behind Louis CK. Now he's my first.

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Higher Ground [HD]

A substantial work of sensitivity and excellence.
Professional critics were fairly lukewarm toward this film, although even then, many acknowledged that elements within it are exceptional. For one thing, it is very unusual to see a serious work that treats religion--and a rather fundamentalist form of Christianity at that--seriously and without insult, irony, or undue reverence. Most films focusing on related topics either satirize people of faith (Saved!) or offer syrupy endorsements of faith Fireproof). Rarely is faith depicted as the mixed bag it often is. While "Higher Ground" doesn't have the same scope and grandeur, in that one particular--treating faith seriously--it reminded me most of The Mission (Two-Disc Special Edition).

I was surprised and delighted to see all of the five-star reviews already...

Faith Is The Issue At Hand And How One Keeps It. Possibly - or Not - On Higher Ground.
Vera Farmiga tackles yet another topic that could have been inflammatory although with her, it is not. Using an honesty and bravery as she is so often capable of in this her directing debut. She is looking at the subject of one woman's (Corrine Miller, also portrayed by Farmiga) faith and the eventual questioning about this through the vehicle of the 1970's Fundamentalist movement.

This portrait has a lovely soundtrack (Alec Puro) that brings this all to life and is definitely worth noting. Farmiga directs without the condescending or mocking tone towards Christianity which is often present in films. It has a broad appeal, to the believer and the nonbeliever alike. It is a question of personal faith, not of righteousness, through Christianity.

The movie starts with Corrine's childhood in Vacation Bible School, with the pastor Bud (done wonderfully by Bill Irwin). The picture quickly shifts to Corrine's teenage years. She is a writer and meets her future...

Touching, Low-Key Realism
This is a review of the movie DVD disc only.

The film doesn't have the look of a plotted, story-boarded narrative. There's no imposed arc or resolution to the gentle moments of a woman's life shown here. We see her low-key movement toward, and then away from, religious attendance.

Contrary to what the film's cover might lead one to believe, this is no indictment of another megalomaniacal cult leader. There are no bad guys here. This film does a remarkable job presenting a series of realistic, slice-of-life scenes. We feel as if we are eavesdropping in a woman's everyday kitchen, at her everyday church services.

The producers also did a remarkable job finding actors to play the lead as a girl, then as a teen, then as a mature woman. For once, there does appear to be a continuity of features, unlike most films involving time progressions in which it's impossible to believe that child grew into an adult who would look like that.

This whole film...

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Abrupt Decision

abrupt decision
This was a really touching, in-depth and realistic story. David LaDuca's performance as Milosz was excellent, and I really enjoyed the attention paid to the plight of neglected and abandoned animals in this film. The compassion shown for fellow man and fellow creature was really moving and I thought it was a very enlightening look at the real lives of men and women in the gay community and how much we can learn from one another.

Puppy Love
Denis is having a rotten week. He just lost his job of 11 years. His relationship is gone stale, and rocky. His Mother, a sweet and overbearing woman, is seriously ill. With all the turmoil going on around him, what does Mom suggest? "Get a dog." But when Dennis goes to the pound and can't decide which dog he wants, the one he finally chooses is gone when he goes back. When he finds out why, Dennis decides exactly what his modern mid-life crisis needs.

He makes his "Abrupt Decision" (the fifth feature from filmmaker Paul Bright) when he realizes that his creative collapse mirrors that of the dogs' dangerous lives. With some inspiration from his Mom (Cynthia Schiebel) and the reluctant support of his partner, Milosz (David LaDuca), Denis (Steve Callahan) decides that saving the lives of animals and educating people on their care is his way into a meaningful second act. You know how the saying goes, if you don't want to be upstaged in a movie, stay away from children and...

You Must See This Film
Once again Paul Bright has delivered on making a mature, well written, well acted film. Steve Callahan and David Da Luca are well cast as partners, who like many of us, are in relationships that have become complacent over time. Denis, played by Steve Callahan, finds himself unemployed and his relationship falling apart. With the help of our four legged friends, Denis finds his true calling in life. I commend Paul Bright for once again making a gay themed movie that doesn't revolve around sex, drugs or other negative issues that seem to plague gay films. This is a human story told with wit, charm and truthfullness. Congratulations Mr. Bright on a future classic.

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Roseanne's Nuts, Season One

The real housewife of Hawaii
If you hate the "Real Housewives of Wherever" franchise; you will love Roseanne's take on a 'reality' show. Her and her son, Jake, are like a 24/7 comedy act; the wisecracks and witticisms flow freely. Roseanne and her boyfriend live on a farm/ranch in Hawaii (knock the "mansion" visual out of your mind-it's just a regular house like ours), and are trying to get a Macadamia nut business going. There's a loony surfer dude who camps out on their land, crazy grandkids running wild, a trio of musicians who comically link segments together....and on and on.
I think the network didn't promote this one-season series enough; and unfortunately, the world is missing out.

side splitting funny
what can I say - Roseanne is very funny - love the interaction between son in fact all the people. sometimes she can be a little much but I can see myself in her.Esp the mouth!!!!!!!!

We need more Nuts!
Roseanne et al are hilarious! Some Network should pickup this show and continue with the fun! We see ourselves in Roseanne and Johnny; absolutely hilarious! We look at each other and crack up laughing!

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Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs (Story 71)

My First Doctor Who!
Now, all of us lets be mature and get past the puppet dinosaurs and see that "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" is a great addition to the series. The story is excellent. The acting, well, it was the '70s, give 'em a break. The chemistry between Sarah Jane and The Doctor is brilliant, especially during the first episode. The line between good guy and bad guy is tremendously well slurred and makes us wonder if The Doctor's doing the right thing. All in all, this is a great story and a wonderful tribute to the late Sladen, forever in our hearts.

Wondrful fun but DVD puzzles at times.
First off, let me say that I dont have a problem with the dinosaurs. Why? Because I saw this story in High School (20 years ago +) and I thought they were dreadful, but acceptable considering I understood the limitations of the production. Over time the the dinosaurs became exgerated in my head. I thought of them as being much worse than they truly are. So. that stuff aside. Its a solid story. I wish I could say that the color enhanced episode one is a major disappointment. Color restoration had been impressive in the past on stories such as Terror of the Autons. For this version BBC only had partial color information and added the blue with a computer. So the blues look great and the rest looks pretty rough, especially browns and flesh tones. I must say that I am puzzled as to why they couldnt use a computer colorization technique to bring the entire episode up to the standards of the rest of the show. Especially when one considers they had the rest of the serial for reference it...

Classic Doctor Who: INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS
The 5-Star rating is for the quality and value of the DVD. Superb job as is typical of the Doctor Who Restoration Team in their production of Classic Era Doctor Who DVD's.

INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS
Story # 71
Season 11's Second Story
Third Doctor, Jon Perwee Era, final season 1973-74
Second Classic Sarah Jane Smith story

OVERALL STORY RATING 8/10
INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS is a 10/10 story pulled down to 8/10 solely due to poor dinosaur special effects. If the viewer is willing to put forth a tiny bit of effort and engage their imagination when the dinosaurs are onscreen, the reward will be a truly superb story well worth the watching. It is truly sad that such an excellent story is pulled so low by a single problem. Were it not for the poor dinosaur special effects, INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS would likely rate among the finest WHO stories of all time, possibly even in the top 25.

Essential for SARAH JANE ADVENTURES fans, and...

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An Idiot Abroad

A Travelogue And A Comedy--Karl Pilkington, World Traveler, Endures Humiliations In This Triumphant Jaunt Around The Globe
Fans of Ricky Gervais will undoubtedly be familiar with daft and mercilessly funny Karl Pilkington. Gervais and partner Stephen Merchant have transformed Pilkington into an international superstar in previous programming--most notoriously, he is the undisputed star of their podcasts which have also been turned into "The Ricky Gervais Show" for HBO. Pilkington has a precious and skewed world view which combines faulty logic with unsubstantiated facts, yet for all its absurdity--there is often a nugget of wisdom in Pilkington's ramblings. An endless source of mockery and taunts from his co-workers, you might be inclined to feel sorry for the maligned Pilkington if he weren't so darn funny. A certified homebody, never having traveled further than Wales, Gervais and Merchant designed a new and inspired way to torture their little buddy. Why not send him around the world, ostensibly to view the Seven Wonders, and put him into situations that he will absolutely hate? Thus, "An Idiot...

NOT an NTSC-region Blu-Ray
This Blu-Ray set is not region-coded, but it runs at 50i, so it does NOT PLAY in most Blu-Ray players sold in the USA. On my Sony Blu-Ray player, the opening logos play and then it shuts off. After a long backorder I was thrilled to receive this amazing show on Blu-Ray and I can't watch it!

This is an incredibly funny show, but Amazon needs to wait until they release it properly at the correct framerate! Or at minimum, label it properly! It should be labeled as a PAL-framerate set!

The funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life - no joke
This might be, and with absolutely no hyperbole, the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. X-D

Without trying, completely spontaneous and genuinely insightful - our man Karl Pilkington is hands down the funniest guy living on Planet Earth today.

Certainly there have been moments - in my own life and those that come from the entertainment field - that have had me in tears, crying so hard from laughing. The first time I saw the late Sam Kinison, the moment when a friend ate his entire meal then discovered a fat cockroach at the bottom of his bowl, the combat/spear and hippo birth scenes in 'Ace Ventura, When Nature Calls'. Moments that I'll carry with me the rest of my life.

But this guy Karl - this guy is beyond humorous. He's like the Dalai Lama of comedy, delivering the rawest, most truthful, insanely funny things ever uttered by man.

He's added to my...

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Project Greenlight: The Complete First Season

Lights...... Camera..... DRAMA!
What started as a simple Internet contest transformed into one of the most acclaimed reality series to hit cable for quite some time. Pete Jones was the winner and was given the opportunity to direct his film, "Stolen Summer." Sounds easy, right? WRONG!

With these episodes, you get to see all the drama, all the battles, and all of the controvercy that took place during the filming of "Stolen Summer." From casting complications to the infamous beach incident, they're all here, uncut and uncensored.

I for one really enjoyed the series. It was a look into directing that I had never witnessed before. I never knew how complicated and stressful it is for the director, even when it comes to getting ONE scene into the can!

This spectacular DVD package includes four disks. On these disks you will find twelve episodes, the full length movie "Stolen Summer," and a disk full of all sorts of extras and goodies.

The disks go something like this:

Disk...

Interested in the film industry, definitely worth buying!
After reading the so-so reviews, all I can say is to each their own. If you are a filmmaker, interested in the film industry...this four DVD set is jam-packed!

First, let's talk about DVD 2-3. The Project Greenlight twelve episode series. I literally couldn't stop after each episode, I literally wanted to keep watching all episodes in one sitting and I did. You really get a good behind-the-scenes look at the making of a film. Sure, probably not in-depth that people would like but nevertheless a really good behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Stolen Summer" and the difference of opinions and the stress that goes on. You literally can feel it.

DVD 4. This DVD is packed with video entries from the top competitors in the contest from their personal videos of why they should be selected to the top 10's short films and more. There is also the act like Chris Moore competition and of course Project Redlight and also advice. There is just so much stuff on this...

Great Greenlight
There are times after I have seen a movie, I say to myself "I wonder how could they have made this film?", "Who the producer who took a risk on this script?", "Why didn't they get such and such an actor for that role?" or "Why did they have such a down ending?". After viewing the first season of HBO's Project Greenlight on four dvds, I have a better concept of filmmaking nad the process involved behind the scenes.

I have read Jerry Lewis's theThe Total Film-Maker.and understand the basic concepts of how the film starts from the script to final production. If you find a copy, read it!

Here in this documentary DVD set is director Pete Jones's filmmaking odyssey from being a novice screen writer (selected from an on line script contest) to selection of his script Stolen Summer (with producers Ben Affleck, Chris Moore & Matt Damon) greenlighted by Miramax. Then Jones had to make a budget and...

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The First Sail: J. Hillis Miller

worse than a home movie
While JH Miller may be worthy of some attention, having played a key role in academia, this amateurish portrait mars his memory with bad camera work, shoddy editing, clueless direction, and an overall drift that is less than aimless. Whoever got funding to do this did not care enough to heed basic workmanship. On a basic grading rubric, I would fail this in several categories - was there even a script, a storyboard, an editing strategy? The haphazard and disjointed way this film lurches through Miller's life and work is deplorable. No amount of spicing it up with anecdotes about well-known figures can save this from being less than one star.

Affirmative, warm, generous film about a great critic and human being
Near the end of the film, Hillis Miller is asked, "will literature save us?" He says no, but every minute of this film affirms the value and pleasure of reading literature in the ways Miller has taught us. This is a beautifully crafted film that tells us volumes about Hillis Miller but also about a mode of reflective living that is all too sadly on the wane. It gives a vivid glimpse into the age when university education and teaching was about just that, not pre-professional training. It also has tremendously funny and witty moments. The director does an astounding job of capturing Hillis Miller's warmth and wit and compassion. But also his deep seriousness, and is comments about the ecological crisis and financical crisis are sharp and compelling. For those of us who know Hillis Miller it's like sitting down and chatting with him; for those who don't, the film is a treasure and a find. I'll show this to all my grad students.

disgraceful
David Palumbo-Liu, because i respect you and the study of literature, I have to differ with your glowing review of this embarrassing and sycophantic piece of home video. Neither insightful nor poetic, although it pretends to be both, Kuzundjic's film is awkward hagiography at best.

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Programming the Nation?

Interesting
I enjoyed this film although it was not as hard hitting as I expected. It presents a balanced view of the use of subliminal messages by those who desire to influence our thoughts, habits, and actions.

A Master Piece
One of the most greatest documentaries ever made, revealing many scary secrets that in my opinion everyone must know about, and the movies proves them too.
To most people,this movie would be like a wake up call, or like a new mysterious door, once its opened, its so hared to close.

Subliminal control
The end is especially good because it starts to examine the government and subliminal influence; everyone should see this movie to stay informed.

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"Cross Stitch: Your Own Cross Stitch Masterpiece - Blueprint For Stitching Succe

good information
It was informative, but the speaker is a little tedious to listen to....I should have just gotten a how to book instead.
Kathy
Vermont





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Tales of Moon Face

A Journey into Darkness
The complexity and multifaceted experience of Hekate is synthesized into the legendary sounds of Jade Sol Luna. The imagery matches the dark, beautiful places Luna takes us already through his music, but the images echo the timelessness of Our Lady of the Crossroads. It is an excellent visual meditation and treasure for all fans of the Master of Chant.





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That's The Way I Like It

Thank You
Hey everyone, Just wanted to say thank you for all of the amazing reviews. This was my first feature film playing "The Guardian Angel" and it's so nice to know that people had fun w/ it. If anyone has any questions regarding the film please feel free to contact me at dominicpace@yahoo.com. Best, Dom.

One of my favorites
This movie will be thoroughly enjoyable if it is not taken seriously. One gets the feeling watching it that sometimes the actors are making up their own dialogue, but it is entertaining. The dance sequences are very good, and there is a Adrian Pang and Medaline Tan and Annabelle Francis all have believable relationships with each other, be it attraction, or commpetition. The actors all fit the parts, and it doesn't feel like it was tailored to any actor's whims. As it was produced by Singaporeans, if that is a word, it doesn't present stereotypes. There are places where the props break the period, such as some of the 90's packages in the supermarket, but that is unavoidable in a place like Singapore where everything is torn down every few years...there are no '70s places left.
This movie is definitely worth a look.

Haven't Laughed Like This in Years!
I saw this in the theaters when it was in previews last November. It was the most fun I've had at a movie since ... I can't even remember. Talk about worlds colliding - Singapore and Saturday Night Fever - we were rolling on the floor! My group of friends and I were e-mailing all of our friends, everyone we knew, in fact, to look out for this movie and not miss it. Too bad it was pulled before anyone had a chance to see it. There's no mystery or surprise ending here. It's exactly what it promises to be, full of music, dancing, humor, and asian family drama - only the result is much, much funnier than you expected.

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The Wings of the Dove

Magnificent adaptation of a complex psychological novel.
Screenwriter Hossein Amini has abandoned the dense prose and convoluted syntax of Henry James's most complex and difficult novel and created instead a fresh, emotionally nuanced, and psychologically astute script, nominated for an Academy Award. With a remarkable cast, breathtaking cinematography (Eduardo Serra), and a soft background score filled with strings, harp, and piano (Edward Shearmur), Director Iain Softley has created a magnificent film that succeeds in being emotionally affecting, intellectually stimulating, and aesthetically rewarding, a film in which every element contributes to a satisfying whole.

Remaining true to the story of James's novel, the film introduces Kate Croy (Helena Bonham Carter) as the beautiful but impoverished niece of a wealthy socialite (Charlotte Rampling), bent upon finding her a husband of means, but Kate must sever ties with her opium-addicted father and end her relationship with Merton Densher (Linus Roache), a penniless journalist...

Helena Bonham Carter's finest hour.
In 'The Wings of the Dove', as in 'The Portrait of a Lady', Henry James offers us his popular theme of class-conscious, fortune-hunting Brits exploiting the innocent wealthy American girl. Only this time the action is viewed from the perspective of the victimizer who becomes her own victim.

Helena Bonham Carter as Kate Croy the English adventuress, Linus Roache as Merton Densher her impecunious journalist lover, and Allison Elliot as Millie Theale their intended victim, are the principal actors in this drama of psychological twists and turns.

In the opening scene Carter, swathed from head to foot in Victorian attire, exudes an aura of compelling eroticism as she trysts with her lover, Merton, in a crowded tram-car. In the film's closing scene, in bed with him stark naked her whole body reflects the despair of her plots gone wrong. In between this sensual opening and this depressing conclusion her gorgeous face is a telling kaleidoscope of emotions. Carter can...

A fascinating "modernization" of the Henry James novel
I have been seeing previews for "The Wings of the Dove" for years on various DVDs that I have rented and finally got around to watching this adaptation of the Henry James novel. When I finished watching it the thing that struck me was how the attempt to modernize the story worked both for and against what James had written. Now, what makes this a particularly perspective to take on the film is that the adaptation by Hossein Amini moves the time frame of the story up eight years to 1910. That might seem a minor change, one scarcely worthy of note, but in 1902 good old Queen Victoria had not been in her tomb a year and the age that bears her name was still on its last legs (more to the point, James had been working on the novel for years, so it was clearly written during the Victorian Age). When you change the setting to 1910 it is then the end of the Edwardian Age, which makes a big difference, especially from the standpoint of English morality.

Kate Croy (Helena...

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The Hellstrom Chronicle [Blu-ray]

Watch it and love it!
I saw this movie decades ago, and I'm still thinking about it! It is actually a GORGEOUS, BEAUTIFULLY PHOTOGRAPHED documentary about insects, presented as a science fiction "warning" that insects were here before humans and that they will survive us and possibly take over the world at the end. "Hellstrom" is the narrator, the voice of doom giving all the facts, which are actually pretty convincing, about insects which will enable them to one day be Planet Earth's dominant species. This movie is entertaining and educational. Did I mention gorgeous?

Should be Re-released on DVD
I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out, and was blown away by the cinematography, which would be good by today's standards. Not only should this movie still be on VHS, but I think it is deserving of being on DVD as well, and perhaps even released in theaters again. Anyone who had never seen it would have no idea how old it was, and us old farts who did see it would no doubt enjoy seeing it again.

Classic 1972 documentary finally appears on Blu-ray and DVD-visual presentation is a bit soft although decent looking. No extras
Nils Hellstrom the host of the 1972 Oscar winning documentary "The Hellstrom Chronicle" doesn't exist and never has. A documentary-thriller written by David Seltzer ("The Omen")and directed by Walon Green argues that bugs, plants and other small creatures will inherit the Earth and we, humanity, are but temporary passengers on our planet.

Using fascinating microphotography (which was cutting edge at the time), "The Hellstrom Chronicle" allows the host (actor Lawrence Pressman who confides in us early on in the documentary that what he is about to tell us has cost him friends and faculty positions)to document with often stunning photography WHY we don't and won't deserve to inherit the Earth. Cleverly promoting the film as if it were science fiction thriller, producer David Wolper, Seltzer and Green created a fascinating film that used truth to lure in unsuspecting audiences like a venus flytrap to educate while entertaining.

Olive films presents "The Hellstrom...

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Eat Me!

Groovy flick
Love it! It was like The Monkey's meet ZombieTown. The band rips, zombie kill of the week, death by drumstick.

Fun Fun Fun
Excellent effort Katie! Very entertaining, the premise, the acting, and the scenes around New York! Keep up the creative, inventive movie work.

Sucks
I thought this would be a fun movie to watch as I am a huge fan of the zombie genre, I was dead wrong (no pun intended). The acting was very dry and the makeup and blood looked bad too. I only got through about 20 minutes before I could no longer take it. I really wish I could get a refund. Save your money.

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HD Yoga (4-disc set)

Excellent value, you will not be disappointed.
I bought this on a bit of a whim and was very impressed. I have bought a few yoga dvds that, after one play, I know I will never play again...this is not one of those.

There are four dvds in this set, making it a good value for the money, as the cost is less than I have paid in the past for a thirty minute dvd. There are not a lot of 'extras' with these dvds, like matrix-style programming, just four straight ahead yoga sessions.

The set is attractive enough (indoors) and the presenters all appear to be "real" people, meaning that they all appear to be regular people who do a lot of yoga, as opposed to hired fitness models who seem awkward in the yoga poses. As a guy (with a bad back, which is what brought me to yoga) these are dvds that I can easily have on if a buddy drops by without feeling awkward about a 'girlie'-type of yoga dvd playing. There is also no guy, like Rodney Yee, wearing WAY too tight shorts (you're going to shear it off there) or Bryan Kest...

Beautiful and Effective
This DVD is a must-see! The 8 Limbs Yoga Centers teachers sequence four incredible classes focusing on strength, flexibility, endurance, technique and relaxation. The classes are accessible, yet challenging. You can easily follow the instructions just by listening; the beautiful visuals are an added benefit. I highly recommend this product.

Great for beginners
I've never done Yoga, and wasn't sure what to expect. This has 3 or 4 disks and each class has 3 people showing you the beginner, intermediate, and hard positions. I don't think I could do a whole session without cheating a little, but I feel so much better doing this and getting stronger every time. People don't realize the importance of flexibility and how it benefits you in so many ways. I don't have anything to compare this with, since it's my first time doing Yoga, but it was worth it if your a beginner. I forgot to mention, that I threw my back out a while ago, and while picking up my work bag at a wrong angle I almost threw it out again. So I knew I needed to be more active and have more flexibility. I've only done the first two disk, and my back feels 100% better. I'm not worried about throwing it out again, since I'm strengthing my lower back, and whole body for that matter. If you don't work out in the gym much, I def believe now that stretching/yoga should be done by...

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Murder Most Foul [HD]

From the past comes some pathertic voice
There are three most important reasons why you should watch this film, even if it is in black and white and slightly old in style. We would not make films like that any more even for TV, but we could also say that about Hitchcock or Charlie Chaplin. So what! Well, be positive and as I said before there are three main positive reasons for you to watch this film, or any film of that series, because it is a series. First it is Agatha Christie, and Agatha Christie is the most English woman that writes the most English detective stories with the most English "private eye" or "sleuth" no one in no Hollywood or even Bollywood could think of or imagine. Second Miss Marple is the sleuth of the film and that Miss Marple is an old fire-fox at that. She knits when on duty in a jury, and then she blocks the jury in its decision, one to eleven. Her imagination is totally twisted and warped, just what is needed to find the criminal in the story, a typical English criminal, no serial killer or pure...

Light-Weight Fun With Dame Margaret
Dame Margaret Rutherford makes an unlikely but extremely entertaining "Jane Marple" in this film version of Agatha Christie's novel "Mrs. Maginty's Dead." In spite of considerable tampering with the character, the film is fairly faithful to the plot of one of Christie's more widely praised novels, concerning a young man wrongly suspected of murdering his landlady.

Of the four Miss Marple films starring Dame Margaret, this one shows the actress' celebrated eccentricities to their best advantage, and Rutherford fans will be delighted by her broad and extremely charming performance. Christie purists and those looking for weightier fare will be disappointed, but for some truly lightweight entertainment with a 1960s British tone, Dame Margaret and company are hard to beat.

Murder Most Foul
"Murder Most Foul" is another installment in the Miss Marple series played by the charming Margaret Rutherford. The theme is a series of murders taking place among actors in a repertory company. For some reason these murders are taking place and once again, it's Miss Marple to the rescue.

Margaret Rutherford is her usual charming self as she navigates her way around the company searching clues and nab the murderer.

Being a lifelong fan of murder mysteries (Sherlock Holmes, Ellery Queen, Charlie Chan, etc.), I had to check this title out at the local public library. Unlike today's murder mysteries that can be quite graphic and full of R-rated language, the Miss Marple series are more like a PG rating and are in black and white. In my humble opinion, the older series such as Miss Marple and the older Sherlock Holmes and Charlie Chan titles are more entertaining and have a certain charm that newer series sometimes lack.

Comment aside, the film was...

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Gold Diggers of 1933 [HD]

Another repackaging of stock
This is nothing more than a repackaging of Busby Berkeley volumes 1 and 2 released in 2006 and 2008, respectively. There is a bonus disc of just the Berkeley musical numbers included, which brings us to 10 discs, so I don't think the 11 disc description is accurate. I rate this a four because the first collection was definitely a five, but the second collection is more like a three with Berkeley's lesser and later films included. The following is a listing of the individual films included and the extras on each disc, just in case you don't own either of the original Berkeley collections:

42nd Street: 3 featurettes ("Harry Warren: America's Foremost Composer," "Hollywood Newsreel," "A Trip Through a Hollywood Studio"); notes on Busby Berkeley

Dames: 4 featurettes ("And She Learned About Dames," "Busby Berkeley's Kaleidoscopic Eyes," "Good Morning," "Eve and Melody Master: Don Redman and His Orchestra"); 2 classic cartoons; Direct from Hollywood radio promo;...

"Honey, I'll Make 'Em Laugh at You Starvin to Death!"
So Ned Sparks promises chorus girls Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, and Ginger Rogers in this wonderful pre-Code movie about mounting a successful Broadway show during the height of the Great Depression. This is really two shows in one: The first concerns the aforementioned mounting of the show, with music and lyrics by likeable but mysterious Dick Powell, Ruby's new boyfriend. The second, and my favorite of the two, is how Dick's older brother and legal guardian, banker Warren William, arrives in town to pay off Dick's girlfriend. Trouble is, when he and friend Guy Kibbee arrive at the showgirls' apartment, they mistakenly believe Joan Blondell is the squeeze. This is where she and Aline decide to take the two swells for all their worth, like any self-respecting golddigger would have to. Expert comedic scenes follow as the two big businessmen are putty in the hands of the chorusgirls. This is the first time I ever saw Warren William, and when he puts the moves on Joan...

This is a great collection
Firstly I agree this collection is nothing new from the earlier Busby Berkeley VHS/DVD film titles or packages released. But this is a great all in one collection for a new buyer like me at a great price. I can now ditch the VHS tapes. So I am happy. But if these films came out again with further enhancements and restorations I would buy them. Most of these current ones are not full frame. Too many heads chopped off.

All the films are what I expect while the best titles in my preferred order are 42nd Street, Footlight Parade and Gold Diggers of 33. However the best highlight for me are the only surviving clips of Gold Diggers of Broadway made in 1929 which are included as a bonus to the not so great Gold Diggers of 37 DVD. These clips are an absolute joy. A great rendition of Tip Toe Through the Tulips by Nick Lucas and a stunning finale full of tremendous colour and energy featuring Nancy Welford singing the "Song of the Gold Diggers".

Another thing I approve...

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Roberta [HD]

Gee, That's Swell!
Whatever you have heard or read to the contrary, this is the best Rogers/Astaire movie. The music is wonderful, the plot is painless, and the dances are the best these two ever did -- particularly "I'll Be Hard to Handle," recorded live so you hear Ginger's breathless laughter. She was never again as beautiful or as sexy as she is here; her five-second skip-dance to the window to hear Fred's orchestra is greater than most performers' entire careers. Endlessly re-seeable and enjoyable.

CLASS ACT FROM 1934
When ROBERTA (the name of a chic fashion designer) was produced, Irene Dunne was the queen of the RKO lot, and the film was built around her. Dunne sang - with her own voice - YESTERDAYS, LOVELY TO LOOK AT & SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES. Astaire and Rogers dance to LOVELY TO LOOK AT & I WON'T DANCE; he and Ginger both sang and danced to the high-spirited I'LL BE HARD TO HANDLE. If there are weak points in the film, they would include the blandness of Scott's personna and a too-long fashion show at the finale. Notice the pretty blonde model who shows off a very expensive gown with ostrich feathers - it's 24 year-old Lucille Ball!! The Otto Harbach-Jerome Kern musical ROBERTA caused a sensation on Broadway when it opened in the fall of 1933, due mainly to its enchanting song SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES. The original broadway cast included Bob Hope(!), Fred MacMurray and Sydney Greenstreet (!!); it enjoyed a 295-performance run.

Fred & Ginger's Best Movie!
Jerome Kern's classic songs like "I'll Be Hard To Handle", "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", "I Won't Dance", and "Lovely To Look At" are only part of the reason that I like Roberta. Even though Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers were not the main focus of this movie they stole the show with thier dancing and comedy. Many people say that this was not Fred & Ginger's best film but I disagree. No matter what anybody else thinks I still say that Roberta is "Lovely to look at"!

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Backcountry Northwest - Washington Edition

Northwesr at its Best
This backcounrty guide is a must-have for newcomers to the area as well as veterans. The good doctor has picked classic tours in the Northwest and provides some tips about the terrain and powder stashes that it takes most skiers several years to learn. I've done several of the tours and still have something to learn. The video is of good quality and will get you ramped up for the upcoming snow season.

Good to see the routes
This backcountry ski guide shares 10 commonly traveled ski routes, with good maps and photos with routes marked out. A good addition to some standard books and/or route descriptions plus a map. Lots of skiing video to get you psyched, too!

Better than a Book
This is the ultimate backcountry ski guide, combining detailed descriptions of the routes with 3D animations and video of the actual terrain so you'll know exactly where to go when planning a tour. And of course seeing the actual terrain being skied in deep powder, or under bluebird skies, or even both, just makes you want to get out there even more. The 10 trips covered hit the highlights of the boundless opportunities in Western Washington, and each offers several variations so you might learn something new even about places you've been before. The review of safe backcountry travel principles is a much appreciated bonus. Bottom line, whether you're an experienced bc skier or just getting started, if you're looking to explore some new terrain you'll love this DVD!

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Footlight Parade [HD]

Cagney the Hoofer
James Cagney is of course best known for his sympathetic, even lovable, gangster in such films as Public Enemy and White Heat (well, he is not quite so lovable in the latter). What is less well known is that he shone in a variety of other kinds of roles during his long career, up to and including Shakespeare's Bottom.

One of the genres in which Cagney was most successful was the movie musical. Later in his career, he was even able to combine his talents by playing gangsters in musicals such as Love Me or Leave Me and Never Steal Anything Small. Probably the best of his musicals, though, was 1933's Footlight Parade. As Chester Kent, producer of live musical prologues to films during the early days of the "talkies," he dances and sings, and in typical Cagney fashion also gives the impression of being in at least five places at once. This despite having to contend with a dishonest competitor, a couple of even more dishonest colleagues, a grasping ex-wife, a nervous...

Well worth the viewing.
FOOTLIGHT PARADE is the last of the great Warner Brothers musical "trilogy" of 1933 along with 42ND STREET and GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933. In my opinion, it is the best of the series, and grossing in over $700,000 (a staggering amount for depression era films), apparently the viewers of 1933 found it to be a real treat as well.

Chester Kent (James Cagney) is a down-and-out-of-luck stage producer when he finds himself out of a job (ironically, via motion pictures). To make matters worse, his wife leaves him and his agents (Guy Kibbee and Arthur Hohl) don't need him anymore. All of this in the first five minutes of the film!

Kent gets a breakthrough idea: putting on one pre-picture prologue may cost a bundle, but if you tour the country with that one prologue, it will pay for itself practically! Soon, he has an entire establishment including his right hand gal Nan (Joan Blondell), stenographer turned tap dancer Bea Thorne (Ruby Keeler), a singing college romeo Scotty (Dick Powell), a...

The classic pre-Code musical
Many people now consider this the best of the major Warner/Busby Berkeley films (the others: GOLD DIGGERS OF 33, 35 & 37, 42ND STREET, FASHIONS OF 1934, IN CALIENTE, DAMES, WONDER BAR). I have to agree. The non-musical segments are as good as the production numbers. This is an amazing showcase for Joan Blondell and James Cagney, whose rapid fire 30's dialogue is something to behold. The script is still funny, and quite racy as well ("I've met miss Bit....I mean RICH before").

George Feltenstein at Warners has promised a Busby Berkeley boxed set DVD in 2005. Lets hope this film gets some sort of restoration, and that they maybe throw on Berkeley numbers from lesser films (VARSITY SHOW, THE SINGING MARINE) as extras.

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Gay Purr-ee [HD]

GAY PURR-EE WILL HAVE YOU PURRING WITH DELIGHT!
"Gay Purr-ee" is a very charming film that is sure to delight the whole family. It is cleverly and artfully presented, with Chuck Jones' trademark Looney Tunes-esque animation, and a sweet little story, which, though rather slim, holds the viewer's interest for every single one of its eighty-six minutes. It also showcases some of the best vocal talent in town: Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, Paul Frees, and Hermione Gingold. The story is simple: French country farm cat Mewsette (Garland, using clever vocals) is bored with her dull and listless existence, and leaves her home, her ardent suitor Jaune-Tom (Goulet, also in excellent voice), and friend Robespierre (Buttons, whose squeaky characterizations are pefect for his diminutive character). Once in Paris, the naive Mewsette meets up with cunning Meowrice (Frees, perfectly diabolic) and Madame Rubens-Chatte (Gingold, also with interesting vocals), who plan to make a little money by making Mewsette into...

Must for Garland fans
If you've seen every Judy movie but have shied away from this one because Judy doesn't even appear onscreen in it..well you're in for a sueprise!
Judy as Mewsette is so enchanting, so hysterically funny, so French and so feline! There are sad moments, happy moments..but trust me this is an exceptional effort (especially if you love gorgeou animation) and one worth having in your collection.

Here's my original rave review...

Gay Purr-ee is meowriffic!!!!

I love it!!! The animation is gorgeous, striking and technically brilliant, Walt Disney eat your heart out. I particularly love the visuals with the different artists of the 'gay 90's' in France...Cezanne, Toulouse Lautrec, Seurat, Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, etc. Very 'American in Paris', feline style.

Judy's voice is purrfect. As Mewsette, she's very French, very provincial with a touch of Parisian breathlessness, when she sings it's achingly beautiful.

Janune Tom is a honey. And the Money cat is the villain..the scene...

An ecstatic visual and aural delight!
While children may appreciate the relatively simple storyline, (boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl), it is the sentimental and romantic adult who will get the most visual enjoyment from this astounding piece of eye candy, as well as the pure pleasure of Miss Garland at her most vulnerable but triumphant best. The background and animation are an incredible combination of French Impressionist art and charming 60s kitsch. A fantastic antidote for today's violent "superhero" cartoons. Have a family snuggle in front of the tube and prepare to be enchanted.

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Dead Ringers [HD]

Great Minds Think Alike
After creating the viscerally charged and bewildering Videodrome, Cronenberg took on a few projects with a bit more mainstream appeal: The Dead Zone, The Fly, and this film: Dead Ringers.

It's not just a clever title (in fact, the movie was going to be called "Twins" until one of Cronenberg's old producers, Ivan Reitman, asked if he could use the title for a movie he was working on with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito). The movie stars -- and stars again -- Jeremy Irons as twin gynecologists, Beverly and Elliot Mantle. Although they are physically identical, their personalities take divergent paths as they grow older. Elliot grows into a confident womanizer, a sponge for the spotlight. Beverly withdraws into books, confident in little else other than...

Cronenberg-Irons tour de force.
'Dead Ringers' may indeed be David Cronenberg's best film. Jeremy Irons performance is truly extraordinary. As for not being able to tell the difference between the two brothers, I could sense immediately which brother was which by simple body language and how each brother carried himself. Which is a testiment to the subtlties of Iron's acting, that he could make you believe he was two different people at the same time on screen. This belief was also helped by the amazing motion control camera sequences which allowed Irons to "act with himself" in the same frame. The clean perpendicular lines of the twins' appartment was especially chosen to make it easier to cut the film together.

Viewers should be warned beforehand that 'Dead Ringers' is not a horror movie, it's more of a psychological character study. The twin brothers have an unusual gendered relationship. Elliot as the suave unfeeling male who's "no good with the serious ones" and Beverly, with the girl's name, as the the...

Jeremy Irons does more than just clone himself in this role!
The Mantle brothers, Beverly and Elliot, are more than just identical twins. They're like two aspects of one person's internal character turned into two separate external realities. They're both brilliant gynecologists specializing in infertility problems with women and have spent their whole lives living as if they were one individual. They live in the same flat, work at the same clinic and share the same unsuspecting women until Beverly falls in love and no longer wants to share. This emotional break initiates an evaluation of the self, ultimately calling into question the very nature of the brothers symbiotic relations. Can they survive without each other? Jeremy Irons does more than just clone himself in this role, but engenders the brothers Mantle with two distinctive characterizations that are convincing and compelling. Based on an actual case.

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Trog [HD]

Crawford fans rejoice; it's finally coming!
Have been waiting about fifteen years now to see Joan Crawford's final film, 'Trog' and the wait is over at last. A description of the plot along with the other two included:

The Big Cube (1969):

Adriana Roman (Lana Turner), is a former actress who marries a wealthy tycoon Charles Winthrop, who dies in a boat accident off the Mexican coast. Winthrop's daughter, Lisa, whom despises Adriana, plot to drive her insane with drugs so she and her drug-addict boyfriend, Johnny, can marry and inherit all the money for themselves. When a Broadway playwright, named Frederick Lansdale, and a close friend of Adriana suspects something, he tries to rescue Adriana from the mental hospital where she gets committed and redeem Lisa before Johnny can double cross her.

Caged (1950):

Frightened 19-year-old Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker) gets sent to an Illinois penitentiary for being an accomplice in an armed robbery. A sympathetic prison head (Agnes Moorehead)...

Joan Crawford's Last Horror Film Effort
"Trog", the last film in the illustrous career of film legend Joan Crawford has gone done into cinematic history as one of the biggest and most embarrassing "monster", movies ever to be conceived. Joan Crawford of course nowadays is sadly fair game for any type of attack and "Trog", is a favourite target by her many detractors. Harsh summaries of it run to the fact that Crawford was supposedly drunk all the way through production, that it had one of the lowest budgets of any horror film made in England and that it made Crawford totally unemployable after its release thus becoming the sad final note in a brilliant career. Certainly no masterpiece, "Trog", despite some laughable moments is far from the worst horror film ever made and for Joan Crawford's as always totally committed performance despite the material she has to work with, alone is worth seeing. It marked the second time in two years that movie offers from producer Herman Cohen had...

I Can Die a Happy Man
.....TROG is finally coming out on DVD! This is a sad yet funny movie, as it's really generally quite awful, but also Joan Crawford's final film roll. All the classics she starred in and it ends with her feeding a man in a bad prehistoric-ape costume 'fish and lizards'. Pour a glass of wine, pop this baby in, sit back and watch one of my favorite great-bad movies ever. Just like scientist Cliff, you'll keep repeating, "Like I have never seen......"

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Gold Diggers of 1935 [HD]

Number-crunching
After having directed the musical numbers for several of their films -- 42ND STREET, FOOTLIGHT PARADE, and GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 ---, Warner Bros. finally let Busby Berkeley be the sole director for GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935, which as usual only features three musical numbers (with two of the big numbers stockpiled at the very end of the film). The plot concerns a stingy millionairess (Alice Brady) losing control of her two children at an expensive lake resort, and the characters are the two-dimensional types -- the easily-horrified dowager, the excitable Russian impresario, the stuffy collector of curios, etc. -- that might have been lifted from restoration comedy. Berkeley has such a heavy hand with his actors, however, that the acting seems more akin here to Kabuki. Brady even sustains a bizarrely florid hand gesture to indicate when she is thinking (you would never guess that in a year she would be honored with a Best Supporting Oscar for her sensitive work in IN OLD CHICAGO). The...

this is the one!
This is the one to own if you must own only one.
Of Busby Berkeley, that is.
It's a pleasant change of pace from the "putting on a show" plot that predominates "Dames," "Golddiggers of 1933," "Footlight Parade," and "42nd Street." (All five-star, by the way.) Yes, there is a show, of course, but that's not the main plot point.
Gloria Stuart adds a different dimension from Ruby Keeler. (Though she doesn't dance. :-))
Alice Brady and Adolph Menjou chew the scenery splendidly.
But "Lullaby of Broadway" is the best of all Berkeley production numbers. Powerful. Self-contained. Expertly realized. Beautiful. It blows me away.

Wow, What An Era
The studio system of the 1930's and 40's had much to recommend it.

Where are the likes of those wonderful character actors, such as Hugh Herbert, Glenda Farrell, Alice Brady, Gloria Stewart, Frank McHugh, Franklin Pangborn, and Adolph Menjou, who was sort of a junior John Barrymore, to be found today?

And who will ever duplicate the choreographing genius of a Busby Berkeley?

With all of the advantages of the technology of today, why do we see so much garbage, and so little quality and innovation?

Actually, much of what we see today borders on perversion, and outright pornography.

Something is wrong when we have to seek out 60 and 70 year old movies to be entertained, and in black and white, no less.

I guess we should just be thankful to have them, and in such glorious abundance.

And thanks to Amazon for making it all available to us.

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GERMAN LINEAGE IN MODERN DANCE: Solos by Wigman * Hoyer * Holm * Nikolais *

fabulous dance DVD
A definitive study of German choreographers of the WWII era and shaping dance that followed. Choreographies, costumes, masks, narration all work together magically. A "must have" for dance libraries. Ms. Fisher has done an incredible job. Beautiful dancer.





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Hit the Deck [HD]

Hit The Deck
Hit The Deck, is my favorite musical, with Jane Powell. The music is fantastic, and she was my favorite singer and actress in musicals. The movie is about sailors & girls and a musical production. All the actors are great, and the singing and dancing wonderful. I would reccomend this for everyone who likes musicals. It is well worth viewing. I hadn't seen this movie since it came out in 1955, as it never was on TV, that I could see. Thanks, Amazon, for making it available. It is a spectacular film.

Great numbers, amusing picture, lousy video quality
This is a pleasant musical of its period with excellently staged numbers, good songs and a talented cast. I've been looking forward to seeing it ever since I glimpsed that fabulous clip from it in "That's Entertainment" back in the 80s in which the cast did "Halleluja" (the finale). And who could fail to enjoy a movie with Ann Miller and Tony Martin in it? But, I have to say that one's enjoyment of it is badly impaired by the terrible quality of the video. It is appallingly framed from the Cinemascope original, cutting out characters and ruining the dance design - someone forgot to turn up the color, so that it's so pale it looks almost like black and white - and worst of all (for a musical in particular), it was obviously recorded on a dirty magnetic sound head, making the soundtrack hopelessly muffled and grating, like an old worn-out phonograph record. Subtle sounds are totally lost and only the loudest noises break through the fuzz. This is quite...

A Great Shore-Leave Musical
You must not confuse this film with ON THE TOWN or ANCHORS AWEIGH.This film is based on the 1920's Broadway show and was in fact the first ever Sailors-on-leave musical. The dancing is phenomenal with Ann Miller kicking up a storm as the nasal-voiced Ginger,and the rest of the steller cast including such MGM Musical regulars Debbie Reynolds,Jane Powell,Russ Tamblyn,Vic Damone and Tony Martin.The wonderful Kay Arnem also puts in a great performance. It was produced by Joe Pasternak,the producer of most all films with Jane Powell.

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They Died with Their Boots On [HD]

A Very Gracious Thing
After "The Adventures of Robin Hood," this is Errol Flynn's best movie. As noted elsewhere, it's worthless as history. But the casting of Flynn as Custer has a resonance that burns up the screen, and behind the romanticism one glimpses a portrait of an unhappy, self-destructive man who is a hero in spite of himself. Flynn's farewell scene with Olivia de Havilland is almost unbearably moving, as if both sensed the real-life parallel and the future awaiting them both. This is a rousing, action-packed movie with just about everything: adventure, comedy and romance... but it's one of the rare ones that also gets under your skin.

I Don't Care
I don't care if the film is historically inaccurate. Errol Flynn may not have been an ideal figure in real life but the movies he was in, well, I was raised with the 30's and 40's films and his films always gave me a hero to look up to and how things should have been done. They inspired me and taught me right from wrong and how to treat people fairly. Along with my Dad's guidelines, I was better for it. That's all I care about, not whether it was historically accurate. Mr. Flynn, even in real life, was a chip off the old block. I love this film. I grew up with it and it still gets an emotional rise out of me when I view it. Its what Custer should have been in my opinion and as a young boy watching this for the first time, influenced me for the rest of my life. Errol Flynn was my hero after I saw this and his WWII Burma movie. Its a shame he's gotten a bad shake from the critics whether now or in the past.

One of Errol Flynn's finest moments on screen
Mammoth is the only way to describe the Raoul Walsh directed tribute to Brig. General George Armstrong Custer, "They Died With Their Boots On". As stated by previous reviewers much of the story as depicted in this film is fiction, but what a story!! It would have to be one of the most entertaining and thoughtfully put together epic productions of this time and th eattention to detail is evident in every frame of this film.

Errol Flynn, at the peak of his career when this film went before the cameras in 1941 had the role of a life time in Custer and indeed he looks remarkably like the illustrations that survive of what Custer actually looked like. Not since the classic "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" had Flynn been handed such a diverse and challenging role as this and once again he proves what a fine actor he could be given proper material to work with. His development from the cocky and raw recruit at West Point through to his fateful encounters with Chief Crazy...

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San Francisco [HD]

MGM All-Star Classic Still Shines!
"San Francisco", MGM's 'Showcase' film of 1936, demonstrates why no other studio could 'touch' Metro at it's prime. Take the biggest star in Hollywood, team him with the 'Queen' of 1930s MGM musicals, add the greatest film actor of a generation in support, then top things off with a 'no-expense-spared' recreation of the most famous earthquake in American history, and an instant Classic was born!

Seventy years later, the film has lost little of it's luster; certainly the 'Message' is a bit heavy-handed, the long opera sequences may make some viewers cringe, and some of the effects (involving double exposures) seem quaint in an era of CGI...but Clark Gable still projects his signature cockiness and virility, Jeanette MacDonald is still radiant (and can sure belt out "San Francisco"), and Spencer Tracy is still magnificent (it is easy to see why he received a 'Best Actor' nomination, in what was obviously a supporting role; he easily steals the film, in every scene he's...

MGM`s GREAT DRAMA/DISASTER/MUSICAL/ROMANCE EPIC
From the mid 20s till the mid 50s, METRO-GOLDWYN MAYER(MGM) boasted they had more stars than there are in the heaven. MGM was the first studio to release a film with more than two stars(it was in 1932 - the Academy Award winning GRAND HOTEL starring Garbo, Beery, Crawford and Lionel Barrymore). SAN FRANCISCO proved to be one of the finest that ever came out of Hollywood. 3 Stars; Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald and Spencer Tracy; strong story containing drama, music, song, romance A N D disaster; set decorations by Cedric Gibbons, special effects that has never dated, realistic scenes from ol`Frisco, though everything was shot in the MGM studios at Culver City. SAN FRANCISCO is a film that will never lose its appeal because of all these ingredients. This film is a MUST-SEE. One of the best that was ever made.

DVD Buyer Beware
Unfortunatley I can only give this DVD transfer 3 stars. I have been patiently waiting for this film to be available on DVD so that I can toss out my old videocassette. Instead I think I am going to keep the videocassette and toss out the DVD. MGM's high production values are evident throughout this film. The special effects, for their time, are convincing even by today's standards. The problem with this transfer is that it is too "heavy." The facial tones are all "plugged up" and the shadows are way too saturated. I know this movie, despite it's somewhat contrasty sytle of cinemetography, was not originally shot (exposed) that way. Even if the original negative is permanently damaged this fine film is deserving of the most expensive, time-consuming restoration effort money can buy.

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That's Entertainment II [HD]

EVERY BIT AS GOOD AS THE FIRST
It is an axiom that sequels are never quite as good as the originals but this is the exception to the rule. It doesn't surpass the first That's Entertainment but it entertains in its own way. This anthology includes comedy clips as well as the award winning musical clips. In a way, it expands upon and elaborates the original. The producers reunited Astaire and Kelly as narrators and we get a real treat as they perform several short numbers together. The addition of comedy clips only enhanced the total experience.

That's Entertaiinment is great !!
Loved seeing all the old movies and dancers. Hours of wonderful viewing...well worth the money to rent this. I recommend it to anyone.



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Copycat [HD]

Good story, great suspense...
If you like suspense, mystery, a good story, and for the most part, good acting, then this movie is a good choice. What I like about Copycat (besides Sigourney Weaver) is how it seems to come full circle. It feels complete to me. It starts at the beginning, doesn't backtrack with flashbacks or start in the middle and leave you wondering what's going on. You're able to follow along and not get distracted by unnecessary gore (sure there is some, but not much). It's a psychological thriller, and I like that much better than the slash and dash type of movies. It makes you think and allows you to try and figure out what the outcome will be.

Sure, you expect the star to live, but it's not always a given. The ending kind of hints at a sequel but as far as I know, there isn't one. If they can make one as good as the first, I think it would do well (at least those who enjoyed this one, might see the second). It's rather interesting to see the Harry Connick Jr. play a serial killer...

Remarkable display of talent...
Here you have two tough broads, a good cop and the nastiest of killers. How can you lose? Actually, the pairing of Sigourney & Holly is wonderful, in this age of films so lacking in strong women's roles. Sigourney, in particular, after years of kicking alien-butt, withdraws as the victim of an almost lethal attack and subsequent nervous breakdown. Her house-bound recluse still shows fire and rage, well-controlled and centered; a really great performance. Holly, too, in a slightly less showy role, shows drive and command of her role. These women are magnificent, in their own ways, and carry this film through plot-twists and strange turns that are always compelling. Also compelling is the very taut direction of John Amiel, never missing a chance to include the audience in everything, though you don't realize it at the time. A very handsome Dermot Mulroney makes an auspicious presence as an "almost" sex-object for the women, and William McNamara is greatly effective as the ultimate...

ONE FINE THRILLER
Amidst all the suspense, shocks, and chills of this superbly made thriller stands the awesome performances of Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter. Ever since she pioneered the "female buttkicker" in the Alien movies, Sigourney has stretched her range to show the immense amount of talent she possesses. Her role as agoraphobic Helen Hudson is one of her finest; she lets us feel every nuance of her frustration, her terror, her anger, her intense ability to be strong even when she admits she's weak. Matching her performance is the understated portrayal of cop M. J. Monahan by Oscar-winner Holly Hunter. Hunter's bravura etching of this likeable cop is extremely effective in counterbalancing the tormented Weaver. Although the fate of Dermot Mulroney as Monahan's partner is questionably appropriate, it does serve as a motivating factor in Hunter's pursuit of the serial killer. William McNamara's performance as Peter Foley may seem underplayed, but it serves to heighten the...

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