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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Traffic (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Powerful Drama, Important Film
To say that this is a film with a message would be an understatement, because it comes across so emphatically clear and succinct, and it is this: To wage a war against drugs, you must first come to terms with the sobering fact that the enemy is often a member of your own family; and how do you wage a war against your own family? A sobering message? Insightful? Indeed. And, when you consider the implications of it all, devastating. Ponder that awhile and you'll begin to get a sense of the futility visited upon those who would attempt to rectify a situation that affects practically everyone everywhere sooner or later, either directly or indirectly; and it is just that situation that is addressed and presented with no-holds-barred by director Steven Soderbergh in his brilliant, hard hitting film, "Traffic," starring Michael Douglas and Benicio Del Toro. The film examines the trafficking of drugs between Mexico and the United States, and the long-ranging effects thereof; and...

A Movie that Tops the Rest
Traffic gives us a very disturbing yet equally true story about what happens to real people in the fight for war on drugs. Traffic tells three stories. About two DEA agents, Don Chealde and Luis Guzman, that are out to stop the "Big Rich Guys" at the to of the food chain. Two Mexican Police Officers that happen upon a large shipment of illegal drugs, Benicio Del Torro. And a newly appointed government official, Michael Douglas, that is there to clean up what his predecessor couldn't do. WIth that said, we are left to director Steven Soderbergh. With his brilliant usage of color and contrast. And his equally astounding talent of editing and shooting this home videoesque film. I was dumbfounded by the sheer tenactiy of the story. So gritty and captivating. It really tells people what they don't want to hear. With such a fabulous cast as this: Michael Douglas, Benicio Del Torro (who should recieve an oscar nomination), Don Chealde, Catherine Zeta Jones, Dennis Quaid,...

Incredibly rich and provocative story with a very important message
Steven Soderbergh's Traffic is, in my opinion, a well put-together masterpiece. It is a film that truly shows off the talent of its director and its stars in a completely interesting way. The acting is top-notch (be sure to look for Don Cheadle and Louis Guzman as two DEA agents and Steven Bauer as a California drug lord) and the cinematography is excellent. I would easily recommend Traffic to anyone interested in learning how to make a movie. 5 Stars

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Kojak: The Complete Movie Collection

Retail is $29.98 not $35
A detailed listing of the movies can be found on the Shout Factory site. Shout Factory gives the list price of $29.98. Amazon may wish to correct their inflated list price.

SF lists the movies:
The Marcus-Nelson Murders (1973)
The Belarus File (1985)
The Prince of Justice (1987)
Ariana (1989)
Fatal Flaw (1989)
None So Blind (1990)
It's Always Something (1990)
Flowers For Matty (1990)

None of these movies are on the first or second season sets.

I love these pre-tech detective movies. Technology is no substitute for a keen mind and a knowledge of human nature. And Kojak mysteries always have a good escape quality; good wins, evil loses, and the viewer isn't immersed in gratuitous gore and perversion on the way.

A great and complete movies collection
At last now we can complete the collection as all 8 films are finally released including the pilot "the nelson - murders" 1973 which started the franchise.
In region 2 all 5 season sets are available and now we get all 7 post movies 1985-1990 telefilms plus the 1973 pilot movie.
My kojak dvd collection ends here.

Beautiful picture quality!
Finally, "The Marcus-Nelson Murders" is on DVD. And just perfect as to the picture quality and sound quality. Brand-new looking for a 1973 movie, the master for this was great quality and maybe even further cleaned up. Watched it tonight upon receiving this pre-ordered item from Amazon.

A stunningly great movie as to the story, the Abby Mann script (1973 Emmy-winning), acting, etc. An infamous, sad, true story, based on NYC's "Career Girl Murders." Wonderful, not-found-anywhere-else, melancholy Andy Kim song used for the closing credits: "Don't Give Me A Road I Can't Walk." It's appropriately sad music and lyrics to close the show. The movie runs over 2:18.

"The Marcus-Nelson Murders" is the true story of a young, decent, poor, and mildly-mentally-challenged black man who was railroaded by the Manhattan police and D.A. for the 1963 murders of two white women in their 20s, and by the Brooklyn D.A. and police for the murder of a black woman and the attempted...

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Yang Tai Chi for Beginners (YMAA Taijiquan) Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming

Great improvement over earlier works
I have Dr. Yang's earlier DVD "Taijiquan, Classical Yang Style" and while it's a great supplement to taking lessons and reading the book, I think it's hard for a beginner to follow along because the camera keeps cutting to different angles and the student can get lost as to which direction to move.
This new video has so much to offer a beginner, that's it's a world of difference. The whole sequence is shot from one steady camera angle both from the front and the back so the student can follow along easily. Also in the instruction part, each movement is broken down from several angles, but mostly Dr Yang turns and explains why while the camera stays steady. I find this so much easier to follow. There are some other camera angles and closeups when needed to emphasize a technique, but they were very well integrated and easy to follow. I can't imagine the amount of work that went into filming and edtiting this project to get such a thorough and easily followed final DVD.
I...

Excellence As Described by Webster's Dictionary: Anything Dr. Yang Puts On Film
Just like ALL of the videos offered by YMAA, this video is exceptionally well done and at a running time of 293 minutes, yes you read that right, 293 minutes or just shy of 5 hours of quality information provided by Dr. Yang. I mean really, would you ever expect anything less!

Dr. Yang breaks down each and every move in this Tai Chi long form as he explains their individual martial arts application, as well as, the various health benefits associated with their practice. Like all exceptional martial arts instructors, be it Tai Chi, Karate, Taekwondo, or any other martial art, Dr. Yang not only instructs the student in how to correctly execute each individual move, but he also provides instruction on how not to practice the move by showing some of the more common mistakes made by students when learning and practicing the individual techniques. Another really nice feature is that each stage of the form is filmed from a variety of angles in order to better teach the techniques...

Great introduction to the Yang long form
I originally bought Dr. Yang's earlier video, Tai Chi Chuan, Classical Yang Style, which I still like for its qigong section and its introduction to the stances and steppings, but Yang Tai Chi for Beginners surpasses it by far when it comes to exposing the form. The disc is five hours long, and most of that is devoted to detailed demonstrations of each posture, from different angles, and with demonstrations of the martial applications of each posture. The video was shot outdoors in the mountains of Northern California, and the camera work is excellent. You can always see Dr. Yang's feet and hands (my biggest complaint about the earlier video was that some crucial hand movements were not shown because the camera was on the feet).

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Rules of Engagement: The Complete Fifth Season

Most Undderrated Show on Television
I LOOOOVE this show! The characters, dialoque and situations are absolutely hysterical. I am so glad this DVD finally came out....CBS keeps switching the time slot around and there doesn't seem to be any advertising for when the show airs. I don't understand why the network doesn't do more to promote this comedy gem. My husband and I watched these DVDs all the way through three nights in a row. Patrick Warburton is the funniest man on television!!!! This show needs to start getting the love it deserves!!!!

Glad I bought it.
The most under rated program on TV. Season five continues the excellence. So, as for packaging, as others have said this is a DVD manufacture on demand. The outside of the packaging is fine, the inside is basically blank and the graphics on the DVD are rather primitive. The picture quality and sound are excellent and, after all, that's why I bought it.

Great new season
Real funny season again.... hope they`ll keep the show on air .....
But how could they not? It is one of the few remaining funny sitcoms.

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Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection (Caliber 9 / The Italian Connection / The Boss / Rulers of the City) [Blu-ray]

When you find a director like Di Leo - You Tip Your Cap!
After watching way too many poor transfers of Euro films from the seventies, it's a real treat when I get a chance to see them released by a studio that actually cares what the final product looks like. In my opinion, Raro Video did an outstanding job with these four films, from the production value of the transfers to the package as a whole. I'm not going to imply that each one of these films is a five-star effort - even though fans of this director and this genre will most likely rate them very high, while others may nitpick at them - rather that it is the collection itself that I'm rating as top of the line, one that any enthusiast of Eurocrime or seventies cinema will find it well worth their time to track down.

Were I to rate them separately, I would give each film four stars - they all have their plusses and minuses, which seem inextricably linked in each. The first three films - Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, and The Boss - are part of Di Leo's 'Milieu...

Great Collection w/DVD issues
Nothing to add in the way of another film review.
The treatment of these movies is good, they look and sound very nice.
Yes, the cases are a bit flimsy but they're acceptable.
I, too, had an issue with the Il Boss disc. The feature doesn't freeze up but the Storie di Mafia documentary does have the 30 second audio delay. It's pretty f'n annoying and might render it unwatchable for many. I'm pretty patient with such things and still had a difficult time.
The "anyone can get a lemon" assessment by an earlier reviewer doesn't apply here.
The now-majority of Amazon buyers are having these same problems.
What seems odd to me is that the quality warnings on here are getting "1 out of 5 found this helpful" responses.
Seems to me that it might be kind of important to a potential buyer.

For whatever it's worth I'll contact RaroVideo.
Still, I won't be returning the set.
The films are great and I'm happy to have spent $20 to have them...

[Blu-ray] Fernando Di Leo crime collection [Blu-ray]
When I first heard these films would hit Blu-Ray, I was pretty excited since these Di Leo films are among his best and are some of my all time favorites. It was going to be great to see these films in definitive home video editions! Sadly, these new transfers don't look very good at all. They are swimming with digital noise and artifacts that may have been film grain at one point but is now a mass of swirling fuzz. The further away from the TV you get, the better the image appears to look.

The major letdown of the set, however, are the weird, split-second video glitches on the Blu-Ray disc of The Italian Connection (that can be seen in this photo I took here [...] ). Another similar glitch can be seen during the lumberyard fight, and then at least 5 more instances are seen during the final junkyard scene. I'm pretty sure this isn't an isolated incident, so if you've encountered these video glitches throughout the disc, please let Raro know that they need to correct this...

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