Braulios Blog

Journey to the Center of the Earth Description:

The accent is on fun and fantasy in this film version of Jules Verne’s classic thriller that stars James Mason, Pat Boone, and Arlene Dahl. With spectacular visuals as a backdrop, the story centers on an expedition led by Professor Lindenbrook (Mason) down into the earth’s dark, threat-laden core. Members of the group include the professor’s star student, Alec (Boone), and the widow (Dahl) of a colleague. Along the way lurk dangers such as kidnapping, death, sabotage by a rival explorer, and attacks by giant prehistoric reptiles. But they also encounter such magnificent wonders as a glistening cavern of quartz crystals, luminescent algae, a forest of giant mushrooms, and the lost city of Atlantis.

Remaining faithful to Verne’s story, this is a sweeping adventure that offers enough thrills and entertainment to satisfy every explorer in the family.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1510 in DVD
• Brand: TCFHE
• Released on: 2003-03-04
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 132 minutes

Features

• ISBN13: 0024543050094
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Reviews:

Dolby Surround-Sound Magic
A 19th century French businessman, Jules Verne decided rather late in life to give up the stock market and write children’s fantasy novels. I’m so glad he did. The movie version of his “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”, in 1954, set off an explosion of major Jules Verne film adaptions(over 12 movies in 10 years). One of the finest was “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. As the story opens, an Edinburgh professor receives a gift; a meteorite fragment from his student. Intuition fires Prof. Lindenbrook’s imagination: Could an historic scientific message be hidden inside? After testing, the rock explodes. Lindenbrook assembles an expedition to follow an explorer’s trail down into an extinct Icelandic volcano. Enemies surround him. Mysterious creatures are everywhere. For Prof. Lindenbrook and his party, a fantastic adventure is about to begin. “Journey to the Center of the Earth” stars Pat Boone, Arlene Dahl, Thayer David, Alan Napier, and the magnificent James Mason. But the real “star” is composer Bernard Herrmann, who’s thundering, booming film score is nothing short of classic(and actually, only one of many). Director Henry Levin fashioned a lively, colorful saga in 1959’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. Extensive shooting in Hollywood, Scotland, and Carlsbad Caverns produced sweeping set-pieces of subterranean caverns, a giant mushroom forest, and even the lost temples of Atlantis. Special effects include miniature constructions, matte painting, and more. Sadly, the film’s main draw-back is a horde of painted lizard “dinosaurs” thrown at the camera in the exciting finale. This brand new widescreen anamorphic (2.35:1) DVD is an excellent transfer. Fox found the original 1959 camera negative worn and faded. A search for viable film elements led to a black-and-white silver print; from this came a 35mm interpositive. Finally came digital restoration and video enhancement. DVD extras include 40 chapter stops, 8 trailers, and a conclusive restoration documentary. Famous and wealthy in his time, Jules Verne predicted the future use of submarines, space-travel, and crustaceous exploration. Over 80 motion picture and TV productions around the world have heralded his work. The first science-fiction movie was made in 1902 by George Melies. And yes, you’re right. It was written by Jules Verne.

Grand “Cinemascope” family entertainment from the 1950s!
OK, there’s been some controversy here about the quality of this release, so let me put it to rest. This DVD is spledid! I think this adaptation of Jules Verne’s 1864 French novel is a prime example of 1950’s wide-screen motion picture family entertainment — it’s wholesome and has a little something for everyone. This is the best film version of this story, the most recent of which was done for the USA Channel on cable in 1999 and was very campy. They couldn’t match the 1959 production values of this 20th Century-Fox film that has excellent color photography and art direction, and Bernard Herrmann’s wonderfully atmospheric music score. These elements have continued to make it a favorite with fantasy film fans who can appreciate older movies, though it’s true that some of it is silly at times, but I don’t think the film’s makers were trying for a serious movie. It also contains one of James Mason’s best performances (He was always good). It’s wonderful “Cinemascope” escapism from the bygone Eisenhower-era of the 1950s. Even though I’ve been watching it on TV since I was a kid in the sixties, I’d only seen pan&scan versions, and it wasn’t until I got it letterboxed on laserdisc that I finally saw what a big-screen entertainment this movie was meant to be. It has splendid scope and a score by Bernard Herrmann that takes you right down into the bowels of the earth. Listen to it and you’ll notice what I mean, as the movie progresses the music keeps going into a lower and lower register. Five organs were used, including one meant for a Cathedral. (The complete original recordings of the score are available on CD from Varese Sarabande.) Sure it’s long in the telling and takes a while to get you down that extinct volcano in Iceland, but it’s fun all the way with great special effects work by L.B. Abbott and matte paintings by Emil Kosa Jr. It’s been a long wait for this to come out on DVD but it’s now worth it. Although Fox should have known that fans would want more extras, including a production and poster still gallery and audio commentary by Pat Boone and Arlene Dahl perhaps?, or an expert on the production? (Perhaps we’ll get it in a future release?), they have thankfully included the original theatrical trailer, whic is a lot of fun. They’ve also gone to great efforts to restore the color negative, and this 16X9 ANAMORPHIC TRANSFER has been struck from a newly made interpositive print, and has been further enhanced with digital video. The original 4-track MagOptical soundtrack is here offered in Dolby Digital 4.0 surround. Although the directionalized dialogue is often off the mark, the aged soundtrack sounds great and will really rumble your room if you’ve got a subwoofer. If you are a fan of 1959’s JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, you’ll be very happy with this DVD. I’d give this DVD five stars but for Fox skimping on the extras. Boy, you people at Fox can be real dummies!

Good DVD restoration of an uneven film
To anyone considering this DVD, know that the gentleman claiming this DVD was colorized from black-and-white prints is quite mistaken. This DVD is from a new internegative, and what that means is that they made a new color film using what is known as “black-and-white separations.” These separations are a B&W film of each of the 3 primary color spectrums (cyan, magenta, blue - tech talk for these separations is Y-C-M) which put together make real full color. They are made that way to preserve a color film. The B&W doesn’t fade like color negatives and most prints do (the color spectrums also fade unevenly). So you’d always be able to put them together to make a fresh new color print. You can also control the color better by blending the intensity of each color spectrum. They used this technique for this movie in order preserve the badly aged and neglected negative and to use the blending ability in making a new print to compensate for much of the fading of the negative. Separations should exist for all color films but sadly they don’t.

You can now figure out that the question of how this will look depends on how bad the negative was before making the “separations” from it, the quality of workmanship, and how carefully they blended the separations when making the film we see on this DVD. They did a good job. It isn’t perfect, but it does more or less reflect the color scheme the filmmakers went for in 1959, which is why it might seem a little like fake color to some. If you have a good monitor, it looks colorful in a slightly artful way that many older films intentionally strove for.

The sound is a bit out of synch at times but not much. Many videos have that problem. It could be better but most people won’t notice. The hiss is fine since it doesn’t distract and is better left in than having the sound muffled by filtering it. There are some other strange artifacts in the sound that shouldn’t be in there. What is sloppier is that they get the left and right channels reversed at times! This is also not uncommon in the second rate attention usually given older films. In fact this DVD sounds unusually good! It even allows the bass end to remain intact, a big plus in the music for this film. Fox needed to proofread this DVD. It says it is modified (cropped to fit the TV) while in fact it is in its original widescreen on this DVD. This DVD is a commendable job and far superior to the horrid junk this studio released in previous releases of this movie.

You must have an appreciation of the absurd to enjoy this movie. If you like absurd or have an appreciation of the absurd, you will find this movie amusing and enjoyable. If you expect clinical or hyper-reality, hyper-violence or gritty realism, you will not like this film. You should also be able to enjoy a story that is in no hurry and be able to enjoy hand-made special effects and some simple stage-like backdrops. I did enjoy the Atlantis setting, it’s a shame it didn’t make more use of that. There are many things it glosses over in favor of things I wouldn’t have bothered with. You may agree. Of course the lady stays a ’50’s movie lady, and extravagantly made-up and coiffed no matter how long away from a salon. As you no doubt know, many shows still pull that trick. At least she is given a backbone. If the handling of the villain is a little dubious, at least the lead, James Mason’s role, is well played and easy to associate with if you have that appreciation for the absurd. If you are fine with all that then you should enjoy this movie.

The score is the best element of this movie. I’m not talking of the transient ditties Pat Boone throws off. I mean the scoring by Bernard Herrmann. Many people like the score far better than the movie itself. I agree. Music and film students will find this score a must. Particularly of interest is the instrumentation. There are superb uses of organ including the seriously low registers (a subwoofer is worth using for this film). Another interesting thing is the extremely rare use of the distinctive, long-obsolete medieval instrument called a “serpent.” This instrument is used for the unnerving tones portraying the (what else!) giant serpent.

This movie is not as dramatically valid or creatively solid as Walt Disney’s ‘Twenty-Thousand Leagues under the Sea’ (1954). ‘Twenty-Thousand Leagues’ has also aged better. If you want a classic Jules Verne film, get the excellent DVD of ‘Twenty-Thousand Leagues’. Then consider this one. ‘Mysterious Island’ is another, but I’d suggest it after the aforementioned. Also of possible interest to you is a film also requiring an appreciation of the absurd and a taste or tolerance of the “cheesy” in even larger measures, but possibly also stronger in its strengths than this film, ‘In Search of the Castaways’ (1962 - not on DVD at this time). ‘First Men in the Moon’ (1964) is also in a similar spirit to this. I hope you’ll now be able to chose whether to buy this DVD and what to get if you enjoy this film.

- C.J.

Amazon.com
James Mason plays Professor Oliver Lindenbrook, a scientist hoping to find the world’s core in this 1959 adaptation of the Jules Verne novel. He leads his unusual party on an expedition to the center of the earth, by way of a volcano in Iceland. On the way, they encounter enormous mushrooms and giant prehistoric monsters. Produced by Michael Todd with then-spectacular special effects, the story was modernized to 1950s sensibilities. Mason gives this class, while Arlene Dahl and Diane Baker are the romantic interests. And Pat Boone is more palatable than you might expect as a secondary lead. You can watch this with your children and not be bored, and they will surely love it. –Rochelle O’Gorman

JAG Judge Advocate General - The Eighth Season Product: JAG Judge Advocate General - The Eighth Season Review. List Price: $39.98 Amazon Price: $29.99 Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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JAG (Judge Advocate General) is an elite legal branch of military officers trained as lawyers who investigate, prosecute and defend those accused of crimes in the military, including murder, treason and terrorism. Navy Cmdr. Harmon “Harm” Rabb, an ace pilot turned lawyer, and Marine Lt. Col. Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie, a beautiful and strictly by-the-book officer, are colleagues, both with similar high standards, that often find themselves clashing with one another as they take different routes to solve cases. Assisting them with their mission is Navy Lt. Bud Roberts, a lawyer who often surprises his superiors with the breadth of his knowledge, and their boss, the no-nonsense Admiral Chegwidden, a former Navy Seal.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1885 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2009-03-17
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Dimensions: .66 pounds
• Running time: 1052 minutes

J.A.G.
As a retired personnel from the Navy, I find the show to be very true.
From the salutes to action onboard Naval warships, it was almost being back in the Navy.
I did not watch the show while on TV but I watch/record reruns on USA network at 0800, Mon-Fri…I first saw the show on USA 2 yrs ago and was caught hook, line and sinker ever since…You can also see reruns on the Sleuth channel early an mid mornings.
Great show, I have Seasons 1-7 and will pickup Season 8 when it becomes available.

NCIS/JAG Episodes
Season Eight was when two episodes (Ice Queen 8-20 and Meltdown 8-21) included the soon-to-be spun-off NCIS staff. Gibbs, Ducky, Abby and Tony in addition to Director Morrow (seasons one and two). There were also two special agents who did not make the NCIS series.

A bit of trivia, Patrick Labyorteaux and Mark Harmon both starred in Summer School in 1987. A classic film that can be enjoyed by all.

Jag- Best of the Best
I was lucky enough to catch the first few episodes of Jag was became totally hooked. The depth of the characters
and their interaction was fanomominal! ! !If any network
wanted to cash in they should try to put this show back
together with the original characters. I watched every episode and never got enough. It would be great to see
Harm & Mac finally married & carry it on from there. The subtle looks, body language & total loyality of the cast to each other was awesomely done and very realistic. I loved every episode for a different reason. It was the
“BEST OF THE BEST’ when it comes to T.V. shows.

The Last Waltz Special Edition Description:

It started as a concert. It became a celebration. Join an unparalleled lineup of rock superstars asthey celebrate The Band’s historic 1976 farewell performance. Directed by Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull, Goodfellas), The Last Waltz is not only “the most beautiful rock film evermade” (New York Times) it’s “one of the most important cultural events of the last two decades” (Rolling Stone)!

• Amazon Sales Rank: #381 in DVD
• Brand: Alfred Publishing
• Released on: 2002-05-07
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Dolby, NTSC, Color
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 117 minutes

Features

• DVD
• The Band

Customer Reviews:

Shows Robbie for exactly what he is - with wonderful music!
Rumor has it that at the debut screening of The Last Waltz in 1977, Ronnie Hawkins stood up at the end of the film and remarked sarcastically, “That was all right, but it sure could’ve used a few more shots of Robbie!” By now, any serious fan of the Band will be familiar with the antipathy between Robbie Robertson and some of his former comrades. A quarter-century later, this classic movie’s disproportionate concentration on Robertson at the others’ expense not only remains palpable, it’s even more lopsided in the updated version. But for better or worse, that is a key part of the story of the Band; and in retrospect, the Last Waltz is surely an even more accurate documentary than Robertson had aimed for. More importantly, it captures one of the greatest concerts of the rock era.

As Levon Helm relates in his rather bitter memoir “This Wheel’s on Fire,” the decision to disBand was Robertson’s alone and the Last Waltz was a somewhat reluctant exercise on the part of the other four. This shows to varying degrees in the interviews which are dispersed throughout the concert footage: Robertson, who appears far more often than the others, looks animated and a bit rehearsed (although it’s hard not to feel some animosity towards him if you’ve read Helm’s book) while the others look tired or worse. (Helm’s description of Richard Manuel as “looking like Che Guevara after the Bolivians got done with him” is all too close to the mark!) While unflattering to a degree, the interview scenes do speak volumes about what the music industry did to one of rock’s all time greatest bands and the truth about the then-impending breakup. The Band did, after all, reunite sans Robertson as soon as they were legally able to use the name again without his blessing. The commentary itself is still interesting as well, particularly some of the saltier stories of life on the road in the early 1960s, a time too often thought of as rock’s “innocent” years.

But the music itself is still the most important part of the show by far. However uncomfortable things had become behind the scenes, these guys could still play like no other band before or since, and it’s almost magical to watch them do so for the very last time. Given Helm’s well-documented distaste for the whole project, it’s remarkable how happy he looks during most of the performances, almost as if the bad blood disappeared during those last few hours while they were doing what they did best together. The late Rick Danko’s showstopping solo performance of “Stage Fright” just might be the concert’s most intense moment, which is perhaps just as it should be given the subject matter of that song and the reality behind the scenes.

If there is any complaint to be made about the concert footage itself, it is that the guest performances by Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters and Van Morrison featured here don’t necessarily do justice to the full brilliance of that night. The complete soundtrack (which was only recently released legitimately, after years of bootlegging) reveals stunning performances that didn’t make it into the movie, although Martin Scorcese claims in the retrospective documentary that this is only because he simply wasn’t able to shoot satisfactory footage of some of them. Nonetheless, the performances that did make the cut are superb across the board. Even the wildly out of place Neil Diamond does a decent job with his one song of the evening, even if I was left grateful that it was only one song. Best of all, we’re treated to dozens of unintentionally hilarious shots of Robertson singing with such emotion that the veins stand out on his neck - into a microphone which, as Helm gleefully recounted in his book, wasn’t plugged in. (This was no accident; guitar genius though he was and is, Robertson’s vocal abilities always paled in comparison to those of Helm, Danko and Manuel, who also delievers a number of touching performances here.)

The new footage consists mostly of Scorcese and Robertson reminiscing about the making of the film; it’s predictably self-congratulatory, but fairly informative. More interesting to me, though, are recollections spread throughout the show from a wide variety of people who were involved with the project in various ways, playable as voice-overs with any given part of the concert. After 25 years, these provide a perspective on the event and its meaning through the eyes of someone - or really, many someones - other than Robbie Robertson. Perhaps this was the original intent behind the movie. In any case, it should have been. The new perspectives and footage are an undeniably nice touch, but the music still stands alone, and it sounds better than ever. It all makes for a new and improved look at one of rock’s all time great events.

Hard to imagine a better DVD of this film
MGM really did an outstanding job with this release. The movie itself is justly celebrated as one of the greatest concert documentaries of all time. The Band is brimming with energy and they play their farewell concert, and the music sounds fantastic in the 5.1 mix. You don’t even have to be a huge fan of The Band to enjoy this movie, as long as you like classic rock. There are so many guest stars that join The Band, including Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, The Staples Singers, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and many others.

There are two outstanding commentary tracks on this dvd. One of them features director Martin Scorsese and Robbie Robertson (of The Band). Over the course of the film, they provide a great deal of insight into the making of the documentary. Equally valuable is the second audio commentary, which features many participants (the other surviving Band members, a few of the guest performers such as Dr. John and Mavis Staples, and several crew members, among others). Although the many participants were recorded separately, the track tightly edited with nary a dull moment. A nice touch: you can select a subtitle feature which will bring up the name of the person who is speaking while the commentary plays.

If all that weren’t enough, the 20 minute featurette contains good recent interview footage with Scorsese and Robertson. And there is a 12 minute outtake which is an all-star jam session (the instrumental jam itself isn’t all that exciting, but with that kind of line-up it’s well worth watching). Even the Still Photo gallery had more care put into it than most dvds, with the photos divided into three sections, many featuring captions to identify what we’re looking at.

The movie itself looks and sounds so good, it justifies the purchase. But the supplemental material puts this way above the 5-star level.

An Amazing Film Despite The In-Fighting
“The Last Waltz” was one of the very first films I ever purchased new on VHS, and I have enjoyed it consistently for the last 12 years. This movie captures one of the most symbiotic relationships between music and film I have ever seen. Martin Scorsese only had one chance to get this movie right, and he did a great job.

Watch the closeup footage of Levon Helm engulfed in a cool blue light while belting out an amazing version of “Ophelia”. Watch Joni Mitchell filmed in a silouhette backstage as she secretly sings backup to Neil Young’s “Helpless”. Watch Dr. John’s hands float effortlessly over the piano keyboard while performing a rousing version of “Such A Night”. Watch Rick Danko as he curiously peers over at Bob Dylan, completely unsure of what song they are about to launch into next. Filled with countless moments like these, “The Last Waltz” is pure enjoyment to the very end.

Since falling in love with this movie, I have learned that drummer Levon Helm was a very uncooperative participant in the production of the movie. He was not ready for The Band to quit, he believed that Robbie Robertson wanted to make this movie only to further his “rock star” persona, he did not like the fact that Neil Diamond was involved in this project only because Robbie Robertson had just produced a record for him, and from Day 1, he did not like Martin Scorsese.

Knowing that, it is interesting to note how removed Levon seems to be during the interviews, and how much Robbie playes the “Rock Star” role, professing exhaustion from the road, and not knowing how he can go on with this lifestyle.

I am not saying that Levon or Robbie is right or wrong, I am just saying that it is interesting to watch this movie knowing how at least one of the members of the group felt about the project.

If you care about music and quality filmaking, “The Last Waltz” should be part of your permanent collection.

Amazon.com
Martin Scorsese’s 1978 capsule history of the Band is mixed with footage of the group’s allegedly last performance (certainly their last performance as a quintet) in this particularly stylish concert film. Scorsese shoots the players and their sundry guests with the same flair and enthusiasm one can see in the later The Color of Money or Goodfellas. He also proves a good interviewer with Band members, particularly Robbie Robertson, whose sleepy-sexy good looks make a star-caliber impression in close-up. But the film’s real hook is the stage show, which features a rotation of rock legends (Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Paul Butterfield, Bob Dylan, and so on) playing with the Band before a wildly appreciative audience. –Tom Keogh

DVD features
For its 25th anniversary, The Last Waltz received a meticulous color-corrected new film transfer approved by director Martin Scorsese and a new digital 5.1 surround audio mix supervised by producer Robbie Robertson, better known as the Band’s chief songwriter and guitarist. The DVD adds a crisp anamorphic digital transfer and a clutch of additional features that represent satisfying enhancements to this superb concert documentary. Two full-length audio commentaries tacitly acknowledge the schisms within the surviving membership of the Band: on the first, Scorsese and Robertson deconstruct the film and its production, while the second taps Band drummer Levon Helm and organist Garth Hudson, along with erstwhile mentor Ronnie Hawkins, pop gospel veteran Mavis Staples, and various crew members. A featurette offers new interviews with Robertson and Scorsese, and fans will relish extended “jam footage” of previously unreleased performances by members of the Band, Dr. John, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield, Ron Wood, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young, although the footage itself never approaches the passion or coherence of the film’s best songs. DVD enthusiasts disappointed at the lack of more audio bonuses should pick up the companion restoration of the movie’s soundtrack, expanded to four CDs to contain a wealth of previously unreleased performances from the historic 1976 concert. –Sam Sutherland

Summer Heights High Description:

In this hilarious series set in a real Australian high school, actor/comedian Chris Lilley stars as three different characters: a vain drama teacher, a self-absorbed boy, and a haughty female exchange student. Hysterical, absurd and frequently shocking, Summer Heights High reveals a world where small issues become huge, social groups are critical, young minds are molded, hopes are shattered and dreams are realized.

DVD Features:
Deleted Scenes
Outtakes

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1665 in DVD
• Brand: HBO HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2009-02-24
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, Closed-captioned, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 240 minutes

Customer Reviews:

Improvisational Satire at its Best
Australia has given us some excellent character actors: script-ripping stagemen who can become larger than life caricatures. Think Crocodile Dundee, or — better yet — Dame Edna.

But Chris Lilley has come along and surpassed them all. Indeed, his versatility and roaringly off-putting humour surpasses any of the dark humour in ‘Little Britain’ or other such countrywide satires.

Now we in North America can enjoy ‘Summer Heights High’, one of the truly wicked and funny send-ups of a secondary school mini-universe, its cliques, turf wars, and teachers (who are barely more mature than the students).

‘Summer Heights High’ deserves proper sequential viewing — one cannot simply dive into a later episode and acquire the plot. Lilley’s immense talent for character-forming deserves close attention and patience as he lays down, through improvisation, innuendo, and sheer brilliance for skit acting, three distinct narratives (which amazingly never cross paths) in a suburban Australian school. Details of these three personas which he takes on can be found widely, so I won’t repeat the background stories here. I just want to state that Lilley’s ability to assume different characters is positively uncanny. I mean, uncanny. Take an excellent method actor and combine it with a razor mouthed pirrahna of improv and quick-thinking, and you get a sense of just how kooky and unpredictable Lilley is.

For my money, it surpasses the muti-headed hydra pranks of Cohen (of ‘Borat’ fame). Because Lilley can deliver sinister and scathing satire on racism, drugs, and just about every other taboo — but just when you wonder if he’s a nihilist, out comes a breathtaking moment of magnificent spirit and heart. The final scenes involving Jonah Takalua are simply headshakingly good, without any hint of that ‘very special moment’ that usually mars most dramas supposedly about teens.

Chris Lilley, you’re brilliant, mate.

Original and Hilarious
Chris Lilley has done it again. Summer Heights High is his best work yet. This series is about three characters(all played by Lilley) at a high school in Austraila(where the series is based). We meet Jonah, a 13 year old delinquent. Ja’mie, a snobby, downright awful girl who was transfered from a private school. My personal favourite is Mr.G, the drama teacher, whos ego is as large as Aussie itself. This one isnt really for the kids though. Most of the humour will go right over their heads (plus the swearing).

This series is refreshing and new. I’m so glad it FINALLY came to America.
If you cant wait, buy the Region 4 dvd. It will work on some American dvd players.

Awesome show!
I’m not Australian and have never been there. I stumbled upon this show by accident and watched all 8 episodes in two days. It’s really hilarious and I love how in Australia touchy subjects and foul language aren’t censored! It makes things much more real and true to life. I wish there were more episodes but it’s more fitting for it to end the way it did. My favorite was Jonah Takalua and his friends, but Mr. G and Ja’mie were hilarious too! I didn’t realize Ofa was a girl until episode 3!

This show makes me want to search for more Aussie shows and to visit Australia for vacation. I’ve heard HBO has picked this up, I’d recommend everyone give it a try. if you guys liked Ali G & Borat you will surely love this!

Amazon.com
Australian writer/performer Chris Lilley specializes in the comedy of narcissism. All three of his characters in the mockumentary series Summer Heights High are blindly, maddeningly self-absorbed: Mr. G, a drama teacher who writes and directs his own musicals; Ja’mie, a preening 16-year-old from a wealthy private school who views her year at public school as purgatory; and Jonah, a Tongan juvenile delinquent who’s been previously expelled from two other schools. The series’ 8 episodes follow these three as they seek to find some form of fame and adulation.Mr. G struggles to create a musical about a student who recently died of a drug overdose… only it becomes increasingly about a heroic drama teacher whose dog dies in an accident; Ja’mie desperately wants to stage a formal dance and will lie, bribe, and manipulate to do it; and Jonah wants to do breakdancing with his posse, but he’s simply incapable of keeping himself from insulting his teachers and getting into fights with other students. While Mr. G and Ja’mie are blinkered monsters, Jonah verges on tragic, as he stumbles towards increasing self-destruction. The thoroughness of Lilley’s creations is impressive, as the comedian loses himself fully in these characters. Still, some viewers may find them more aggravating than funny; just a hint of self-awareness might have made them a little easier to spend time with. But for anyone who connects with Lilley’s humor, Summer Heights High will be a feast of juicy, unfiltered, rampaging egomania. –Bret Fetzer

Stills from Summer Heights High (Click for larger image)

Band of Brothers Blu-ray Description:

Based on the bestseller by Stephen E. Ambrose, the epic 10-part miniseries Band of Brothers tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers’ journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear. They were an elite rifle company parachuting into France early on D-Day morning, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and capturing Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgaden. They were also a unit that suffered 150 percent casualties, and whose lives became legend.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #250 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2008-11-11
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, DTS Surround Sound, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Spanish, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 705 minutes

Features

• Based on the bestseller by Stephen E. Ambrose, the epic 10-part miniseries Band of Brothers tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers’ journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear. They wer

Customer Reviews:

Probably one of the best war films ever made. Stunning on Blu-Ray.
I have to say that this series blew me away. I was so impressed with the effort put into Saving Private Ryan to give it a documentary look and feel. Band Of Brothers falls from the same tree. Once again, Hanks and Spielberg reunite to produce this epic cable series of WW2 as told by the men themselves. Every episode has interviews from the soldiers who were there. Very realistic and emotional stuff.

First off, the set comes in a metal box with fold out style disk holders. Exactly like the standard dvd edtion a few years ago.

The Blu-Ray edition has 6 disks total. 2 episodes per disk on the first 5 with many, many extras on number 6.

The quality of the picture is perfect. These films were shot with tons of natural grain for that documentary style look. The lenses also give the look of a 40’s camera used in the field. Although the film itself is washed out and very rough, it has awesome detail. You will notice so many things going on in the background. The size of the shots sometimes leave you in awe. The blacks are sometimes unstable, but that is the intent. The daytime scenes are beautiful in their full scope. The greatest thing about this series is the uncompromising attention to detail. From the uniforms to the weapons. The skintones are spot on and very nice looking with great detail. The majority of these episodes were shot outdoors. So, the landscapes look fantastic! From the coast of France, to the mountains of Austria, this has some amazing and beautiful scenery. While the picture may be ” washed out “, it looks and feels just as you would expect from the point of view from a combat photographer. The battle scenes are simply unbelievable. It takes you to a new level realism.

The sound is second to none. You will easily be blown away with the audio track quality. You have to turn down the volume at many points during battle scenes. The voices are crisp and clean, but the battle scenes really rock your sound system. All of your speakers get a good workout. The subwoofer really hammers out the explosions. The rear speakers have tons of gunfire from all directions, as do the side speakers. You will have a true surround sound experience. Many movies do not make full use of the full audio possibilities. This one does!

There are great extras here as well. Great in depth interviews from the soldiers themselves. A really cool making of documentary called ” We stand together: The men of easy company ” And many other things for the history buff. Cant say enough about this product. If you are a war genre lover, this is one of the best. If you love history, and dont want a watered down, made for Hollywood war film. This is how it happened as told by the men of the 506th E Co. You will have a new respect for these guys who gave so much. It is hard to believe that some people could give so much for so little. Thank god they did.

Short Review From someone who never saw BOB before~
First of all let me just say that i have never seen Band of brothers before so I’m not a blind fanboy or anything like that , and because I’m not an american so i thought this mini series is not going to be interesting to me , However this mini series is highly praised everywhere and it have 9.6 score on IMDB plus it won the Golden Globe award and Emmy as the BEST series made for TV , so i said to myself lets give it try

So far i have seen only 5 episodes on the BLU-RAY and i have to say that the picture quality is insanely good i own over 30 Blu ray movies and series like Planet Earth, Band of brothers picture quality beat every movie i have ever seen ,yes even Disney Blu rays like pirates, the colors is perfect and its crystal clear, its just UNREAL how good its, i was really surprised i didn’t expect TV series picture quality to beat Movies picture quality (Its simply the Best picture quality so far on blu ray to me, but sometimes picture quality jump from crystal clear to “extremely” Grainy on some parts which is intended i believe)

Blu-ray.com reviewed the series today also and gave the picture quality 5/5 and everything else 5/5 kinda XD

I have only seen 5 episodes so far! and i don’t want it to end ;( that’s why i’m watching it slowly, to be honest i have always hated and avoided World war Movies because to me they are boring as hell, i have heard the story god damn million time in books/video games and Hollywood movies even school books and most of the times each version of the movie is different so you don’t know which version is real or accurate about what happened in the world war 2 because a lot of movie directors change events and make them different to sell tickets, but with band of brothers the men who went to the war speaks to you and tell you there REAL story “there is picture in picture mode where you can watch the movie and small screen like 1/4 of the TV pop and the Real people who was at the event speaks and its optional”

Band of brothers is a masterpiece its Story,Characters,Script, Events,Sound is too good plus its very emotional story…. i don’t know where to start about this series it just blow my mind from its goodness

I hope this review was helpful to you

Must Have !! One of the best original series from HBO
I had purchased the DVD version of Band of Brothers after I saw a few episodes from my roommates’ DVD set. I was blown away with the story and the amazing script. The moment I realized that they were coming out with the Blu Ray version I promptly sold my DVD version and pre-ordered this set on Amazon. The advantages over the DVD version are as follows
1. 1080p full HD quality
2. DTS-HD Master Audio
3. English Subtitles (the DVD one had only Spanish)
4. Tons of extras like PIP commentary, Interactive guides and maps …

For me these were good enough reasons to own this masterpiece !!

I have this set today in my hands !! Great packaging … more or less like the DVD version .. just bit smaller !!
Amazing A/V quality !!! Way better than the DVD version of course !!

Conclusion: Must have even for a casual enthusiast … and an absolute must for those hardcore fans !! Go get it !! Can’t beat Amazon’s price !!

Amazon.com
An impressively rigorous, unsentimental, and harrowing look at combat during World War II, Band of Brothers follows a company of airborne infantry–Easy Company–from boot camp through the end of the war. The brutality of training takes the audience by increments to the even greater brutality of the war; Easy Company took part in some of the most difficult battles, including the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the failed invasion of Holland, and the Battle of the Bulge, as well as the liberation of a concentration camp and the capture of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. But what makes these episodes work is not their historical sweep but their emphasis on riveting details (such as the rattle of a plane as the paratroopers wait to leap, or a flower in the buttonhole of a German soldier) and procedures (from military tactics to the workings of bureaucratic hierarchies). The scope of this miniseries (10 episodes, plus an actual documentary filled with interviews with surviving veterans) allows not only a thoroughness impossible in a two-hour movie, but also captures the wide range of responses to the stress and trauma of war–fear, cynicism, cruelty, compassion, and all-encompassing confusion. The result is a realism that makes both simplistic judgments and jingoistic enthusiasm impossible; the things these soldiers had to do are both terrible and understandable, and the psychological price they paid is made clear. The writing, directing, and acting are superb throughout. The cast is largely unknown, emphasizing the team of actors as a whole unit, much like the regiment; Damian Lewis and Ron Livingston play the central roles of two officers with grit and intelligence. Band of Brothers turns a vast historical event into a series of potent personal experiences; it’s a deeply engrossing and affecting accomplishment. –Bret Fetzer

Dirt! The Movie Product: Dirt! The Movie-Retail $26.95! Sale Only $20.99! List Price: $26.95 Amazon Price: $20.99 Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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DIRT! THE MOVIE is an astonishing, humorous and substantial look at the glorious and unappreciated ground beneath our feet.

Dirt feeds us and gives us shelter. Dirt holds and cleans our water. Dirt heals us and makes us beautiful. Dirt regulates the earth s climate. Why do we humans ignore, abuse, and destroy our most precious living natural resource? Consider the results of such behavior: Mass starvation, drought, floods and global warming.

Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, DIRT! THE MOVIE tells the story of humans trying to re-connect to dirt the living skin of the earth. Traveling from the vineyards of California to the plains of Kenya, DIRT! reveals how repairing our relationship with dirt can create new possibilities for all life on earth.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2806 in DVD
• Released on: 2010-04-06
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 80 minutes

Inspiring!
I saw this film during Docuweeks in Los Angeles about a year ago. It inspired me beyond words, into action.

I found this film to have a broad range of views on varying topics having to do with dirt: natural building, tree planting, edible schoolyards (and after watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, I am convinced that EVERY school needs a garden program!), mountaintop removal, mycology, energy, food, water, farming, composting, gardening….

I have since seen this film NUMEROUS times and I highly recommend it. While it does touch on some serious topics, it is not a heavy documentary that requires a barf bag (thanks, Cove) or a prescription for Lexapro. It is informative, general, entertaining and inspiring. AND it has a great soundtrack from KCRW’s highly acclaimed Tom Schnabel.

Get Dirty!
Although this is not yet released, I have heard and seen some previews of DIRT: The Movie, and I must say what a great way this is to sum up what we need to know and do in order to save our planet; by learning to respect and treat as sacred, or at the very least essential, the basic element of our natural environment, the Soil!

Preserving and nurturing our soil preserves and nurtures life on the planet. We often look for the obvious, or plainly visible, and want the type of instant gratification that comes with easily recognizing something. In our soil lies the mostly invisible forces that make and sustain life on the planet. The fungus, bacteria, insects, and other minute, often microscopic beings and other elements that feed, support and recycle life as we know it. I will be purchasing this from the producer and turning a lot of people on to the wonder, glory and essential beauty of DIRT!

Get Dirty!
[…]

It’s right under your feet!
I’ve had the chance to watch a few clips from the upcoming DVD release of Dirt! The Movie and can’t wait to see it in its entirety! Absolutely fascinating documentary of “what lies beneath” all of us and how we have abused and now must protect the soil that feeds all of us in so many ways.

I wouldn’t have thought to select JL Curtis for the V/O work, but her voice actually works quite well and she’s a pleasure to listen to. I can highly recommend Dirt! The Movie for everyone. Don’t expect most of the right-wing conservatives to appreciate this film, since it deals with reality.

Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children Two-Disc Special Edition Product: Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children Two-Disc Special Edition-Retail $19.94! Sale Only $11.49! List Price: $19.94 Amazon Price: $11.49 Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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FINAL FANTASY VII: Advent Children continues the game’s storyline in this CG-animated film, featuring non-stop action and exciting visual effects. Two years have passed since the ruins of Midgar stand as a testament to the sacrifices made in order to bring peace. However, the world will soon face a new menace. A mysterious illness is spreading fast. Old enemies are astir. And Cloud (Burton), who walked away from the life of a hero to live in solitude, must step forward yet again…

Backed by a full team of video game extraordinaires, the film was directed by Tetsuya Nomura and Takeshi Nozue, written by Kazushige Nojima and produced by Shinji Hashimoto and Yoshinori Kitase.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1570 in DVD
• Brand: SAKURAI,TAKAHIRO
• Released on: 2006-04-25
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai, Korean
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .30 pounds
• Running time: 101 minutes

Features

• ISBN13: 9781404991019
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Brings back memories
It’s been almost four years since I first saw Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and wrote my review for Amazon.com. After seeing the new complete version on Blu-Ray, I thought I’d come back and offer my thoughts only to discover that my original review was transferred over from the DVD edition. That review was written at a different time, before the DVD was even released in the States. I thought about going back and revising it, but that’d be changing the past. What I will add are my thoughts on the new Blu-Ray edition.

Firstly, if you’re looking at the Blu-Ray edition, wondering if it’s a worthy purchase, it definitely is. It’s a much superior version to the original, both in content and clarity. Obviously, with the Blu-Ray the picture quality and sound quality have been considerably increased. There’s a few little nitpicks, such as a shimmering, aliasing problem that pops up every now and then (The Resident Evil: Degeneration Blu-Ray had a similar problem) and it can be distracting. But the details are so much clearer now that it looks like a new movie.

Additionally, new content has been added to this release. A lot of times, “director’s cuts” can be detrimental to the film and the pacing, but in the case of Advent Children, I appreciated the new content. I believe there’s an additional 26 minutes added and these parts delve into the Geostigma and the origins of some of the characters as well as an extended fight between Cloud and Sephiroth. Overall, I think the additions are useful and help make the movie more of a movie and less an extended cut scene. It’s just too bad that it didn’t come with a playable demo of Final Fantasy XIII like it did in Japan…

On to my original review as it was back in 2005:

Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth, Marlene, Barret, Vincent. The names could go on. This series reigns in many Final Fantasy fans’ minds as being the best. Though in recent years a lot of people roll their eyes and say its over-rated (and it might be), for me, and for a lot of fans, Final Fantasy was a turning point in the genre not only in terms of graphics and presentation but also in story. I have been playing video games and RPGs since the very first NES. Final Fantasy VII was the first game that made me stop and go, wait when did a video game become something more than just pushing buttons?

Now we have the official sequel, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Advent Children is basically a love note written for the fans of VII. Those who did not invest 40, 50, 60+ hours into the game will probably have no interest in it. But those who were shocked when (should I even say spoiler?) Sephiroth murders Aeris, who have a deep connection to the characters, and over the 40-60+ hours grew so attached to them that to this day they still draw fan art or look for that elusive way to get Aeris back in game(it doesn’t exist, by the way), this movie will mean something.

AC is a beautiful CG movie taking place two years after the events of FFVII. While the ending of VII was climactic and exhilarating, providing a resolution of sorts to the people of Midgar, it did not provide a resolution, happy or not, for Cloud. In fact, it left him empty and hurt as we find in the beginning of Advent Children. What AC does is finish Cloud’s story. Another reviewer here made a comment that he liked FFVII’s ending. I do too, don’t get me wrong. But the one thing it didn’t do was end Cloud’s story. For the length of the game, you have a deeply personal story surrounded by the world story and while the world got its ending, the people involved did no, unhappy or not. As I said, AC ends Cloud’s story with a bang. And it is damn well worth the wait.

I don’t think it would be right of me to talk about what happens in AC. Part of the fun and surprise is to see how well it fits together, brings memories of the video game and works to create an emotional core. I will keep the review as spoiler free as possible because I know I’m tired of reading reviews where people stick in something that can ruin the whole movie.

For those who didn’t play or watch FFVII, this movie will not have much resonance since it’s basically for the fans, both die-hard and casual. Those who loved FFVII will more than likely love this movie. AC is basically an action movie and the action is spectacular although the slow motion was used (while effectively) a little much. The sword play, the battles and the action is all directed with style oozing everywhere. The characters are all animated exceedingly well and the animators did a great job in making PS1 characters into spectacular CG. The musical score varies for me from being excellent to just okay. By far, the best moments are ones I can’t talk about aurally for fear of spoiling surprises. Needless to say, the music is at its greatest when it brings in hints of FFVII, the video game.

There are a lot of connections to both VII and the Final Fantasy series as a whole. From moogle dolls to The Turks, the game oozes both FFVII and FF; although I was disappointed in not seeing any chocobos, there are a few moments that made up for it. One in particular revolves around the games End Battle Theme. Hilarious, laugh out loud scene. There are some minor annoyances. A couple of the scenes felt episodic and not connected. Some scenes were directed very well and lead into each other or intercut between each other. But there are a couple scenes that stand out because they didn’t feel attached to what was going on. In fact, it felt as if they were cut scenes from a video game. Did this detract from the movie? Not in the least, but its there nonetheless.

What surprised me the most with this movie is that it wasn’t done to milk the saga. I mean, of course its there to make money, and FFVII is a great way to do it because of fans’ love for it. Anything in the business world is made around making money. But what I mean exactly is best represented in FFX-2. I am one who did not find FFX-2 at all interesting. In fact it is the only FF game I gave up on. It felt like it was a way of milking FFX for a little more money while the wait for FFXII kept getting longer and longer. However, AC is so intrinsically related to VII that it has a heart and emotion that I haven’t seen in many movies released this year. I felt chills from the very opening moments as the narrator explained some of the events from VII and we see a flashback of Sephiroth standing in front of flames. And that was just the start of the thrills; there are scenes both emotional and thrilling to be found throughout the 1 hour 40 minutes of the film. And what satisfied me above all else was that Cloud’s story finally received a perfect resolution.

I think most fans have been hoping and wishing that Aeris would return and I think the creators give a great answer to this in this movie. I won’t spoil the ending, I won’t tell you who does and doesn’t return. But I will tell you the resolution is damn well awesome and probably the most satisfying ending to what is by far many people’s favorite (if clichéd) choice for the Final Fantasy series. I do need to make a plea and I apologize for it, but if you downloaded this movie (like a certain reviewer did *cough*) please support it when it comes out here in the States and buy it. We need to show support to Square-Enix that this is the kind of sequel we want to see. They spent a long time and a lot of money making a movie that is direct to DVD here in the states. We need to return the favor and support it.

Square-Enix, my hats off to you for handling this with flair, tenderness and sympathy for the characters.

Advent Finally Gets the Treatment It Deserves
About the Film:
I followed Advent Children closely from the first time it was announced some time in 2004. I am a die-hard Final Fantasy fan, and although I would have preferred the sequel to one of the greatest games of all time (Final Fantasy VII) to be, well, a game, I was delighted to see the story continued in a medium with slightly more widespread appeal. Although the writers made an effort to allow this movie to stand on its own, people who have played the game (and remember the plot and characters) will certainly get considerably more out of it.

About This Release:
In production since about 2006, this version of the film, subtitled “Complete” is the Japanese equivalent of a director’s cut. In addition to a new high-definition transfer of the film several scenes have been extended or reworked and new scenes have been added to further round out the story and provide more visual flash. It may not seem like much while watching it, but in total the film has been extended by fully a third taking it from 90 minutes to 2 hours running time.

Visuals:
Although excellent, I have to say I was expecting more from the High-Definition release of this movie. My first misgiving is with the inconsistent visual quality. The newly added scenes are generally presented with the kind of sharp visual detail that HD enthsiasts have come to expect. The older scenes, while clearly providing more detail than the DVD release, are missing the clarity that true HD material is capable of, often appearing fuzzy or out of focus. It is not generally noticeable, but it does become an obvious annoyance in a couple of scenes. Arguably this could have been done on purpose, adding a “fuzzy” filter for ambiance, but I doubt they would have intentionally added upscaling artifacts which are present in this film. The most notable instance I can recall is during Tifa’s scenes, particularly in the church; the aliasing on her hair is more reminiscent of a DVD being upscaled to 1080p than of a new render done in 1080p.

Little touches have been added to further “sell” the quasi-realism that this film is striving to achieve. During battles characters’ faces get dirty, during one scene flecks of dust in the air created little shimmers.

Story:
While the same story is being told, the added/extended scenes and to an extent the visual enhancements do add a different slant on the plot of Advent Children. While the main points of the story remain unchanged, the plot is made clearer and certain elements which seemed random or unimportant take on new meaning.

[Spoiler alert!]

For example, during a scene a girl carrying a stuffed moogle comes up to Denzel and holds out her hand for him to follow. In the original DVD release, this is really all we see of her, but in the “Complete” release we get to see an earlier scene that reveals she is really trying to make an apology to Denzel for being rude before.

Denzel plays a much more prominent role in this version. It was never clear to me what it was that Cloud was so busy doing before I saw this release, but in this version it is revealed that he was out looking for a cure to the Geostigma so he could help Denzel.

In the DVD release, the Geostigma seemed like little more than a charcoal colored rash that slowly killed people. In this version it is much more sinister, causing sores that ooze sticky black sludge and induces violent convulsions and vomiting of the same black sludge.

[End spoilers]

I’ll leave the spoilers at that, but I’ve only revealed a couple of the dozen or so plot augmentations that this version of the film brings to the table. Most of them gave me that “Ooooh that’s what they meant. I get it now.” feeling. Maybe I’m just slow, but a lot of these things weren’t obvious to me in the film’s original presentation.

Sound:
This film really benefits from the expanded HD audio - more so if you have the equipment to properly decode the newer HD audio formats, but even when down sampled to Dolby Digital, the sound is richer and has much fewer compression artifacts. Some of the music has been remixed slightly and it seems like I heard one or two additional compositions. Many of the songs were written to lock in with certain scenes, and when the scenes were extended, so was the music. I was very impressed with how seamless it all seemed.

Voice acting is one of those things, like pizza toppings, that nobody seems to be able to agree on. I have never been terribly picky about voice acting, but since everyone is different I’ll attempt to provide some frame of reference for my opinion. My idea of poor voice acting is the Devil May Cry anime, and my idea of good voice acting is Cowboy Bebop. I think the voice acting is superb in Advent Children. I was particularly delighted to hear the voices chosen for the ancillary characters like Barret, Cait Sith, Red XIII, Yufie, Vincent and Cid. But the actors chosen for main characters Cloud, and Tifa were very good matches for what I imagined the characters from the game would sound.

Extras:
This review is of the Japanese release, and frankly I did not really care enough about the extras to check them out. I watched them once when the DVD release came out and can’t be bothered to do it again. This does come with an additional animated “episode” about Denzel. For those of you who want to know absolutely everything there is to know about how a movie was made, you will not be disappointed with the depth.

For me the real attraction in the extras was the inclusion of the Final Fantasy XIII playable demo. Since the PS3 is region free, the Japanese release is very import friendly. (If you don’t mind that it is all in Japanese) The U.S. release mentions a Final Fantasy XIII “preview”. I don’t know if that means that it will be a demo, or an extended trailer. It would be a shame if it was the latter.

Final Thoughts:
I wish all “director’s cut” releases could enhance the original presentation as well as Advent Children Complete does. The extra footage catapulted this already great movie firmly into the category of awesome. If you didn’t enjoy the first release because you just didn’t “get it” then this release may be just what you need to put the pieces together as many of the more vague areas of the plot are clarified. If you loved the first one, then you’ll love this one even more. About the only thing it is missing is the ability to watch the original release version of the film. Personally that isn’t an issue for me but it would have been a nice addition.

Although this review is for the Japanese release, I doubt much will change in the final U.S. version. My reasoning is that the the DVD release was nearly identical for the two territories, and there are only two months between Blu-ray releases.

4 Years of waiting. Worth every SECOND!
For the sake of all those waiting for the English release, I won’t spoil anything ^.~

The pure greatness of this release can only be seen through the sheer multitude of fans crowding into an already packed theater for a showing.

As a fangirl who has been eagerly awaiting the release since it was announced several years ago (and threw a fit each of the four or five times it was delayed), I’ve seen the movie 23 times and I have not tired of it yet. However, the best way to describe the movie without any spoilers is through the fans themselves.

At Anime Weekend Atlanta XI (2005), two showings of a Subtitled FFVII: Advent Children were scheduled at 11pm and 1 am. Needless to say, the room was packed for the first showing as soon as the doors were opened an hour prior. I believe the seating capacity was 250. They stuffed in 400. The second showing, which I went to, was a bit less crowded being so late/early. 280 people. I honestly believe that no one left the theater dissapointed.

“To those who loved this world and have spent their time together with their companions in this world in the past: reunite once again to endure this time”.
Such I cheer I never again want to hear. I think I went deaf for a moment or so.

From those words to the end of the credits, everyone was either on the edge of their seat or had already fallen out of it.

Unlike the “Spirits Within” movie that flopped a few years back, this is true Final Fantasy. New-gen fans cheered at the familiar attacks and moves straight from the ps1 game. The stunning graphics and the rendering of their beloved characters in fluid CGI brought many veteran fanboys to tears.

Anyone who’s seen it can probably keenly recall Cloud’s last fight against a certain spoilerific character. The fans were screaming from “It’s been a while, Cloud” to “I… will not become a mere memory”. In particular, it’s easy to recall the last few moments of the battle. Once everyone realized what was going on, the entire theater was up on their feet roaring to the very last.

We laughed, we cried (okay, -I- cried), someone shouted “OMG RUFUS GOT HOT!”, and some other randomness, but it was a great end to Saturday night and one I won’t readily forget.

Drive-In Cult Classics 3 Description:

The Babysitter:
Patricia Wymer plays Candy, the aptly named seductress babysitter who takes a job working for the powerful district attorney. A judge is about to sentence the murderous members of a motorcycle gang when Candy steps in and blackmails the D.A.

Weekend with the Babysitter:
Mona Carlton leaves to take her son on a weekend trip when Candy Wilson, the babysitter arrives. Candy gets a hold of her movie director husband, Jim Carlton and teaches him the ways of hippies, bikers, free love and narcotics. Jim soon learns this new lifestyle pales in comparison to the love he has for his wife.

The Pink Angels:
Six rugged motorcyclists gather on the side of the highway to plan an excursion to Los Angeles. Although they appear to be the burliest bunch of bikers this side of the Hell s Angels, they are actually cross-dressing madmen with an affinity for lipstick, high heels and braziers.

Blood Mania:
A scorned daughter murders her abortionist/physician father to get his inheritance and help out her junkie boyfriend. All goes according to plan until she learns that she is not the beneficiary of his will. Directed by Robert Vincent O Neil (Angel).

Single Room Furnished:
In her last performance, Jayne Mansfield portrays an innocent, voluptuous teenager who becomes a deserted pregnant wife, a waitress and a demented street-walker. This film also includes a side plot featuring a love story between two neighbors.

Van Nuys Blvd.:
Bobby, a small-town kid hears about the wild nights of cruising the boulevard in Van Nuys, California. He hops in his van and drives down to check it out. Along the way he gets involved with drag racers, topless dancers and bikers.

The Pom Pom Girls:
High school football player Johnnie is going to spend his senior year at Rosedale High School playing pranks and getting together with as many girls as possible. He and a buddy, along with two cheerleaders, are going to make their last year memorable. The Big Game with rival Hardin High School is approaching, and a prank war is about to rev into fill swing.

Malibu Beach:
Various beachgoers attempt to have their eyes on the hot new lifeguard Dina (Kim Lankford). They range from a muscle-bound idiot to pesky kids pretending to drown in order to get some mouth-to-mouth action.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1520 in DVD
• Brand: BCI
• Released on: 2008-10-14
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 640 minutes

Customer Reviews:

Another great set from our friends at BCI.
Here is another fine collection of Crown International Pictures’ drive-in movie madness. You get eight classic b-movies all lovingly restored using new film transfers (with the exception of The Babysitter, which was mastered from PAL tape). I won’t go into the plots of each film (I figure anyone who is seriously looking at this page already has an appreciation for schlock cinema and can navigate his/her way to IMDb) but I can tell you that the films look great. For example, Blood Mania’s crisp, wide-screen picture looks about a thousand times better than its full frame VHS release; there are no scratches or drop-outs and the sound is fantastic.

I constantly look forward to all BCI/Navarre Corporation’s releases and it always amazes me that they put out such quality products at a price far less than their competitors. Right now you can order this set for $8.99 brand-new from Amazon; that’s $1.13 per film!!! A great deal! Again, the quality of these films is fantastic and it genuinely seems that whoever is mastering these sets has a real love for the genre; the transfers are great and there is always the surprising extra, for example, Van Nuys Blvd has a wonderful commentary track by the film’s director, William Sachs.

If you are a life-long fan of drive-in/exploitation films or are someone who wants to know what it was all about, this collection provides a nice variety (teen, biker, beach party and horror) in the spectrum of classic cult cinema at an extremely affordable price.

The best of the Drive in DVD Series
The films and picture quality were very wonderful. While the other two box sets had some real duds on them, I am happy to say that every film on this box set was watchable, and enjoyable. While the movies are by no means oscar worthy, they deliver the trashy thrill fans of this genre will love. If you bought the other two, or were holding out, this is the one to grab. Happy Viewings!

Like An Album With A Few Good Songs You Can’t Part With
VAN NUYS BLVD.
The best of this bunch, especially if you’ve ever actually been to Van Nuys, and the theme song is hilarious. It’s mostly just a loose collection of scenes, very few of which have anything to do with cruising or Van Nuys Boulevard. It’s really more of a California fantasy lifestyle teen flick than anything else, loosely based on car culture, sex in vans, the beach, etc. Director’s commentary is only occasionally interesting but at least there is one. Some lame-brain comedic scenarios, a lot of toplessness, and one scene that would be right at home in American Pie. But in spite of product claims to the contrary, Bobby does not ‘get involved with topless dancers and bikers’. There is dancing, there is toplessness, there are bikers of a sort, but that’s not the same thing.

THE POM POM GIRLS
A fun dumb high school flick that isn’t really about the Pom Pom Girls. It’s mainly about rebellious football dudes (who are remarkably non-jock types) playing outrageous pranks on each other and their rival high school. Loose, freewheeling, unencumbered by plot, but enjoyable.

THE BABYSITTER
The only black-and-white movie in this bunch and a pretty solid b-movie that balances the legitimate acting of George E. Carey against the guilty pleasures of gratuitous sex, bikers, lesbians, psychedelic bands, etc. But who wrote the synopsis on the DVD package? Were they high, or did they write it two weeks after seeing it and confuse the details? Candy does not “take a job working for the powerful district attorney” - she has an affair with a prosecutor who works for the DA. Candy also does not “step in and blackmail the D.A.” - she tries to stop a biker chick from blackmailing George, the prosecutor. Get your story straight, man!

BLOOD MANIA
Another fine example of exaggerated titling and bunko synopsis writing. There are 2 murders but it’s hardly blood mania. Craig, a doctor who used to perform abortions, is being blackmailed for 50 grand by a hilariously miscast ‘heavy’. One of Craig’s patients is a wealthy old benefactor, the daughter of whom is a crazy art chick who is in love with Craig. She decides to kill the old man to get the inheritance money to solve Craig’s blackmail problem, but it doesn’t work. This has a Movie of the Week feel, for the most part. But again, the synopsis on the DVD package is way off - it is not about “a scorned daughter [who] murders her abortionist/physician father to get his inheritance and help out her junkie boyfriend.”

WEEKEND WITH THE BABYSITTER
Written and produced by the star, George E. Carey, who also wrote, produced, and starred in The Babysitter. Almost the same film, just updated a bit and in color this time, with a subplot about a heroin addict wife getting caught up in a botched drug deal on a boat. There’s a disconcerting combination of faux hippy culture, shamelessly age-inappropriate sex, and moments of unabashed sincerity. A strange mishmash of The Trip (lite), Hawaii Five-O and Lolita. And another cul-de-sac sudden ending.

MALIBU BEACH
Very light fare, typical beach movie.

THE PINK ANGELS
A bunch of queens on bikes, not in drag, and not funny or interesting. Gave up after 30 minutes.

SINGLE ROOM FURNISHED
Painfully horrible. Within 15 minutes you’re in a digression within a digression and have the sinking feeling you stumbled into a black box theater where a scene study class is taking place. A blue collar couple is on a fake firescape talking about their not-actually poignant lives. The guy can’t for the life of him fake a New York accent and can’t stop moving his head with every word he speaks. Gave up after 30 minutes. Two nights later I picked up where I left off. That scene thankfully ended and another couple was introduced. They were no more watchable than the first, so I gave up again.

Sleepy Hollow Product: Sleepy Hollow Review. List Price: $12.98 Amazon Price: $12.49 Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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Master storyteller Tim Burton (Batman, Edward Scissorhands) weaves an eerie, enchanting version of the classic tale of horror. Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean 1 & 2) is Ichabod Crane, an eccentric investigator determined to stop the Headless Horseman. Christina Ricci (Monster) is Katrina Van Tassel, the beautiful and mysterious girl with secret ties to the supernatural terror.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2229 in DVD
• Brand: DEPP,JOHNNY
• Released on: 2000-05-23
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 105 minutes

Features

• ISBN13: 9780792164906
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Spooky, stylish film — Excellent look and sound!
This was a very enjoyable telling of the classic tale that is very heavy on atmosphere. The DVD has several extra features that really add to its value beyond the straight movie too.

The look and feel of the film are great. We are taken back to the late 1790s to a very convincing Sleepy Hollow that has lots of fog and smoke, distant lightning, scary jack-o-lanterns, and twisted trees. The movie has a great deal of suspense built into it, and we are treated to lots of tense moments when the horsemen is near, along with some fairly short, but sometimes very intense scenes of decapitation. The film is much more of a drama than a horror film — the plot is quite complex and usually laid out well.

For me, one of the best parts of the film was the Danny Elfman score — it was very rich, with lots of interesting effects built into — brooding strings, eerie children’s chorus, and tinkling bells. It added both suspense and humor to the film.

The acting was good. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton work well together — Depp shows a nice range of emotions as the somewhat nervous Ichabod Crane who was investigating the horseman’s murders. Christina Ricci played a very pretty but very mysterious young lady with links to the horsemen. The whole cast was very good and tended to play a bit over the top (this is Tim Burton after all).

A particular favorite for me was Christopher Lee in a small but powerful role as a judge who sends constable Crane off to Sleepy Hollow.

The DVD has several very good features, including commentary by Tim Burton, a nice set of interviews with cast and crew, and a good “Making of the Movie” feature that shows how a lot of the special effects (including decapitation) were done.

A good movie on a DVD with lots of features!

GREAT FUN now in HIGH DEFINITION!!! can you ask for more?
I love this film. Tim Burton really did a wonderful job creating that kind of atmosphere no other director can create… and the cast is superb!

Johnny Depp delivers one of his most offbeat performances… and Christopher Walken as the headless horseman… and Michael Gambon… all are great.

Now about the things you want to know… the image here is top notch. Crystal clear, high definition picture as you’ve never seen - which is interesting: since the film has a dark cinematography you’ll be amazed how well the High Def takes advantage of all it can do to give you a kind of image you’ll think you only get in a movie theatre.

In fact, to see the forest with all the fog and those trees in gorgeous high definition is a trully cinematic experience. And I do believe this is one of those movies who beg for high definition - And this HD-DVD edition delivers it just as you’d expect: flawlessly.

And when it comes to sound… boy, this is incredible… an umbelievable bass runs through my living room as the horse gallops through the woods. All I can say is thast I’ve rarelly seen a sound design job as well done as this!

Get this HD-DVD for a true cinematic experience!

Tim Burton does Hammer horror, with stunning results
Loosely based on both the original Washington Irving story as well as the Disney version, Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow takes a revisionist approach and ends up with a genuine horror classic. Johnny Depp stars as “Constable” Ichabod Crane, an 18th century detective keen on using scientific methods (unheard of in this period) to solve crimes. Annoyed by his unconventional methods, Magistrate Christopher Lee sends Depp upstate to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a string of grisly murders-by-beheading. Depp/Crane becomes involved in a supernatural situation that tests his lack of faith (a sub-plot resulting from a childhood trauma involving his mother [Lisa Marie] and sinister father) and makes him a full witness to the goulish decapitations. Christopher Walken is absolutely frightening as the horseman, and Christina Ricci and a cast of classic British actors flesh (pardon the pun) out the story with hints of shady business among the town’s statesmen. The commentary by Burton is fairly optional, but the “making of” and other features enhance the movie superbly. Burton uses a foggy, bleached style to enhance the appearance and tone of the movie, creating a genuinely unique vision. Be warned, though - there’s lots of loppings in this flick, so it’s definitely not for the squeamish. With homage to Hammer horror films but otherwise unique in the genre, Sleepy Hollow should easily take its place among other groundbreaking horror movies like The Shining or An American Werewolf in London. Need a movie to shake you out of your Friday-the-13th complacency? Get this DVD!

Edge of Darkness Description:

• Amazon Sales Rank: #505 in DVD
• Released on: 2010-05-11
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 117 minutes

Customer Reviews:

a Washington, D.C. screening is in order
EDGE OF DARKNESS is a testiment to a great actor. Many have said that it’s a typical revenge flick, and many are right about that, but in another sense, it isn’t typical because unlike most revenge flicks, Mel Gibson gives this one heart and complexity. The film truly explores the emotions felt when a Massachusetts police officer loses everything he has in the world, his daughter. With appropriate humor in places and an odd relationship with a hitman that stands on the opposite side of the dilemma, the movie has a righteousness about it.

EDGE OF DARKNESS is one of the movies that you really can’t say too much about without giving away plot points and ruining it for people who haven’t seen it, so I won’t. But I will say that the movie has an err of truth about power and how the highest of them all have walls, security and money, but they too have to answer to somebody and many times, power is a thin thin line.

DARKNESS isn’t just a slam bam action fest where Bronson, Schwartzenegger or Seagal going kicking everybody’s butts. Mel Gibson plays Thomas Craven, who kicks the appropriate people’s butts. It has intelligence and it has a mystery among its circumstance. Although the mystery may be pretty easy to figure out, it still delivers with locking in its audience. Besides, who doesn’t like a movie where somebody grabs the attorney’s and politicians of the world by their throats and shakes some truth and reality out of em’?

This movie should be required viewing for all people who pass the bar or get elected to public office. Just to let them know, that the Thomas Craven’s of the world are gonna come after them if they screw with us. Mel Gibson proves that he should never be taken lightly in an action movie that has blood and heart.

Gibson’s Updating of “Edge” A Masterful Retelling of A Great Story
“Edge of Darkness was a sensation when it first aired on British television in 1985. Aired on PBS in the United States, it was a dark, brooding thriller that seemed destined for a big-screen version that would be found lacking in ways big and small. However, Mel Gibson’s 2010 version of the story still provides a lot of the sadness, bitterness, and intrigue with some changes that while they do necessarily improve the story, they don’t damage it, either.

Gibson plays Tom Craven (played as Ron Craven by Bob Peck in the original), a widowed Boston Homicide detective eagerly awaiting the visit of his only child Emma, who works for a research facility, Northmoor. Soon into the visit, Craven sees that his daughter is very ill. Just as he is taking her to the hospital, she is shot and killed. Being a police officer, Craven immediately assumes that the bullet was meant for him, but upon investigating further, he soon learns that she was involved in the illegal entry of Northmoor by a protest group looking for evidence of wrongdoing by the corporation. A conspiracy begins to surround Craven that includes Northmoor, a US senator, and a shadowy government fixer named Jedburgh, played by Roy Winstone.

Gibson is always in his element in revenge thrillers, and Edge of Darkness is no exception. His tears, anger, rage, and righteous indignation strike the right notes at the right time, and he is ably supported by an excellent script and solid supporting cast. Again, a few details have been changed, but the general story remains bleak with perhaps a little more Hollywood hope and optimism added for good measure.

Mel Gibson is Back in the Saddle
It’s been seven years since Mel Gibson has appeared on the silver screen, and he definitely chose the right film as his comeback vehicle. While the conspiracy theories that make up the film aren’t incredibly original, you are still treated to Gibson’s strong screen presence and a tense storyline.

I’m unfamiliar with the British miniseries that this film was based on, so I’m basing my opinion solely on my thoughts of this movie in particular. A variety of mysterious characters prevent the film from being predictable, and you’re thrown an interesting curveball from what the movie’s trailer might lead you to assume about the story. I will also fess up that this was the first movie I’ve seen in years with a scene that made me jump in my seat (to the people in front of me, I apologize for getting popcorn on you).

One funny thing that I’ll give kudos to director Martin Campbell for is not hiding the fact that Gibson is all of 5′9″ in real life. Jay O. Sanders (playing fellow detective Whitehouse) towers over Mel in several scenes, a reminder that this film is a different beast than action flicks like Lethal Weapon or Mad Max.

I won’t share the plot with you, because the less you know about the film in advance, the more you will enjoy it. For all of Gibson’s controversies, one thing is undeniable, this is a solid comeback effort that deserves a watch.

Amazon.com
The good news is that Edge of Darkness (no relation to the fine 1943 war picture of that name) brings back Mel Gibson in front of the camera for the first time in nearly a decade. Although he’s grown creased and leathery and his thatch has thinned, the movie star who was Mad Max still has the charisma and gravitas to center a dodgy suspense tale and propel it to the finish line. Gibson plays veteran Boston police detective Tom Craven, who welcomes home daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) for a rare visit, then sees her shot down at his front door. Because the gunman shouted “Craven!” and because a cop makes enemies, Tom assumes Emma took a bullet meant for him, which adds considerably to his grief and pain. But as he looks into the life of a daughter he loved yet scarcely knew, he discovers she’d been preparing to turn whistleblower on her employer, a corporation doing unsavory clandestine things for the government. Craven starts having oblique chats with a philosophical Brit named Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), who keeps turning up unexpectedly–in Craven’s backyard at night, say–always giving the distinct impression that he could just as well kill a fellow instead of schmoozing. Their strange rapport, like Craven’s tendency to mutter ironical asides as if in ongoing conversation with the departed Emma, is more intriguing than the conspiracy involving corporate skullduggery and a rogue assassination bureau. The bar for that sort of thing was set in post-Watergate days by Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View, and we’re nowhere near its cinematic elegance or pervasive paranoia. Edge of Darkness, based on a British miniseries from 1985, was directed by Martin Campbell, who also handled the six-hour original (and more recently the successful James Bond reboot Casino Royale). Campbell does decent-enough work–the occasional bursts of “shocking action” do shock even as we know they’re coming–but rarely exceeds generic requirements. For killing comparison among contemporary suspense films, catch Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer, in which every frame unsettlingly conveys a world where disquiet is the natural order of things. –Richard T. Jameson