Notebook: Ultimate Collector's Edition [Blu-ray]

One of the Best Love Stories of All Time
THE NOTEBOOK has long been my favorite of Nicholas Sparks' many books, so it is a happy surprise to me that the wonderful story transferred to the big screen with all the sweetness, warmth, and tenderness that made the book a runaway best seller.

The best part of this movie was the incredible chemistry between Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling as the young lovers Allie and Noah. Their story was told by an elderly couple in a nursing home. James Garner and Gena Rowlands were outstanding as the devoted "Duke" and the woman with irreversible dementia. As Duke recounted the story of Allie and Noah from the notebook he carried with him, the lady's memory began to come back and she could remember.

The movie always changes the book but the one major change (the ending) which had the audience letting out a collective gasp and reaching for the nearest tissue was, in my opinion, really good even if it was pure Hollywood melodrama.

Why does a movie like THE NOTEBOOK appeal to so many...

During the throes of Winter, remembering Spring
THE NOTEBOOK is an old-fashioned love story with the topical subject of Alzheimer's Disease thrown in to heighten the Hankie Factor.

The film opens in the present at a genteel, riverside, Southern facility for the long-term care of the aged. An old man, "Duke" (James Garner), is in the habit of reading from a book to an elegant, but chronically confused and distant, lady (Gena Rowlands) of equal antiquity. The story concerns two teenagers during a hot, carefree, South Carolina summer preceding World War II. They are (in extended flashback) Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) and Allie (Rachel McAdams).

Noah, working in the local sawmill, is the uneducated son of a dirt-poor father (Sam Shephard). Allie, in these months before she's off to a prestigious New York college, is the only daughter of snobbishly wealthy parents, John (David Thornton) and Anne (Joan Allen) Hamilton.

The book's plot is that hoary one about two young lovers of disparate backgrounds and financial...

(4 1/2 ) A Well Acted, Old Fashioned, Romantic Tearjerker
This screen adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' bestseller is a deeply emotional story of young love, the process of maturity, the crucial choices in our lives, and the frailty of old age. I have not read the book, and thus cannot comment upon the fealty of this film to Sparks' manuscript, but its emotional tone and import is certainly consistent with his other works with which I am familiar. In the opening scene we meet Duke (James Garner), who resides in a nursing home and apparently spends most of his time befriending another resident there, Allie Calhoun (Gena Rowlands), who is captivated by a 1940's story of young love which he reads in installments to her from THE NOTEBOOK which is his constant companion. Allie is suffering from some variety of dementia and these interludes provide some small comfort to an otherwise apparently colorless and bland existence.

The moviegoer is then transported to the 1940's, and the relatively brief appearances of the elderly Duke's and Allie...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 7

"FINALLY Some WARREN WILLIAM Films REMASTERED......"
This seventh volume of TCM/Warner Brothers/Warner Archive's FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD series finally makes available on DVD for the first time two of Warren William's best films, both of which were responsible for rocketing him to the top of his profession, albeit briefly. This set, the third under Warner's Archive imprint is set to be released on factory-pressed DVD's for it's initial run, as were the previous volumes. I was hoping that Warner Archive would release a remastered set featuring EMPLOYEE'S ENTRANCE and SKYSCRAPER SOULS with two of his other star performances, THE MOUTHPIECE and THE MATCH KING (I even contacted them a while ago), but hopefully these will also be released in the near (I hope!) future. Now on to the contents......

"Love is as useful as wings upon a cat..." or so thinks Tong leader Nog (Dudley Digges, THE EMPEROR JONES) in 1932's THE HATCHET MAN from First National directed by William Wellman (NOTHING SACRED, A STAR IS BORN). Edward G. Robinson...

Another strong entry in an interesting series.
All of these movies have something going for them. I was kind of wary of having to see the great Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young made up as Chinese but, in its own way, it works as a story of morality and redemption. The leads play their characters straight, not as caricatures. Though the "San Francisco" Chinatown is anything but, it is still interesting and pretty believable. Loretta Young actually looks beautiful and frankly, I really like her in these pre-code films as opposed to her later, sanitized image. It's also nice to see Edward G playing a "nice", though dangerous, guy. Both "Skyscraper Souls" and "Employees Entrance" are the best films in this collection. Much intrigue and "scandal" in these. Warren William is an absolute cad and once again, Loretta is in danger with her morality. The on-the side romantic stories, there are several, in "Skyscraper Souls" are excellent and inventive. The skyscraper in question effects all...

Average "pre-code" selections
This selection of pre-code films isn't as daring as Volumes 1 and 2, but the storylines are fairly good. I purchased this set because I'm a Bette Davis fan and I don't have "Ex-Lady" in my collection (except for the snippet from the film that is used in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"). Also I have "Skyscraper Souls" and "Employees Entrance" on a "Forbidden Hollywood" laserdisc set, so I wanted to replace them. The pre-code elements of "The Hatchet Man" include adultery,"hitman" style murder, and an ending that would do "Friday the 13th" proud. "Skyscraper Souls", like "3 on a Match" in Volume 2, contains a fairly shocking suicide scene. Also it, along with "Ex-Lady" and "Employees Entrance", contains lots of pre-marital sex, which, of course, the Hays Code would ban in 1934. A note of interest is Hedda Hopper as Warren William's wife in "Skyscraper Souls", before she gained notoriety as the famous Hollywood gossip columnist.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Silver Linings Playbook

This is why we go to movies
This is why we go to movies. Silver Linings Playbook is that rare breed of movie where all the moving parts got put together in exactly the right way. The dialogue is sharp, witty, insightful, funny, and often brutally honest. It respects and holds true affection for its characters and the wonderful ensemble cast makes it look easy. The direction, editing and soundtrack are spot on. It is a future classic and the best movie of the year.

Pat is an underachieving substitute high school history teacher who has just been released from the Karel Psychiatric Facility after spending an eight month court-ordered stint for nearly beating the history teacher to death when he finds him in the shower with his wife. His doting, eternally optimistic mother brings him home hoping that the worst of his previously undiagnosed bipolar symptoms are under control. But his refusal to take his meds and an unfortunate incident concerning Earnest Hemingway and a window quickly dispels that...

The Year's Best Ensemble In A Big Hearted Comedy About Love, Family, And Redemption (And Football, Dancing And Mental Illness)
David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook" is a big hearted and nearly irresistible concoction that presents one of the year's most unlikely romances. I've been a huge Russell fan since his debut with "Spanking the Monkey" and "Flirting With Disaster" is one of my favorite flights of outrageousness. Russell can have an edgy cynicism about his eccentric characters, but he knows how to make an audience identify with even their most offbeat characteristics. Make no mistake, "Silver Linings Playbook" is loaded with an expected array of troubled souls. But the most remarkable thing about this film (and its screenplay) is the amount of compassion it shows to just about everyone. With a stellar cast including Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker and John Ortiz, the movie boasts easily one of the best ensembles of the year. Each of these actors is given a fully written character and each makes a huge impression in the screen time allotted...

Bravura Account of Quirky Love. Lawrence is Jaw-Dropping.
I didn't expect to like this film since I've disliked Bradley Cooper's past roles and because the script sounded shallow and formulaic. Initially, I thought they'd included De Niro as a come-on. In fact, the only reason I saw the film was because of Jennifer Lawrence, whose sophisticated performance in WINTER'S BONE convinced me I'd seen the breakthrough of a gifted actress.

Well, I was wrong about Cooper, wrong about De Niro's inclusion, wrong about a formulaic script, and dead-on about Jennifer Lawrence. Simply stated, this quirky, brilliant story of the evolution of love between two world-worn, emotionally troubled people -- against the chaotic background of family madness -- was one of the most satisfying, funny and affecting movies I've seen in recent years. In terms of clarity, continuity and heart, it surpasses the book on which it was based.

Since others have described the plot on this page, I will say that millions of viewers who have not seen the film...

Click to Editorial Reviews

All The King's Men

In Spite of Flaws, This Political Noir Is Still Powerful
There are certain subjects that films in general and Hollywood in particular never handled very well--and chief among them are politics. But even some fifty years after it first hit theatre screens, ALL THE KING'S MEN still has plenty of power. Filmed in a "noir" style and based on the famous novel which was in turn based loosely on the rise and fall of Louisiana's Huey P. Long, the film offers the story of Willie Stark, a small-town lawyer who is nominated for govenor by a political party seeking to defeat their opponet by dividing the rural vote. When Willie gets wise to the plot he turns on his false benefactors and rockets to political power--but once in power the honest small-town-joe becomes even more corrupt than those who sought to manipulate him for their own gain.

Broderick Crawford justly earned an Oscar for his performance as Willie Stark, whose ego and thirst for power grows to horrific proportions--and whose corruption gradually taints even the most honorable...

The classic still packs a punch
I'm not much for political movies and thrillers, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this old classic still packs a considerable punch. Based on the life of Huey Long, it chronicles the rise to power of an obscure but ambitious backwoods Louisiana lawyer, Willie Stark, who initially seems to stand for honesty and reform in contrast to the entrenched and corrupt political machine he is fighting, which is determined to defeat him at all costs, rightly perceiving an honest man as a threat to everything they stand for.

Stark triumphs, however, and we watch as he himself takes on the trappings of official power, which he takes to like a duck to water. Stark builds new schools and colleges, hospitals for the poor, improves the roads, and seems to be everything the common man could hope for in a champion and leader. But there is a darker side to Stark, as he himself ultimately becomes assimilated by the corrupt machine he sought to topple and reform, and evidence surfaces that he has...

Very Well Written and Expertly Acted Film About Politics!
This film is a fascinating study of the political process. It depicts the rise and fall of a Huey Long-like character, from his idealized beginning to his slow descent into corruption, alcoholism, blackmail and greed. Broderick Crawford gives the performance of a lifetime as Willie Stark, his powerful screen presence makes us at first admire his character, then we slowly start feeling bad for him, but at the same time scares and ultimately we get to pity this man that was corrupted by the system. Assured direction by Robert Rossen and a superb script keep the film moving at a steady pace. Also an amazing supporting cast of which Mercedes McCambridge stands out as Stark's tough-as-nails assistant. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 7!

Click to Editorial Reviews

Requiem For A Vampire

introduction to rollin: lesson 1
OH YEAH! it's great & redemption has made this collection available with an amazingly low cost. yes, that's 3 great films of rollin at a small price. for those of us who've wanted to study the maestro's classics or just indulge in some fantastic eurotrash, this is an absolute dream come true. infact, this was my introduction or 1st lesson in my education of jean rollin. of all three films, i'd have to say i love rape of the vampire best. as strange as this might sound, i was initially very confused when i saw this film & wouldn't have rated it so highly had i not given it a second viewing. having said that, i loved the images which are macabre & beautiful almost all at once. needless to say, that 2nd viewing really stole my attention & gave me a deeper appreciation of the film altogether. i was able to piece together the events & characters the 2nd time around & i realized what a genius jean rollin truly is. rape of the vmapire is to jean rollin as eraserhead is to david lynch. a rare...

astoundingly beautiful
Picked up this set expecting some typical vampire films and was blown away by the photography and ambiance. This set introduced me to the beauty and strangeness of Rollin's work. It was his later films that really captivated me: Fascination, Two Vampire Orphans, and Fiancee of Dracula. These are hard films to describe but there's something very beautiful about them. You'll either get it or you wont. The films in this set aren't as captivating to me as the three films I mentioned above but they have some amazing moments and I'm very pleased that I discovered this set of films since they introduced me to the work of this visionary director and led me to experience the glory of his later films.

Painting as Cinema
This collection of 3 films will be best enjoyed by those with an understanding of surrealist or symbolist painting. Otherwise if you are not familiar with the motivations behind these movements, you will find yourself bored by the lack of plot and character development, and slow pacing. Even your average 'B' movie fan will be disappointed here - despite the low budgets - there are not enough laughs here to make it a good fun night with your friends. Instead Rollin approaches these films with lofty ambitions and in the main part succeeds in creating some memorable images. The first half of Rape of the Vampire is a great and striking short film. The second half is obviously tacked on and is completely incomprehensible. Shiver of the Vampires in contrast to the black and white of ROTV has impressive use of colour and is probably the strongest of the three films. Requiem for a Vampire, is the slowest paced of the three, building up to some jaw dropping, sadistic torture scenes that evoke...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Titan A.E.

"Who's your Daddy! "
I went to see "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" the second day it came out,(and boy was I dissapointed) during the previews I saw a small teaser trailer for this film with Cale speaking while the Titan escapes the Earth's destruction. I expected that Titan A.E. would be an all-CG film ala "Antz" or "Toy Story" so I was curious. Later on I discovered that it would be a hand drawn animated film combined with CG animation and effects. I grew even more curious, but I was a serious anime fan, and after seeing great stuff like "Akira," "Bubblegum Crisis" and "Ghost in the Shell" I was convinced that I would never see anything the least bit close of quality come out of the U.S., I was in for a huge surprise.

Titan A.E.(in which I went to see the first day of it's release) turned out to be an awesome experience that was just as exciting as any anime I've seen. First of all the animation was simply incredible, the...

Brilliantly written and executed
Once again, I find myself defending the substance of a movie that everyone claims has none.

First off, let me say that this movie has a unique and complex plot. I really don't see how anyone can dislike Titan's storyline. The Titan is NOT like the Genesis device from the Wrath of Kahn (Titan builds a new planet, while Genesis provides instant terraforming of an existing world) and Cale has NOTHING in common with Luke Skywalker except blonde hair. I've seen movies that ended with the end of the world (End of Evangelion, for example), but this is the only one that begins with the end of the world and tells of what happens afterward. Simply put, this is a movie about finding hope after everything you know has been lost. Don Bluth tells this type of story well, and though Titan is certainly no Land Before Time, it does a damn fine job of pulling its characters' heartstrings. The first few minutes after the opening credits are VERY finely crafted, and they thoroughly convince...

Titan After Earth: TAKE THAT DISNEY!
Ok, so the film bombed, and killed ANY chance to see another spectacular film like this from Fox Studios ever again. I hope it will get much more attention on DVD then it did in theatres. Hopefully it will also have alot of fun and cool features for the fans.

This movie shows that Disney isn't the only ones with animation talent. But unlike Disney Fox isn't afraid to market to an older audience. The characters are all very cool, with an original plot to boot! Some neat plot twists along the way, and VERY VERY VERY cool animation mixed BEAUTIFULLY with the best special effects you'll ever see in an animated film. This movie wasn't predictable, and kept me guessin HOW it was gonna all end. The ending is a stretch of the imagination. I did notice someone mutter how "impossible" it was. But this is science fiction! who cares! My only problem is that it ended too quickly, I would've enjoyed it even more had it been 2 hrs. The voice talents are great, but at times...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Rendezvous

A Solid Movie
If you enjoy watching the ever-urbane and always dapper William Powell straightening out a complex mess and catching the bad guys, give this movie some consideration. This movie is a drama interspersed with some funny moments with Roz Ruzzell. These moments are actually pretty funny, and so is she. I enjoyed her in this movie. She and William synergize well.

Even though they team well, don't expect the jocularity of The Thin Man. He is neither hard-drinking, nor cracking wise at every turn. He is an army officer working hard to thwart spies in a time of war. This offers a nice contrast to pursuing a murderer.

A murderer and a spy network are the same inasmuch as they both endeavour to conceal their identities. But, this is where the similarity ends, and the juxtaposition begins. When a murderer is found out, he attemps to flee.

To a spy network operating in a country, that is at war with their own country, it is an entirely different rodeo. Fleeing is...

An excellent film
Greatly enjoyed this film which has both witty dialogue and superb acting by Rosalind Russell and William Powell.
Strongly recommended with a high quality reproduction.

William Powell at is best!!!
Just when I thought I had seen all the William Powell movies, I discovered this delightfully funny movie. Check out Star of Midnight - his absolute best!!! You can see these were inline with his character in the Thin Man series.

Click to Editorial Reviews

The Grapes Of Death

When preying on humans, the red or the white wine?
Only having seen three of Jean Rollin's films, I will not attempt to give you any insight into this interesting French director. My opinion of this film is the same as the other two I have seen by him: occasionally boring, yet well done with some good bloody moments. Out of the three I've seen, this is a little less exciting than The Living Dead Girl, yet less dull than The Night of the Hunted.

The story is pretty straightforward: a girl is attacked by a zombie on a train, leaves the train, then roams the French countryside looking for people who can help her with the ever-increasing zombie problem. The Grapes of Death title refers to wine made from pesticide-laced grapes, which is responsible for turning people into the zombies. It's different than, say, your typical Romero or Fulci zombiefest in that the people turn into the living dead gradually. It'll be just a hand decaying at first, for example, and the FX showing this and the other gore scenes are pretty effective...

Gory, sleazy zombie flick
Jean Rollin is a name instantly recognizable to hardcore horror fans, yet meaningless to nearly everyone else. This ignorance is quite unfortunate because the French director concocted some of the sleaziest, most unusual films ever made during the 1970s and 1980s, films usually imbued with a disturbing mix of hypereroticism and bloody violence. I have often tossed Rollin's name around in impolite company with seeming aplomb even though I had never seen even one of the man's films. You read enough plot synopses about someone and you start to feel as though you know every intimate detail about their work. What I did hear from others about this director oftentimes did not bode well. He is apparently well versed in schlock filmmaking, which in and of itself is not a problem with me, a true lover of bad cinema, but several of his films continue to draw raves from a selected minority of genre fans. Well, I finally sat down with a Jean Rollin film, his 1979 effort "Fascination," and was...

The Grapes of Death
Jean Rollin achieves what many consider to be his finest work in THE GRAPES OF DEATH, which also serves as one of the first French Gore films. This second dubious honor is a bit misleading, however, as the film is intended to be a surreal fantasy rather than a zombie shocker. A woman returning home to her family's vineyard is horrified to discover that the pesticides being used on the local crops have turned the villagers into the living dead! As is the case in the majority of his pictures, plot and character become secondary to creating a visual canvas (a trait that would carry over into the works of Lucio Fulci). Rollin paints the French landscape in mists, fogs, and dilapidated buildings, which add to the rich atmosphere and eerie setting. His zombies still retain shreds of their humanity, with many of the ghouls begging to be put out of their pain and misery as the rot eats them alive. One of the film's most disturbing sequences finds a blind girl stumbling over the bodies of her...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Broken City [HD]

Nothing You Don't See Coming
Broken City (2013) - Russell Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind), Mark Wahlberg (Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, The Fighter), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago, Zorro), Jeffrey Wright (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace), Kyle Chandler (Super 8, Friday Night Lights)

This is a corruption drama. Mark Wahlberg plays a former cop turned private investigator hired by the Mayor of New York City (Crowe) to investigate the mayor's cheating wife (Zeta-Jones). It's a pretty standard story set against the backdrop of a mayoral race. It proceeds as you would expect - there are very few twists and turns in this paint by the numbers mystery. That said, is it a bad film? No. It's worth watching once - that said, I don't think this is a must have. Everyone gives a solid performance, though some come off a bit more hammy than others (Z-J/R.C. in their "dick measuring" contest scene). If you are a fan of Wahlberg and any of the actors listed, I recommend a rental.

A very entertaining movie that keeps you guessing right up until the end. Very much worth watching, I liked it. I say B+
"If you think you're investigating adultery Mr. Taggart you don't know Nicholas Hostetler very well." Private investigator Billy Taggart (Wahlberg) is struggling to make money. When Mayor Hostetler (Crowe) hires him to follow his wife to see if she is having an affair Billy is offered an amount of money he can't turn down. After his findings lead to a murder Billy isn't sure who to believe anymore. I have to admit that I wasn't all that excited about this movie going in. Not a big Russell Crowe fan and the movie looked a little too generic from the preview. While the movie isn't really anything that new I really did enjoy this and was entertained the entire time. There were enough twists and double-crossing going on that it kept me guessing who was telling the truth the entire time. That to me is the sign of a good movie. This is not a movie that will become a classic or win a bunch of awards but it is very much worth seeing and is very entertaining. I recommend this. Overall, a good...

Less Words Please
A former cop with the New York City Police Department had been double-crossed and framed; seven years later he is hired by the mayor to track a (possibly) unfaithful wife.... Why does this sound so familiar?

...Sigh...There is nothing new in this l-o-n-g (109 minutes) R-rated action-filled mess. Dirty cops, corrupt politicians, unfaithful wives, deadbeat customers, you know the drill. My biggest problem was finding someone I could root for! Maybe that darling secretary? Maybe the lover?

I watched:
* Mark Wahlberg ("The Fighter") is Billy. We want to root for him, but we can't forget those first scenes.
* Russell Crowe ("Les Misérables") is Mayor Hostetler. His phony smile can't disguise that little twitch under his left eye when he is tense.
* Jeffrey Wright ("Source Code") is Police Commissioner Fairbanks, who has me confused: is he clean or is he dirty?
* Catherine Zeta-Jones ("Rock of Ages") is Cathleen, the Mayor's wife. Is...

Click to Editorial Reviews

The Seduction Of Mimi [HD]

A great film of the sixties, still has some great visuals
We loved it in the sixties. but now the film and its politics are anachronistic. Still, Lina Wertmuller has some great visuals and funny scenes. I wish it was as good as I remembered!

I would rate this higher than "Swept Away" (which I love).
Lina Wertmuller's best film, with most of the same actors from Swept Away (and I'm talking about the original Italian film, not the Madonna remake).



Click to Editorial Reviews

Another Earth

Tragic convergence of lonely orbits
I'm a cantankerous old goat, rarely moved to hyperbole, but I was simply enthralled by this film: totally absorbed throughout, except when I found myself chuckling giddily at the realisation I was watching a profoundly brilliant piece of cinema. The last time I had that sensation was in 1991 when I saw Silence of the Lambs. Another Earth is an utterly different film, but in its own way it offers, just as completely, everything that this medium of film promises and so rarely delivers.

In Another Earth, a new planet appears, close by, in the sky. In fact, it is another Earth, identical to our own. Thereafter, Earth II precipitates, frames and propels a delicate and desolate gravitational attraction between two irreparably damaged people. Irreparably damaged because the only thing which will heal them is the only thing that cannot: each other. Another Earth explores that relationship and, with the aid of the planet-sized metaphor, the ever-present path-dependency of our short,...

Very Insightful
This movie is very well done. No 3-D aliens and nothing exploded. Very thoughtful dialog and great use of the Science Fiction genre to tell a very human story. William Mapother (probably best known as "Ethan" in the seies "Lost") and Brit Marling (who has an economics degree from Georgetown an looks very comfortable playing the "smart girl" role)are very good. Kids will find this boring as will people that need helicopters in every other scene to keep their attention. But if you want to view deep characters in an interesting story, this is a jackpot. I gave this 4 stars but I'd call it a 4+.

Should have done much better at the box office
Why didn't this film do better at the box office? Was it the marketing or, was it was just too cerebral for most of the movie going public. Perhaps the trailer gave the impression of unremitting and unrewarded suffering. In the last case, be assured that there is true and well deserved redemption that comes with a twist at the end. Whatever the problem was, the fault was not the film. But, it prevented this movie from drawing an audience in numbers it should have. And that is a shame. Its failure at the box office will further dampen the spirits and limit the opportunities of truly original film makers. Don't let this happen. Buy this movie and reward intelligent, creative and thought provoking films that will provide a welcome relief to the normal mindless Hollywood fare.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Safari

Rolling in the aisles
First saw this on Air France flight in 2009 and had us rolling in the aisles. So much so that the steward came along to see what movie was causing the raucous laughter. Wish it was easily accessible in the USA.





Click to Editorial Reviews

The Patriot [HD]

Now with the cherry on top!!!!
My review for the original version of "The Patriot" can be found under its respective title. This review is merely for those who may already own the movie and are wondering if it's worth buying a second time around for an additional 10 minutes of footage. For those who have never bought this title, then I can say emphatically to choose this version. For those who already own it . . . well . . . I suppose you'll need to read on and decide.

First of all (thank goodness), the extra 10 minutes of footage are not merely tacked on as "Deleted Scenes" at the end of the movie. In fact, it would be nearly impossible to do so since some of the extra footage is not found in separate scenes, but rather additional footage of already established scenes. In these situations, the extra footage may be as long as an additional minute or as little as a few seconds. How do I know? Well, for one, I'm a high school history teacher and show it every year during our unit on the Revolutionary War...

The Patriot is best in blu-ray
There are a plethora of reviews of the movie, but my review is mostly a comparison of the BD vs DVD version. I won't discuss its historical accuracy.

The DVD version was good, but the BD version is the best version for home viewing.

Audio has wider imaging that takes viewers into the movie, rather than a distant observer: cannon and musket salvos fly from left to right, tools and objects ring with clang of old metal alloys or wood. Unlike Master & Commander, the dialog channel is good and is not drowned out by sound effects.

The BD transfer is bright and sharp, so background elements have far more detail. The BD version is a revolution in clarity. The texture of clothing, woods, equipment, and fields of soldiers in battle formation are rendered well and appear more real than CGI cartoons. By now, BD veterans are used to the ultra detail shown on actors faces: down to EACH stubble on faces, and pores on their skin. Unlike Troy, its clear many of the...

Great Blu-Ray Title
As the dreaded format war continues (Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD) I find myself on the Blu-Ray side of the fence because of my purchase of the PS3. I'll be honest, without having purchased the PS3 I would not have adopted either format and would have been content with standard DVD movies.

But now that I have a Blu-Ray player and a 1080p HDTV, I have been hooked and want more. I have been careful in my selection of Blu-Ray Titles, picking up only movies I have yet to watch or great movies that I want to see in HD.

The Patriot did not disappoint. The colors of the movie jump out of the screen and when you can see the fibers flying off of the British soldiers uniforms into the wind as they wait for battle, you know you are watching a great HiDef movie.

Most of the extended scenes do not add to the story and you will understand why they were cut out in the first place.

I've been disappointed in some of the Blu-ray discs I've purchased in the past month,...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Easy Living

A fallen champion
Of all the films of Jacques Tourneur, directed after the war, this film is one of my most misunderstood. Set in the world of American footbal, the film engages in a reflection on the sport and the notion of stardom. Through the course of a champion,(superb Victor Mature), Tourneur engages in critical reflection on the American way of life, the concept of social success. A must see.

Where was the Hays office when we needed it? (And I'm not into censorship)
Victor Mature once quipped, "I'm not an actor--and I've got the movies to prove it." This is a poor soap opera disguised as a sports picture. From its oh-so-ironic title to the wooden performances of most everyone involved, this is a dud, about a self-loathing, each-other-loathing couple who can't cope with the loss of their careers. It stops being a dud at the end, when Vic's character gives up hitting opponents on the field and starts hitting his wife to compensate--then it goes from dud to disgusting. A waste of film, and also of Lucille Ball, who has a thankless role as the team's secretary and implied slut. This is the worst type of misogyny, as the guys are degraded too.



Click to Editorial Reviews

Adam: Giselle, Bolshoi Ballet 2011

Nice but not the Best
It's nice to have streaming ballet productions and this one is entertaining. But having watched the 70's version with Mikhail Baryshnikov this version didn't fully deliver. Some of the gestures and choreography is so over emphasized that it seems cheesy and humorous. After renting this version I most likely will not buy it.

Lackluster performance
I love the ballet Giselle, but I found this to be a bit disappointing. Performances were lackluster and lacked fire. I've seen many different versions and this one felt a bit off to me. However, finding Giselle on NexFlix, Apple or Amazon is next to impossible (this is the only streaming one I've found), and it did satisfy a craving. The second act was better than the first act. IMO, the second act of Giselle is one of the most sublime works of art and while this did not rise to be level of a great performance, it was still moving and competent.



Click to Editorial Reviews

OCONOMOWOC

Awesome independent film
New filmmaker Andy Gillies and team present a very funny and bizarre story about family, friendship and love - completely unlike anything I've seen before. It's weird! But it's sticking with me. Great acting, too.

Stay away
Love the town, hated the movie! Had such high hopes for this low budget movie. Terrible. A plot would have been nice. Gave up with 20 minutes to spare. You can never get that 1 hour, 20 minutes back. And I usually like quirky movies...

Average
Was a bit disappointed since I am from Oconomowoc. Zero ending as though they stopped mid-story because they ran out of film budget so no conclusion. Humor is dry which I like but very very sparse. Reason I didn't give 2 stars is again bc I'm from there so pride couldn't let me do it.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

It don't get much better
I was NOT prepared for this dvd. Diffidently (after all, what does Madrid know about Weill?), I ordered it simply to have another copy of MAHOGANNY, a work I adore.

Can you spell "schmuck"? That's what I was calling myself ten minutes into the performance. It is, simply, the most intelligent production of this "opera" I have seen (pray, be not impressed; I've seen only three others, but I've re-seen them many times).

Conducting: one couldn't wish for better. The cast: not one dud amoung them, not a one (check out Jenny's trill in "Moon of Alabama" - it is to swoon). The mise en scene? Oh, man, don't get me started. It's like a Broadway show; it's like the best of contemporary opera; it's like the old 60's days of the Living Theater. Yet it's too something "also" on which right now I can't put my finger. To borrow a phrase from Talulah B, it's a goddamn miracle. The chorus? Spot on.

Underlying all is the translation of Brecht's libretto into...

great
If you like Weill and Brecht it will be hard not to like this. I'm not terribly critical. I think this is a great performance of exciting music.

Magnificent
Like another reviewer, I was hesitant about a production that was not sung in the original German. Silly, silly me. This is a great production, complete with a couple of surprises. The singing is superb and the staging ingenious. I really love this.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Falstaff

Novità
The newest addition to a crowded and distinguished DVD field for Verdi's final (greatest?) opera comes from Glyndebourne 2009. Richard Jones's production places the action in the England of the 1940s. Jones recently received brickbats for a severely updated Munich LOHENGRIN (Decca), in which Lohengrin wears a T-shirt and track pants. The temporal facelift given FALSTAFF is inoffensive, although it fails one test: the update leads nowhere that justifies it, so it seems novelty for its own sake. Say what you will about Robert Carsen's Salzburg ROSENKAVALIER (recently reissued by Arthaus; see review), but Carsen followed through on his impulse. There proved to be a rationale for his transplanting the opera to the Vienna of just prior to WW1, and his production could not have worked in the Vienna of another period, whether the 1740s (as prescribed by Strauss and von Hofmannsthal) or the 2000s. Jones's FALSTAFF is a more arbitrary affair. The Blitz does not begin in the Windsor Park scene,...





Click to Editorial Reviews

Finding Forrester

A HIGHLY ABSORBING, WELL ACTED FILM...
This is a heartwarming movie with fine performances by Sean Connery, newcomer Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham, Michael Nouri, and Anna Pacquin. Well directed by Gus Van Sant, the film revolves around the two main characters, William Forrester, played by Sean Connery, and sixteen year old Kamal, played by Rob Brown.

William Forrester is a writer who, battling his own inner demons, has remained reclusive after writing a Pulitzer Prize winning novel some forty odd years earlier. Living alone in a changing neighborhood in the Bronx, he makes the acquaintance of Kamal, an intellectually gifted inner city kid, who plays street basketball, loves to write, and does both well.

A mentoring relationship springs between the two. Under Forrester's secret tutorship, Kamal blossoms. When Kamal's scholastic test scores come to the attention of a local prep school, school officials offer him a scholarship to attend and, if he chooses to do so, play basketball on the school team. The school also...

You've found him
Here is another well done off-the-mainstream movie that Hollywood decides to surprise us with every so often. It is a film which examines a curious friendship which is forged between a young black youth (Jamal, played by Rob Brown) and an aging, reclusive white author (William Forrester, played by Sean Connery).

The movie invokes the directorial talents of Gus Van Sant, and there are a few obvious parallels between it and "Good Will Hunting," also directed by Van Sant. To SOME extent, Jamal is the liberal arts counterpart to the math/science extraordinaire that Matt Damon played in "Hunting." However, while he is precocious, Jamal is not quite the "giant among giants" type of genius depicted in Damon's persona.

However, what Jamal is is a young, gifted youth who has a whole lot of potential. The one thing he lacked all his life was intellectual direction. He is well-read, but never had any one to help him hone his writing skills. After stumbling...

Finding Forrester - Truly inspirational!
In "Finding Forrester" you can find no better story! Finding Forrester is just a wonderful, melodramatic tale that is told from the heart and is quite uplifting. Sean Connery gives a stunning performance as an agoraphobic man devastated by personal loss. Newcomer Rob Brown's performance as an extremely intelligent, but held back by his surroundings youth is nothing less than outstanding and Anna Paquin whose performance is right on with her usual high standards.

The premise: MINOR SPOILER

The main character played by Rob Brown is an extraordinarily intelligent sixteen year old living in the South Bronx. As a dare, he is challenged to sneak into "the man in the window's" home and bring something out. Connery scares him out of his home, causing him to leave behind his book bag with all of his stories in it. After critiquing all of his work, Connery drops his book bag down on the street for him to recover. What follows from this point is the development of an unlikely...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Syrup

A very funny & entertaining movie that really makes a statement about brand marketing. I really enjoyed & highly recommend. A-
"Looking at a billboard is supposed to feel like love at first sight but it's not real, it's just marketing and without it you wouldn't even know who you are." Scat (Fernandez) is fresh out of marketing school with no prospects on the horizon until he comes up with an idea for a new energy drink. When he brings it to the attention of Six (Heard) he is excited at the prospect of becoming rich but a double cross changes everything. With the job I have I pretty much watch everything no matter what it is. I usually don't watch the trailers for the movie because I don't like when they give too much away. Doing it that way makes what I watch real hit or miss as far as how good it is. What I have noticed is that the lower budget movies that I haven't heard of are 99% of the time better then the "studio" movies. This is a perfect example of that. I don't know if satire is the right word but the movie to me shows how the marketing industry will do whatever it takes to sell a product and how...

Tons of fun
Based on Max Barry's first book. His 2nd book, "Jennifer Government", would make for a great action comedy. "Syrup" makes fun of marketing, relationships, and business management. Pacing is never slow, it's really a thinker's movie. I could see why it gets a lower-than-i'd-expect rating on IMDB - it might a bit too cerebral comedy for the average joe. I hope more people watch this.

Smart but real
I am that audience member that craves smart and witty writing with a dash of real life thrown in. Syrup is more than just about marketing or the guy trying to get the girl, but the people that chase dreams. Sometimes people get lost in a dream and sometimes people die trying to make that dream come true and for others their dream is seen for what it really is and what it holds. I found Syrup to be intriguing. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was definitely worth the $9.99 plus tax that I spent to rent this film.

Click to Editorial Reviews