The Fifth Element (1997)

This is a really fun, fun movie. It's not the beat all of science fiction as it was hyped when it was released, but it certainly is a good combination high adventure, situation comedy, cyberpunk, and Bruce Willis gun fighting action. Doesn't make sense? Don't worry. I'll explain.

High adventure comes from the plot: save the earth from evil by finding some mystic items and a perfect human before the appointed zero hour. That much is obvious. Cyberpunk explains in a way the setting of the futuristic urban scenes, which are fantastically portrayed in this movie. All of the settings and technology were impressive as well as stylish. The special effects were well above average and in many scenes very impressive, but a situation comedy? You got it. I won't get into the details. I will say there are quite a few scenes that involve the kind of subplots you find in sitcoms. This is a good thing by the way. A lesser movie would mess this up. Director Luc Besson made all of these elements (no pun intended) fit seamlessly.

Acting is great. Despite popular opinion of models not being very good actors the models that acted in this film did a good job of being campy in an entertaining way without hamming it up. I can go on an on about each of the reas actors and how they succeeded in pulling off whatever character, but I will digress to two ends of the spectrum. Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod is priceless and worth the price of admission alone. One exception I would have to say is Tommy "Tiny" Lister as the President. Up until the final scenes his acting was pretty dry. I also have to criticize whoever decided to hype up the fact the movie has Luke Perry in it, who played Billy. Billy did nothing to carry the plot and only had a cameo role in the beginning. Ugh... Hollywood.

The movie can get too trendy. The music, though nice, didn't really fit the setting. The very last scene is totally lame and if you ask me unlikely (sorry Korby...). And there is a scene or two that was just trying too hard to be hip. I can forgive all that because the comedy, action and drama do fit in to what ends up being a mirthful romp in high flying action.

Sony dropped the ball on their first blu-ray release of The Fifth Element. The uncompressed PCM and Dolby 5.1 surround tracks blew you away, but the video quality was merely on par with regular DVD resolution. This time Sony listened to their fans and remastered the movie so that you get the full 1080p love you deserved the last time. Bought the first blu-ray? No problem. Sony seems to be offering an exchange program. Just contact Sony and they will set up a way you can pass your old blu-ray for the remastered one. Contact info is below:

Phone: (800) 860-2878

Email: consumer@sphecustomersupport.sony.com

One downside though: no extras. That's right. All the cool stuff in the ultimate edition is gone. Getting this DVD is just like getting the first one they released. You get only the movie and some trivia text. If I were you I would still wait until they make some kind of special edition in blu-ray so you get the higher resolution AND the goodies.

If you want to experience a varied range of pleasant emotions without taking any one of them too seriously then you're going to love The Fifth Element. If you want high definition and special features then you better wait. I am betting this is going to be the case with most (if not all) new HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVDs that first come out.

"how can you tell the difference between the old and new packaging?" It's a good question because outside of a few minor visual clues there's nothing obvious that really separates the discs from one another, at least not until you know what to look for. First off the new disc has a TrueHD logo on the back, the original obviously didn't. The security tape across the top of the disc case reads "FIFTH ELEMENT, THE RMSTD BD" on the new version, the catalog number on the spine of the re-master is 21520, the originals catalog number was 15018 and lastly the bottom border (front cover) area that contains the "Experience High Definition" slogan is set against a silver/foil background on the re-master versus a flat gray border on the original.

Buy The Fifth Element (1997) Now

The story goes that director Luc Besson began writing THE FIFTH ELEMENT in his teens, incorporating all the Sci-Fi elements he loved into one over-the-top, grand space opera...sort of an "E.E. 'Doc' Smith 'Skylark' Meets Flash Gordon and Barbarella" hybrid with sex, intergalactic action, and even some pseudo-religious overtones tossed in...in other words, a teenage daydream come true! Critics panned the end result for this very reason, sneering at Bruce Willis' Earth-saving (yet again!) Korben Dallas, and Besson's then-girlfriend, clothing-optional Milla Jovovich, as the innocent demigod, Leeloo.

The critics were wrong!

THE FIFTH ELEMENT is, in the best sense of the word, a classic 'B' movie, a space opera where a prologue vaguely similar to STARGATE leads to a future Earth where traffic jams occur thirty stories above the ground, humanity is ruled by beefy 'Tiny' Lister Jr., and where the Ultimate Evil is served by everyone's favorite villain, Gary Oldman, sporting a Southern accent! If this DOESN'T convince you that this is a 'popcorn' flick, not to be taken too seriously, there is Chris Tucker, sporting a blond hairdo, as the Galaxy's favorite media personality, promoting himself as he hits on his adoring female fans; Ian Holm, as the monk who knows 'the Secret', forced, despite himself, to become an active participant in the adventure; and some of the most ... ugly alien mercenaries you'll ever see, terrorizing a space resort, until they meet their match in Bruce Willis' 'DIE HARD in Space' protagonist! Yippee-Ki-Yay, indeed!

The FX are astonishing, the comedy, broad and sly, the heroics, macho, and as Leeloo, sent to save Earth, Jovovich manages to be both naive and sexy, with broken English and a gymnast's grace.

Bruce Willis is a joy, as always, to watch, and he carries the film with charm and self-depreciating humor, whether dealing with endless phone calls from his mother, driving his sky taxi recklessly (cabbies change very little in the future!), taking on terrorists single-handed, or falling for the exotic Leeloo. When he blows away a roomful of hostage-holding aliens, then asks, "Does anyone else want to negotiate?", you KNOW Besson picked the right guy for the lead!

If you want Profound Science Fiction, watch 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY again...but if you want to kick back and just have fun, look no further...THE FIFTH ELEMENT delivers!

Read Best Reviews of The Fifth Element (1997) Here

FIfth Element is a raucous sci-fi journey that plays like a 2 hour MTV music video. Strap yourself in, and enjoy the ride.

The plot...the personification of all that is EVIL in this world is on a crash course with earth. Corbin Dallas(Bruce Willis) is an unknowing hero sucked into the chaos that unravels in this non-stop action movie. He must unite the 4 elements(wind, earth, fire, water) with a mysterious 5th element before the EVIL destroys Earth.

Other than Bruce Willis' straight man role, virtually every other performance is WAY over the top. Opitimized by Chris Tucker in his debut role as a Futuristic Radio DJ of the #1 Galatic Show. And in this case, Over-the-Top is good. For it marries perfectly with Luc Besson's directorial style. You feel like Bruce Willis' character being swept into a whirl-wind world that is glitz, glam, grunge, techno to the MAX.

The most enjoyable parts of the movie are the Music Montages. There are several with which Luc Besson shows off his roots(directing music videos) in a brilliant array of MUSIC, ACTION and tremendously fast-paced cut scenes.

The DVD is absolutely stunning. If you are into featurettes, cast/director commentary, dvd-rom, and other ancillary items...this DVD is not going to please your palette. The 4 menu items are: Play Movie, Audio Set Up, Subtitles, Scene Selection. Basically the barebones of DVD features. But do NOT be turned of by this. Because if you are an audio/video-phile looking for the BEST image quality and the BEST sound quality...this dish will feed your hunger. This DVD is one of the first 5 SUPERBIT encoded DVD's ever. Basically, the information on your DVD is bits of digital information. Your DVD player will get information from the DVD in bits/sec. Now double the bits/sec of a standard DVD, and the result is crystal clear image quality(the best I've ever seen on ANY DVD), and ear shattering sound(once again, the best I've ever heard on ANY DVD). Star Wars, Episode I is close, but this is the king of the hill right now. I couldn't imagine a better movie to show off the Super Bit technology.

This DVD may lack the frills of a "Collector's Edition" DVD, but the great story, incredible directing, and superlative image and sound quality makes this DVD a must have. Especially if you have a 5.1 stereo and HD-TV that you want to show off. But do keep the Subwoofer down, you'll wake the ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD.

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This is a review for the remastered Bly Ray disc.

The difference between the Superbits standard DVD and this new Blu Ray disc are obvious. They are extreme. If you love this quirky Science Fiction film and have a Blu Ray player and the right equipment, just buy it! Be sure to order the remastered version since they had some resolution problems with the first Bly Ray release. The Supebit version is very nice, but this new Blu Ray version is an absolute revelation!

It is SO sharp and the uncompressed sound is SO good, that it leaves the other version far behind. Every red hair on Milla is seen in extreme clarity. Her performance, as fine as it is, is actually enhanced in close up clarity. Chris Tucker just explodes on the screen in a performance which is part Prince and part I'm not sure just what. The colors are just great and again, the sound is beyond an improvement over both the Dolby Digital as well as the DTS mix on the older Superbit version.

If you love this quirky science fiction film, as I do (one of the very best Science Fiction films ever made), then you will LOVE this version. You'll never look at your television in quite the same way again. There isn't a single speck on the transfer. It is just a remarkable job. It is just as perfect as we're likely to get today. It looks and sounds far better than even in the theatre when I first saw it.

This should sell many of the new Sony 300 series machines. MANY! Just who, with the proper equipment wouldn't want to have THIS!? I also have a Toshiba HD-1 HD DVD player and as fine as it is, this new machine from Sony definitely has the edge. Everything seems to be moving in the direction of Blu Ray and I really don't care who ultimately wins the HD wars, so long as we get to watch dream stuff like this movie in our homes. Amazing beyond belief!

Ponyo (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2008)

Ponyo is a young fish-girl who loves to explore, but her father, a great wizard of the sea, fears the chaos her untamed powers could unleash upon the world. He's right to worry, since she, like every young undomesticated child, is an elemental force of nature who has little respect for the boundaries that grownups take so seriously. She escapes and meets up with a young boy whose imagination at least is a match for her magical powers and it is love at first sight. Not romantic love but something more innocent and pure like the youthful love of nature.

It starts out strong and contains some of Miyazaki's most delightful and exuberant imagery, as when Ponyo runs blissfully upon the backs of her sisters who are at once giant fish and enormous waves. The story itself as it develops has gaps, moments that don't all add up, and unexplained elements. As another reviewer mentioned, for example, the test that Fujimoto and the sea goddess devise for Sosuke is somewhat anticlimactic, unlike the tests faced by the heroine of Spirited Away. I had the suspicion several times that perhaps Disney cut things out for its U.S. release since the plot lacked some of the depth and richness in its backstory of many of Miyazaki's other works. A bit of searching shows I was wrong this is the film Hayao Miyazaki intended. He is quoted in the L.A. Daily News as saying: "I intentionally tried to simplify things for this film. I figured that this movie should be seen by 5-year-olds, since they are the main characters. So I made the storytelling easy to understand. I figured they could watch it later as adults and understand the more complex parts of it, so I didn't foreground those elements." In hindsight he may be right -from a young person's perspective what matters is just the magical relation between two young children, and from their perspective everything else, the fate of the cosmos, even, hinges on that.

Like most of his films, there is an ecological message here, that humans tend to ignore the wonders around them and treat carelessly the gift of the earth. Here it is expressed in an entertaining and magical story that will be easily understood by children. While, from the perspective of an adult viewer, I found this film less fully satisfying than masterpieces like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, or even the delicate and rich My Neighbor Totoro which is the closest in spirit to this film still it contains some remarkable and beautiful imagery and delightful moments. Well worth watching, and a very lovely and simple introduction to the work of one of the most inventive and important animated storytellers alive. There's no one else quite like him, and we're lucky to have another Miyazaki film, especially given his initial plans to retire upon completing the Academy Award-winning Spirited Away. Highly recommended.

In 2008, Studio Ghibli released their latest Hayao Miyazaki film "Ponyo" (aka "Gake no Ue no Ponyo") in Japan and followed with a U.S. release in August 2009. The film which is Miyazaki's eighth film for Studio Ghibli has amassed several awards including the Japanese Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. The film which is budgeted around $34 million dollars made over $199 million worldwide. Where his 1988 film "My Neighbor Totoro" was Miyazaki's tale for older children, this time around for "Ponyo" he wanted to create a film for young children and was inspired from Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Mermaid".

VIDEO:

Magical, beautiful and everything that you can expect from Hayao Miyazaki. I was completely in awe when I watched this film. In this day and age, we tend to put so much into CG animated films and rarely do we see hand drawn quality animation anymore. I'm so glad that Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli continues to show this creative style through this film. The hand painted backgrounds are absolutely beautiful, the character design continues that Miyazaki look and style but looks absolutely fluid during its more action-oriented scenes.

Presented in 1080p High Definition, detail can be seen on the painted backgrounds. Vibrant during the day scenes with trees that are full of detail and water reflecting the trees, cliffs showcasing the detail as shadows and detail showcasing the curvature and the little pieces of grass that are placed within the rocks. The scene with the storm and the crashing features Miyazaki's handiwork as he created the water and his waves all by himself. It's an amazing sight to see.

There are no compression artifacts, edge enhancement, aliasing, banding or any problems in picture quality for "Ponyo" whatsoever. "Ponyo" achieves perfection!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

"Ponyo" is presented in English 5.1 DTS Master Audio (48 kHz/24-bit) and in Japanese and French 5.1 Dolby Digital. First the good. The English dub track is fantastic. You want an immersive soundscape, "Ponyo" delivers. From the sound of the ocean, bubbles popping, the rush of the waves, the sounds of trees rustling, the sound of rain, sea animals swimming in the water and most of all, a beautiful musical score by Joe Hisaishi. This soundtrack is absolutely divine. Great use of front and center channels with dialogue and music that is crystal clear. The surround channels and the use of LFE as the sound effects bring "Ponyo" to life. This lossless soundtrack is perfect!

Now the bad. There is no lossless Japanese audio soundtrack. The Japanese Blu-ray release has a lossless soundtrack but what happened to it for this Blu-ray release? There is no doubt that audiophile purists who want the original Japanese soundtrack are going to be upset by this and one can hope that if Disney does bring out a Miyazaki release on Blu-ray in the near future, that a lossless soundtrack is included for both the English and Japanese audio.

Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Ponyo" has a good number of special features in 1080p High Definition and 480i Standard Definition. Audio is in English 2.0 Dolby Digital and subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish. Special features include:

* Meet Ponyo (3:22) Executive producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy talk about working with Hayao Miyazaki and give a quick introduction to "Ponyo".

* Original Japanese Storyboards Watch the entire film but this time with the video showcasing the original storyboards.

* A Conversation with Hayao Miyazaki & John Lasseter (3:31) PIXAR's John Lasseter and a friend of Hayao Miyazaki talk about "Ponyo".

* Creating Ponyo (3:58) Hayao Miyazaki talks about how he came up with the concept of "Ponyo" and him wanting to create a film for children.

* Ponyo & Fujimoto (2:59) Hayao Miyazaki talks about the name "Ponyo" and the character Fujimoto.

* The Nursery (2:00) Studio Ghibli Producer Toshio Suzuki talks about Miyazaki wanting to create a children's nursery and both men made Miyazaki's dream happen by creating the Studio Ghibli Nursery.

* Producer's Perspective: Telling the Story(2:27) Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki talks about how Miyazaki works and creating the storyboards and story for "Ponyo" and more.

* The Locations of Ponyo (9:32) An excerpt from a Japanese documentary on Miyazaki's animated films and visiting the areas that inspired Miyazaki to create the village of "Ponyo".

* Scoring Miyazaki (7:19) A featurette about Joe Hisaishi's scoring Miyazaki films and more.

* Original Japanese Trailer (3:22) The original Japanese theatrical trailers.

* Behind the Microphone (6:04) Featuring the English dub voice talent talking about their role, their appreciation for Miyazaki and his films and interviews with the All-star talent.

* My Neighbor Totoro Creating My Neighbor Totoro (3:00) Miyazaki talking about the creation of his film "My Neighbor Totoro".

* Kiki's Delivery Service Creating Kiki's Delivery Service (2:27) Hayao Miyazaki discussing the creation of "Kiki's Delivery Service" and what inspired Miyazaki for the creation of the city in the film.

* Castle in the Sky: Character Sketches (2:37) Miyazaki talks about the characters of "Castle in the Sky" and discussing how his audiences are loyal to his films over time.

* Enter the Lands Visit the land featuring various small animated Studio Ghibli characters (from all films). Click on a character from that film (note: only "Ponyo", "My Neighbor Totoro", "Kiki's Delivery Service" and "Castle in the Sky" are available) to get a Q&A or a small video info. of that film and its characters.

EXTRAS:

A DVD of "Ponyo" is included with this Blu-ray release. The DVD is in Widescreen (1:85:1) Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions, English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Japanese and French with subtitles in English SDH, French and Spanish.

JUDGMENT CALL:

Once again, Miyazaki continues to prove to us that hand-drawn animation is absolutely beautiful and there is no need to join the pack and create a CG animated film. "Ponyo" succeeds on all levels storyline, animation, music and its soundtrack. I absolutely loved this film!

Before I saw the film, I figured that people were so used to Miyazaki's more serious work and for him to try to go back to something similar to "My Neighbor Totoro" was going to be difficult in this day and age but with "Ponyo", he managed to pull it off. The world he creates is magical, the characters are just enjoyable to watch. From every scene, I was literally just loving the animation and the painted backgrounds and to find out that Miyazaki actually drew the sea and the waves himself using 170,000 separate images is amazing.

In terms of any deep messages on society or ecology, in "Ponyo", we see how trash and waste has been collecting on the ocean floors and Ponyo being stuck in a bottle lying in a wasteland under the sea. For Fujimoto, as he tries to maneuver underwater, waste and garbage is everywhere. So, it was great to see Miyazaki convey how people have mistreated the ocean with their garbage and incorporating it to the storyline.

The Blu-ray is absolutely beautiful when it comes to picture quality, lossless audio and also contains a good number of special features. If there was only one thing that prevents this Blu-ray release from reaching perfection is the lack of a lossless Japanese audio soundtrack. But both English and Japanese vocals are well-done with the English track featuring all-star talent with Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Betty White, Cloris Leachmen, Lily Tomlin and Matt Damon providing their voices for this film. Even Jonas Brothers sibling Frankie Jonas (as Sosuke) and Miley's younger sister Noah (as Ponyo) do a great job as the primary vocals. The Japanese soundtrack features two of Japan's top celebrities with George Tokoro lending his voice for Fujimoto and Tomoko Yamaguchi as Lisa. And also Hiroki Doi (Sosuke) and Yuria Nana (Ponyo) do a wonderful job providing the main voices for the Japanese audio track as well.

Overall, Hayao Miyazaki is truly a remarkable filmmaker and "Ponyo" is a true masterpiece. Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli show no signs of waning and they manage to capture the magic that I have felt when I was younger when I first watched Ghibli classics such as "Nausicaa", "My Neighbor Totoro", "Kiki's Delivery Service" and "Laputa: Castle in the Sky". This Blu-ray release is highly recommended!

Buy Ponyo (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2008) Now

Miyazaki's films are refreshing for their even pacing and tempered characters. A far cry from the neurosis of Disney characters where everyone is shouting and riding on high octane. Ponyo is almost completely silent in its first 10 or 15 minutes, and even when the dialoug begins it has more of a sobering effect. If you pair that with the gorgeous hand drawn characters and hand painted backgrounds you suddenly remember what animation felt like twenty-plus years ago.

The story of Ponyo is truly Disney-esque on the surface but only on the surface. A boy, Sosuke, finds a "goldfish" trapped in a jar and frees her. He also gives her the name Ponyo. It doesn't take very long for Ponyo to develop a pet-like affinity for Sosuke, leading her to the decision that she wants to be a human. It's really that simple. The rest is Miyazaki's masterful aptitude for making the plot less important than his signature slice-of life sequences of how people relate to each other and their environment. Watching Ponyo at times feels like people-watching. And, like people watching, it all amounts to a perplexing joy.

It's strangely relaxing to watch his visually vibrant and animated characters bring color to such banalities as eating soup and ham. If you've watched Howl's Moving Castle and the delicious scene of Howl cooking bacon and eggs, then you've seen Miyazaki do this before. The man has an eye for the small details of life. This is not to say that the movie is not forward moving. There are some semblances of Western story telling. For instance, Ponyo's father who is not particularly fond of humans is constantly seeking out Ponyo to bring her back home. However, as dramatic as this may be, it's marginal to the rest of the story. Miyazaki is less interested in the need for conflict and more interested in those unexplainable things that draw two people to each other.

Read Best Reviews of Ponyo (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2008) Here

As soon as my daughter saw Ponyo, she fell in love with it. She loves My Neighbor Totoro, The Cat Returns, Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service, so this was pretty much a safe bet with her. Getting the movie's already a good deal, but the plush Ponyo included here is of great quality, and easily beats any other Studio Ghibli plush I've seen [at least here in the US].

You can see right there in the stock picture how big Ponyo is since it's right next to the dvd in the packaging. It's made of a very soft, huggable material sure to comfort any child, and it's super cute. The material is easy to clean if anything gets dirty, and the construction is very sturdy. Of course there will be some issues with a longer 'skirt' here and there (that's quality control for you), but can you really turn away such a cute character even if it's suffering from such a thing? The plush Ponyo alone runs for about the cost of this set on most sites, so getting it included with the movie is great. While I would've liked them to give the blu-ray the same treatment, it's good to have on dvd since it's beautiful to watch on either format. And hey, most parents don't let 3 year olds handle 'expensive' movies, eh?

The dvd includes the usual special features that other Studio Ghibli dvds havean interview with Miyazaki, a short featurette and a storyboard presentation of the entire movie. This is always a very important special feature for those interested in animation, or like to see the movie in a different format and seeing how it came together before the animators stepped in. And of course, the movie's in Japanese and English with Japanese, English, Spanish and French subtitles.

If you or your child(ren) love Ponyo, this is a must. I wish Disney would've given the recent re-re-releases of Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro the same kind of gift set. Now I'm kinda jealous that my daughter has her own Ponyo. Maybe I need to order one more?

Want Ponyo (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2008) Discount?

(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)The mother Lisa has the most poignant line in "Ponyo," saying the equivalent of "When you find yourself surrounded by magic and wonder, you don't try and understand it you just enjoy it."

To me, that is the theme and lesson of "Ponyo" ("Gake no Ue no Ponyou" or "Ponyo on the Cliffs"). After dabbling in darker themes and more adult-orientated fare like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, Miyazaki has returned to the lighter, simpler themes of the magic and mystery of childhood as found in his groundbreaking My Neighbor Totoro. One can always tell the target audience for a Miyazaki film by the age of the main character: "Spirited Away" was made for 10-year olds, "Princess Mononoke" was made for teenagers. The lead characters in "Ponyo" are 5 years old.

Like "My Neighbor Totoro," "Ponyo" is a film based on a childlike sense of joy and imagination. There is no need for a "villain" or some arbitrary conflict or threat for the children to overcome. Like Satsuki and Mei, Sosuke and Ponyo are pure at heart, and open to exploring the wonders around them. They feel their emotions without cynicism or thought, instead living in the moment and experiencing its joys, sorrows and fears.

Which is not to say there is no depth here. In "Ponyo," Miyazaki has blended two unlikely sources; Richard Wagner's pounding opera Die Walkure from Der Ring Des Nibelungen and Hans Christian Anderson's melancholy fairy tale The Little Mermaid. The essential set-up comes from "Die Walkure," where the god Wotan holds the goddess Freia captive, and is also the possessor of the Rhinegold Ring which grants vast magical powers so long as one gives up all possibility of love. As a nod to this, the name Ponyo is giving by her father is Brünnhilde, one of the Valkyrie who feels the power of the Ring and must make the choice between love and paradise. This story is skillfully blended with Anderson's "Little Mermaid," about a sea creature who must win the love of a human or be reduced to soulless sea foam.

Miyazaki essentially presents two movies. The front film is basic, colorful and easy to understand for children. The animation in "Ponyo" is some of the best that I have ever seen, with Miyazaki personally drawing much of the underwater and ocean scenes, utilizing the influence of classic Japanese ukiyo-e pictures. Miyazaki has said that "Ponyo" is his most technically complicated film, using more unique images than any previous film.

The second, deeper story is something that can only be assembled from fragments and snatches of conversation. For example, the wizard Fujimoto, Ponyo's father, was a human being who fell in love with the ocean goddess Gran Mammare, and struggled for centuries to burn away his humanity and become consort and protector for the entity he loved. More than anyone, he understands the sacrifices and struggles awaiting Ponyo when she loves someone not of her world. These story/sub-story elements are one of the things I love so much about Japanese film, where more expectations are put on the audience to read between the lines and to give thought to the unspoken as well as the spoken

I am not sure how much of this deeper story survived the translation into English, as I watched the film in Japanese. There are some nuances that probably went missing, and I am curious as to how some of the scenes were handled, such as when Lisa sings Sosuke a part of the theme song to "My Neighbor Totoro" to cheer him up when his father is not home. Some other things, such as the significance of tunnels in Japanese folklore (considered the realm of female Mountain Gods who are prone to jealousy, it is assumed that the tunnel would not take kindly to a water deity passing through. However, outside the tunnel is a statue of Jizo, the protector of children, which sends a visual clue to the audience that Sosuke and Ponyo are going to be alright.) also might pass unnoticed or appear confusing to Western audiences, although every Japanese person would inately understand this without needing to be told.

Miyazaki proved in "Ponyo" that he is still the greatest director of animated films alive. I am so thrilled to have seen this movie, and I know I will watch it again and again.

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Deep Rising / The Puppet Masters (Double Feature)

Deep Rising (1998)

Watched the Deep Rising Blu-ray recently and it is a LARGE improvement on the previous non-anamorphic DVD. The picture quality I'd rate 7/10, the close-ups had a lot of detail. The movie is filled with dated CGI but I'm always willing to put that aside given the year of production. However, you will be hard pressed to find a more aggressive 5.1 soundtrack mix filled with gunfire, monster sounds, ship and hardware sounds real ear candy and delivered in DTS-MA HD. Recommended.

The Puppet Masters (1994)

The Puppet Masters which for some reason I've never seen before, loosely based on a Robert Heinlein story. Decent 'B' movie starring Donald Sutherland. Many of the outdoor shots seemed flat and dull while the interior shots were solid with more clarity, it had the look of a made-for-TV movie. Special effects were convincing enough to make for an entertaining popcorn flick. The DTS-HD MA 2.0 sound was pretty good although I had Denon set up to use the surround channels and matrixed to 5.1.

Both movies are on a single disc with the correct aspect ratios 2.35:1. If you're a fan it's worth the upgrade and a bargain.

One of my favorite guilty pleasures,Deep Rising, finally comes to Blu-ray. Can't wait. It's a full tilt action ride. Purportedly about a Monstrous Squid rising from the deep, as usual, it's really about the characters populating the film. And what a cast we get in this one. As the captain of a small PT type ship, with a motto of, if the cash is there, we don't care, Treat Williams is fine in the hero (good guy?) role. The mercenary crew who have chartered the ship are led by Wes Studi, and a lovely crew they are. Painted in broad strokes as ultra-violent, ridiculously unredeemable bad boys. I particularly enjoyed Djimon Hounsou, he is always good, but if you haven't seen his performance in Blood Diamond, treat yourself. Their plan is to hijack and rob a luxury liner. But they find it dead in the water, without power, and seemingly empty. They do meet up with a few survivors. Among them the not so pure ship owner, Anthony Heald, and the lovely Famke Janssen, who's back and forth banter with Treat Williams is a workable chemistry. now let the blood and gore fly as Squidy takes the stage. Course the gore is done in the over the top style that renders it non-retch-able. Having to work together to get off the ship, they are of course going down one at a time. Some even get a poetic come-up-tance, Wes Studi's was fun. But with movies of this ilk, what can raise it beyond it's parts is a great side-kick, The Great Kevin J. O'Connor is at his scene stealing best in this one. I think he is given some of the best lines in the movie, and his delivery is always spot on. So if your looking for hi-brow entertainment, with a sensible plot, you didn't read this far, so no worries, But if your into all-out, non-stop mayhem, cartoonish characters, bullets, blood & gore, with dialog consisting mainly of one liners, this is for you. The Blu-ray of Deep Rising at $6.99 is worth it alone. Getting another movie (Puppet Masters) is like an extra prize in your Cracker Jacks.

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If you have never seen these two relatively obscure movies, you have missed quite a treat. Both are outstanding. And now they are together on Blu-ray for a song. As science fiction goes, both are at the top of their game. Actors are great, acting is great, story is great, and the monsters are great. Don't bother looking at reviews and critiques. If you enjoy sci-fi movies, buy the disk and see for yourself. You will be glad you did.

Read Best Reviews of Deep Rising / The Puppet Masters (Double Feature) Here

Both these movies were murdered by the critics of the time but they offer up tight plots, great actors, action and horror all the ingredients for great 'B' horror flicks that hover most of the time around the 'A' level. Treat Williams and Donald Sutherland (Keifer's dad) headline Deep Rising And The Puppet Masters respectively and do a bang up job in both cases. The transfers are great in blu-ray and there's enough action here for a double-feature evening that will curtail your bathroom visits to the intermission between films. Two pros with great supporting casts adding their personal touch to the genres. You'll have a blast!!

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Both the movies are good. I hadn't seen "Robert A. Henlein's The Puppet Masters" before I bought this DVD, but I was already a big fan of "Deep Rising" because of the action/horror story and excepetionally good cast. The Puppet Masters has a decent cast with Donald Sutherland the most notable. The Puppet Masters plot is of an alien crash and people being taken over is a familiar one, but this one doesn't let you down. The Deep Rising plot is about a group of Mercs that have been hired by an unknown person to rob a Cruise ship out at sea. They hire a captain, played by Treat Williams, with a small fast torpedo style boat to get them out to the ship. Treat's crew includes a mechanic (Benny in The Mummy) and a co-pilot. Once they arrive they find that the chalenge isn't getting the money from any security force, it's staying out of the jaws of a creature. Of the two I enjoyed Deep Rising the most. I felt a better story, directing, and cast.

To me the directing by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy Trilogy [Blu-ray], Van Helsing [Blu-ray], Gi Joe: The Rise of Cobra [Blu-ray], et cetera) on Deep Rising is great and the well known cast alone in Deep Rising gave it a plus. The comedy thrown in on this action/horror is definitely icing on the cake. This Blu-ray version is pretty good. Only two slight complatints I have are technical to the DVD disc itself. On mine the disc icon shows up with the cover and title of the movie Van Gogh. But it does actually have the two advertised movies Deep Rising/ The Puppet Masters on the disc. My only other minor complaint is I had to open the player to get to the other movie after watching either one. It wouldn't let me just go back to the menu where you see both titles in the beginning unless I ejected the disc and reloaded it. Now considering the price, I'm not really complaining to much because the quality of the movies themselves is excellent and they both played without any problem. I highly recommend purchasing this DVD.

CA Luster

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The Notebook (Limited Edition Gift Set) (2008)

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? Is it that every woman longs for a man who loves as deeply as Noah? Is it that every one wants a love that transcends all problems---those of class, education, family objection----and lasts forever? Or just maybe in a world of high-tech gizmos and high security alerts, it's nice to get back to basics with a really good love story....and this is definitely that.

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 resources, who are subsequently separated by circumstances, objection and obstruction by the wealthy parents, and the subsequent engagement of one to another in this case, Allie to a devilishly handsome and perfectly decent, rich, young, Army officer wounded during WWII, whom she meets while serving as a volunteer nurse in a Stateside military hospital. Will Noah and Allie ever get back together? That's what Duke's lone listener wants to know.

At midpoint point in this review, and midway through the film, it should be apparent that Duke and his lady friend are Noah and Allie in the winter of their lives. The latter is now suffering from Alzheimer's and only occasionally recognizes her husband, who reads her the story of their courtship over and over in the hope of stimulating her memory.

THE NOTEBOOK is an engaging love story that even Guys might enjoy. I did. James Garner is one of the most beloved screen veterans, and Ryan Gosling as Noah's younger self is totally likable. McAdams as Allie is effervescent and positively radiant. As a period piece, i.e. that part taking place before and immediately after the war, it's sumptuously photographed with contemporary costumes, hairstyles, music, and lots of vintage automobiles. And the sequence shot in the sunken forest amidst the migrating waterfowl was breathtaking in its beauty.

The film does stumble occasionally. While Joan Allen is superb as the witch mother you love to hate, at least until she reveals a secret of her own late in the movie, the John Hamilton character is a virtual non-entity. And I didn't believe his moustache for a second. (It reminded me of the beards in the Civil War epic GETTYSBURG.) Then, in a very brief sequence showing Noah off at war with Patton's Third Army, he barely bats an eye when his best friend is killed. What was that all about? Finally, the Hollywood ending, written by a screenwriter who must have wet him/herself out of giddiness in the melodrama of the moment, was absurd. Under the circumstances, such a passing is a good trick if one can pull it off, but it's sadly not the case, I fear, for most people in Real Life. Just ask Nancy Reagan.

I doubt that THE NOTEBOOK will receive any Oscar nominations, except for perhaps adapted screenplay (from the novel). But the admission price is still money well spent if you're weary of special FX-laden silliness and you want to see a couple of aging pros, Garner and Rowlands, before they, too, leave us. And girls, take an entire box of Kleenex.

Buy The Notebook (Limited Edition Gift Set) (2008) Now

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 alternate within the film with the enactment of the story contained in THE NOTEBOOK. That story is centered in Seabrook, N.C., where a local young man named Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) is captivated by a beautiful summer visitor from Charleston named Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams). (Of course, the viewer immediately wonders if indeed this notebook contains the story of the elderly Allie's life, and if so what part Duke will play.) As you no doubt have guessed, since this is an old fashioned romance they eventually fall in love. The relationship is eventually ended by Allie's mother Anne (wonderfully played by Joan Allen), who, in order to separate her society daughter from the local boy whose career aspirations are success in the local lumberyard, forces an early family return to Charleston to prepare for Allie's freshman year at college. (Do not judge Anne Hamilton too early in this film, however!)

The war years intervene, and Noah, with the help of his poetry loving small town father Frank (Sam Shepard) who has taught him to appreciate the beauty of Walt Whitman's work, withdraws into himself and concentrates on the restoration of the tumbledown waterfront mansion that he had once hoped to share with Allie. Meanwhile, she meets and gradually becomes attracted to a wounded veteran, Lon ( James Marsden); since he is both handsome and rich their eventual marriage seems preordained. However, fate intervenes with a wonderfully deft touch and suddenly the lives of Allie and Noah intersect again. We then watch as Allie is forced to decide whether someone can recapture their past or if only the memories remain after the fork in the road has been taken? Her dilemma is clear, Lon is the apparent right choice, yet her wonderful interlude with Noah never had a proper conclusion.

This is a movie to attend when you want to bathe in your sentimentality, yet there are enough bittersweet moments to keep the viewer from being overwhelmed by the sickly sweetness that often is the result of such cinematic ventures. The acting is excellent, the story is told with restraint, and the cinematography is wonderful. My favorite visual scene was when Noah takes Allie out in a boat on the lake to his secret spot with all the swans; I found it breathtakingly beautiful. Interestingly enough, despite the film's two hour length most of the audience stayed in their seats talking or contemplating the conclusion when it ended and the credits rolled. Why not five stars? Two reasons, first, I am not sure that the movie quite achieves my usual criteria for that rating, wanting to own the DVD and view it multiple times. Second, I found the conclusion a little too contrived in an attempt to bring closure to both the characters and the audience. One final note, read the inscription on the flyleaf of THE NOTEBOOK carefully at the conclusion, it completely explains the origin and its power to entrance Allie.(...)

Read Best Reviews of The Notebook (Limited Edition Gift Set) (2008) Here

I got to see the sneak preview of this movie this past Saturday (6/12/04) and I absolutely loved it. I've seen Ryan Gosling on television before (Breaker High), but I hadn't seen Rachel McAdams until now. Their characters were so real and so believable. Even though the end may be predictable, this film lacks the typical structure of most romantic movies I've seen. It was interesting to see how the characters evolved and came together.

The film begins with James Garner reading pages out of a notebook to alzheimer(?) patient Gena Rowlands. As the story unfolds, we meet Allie and Noah. Allie comes from a wealthy Southern family. Noah works in the lumber yard. We see their joys as well as their struggles. Though they seem like complete opposites, they fall in love only to be torn apart when Noah leaves for World War 2 and Allie becomes engaged to another man.

I won't spoil the ending, but the two lovers reunite and Allie is faced with the decision of whether to keep her promise to her fiance or to go back to the man she left behind.

Want The Notebook (Limited Edition Gift Set) (2008) Discount?

Everyone has different reasons for watching movies. There are ones with violence, ones with romance, ones with mystery, and ones with deep meaning. You sometimes pay for a movie not knowing what you will get to see. I didn't know anything about The Notebook prior to walking into the movie theatre. All I knew is I wanted something nice.

I sat in a mostly full theatre watching this movie. Watching these actors that have been on screen many times before, watching them tell a story. Nothing struck me more than just how this was life. There was a story, one about love, but real love. The kind I watched my grandparents share and when I said my wedding vows I knew I wanted for myself. The colors in this movie, the sentiments, the feeling swept through me like I was there. I finished watching this movie with tears falling down my cheeks. Embarrassed, I looked around for a way to duck out before anybody thought I was a foolish woman for crying. But everyone else in the theatre was crying too. Even the men were wiping tears from their eyes. Husbands held their wives and girlfriends nodded in understanding. I knew then I was not alone. I haven't been so moved since watching Bridges of Madison County. I told my husband later I wish he had been there to see it. I said, everything I ever wanted out of my life with him was there, the good and the bad.

I anxiously awaited for this movie to come out on DVD and it seems now it's been postponed until February of 2005. I will have to wait longer to buy a copy of this movie...a movie I fell in love with one summer day.

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Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour At Madison Square Garden (2011)

I too saw her show live twice and watched this on HBO. I wasn't expecting the magic of the live show to come across on TV but it actually did! Which once again proves what a stellar performing artist she is. The odd fashion choices and other dichotomous behavior aside, this woman is incredibly talented and will have a long career in any kind of music she chooses whether it be pop or jazz. I applaud her politics and hope more will listen to her message of love, compassion and understanding for all.

This is a great capture of the two year long, Monster Ball Tour.

I'm not going to "compare" Lady Gaga to her peers but I would like to say, what I feel makes her stand-out is her ability to connect with her audience. She does this by sharing stories and humanizing herself throughout the show. This rare ability puts Lady Gaga at a level all her own. She reminds us that shes a human being just like everyone in the crowd and that even when no one else believed in her, she believed in herself. The other aspect that makes Lady Gaga standout from her peers is her technical talent....she CAN REALLY SING! Her voice is powerful and emotive. She also plays the piano amongst other instruments. Gaga is a musicians musician and a pop star rolled into one.

Anyway, this show is half Broadway, half rock show, and a whole lot of entertaining. Several interludes are cut from the show and my personal thought is that maybe getting the rights to the samples used in those interludes were too expensive. The opening track, containing samples of "Finally" by Cece Peniston, was really awesome and I was sad not to see it. I'm taking off one star because I don't like a show to be altered or not fully captured when a dvd is released.

Overall, great show. If you missed it, definitely go see her live when you can.

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Not a big fan of Lady Gaga, or could I even call myself a little monster. But I am glad I made this concert purchase on blu ray instead of low res DVD. Even at 1080i, this is one beautiful picture! And I own many blu ray concerts and this ranks up there as the best. With all the different, brilliant colors there is no smearing or bleeding of the colors whatsoever. It is outrageously pretty to just look at!

The sound is presented in 5.1 or 2.0 Dolby Tru HD and is very impressive in the bass and surround sound envelopement.

If you own a blu ray player and like Lady Gaga, do your eyes and ears a favor and get this on blu ray instead of DVD. You will not be disappointed.

Or like me, become a new fan with this brilliant looking treat.

Crank it up!!!!

But hurry, before this blu ray is hard to find. Got mine as a Best Buy exclusive release when it came out.

Read Best Reviews of Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour At Madison Square Garden (2011) Here

if you are looking for the unedited version in all its glory, go to the other item. Its cheaper anyway.

Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour At Madison Square Garden

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Excellent! I am happy to have this dvd with me ... I could never go to monsterball for my geographic location and see this show hechp me feel even a little would have been like to be there! the picture is amazing:) I love gaga

The Door in the Floor

John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" is my favorite contemporary novel, and it was clear when I read the book that it would never be made into a movie because the title character could never survive the transition. Indeed, all writer-director Mark Steven Johnson could do was be inspired to turn the first chapter of the novel into the film "Simon Birch." Irving himself did the screenplay for "The Cider Holes Rules" and had to condense and restructure the story to come up with a movie version. Even "The World According to Garp," which captures the high points of the comic novel, leaves out so much of the depth and detail. Of course, this is true of any adaptation of a novel. Things are always added and subtracted, changed and replaced, with any novel, but it seems that with Irving's novels filmmakers are painfully aware of the difficulties.

Such was the case with "A Widow for One Year," and writer-director Tod Williams gives himself a fighting chance by restricting himself to the first third of the novel in "The Door in the Floor." In doing so he at least creates a new market for the novel, since there is most of the story of these four people to be told. The situation is that Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges), who writes and illustrates stories for children, decides to hire an assistant for the summer, and hires a 16-year-old Exeter student, Eddie O'Hare (Jon Foster), who wants to be a writer when he grows up. The Cole family consists of wife Marion (Kim Basinger), their four-year-old daughter, Ruth (Elle Fanning), and the dozens of photographs on the wall of Tom and Tim, the two sons who died when they were teenagers.

Eddie does not know that he has walked into on going tragedy until it is way too late. Marion takes Eddie to bed, not just because Ted no longer touches her and the boy becoming a man has a crush on her, but because Ted wants to build a swimming pool. Ted and Marion have decided that the pain they feel needs to be inflicted on the other, but the tacit agreement is that they will not do it directly. If you pay attention, there are only a few scenes in which Marion and Ted appear together: Eddie becomes their go between, even when there are not any explicit messages. Eddie is the final nail in the coffin of this marriage, although only one of the three realizes this first and uses it to their advantage.

Although hired to help Ted, who needs to be driven around because he has lost his license, Eddie realizes he is there more for Marion and Ruth. For the little girl the most important thing in the world are the pictures of Tom and Tim on the walls. Each one has a story, and pity the poor nanny who does not know the story behind a particular photography. Ruth knows the stories by heart, but she likes to hear them being told to her again (and again). Ted thinks that Marion's indiscretions mean he can win guardianship of Ruth when the inevitable divorce happens, but never realizes he is playing the wrong game here.

When you see Basinger and Foster together their sexual relationship seems too hard to accept, but this would not be a problem if Williams did not choose to show us some of their more intimate moments. This is a mistake, not just because you are suddenly doing the math on the age difference between the actress and actor, but more importantly because the importance of the relationship is best seen from Ted's perspective. He never sees it (although Ruth does), but he knows about it and is bent on using that fact to his advantage. Both Basinger and Bridges bring an economy to their characters that brings a sharpness to their pain; for her it is the dead look in her eyes, for him it is the sound of what is missing in his voice.

"The Door in the Floor" is more forgiving of both Ted and Marion than the novel is by the end of that first section. Ted does not simply have affairs, but engages in calculated seductions using his talent and reputation. His current conquest, Evelyn Vaughn (Mimi Rogers), is in the final stages of the sordid relationship, where degradation becomes the name of the game. But Williams uses the sequence where Evelyn tries to take her revenge as the most comic moment in the film, and reduces his despicable treatment of the woman to a joke on a windshield. The film's sympathies are clearly with Marion, who is reduced to catatonia by thoughts of her dead sons. When she comes to her decision as to what is to be done, we believe it is the right one, even though the consequences are going to be devastating. But then Williams mutes the impact considerably.

As someone who read "A Widow for One Year," watching "The Door in the Floor" certainly hit the high points and brought back vivid memories of the best parts of the novel. But I now the movie will not resonate the same way for those who have not read the novel, but seeing this 2004 drama should certainly inspire them to do so. What happens in this film wrecks these four lives in persistent and insidious ways. This film is only the beginning of their story.

The Door in the Floor is a fantastic film; an engaging, engrossing, and touching change of pace from the utter garbage that has been released this summer. This is a true adult film if there ever was one, full of wonderful, complicated, and real characters going through true everyday emotions that anyone can relate to.

Alternately tragic and comic, the film is an exploration of the complexities of love in both its brightest and darkest moments. Adapted from the first half of John Irving's best-selling novel 'A Widow for One Year,' the film is set in the privileged beach community of East Hampton, New York and chronicles one pivotal summer in the lives of famous children's book author Ted Cole (an Oscar-worthy performance by Jeff Bridges) and his beautiful wife Marion (Kim Basinger reminding us once again why she IS an Oscar-nominated actress). The couple's once-wonderful marriage has been strained by a family tragedy and neither one is or will ever be the same again.

Marion's resulting depression and Ted's subsequent infidelities have prevented the couple from facing a much-needed change in their relationship. They aren't divorced but they don't like together anymore either, taking turns staying in the house to care for their daughter (played by the adorable Elle Fanning, Dakota's sister). Then, Ted hires Eddie O'Hare, a 16 year old who wants to be a writer, to work as his summer assistant, changing the couple's lives forever. The boy becomes the couple's unwitting yet willing pawn and, ultimately, becomes the catalyst in the transformation of their lives.

The Door in the Floor is a film of deep, devastating power a film where you, as an audience member, actually share space with its two main characters. We inhabit their crumbled world, from the inside, not just as observers. By the end, we feel as if we have gone through their tragedy with them, and when I left the theatre, I felt as if my life had been changed by sharing with them what I just shared as if time itself had stopped and left me suspended in there, with them.

The entire cast is very convincing and the film sparkles with dynamic performances. At first I felt Mimi Rogers was wasted in her almost silent role, but she has one of the most memorable scenes in the film, which came toward the end, and truly delivers a wonderful comedic portrayal. Elle Fanning amazed me. She is a gifted young talent and I look forward to seeing more of her. Like her sister Dakota, she did everything right. Jon Foster as Eddie is terrific, bringing out his character's innocence and confusion, and Bijou Phillips was great in her very small role.

The film is very explicit, but for anyone with an open mind and an open heart, it is THE film to see this summer. Hands down, one of the year's best. It definitely deserves and needs a wide release.

Grade: A

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THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR is a reimagining of part of John Irving's book, A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR. Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges), a monumentally self-absorbed children's book author, hires a teen age boy named Eddie (Jon Foster) as an assistant for a summer on Long Island. Quite a bit of the book is a coming-of-age story of Eddie's affair with Ted's wife Marion (the excellent Kim Basinger), who is racked with grief over the death of the couple's twin boys. The young daughter Ruth (Elle Fanning) was conceived to "replace" the boys, but Marion cannot emotionally attach to her daughter.

Jeff Bridges, in a monumental performance, takes center stage in the film. Ted orchestrates the summer in order to try to assuage Marion's grief while indulging his appetites in an affair with Mrs Vaughn (Mimi Rogers), a lonely neighbor. Things don't go as planned, and while it while i could describe the turns of the plot at length, suffice it to say that this is a film for adults, about love, loss, parenthood, the male ego, and so much more. Bridges and Basinger both do Oscar caliber work and the final image is indelibly haunting. One of the year's best.....

Also with Bijou Phillips and Donna Murphy....

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The Door In the Floor reminds us that children's stories are really pretty frightening. (Have you read the brothers Grimm recently?) Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges) writes such stories, among them one called The Door In the Floor, in which very bad things live beneath the titular door. Ted and his estranged wife, Marion (Kim Basinger), also live in a very bad place: a world bereft of their two sons, Thomas and Timothy, now dead for some years. How they cope, or fail to cope, with their loss is the subject of the film.

As Ted, Bridges gives as masterful a performance as I've seen in some years. He manages to make a manipulative philanderer into a sympathetic character. Without his magic, the tragedy of Ted's situation would be impossible to believe. If this isn't an award-worthy performance, I haven't seen one: its breadth is amazing, and it is apparantly effortless. Basinger invests Marion with a benumbed grief that is painful to witness. This performance makes her Oscar winning turn in LA Confidential seem almost facile by comparison. As Eddie O'Hare, the young pawn whom Ted brings into the game against his wife, Jon Foster is the weakest link in the trio. He has the requisite innocence, but not the much-needed sensitivity. He is simply too wooden. Elle Fanning is wonderful as the child the Coles had, hoping to replace their dead boys; Mimi Rogers is dead-on as one of Ted's conquests--one who turns on him in a welcome bit of comic relief.

If you are sensitive to such things, the movie deserves its R rating. There is male nudity, from the rear, and full frontal female nudity. The language is about what one would expect from an R rated movie.

The Door In the Floor is truly memorable for for two big reasons. 1)Jeff Bridges is spectacularly fine, without appearing to be spectacular at all. 2)When you reach the very last scene, you will realize the full import of Ted Cole's world-view, and you'll see the treatment of his character in the movie in a completely new light. This kind of ironic legerdemain, transforming the meaning of the entire film, lifts the whole thing onto a higher level.

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I was very moved by this movie, dispite the fact that it had not tried to be depressing, and it was the right tone of sadness without overwhelming me. Just as Kim Basinger's would go:" Eddie, you are so serious for your age." She said that because she's numb and overly tramatized by the death of her teenage sons. This is about letting go of what has been taken away or lost and close that door forever.

Both Kim Basinger and Jeff Bridges sort of gave the tramatic event a silent treatment and it had build a wall between them. It's unavoidable that an ignorant youngster like Jon Foster would provoke those old feelings when he asked Basinger about the deceased boys. She instantly turned to stone just like the day they died in the accident. Even Jeff Bridges had been avoiding "the door in the floor" for years. They just haven't dealt with it and memories will always come back and haunt them.

Jeff Bridges is great, and he deserves extra credit for doing several scenes fully naked. His character's state of mind is the opposite of Basinger. He uses casual sex as a form of pleasure to escape from his depressing life. He feels obligated to stay with his wife when they no longer have any passion towards each other. Although he had constantly avoided opening the door to the floor, he ultimately does so, because he had to accept what he can't changed.

Kim Basinger finally landed a great part again since her stunning role in L.A. Confidential. I enjoyed her a great deal in this film, because she had gone from so sad to letting herself go and sexually connects herself with Jon Foster. It was so mesmerizing to see her breaking down into tears when she was making love with Foster. Without a single line to deliver, her face expressed all her pain and sadness. She thought it was a mistake to have a baby(Elle Fanning) again after the teenage boys died. It didn't help them save the marriage, and she had stayed too long, even when she had lost all her feelings. She ultimately abandoned everyone including her daughther, because she didn't want to be a bad mother. I trully hope she will get her best actress award with this performance. Her final scene in the movie when she touches the face of Bridges before driving away was also a memorable part of this film. The two lead had almost no dialogues together. This shows how distant they have became, and they were no longer happy together.

Meatloaf: Guilty Pleasure Tour, Live From Sydney

64-year-old Meat Loaf hits the stage in Sydney (shortly after a disastrous live performance at the AFL final) accompanied by an army of HD cameras filming what he announced to fans would be one of his final trips to perform in Australia/New Zealand. He makes restitution in full for the AFL nightmare.

The Set-list:

Hot Patootie Bless My Soul/Time Warp

If It Ain't Broke, Break It

Bat Out of Hell

Peace on Earth

Living on the Outside

Los Angeloser

You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)

Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through

Stand in the Storm

I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Paradise by the Dashboard Light

Boneyard/Freebird/All Revved Up medley

Mercury Blues

+a 30-minute documentary offering a backstage look at Meat in preparation for taking the stage

The Good:

The video is outstanding; I'd even go so far as to say flawless. It's simultaneously grand and intimate, basked in vivid colours, and tack-sharp HD. The audio mix on the Blu-ray is equally without fault offering dynamics, impact, clarity, and openness. The addition of a violinist and a sax-player to the band adds a great twist to some of the sound. In particular, the sax-player (Dave Luther) is musically astounding; I've always felt that live rock is aided by the presence of a sax and this is absolute proof. Meat's band has for for 30 years been the single best in the entire business and they are note-perfect here for every second of the performance. Some pieces have been changed out from the long-term lineup, most notably Justin Avery is in and Mark Alexander is out. While I loved Alexander, Avery's take on the songs is fresh and captivating he takes the old and familiar and makes them new and intriguing; he's a jaw-dropping talent. Meat's voice isn't what it once was owing to decades of destructive abuse; however, it gets stronger as the show goes along. Meat himself is a showman without equal in the music industry and he turns in an honest, genuine, heart-felt evening of fun. It was also wonderfully refreshing to have some new songs inserted into a setlist that had remained largely unchanged for several tours. The documentary is a great add-on.

The Bad:

Nothing big really. As mentioned, if you're watching a concert only to hear flawless, prerecorded, Mariah-runs then you're unlikely to be wowed. If, however, you came for a big show by one of the best showman ever, then this shouldn't be a concern. I thought a couple of the tracks were unusual choices and I always wish that Meat would draw in some of his great Bad Attitude tracks as that album has been largely forgotten despite representing one of the best recording outings of his career.

The Verdict:

Essential for any Meat Loaf fan. The best video/audio offering of any Meat concert. The vocals have been better on past concerts, but they in no way leave you feeling let down. The best band that Meat's ever toured with. 5 stars out of 5 without reservations of any sort.

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Die Hard 3: Die Hard With a Vengeance (Blu-ray / DVD Combo) (2013)

Die Hard with A Vengeance DVD

Bruce Willis in his usual role meets Samuel L. Jackson, a Harlem shopkeeper who saves Willis' rear-end and Jeremy Irons as a terrorist leader who put our two guys through a game of " Simon Says" as a distraction to rob the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the repository of the second most gold bullion in the USA, Fort Knox, of course being the first.

If you are looking for a movie that is filled with hard hitting action, Die Hard is it.

If you've seen the other Die Hard movies, you have to watch this one.

Recommended for Die Hard fans and fans of Bruce Willis.

Die Hard With a Vengeance reunites actor Bruce Willis and director John McTiernan for a second sequel to their 1988 mega-thriller Die Hard. Adapted from a non-Die Hard script titled Simon Says by screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh, this third chapter in the John McClane saga is more offbeat and just a bit darker than expected.

Although it still follows the Die Hard formula and how could it not? of McClane versus formidable obstacles, Die Hard 3 wisely avoids the Christmas Crises scenarios from the first two films. Gone also (although the movie never really explains why) is Bonnie Bedelia's Holly, although she is mentioned in several scenes. Apparently McClane never adjusted to life in Los Angeles and returned to his job in the New York Police Department.

So when a bomb goes off at a Bonwit Teller store in Manhattan, it is providential for the Big Apple that McClane is a lieutenant in New York's Finest, albeit a depressed and beer-swilling lieutenant. Providential because we know that when arch-villain "Simon" (Jeremy Irons) demands that McClane participate in a potentially deadly version of the game "Simon Says," our Everyman hero will rise to the occasion and thwart Simon's deadly scheme.

As in the first Die Hard film, McTiernan pairs McClane with an interesting partner. Where in the 1988 flick Willis was helped by Reginald Veljohnson (better known as Carl from Family Matters), in Die Hard with a Vengeance his charismatic and reluctant partner is played by Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Star Wars Episodes I and II). Their "unlikely buddies" routine is energetic and witty, and Jackson plays his Harlem store owner character with a mixture of biting wit, bewilderment, and even dignity.

The Special Edition 2-disc set, like the previous two in the series, contains the movie on Disc 1 with interactive menus, anamorphic Widescreen presentation, various audio and subtitle options, and commentary by director McTiernan and screenwriter Hensleigh. Disc 2, of course, has the usual theatrical trailer and TV spots, several TV "making of" specials, a special-effects breakdown, and an interview with Bruce Willis.

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There are plans for "Die Hard 4: Die Hardest" for 2005, with Bruce Willis back for a fourth time and director John McTiernan back for a third as John McClane and his daughter become involved in yet another terrorist plot. I have high hopes for such a film because the "Die Hard" series has been one of the strongest in the action genre. Granted, the best of the bunch remains the original 1988 film, which is the standard by which all subsequent films in the genre have been judged: "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" was "Die Hard" in an airport and "Speed" was "Die Hard on a Bus," not to be confused with "Speed II" which was "Die Hard" and "Speed" on a boat. Apparently Willis only does these movies when he has one that thinks it will work, which would explain why "Die Hard with a Vengeance," the third film in the series, came out in 1995, five years after the sequel.

The best thing that can be said about this movie is that it would have worked even if it was not a "Die Hard" movie. The idea that John McClane is once again on the outs with his wife (who never appears in the film) is getting stale and the idea that he is being targeted by this film's mysterious villain simply named Simon (Jeremy Irons) could just as easily have a different explanation than one that ties this film back to the original. In fact, what makes this third one a solid action film is that it does indeed go back to the original for two of its strongest elements. The first is the idea that the crime is a fairly complex robbery dressed up with a lot of distractions. The second is that McClane's character had a tenuous anchor with another person; in the original it was Reginald VelJohnson's Al Powell, although for most of the film it was merely by radio. That fault is rectified in this film with Willis given a strong co-star in Samuel L. Jackson's Zeus Carver. This time it is Jackson's character who suddenly finds himself in extraordinary circumstances, forced by some nut with a whole lot of bombs at his disposal to jump through a bizarre series of hoops.

One of the key elements in the success of the "Die Hard" movies was that McClane managed to use his brains at opportune moments. That issue is forced to the extreme in this one as the voice at the other end of a long series of phone calls provides one deadly brainteaser after another. This allows the logic of the movie produce a series of stunts and action sequences as the two mismatched heroes race around New York City trying to avoiding anybody getting killed (including themselves). Willis and Jackson work well off of each other, helped by the fact there characters are not stupid, and that despite the yelling and screaming solving problems is the highest priority. We have seen all of these elements before from all the action/buddy movies that Hollywood has produced, and their success remains contingent on how much we like watching the two buddies do what they gotta do. The whole idea of these things is to provide a compelling thrill ride, and by that standard "Die Hard with a Vengeance" delivers.

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When I watched "Die Hard With a Vengeance" from the very first box edition on DVD, I was very dissapointed. You could see fuzz in almost every scene and the sound quality wasn't that great. Now, I have just seen this movie in the new ultimate edition box set and I loved it! It was everything I was hoping for and more.

For those who don't know, this film is about a madman who is threatening to blow up public places in New York unless Willis and Jackson are able to perform certain tasks. The action is outstanding, the car chases are breath taking, and the acting is awesome. Bruce Willis is hillarious with his sarcastic and short tempered humor.

This new and improved special edition of "Die Hard 3" is more than I hoped for. The picture quality is crystal clear. In fact, there are some scenes where the picture is TOO clear! I forgot how beaten up and bruised Bruce Willis gets in this movie!

For those who have DVD players who can play DTS will also enjoy the new sound transfer. It was ten times louder and thrilling with the new DTS analog, which makes the movie even better. The crashes and gun shots sound a lot more better and louder.

I was very pleased with this new remastered version of "Die Hard 3". I will have to watch the other two in the box set to see if they are just as good. I highly recommend this DVD, or box set to anyone who loves "Die Hard".

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With director John McTiernan back at the helm, "Die Hard With a Vengeance" (1995) is a textbook example of action-packed filmmaking perhaps the best of the "Die Hard" trilogy. You couldn't ask for a better acting ensemble. Bruce Willis adds more depth to his John McClane role, thanks to the inspired casting of Jeremy Irons (as the vengeful brother of Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber) and Samuel L. Jackson (McClane's unlikely partner). There's more action and characterization than in the previous "Die Hard" films. McTiernan's swift pacing never lets up. From beginning to fadeout, "Die Hard With a Vengeance" is great fun.

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Dante's Peak (1997)

The 'old-fashioned' disaster movie scenario enjoyed a brief resurgence in the latter half of the 90s. After the success of Twister and ID4, films like Hard Rain, Titanic, Armageddon and Deep Impact followed in its wake. Like the two competing asteroid movies, Dante's Peak was in competition with the imaginatively named Volcano as THE Lava flow of 1997. Which one is better? Well, comparing the two is like comparing an atomic blast to a popping pimple.

Pierce Brosnan is Harry Dalton, a Vulcanologist (or James Bond in disguise if you want) who predicts a major eruption in the quaint Pacific-Northwestern town of Dante's Peak. No one wants to listen to him since the town has just been named the 2nd most desirable place to live in America and is in the early stages of a thriving economy. It's the politics from Jaws all over again. Despite being shouted down by his superiors, Harry sticks around to keep his eye on the imposing mountain and woo Mayor Wando (Linda Hamilton), who is the only one who believes the 4000-year dormant volcano might blow its top.

If you've seen one disaster movie, you've seen 'em all in terms of character importance. Yes, it's bloody obvious who is going to die, some of these people might as well have a death clock counting down stuck on their foreheads. And the panicking idiot mobs don't deserve anything less firey. When will nameless extras learn that following the crowd isn't the best way? I guess this is the weakest part of Dante's Peak, it never really distances itself from that single, eternal cliché of disaster films.

But the film is really nothing but a showcase for special effects and it does them surprisingly well. Made before the extreme popularity of CGI, Dante's Peak has a lot of real-life destruction, in-camera effects and stunt-work. Yes, there is a fair bit of CGI and for a 10-year-old film they still hold up really well. All Volano (Zzzz...) had to offer was a very, very slight lava flow and an unintentionally hilarious scene with a melting man but with Dante's Peak we get earthquakes, boiled skinny dippers, lakes of acid, ash blizzards that create a unique atmosphere, thunder and lightning, red hot boulders raining down from the sky, mudslides, lava (of course), a massive pyroclastic cloud and lots of deep, deep bass sound effects.

It's not a life-changing film by any means, but as disaster movies go it's one of the best, has an occasionally spooky score and entertains really well despite Brosnan taking it all so seriously. I would have given it a higher rating if they killed the dog (more original) and deleted the annoying Grant Heslov's utterly pointless character.

The Blu Ray presents the film is gorgeous 1080p 2.35:1 with a brilliant DTS HD-MA sound design. The best of the extras from the SD-DVD are ported over, but why the horrible new cover?

Dante's Peak seems like the ideal place to live... the serenity of the mountainous landscape and the friendly atmosphere seems to wipe out the fact that the town is nestled at the base of a dormant volcano. However, when the U.S.G.S. begins to pick up signals from the volcano that indicate a possible eruption, they send Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) to investigate. While there, he befriends town mayor Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton) and informs her of the risks. When he begins to get the city council into an uproar, his advisor shows up to cool things down and wards off any ideas of an eruption. But the symptoms begin to grow, and soon, ash and rock are flying in the sky as the mountain explodes upon the small township. It's a race for survival for Dalton and Wando, as they must search for Wando's children and get them out before the impending final showdown with the volcano. Digital Domain's special effects contribute so much to the story, making it real and placing its characters in real peril. Suspense, action, romance and a terrific cast make this disaster movie a winner. The DTS version is remarkable, and it is recommended that this be the version you buy.

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In 1997 there were two eagerly anticipated volcano movies released. Dante's Peak was more of a blockbuster hit, with more entertainment value, but not very accurate from a geologist's standpoint.

Had it been based on reality instead of Hollywood, they all would have died early in the movie. You can't drive through lava. Since it can get up to 2000 degrees, the vehicle would have perished immediately. I also don't know many metal objects like a small boat that can survive direct contact with acid elements and remain floating indefinitely.

With all that said it was a good entertaining movie. Pierce Brosnan is always a must see!

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"Dante's Peak" is one of the disaster movies that really brings the genre to a super peak, with a realistic and thrilling earth-shaking (in this case literally) catastrophe, high octane action, glorious cinematography capturing great natural beauty, and high-quality characters and relationships. It is, of course, about a volcano, one of the most powerful forces in nature, and it successfully captures the grandeur and terror of such an event. I've always found volcanoes fascinating they're terrifically destructive, and of course tragic for the havoc they wreak, both when they're near human habitation and when they're in the 'isolated' wilderness where the other creatures are the sole recipients of their explosive force. And yet they're undeniably beautiful, like a sunset or a howling snowstorm, and they're in fact an essential part of the inner workings of the earth. Also, although there is often a lot of death associated with volcanoes as acre after acre gets burnt up or covered with ash, they're also, paradoxically, major bringers of life. Even extremely barren, infertile lands with usually burst forth with new life within a few years of a volcano, because they bring forth such rich new nutrients in their lava.

"Dante's Peak" is smart by not having the disaster hit five minutes after the opening credits have finished rolling; there have been some movies of this nature over the years that have made just that mistake. This one though is perfectly paced throughout. There is plently of tight build-up and a couple of tragic harbingers of the bigger calamity to come. The action in the latter parts of the movie is explosive and exhilirating, among the best. It's interesting that "Dante's Peak" has managed to position itself as one of the greatest action movies without any real bad guys. There are some unlikable characters short-sighted, arrogant, condescending but that's all. They're jerks, but they're not characters who are going to go out and kill somebody. So in this tremendous action movie there's no one shooting at each other, no swordplay, no high-impact kick battles. Don't get me wrong I love the kind of movies represented by "Lethal Weapon", "Timebomb", "True Lies", "Out Of Time", all that; and I generally even more love the more fantastical, really grand movies like "Superman Returns", "Star Wars", "Lord Of The Rings", "Spider-Man", all that stuff. But it's neat that a movie missing so many of the great staples of action fare has also brought itself up into the cream of the crop.

The visuals of "Dante's Peak" are awesome. The volcanic effects are extremely realistic, and just the natural splendor is great. As mentioned, the cinematography is incredible, although there is admittedly one wonderful shot that was promising to be truly spectacular but gets hampered a bit by the camera being in the wrong angle to capture it all. A very minor quibble. It would also be an extremely minor quibble if one was to spend too much time focusing on the improbably high number of razor-thin escapes by some of the characters. Movie makers Are allowed some artistic licences even in realistic scenarios after all, and besides, in a case where two outcomes are possible but one quite a bit more likely, you don't have to go with the most likely one Every time. You shouldn't also go with the most unlikely every time either or it loses its believability and tension, and "Dante's Peak" doesn't do that. It stays on just the right tip of the balancing scale.

Excellent stuff; for more disaster-oriented greats I also recommend "Deep Impact" and "Titanic".

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WOW!!! This video transfer is the best HD-DVD video transfer I think I have had the pleasure of viewing. It is absolutely brilliant, it may not be everyones "cup of tea" as far as storylines go but you cannot fault the transfers they are fantastic.

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Step Up (2006)

This is one of the most delightful films we have seen in a long time. The story is warm, and meaningful, with excellent character development, plot, acting, dancing, and music. And it teaches morals and ethics, to boot.

Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) is a down and out, teenage foster kid, stuck in a family with a harried foster mom, struggling to support the family; a beer guzzling, TV-addicted, couch potato "dad" and two younger foster siblings, just as lost as he is. He hangs in his run down Baltimore neighborhood with Mac Carter (Damaine Radcliff) and his little brother Skinny (De'Shawn Washington), whose mother works at night, which is when the boys routinely get into trouble.

Tyler and Mac regularly jack cars and sell them at the local chop shop. On Saturday nights, they drop in at a neighborhood night club, populated by the occasional gunslinger, but with the best break dancing anywhere. And Tyler is a natural.

One weekend night, after being threatened with a gun and fleeing the club, Tyler, Mac and Skinny run through the streets, kicking cans and carelessly tossing refuse. Then one of them accidentally hits the window at the Maryland School of the Arts. Skinny decides to smash the window completely, and before long, the boys are in. They ogle the halls and showcases until Tyler finds the auditorium and heads for the stage, awed by the costumes, sets and props, which which the boys are soon dancing--and smashing.

Tyler takes the rap for his friends, who flee into the night. Sentenced to 200 hours of community service, he at first wants nothing more than to finish his time, mopping floors, changing lights and collecting trash.

But while making repairs on a ladder one afternoon, he witnesses a series of inept male dancers trying out as the partner for Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan). They trip, they fall, they drop her. They stink. She goes through them all, and then wonders what to do. She needs a stand in until her regular partner recovers from his sprained ankle. Tyler offers to catch her. She hesitates, but when he convinces her that he's serious, she is surprised to see that he not only can catch her--but do it gracefully.

An appeal to school director Gordon (Rachel Griffiths) wins her hesitant support for Tyler to temporarily take the role. Over the next few weeks, he helps her to rework the piece, jazzing it up, and adding several more dancers he has recruited from around the school. He also convinces her to let her talented friend Miles Darby (Mario), revise the music, after Nora's erstwhile boyfriend Brett Dolan (Josh Henderson) drops Miles from his group to sign a New York recording contract.

There is some really original music here, some great dancing, and a wonderful plot, emphasizing the importance of friendships. It's a heartwarming story of success in the face of adversity, and tragedy. A great family film that teens especially will love.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

Another worthwhile teenage film

That's set around a dance

A guy who grew up the hard way

And gets a second chance

He's basically a smart-mouthed punk

Just headed for disaster

By picking fights and boosting cars

He's gonna get there faster

While cleaning up at the Art School

He notices this girl

As luck would have it, he's the man

She needs to help her twirl

She's a driven dancing queen

Who needs to get it right

On and off and off and on

They practice, feud and fight

I'm sure you've guessed how this one ends

With dancing and romance

But something in it strikes a chord

It's worth more than a glance

Amanda Richards, January 20, 2007

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I expected good things from this movie, and i was completely blown away! Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan are spectacular dancers! Channing Tatum is also a feast for the eyes, but we knew that after She's the Man. The movie had a great plot and a beautiful love story. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did and I highly suggest going to see it!

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Here it is. My favorite movie star is Ginger Rogers. Anybody seen a Rogers & Astaire movie? Their films go like this...boy meets girl, boy dances with girl, boy loses girl, boy dances with girl (again), boy gets girl. Put all that in a movie with slammin' beats, an ambitious dance student (Jenna Dewan) and a freak at freestyle street dance (Channing Tatum) and you got "Step Up". You'll enjoy it. Like I did.

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I thought this film was decent. I will agree with some of the complaints I've seen about the acting in the movie. The script is filled with every cliché under the sun, and just when you thought that something unpredictable might happen, it doesn't. Right from the beginning, when a character's younger brother is introduced, I said to myself, "Please don't make him be the lesson learned". Let's just say that every teen romance and ghetto flick plot line is rehashed to the exact detail, without a whiff of originality.

Channing Tatum performance was okay and not bad for someone who had worked for the Public Defender's Office specifically in juvenile court and plays his role as Tyler knowingly. In this movie he seems so insecure with himself until he hits the dance floor. At that moment he becomes the most confident person in the room because he has some serious skills. Nora (Jenna Darwin) just seems like your typical ballerina princess until she finally opens up about her life. The story is interesting enough to keep you in your seat until another dance scene. But, although the acting wasn't top notch I will say that the movie had an incredible moral lesson/theme if you will--about different 'worlds' coming together and how the view issues in life so differently. It also spends a lot of time on understanding differences in daily life and issues between both 'worlds.' In addition to this it teaches us about choices and accountability for our action.

I also did enjoy the booming soundtrack. This may be the first film that would work better as a 90 minute music video, and save us from either uninspired dialogue, or mis-delivered dialogue. Sadly, even the dancing doesn't compare to previous dance films like "Center Stage", "You Got Served", and probably "Honey" but that is even stretching it. At any rate, it's one of those movies that you have to see for yourself and step into.

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