Batman Begins (2005)

Since his first dramatic appearance in Detective Comics in 1939, Batman has grown to become a pop-culture icon. From movie serials in the 40's, to a classic campy TV show in the 60's, to a solid animated series in the 90's, fans have thrilled to the super heroics of this unique character. However, as a film franchise, he has brought results that were somewhat less than impressive creatively. While the Tim Burton directed films, BATMAN and BATMAN RETURNS were stylish and dark, they also suffered from plot holes you could drive a Batmobile through. Then Joel Schumacher introduced a Day-Glo sensibility to the Dark Knight in BATMAN FOREVER, before drowning the character in ludicrous costumes (a Bat suit with nipples???), pun-filled foes, and whiney sidekicks in the lousy BATMAN & ROBIN. By then, Batman as cinematic property had become a laughingstock. Fortunately, indie film director Christopher Nolan reinvigorates the franchise in glorious form in BATMAN BEGINS, a reboot of the Batman legend that, for the first time, puts the focus squarely on our hero and not on the over-the-top villains of past films. Nolan also bases the film in a strong semblance of reality that allows the audience to not only accept the possibility of the winged vigilante, but embrace it as well.

Most fans already know the story of how wealthy Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) loses his parents when they are slain during an attempted robbery, but the movie also tells how he chose the bat as his symbol, as well as the steps needed to become the avenger of the night that he turns into. Disillusioned and frustrated by Gotham City's corrupt judicial system, the young Wayne goes abroad to study the criminal mind. Later, while locked in an Asian prison, Wayne is recruited by the enigmatic Ducard (Liam Neeson), who offers him a path in which to focus his anger and hone his skills. Wayne eventually joins his new mentor as a recruit in the mysterious League of Shadows, headed by the sinister Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Wantanabe). Eventually, Wayne realizes that he cannot follow the League's extreme methods of dispensing justice and returns to Gotham to forge his own way. It soon turns out that Wayne's return is just in time as Gotham falls prey to a fear epidemic engineered by the twisted Dr. Jonathan Crane AKA "the Scarecrow" (Cillian Murphy) and a familiar figure from Wayne's past.

From the top on down, this film is blessed with a solid cast that adds wonderfully to Nolan's vision. As the title hero, Christian Bale blows all other Batman portrayers out of the water with his intense and scary take of the role. This is a Batman that you not only fear, but can relate to as well. In fact, he turns in the definitive performance. Michael Caine adds warmth and humor as Wayne's trusty butler, Alfred. Liam Neeson does a great variation of his usual mentor roles as Ducard, a man with his own surprising secret. As an assistant DA and Wayne's childhood friend, Katie Holmes does a nice job with what is basically a thankless role. Cillian Murphy makes for a perfectly creepy Scarecrow, while Morgan Freeman is solid as usual as the man who provides Batman's wondrous car and gadgets. Gary Oldman is wonderfully cast against type as Jim Gordon, one of Gotham's few honest cops. The scene in which he drives the tank-like Batmobile is a sheer delight.

The screenplay by Nolan and David Goyer (who wrote the BLADE films) is awash with characterization and motivation...something that you don't see in many comic book films as a rule. In fact, you get so engrossed by the proceedings that you almost forget that you are watching a "superhero" film in the first place. The special effects are used to enhance the story and not overpower it, while the set design pictures a Gotham that is a unique cross of Chicago, New York and Hong Kong. If there is a flaw, it lies in some of the fight sequences. Done in close-ups and quick cuts, they can get frustrating for those who want to see more of Batman's fighting style. However, this is very minor since the story never ceases to grasp your attention.

In the end, Nolan and his superb cast and crew succeed in achieving what was once thought impossible: the resurrection of a film franchise that, if not dead, was at least on life support. As a result, Batman is once again flying high and BATMAN BEGINS is a film that I wholeheartedly recommend.

Christopher Nolan and his co-screenwriter, David Goyer have chosen to postpone the crossover of Bruce Wayne (a soulful Christian Bale) into Batman until half way through the new "Batman Begins."

And this is a crucial and important step that Nolan puts off until Bruce walks the earth in search of his own personal nirvana... in a sort of Christ-like journey to understand himself and his place in the world after his parents are brutally murdered. It is also from this quest that he acquires the knowledge and skills necessary for him to become a warrior, ready and able to combat the ills and rid his town Gotham of all evil-doers.

Nolan's "Batman Begins" is a more macho, masculine film than were the previous movies, which is not to take anything away from Tim Burton's elegiac, gothic and visionary takes on this story. But Burton's world is/was/ and will always be the world of the dreamer: his Batman is more sinned against than sinning. His Batman needs love and understanding while Nolan's wants and needs justice and revenge more than anything else: even the sultry Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes proves to be of little interest to Batman save a chaste kiss at the end of the movie. It's interesting to note that in the previous Batman films we had big beautiful bombshells like Kim Bassinger and Nicole Kidman as the so-called love interests while here, in Nolan's vision we have a more scrubbed clean, working class (Rachel is an assistant D.A.) heroine: a woman who is as interested in righting wrongs as is Batman and not merely someone meant as an adornment to the suave debonair Batman of Val Kilmer, George Clooney or Michael Keaton. It's an important and telling shift from woman as a plush toy to one who is, not only beautiful but also smart and dedicated to a cause other than self-promotion and self-satisfaction.

Christian Bale's Batman is real..i.e. a genuine, fleshed-out, beautifully written movie character: he is conflicted, he makes mistakes, he trusts the wrong people at times and he pays for his mistakes. It is a remarkable casting coup to have Bale in this role particularly since of late he has been playing a spate of radicals...i.e. in "The Machinist," in which he transforms himself into a skeleton...literally. As Bruce Wayne/Batman, Bale dons the mask, assumes the persona, not out of a lust for power but out of a fervent belief that good will always triumph over evil: several times in this film he is brought to task for his trust in the basic goodness of people and one of his mentors ( Liam Neeson as Ducard) even goes so far as to ridicule Bruce as sentimental and weak for it. Though Ducard is his mentor and sensei, this relationship proves to be fraught with ambiguity as the movie progresses to the climax.

What is a Batman film without its villains? But this film is devoid of the cartoon craziness of the Riddler or the Joker. Here we have Cillian Murphy (so good in "28 Days Later") as a scary-as-hell The Scarecrow, alias psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Crane, who spews his psychedelic paranoia and psychosis on an unsuspecting Gotham. His "stuff" is more thrilling and frightening than anything that the aforementioned villains could ever muster.

"Batman Begins" is not only a physically gorgeous film, it is also an emotionally and ideologically complicated one. It wears its heart on its sleeve, yes...but it also has the brains and a profoundly strong back and pumped up physicality to back it up.

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After years of not having a Batman film and mostly due to the franchise hitting bottom thanks to Joel Schumacher's disastrous "Batman forever" and "Batman and Robin", Christopher Nolan present us his version of the character with an impressive all star cast anda story brilliantly written by David S. Goyer.

The film

There were high expectations for this film before its release as if would it be as good as Burton's films, the truth is, there are no points to compare, Nolan and Burton visions are quite different from each other, but both respect the origins and essence of who the character is.

Goyer took some liberties in the storytelling that could be considered as unforgivable by many fans (Bruce's parents are originally killed after seeing "Mark of Zorro" at the movie theater, a fact that marks Bruce's mind with the idea of a masked vigilante) but also hints at stuff that the previous versions let pass unnoticed, the main focus of this film are the origins of Batman and his training to become what he ultimately is. Even though the detective part of Bruce's training is not even mentioned, the twist in which Ra's Al Ghul (Liam Neeson) is the one who trained him in the ninja arts and theatricality just makes their conflict more delightful and interesting. Cameos and appearances of characters from the comic book are also well used, justified and important to the story (Carmine Falcone and killer Zsaz)

The story uses the two villains exactly as they would act in the comic book, Ra's Al Ghul with his constant desire to set thing right his way and Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) working and experimenting with the thing he enjoys the most: fear. Even though the Scarecrow is totally the opposite of the comic book (in the comic Jonathan Crane is an old and ugly doctor who was fired from Gotham University for experimenting on the students with his gas of fear), the character presented keeps the essence and motives that the original character has, unlike the Riddler, Mr Freeze, Two Face or Poison Ivy in Schumacher's awful versions.

A new Gotham city is presented, much more like a NY city style, a new Batmobile (not as fancy as the previous ones but quite impressive) and a whole set of characters we expect to see in future releases, James Gordon (Gary Oldman who amazingly looks exactly as Jim in the comic), Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine), Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), Jonathan Crane, Carmine Falcone and Ra's Al Ghul.

Masterfully executed by the whole cast and brilliantly directed by Nolan, there are many of us looking forward for a sequel to this film.

The extras

Disc one contains Mtv's "Tankman Begins", a spoof we could have lived without but without any doubt a collector's piece for all Mtv fans.

Disc two contains a set of documentaries related to all aspects of production and shooting of the film, from the early beginnings in Nolan's washing room until the shooting of some of the most difficult sequences of the film. The disc 2 is organized in a comic book-like format which makes it a little difficult to follow as many things are like hidden, but if you go until the end of the short and pointless story, you will find a list with all documentaries available. One of the documentaries called "Genesis of the bat" presents comic book artist related to Batman talking about the character and film, from Dennis O'Neil to Jim Lee. I am sure this will be a piece fans of the comic book will enjoy. All extras are worthy of watching and I strongly recommend the 2 disc set, it is a 5 o 6 dollar difference that will compensate with all the facts and items found in the bonus materials.

***BluRay review***

I had already written a review for this film when the two-disc special edition was released on DVD, so I will not get into any details about how great the movie is.

The treatment they gave to this release is incredible, image looks great and colors are stunning, the high definition definitely makes a difference and 'Batman Begins' looks better than ever (simply check out the ice sequence between Bruce and Ducard)

I have seen threads with questions as to what exactly does the limited edition set contains versus the regular single disc, so here are what I think are the most important ones:

The Disc

The disc included here is the same disc they released separately:

* All the extras from the 2-disc DVD are included, the documentaries and the awful 'Tankman Begins'

* The prologue to 'The Dark Knight' in high definition (are we in for a treat when released on Bluray!) This is basically the bank robbery scene that opens the sequel.

The Extras

The USB with 18 the stills from 'The Dark Knight' included in the DVD version of the gift set IS NOT INCLUDED in the Bluray gift set; don't know what the reason is but it would have made sense to include it in both versions.

The postcards included are selections from the art created to promote 'Batman Begins', in my opinion some of the images look simple and overall they are not that great.

The two comic books included are a joke! One is a comic book adaptation of the same 6 minutes prologue included in this edition (the bank robbery), the other one is the script with pictures of the same 6 minute prologue! I am a collector and big fan of Batman and even I find this ridiculous and overpriced.

The $7.50 coupon to see 'The Dark Knight' in theaters.

Bottom-line, I would give 3 stars to the BluRay release, not to the movie itself (which is great and looks superb in HD) but to the release. I am having buyer's remorse, don't be fooled by what the product description says, it may sound interesting but had I known the extras would be as they are, I would have gone for the cheaper single disc edition.

Read Best Reviews of Batman Begins (2005) Here

When i first heard they were making a new Batman movie, i thought, it won't be better than the old ones. That was before i went and watched the old ones again, as I hadn't seen them in years. The first one in 89 was good, but after that, they all completely blowed. I mean, they just sucked. The acting was horrible, it was so stupid, it seemed like a comedy.

Then I saw the trailer for Batman Begins, and it was amazing. I have seen the movie 3 times so far, not to mention once in IMAX, and am going to see it again. It was just awesome. At first, i didn't like the different look of batman or the batmobile, but you grow to like it, and now i absolutely love it. The acting was great, and Liam Neeson was a great actor for Ra's. I liked the new,tougher, almost criminal, Bale as Batman. He was a great actor as well.

As the other review mentioned, the music for a movie can destroy it, or make it incredible. The old batman movies had freakin circus music and Prince, what the heck. Hans Zimmer is amazing with this movie. Already creating incredible soundtracks for Gladiator and King Arthur, for example, he was perfect for Batman. The music makes the exciting action scenes 20 times better. I honestly got chills when i watched this movie, it was so good. For example, the final scene of the train, the music made the scene so much more action packed. And the "scary" parts, or more disturbing parts with the toxin being inhaled by batman and other people, made THOSE scenes perfect as well.

The new batmobile is simply amazing. When i first saw it, before i saw the movie, i was like "o no, not a dang tank!" But i later loved it, more than the old crappy ones with the flimsy "wings" on it. It is just more tough and has better gadgets, like the spike strips, or more spike balls, for that matter.

Batman's outfit is much better in these movies. It doesn't look like crappy rubber or stuff like that, cuz its not. And the guy who said earlier that he can barely move his head, well, he moves it plenty. Compared to the old movies, he looks like he isn't even wearing the cowl. In the old ones, there wasn't any head movement at all, he had to move his whole body. Then there is his cape. This is the best cape ever made. Batman doesn't have to hold sticks out to make it look like his cape is up. He can actually glide on it. Its just so much better.

Anyways, that finishes my review. This movie was the best movie i've seen in a long time. It makes me happy to know that it wasn't really associated with the old ones, and it isn't part of that franchise. I wouldn't want to be known for those pitiful attempts. I can't wait till the deluxe edition comes out. I also can't wait till the next movie comes out, with the Joker and all.

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I won't go on for six paragraphs about how good this movie is. In all reality, I would need twenty or more. This is THE definitive comic book movie of all time. It stays true to the source material, and as true to reality as possible. Be warned though, this Batman is not for the faint of heart. Clooney and Kilmer were laughable in their batsuits. Michael Keaton looked cool enough. But Christian Bale as Batman is downright scary. If you think Keaton pulling a thug close to his face and whispering just who he is was scary back in 1989, you've got another thing coming when Bale growls and hisses and hangs criminals upside down over the sides of buildings as they more than likely soil themselves. All of that, plus the villain (Scarecrow) makes Nicholson's Joker look...like...well, a clown. THis is not only the greatest comic book film of all time, but it deserves a place within the top 100 films of all time for it's cinematography, script, direction, and performances.

Bottom line:

Absolute paradise for Batman fans---and still a damn enjoyable movie for people that would say, "Bat-who?"

Company (Stephen Sondheim) (2011)

When you're a theater lover, you greet every revival of a Sondheim work with great enthusiasm. "Company," to my mind, has always been one of the master's more accessible pieces. Originally produced in 1970, the show may be a product of its time but with a powerhouse roster of songs including "The Ladies Who Lunch," "Being Alive," "Side by Side by Side," and "Another Hundred People," it makes for an era well worth revisiting. This star-studded production, shot at Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic, certainly had a curiosity factor working for it with its eclectic cast. Headlined by Neil Patrick Harris, the show also features the always welcome Patti Lupone. But in addition to these two, the cast boasts a number of less likely (but no less recognizable) faces. Craig Bierko, Anika Noni Rose, Katie Finneran, Martha Plimpton (Raising Hope), Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men), and Stephen Colbert are some of the others on stage. This filmed version of that event was presented in theaters at a one night only showcase with Fathom Entertainment. And admittedly, I was first in line.

"Company" tells the story of a perpetual bachelor, in this instance played by Harris. With minimalist staging, he is surrounded by five married couples who are at hand to celebrate his thirty-fifth birthday. The couples are at different points in their relationships (from bliss to divorce) and all have an opinion about the lifestyle that the central protagonist has chosen to live. Whether it is envy or mild disapproval, the show features them battling him and one another in a series of mildly comic scenarios. Harris, as might be expected, shows a light touch with the dramatics of the work. He is effortless and likable and the show has an easy sexiness not always apparent in other productions. But it seems that the choice has been made to concentrate on the story as opposed to the song. So while amusing and pleasant, this production of "Company" lacks some of the big moments that you might be hoping for.

While most of the voices are serviceable, none of the vocal performances come anywhere close to setting a new standard. To my mind, only Patti Lupone's rendition of "The Ladies Who Lunch" really brings down the house. But what else would you expect from such a diva? Unfortunately, the 2007 Broadway revival (with a tremendous Raul Esparza, also on DVD if you haven't seen it) was still quite fresh in my mind when I watched this. I thought that version was an absolute powerhouse and, frankly, this seemed much slighter by comparison. Still, I can't NOT recommend a Sondheim and if this cast brings a wider audience to appreciate his work, who am I to complain? And it is genuinely amusing to see a different side of some of the performers. I enjoyed "Company" fine. It's certainly not the definitive performance of this great musical, but it's still a bit of light fun. KGHarris, 8/12.

In 2011, I was sitting at the local movie theatre when a preview for Stephen Sondheim's Company came on the screenI immediately had a musical theatre nerd-gasm. I've listened to this show over and over again, but I never really grasped the full concept of the show. I bought the 2006 Broadway Revival DVD in hopes to gain some more insight into the showI received, some. It wasn't until I saw this production (one of only a few in the theatre), that I completely understood Bobby's story.

The scale of this production, and the staging was simply magnificent. Many forget that this was Company: In Concert because it feels as though it's a full-scale Broadway production. The full orchestration was fantastic, and the talent on stage, sublime: Neil Patrick Harris embodied Bobby perfectly. Patti LuPone's Joanne had me on the edge of my seatI've always been a fan of her. And the three young ladies playing Bobby's girlfriends (Chryssie Whitehead, Anika Noni Rose, & Cristina Hendricks) were excellent choices: each one played their character beautifully.

Ms. LuPone brought her own to the role of Joanne. Each of her musical numbers brought down the house: during "The Ladies Who Lunch" I forgot I was in a movie theatre and actually gave a standing ovation. NPH's "Being Alive" had me in tearsI couldn't help it, again a standing "o". Anika Noni Rose's "Another Hundred People", amazing; Christina Hendricks' "Barcelona", hauntingly simple; Chryssie Whitehead's nimble pins during "Tick Tock" (cut from most productions) had me moving my own feet. Kate Finneran's "Getting Married Today", funny as always.

If you're looking to add this to your collection, I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Hesitant about seeing it for one reason or another? It can't hurt to give it a chance.

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I saw Company! at the Alvin Theater, of Broadway on December 8th, 1970 (Elaine Stritch forgot a line in "Ladies who lunch" and turned to the audience after a LONG pause saying "Do you think I forgot the line?") and have seen every reincarnation I could find since then. I have a copy of the script, the Alvin Theater Playbill and am a Company! junky. Loved Raul Esparsa in the 2006 revival, but it lacked the full orchestra Sondheim deserves (Angel Desai strained to sing "Another Hundred People"). This cast solves every problem I've seen in previous reincarnations and NPH pays great tribute the the Late Larry Kert, while Martha Plimpton and Stephen Colbert are awesome. No one else could be Elaine Stritch, but Patti Lupone holds her own. Bravo!

Read Best Reviews of Company (Stephen Sondheim) (2011) Here

I love the play so I went to see this version when it was in theaters and enjoyed it. However, now that I have it in my own home, I remember some of the problems it had. There is a fine line between projecting your voice to be heard and shouting the lines, and unfortunately, a few of the cast members cross that. There are a few spots where the singing is off-key. And the acting is a tad awkward in several scenes. It really gives you the feeling that they just threw this together and there wasn't a lot of rehearsing. If you're a fan of the play then I would get it, seeing NPH, Stephen Colbert, and Jon Cryer in this is a real treat. But if you're new to the play I would not recommend this for your first viewing.

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Stephen Sondheim fans should rejoice that Lonny Price's superb production of "Company" is now on DVD. Price restores and rescues "Company", (from the awful, over-rated clutches of "acclaimed" director John Doyle) - placing it firmly back in New York City in 1970. Well, it takes place there and it doesn't. "Company" actually takes place inside Bobby's (Neil Patrick Harris) mind.

With "Company," Sondheim effectively moved the musical theatre from the "integrated musical" (pioneered by his mentor Oscar Hammerstein II) into the "concept musical." The concept or "theme" of "Company" is the difficulty of maintaining interpersonal relationships in an increasingly depersonalized society. Sondheim writes in his career retrospective "Finishing The Hat", ("Company") "takes place not over a period of time, but in an instant in Robert's mind; perhaps on a psychiatrist's couch, perhaps at the moment when he comes into his apartment on his thirty-fifth birthday." The unattached and seemingly "emotionally unavailable" Robert imagines his surreal birthday party; reviewing his relationships with his "good and crazy" married friends, as well as his relationships with three disparate girlfriends (Chrysse Whitehead, Christina Hendricks and Anika Noni Rose). The "in his head" approach allows Robert's interactions with his married friends to unfold as a series of vignettes, outside of time and space. It also provides for a great amount of theatrical fluidity and versatility. In this cerebral-emotional context, it is quite natural for Bobby's three girlfriends to pop in and sing "You Could Drive A Person Crazy" in the style of the Andrews Sisters; or Bobby and all of his friends to perform a vaudeville-circus routine to "Side By Side-What Would We Do Without You?"

But "Company" is far from a cold, cerebral "head trip". It is, indeed, a profound emotional journey. Robert and his friends are all full of angst, deeply flawed and neurotic; which makes them wonderfully human. Sondheim's observations and commentary on relationships (married, divorced, or some stage of single to coupling or uncoupling) are, by turns, astringent, cynical, rueful and often ruthless. In my opinion, Sondheim is right on the emotional mark. As expected, Kate Finneran as Amy, the frazzled bride on the verge of a nervous breakdown, stops the show with her delivery of "Getting Married Today." Also as expected, Patti Lupone as Joanne, turns the stinging "The Ladies Who Lunch" into her own volcanic, personal tour-de-force. But this production delights and surprises in several unexpected ways as well. Martha Plimpton, Stephen Colbert, and Jon Cryer all make welcome and effortless transitions from TV comedy to musical theatre. Anika Noni Rose offers an exhilarating performance of "Another Hundred People." At the center of it all is the extremely charismatic and talented Neil Patrick Harris, who imbues Bobby with an easy but potent sexiness, instead of aloofness or cold, cocky arrogance. It is easy to see why everybody is so attracted to, and worried about, him. By the conclusion, and Bobby's big emotional breakthrough with "Being Alive," Harris is also heartbreaking.

Sondheim writes in "Finishing The Hat", "Company" is a show I'm extremely happy with. It influenced musicals, for good and ill, for years afterwards and continues to do so. It made a lot of grown-ups who had disdained musicals take them seriously, and it not incidentally gave me my first good notices."

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Toys in the Attic (2009)

This film is actually a recycling of a 2009 Czech Republic film. I saw it when abroad and while it is a distinctive and visually appealing stop-motion film, some of the characters are quite scary/disturbing, especially the cigar toting vile bust/statue known as "Head." Head leads the evil "side" of the attic against the peace loving "side" of the attic. A rag-tag group from the peace loving side must overcome the evil Head and rescue a kidnaped antique doll. The voice casting is great, lots of big names and the stop-motion filming is artistic, however, the dark edge of the film may steer this towards the tweens and up (maybe 8-10 and up?). If you're not sure, you might want to preview it before the kids get a chance to see it. Other than the caution for the scary factor, definitely worth viewing artsy imaginative work.

these toys looked after each other with great care! thats what made me enjoy all the adventures of each toy! great show!

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I mean really, I stand in awe.

I didn't know, at first, that this was by Jiri (pronounced kind of like "Year-zhee") Barta. That would have sold me right then, since Czech animators and Barta in particular display senses of the macabre, joyous, heroic, delicate, and mysterious all at once. (Since so many of them worked, or tried to, during the Soviet oppression, that seems rather natural.)

This, like any brilliant work of art, works at many levels. Physically the puppets and objects combine Svankamjer's sensibilities with Joseph Cornell's supply closet. In image creation, Barta melds live action with flip-books (or something close), stop animation, overdrawing, and I don't know what-all in computer animation and postproduction. The stop-animated puppets, however, embody unique personalities in their materials, structure, and articulation, even before you hear them sspeak,

Skipping ahead, I have to applaud the English language rendering. Taken in itself, it expresses the characters and helps bring them to life, even though English was never considered when the movie's original Czech version came out. But, the English is dubbed so it syncs to Czech mouth movements (mostly). This involved heroics on the parts of the scriptwriters, voice actors, and sound masters to create some cadence that a lip-reader might believe.

Backing up to the original, though, this represents a rather daring fable of personal freedom against the militarists, something Barta lived through before the Velvet Revolution. The plaster talking head had some reality in the Stalin era, and the spies and operatives remained real until the Stasi got their pink slips.

Behind and in front of everythign else, though, this stands out as a major artwork, masterfully crafted and carrying more meaning than any one reading can disclose. I've admired Barta's art before. This, however, impresses me in more different ways tha I can hope to name.

-wiredweird

Read Best Reviews of Toys in the Attic (2009) Here

The English version is very unique and well crafted. Jiri has done great work in the past and this movie is nothing short of magical. The movie kept my attention from beginning to end and the voice-overs fit the characters perfectly. My girlfriends two daughters really enjoyed it. Two thumbs up.

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Great movie. There was so much work put into this movie and you can really tell. I have bought some for gifts.

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Cul-de-sac (The Criterion Collection) (1966)

Judge Clark Douglas, DVD Verdict-There are some creepy moments (especially early on, as we don't quite have a handle on who the characters are or what they're attempting to accomplish--Polanski fills in the blanks in a deliberate, methodical manner), but after a while it becomes clear that Cul-de-sac works best when Polanski is being playful.

Perhaps this is due to the fact that it's easier to switch from chills to laughs than vice versa. There are some squirm-inducing yet entertaining moments during the first hour of the film, as the flustered husband and his sneering wife engage in a series of amusing interactions with the American. It's tempting to feel that Polanski is making a larger cultural point, as he seems to have infused each of these three characters with the worst stereotypical traits of the countries they represent: the rude, boorish, violent American; the stammering, spineless, indecisive Englishman and the devious, cruel, self-serving Frenchwoman. The actors push and pull off each other in some intriguing ways (with Pleasance doing particularly good work as a man ever-so-slowly reaching his boiling point).

However, the film shifts from engaging to brilliant with the arrival of several unexpected guests. Over the course of twenty-five minutes or so, we're treated to an increasingly hilarious comic set piece in which the players are spun around in a variety of interesting ways until Pleasance finally explodes in cathartic rage. Polanski builds up to this moment in giddy fashion, transforming the gruff gangster into a faux butler, introducing a particularly overbearing gentleman with a tendency for sticking his nose into everyone's business, delivering an immensely enjoyable skewering of pretentious dinner guests and allowing the world's snottiest little kid to run rampant through the mansion wreaking all manner of havoc. It's a fantastic stretch of direction which blends subtle satire with enthusiastically broad physical comedy, and it allows Polanski to use his strengths in wonderfully atypical fashion.

Unfortunately, the film's ambitious conclusion isn't able to stick the landing. After the aforementioned portion of comic delight, Cul-de-sac plunges into dark territory in supposedly horrific fashion. The ending works nicely on a symbolic level (and some of the comedic commentary continues in this section), but it's too forced and overwrought to really send a chill up the spine. The film seeks to blend the intensely personal terrors of Repulsion with the pleasures of a great farce, but it really only succeeds in the latter department. Still, that's enough to make it well worth your time.

Cul-de-sac arrives on Blu-ray sporting a decent 1080p/1.66:1 transfer. While the level of detail is solid enough, this is a good deal shabbier than many of the black-and-white releases Criterion has delivered thus far (Repulsion included). The exceptional cinematography is hampered slightly by the general flatness of the image, and there's some print damage which can be a little distracting at times. Audio is similarly acceptable yet underwhelming, as some lines of dialogue sound very muffled and the music is occasionally a bit shrill and pinched. While I'm sure Criterion has done what they can with what they had to work with, this isn't a movie to use as a showcase for your fancy home theatre equipment. Supplements include an excellent making-of featurette called "Two Gangster and an Island" (23 minutes) featuring interviews with Polanski and other crew members, an archival interview with Polanski (27 minutes), a couple of trailers and a booklet featuring an essay by David Thompson.

-Full review at dvdverdict.com

1966's Roman Polanski film, "Cul de sac" just got recognized by Criterion and the result is as well as expected. Donald Pleasence, Lionel Stander and Francoise Dorleac star in a film of unstable people. The film was made at just the right time in Polanski's career when it had been on the shelf and after "Repulsion" (1965) Polanski was able to pull it together. Written by Polanski and long-time collaborator Gerard Brach who worked with Dario Argento on his "Phantom of the Opera", one can not help but admire the creative talent at work, much better than "Repulsion"'s limited means, more perplexing than entertaining, but quite a good film nonetheless. Criterion did a good job as usual. I hope no one forgets the creativity that went into early Polanski films as they admire his later work. Though Polanski's world is a dark world and "Cul de sac" is no exception.

Buy Cul-de-sac (The Criterion Collection) (1966) Now

This Roman Polanski film, made right after Repulsion, was a shelf-project of the director and writer Gérard Brach. After the success of Repulsion they could resurrect this comedy the producers had rejected. Watch the film may strike the usual Polanski viewer (like myself) for the lack of sinister mood and plot so common in the works of the director. The film basically depict three completely different people stuck together in a old isolated castle, somewhere I read the film is a upside-down story of a knight saved from the princess by the dragon. A good definition of the film.

Read Best Reviews of Cul-de-sac (The Criterion Collection) (1966) Here

Criterion quality on image and sound. Pity the film does not have the substance to justify this production.

Made while in England, after the money making Repulsion and before Hollywood's promise of being a multi-millionnaire called him away from England. If you like Knife in the Water, The Pianist, Rosemary's Baby, Ghost Writer,

you probably will be very disappointed with this low budget contrivance.

Want Cul-de-sac (The Criterion Collection) (1966) Discount?

Do we all have a breaking point? Cul-de-sac is a film from the early Roman Polanski cannon. It is a unique film and Polanski all the way.

It came out in 1966 and features a prime time Donald Pleasence. If you are a Pleasence fan, this is most certainty for you. Pleasence is one of the all time greatest movie madmen. In the story George (Donald Pleasence) and his wife Teresa (Françoise Dorléac) live on a remote island farm. It could potentially be the most peaceful place in the world if it wasn't for the constant bickering between the newly wed residents. Their house is stormed by a team of wounded criminals passing through post botched heist. One is seriously wounded and the other is seriously demanding. One of the criminals is a brutish American criminal named Richard (Lionel Stander). Richard takes the couple hostage and they clash in questionable, threatening, and often time humorous ways. The wife is so board she barely even cares. The husband is already on the edge of sanity and this situation does nothing to help his dire situation. The comedy in this film is blackened to a crisp in the charming 60s style.

Pleasence is submissive and humiliated throughout the film. He is trying to find the courage to fight back. His performance is striking, fearless, and human. One of the main features of Cul-de-sac is the beautiful locale. Overall, the film is really pretty simple and very effective. It is a human situation that spirals into madness. This is a deeper Polanski cut. This film may remind you that we are all not far from craziness. Polanski, Plesence, and the rest of the cast in Cul-de-sac were not afraid to remind us of this uncomfortable fact.

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Street Trash - Special Meltdown Edition (1987)

The ultra-low-budget exploitation flick STREET TRASH (1987) certainly lives up to its name in more ways than one. Not only is it rather trashy when it comes to generally poor or histrionic acting, bawdy humor, gore, and several lingering flashes of T&A, but it is also one of the few films set in New York City's skid row that was actually filmed almost entirely in authentic skid-row venues.

The centerpiece of the paper-thin plot is a case of decades-old hooch called Tenafly Viper, discovered in the miasmic basement of a skid-row liquor store by the store's proprietor. The unscrupulous vendor decides to exploit his seemingly serendipitous find and pad his pocket by selling the stuff to local winos for a buck per bottle. But unbeknownst to him and his unwary customers, the stuff has gone sour and has transmuted into a volatile toxin that literally melts those who consume it into a pile of day-glo goo.

Though STREET TRASH is blatantly and disgustingly lowbrow, it is nonetheless wildly entertaining and, from a technical standpoint, very well made. The make-up FX are skillfully and artistically executed, and never have latex appliances looked so simultaneously gross and hilarious. The action does lag in a few spots, but most of the time there is a constant flow of either gore, skin, or bawdy gags. Also, in contrast to many near-zero-budget exploitation films, the cinematography is fabulous--director Jim Muro shot the entire film using a rented steadicam, and he was so skilled at it that he went on to become one of Hollywood's greatest steadicam operators, working on such films as TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991), TITANIC (1997), AND RED DRAGON (2002)--and the editing is near perfect, making STREET TRASH look like a more mainstream, bigger-budget film.

While the acting skills of many of the principals leave a lot to be desired, STREET TRASH does feature a few thespians worth noting. Genre fans will recognize James Lorinz from his role as the mad scientist in the exploitation satire FRANKENHOOKER. In an earlier role here, Lorinz plays a lippy doorman in the employ of a mob boss, and he steals the show in nearly every scene in which he appears. Actor Tony Darrow portrays the aforementioned mob boss, and Darrow parlayed his debut role here into a career of playing similar types in more mainstream gangster flicks, including critically acclaimed films like GOODFELLAS (1990), BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (1994), AND MIGHTY APHRODITE (1995).

The DVD release of STREET TRASH from Synapse is a no-frills disc, but its definitely worth the price of admission. It offers a digital transfer of the film--which has been nicely restored and is completely uncut--in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (enhanced for 16x9 TVs), and the stereo soundtrack is also nice and clear.

Sick? Yes. Foul? For sure. Gross? Often. But its also a lot of fun. STREET TRASH is definitely not for everybody, but for those who enjoy exploitation horror flicks from the 1970s and 1980s, STREET TRASH is definitely one of the best. And the DVD from Synapse will make a fine addition to the collections of those who enjoy such films.

"Street trash makes Herschell Gordon Lewis look like Mary Poppins," Wes Craven

"Loathsome, foul and degrading, Street Trash is a real treat for anyone who thinks they've seen it all." George Romero

"Yeah, that's the bits I like." Den Dennis (The Comic Strip Presents...More Bad News 1988)

Produced and written by Roy Frumkes (The Substitute), and directed by J. Michael Muro, who since done stedicam work on such films as Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), L.A. Confidential (1997), and Titanic (1997) to name a few, Street Trash (1987) features Mike Lackey, Marc Sferrazza, Jane Arakawa, Bill Chepil, Pat Ryan (The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke 'Em High), Vic Noto (Innocent Blood), and Tony Darrow (Goodfellas, Analyze This, "The Sopranos").

The story basically involves the activities of two inner city homeless brothers named Freddy (Lackey) and Kevin (Sferrazza), who live in an auto scrap yard occupying a dwelling consisting of old tires. Thrown into the mix early on is the appearance of some funky looking booze called Tenafly Viper, which was found in the cellar of a liquor store by the store's proprietor. Subsequently he decides to pawn it off on his clientele, most all of whom are shiftless, degenerate dirtbags, for a buck a bottle (needless to say they snap it up). Turns out the stuff is rotgut, literally (unbeknownst to the liquor store owner), so much so it causes the individual ingesting the crud to melt from the inside out. Along with the exploding bums Freddy and Kevin also have to contend with Bronson (Noto), a large, sadistic, psychotic Vietnam veteran who rules the scrap yard with an iron fist and a dagger made of from a human femur bone (think a low grade Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now). Things get especially hairy when a local mobster (Darrow) finds out his girlfriend's been murdered (among other things) by the skid row denizens populating the junk yard, and a renegade cop with a serious grudge named Bill (Chepil) starts rousting everyone for kicks.

I guess the first thing one should know about this film is that there really isn't much of a story, which, in most cases, would probably be a disadvantage, but not so here (for those of us who tend to dwell in the cinematic sludge this is fairly common occurrence). Probably the best thing you can do is sit back and let the experience envelope you in its grimy, odious, putrid fetidity, which comes off as a sort of sewage laden mix between the films of John Waters and Herschell Gordon Lewis. I did learn a number of things from this movie, including the following...

1. One can actually make a home out of discarded tires.

2. If you wear baggy enough pants to the grocery store, you can steal enough food to feed at least three people.

3. I wouldn't eat anything that came out of a homeless man's pants.

4. You can thin out homemade hooch by urinating in it.

5. An alley is a great place to pick up broads, especially if you're a greasy bum (and the broad is wasted out of her gourd).

6. Your puke breath must be really bad when a bum won't even kiss you.

7. Frank, the morbidly obese owner and operator of the scrap yard, isn't adverse to a little necrophilia.

8. The homeless don't particularly covet showers.

9. A severed ding a ling a can be used in lieu of a football in a pick up game.

10. You never defile Bronson in front of the men.

If you like your movies messy, in a visceral sense, then you've come to the right place as this spectacularly over the top nugget of gooey nastiness is right at home next to Peter Jackson's Dead Alive (1992). I'm unsure the deal with the Viper booze, but its effects are instantaneous and highly satisfying. There's some seriously nasty melt action here, perhaps my favorite being the early scene with guy sitting on the toilet, taking a slug, and then reduced to a slimy, festering pile floating in the bowl. Along with the gratuitously goopy goodness there's also a whole lot of comedy, a few fights (the most memorable being Bill the cop going toe to toe with Bronson), some female nekkidness, a severed male member, and whole lot more. The acting was pretty rank but it didn't take away from anything for me, especially given the entertaining dialog throughout. The two best lines (at least of the ones I could post here), in my opinion, are the one I used for the title of my review and the following, occurring after one of Freddy's acquaintances, after shoving copious amounts of food down his pants, is busted by a manager in a grocery store ...

Store manager: I'd like to know what you're doing with all that chicken in your pants.

As I said, there's a decent amount of comedy here, the funniest part for me, beside the flying woody sequence, was when Freddy picked up the drunk broad in the alley, after she just finished puking. As he was dragging her back to his Goodyear abode, she kept trying to kiss him and he kept try to avoid it, given her puke breath and all. To sum things up this is a completely vile and disgusting affair, one definitely worth the time if you have the stomach.

This new 2 DVD set released in 2006, entitled 'The Meltdown Edition', includes an anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) transfer, audio in a newly remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 and the original 2.0 mono, two audio commentaries featuring producer Roy Frumkes and director James Muro, a two hour documentary entitled The Meltdown Memoirs, which details the history and the making of the film, the original 16mm short film that inspired the movie, a Street Trash promotional teaser, a behind the scenes still gallery, liner notes, and the original theatrical trailer. The interesting thing is, while the 2006 DVD release contains a ton more stuff than the original 2005 DVD release, the newer version is missing one really cool element...with the original DVD release there was included two printed label stickers so you could create your own bottle of Tenafly Viper.

Cookieman108

Buy Street Trash - Special Meltdown Edition (1987) Now

that SYNAPSE is suppose to release a 2-Disc Special edition come this (06) spring or summer.

Read Best Reviews of Street Trash - Special Meltdown Edition (1987) Here

Street trash is the unholy grail of trash and exploitation cinema. I have been waiting for this release for years and my old vhs copy has petty much melted in my vcr from years of playing for friends who were unaware of it's infamous existence. Thank you synapse pictures for releasing this nasty movie back into the consumer market.

Want Street Trash - Special Meltdown Edition (1987) Discount?

No offense, but if you are a horror fan your DVD collection in incomplete without this film. You want Gore? Street trash has it. You want cheese? Street Trash has that too. This ultra-low budget film is limited only by the acting, but oh well man...small price to pay for this bloodbath. Hope the x-tras are worth it, but even so this lil' forgotten gem is getting the uncut treatment it has deserved. Plus the whole "Penis Football" scene mentioned makes it worth the price. Plus, if you get the DVD it comes with two free Tenafly Viper stickers based on the vicious liquor that melts everyone in the movie! Too cool! They are in the shape of liquor bottle stickers so you can put them on one after you drink it all while watching this movie. Instant movie memorabilia! Not going to give away the "juicy" details...sorry. Buy it on a whim...its a winner. Gore fans rejoice. Nuff said.

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Werner Herzog: Encounters in the Natural World

This beautifully packaged box set contains three full length documentaries and two shorter features by the great German film director Werner Herzog.

LA SOUFRIÉRE

This short piece concerns a Carribean island which was evacuated after rumblings from a volcano, which threatened to blow with the strength of five or six atomic bombs. Herzog and his crew went there after the evacuation to film absolutely eerie footage of a deserted town, with a sea full of dead snakes. They interview one of the residents who refused to leave. "Where should I go? Death waits forever, it is eternal."

GRIZZLY MAN

This is Werner Herzog's tribute to Timothy Treadwell, the grizzly bear enthusiast who was torn apart and eaten by the creatures he loved in 2003. It consists mainly of footage shot by Treadwell himself in the wilds of Alaska. The film can be very tense to watch, especially the scenes near the start where Treadwell is touching the bears, and you are constantly waiting for them to knock the camera from his hand and decapitate him.

In some ways Treadwell reminds of the late Steve Irwin, both in his manic demenaour, and the fact that he died at the hands of the wildlife he sought to protect. He also reminds slightly in his mannerisms of the comedic actor Jim Carrey, making the footage shot just hours before his death seem all the more eerie.

One friend of Treadwell's has criticised this documentary for portraying Treadwell as a man with a death wish, while not focussing on the fact that he spent 35,000 hours living in direct contact with the bears before he was finally killed an amazing feat. But the film is actually fairly even handed, and interviews both Treadwell's admirers and his unsparing critics (including one man who claims "he got what he was asking for"). Herzog himself defends Treadwell not as an ecologist but as a filmmaker, and truly some of the footage he captured moves into the realm of art.

The difference between Herzog and Treadwell is that Treadwell saw bears as his 'friends', whereas Herzog looks into the bear's eyes and sees "only the vast indifference of nature." Neither is quite right in my opinion. Treadwell was wrong in thinking the bears would ever consider him one of their own, yet Herzog ignores the research showing that cats are capable of friendship, and that magpies lay wreathes for their dead. Konrad Lorenz wrote movingly about swans and geese, who mate for life and show clear signs of mourning when their partner dies.

Although man can never 'return to nature' like Treadwell wished, and although the human and natural world are separate in many ways, they still intersect and interact. Both are necessary. Nature is necessary to man, so that he may know himself. And man himself is necessary to shine the light of consciousness into the dark unconscious that is nature.

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Full of odd questions ("Is there such a thing as insanity in penguins?"), Werner Herzog lands on the ice runway at McMurdo base in Antarctica for five months devoid of night. McMurdo looks like an ugly mining settlement (reminds me a bit of Norwegian Arctic towns like Alta and Hammerfest) but "as banal as it appears, it is filled with professional dreamers"...dreamers whose favourite food, funnily enough, is Frosty Boy Ice Cream.

The scientists see the ice as a dynamic entity, not the static monolithic environment many think when they hear the name 'Antarctica'. There are cracks in the ice that sound like ghostly footsteps, and seal calls which sound like Tangerine Dream. Life forms in the sea are "like science fiction creatures" as one scientist puts it. It is "a horribly, violent world" full of strange, Lovecraftian organisms, some of which seem to possess "borderline intelligence...almost art."

Some of the scientists Herzog interviews have a religious sense of awe in the face of their discoveries, while others seem almost braindead. "Yes, it's a truly wonderful moment when you increase the known biodiversity," one tells him, sounding about as excited as if he had just filed a report on the origins of sawdust. But another talks with spiritual and poetic insight of the sub-atomic particles called neutrinos.

The whole film, in fact, is full of surprising insights for instance, that the British empire started to fail only after Shackleton had reached the South Pole. In other words, when no further expansion was possible. Strangely, in a film about uninhabited Antarctica, Herzog delivers a moving defence of the languages that are dying out around the world: "Tree huggers and whale huggers are acceptable, but no one embraces the last speakers of a language."

Herzog gets all apocalytic towards the end of the film, talking about the imminent demise of humanity, but whether or not one shares his pessimism, there is little reason not to watch this stunning documentary.

THE WHITE DIAMOND

Beginning with some great film footage of the early age of flight, including the explosion of the Hindenburg Zeppelin, this documentary then turns to modern day airship fanatic Dr. Graham Dorrington. It gradually emerges that Dorrington's friend Dieter Plage was killed flying a similar airship ten years earlier, and it is clear that Dorrington feels a certain degree of guilt over the death. Despite this, he persists in his quest to fly an airship over remote jungle in Guyana. The airship itself has a bit of a 'steampunk' look about it, and reminds me of Lee Scoresby's balloon in 'The Golden Compass'. With the help of this contraption, Dorrington aims to film the rainforest canopy one the richest biospheres on earth.

The human element in this film is not so intense as with other Herzog documentaries, yet it does contain some amazing cinematography, such as the swifts flying madly into a waterfall, their secret kingdom. Perhaps the film would have been better if cut in length (it's not often you can say that about a Herzog film), or perhaps more footage of the rainforest canopy and less of the crew arguing. It's still worth watching, however.

THE FLYING DOCTORS OF EAST AFRICA

This is a short, straightforward film about doctors in East Africa. It isn't narrated by Herzog, and isn't terribly interesting (unless you find the brutal monotony of African tribal warfare enlightening). If you want to watch something of Herzog's set in Africa, 'Cobra Verde' would be far more worth your while (see my review of that on Amazon).

'La Soufriére' 5 stars

'Grizzly Man' 5 stars

'Encounters at the End of the World' 4 stars

'The White Diamond' 3 stars

'Flying Doctors of East Africa' 2 stars

Herzog on Blu-Ray? Of Course!

While an odd collection of his work, to be sure, this collection does make a little sense. The characters that try, and sometimes succeed, to live beyond the told and tried world are all here. But the landscapes are always the central character. If I were to choose, I would certainly have chosen other films. Scream of Stone or Dark Glow of the Mountains, perhaps. So What? I was surprised to see Grizzly Man so popular when it came out, so what do I know? While some of his newer films have been strangely other than what I am used to, I cannot fault him for doing what he does. He makes me scratch my head often, and I love that. The films presented here are somewhat of a jumble, but they do have a common thread. Timothy (Grizzly Man) tried to do what all Herzog heroes do, to live outside, beyond. White Diamond's protagonist is a dreamer in that same sense. And oh, so tragic, and flawed. Encounters saw some praise, but also was more or less about the people that live that life so far south of the rest of us. There are threads that run through Herzog films that reflect the maker, and all are present here. He is the man with the courage to risk death to film a volcano exploding, and so are the figures he shows us. It is the reflection of our best hopes and fears, or the terror of our impotence and self-destruction. But there is also the inspiration of what we could be, if only we could find our true potential. This is all meager prose, and his films really do speak for themselves. I, myself, am happy to get all these films in the best format possible. I gave my copy of Encounters to a dear friend to share with her kids, now that I have a double. Films should be shared, and Herzog should be shared with the entire world.

Buy Werner Herzog: Encounters in the Natural World Now

This is a majority of Herzog's movies that are currently on Blu-ray. I recommend this set to anyone who like nature films, Werner Herzog or documentaries. I couldn't recommend it more highly in any case. I'm a little biased to be posting a review though.

Read Best Reviews of Werner Herzog: Encounters in the Natural World Here

The main reason I rushed to buy this set was to see La Soufiere and The Flying Doctors of East Africa since they were previously unavailable or hard to find. Unfortunately they don't work! All special features seem to work on all discs except for The White Diamond, clicking on them only returns you to the main menu. I am so pissed off I spent my money on this and waiting with such anticipation and now I have to go through a return process at my own shipping expense. Does anyone have a clue why this is? I see reviews of all titles on here, is it working for anyone else? I want these titles on blu-ray but I'm not going to re-order it if it doesn't work.

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Seven / Copycat / Taking Lives (Triple-Feature) (2012)

For the price this is a terrific set of three thrillers now the quality of the enclosed thrillers vary a bit but all three have their moments.

"Se7vn" included here is the special edition of the movie. David Fincher's thriller holds up remarkably well 17 years on with strong performances all around (although I felt Brad Pitt's performance was a bit too mannered for my tastes at the time and even now).

For those that don't know "Se7vn" follows two detectives (Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt)trying to catch a serial killer taking victims lives based on their violation of the seven deadly sins. "Se7vn" remains an influential thriller that impacted an entire decade of thrillers altering the look and feel of many of them. That doesn't diminish the power of the original though.

"Copycat" came out four years after "The Silence of the Lambs" and while a more it's certainly a bit more traditional in terms of casting compared to that film (featuring stars that were fairly big at the time), "Copycat" got lost in the wake of the more daring "Se7vn" but as a thriller it's still a strong film.

Signorney Weaver plays Helen Hudson a agoraphobic psychologist and profiler who ends up working with detective M.J. Monahan (Holly Hunter) in trying to capture a serial killer who copies OTHER serial killers. Both Hunter and Weaver give terrific performances in the film.

"Taking Lives" features Angelina Jolie as Illeana a FBI profiler brought in to catch a serial killer who assumes other people's lives (hence the punning title). When the mother (Gena Rowlands) of the killer recognizes him after he supposedly died twenty years before, the Quebec police bring her in to help them catch the killer when one of his victims is accidently uncovered. An art dealer named Costa(Ethan Hawke) who may have seen the killer agrees to help the police and act as bait to lure the killer out into the open.

Be aware there is a somewhat explicit sex scene in the film. Although a bit predictable "Taking Lives" is still entertaining and the fact that the story takes place somewhere OTHER than the United States adds to that allure. The opening set up is quite impressive and while the movie does have a lot going for it, most viewers as mentioned will figure the twist out well before the mid point of the film.

All three movies as mentioned are on individual discs with the special features for each of the individual releases included (for example the extensive special features from the "Se7vn" release are, as far as I can tell, the same including the multiple commentary tracks and the material ported over from the 2000 Director's Series release on DVD).

"Copycat" has all the commentary track by director Jon Amiel as well as the theatrical trailer for the movie.

"Taking Lives" as the documentary on the making of the film, the gag reel as well as the theatrical trailers.

For the price this is a extremely good set with films that range from five stars to three and since the transfer are all excellent looking and include the special features from the individual releases, I'd recommend this set.

From Warner Bros. we get a collection of serial killer movies, two from the '90's and one from '04, thankfully two of this films are great cause one is just dreadful.

Se7en: Director David Fincher ("Fight Club") gives us a story about a killer whose targeting people that he feels are committing one of the seven deadly sins. Two detectives played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman try to piece together the bits of evidence and inch ever closer to finding out who the killer really is. From the opening frame to the very end this is one magical and great thriller, Freeman really shines here, Kevin Spacey ("The Usual Suspects") plays a great role, Pitt also does well though he would go on to do better roles than this. It's very visual, visceral and fairly unrelenting in how it presents the horror the killer inflicts upon his victims. This is again just magic throughout the whole presentation. **** out of 4 stars.

Copycat: After almost being killed by a killer named Daryll (Harry Connick Jr. "Hope Floats"), a profiler named Helen (Sigourney Weaver, "Alien") is now an agoraphobic, meaning she's confined to the living space of her apartment. She still does her work, helping detectives figure out who and how to capture criminals, but her skills are being put to the test as a copycat killer named Peter (William McNamara) is killing people in the same way Daryll did earlier. Holly Hunter plays a detective who desperately needs Helen's skills to capture Peter before he kills again. Director Jon Amiel ("Entrapment") does a good job with the material provided, it's definitely below "Se7en" in terms of quality, but "Copycat" is a pretty good flick in it's own right and the performances are good for the most part. **1/2 out of 4 stars.

Taking Lives: Here we have a killer who takes on the identity of each of his victims, a profiler named Illeana (Angelina Jolie) is brought by the French Canadian police to assist them in identifying and capturing this killer before he can assume another identity and possibly evade police for good. The whole idea isn't the problem, to me it's the execution and the simple fact it is painfully and I mean painfully obvious who the killer is early on. Unfortunately most of the characters in this flick are just too plain dumb to figure out this obvious fact, though the cast is actually fairly impressive Ethan Hawke ("Training Day"), Kiefer Sutherland (TV's "24"), Oliver Martinez ("Unfaithful"), Gena Rowlands ("The Skeleton Key") and Tcheky Karyo ("Kiss of The Dragon").

How these actors thought this was a good project to be in just eludes me and it stuns me how bad this is with all whose involved. The final sequence is really the icing on the cake as those left alive realize what's happening and who the killer is, it's all just laughable. This is the one lone bad flick in this 3 pack, worth watching to make fun of it. * out of 4 stars.

It's a worthy collection to get especially for "Se7en" and 3 movies for a low price is never a bad thing, especially on blu-ray.

Buy Seven / Copycat / Taking Lives (Triple-Feature) (2012) Now

Love these movies. Great bundle. Seven and Copycat are my favorite out of the 3. I did like them all so 5 solid stars.

Perfect addition to my collection. You get 3 blue-ray disks here. No cramming movies onto one as you see sometimes with other sets or triple features.

Totally worth the money.

Mine came in with slight damage to the plastic case but it was very minor so I decided to keep it since movies or disks were fine.

It was new as described.

Very happy overall and highly recommend this triple feature!

Read Best Reviews of Seven / Copycat / Taking Lives (Triple-Feature) (2012) Here

Picture is good and price was realy good Even thought is used blu ray looks like new im a fan of good thriller and those 3 all the best

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Looney Tunes: Platinum Collection, Vol. 1 (Limited Edition) (2011)

***** the films

***** the discs

This review may seem contradictory, this is a five-star set of cartoons presented in a five-star Blu-ray release, and I have to rate this set on those merits. But there are some things not five-star for those of us who have been collecting the Golden Collections on DVD.

O.K, , you are probably saying "These Looney Tunes Blu-ray titles seem familiar", that is because just about all of them have been released on the DVD Golden, Oscar, & Superstars Collections. Why? Because when they were restored for those Collections they were restored in Hi-Definition 1080p, so Warner had an easy Blu-ray release here with out spending much money for new film transfers.

This means that unlike the "Wow" effect we got when we first saw the Golden Collection DVDs after watching washed out Laserdiscs & VHS tapes, this time we will see the same film transfers with improved restoration in 1080p resolution. I have seen the Blu-ray presentations of "Rabbit Hood" and "I Love to Singa" and they look nice, but you will need a rather large HD-TV to notice any kind of improvement over the Golden Collection DVDs. "I Love to Singa" still looks grainy & has negative dust just like the Golden Collection DVDs.

One BIG improvement is with BABY BOTTLENECK, the original film transfer has undergone further restoration work to reduce the grain seen in the older DVD. There is still grain, but it is a big improvement.

Warner did spend some money to make a few new Hi-Def transfers for titles not previously on DVD:

Disc #1

Lovelorn Leghorn Foghorn Leghorn only available previously on VHS

Disc #2

Hasty Hare Bugs Bunny & Marvin Martian previously available on the Laserdisc "Looney Tunes After Dark"

Hare-way To The Stars Bugs Bunny & Marvin Martian previously available on the Laserdisc "Looney Tunes After Dark"

Bill of Hare Bugs Bunny & Tasmanian Devil previously available on the Laserdisc "Stars of Space Jam"

A Witches Tangled Hare Bugs Bunny & Witch Hazel only available previously on VHS.

Feline Frame-up previously available on the Laserdisc "Assorted Nuts"

Disc #3 (Presented in STANDARD DEFINITION unless noted)

Marvin Martian in the 3rd Dimension (1996) non-anamorphic letterboxed small screen presentation.

Father of the Bird Foghorn Leghorn (1997)

Museum Scream Tweety & Sylvester (2003) High Defenition, anamorphic widescreen

And some Chuck Jones productions:

Hell Bent for Election (1944)

Hitch In time (1955) High defenition

The Door (with Bill Cosby 1968)

It is puzzling, and disappointing that disc #3 is mostly in STANDARD DEFINITION Blu-ray, with noticeable scan lines. It is obviously hobbled together quickly to give this set a third disc. I saw only three Hi-Definition cartoons on disc #3: "A Hitch In Time" (1955), "90 Day Wondering" (1955) and in anamorphic widescreen "Museum Scream" (2003). "Superior Duck" also looks good like it might be in Hi-Definition but it clocks in with the other standard definition cartoons. "Marvin Martian in the 3rd Dimension" (1996) is a real disappointment in standard definition, it is letterboxed and not anamorphic, the picture is really shrunk down. I was also looking forward to seeing "The Dot and The Line" as well as "The Bear That Wasn't" in Hi-definition, but that was not to be here. Maybe if a Chuck Jones MGM Cartoon set comes out in Blu-ray we may see true Di-Definition presentations of those cartoons then.

So if you have all of the DVD Golden Collections, The Oscar Winners & Nominees collection, and the Superstars Collections, you will likely only be buying this for the 6 newly restored cartoons on discs 1 & 2.

I guess a direct re-release of the Golden Collections on Blu-ray would have sold less than a Blu-ray collection featuring 6 new titles not previously on DVD.

Notice that there are only 50 classic cartoons here, the old Golden Collection DVDs had 60 cartoons per set. So it will take more Blu-ray sets to cover the same quantity of cartoons as the old DVD sets.

** If you are trying to decide between the expensive "Ultimate Collector's Edition" and the regular edition, there is really nothing "Ultimate" about the "Ultimate Edition". The Ultimate edition adds a Bugs Bunny shot glass (yes you heard me Bugs Bunny is promoting alcoholic drinking) and a certificate of authenticity (like we are worried about bootleg Blu-rays), a tin with a picture on it and a matted lithograph. I think reproductions of the cartoon lobby cards that appear shrunken in the booklet would have been a better deal.

Save your money & get the basic version, the discs are the same.**

At least something is being released for the animation fans again by Warner Home Video. If you can afford it, lets support this Hi-Def project and keep some new titles coming out.

***UPDATE ABOUT THE DVDS***

The Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Volume 1 release was originally a Blu-ray ONLY release, and this review pertains to the Blu-Ray discs only.

Due to popular request, Warner Home Video later released a standard DVD 2-disc version which did not include the bonus disc #3.

Since each cartoon runs roughly 7 to 8 minutes, that means one disc with 25 cartoons on it runs about 3 hours and 8 minutes which is a maximum for a dual layer DVD before increasing compression artifacting. While I do not have the standard DVDs to tell you if they include the bonus material on the Blu-ray discs #1 & 2, consider that there may not have been room on the discs to include them.

You wouldn't buy or download a CD without knowing what was on it, would you? So why would you buy this DVD collection without knowing its contents?

So first off, its contents. Why Amazon doesn't list this info is beyond me. This is a collection of 50 vintage Warner Brothers cartoons, many of which are classics.

Disc 1

Hare Tonic

Baseball Bugs

Buccaneer Bunny

The Old Grey Hare

Rabbit Hood

8 Ball Bunny

Rabbit of Seville

What's Opera Doc?

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery

A Pest in the House

The Scarlet Pumpernickel

Duck Amuck

Robin Hood Daffy

Baby Bottleneck

Kitty Kornered

Scaredy Cat

Porky Chops

Old Glory

A Tale of Two Kitties

Tweetie Pie

Fast and Furry-ous

Beep, Beep

Lovelorn Leghorn

For Scent-imental Reasons

Speedy Gonzales

Disc 2

One Froggy Evening

Three Little Bops

I Love to Singa

Katnip Kollege

The Dover Boys at Pimento University

Chow Hound

Haredevil Hare

The Hasty Hare

Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century

Hare-Way to the Stars

Mad as a Mars Hare

Devil May Hare

Bedevilled Rabbit

Ducking the Devil

Bill of Hare

Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare

Bewitched Bunny

Broom-Stick Bunny

A Witch's Tangled Hare

A-Haunting We Will Go

Feed the Kitty

Kiss Me Kat

Feline Frame-up

From A to Z-Z-Z-Z

Boyhood Daze

All of your favorite characters are here (Bugs, Marvin, Foghorn, Taz, Wile E. Coyote, Daffy, and so on), and some of the greatest American cartoons ever (Duck Amuck, What's Opera Doc) are here. Of course, when a studio has a library as extensive as Warner Brothers', it seems likely that no single collection is likely to contain all of the classics. Missing from this collection are some unforgettable cartoons like Rabbit Seasoning, Duck! Rabbit, Duck! and A Sheep in the Deep, but all-in all this is an amazing collection of great old cartoons. They're remastered beautifully and are a sight to behold.

If you want your kids to grow up with an appreciation of Chuck Jones and Mel Blanc (that's why I bought this), then you can't do better than this amazing collection.

Buy Looney Tunes: Platinum Collection, Vol. 1 (Limited Edition) (2011) Now

The main draw for me to purchase this set was that it included the complete collection of Marvin the Martian and Taz cartoons, as I already have the 6 Golden Collections and all the Superstars discs. Well after getting it and watching some of the cartoons my mind was blown as to how well the cartoons look on a 1080p set. The colors pop as if they were produced just yesterday. Although in some of the cartoons scratches and dust are more noticeable (one has to remember that these cartoons were made around 60-70 years ago), but it does not detract from the overall experience.

Also included in the collector's set is a certificate of authenticity,a framed lithograph titled "The Looney Tunes March," a tin sign that features Bugs and Daffy, and of all things a Bugs Bunny shot glass. According to the box, only 36,000 of these sets were produced, so for die-hard Looney Tunes collectors this might be right up your alley!

Disc 1 contains a random assortment of goodies from Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and other Looney Tunes stars.

Disc 2 contains the complete Marvin the Martian, the complete Taz the Tasmanian Devil, and the complete Witch Hazel, as well as complete collections for other stars. This disc also features one-hit wonders such as I Love to Singa, The Three Little Bops, and One Froggy Evening.

Disc 3 contains films revolving around one of the greatest animation directors of all time Chuck Jones, and features some of his greatest non-Looney Tunes shorts such as: The Dot and the Line and other rare Chuck Jones oddities. Also included on this disc is 9 bonus cartoons such as: Spaced-Out Bunny, Superior Duck, and From Hare to Eternity.

If you are on the fence about purchasing this, pick this set up now! You will not regret it.

Read Best Reviews of Looney Tunes: Platinum Collection, Vol. 1 (Limited Edition) (2011) Here

I own, and treasure, The Looney Tunes Golden Collection, as imperfect as it is, and I was extremely disappointed to see THAT series so abruptly and unceremoniously terminated after only 6 volumes as if it were being managed by a child who suddenly and capriciously became bored with it.

In my opinion, that was a slap in the face to those of us who had invested in volumes 1 through 6.

So, you'll understand if I have to look askance at the PLATINUM collection because so many of these titles were previously released in The Golden Collection.

For those who may be wondering (and I apologize if someone has already done this exercise) here, in alphabetical order, are the 6 cartoons on this Platinum Volume that I did NOT see among the cartoons on the 6 Volumes of The Looney Tunes Golden Collection:

BEDEVILED RABBIT

BILL OF HARE

DUCKING THE DEVIL

DR. DEVIL AND MR. HARE

FROM A TO Z-Z-Z-Z

A WITCHES TANGLED HARE

I would love to add the above 6 to my collection, but not at the cost of adding 19 duplicate cartoons.

It's bad enough that excellent offerings such as CAPTAIN HAREBLOWER and

RACKETEER RABBIT (a personal favorite) were given short shrift and wound up tucked away as extras on other disks (CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER and PUBLIC ENEMIES: THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE GANGSTER FILM, respectively).

I am VERY disappointed to see what I contend is the continued MIS-handling of this franchise and I won't be rushing out to add the PLATINUMS to my animation library anytime soon.

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This set is a revelation! People who think the DVD is "good enough" are nuts.

I just watched all the Clampetts and the early Jones cartoons on my ten foot screen and every single one had my jaw on the floor. They're beautiful. The overall saturation level is too high and the volume of the cartoons is a bit low, but I turned down the color and turned up the sound and they were perfect... No, beyond perfect. I've seen these cartoons projected theatrically quite a few times, but the colors weren't anywhere as well balanced in theatrical prints as they are here. It isn't like the Disney films where everything is goosed up and shifted to primary colors. These transfers have very sophisticated color schemes with muted colors AND vivid ones. Great Piggy Bank Robbery and especially Kitty Cornered had some of the most amazing color I've ever seen. The lines were sharp, you can see textures and brushstrokes on the backgrounds and every frame is crystal clear with no compression or DVNR artifacting. I've been quite critical of the transfer quality of the Looney Tunes on DVD, but this time, WB got it right.

Don't believe me? Check out this photo I shot off my screen using my iphone...If you think your DVDs look good, pop in One Froggy Evening and skip to the scene where the crowd of people is exiting crossing the scene about 3/4 of the way through the cartoon. Still frame on that crowd. On DVD, it's a macroblocked mess of colored boxes. On bluray, it's pristine. The color balances, digital noise reduction and frame sharpness are MUCH worse on the DVDs. This set is a thousand times better. When I put in the third disk with the standard def documentaries with the old prints, it was like going back to the stone age. They could have totally eliminated the supplements and just given me more cartoons in HD. I want more of these sets.

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Rope (1948)

Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, the first film that the Master of Suspense filmed in Technicolor, has languished in largely undeserved mediocrty since its release in 1948. The film didn't do well theatrically in the US, and subsequent versions (VHS) were made from terrible-quality originals. Finally, Universal has seen fit to release on DVD a marvelously restored version of a truly fine film.

Rope, based on a play of the same name, which was in turn based on a real murder case in 1924, opens with two friends played by John Dall and Farley Granger strangling a classmate with a length of rope. The body is then stuffed in a trunk that the two use as a buffet table during an upcoming dinner party a party partially in their murdered friend's honor.

As the movie progresses, the friends' professor played exceedingly well by James Stewart in one of his best-acted roles eventually begins to suspect the crime. As the two students engage him in a discussion about Nietzschian philosophy, and specifically philosophy of the ubermensch (overman or superman), Stewart's character puts two and two together. The tension is so tight you hold your breath for the last half-hour, wondering if Stewart knows, and if he does, what he's going to do about it and, more importantly, if he's in danger, too.

Much has been made of the technical side of the film Hitch wanted it as close to a stage play as possible, and the entire movie has only nine (well-hidden) breaks as well as the homosexual overtones, but the real genius in Rope comes from the acting and direction. As opposed to today's "roller-coaster ride" action movies, Rope builds slowly, layering tension upon tension until the viewer just can't wait anymore to find out what happens. Anyone can toy with an audience, using special effects, explosions, and fast cars to create action, but true suspense that hourglass feeling of grains of sand building a mountain takes talent, and Rope readily uses that effect, thanks largely to the preformances of the three main characters.

In addition, Stewart's ultimate conclusions on Nietzschian philosophy offer a refreshing step away from those who would indict it solely on the basis of notions (and books) like the Will to Power people who can see no further than the two murderers. Like Hitler and Dall and Granger's characters, some people cannot see past these passages, often taken out of context from the rest of Nietzsche's thought. Thankfully, Arthur Laurentis' screenplay ultimately deals with these ideas in a mature manner and shows the horrifying effects of the hubris so many undergraduate-level students get when they don't bother to read and conside Nietzsche in context.

Universal's DVD is excellent the picture and sound quality are top-notch, especially considering it's been more than 50 years since Rope was filmed. The full-frame presentation isn't a problem, since widescreen movies didn't exist at the time. The half-hour long featurette offers some interesting insights and interviews with a couple members of the cast and crew, and isn't your usual "so-and-so was great" pieces. Hume Cronyn offers some genuine and well-founded criticisms of both Hitch and the finished product. Also included is Rope's unique theatrical trailer, a kind of "mini-short" featuring the soon-to-be-murdered lad discussing a marriage proposal with his girlfriend in Central Park, in surprisingly decent quality considering the film's age.

If you are a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, or just like great acting and pianowire-tight tension, then you can't go wrong with Rope.

Based on an actual murder case and directed by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock, Rope tells the story of two very close, well to do roommates Phillip and Brandon who strangle David, an old school chum, just for kicks. To further increase the exhilaration of their dastardly deed, the duo deem it delicious to desecrate the dead by placing his body into a chest and serving their dinner party guests a banquet on its decorated top. The guests of honor at this most perverse soirée include their former prep school professor Rupert Cadell (James Stewart), the murder victim's parents, his fiancé, and her former boyfriend. This tapestry provides tension for Phillip as he is nervous about being caught and questions abound as to David's whereabouts. Interestingly, Brandon feels smug even justified as he views the act of murder to be relegated to a select superior few.

Rope explores Nietzsche's concept of the "übermensch" or "superman" in which society's people are divided into two groups. Those who believe in the concepts of right and wrong and behave accordingly are deemed inferior beings and therefore unnecessary. While those who are enlightened enough to realize that one is free to act according to their own volition because there are no such primitive or external constraints on behavior are deemed superior. In this worldview, homicide is justifiable because the intellectually superior are actually bettering society by eliminating the inferior and their drain on its resources. The story comes to a head when Professor Cadell who taught Phillip and Brandon these nihilistic concepts begins to suspect that they practiced what he preached by killing David.

Rope was shot with eight; 10-minute reels to give the illusion of one seamless, continuous take. This forces the viewer to pay attention to every word and provides an eerie feeling that he/she is a witness to the murder and is a guest at the dinner party. What also drives the film is its witty if not macabre dialogue that is punctuated with puns, innuendoes and double entendre. It is also interesting to watch the professor engage Phillip and Brandon in the proverbial game of cat and mouse. Likewise, the characters are richly developed and deep.

Rope is Hitchcock's most underrated and unappreciated film. Which is a shame because I believe Rope poses some very provocative questions. Is there sanctity to human life? Are all human beings equal? Is murder ever justifiable? Is there right and wrong? Is moral absolutism an outmoded idea in which only the weak and dumb subscribe? Is a teacher responsible for his/her students' actions? Ultimately, the viewer must decide.

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ROPE is a very experimental-and highly underrated-Hitchcock film. The film (based on the play ROPE'S END and, although loosely, the Leopold-Loeb murder) begins when two young men (John Dall and Farley Granger) murder a college student for fun and because he is a "lesser" man. As a celebration they throw a party inviting the victim's parents, his girlfriend, her ex-boyfriend who Dall would like to put her with, and their old college teacher (James Stewart). ROPE is a highly entertaining and suspenseful film. The experimental angle comes as the film was shot entirely in eight ten-minute takes, (or was that ten eight-minute takes?) giving the impression that it was all one shot. The casting is great, with Dall perfect as the psychotic murderer, Sir Cedric Hardwicke memorable as the victim's father, and Stewart...well, you can't say too many good things about him, though it takes him a while to appear. While not as good as some of Hitchcock's earlier (THE 39 STEPS, REBECCA) or later (VERTIGO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST) masterpieces, ROPE is very well made film, perfect for fans of Hitchcock, Stewart, or suspense films in general.

ROPE's final rating: 9 out of 10

Read Best Reviews of Rope (1948) Here

The first film that Hitchcock released through his Transatlantic Pictures company, Rope is an underappreciate minor classic. It's flawed to be sure but this unusual experiment was shot in long takes an unusual approach for Hitchcock. The story was inspired by the Leopold and Loeb murder case and their obsession with the superman theories of Nietzsche.

Philip (Farley Granger)and Brandon (John Dall)have committed the murder of an old classmate for the thrill of it. They invite over mutual friends, the father and mother of the victim and their old prep school master Rupert (Jimmy Stewart)who first introduced them to Nietzche's theories. They drape a table cloth over the trunk where the dead body rests.

Written by Arthur Laurents and Hume Cronyn from the play Rope's End by Patrick Hamilton, Rope allows Hitchcock to indulge in a number of unusual cinematic experiments. It was Hitchcock's first movie to be shot in color and the entire 80 minute film is shot on one set with the skyline gradually changing. If Hitchcock had gotten his ideal cast the film might have been quite different; originally Hitchcock wanted Carey Grant for the role Stewart player and Montgomery Clift as Brandon.

The transfer is good although there is some edge enhancement and some analog and compression artifacts (although they aren't a huge problem). The vivid 3 strip Technicolor process comes to life on this DVD. The colors are pretty close to the version I saw screened. I should note, though, that I originally saw Rope at the UCLA Theater Arts Archive in black and white (a color copy wasn't available) on a Movieola and it was a nitrate print so I'm comparing it to versions that were released much later than the original.

While Rope isn't a perfect Hitchcock excursion, it's an enjoyable and admirable one that features a number of interesting visuals, strong performances and an interesting thought provoking story. The extras on this edition are quite nice as well including a feaurette entitled Rope Unleased, production photos and notes. Sadly, no extensive outtakes exist for Rope and everything that was written was, for the most part, shot.

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"Rope" debuted in theaters in August of 1948, and represented the first movie shot in COLOR by Director Alfred Hitchcock.

James Stewart, Farley Granger, and John Dall are the stars here, with Stewart (as always) giving a flawless, effortless-looking performance. I really liked all the character portrayals in this film. Murderers Granger and Dall exhibit just the right mix of "Will we get caught?" angst and the cockiness and sheer gall of those that murder simply for the sport of it.

Although not one of the "higher profile" Alfred Hitchcock entries, I think "Rope" is, in fact, one of his better films. It's certainly unique, style-wise, being filmed in ten-minute, continuous takes, giving it a "seamless" uninterrupted look.

There has been much talk about the supposed "homosexual overtones" between the two murderers in "Rope". Now while I know this to be the director's intention, if I hadn't read about it after seeing the movie, I would never have thought those two male characters were supposed to be homosexual. In my view, *nothing* that is said or done in the film particularly points to this conclusion. I suppose it's designed to be there, but "just beneath the surface". But, I looked at the two killers as merely being close friends. I don't really know why the sexual orientation subject even has to enter into it. And, really, it *doesn't*.

"Rope" is unique in another fashion as well -Hitchcock's "cameo". Unique because we get not one, but TWO, "Hitch" cameos in this picture. Right after the opening credits, we see Alfred walking on the sidewalk below. With cameo appearance #2 (which was originally intended to be his lone cameo) coming 55 minutes into the fairly-short 80-minute film. This second cameo is not of Hitchcock "in the flesh". Instead, the director inserted the image of a flashing neon sign outside one of the windows of the apartment. This sign depicts the famous Hitchcock "profile". A very inventive cameo indeed (rivaling his "newspaper" appearance in "Lifeboat" for the most creative, IMO).

As with a much-later Hitchcock picture, "The Birds", "Rope" has no music score to aid the story and move it along (save the opening theme music and the piano-playing of Farley Granger's character). An entire movie void of music is something that I don't imagine too many directors could pull off. But Hitchcock, in "Rope" and "The Birds" (which was fifteen years later), did it quite successfully.

This Universal single-disc DVD offers up a fine-looking and very clear Full Frame picture (1.33:1 aspect ratio). Colors do look a tad dated, though. But, overall, "Rope" looks excellent here! The soundtrack on the disc is in Mono (Dolby Digital 2.0).

The disc's Menu system is simplistic and easy to use (which is OK by me). When the Main Menu is on screen, the theme from Hitch's TV series, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", plays. This is nice, but I wonder why they didn't use the "Rope" opening theme music for the Menu?

Although not officially labelled as one of Universal's "Collector's Editions", this "Rope" DVD could very well have been so designated. This disc has very nearly as many Special Features as the other Hitchcock "Collector's" packages. Here's a gander at the "Rope" bonus supplements .................

>> A 32-minute documentary, "Rope Unleashed", covering the making of this motion picture. Included here is an interview with actor/writer Hume Cronyn, who collaborated on the "Rope" screenplay. Sadly, not too very long after filming the interview for this DVD, Mr. Cronyn passed away, in June 2003. Many backstage pictures are mixed in with the interview segments, including some eye-opening pics of the color camera equipment of the era. Color cameras during those days were more than "bulky" -those babies were humongous! And via some still photos we can see just how cumbersome those cameras were, circa 1948.

>> The Original Theatrical Trailer for "Rope". -I absolutely love this unique trailer. It really (in a way) serves as a "deleted scene" from the movie. And shows us the film's murder victim ("David Kentley") before he falls prey to his killers' rope. The trailer has David (played by Dick Hogan) and his fiancee, Janet (Joan Chandler), sitting on a park bench, talking about their upcoming engagement. It's just a short scene, but sets up some of the plot points very nicely in just a few seconds. After David kisses his betrothed and leaves the park, this becomes more of a "conventional" trailer, with star Jimmy Stewart appearing on camera to narrate. Video quality for this color trailer is a bit splotchy and blurry in places, but still certainly in watchable condition. I think the introduction of the murder victim in this "added" scene was a very clever idea by the filmmakers. Trailer length = 2:25.

>> A very nice Photo Gallery (which has many behind-the-camera images).

>> Some text screens with film notes and cast bios. (There's a kind of funny little mistake in the DVD's bio of John Dall. Dall's character is referred to as "Shaw Brandon" on the text screen, instead of the correct name, "Brandon Shaw".)

Alfred Hitchcock directed more than 50 films -with "Rope", his first venture into the world of "Technicolor", resting among my personal "Top 10 Hitch Flicks". This Universal Home Video DVD comes recommended by this Hitchcock enthusiast.

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