Operation Condor (2012)

How could they?! This American re-relase (complete with snazzy titles) has been cut to ribbons in a vain attempt to keep it serious! How dare they!! slapstick humour IS jackie chan. Whole scenes are actually removed from the film in order to appeal to po-faced Steven segal fans! Having seen the original version on TV, i rushed out to buy it, then being disappointed by the edited version. Its ironic that the humour is censored, rather than the violence.

Still, despite these drawbacks, Its one of Jackie's finest. Big budget (without ruining it like rush hour 2!), very funny, and highly original the fight in the wind tunnel is both spectacular and hilarious at the same time!.

Its a bit of a downer that its been edited to tone down the humour, but its still a superb Chan flick.

Jackie Chan is a physical genius and this,together with a sense of comedy and an air of winning self-deprecation,help set his movies apart from those of other action stars such as the wooden Van Damme and the pompous dirigible Seagal.The physical skills are well in evidence here as are the comedy traits -although personally I find them less well showcased this time around

Operation Condor is clearly an expensive movie and makes widespread use of well photographed North African and European locations ,in its tale of Chan and some female colleagues hunting abandoned Nazi gold in the face of opposition from Arab terrorists and one of the gold's former owners.

There are draggy bits in the middle when the story gets bogged down in broad comedic interludes ,and the dubbing throughout is execrable.All is forgiven when it comes to the climax -an elongated fight scene in a wind tunnel that has flair ,pace and panache.

The end credits show the injury sustained by Chan in making the movie when a stunt went wrong-proof that here is an action star who does not stint on placing himself on the line .Four stars for Chan -and marked down only for the dubbing and the misfiring comedy scenes which simply dont travel well to Occidental audiences

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I bought this DVD knowing it would be cut like most US films of Jackie's. The reason I bought it is because Jackie dubs his own voice I just love his voice, whether he is speaking Cantonese, Mandarin or English! It just adds so much more to the enjoyment of his movies I feel. And there are cut scenes the most obvious a very funny scene in the desert with Jackie trying to give his female off-siders water without their bumbling Arab captors knowing! Notwithstanding all this, this film is one of Jackie's best with amazing stunts and the fight scene in the wind tunnel has to be seen to be believed. A must see, whether it is this version or the original uncut Cantonese with English S/T.

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This dvd is worth the money! I'm Italian and there are a few Jackie's movies translated into my language, luckily there are the english versions... but I also like to watch them in chinese with eng subtitles...

This is a really good movie, with a bit of Indiana Jones, a bit of James Bond and Jackie's funny humor. The background is also interesting and whimsical: the desert, the nazi's base... ok, the story is not so original, but the situations that came out with Jackie and the 3 girls are funny.

And the wind tunnel scene (though it is a fake... they are not flying, there are wires to pull them around...) is GREAT!!!

A challenging movie, that gave some problems during the filming, sand was everywhere and Jackie really got hurt folling from the hanging chain in the nazi's base and dislocated his sternum...

And hey, you can watch this film just because Jackie is always the n. 1

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Las películas de Jakie Chan, aunque no son muy biuenas, valen la pena, nada más por ver todo lo que hace. Los años no le afectan.

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Rolling Thunder (1977)

I've loved this film since first seeing it in 1977 when its ultraviolent ending made viewers and critics cringe with shock and horror. Violence plays a significant thematic and on-screen role in this flick about war, horror, remembrance and revenge.

Briefly submitted, William Devane and young Tommy Lee Jones (before he hit stardom) are returning Vietnam war prisoners of war. Devane, an officer in the Air Corps, had spent time in the famous Hanoi Hilton prison and has occasional flashbacks of his torture.

Returning war hero Devane -whose wife took up with another guy during his lengthy absnece, adding real life drama and a soap operatic agenda to the movie -receives a generous local gift during ceremonies in his Texas hometown. Later on, a bunch of good old boys come to rob him of the gift. They torture him and off his family in the process.

The remaining 70 or so minutes of the film detail Devane's search for the killers and his revenge. He takes up with a lonely woman during the search while teaching himself to use a shotgun with his new mechanical hand (he lost the real one in the torture-robbery-murder back home.)

When he finds the killers, he looks up Jones, who is about to have dinner at home with his wife, dad and some other family members. What comes next is one of the greatest lines in all of macho male cinema:

"I've located the men that killed my family," Devane says. "They're in a whorehouse down in (Mexico)."

"I'll just get my gear," Jones retorts.

There's not much left to the flick after that except a few minutes of outright mayhem that was probably among the best of its type in 1977. I recall another Vietnam-murder-revenge film of the era, "The Exterminator", which did this one better; but not many movies provided the kind of high class mayhem that goes on at the end of this movie.

"Rolling Thunder" was, of course, the military code name for the U.S. bombing program that helped kill up to 1 million Vietnamese during our undeclared war with that nation circa 1962-75. The signature has both metaphoric and visual meaning for this movie, which is about a raid of another type that results in a lot of casualties.

Anyone that likes either of the main actors, high class violence, or revenge films will enjoy this movie, that is apparently not available on DVD. I've seen it recently on digital cable so I assume it will make an appeareance on DVD soon if it's not there already.

Warner Bros. does a good job with their on demand DVDs and I was hoping for the same level of quality from MGM. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the "Rolling Thunder" disc. MGM did a sloppy job when they prepared this movie for DVD. This is most apparent in the interior (low light) scenes when flickering horizontal lines follow the actors as they move. This is distracting and certainly not what you would expect from a home video released by a major studio. Also, the DVD cover art looks like it was Xeroxed at Kinko's. I hope that someday Criterion or Blue Underground will give this movie a proper DVD/Blu-ray release.

Bottom line: "Rolling Thunder" is a great movie, but this DVD is not worth $17.99.

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looking back at this movie now is like going back in time for us who lived in the 70's. Rolling Thunder is a bleak movie that was made in the mood of the time and looks even bleaker now. Thunder is a no nonsense movie with no humor. It has sadness, rage against things that are beyond human control, and no promises of a bighter future. Devane never was an action type actor. A very good actor but not one who looked like an action star. However for those you who are new to the 70's movies or were not born then, that is the point the director was trying to make. Devane was every GI who came back fron Nam to a "hero's welcome." The people cheered for a minute then stopped and left you alone. People didn't understand what the war did to person. The movie shows in muted colors that no one comes home the same as they were as they left. It is sad that this movie,in hind sight, shows how love ones stopped loving and ran from the returning GIs. This is the saddest part of the movie, especially having know many who had this happen to them. The hand in the sink scene has not lost any of its grumsome violent effect on the viewer. You don't see it but you feel it. If you can detach yourself from the movie, watch Devane's change back to warrior as he prepares to go to "battle." It is cold and chilling but not flashy. I can not say enough about Tommy Lee Jones in this small part in this movie. He has the very same problem that Devane's character has and has felt what Devane has felt, yet his charcter is not a copy of Devane. The viewer is treated to two actors working together as one to create a mood and to honestly gilve dignity to two characters that could have been protrayed as psychos. That is the strongest part about this movie, the characters have honor, dignity, and are show in an honest light. They are not pure nor are they flawless. The viewer cares about them but doesn't want to be them. The action scene in the Mexico is was brutal when I first saw it back then, now is still seems realistic and brutal today. There are very few low tech special effects. The director does not want you to cheer for the two GIs, no this is not a glory moment nor a "redemtion moment." This is just two men doing what they know because they don't know how to do anything else. There is no happy ending, no getting the girl, no clearing away old ghost, chance of normal future, no nothing but livng the next day and not knowing what will happen next.

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I am a huge movie buff and if you are looking for a raw, powerful, gritty movie experience, definitely check out this movie, which remains one of my all-time top three. I personally like this film better than "Taxi Driver", but if you liked "Taxi Driver" then you will definitely like this film, because it was written by the same guy and the themes are similar. I was blown away not only by the performances (particularly Tommy Lee Jones in a startlingly forceful role), but by the amazing amount of action. There is definitely more violence and action than there is in "Driver" and that's why I like it. Some people criticize the violence, but with the powerful storyline, disturbing violence is almost necessary. Definitely see this film. Along with "Driver" this film will awaken you to the horrors of the Vietnam War.

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Hands down one the most underated movies ever made. I had it on videotape for sometime and I had freinds begging me to sell it to them but there was no price that I would sell it. Two years ago it vanished from my apartment. Now I've been waiting and waiting for it to come out on dvd. But still no word of a release. Screw.

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Kagemusha: The (The Criterion Collection) (1980)

Wow, what a movie experience! "Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior)" is my favorite film from direct Akira Kurosawa, which is saying one heck of a lot when one considers "Rashomon", "Seven Samurai", and "Ran". I sat riveted to the television screen during the entire presentation. It is a story of a petty thief who, because he looks very much like the great Warlord Shingen, is given the chance to redeem himself and play the great Warlord's double. The heart of the film is the inner change and new found strength that progresses through the thief as he learns to become the Warlord. Awesome in its imagery, "Kagemusha" will mesmerize you and move you. Between 1 and 10, this powerful Kurosawa classic gets a 10. With his passing, along with Stanley Kubrick, the world has lost two great treasures.

KAGEMUSHA is the great 1980 drama involving a clan of 16th-Century Japanese warlords who want to deceive their enemies by having a common thief impersonate their murdered leader. This is a thought-provoking film about reality and illusion, as well as a visually inviting work filled with many striking scenes and compositions that Kurosawa films are known for. A memorable 6-minute opening shot of three identical-looking men, an elaborate dream sequence, and a harrowing montage of the aftermath of the final battle are among some of Kurosawa's finest moments in his long film career. Lead actor Tatsuya Nakadai was only in his 40s when he made KAGEMUSHA, playing a much older man and effectively conveying the guile and conflicted feelings of the imposter. Nakadai would also play the lead role in Kurosawa's next film, RAN, 5 years later, again unrecognizably playing a much older man.

Criterion has released the definitive video edition for KAGEMUSHA: a Region-1, 2-disc DVD of the uncut, 180-minute version of film. The anamorphic widescreen video quality is generally very good, except for some occasional graininess. The original Japanese audio is in Dolby Digital 4.0 surround (3 front, and 1 mono rear channels), although surround effects are infrequently used.

The best supplement on the disc is Stephen Prince's full-length audio commentary, which, due to the film's length, is able to elaborate on many topics in great details. Much of Prince's narration (I would say half of it) is more on the historical background of the film's period than the filmmaking and art of the film. He compares certain plot details against historical facts to show how Kurosawa uses his artistic license to convey his own ideas. Regarding the film itself, he emphasizes that this is an atypical Kurosawa film in that its hero tries to conform to the prevailing social order, unlike the nonconformist rebels and outcasts in past films such as SEVEN SAMURAI or YOJIMBO. On the film's artistry, he observantly points out that in a film about illusions, many of the key events in the plot are aptly NOT shown on screen. He also provides a great analysis on Kurosawa's most elaborate dream sequence.

Prince also does a good job of pointing out the differences between the shortened, 162-min international version and this 180-min uncut version. The longer version does not have "20 minutes of footage involving Kenshin Uesugi", as misreported at IMDB. The added scenes are, in fact, merely short, trimmed scenes and shots that are sprinkled all over the film. They add to the overall continuity, without altering anything in the main plot line. A majority of the added scenes are just too trivial to mention or to even notice. The few noteworthy ones include a much longer montage of the aftermath of the final battle, and a wholly added scene where the fake Shingen is being examined by the Jesuit priest physician -this scene also has the great Takashi Shimura's only appearance in the film, seen for the first time on this DVD by viewers outside of Japan.

For Kurosawa fans, the second best feature on the disc is perhaps the collection of impressionistic paintings by Kurosawa that were later used by him as storyboards for the film. In a 41-minute segment called "Image: Kurosawa's Continuity", hundreds of such paintings are shown, accompanied by sound clips from the films. In a still gallery section called "A Vision Realized", there are about 20 of the paintings placed side by side with still photos from the film. Many of these same paintings are also reprinted on the 45-page booklet that comes with this DVD.

The booklet also include 3 wonderful essays. As is usually the case, Criterion took the effort of including different writings that don't duplicate one another. One essay deals with the film itself, its art and its history. Another one is a Sight-and-Sound interview with Kurosawa. The third one covers Kurosawa himself biographically.

The disc also comes with a well-made 41-minute making-of documentary that is comprised of mostly interviews, stills, and clips from KAGEMUSHA. It's part of a 2003 series called "Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create" (other episodes of this series are available on Criterion DVDs of IKIRU, THE LOWER DEPTHS, and STRAY DOG). In Japanese with optional English subtitles, it has interview segments of the cast and crew, including Kurosawa, Nakadai, Kota Yui (the child actor, who is now grown up), and others. They recount the challenges they faced, the artistic and technical choices they made, and a few amusing anecdotes.

Also included are trailers, a few whiskey commercials Kurosawa made on the set of KAGEMUSHA (other than the monetary reasons for which they were made, there is nothing special about these commercials), and a 20-minute interview segment with George Lucas and Francis Coppola, who praise Kurosawa's genius and lament that the film business often doesn't accommodate non-commercial films, even those by great directors.

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William Goldman, and American screenwriter, admonished aspiring screenwriters to begin scenes as close to end as possible. This is the sort of pacing that audiences--American audiences, at least--are accustomed to. Akira Kurosawa's "Kagemusha" is quite a different sort of movie than would ever be produced by the American or even the European mainstream movie industry.. Its scenes are long and talky, with periods of silence, and still cameras. The scenery, make-up, and mannerisms of the actors are exaggerated and often melodramatic, like you would find in formal Japanese cinema. Anyone seeing this movie expecting a medieval action flick along the lines of, say, "Exalibur," is very likely to be disappointed.

Which would be a shame. This is a magnificent movie. The photography and set design alone are breathtaking. This is more a historical piece than a character study--the characters remain, for the most part, two-dimensional. The focus remains tightly on the strategies and deceptions involved in keeping together the Shingen Takeda clan when their leader has died.

Scenes are often long and patiently filmed. In one quietly dramatic scene, we see two lines of cavalry come galloping over an incline from a great distance. The thunder of the racing horses builds, and the lines converge before us. In this single shot, not much else happens, but the composition and sound create a powerful effect. This movie is filled with subtle, magnificent moments like this.

The battle scenes--well, no one can beat Kurosawa here. The final scene depicts devestation and defeat with surprisingly little gore, yet is no less powerful (and, arguably, more) than, say, the graphically violent scenes in "Saving Private Ryan."

This is a must-see for any movie buff.

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It is about time to get this film's definitive version.

I am Amazon user in Japan and already own the original LD release and huge, expensive DVD boxes(cost me about $1,0000.....), and I can assure you that this Criterion version will be "THE BEST" one.

While Japanese version was created from same new Hi-Definition transfer, all features, three-hour movie and 45minits documentary, are bundled in dual-layered disc, which is too much to take in one, and the sound bit rate is 338kbps instead of 448kbps.

I expect, likewise "Red Beard","Hidden fortress" and "Ikiru", one disc will be devoted to the feature presentation and the extra to the other disc on Criterion version so that the quality can be maximized, and can be better than original Japanese release.

Still, among the Japanese original box set, I can say that the quality of "Sansiro Sugata" and two-disc set of "Seven Samurai" are great. I can't wait to see what the folks at Criterion will do to the rest of Kurosawa film releases.

P.S

For the first time, in documantary, Mr.Nakadai talks about taking over the title role from great Shintaro Katsu(Zatoich)who was originaly cast for Shingen and Kagemusha. Simply amazing.

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Now this is CINEMA!

The Criterion Collection DVD is filled with extras, from original Japanese documentaries and interviews of the departed Kurosawa (with English subtitles, if needed) and a booklet containing scene sketches

by the Master himself, which help you to understand why his movies are so poetic and his photography so masterful.

The movie is presented uncut and in its full splendor. The sound is just a conventional Stereo, which is probably the original soundtrack.

Pity, because if there had been a Surround division of the channels, some very spectacular battle scenes would have been more involving.

But perhaps, Akira Kurosawa wanted precisely that, to avoid the viewer to be distracted by the fluff, and rather concentrate on the story he is trying to tell.

Also known in the Western hemisphere as "The Shadow Warrior", this is truly an Epic picture with a very beautiful and touching storyline.

This picture is the true and natural tie to other Kurosawa movies like "Seven Samurai", "Yojimbo", "Sanjuro" and "The Hidden Fortress".

Unlike "Throne of Blood" (adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth) and "Ran" (adaptation of King Lear), both also masterpieces, "Kagemusha" is an original Japanese story and gives a thorough insight of Japan in the 17th Century.

I always tought that Criterion was just out to steal our hard-earned money just for its name, but after having now bought Akira Kurosawa's "Ran", the present "Kagemusha", as well as Luchino Visconti's "The Leopard", I will stick to Criterion like CA Glue.

Although pricey, it is through and through, money totally well-spent, for the quality in DVD rendition (very clean and sharp transfers), very acceptable sound, although some more work on this would be nicer, especially with more recent movies.

Criterion has really proven that quality has its own price and believe me, I have never seen "Kagemusha" and "Ran" the way I have watched them on my flatscreen LCD HD TV.

Going to the movies nowadays, with a technology like High Definition TVs, has totally become obsolete.

DVDs, when properly treated and produced can knock out any movie theater in the world.

Thank you Criterion for the work of love you put in remastering and transferring such classics on DVD, not to mention the tons of extras you include with them.

Highly recommended and well worth its price.

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Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy + UltraViolet and Ra

Sequels generally have a tendency to be half as good as the original, but in this case Madagascar 3 has a refreshingly new look, same level of energy and humor with its cast of characters, and a vibrant backdrop of a circus.

The cast of characters Marty, Alex, Gloria, and and Melman decide to leave Africa and go back to New York, but need the penguins help to fly back, the penguins are as hilarious as they have been. With the penguins in Monte Carlo, there begins their adventure. They run into the devious Captain Chantal Dubois is the head of animal control in Europe who is called for help. She is a little too serious about her job and wants to mount the heads of the animals, particularly Alex the lion's, on her wall as trophies. She brings delightful humor with her ways! In a way she reminded me of the "Bad Kitty" eastern European lady from NY in part 2. The scenes with her are very funny. The lemur king Julian falls in love with the bear at the circus and he is entertaining as always, the very talented Sacha Baron Cohen has done a remarkable job with this character.

The animals join a circus in an attempt to get away from Dubois. A number of new characters are introduced here who are part of the circus. This is where the movie picks up pace and bursts with color, and makes it a joy watching in 3D. This has to be one of the best 3D treats our family has seen this year across Ice Age, Brave, and The Lorax. The overall plot of the film is not as strong or content-rich as the first one, but the vivid colors and brilliant scenes make this as much a treat to watch as the previous two films.

Madagascar 3 is fun for the entire family, kids and adults alike. Anxiously waiting to watch the DVD so that we can share the laughs again.

I'm the dad reviewing here: Super fun, ridiculous movie. Story line was so-so. That's okay though. Why? Because the characters both old and new were so endearing and well-developed that it doesn't really matter. No kid says "I love the continuity in that subplot about the relationship between King Julien and the bear." No. It's more like "It was funny. Polka-dot Polka-dot Polka-dot Afro!" and it was way funnier than I expected for installment 3. The subreferences to The Matrix, Bond films, and Cirque de Soleil, and zillions of other little things, I was in stitches several times. Actually my kids looked at me sideways wondering what the heck. In addition, the incredible fine details make it worth getting HD, or Bluray. I know I'm gushing, but I don't care -this series has given me so many good laughs they deserve it. Basset hound!

Update 10/17/2012-I watched it again, on my little Kindle screen, to recover from an episode of Walking Dead. It did the trick, but was so funny I ended up watching the whole thing. The penguins are still the most witty.

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Just an FYI the insert on the DVD asks you to go to a Paramount web site, where you will asked for your code, email address, DOB, etc. Ignore it they just want to add you to their database. Just launch iTunes, click "Redeem", enter the code on the insert the movie will download to your iTunes library.

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It is entertaining, funny, and very addictive. When the move is over, you might want to run away with a circus yourself. Our old friends Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melvin make a great movie. Chimpanzee and penguins make it a hilarious one. However, the new characters of this movie make it a movie complete. It is no longer just about coming back to New York for the escapees this movie puts the word "family" in prospective and makes our old friends New-Yorkers re-evaluate their lifetime priorities.

We initially went to see Madagascar 3 in a theater when it was first released. Both of my kids, 3 and 5-year-old were captivated by the movie. Getting an advanced review copy was a pretty great treat too. This is the kind of show I don't mind to see over and over. Watching it for the second time was as exciting as it was few months ago at the theater. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (Music From The Motion Picture)

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I think that this was simply just ok. It had some funny parts but not enough to make me want to recommend it.

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The Yule Log - Christmas by the Fireplace

The Yule Log: Christmas By The Fireplace is perfect for the holidays or whenever! The soundtrack offers 3 options: Christmas music and fire crackling, music only, or fire crackling only.

The fireplace footage is so realistic and it seems as though the fire flames are dancing along with the beat of the music. The music soundtrack is mostly instrumental with a few songs with lyrics (Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer by Ray Charles, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, etc.). The Christmas songs featured offer a well-rounded soundtrack mixed with vocals, piano, jazz, and orchestra. Top notch!

The Soundtrack Includes:

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

Away In A Manger

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Mary Had A Baby

Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring

O Holy Night

The First Noel

O Come All Ye Faithful

Ave Maria

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Medley)

Silent Night

March From "The Nutcracker"

Angels We Have Heard On High

Carol Of The Bells

We Three Kings

What Child Is This

Here We Come A Caroling

Sleigh Ride

Go Tell It On The Mountain

O Holy Night

O Come O Come Emmanuel

In The Manger

Joy To The World

O Little Town Of Bethlehem

Angels We Have Heard On High

Good King Wenceslas

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

O How Joyfully/Deck The Halls

God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman

O Tannenbaum

This is a must-buy for the holidays but you can play it after the holidays, too!

While the video quality is great the videos themselves are stupid! What were they thinking!

I was expecting to see separate looping versions of a fireplace instead you get ONE version that rolls into another version that zooms ! how unrealistic can you get !

There is even one scene where they zoom into the char of the log... how stupid , especially on a 50 inch screen....

These scenes needed to be selectable and ONE fire at a time , never cut scene into a different fire.

The authors clearly do not understand the use of these videos. I like to pick the fireplace that fits the tv and room that its playing in then loop that particular fire , because not all scenes work .. it depends on you tv and layout... this video just rolls into one scene then the next..... just horrible.

Not one scene in this video shows a fireplace from start to finish , which should take 20 minutes or so... these fires on this video last like 3 minutes then its on to the next cut scene... really useless if your trying to create a faux fireplace using your plasma or lcd in a certain setting that creates an illusion that a real fireplace is burning in a room.... the cut scenes and zoom really are lame.

This was the worst fireplace dvd I have ever bought and sadly it was the most expensive.

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I was concerned that this wouldn't be up to hi-def standards and was pleasantly suprised. The 1080i video is very good, the 5.1 Dolby TrueHD music is very good, and even the crackling of the fireplace is very good. The fireplace is so realistic that my kids and I found that we experience a strange warm sensation when we walk by the lcd tv. Go figure...

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Image is first rate. Too bad the soundtrack didn`t follow. Song selections are too jazzy and not what I would prefer to hear for such a holiday. Also, no vocals, just instruments. This picture with a traditional Xmas soundtrack of holiday standards would have been the ultimate. There are a many beautiful tracks that will get you in the sprit and the option of the crackling fireplace sounds along with the music is a stroke of genius. Dvd is worth the cost, just dont expect the versions you grew up with. Happy Holidays.Cheers!

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I just recently updated my entire home theater. I picked up this product for the novelty of it and it has been a great buy. I play it when we're playing cards or doing some other non-TV related activity in the living room and it adds ambiance to the room.

You can turn the music off and still listen to the fireplace itself, and there is no background noise like I've seen complaints with other similar DVDs. The picture quality is very high as well! Of course this product only has limited uses but it's nice to have handy.

Heavy Metal (1981)

I can't believe the number of negative reviews this movie has gotten! I bet these people don't like James Bond movies, either.

To fully appreciate Heavy Metal, one has to understand the era it came out in. At the time, most animation, at least what was seen in the US, was frequently of the "family entertainment" variety seen in Saturday morning cartoons and TV commercials. Apart from Ralph Bakshi, most animators were basically shackled by the need to present something that was "rated G". Heavy Metal took the exact opposite route. It was a liberating experience for the animators working on the film to be allowed to draw things they usually weren't allowed. And they got paid to do it, too!

After the opening Soft Landing sequence, we're introduced to the Loc-Nar, a glowing green orb responsible for all the evil that has plagued the universe (or at least, that which has plagued the human race). The various stories contained in the film are told by the Loc-Nar to a young girl, as examples of it's awesome power.

The stories include the film noir homage Harry Canyon, the male "wish fulfillment fantasy" of Den (which demonstrates the versatility of the late John Candy, who voices both Dan, the science nerd who gets transported into an alternate dimension by the Loc-Nar, as well as Den, the Conan/He-Man-esque beefcake that he is magically transformed into), the highly amusing Captain Sternn (trivia: the voice of the prosecutor is done by John Vernon, the actor who portrayed Dean Wormer in Animal House), the EC-esque B-17 (aka Gremlins, which went through so many script revisions, it's a miracle it got finished at all), the bizarrely hilarious So Beautiful And So Dangerous (ok, maybe there's some truth to the juvenilia charges during this segment, but only a corpse could keep from laughing at this piece), and revenge scenario of Taarna (imagine a tougher, sexier version of Xena, only about a decade and a half earlier).

While there IS some element of juvenilia here, it's no worse than any other movie that's been released by any major studio during the last 25 years. In fact, I bet it's a little more cerebral than most of those other movies. Harry Canyon is a rather crafted film noir homage, while some elements of Taarna are clearly patterned on Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. And while there are a couple sex scenes and a certain amount of excessive violince in Heavy Metal, again, it's nothing compared to some of the garbage that's shown on cable TV these days. I'd certainly rather watch this than Basic Instinct or No Way Out.

This movie is a classic piece of animation. Yeah, some of it's rough around the edges, but that has a lot to do with Columbia's decision to move up the deadline so they could have the original movie out in time for the summer 81 season. One has to consider the scope of the undertaking, and the relatively short time that was at hand to create it.

Look at the "travelling sequence" during Taarna, where she's shown riding her mount (a sort of large bird creature) over a rolling landscape, and consider that it was done WITHOUT the use of any kind of computer generated work. It's explained in the audio commentary on the rough cut of the film, as well as during the documentary how it was done, and why it didn't quite turn out as planned). No one had ever done anything like that, and it had to all be done by hand.

Really, you can't take this movie too seriously. It's a movie that exists soley to entertain. There's no big message or point to the movie. Just put the DVD in the player, turn out the lights, turn up the volume LOUD, and just enjoy the trip.

It should be noted, that this disc also contains some of the best bonus features I've seen on any DVD. Besides the regular movie, you get a full length "rough cut" of the film, consisting of storyboards, pencil tests, and some completed animation. The only audio for this rough cut (besides the optional audio commentary, by Carl Macek, who also does a completely different commentary for the finished movie) is the dialog. There's long stretches of silence, but it's worth watching, as there's lots of bits of dialog that were cut from the final movie (we learn, for instance, that Katharine, like Den, was also transformed when she was transported to this mysterious alternate universe). It's also interesting to note that the stories weren't always in the order that they were in the final movie.

There's also a half hour documentary with interviews from many of the filmmakers involved in making the film. We finally find out why we see a model of a house blowing up at the end (because they didn't have time to finish the animation for that one bit), and also why Cornelius Cole's Neverwhere Land was cut from the movie (either for reasons of length/continuity, or because Cole didn't finish it in time, depending on exactly which version of the story you wish to believe.

You also get a few minutes of deleted scenes, most notably the above mentioned Neverwhere Land, which was originally supposed to link Captain Sternn and B-17. There's also a few minutes that surround an early version of the framing story (in whence the Loc-Nar was actually the power source of a magical merry-go-round, and the various objects on the merry-go-round related in one way to the stories...ie, there's a taxicab, Taarna's mount, etc...each time the girl takes a ride in a different vehicle on the merry-go-round, she experiences a different story).

And finally, you get all Heavy Metal covers up through 1999, plus various bits of production drawings, cels, etc.

In short, this is a classic film that should be viewed by all fans of animation and/or heavy flicks. Prudes and conservatives who get cranky at the very thought of a movie being ruined by a little too much flesh or blood (and really, there isn't THAT much of either in this film) or a little warped humor (ok, there's PLENTY of that here) are advised to keep away. I just wish they had restored Neverwhere Land to it's original place between Captain Sternn and B-17.

Some critics and film historians have labeled 1981's HEAVY METAL as the last film to genuinely reflect the mishmash sensibilities of the post-hippy 1970s counter-culture, and stylistically and thematically this appears to be true. Based on the adult counter-culture cult comic of the same name, HEAVY METAL definitely is a sort of spacey concatenation of disparate visual aesthetics and heterogeneous science-fiction/fantasy narratives. But despite being a hodgepodge as a whole, the film still manages to offer a very entertaining way to kill 90 minutes.

As with the magazine, the film is basically aimed at horny male adolescents, offering plenty of nude, amply bosomed women running around in the midst of stylized violence and gore; lots of rock music (though these ditties from popular metal bands of the late '70s may not appeal to the current generation of horny male adolescents); and references to the drug-oriented sub-culture (definitely not a cartoon for the pre-teen crowd). Each individual segment of HEAVY METAL was scripted and directed independently of the others, which likely accounts for the varying aesthetic and narrative styles. But many of these contributors were (and are now) some of the most talented people in the film industry, including writers Dan O'Bannon, Len Blum, and Daniel Goldberg, and directors John Bruno, John Halas, and Jimmy T. Murikami. (Gerald Potterton, listed in the credits as the film's director, was in reality the overseer for the project as a whole.)

Because the film does not contain a single cohesive plotline, it is best to evaluate each animated segment in its own right. Some of those individual stories are quite thought-provoking or humorous--or both--and even some of the more mediocre segments still offer some fantastic visuals. One of the most intellectually interesting is a story called DEN, in which a young bespectacled geek is transported into a parallel universe and transformed into a handsome, muscled barbarian hero. After falling in love with a curvaceous maiden, he helps her save her people from their draconian Caligula-like dictator. B-17 is probably the most earnest segment, though there seems to be no intrinsic logic to the sparse narrative. In it, the dead crewmembers of a WWII bomber plane are inexplicably resurrected as flesh-eating zombies, subsequently seeking to make a meal of the plane's still-living pilot. Visually, however, this segment is quite stunning, evoking the deliciously gruesome artistic style of the old E.C. comics of the '50s and early '60s. And in the funniest segment--entitled SO BEAUTIFUL, SO DANGEROUS--a gorgeous Pentagon secretary is inadvertently sucked into an alien spaceship that resembles a huge smiley face. After confronting the spaced-out druggie crewmembers, she ultimately becomes the lover of the ship's robot and decides to remain aboard.

After its initial release, HEAVY METAL attained a cult following of sorts and became a favorite of the midnight-movie crowd. Unfortunately, its release to the home-video market was delayed for years due to disputes over copyrights for some of the rock songs used in the soundtrack. Because of this, poorly produced bootlegged copies of the flick were illegally sold (usually at Sci-fi cons) and swapped among fans, and the inferior video quality contributed to the film's unfair reputation for being a mediocre film. But the music disputes were eventually resolved somehow, and the film became commercially available to the home market in the mid 1990s and regained its popularity as a cool cartoon. (Some statistics indicate that it is the most popular film in the Columbia/Tristar home-video catalog.)

Columbia/Tristar's Special-Edition DVD of HEAVY METAL offers a beautiful digital transfer of the film and soundtrack, along with some really cool bounus material. For animation fans, one of the best of the bonus features is a fascinating feature-length pencil-test version of the film (with optional commentary). Columbia/Tristar also offers a version of the HEAVY METAL in their SuperBit collection, but as with their other SuperBit films, the disc space required for the higher bit rate precludes the inclusion of any bonus material. Unless the buyer has a high-definition TV and can appreciate the increased picture quality of the SuperBit disc, the Special-Edition version is the way to go. Either way, HEAVY METAL offers enough entertainment value to make it a worthy addition to the DVD collection of any SF or animation fan.

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This is one of those great DVDs with so many Special Features, you could spend days viewing them all. Most interesting is a feature-length 'rough cut' of the entire film with running commentary throughout. The rough-cut -a combination of rough pencil animation and rare sketches -even contains some deleted scenes. Best of all, there is a Heavy Metal Magazine cover (and back cover) gallery. In addition to being a nice showcase for some beautiful artwork, this section will really bring back memories for anyone who grew up with the magazine in the late 70s and 80s. Of course, the film itself never looked or sounded better than on DVD. The film itself was a nice attempt at capturing the spirit of the magazine -it isn't a complete success, but a very noble effort in animation considering it was released in 1981!

Read Best Reviews of Heavy Metal (1981) Here

Back in the 70's a sci-fi/fantasy anthology comic book geared toward adults was published in the United States. This book was called Heavy Metal and it's still going strong today. Most of the stories are science fiction and delve into some pretty strange ideas. The movie was made to in a way showcase the talent that came from the most popular artists and writers of that magazine. There was some up and coming Canadian talent doing the voice work like John Candy and Eugene Levy. While the idea sounds cool enough I think the execution leaves a little bit to be desired. This movie feels like it was a rush job considering some inconsistent production values and even some of the story content. Since it is an anthology of multiple stories I will go down the line so you can get an idea where the quality lies and where it falls short.

Soft Landing This is the opening sequence that comes with the opening credits and it's the only story that connects itself to another story in the movie. The animation is a rough rotoscope technique that has only a wash of paint over real footage. I like how they did it. Very artistic. I have to admit it is a perfect representation of the magazine with its off the wall content and nice design. The hard rock soundtrack feel appropriate in this segment too. It's short, but it sure does make quite a good impression.

Grimaldi This is the story Soft Landing connects itself to and it sets the stage for the theme that supposedly connects the other stories together. It's a weak way to put the anthology together at best. Still it does give the movie something to put the wildly different stories together. The animation is not bad and it can get a little gruesome at times. Again this is a short story since all it does it introduce the Loc Nar. You will see this segment between girl and Loc Nar throughout the movie to help keep the plotline going in the right direction in your mind... if you want to call it a plot.

Harry Canyan This is the story of a New York taxi driver in the year 2031. The script has a classic film noir sense to it that adds some charm to this piece. I hear this story inspired parts of The Fifth Element so that's kind of cool. This story is classic Heavy Metal. The look of the cityscape and stuff reminds me of the graphic novel Hard Boiled as well as work from the artist Moebius. The animation looks like it's at an atrocious 12 frames per second (or less), which kills the coolness of the artwork sometimes. This one probably has the worst soundtrack of all the stories. The rock music just doesn't fit at all. This one is not really bad, but there is plenty to keep it from being really good.

Den This is another classic Heavy Metal type story and it is a funny one. It's a Richard Corben styled story and I guess you can call it every geek boy's fantasy since the star (John Candy) is an 18 yr old nerd who turns into a muscular barbarian hero that always gets the girl. They play that theme up to the hilt with some funny narration by Candy, who is great in this one. This adventure/comedy has a little more story depth than the previous stories but the animation is still choppy. The soundtrack it a good classic fantasy styled piece that works well with this one. Even though the animation (again not the art, which is nice) leaves a lot to be desired the enjoyable story and funny dialog make up for it and make this story one of the better ones.

Captain Sternn This come straight from a character created by Bernie Wrightson that was quite popular in the Heavy Metal magazine. Sternn is an anti-hero in the magazine and in the movie he is now being brought up on charges for his evil deeds (fans of the mag back then must have loved the irony of this). The animation has a more cartoonish feel to it and does't try to make the characters all that realistic like the other short films in this movie. However the animation is LOT cleaner here and I wished the rest of the stories were this polished. The story itself is entertaining as well, but ultimately it's all just one big build up for a wacky yet funny punch line at the end. Amusing enough, but it won't carry the movie.

B-17 This is the scariest of the bunch. A classic horror film created by renowned horror comic artist Mike Ploog. The story lends itself to being scary folklore to frighten WWII pilots or something like that and it pulls it off very well. Artistically it's eerie and has a classic 40's feel to the drawings and the animation seems to be a lot better. Some of the artwork does get limited by the fact it's an animated story, but that only lends more to the style. This is one of the definite shining gems of the movie.

So Beautiful and So Dangerous This can be called Cheech and Chong in space. It's a mix of sophomoric drug humor, interpersonal relationships with robots, and universal perspective. The stoner aliens didn't do it for me at all. Then again that is a certain kind of humor not everybody gets into. The interaction between the Pentagon secretary and robot is pretty funny for adult humor. Again John Candy brings a lot of fun in his role as the robot. What I found interesting was the size comparisons they played with in this short. You have a ship many times larger than the Pentagon controlled by a robot and two half-baked aliens, which docks with an even more massive space station. The animation is on par with the better stuff in this movie, but the soundtrack is yet another hard rock throwaway that doesn't do anything to enhance the story. Ultimately this one is merely okay in my book. Nothing special.

Tarrna This story is the best of the best in this anthology. Nothing compares to it in cinematic execution, which is probably why they saved it for last. The animation is still a relatively low frame rate (by Disney's standards) but there is a lot of rotoscoping done that makes those frames very effective and very beautiful. The soundtrack fits the short film better than any music did on the previous stories. The story is the best of the bunch too. The settings are cool with the futuristic wasteland. The designs are definitely a Moebius influence with some breathtaking landscapes and wild technology scattered about. Of course this story also resolves the plot devised that started the whole movie to begin with so everything is tied up nice and neat. If the other short films (aside from B-17) put this much attention in the execution of their perspective works then you would have a much better movie all around.

Heavy Metal did accomplish what it set out to do in that it showcased the magazine in a time when it was at its highest in popularity. For the non-Heavy Metal Magazine fan it's not as good. Keep in mind the content has lots of blatant animated nudity, sexual situations and graphic violence, Definitely not for the kids. The stories are interesting enough, but that might not be enough for some who expect quality production values all the way through. If you're a fan of the comic book then you probably already seen it and love it. If you are the type of person who jams to classic rock and have that biker rebel streak in you then you might find Heavy Metal refreshing. The rest of you will have to just make a judgment call. It has equal parts good and bad qualities so take that for whatever you see it.

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In looking through the reviews, it seems most (if not all) were written by men, so allow me to add my point of view. I thought the movie was great, regardless of the violence (which I don't think is that much compared to other movies I've seen) and how well-endowed the women were drawn (a rather irrelevant point for me). I agree that it is dated, but as that same person pointed out, there really wasn't much else available in the early 80's. If you keep that in mind as you watch it, the movie's really not that bad. I've always enjoyed animated films and still do and this was the first one or one of the first that wasn't made with only kids in mind. I still enjoy watching it from time to time and probably always will.

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Moulin Rouge! (2001)

I must admit that when I first went to see Mouln Rouge in the theaters, I was most reluctant. It looked cheesy to me, but I kept hearing good things about it. So finally I went, and was blown away. This movie, from a writing aspect, breaks no new ground, but visually,it is astonishing. The beautiful thing about film is that the same story can be told over and over in different styles. And Baz Luhrman's style is most definitely unique. The movie pulls you in from it's opening moments, and rarely lets go. I did find the movie slightly over-indulgent at times, as though Baz was throwing certain visual effects in for the sake of throwing them in. But the acting all around is incredible, and the music is absolutely genius. Many may have a problem with what could be describe as a 2 hour music video, but I loved it. It is definitely geared towards the MTV generation, but I think it can be enjoyed by all. All in all, it is the best movie I have seen in a long time.

I went into the cinema expecting to be amazed with the costumes and scenery, in awe of the singing, and enthralled in the story. Basically I went into Moulin Rouge with unreachable expectations.

I wasn't disappointed!

The movie was unlike anything I've ever seen. The camera angles, and difficult shots are at times dizzying and overwhelming, but in the fantasy world that Baz Lurhmann has created it all works. The music is beautiful and inspiring and funny all at the same time.

Nicole doesn't have the most powerful or experienced voice, but it only adds to the poignancy of her character. I found that she fit the part far better than I expected. Her rendition of "One Day I'll Fly Away" was especially nice.

As for Ewan, he can *really* sing! His voice was clear and powerful, and the Elephant love melody duet was probably one of my favourite sequences. That last scene (*sniffs)...Wow.

I laughed (never I thought I'd enjoy Madonna's "Like a Virgin" quite so much!) and I cried, and I left the theatre shaking. I haven't felt that way since...I've never felt that way. I sincerly hope this film does well, because it is so unique and beautiful and touching.

I heartily recommend Moulin Rouge to everyone. It's truly a movie lover's movie. It's a movie, and you never once forget it. It's flashy and loud and fake. But the fact that it just doesn't make sense is what makes it make sense. It's a movie and it's art at the same time.

Stop reading already, and go see Moulin Rouge!

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return."

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I really don't like writing reviews, but for this blu-ray I just HAVE to.

As a HUGE Moulin Rouge! fan (I've seen it 54 times... yes, I'm a crazy person, hehe) I can tell you that this blu-ray transfer is beyond perfect.

When I bought it I knew it was gonna look great. I mean, this movie was made for blu-ray. But boy! did I underestimated its power?

The image is crystal clear and the colors pop like nothing you've ever seen. All the blues are bright royal blue. The reds look extra passionate. And the blacks are extraordinarily deep. The amount of grain is just perfect. And the image is so sharp you can see everything from the smallest scratch on the floor, to the tiniest crack on the walls, to the pores on the actors skins and even the small veins in Kidman's eyes.

The sound is rich and absolutely delicious. You can hear every.single.whisper in the background. And the music sounds even better.

The extras are the same as those in the DVD Collector's Edition, so they're great and a lot.

And well, I won't even begin to describe the movie itself cause you could get 50 pages or more of me describing how amazing and perfect it is. So I'll just stick to the quality of the transfer and disc.

I have enjoyed a large variety of blu-rays which looked absolutely stunning (Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E, Ratatouille, Pirates of The Caribbean, etc.), but I've never seen anything like this.

I have a 46-inch TV so the quality of the image sometimes suffers a tiny bit because of the size, but with this blu-ray I didn't perceive the tiniest flaw.

So, if you really wanna completely enjoy the full capacities of your Full HD TV, this is the disc to buy.

I'm still in awe of how perfect everything looked and sound.

A must-have for any Moulin Rouge! fan, any movie fan, and any HD fan.

Read Best Reviews of Moulin Rouge! (2001) Here

Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl.

That's basically the plotline of "Moulin Rouge" in a nutshell, but the way Baz Luhrmann interprets this story on screen has to be seen to be believed.

Lots of lavish color, movement, sights and sounds explode on the screen like a Toulouse Lautrec painting on acid.

Baz has captured all the excitement and decadence of 1800s Paris, given it a modern twist and reinvented the classic movie musicals of days gone by. And the result? A truly unique cinematic experience that will be talked about for years to come!

The first frenetic 30 minutes will have you clutching your seat and gasping for breath. It's like a white-knuckle ride at your favorite theme park it's almost too much to take. But what a ride!

"Moulin Rouge" is a movie to be viewed more than once....if only to take in what you missed the first time.

You'll either love or loathe it. But if you choose the latter, quickly take your pulse and check that you're still in the land of the living!

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This is one of those films people either love or hate--so how to tell which group you fit in before you rent or buy Moulin Rouge? Well, this is THEATER, 100% all the time, as one of my colleagues astutely remarked. So, don't expect a costume drama, a realistic, gritty look at life in Montmartre during L'Age D'Or in pre-WWI Paris. No, indeed.

However, if you like over-the-top musicals, music videos and outrageous theater, you may adore Moulin Rouge. My French friends certainly all loved it--"brilliante, merveilleuse" they cooed after it was shown at a Strasbourg film fest last year.

There is, in addition to a lot of computer generated hijinks and music video lightning-fast editing, some wonderful song moments such as burly Jim Broadbent singing "Like a Virgin" (yes, Madonna's anthem.) The finale number is something out of Vegas crossed with an Indian movie spectacular. It's all too much sometimes so you just have sit back and enjoy the ride.

Nicole Kidman is on-screen nearly the entire time and does a fabulous job as Satine, the "Sparkling Diamond." A courtesan (high priced long-term call girl, or kept mistress in modern terms) falls for a penniless writer. Meanwhile, she's being auctioned off to a clueless (or nearly clueless) Duke who is to finance the failing Moulin nightclub. Ewan MacGregor shines as the penniless, lovestruck writer and the rest of the cast is also excellent.

If you loved the film, the DVD is worth having for the music, which is really marvelous. Enjoy.

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Black Sunday: Remastered Edition (1960)

Italian director Mario Bava exploded onto the horror scene with the wonderful black and white film "Black Sunday," also known as "The Mask of Satan" (a title I prefer because it does such a better job describing the movie). This picture borrows heavily from a Nikolai Gogol short story called "The Vij," and while I am not familiar with the story, the movie succeeds fantastically at conveying a bleak atmosphere of horror. "The Mask of Satan" was Bava's official directorial debut, giving viewers a chance to see the genius that was to come from this excellent filmmaker. Bava didn't merely direct films, however. He also worked on all aspects of movie making during his long career. The director even helped his son cut his teeth in the business immediately before his death in 1980. Fans will miss Bava terribly after viewing just a few of his films, as he was one of those rare Italian horror directors who could truly deliver the goods.

"Black Sunday," set in Romania, opens at an unspecified date in the seventeenth century. Some of the local nobles decide to get together and roast a couple of Satan's followers, but this barbecue bears a special meaning for the House of Vajda because one of its own is on the spit. The beautiful Princess Asa Vajda fell under the evil spell of the dark one, along with her unseemly lover Javutich, and both now face a painful execution. In order to insure that these two sullied creatures wear the mark of their crimes, Asa's own brother orders a metal mask of Satan nailed to their faces. Unfortunately for the Vajda family, Asa casts a curse on the family immediately before her execution, promising to come back from the dead and plague her relatives throughout the centuries. After carrying out this sordid task, the people present attempt to burn the corpses, but a rainstorm conveniently whips up and prevents the destruction of the bodies of these two satanic worshippers. In order to rid themselves of the bodies, the House of Vajda orders Asa interred in the family crypt with a few conditions: a glass pane and a cross must be placed on the sarcophagus in order to keep Asa firmly in her coffin. Javutich's corpse doesn't fare as well; his body ends up in a grave in the cemetery. All's well that end's well after this incident, as Asa and Javutich waste away the centuries in their tombs.

Flash forward two hundred years. Two doctors traveling to a medical conference stumble upon the decaying Vajda crypt. In a fit of scientific defiance to peasant tradition, one of the doctors named Kruvajan bumbles around Asa's coffin and causes some damage to it. From this point on, Bava takes his viewers on a roller coaster ride of creepy imagery, walking corpses, vampiric transformations, and oppressive atmosphere rarely seen in even the best of horror films. As the horror of "The Mask of Satan" unfolds, we meet the various characters who will play witness to the resuscitated curse on the House of Vajda: Doctor Gorobec, the young, heroic companion of Kruvajan destined to save the day; Katia Vajda, the present princess of Vajda; and her fearful father and brother. Katia's father knows about the curse of Asa, and he spends a significant portion of his time worrying about it. Moreover, several people remark on the amazing resemblance between Asa and Katia Vajda as seen in an old portrait of the Satan worshipping princess. Does this similarity have anything to do with the Asa's seemingly renewed deathbed curse? Probably, and the fun comes from watching it unfold through Bava's masterful use of cinematography, sets, atmosphere, sound effects, and gruesome special effects.

That Universal horror films influenced "The Mask of Satan" is so obvious it really doesn't need mentioning in the editorial review on this site. Throughout the movie, I continually recognized these similarities. Perhaps the surprising revelation here is that Bava's film is markedly better than many of the influences he supposedly borrowed from. Check out the coach moving through the forest in complete silence, or the trip Javutich and the doctor take through the castle. These are superb effects accomplished without the benefit of CGI or fancy prosthetics. Additionally, every movement of each character seems choreographed for maximum creepy effect. I kept wondering how Bava managed to get his actors to move so SLOWLY while making it look so natural. Special mention goes to the eerily effective Barbara Steele, the actress who plays both Asa and Katia. I wouldn't go as far as a few horror fans and say that this woman is drop dead gorgeous, but she is pretty and the make-up effects used on her face give her a ultra creepy appearance when she is playing Asa. I could go on and on about the things I liked in this movie. Everything works masterfully, giving "The Mask of Satan" a classic feel right from the start.

The DVD version of the film I watched carries a "Special Edition" label, meaning that you get a Mario Bava biography and filmography, a trailer, a photo and poster gallery, and a commentary by Bava historian Tim Lucas. The package claims this is the uncut version of the film, always a good thing when you decide to watch a horror movie. Mario Bava went on to make a slew of films in a wide range of genres, but so far "The Mask of Satan" has been my most satisfying experience with this director. With Halloween right around the corner, this film would nicely fit the bill for a home horror movie marathon.

Black Sunday is an engrossing, well-crafted, and suprisingly beautiful horror film. This DVD is testament to that fact and a sharp back-handed slap at those who automatically dismiss genre movies as trash. The respect Black Sunday and director Mario Bava are given is long overdue.

I won't bore you with tedious plot summarys. All I will tell you is that if you haven't seen Black Sunday, you must, and that if you have seen it, you must see it again in this presentation (because you've been missing plenty both in content and quality).

Presented in its origanal 1:66:1 theatrical aspect ratio, viewers for the first time can see this classic in ALL its macabre glory. The image quality is absolutely astounding when one compares it to the VHS editions floating around. The audio is also presented in pristine condition gaurenteed to sound excellent in any stereo thanks to the various formats.

All this makes one wonder exactly how much time went into this? If Video Watchdog editor/publisher Tim Lucas's liner notes and commentary are any indication, then the answer has to be a lot! Both are well-informed and thorougly entertaining.

It is a wonderful feeling to know that someone took the time to give you your money's worth -that is exactly what the people behind this gorgeous DVD have done.

As an avid fan of the writings of Tim Lucas, I would like to strongly encourage fans of Mario Bava and like-minded artists to check out his magazine, Video Watchdog and his post-modernistic vampire novel, Throat Sprockets.

Buy Black Sunday: Remastered Edition (1960) Now

Actually, my rating for this DVD version of "Black Sunday" would be 5 stars for the video transfer, 5 stars for Bava's cinematography (seen here like never before), 2 stars for the audio transfer, and 3 stars for the overall quality of the film itself. Bava was not a great director, and didn't like to be called a "cinematographer," but this film really is a painting in motion: every scene is a paradigm of Gothicism - the cinematic equivalent of Gustave Dore. Like other

reviewers, I was floored by the print used for this disc: it looks, almost literally, like it was shot yesterday, and it's almost impossible to believe the film is almost 40 years old. If there are other films from this era that look this pristine, I haven't seen them. My only quarrel with the disc has to do with the dubbing. In all honesty, I feel this film sports one of the worst American dubbing jobs ever performed on a film, and the big question (which neither Tim Lucas nor anyone else seems to have raised)is this: WHERE is the original Italian-language version of "Black Sunday," and why wasn't an attempt made to give us the original dialogue with OPTIONAL English subtitles? Mr. Lucas would have us believe that this DVD was the original version, but obviously the entire cast is speaking Italian (duhhh why else would you have to dub in English?). So, yes, I'm thrilled to have this beautiful print, but hopefully in the future we'll get the original Italian dialogue and not have to endure the abominable dubbing...

Read Best Reviews of Black Sunday: Remastered Edition (1960) Here

Italy produced many creepy horror efforts of the '60's, but this is the most effective by far. From its ominous opening to its fiery finish, BLACK SUNDAY is a terrifying cinematic experience. The hauntingly beautiful Barbara Steele, who went on to become Italy's foremost Scream Queen, plays a dual role: a lovely virginal princess, and a wicked witch who returns from the grave to seek vengeance on the descendants of those who burned her at the stake over a hundred years before. Steele is strikingly effective in both roles, and the mysterious Gothic atmosphere is both sinister and beautiful. The film was shot in gorgeous black and white, and it just wouldn't look right any other way. This was also the directorial debut of Mario Bava who, like Steele, would become a crucial name in '60's Italian scare flicks. Horror fans just won't be able to do any better than this!

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I'll leave it to other reviewers to give you their opinions about the movie itself. I'll just put it like this: It's a magnificent and masterful classic that should be watched by anyone interested in the golden age of horror and more specifically, the origins of Italian horror. Black Sunday was innovative and inspirational, paving the way for many thriller, suspense and horror tropes still in use today. Kino's blu-ray treatment is almost passable. The first thing I noticed: no Italian dialog track with or without subtitles. Unacceptable. I almost couldn't believe it. Instead, Kino gives us only an English dub with some glaring synchronization issues. When the product description reads "original Italian cut", it's only referring to the picture, and has nothing to do with the audio. Concerning the picture quality, this transfer looks like it was straight from the source. Obviously, no restoration, not even cleaning was completed. This film went from the can and straight to the scanner, nothing in between. It's as pure a transfer as we're going to get, but beware that the complete lack of restorative efforts is evident throughout. If you've been pampered by the awesome restoration efforts of Criterion Collection or Masters of Cinema, prepare yourself for disappointment here. This Kino blu ray release is more like an old Ferrari barn find than a Ferrari manufacturer's corporate collection piece. The image quality certainly has its high points as any film stored in a sensible archive will have, but they are exceptional. The audio is good, perhaps as good as mono audio can get. Distortion is evident in places, but it's otherwise highly satisfactory, considering the audio recording equipment at the time of recording. Additional features are minimal. There are a few trailers and a single commentary track; that's it. Packaging is your standard blu-ray fare, with no special case and no insert. I should have bought the cheaper DVD.

EDIT: After listening to the commentary track on this BD by a Bava film scholar, it's evident that the film was originally shot with the actors speaking in English. Contrary to my assumption, the actors did not originally use Italian to speak any of the dialog. I think perhaps the use of Italian dialog in the original cut is a common misconception, the result of which is likely due to such a terrible English on English dub. Even so, I'd still like to see a version with the original dialog track intact. This dub is horrible, but perhaps that's the only way we can have it. Maybe the original dialog track doesn't exist.

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Broadway Damage (Blu-ray) (1998)

I couldn't help but to think of Barbra Streisand as I watched this film. In her best performances, Barbra played the role of the ugly duckling who falls in love with the handsome leading man (Omar Shariff, Robert Redford, Jeff Bridges). This movie follows a similar formula, where Robert is the ugly duckling and Marc is the handsome leading man.

Robert has two dreams: becoming a songwriter and landing Marc. Likewise, Marc also has two dreams: landing a role on Broadway, and finding a handsome boyfriend. In addition to their friendship, Robert and Marc have one thing in common: "girlfriend" Cynthia, who is trying to find a job (one job in particular, that is). Marc and Cynthia decide to share an apartment. One day, while staring out the window of their new apartment, Marc discovers the man of his dreams (a musician with stunning good looks, of course).

Marc explains to Robert the concept of the "Grand Gesture". Its when you swallow your pride, buy flowers or something, and let that special person know you're in love with them. Easy for Marc to say, since he is good looking and popular with the gents. Not so easy for Robert, who gets turned down by the card store cashier. Humiliated, Robert gives up on good-looking boyfriends.

Here is where the story varies from the typical Streisand plot. While ugly-duckling Streisand becomes the beautiful swan by using her voice, her talent or (in the most fictional of plots) a makeover, Robert stays plain old Robert. Can Marc see past Robert's dull exterior? Can Marc see past the musician's beautiful exterior? Will Robert get the courage to do the "Grand Gesture" to Marc?

Those are the questions to be answered in Broadway Damage. By the way, what's with the title? Alhough the movie explains what "broadway damage" is, I'm not sure it was the best choice for the title. Personally, I would have chosen "The Grand Gesture".

Back to Streisand... If you love "The Mirror has Two Faces", you'll love Broadway Damage. If you hated "Mirror", chances are you'll still like Broadway Damage, anyway.

Like a good Broadway show, this film has it all: a great-looking, talented cast; a clever story; memorable music; optimism; and a warm-hearted ending. Michael Shawn Lucas is perfect as Marc, a sweet hunk trying to make it as an actor on Broadway. He goes to audition after audition, suffering rejection after rejection. Hence, Broadway 'damage'. His nerdy but cute song-writing friend Robert (Aaron Williams) harbors a secret passion for him, but hides it because handsome Marc is a perfect 'ten' and, therefore, out of reach. Their companion Cynthia -overweight and over-the-top -is played by Mara Hobel, no stranger to campy films. She played opposite Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford's daughter in 'Mommie Dearest', one of the great camp classics of all time. The three friends share career problems, relationships, and other personal traumas. They are loveable and a joy to watch. When Robert finally makes his 'grand gesture' to Marc, he does so in a wonderfully witty song (by Cindy Soltoff) which is sweet, bouyant, touching, and tuneful enough for any Broadway show. This is a real hit.

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If you love a good romantic fantasy, you'll probably LOVE this. This film is about reliving those risk-taking moments when first falling in love, and it's ultimately about friends, arguing in favor of love beginning with a strong friendship. There are so few films of this genre (sad we even call this a genre) that have a light-hearted feeling. The script isn't an oscar contender, but that didn't bother me. The characters & performances have their sweetness and humor, and are easy on the eye. All my friends and I loved it (even the cynical ones).

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"Broadway Damage" is the most adorably classic, campy, sassy romantic comedy I've seen in years!

Lead role, Robert (Aaron Williams), is absolutely cute as a button and his witty Broadway-style songwriting will make you blush and smile and get up and sing! Fellow lead, Michael Shawn Lucas, plays the role of Marc, an aspiring (not so successfully) Broadway star. The two are precious in a 'perfect ten' sort of way, and are accompanied by their quirky "fag hag," hilarious, gay-ball-busting best friend Cynthia. I have to admit I'm a softie for this actress, Mara Hobel, who was also a star in "Mommie Dearest" ("No more wire hangers!"). Brilliant. Just campy brilliance.

The production is brilliant, the characters and acting impeccable, and most of all, the climate is over-the-top, Broadway-inspired, campy bliss with the rooting of a classic romantic comedy. Ingenious, this one, and I guarentee it will leave you smiling and wanting more, especially if you're at all exhausted with the consistent formula of gay cinema. Pick this one up; it's charming and zany, and you won't be disappointed!

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"Boy meets boy" is one of the timeless plotlines -since the ancient Greeks at least -and this well-acted romantic comedy adds a number of twists and turns to what could have been standard fare. The showbiz wannabes of the title who lust after, long for, love, lose, and land one another are appealling, and the men are all goodlooking -even the presumably plain Robert, who in the real world would have no trouble attracting another man, even if he did wear a stupid porkpie hat as here. Perhaps that's why the director put the hat on him, to try to disguise how cute he is. The lead hunk, Mark, has a frequent bemused smile that suggests thoughtfulness. He is appalled to learn that casting agents think he "reads light," and it's one of the movie's accomplishments that Michael Shawn Lucas as Mark carries off the combination of masculine appearance, conversation almost devoid of camp, and an unaggressive sensitivity that makes you like him -he's the hunk with a heart of gold, even though he is also clearly a gym bunny for whom climbing a tree is an exotic experience. His elusive "must have item," David, is dark and pretty as a movie mystery man should be. As the Long Island princess, Mara Hobel is good, but her character's main shtick (trying to land a job interview with Tina Brown despite having zero qualifications) is dragged out too long. The resolution of one of the movie's main romantic dilemmas in the last reel feels very artificial and is the only wrong step in this otherwise charming and witty tale.

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Rebecca (1940)

A sumptuous film version of Daphne du Maurier's Gothic suspense novel. Brilliant direction by Alfred Hitchcock (his first American-made feature), dazzling cinematography by Oscar-winner George Barnes, and splendid art direction by Lyle Wheeler underscore impeccable performances by the entire cast. Laurence Olivier is excellent as the enigmatic Maxim, whose brooding ambivalance masks a dark secret; Joan Fontaine hits all the right notes as the confused and insecure Second Mrs. de Winter; and Judith Anderson (made up very much like Gloria Holden in Universal's "Dracula's Daughter") is chillingly repellant as the malevolent housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. These three Oscar nominees are ably abetted by George Sanders playing Rebecca's cad of a cousin, and Florence Bates as the vitriolic social butterfly Edyth Van Hopper. In what must have been an incredibly close race, this film beat out 20th Century-Fox's landmark "The Grapes of Wrath" for the 1940 Best Picture Oscar.

The Anchor Bay DVD offers a fine video transfer of this classic mystery. The picture is sharp and clear with excellent contrast throughout, and the soundtrack is clean and crisp. Although the package doesn't mention it, the DVD does offer Chapter Search (always a welcome plus). There aren't any bonus materials like theatrical trailers, cast biographies, photo galleries, etc., but this is still a worthy edition of a genuine film classic.

Joan Fontaine stars as a miserably shy and awkward lady's companion who meets the sophisticated and recently widowed Maxim de Winter in Monte Carlo. They seem an odd couple, yet after a few short weeks they marry and come home to his imposing English country estate, Manderley. The young bride is overwhelmed with her new, lavish lifestyle and is especially intimidated by the forbidding housekeeper who keeps her first mistress' memory and influence alive. Maxim reveals a terrible secret which forever alters the couple's life, and affects the very existence of Manderley.

This wonderfully atmospheric tale, complete with swirling fog and spooky organ music, will take you away to a world where little Cinderella really does marry the handsome prince and lives in the mysterious castle, but things have a nasty habit of going bump in the night. Joan Fontaine gives a breathtaking performance, convincing us she really is crippled with feelings of inadequacy, despite being a flawless beauty. Judith Anderson is the sneering, contemptuous housekeeper whose devotion to her former mistress turns to madness. Laurence Olivier makes a properly snobbish and mysterious Maxim and manages to be the hero despite a fatal flaw. The title character, Rebecca (the first Mrs. de Winter), is never seen but is a powerful force, as is the imposing house of Manderley. If you like gothic romances filled with 1940's elegance and lots of creepy atmosphere, you'll enjoy Rebecca.

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This review refers to the Anchor Bay DVD release of Rebecca.....

What do you get when you have a great work of literature by Daphne Du Maurier, combined with the cinematic skill of Director Alfred Hitchcock,combined with the extrordinary acting talents of Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders and Judith Anderson? You get pure perfection on film. Combined that with the technology to take a movie made 62 years ago and make a transfer to DVD that looks as if it was made yesterday, and you have 2hr and 10 minutes of movie heaven.

The story begins in the South of France where a young, introverted woman(Joan Fontaine) meets wealthy widowerMaxim de Winter(Olivier) His wife,Rebecca, had recently died in a drowning accident and often he seems to be pensive and far off. They fall in love, marry, and go back to his home, an estate called Manderly. She is overwhelmed by the palacial grandeur, the huge staff of servants but mainly by the very prim but chilling head housekeeper Mrs. Danvers(Judith Andersson). The first Mrs. De Winter still seems to have a presence in the household that Mrs. Danvers keeps alive.

To say anymore will be giving away too much of this hauntingly chilling love story/mystery.However I must talk about this DVD.

Although not the more expensive version with all the extras(don't look for any with this one) this one gave us a beautiful picture, and great sound. Everything was bright and clean I saw things I had never seen before, and I have watched this movie dozens of times. The sparkling of the sequins on a woman,s gown,

the way the sun shone and the rain fell. This is a great transfer of a great film(Academy Award best Picture 1940). I personally didn't need all the extras for this one, I just enjoyed the film. There is another version by criterion with lots of goodies if you are interested in that though.

Which ever version you choose- Enjoy "Rebecca" and the splendor of Manderly--Laurie

also recommended:

Hitchcock's Notebooks: An Authorized and Illustrated Look Inside the C

The Woman of the Port

Alfred Hitchcock Double Feature Volume One Sabotage / The Man Who Knew Too Much

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Rebecca achieves greatness. Nothing is off in this film. You'll never forget Judith Anderson's sinister portrayal of the obsessed housekeeper, or George Sanders' cold and cynical charm as "Rebecca's favorite cousin." As for Lawrence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, they will never be seriously challenged in any remake of this tantalizing and psychologically molten story. It is their film from start to finish, though one fine character actor after another comes and goes with perfect pitch and perfect proportion. The black and white photography has a porcelain gleam to which color could bring nothing. Like Bronte's great novel, Jane Eyre (in which Joan Fontaine also starred), Rebecca is a seminal tale following an old pattern that has been imitated ad infinitum. But nothing can detract from this pure and innocent effort. I first saw Rebecca when I was a little girl, taken by my mother to a small theatre in New Orleans famous for showing foreign films and artistic films, and what an enchantment it was this world of Maxim de Winter and his great house and the crashing sea -and finely controlled voices with English accents speaking so carefully but with such feeling. I've seen the film a dozen times since, and it has lost none of its silvery luster. There are times when I don't want to do anything except make a cup of hot chocolate and go in and watch Rebecca. Highly recommended. Add it to your collection.

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Note: Get the Criterion DVD before it is too late! (It's supposed to go out of print on the 31st of December, 2003). While Hitchcock's masterpiece is still stunning after all these years, the DVD I watched, published by Anchor Bay, is pretty weak; the Criterion Collection DVD of "Rebecca" has much more in the way of extras and special features, which is half the appeal of getting a classic on DVD.

Anchor Bay's DVD only has a chapter selection and "start" on the menu. Not even closed captioning, which makes this DVD inaccessible to older or deaf fans.

Still, even a weak DVD presentation can't take away from such a beautiful film. A TV presenter recently introduced "Rebecca", by saying that Joan Fontaine was too pretty to be believable in the role of a plain girl. Missing the point! "Rebecca" is a story from the point of view of a scared, insecure heroine who believes the worst of herself and is always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like the heroine of "Northanger Abbey," perhaps the gothic atmosphere here is really created out of her hopes and fears "Rashomon"-style where each person sees a different thing. The book "Venus in Spurs" has most of a chapter devoted to "Rebecca," and how much this film and book relate to women who struggle through insecurity, despite being loved. (To say more might ruin the movie for first-time viewers).

Fontaine is, of course, very good, as is Laurence Olivier, who has scarcely *ever* been more handsome and commanding. Among the strong supporting cast is George Saunders and Dame Judith Anderson. While Anderson's usually singled out in reviews and hindsight, her obsessive maid could hardly be that malevolent, if the audience didn't feel so sympathetic towards Fontaine's sweet, mild Mrs. de Winter. Really, Fontaine needed Anderson in this performance to really pull it off; and the reverse is equally true. I also think Florence Bates adds quite a bit here as the bitchy and bossy Mrs. Van Hopper, also providing a strong showing in another wonderful film, "A Letter to Three Wives," which, come to think of it, is also about wives and their suspicions of their husbands... and Bates' character sets up trouble for one of the "Letter" wives with her thoughtlessness in that picture, too.

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A Bug's Life Combo Pack includes DVD BLU-RAY (1998)

For some reason, this early Pixar movie was released for sale multiple times, the first being DVD only, the second time being this DVD/Blu-Ray combo in the standard DVD packaging, and all subsequent times in Blu-Ray packaging. The 2nd release is the best deal by far; both Blu-Ray and DVD formats at an affordable price. Having watched it, the package comes with all the same features as the subsequent 2-disc Blu-Ray packaging release. There is the movie itself, the standard Pixar short, outtakes, interviews with cast members, and as a bonus, an old Disney cartoon upon which A Bug's Life was based. Sound and visual quality was great, and the movie itself is a wonder, entertaining people of all ages.

Love the blu ray version of this movie and glad I now own it! When I have my own kids they'll love it as much as I did im sure!

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Another great job from Disney/Pixar. My one and three year old boys love this movie. It's age appropriate for toddlers, while still being enjoyable for older children and adults. The combo pack was great, as we keep the blu-ray for our family room TV, and the DVD can be taken with us for the car or a trip to grandma's. (It's definitely worth the extra few dollars not to have to worry about misplacing or forgetting the movie somewhere.)

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Thanks for the fast service. the Product as described and my daughter loves the movie.nice doing business with your company.

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Awesome movie. I've been holding out on buying it for a few years because it is so expensive but it was worth it. Now that I have a baby, I've got an excuse to have movies like this but really, it's for me.

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