The Tournament (2009)

Languishing in development and production hell for what seems to be an eternity, Scott Mann's film THE TOURNAMENT finally gets a proper DVD release Oct 20th. The "combat death game" genre has been inundated with several films throughout the years such as BATTLE ROYAL, BLOODSPORT and THE ULTIMATE GAME. THE TOURNAMENT makes its mark by delivering a knockout punch with over the top action and enough plot twists to keep the viewer interested.

The story opens seven years ago with Ving Rhames character in a final bloodbath in a sordid meat packing company with two other assassins vying for the title of "World's Greatest Assassin". The scene is ultra sadistic, chaotic and bullets are flying like candy from an out of control mechanical Pez dispenser. As soon as Ving wins the battle, the environment rapidly shifts forward to the present day and the next tournament begins.

The present day battle, taking place in England, centers on 30 contestants all vying for a 10 million dollar prize and a chance to be hailed as the "World's Greatest Assassin". Each of the contestants is fitted with a two way tracking device which not only allows them to be seen by the game's ringleader, but also to be tracked by each other, on a blackberry type gadget. There are street cams, sat cams which are logged in with real time feeds to record the action for high stakes gamblers relaxing comfortably in front of jumbo screens surveying this game of death.

Each one of the devices contains a personal explosive as in the movie FORTRESS. The devises are heat sensitive and the tracking lights go out when either removed or the person expires. This is never fully explained, nor is it consistent. This fact is a major incongruity and contradiction, while also rather confusing. The relative ease as to which one of the contestants removes their device is bizarre. Probably the 10 million dollar prize would force people to want to stay in the game?

THE TOURNAMENT is a "story on the fly" auctioneer. The audience learns on the go about the characters, their faults, past history, and special skills while the action is occurring. There are several twists as the action unfolds and to divulge more about them would deter from the enjoyment of the fast paced, diversified story, which includes an unwilling participant who happens to be a priest. Revealing anything about him or why he is involved would deter from a plot complication which occurs quite early in the film.

Kelly Hu from "X-Men 2" and Martial Law plays a Chinese assassin named Lai Lai Zen with a strong set of hand to hand combat skills, combined with lightning fast reflexes. She has several interesting fights in the film. The filming style used when she is involved is like the Jason Bourne series, close up in your face action. The edits are sometimes a bit quick. This slightly deters from the action, but keeps the viewer engaged. The stunt martial duties are expertly performed by 3rd degree black belt Tea Kwon Do instructor, stuntwoman Kimberly Chiang. Ms Chiang is currently working on KING OF FIGHTERS having more than 50 films to her credit.

Kelly Hu has astonishing onscreen presence in THE TOURNAMENT especially as her character is drugged to implant the chip. She has to go through a wide variety of emotions throughout the film and commands the screen with her intensity and fortitude. A lead part such as this might catapult her back into the action realm.

Ving Rhames plays Joshua Harlow the past winner of the contest and a grieving husband. The story unfolds revealing find out his wife was murdered by one of the contestants. Usually relegated to big scary guy in his films, Rhames plays the role with passion and perhaps delivers one of his most dominant performances in his career.

This movie is so unbelievably violent and the pace is astonishingly frantic almost in the style of SHOOT `EM UP. THE TOURNAMENT also contains a variety of elements to offend everyone. Not for the faint at heart, this movie includes nudity and violence in the same scene, as a strip club becomes a warzone. One of the characters, playing up his crazy cowboy mentality, kills people and dare I say an animal not even in the game just for fun. If these facts are bothersome by all means stay away, the audience has been warned.

The twelve million dollar budget was used to full effect with hand to hand combat, knife fights, gunfights, and a battle on a Double Decker bus! The action is nonstop for 90 straight minutes. Oddly there is a bizarre montage in the middle with the slowest music possible, bullets and bodies are flying. Perhaps this is some sort of an attempt of a dichotomous allegory or maybe simply budget or time constraints.

Even with the incongruities, distractions, rather bad box art, and plot holes this is an unyielding, forceful, and memorable action film. THE TOURNAMENT features several blink and you miss it sequences and is worth repeat watching and should have had a theatrical run. The recommendation is a strong rent even a buy, especially if you liked SHOOT `EM UP or BATTLE ROYAL.

Danny Shamon-2009

The Tournament is one of those action films you've never heard of but is actually superior to the PG-13 trash that passes for Hollywood action these days (I'm looking at YOU, Die Hard 4). It barely got into cinemas for a week in October 2010 and you shouldn't let it slip away.

Robert Carlyle plays a washed-up priest who is caught up in a once-every-seven-years competition in which 30 of the world's best hitmen are pitted against each other in an unsuspecting, random town. The location this time is Middlesborough, England and the 24-hour bloodbath paints the town red before the climactic last-man-standing finale. Among the many hitmen are the gorgeous Kelly Hu and the burly Ving Rhames. There's not much time for character development, but the main trio work well off each other in between the brutal action scenes.

The Tournament does use some CGI blood effects in a few shots, not as awful as it usually is, but most of the gore is good, old-fashioned make-up. And when I said they paint the town red I really do mean it. The film is wonderfully gory in a way we just don't see in action movies anymore. Plus the stunts are all done for real in front of the camera, which makes it all the more visceral and visually appealing.

Don't write-off the Tournament. It delivers everything it promises. It doesn't rewrite the rules or set any new, genre-defining standard, but it's still better than modern, family-friendly 'action'.

The Blu Ray looks good in 1.78:1 1080p with DTS HD-MA sound. There are no extras.

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Simply put: Good movie. Lots of action. Worth watching. Better than a lot of movies that made it to the big screen...

PS: And Kelly Hu Is totally gorgeous...

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What a shame that more people don't know about this film. Hollywood really screwed the people behind it. Excellent movie, from start to finish. No, this isn't Oscar worthy, but who cares? It's a solid action movie with a decent plot to boot.

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THE TOURNAMENT takes some of the best action elements from past classics like TERMINATOR 1 and 2 (the chase scenes), HIGHLANDER (there can only be one!), and BATTLE ROYALE (this time, for adults), and mixes them all together w/ a new-millennium attitude! Hell, toss in a bit of ENEMY OF THE STATE (computer geeks and satellites) while you're at it! 30 of the world's best assassins are pitted against each other in a no-holds-barred, fight to the bloody finish. A secret syndicate of billionaire gamblers are betting on their favorites, and society is none-the-wiser! Robert Carlyle (RAVENOUS, 28 WEEKS LATER) is a drunken priest named Father Macavoy, who gets caught up in the mayhem. Kelly Hu is excellent as Lai Lai Zhen, the killer who must either help Macavoy or kill him. Ving Rhames (THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, PULP FICTION, DAWN OF THE DEAD) is the winner of the previous TOURNAMENT, drawn into this years event for personal reasons. His stone-cold, death-wish approach is perfect! If you love action, social satire, violence, and / or redemption, THE TOURNAMENT has it all...

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Perfect Understanding (1933)

As a classic film enthusiast, I was somewhat surprised that I'd never even heard of the 1933 Ealing Studio release "Perfect Understanding." Not only does it carry the Ealing brand, it boasts a screenplay by the great Michael Powell and lead performances from Laurence Olivier and Gloria Swanson. Heck, that's all I need to know! Sign me up. Billed as a romantic comedy, I'm not sure the movie entirely succeeds under this description. With aspects that veer from slapstick to complete melodrama, the tone of "Perfect Understanding" veers all over the place. An unconventional domestic drama centered around infidelity (both imagined and real), there are some aspects of the movie that play deadly serious. These moments are (for my taste) the strongest in the film. When it plays for a lighter appeal, the manic energy can feel somewhat overdone and chaotic. At times, it seems as if two different movies are competing against one another. But despite these reservations, it's still a easy recommendation for fans of Olivier and Swanson! They make the picture worth a look!

Swanson and Olivier play a young society couple who don't want to fall into the same trap as their other married friends. They want a marriage in which they can retain their independence without all the baggage of traditional domesticity. It's a fine arrangement (a perfect understanding, if you will) in theory, but somewhat harder in practice. After a blissful honeymoon, the couple separate at the end of their vacation. With Olivier enjoying the festivities of Cannes, his old circle of friends and a former flame end up sharing time with the new groom. Can he withstand the temptation of another woman? Coincidentally, Swanson also has another suitor on the home front. When the couple reunite, how much honesty can their relationship bear? Between real offenses and certain misconceptions, this marital experiment seems doomed to failure. Can love prevail? Should it?

I really liked Swanson and Olivier together. Swanson was trying to establish herself in the talkies after being a silent screen star and she even produced this movie (the only film she ever made in Britain). Olivier was a stage star (a trained Shakespearean actor) newly into a film career. They have an easy chemistry and charm to spare. If you know them primarily from their later works, this more lightweight piece is an interesting counterpoint. Olivier, in particular, is downright dashing! I don't think "Perfect Understanding" is an essential classic, by any means, but it is definitely worth a look. The early scenes are especially jumbled with dozens of characters and relationships thrown at you rather haphazardly. Things start to settle, however, once we leave this extended opening. Again, I probably wouldn't classify this as romantic comedy (although some might). To me, it's more of a relationship drama with some lighter moments. KGHarris, 5/13.

I love classic films. Especially old black `n whites. I couldn't say why exactly. I think it's that they're a bit more primal about how they had to approach the filmmaking process. They didn't have all of the tricks and twists of special effects and fancy-pants editing, so they were largely confined to using dialogue that great, great form of communication to convey so very much of the story. Without good, snappy dialogue, those movies of old were destined to one day end up on the trash heap. Consequently, I think they produced better screenwriters folks who had a learned ear for what sounded right, what conveyed the proper sentiment, what captured a precise emotion for their audiences. Still, it's a shame that more of these `classics' don't get the treatment PERFECT UNDERSTANDING has; it's an impressive discovery, and I can only hope there's more to come from the folks behind the Cohen Film Collection.

(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and characters. If you're the kind of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I'd encourage you to skip down to the last two paragraphs for my final assessment. If, however, you're accepting of a few modest hints at `things to come,' then read on ...)

Judy Rogers (played by the forever lovely Gloria Swanson) and Nicholas Randall (a young and thin Laurence Olivier) are socialites in love. However, they see couples all around them mired in one unhappy marriage after another. Hoping to `buck the trend,' Judy and Nick decide the best they can do to preserve their own relationship magic is to draft a "marriage agreement," one which promises they will never argue, they will always treat one another as lovers, and they will always respect one another's private happiness. What appears to be a perfect understanding only leads to the discover of one imperfection after another as Nick succumbs to the charms of a former lover (Nora Swinburne) and Judy almost falls into the arms of another (John Halliday). Can they find happiness again or are they now destined for divorce?

Wow. Talk about a real eye-opener! PERFECT UNDERSTANDING was way ahead of its time. In fact, the agreement fashioned by the two lovebirds in the opening could almost be likened to an `open marriage' by contemporary standards. In fact, his own personal guilt forces Nick to confess, and Judy appears perfectly willing to forgive him; that is until she divulges her marital woes to her old friend, Ivan. To make matters worse, Judy realizes she's pregnant while it's clear to her that the child belongs to her one and only true love, Nick's suspicions only serve to push the two of them further and further apart. What's amazing is how open and nonchalant the script by Michael Powell treats all of this, almost as if this were the status quo in marital relationships of the time. I daresay it wasn't this was 1933, after all though Hollywood socialites and debutantes were always `ahead of the curve' when it comes to social mores. That much hasn't changed.

The film is smartly directed from staging to cinematography by Cyril Gardner. Gardner made impressive use of some vast interior sets, and he moved the plot along briskly by making extensive use of some rather elaborate video montages to establish the passage of time as well as the build-up of marital tension. Also, it's exciting to see Olivier so fresh and new in his career (promotional materials provided to me with the release point out he was only but a few years along in film); and, even at this ripe age, he was a master at the witty banter establishing the high points of his love with Judy (Swanson). The two of them handle both ends of the scale with great skill the first half is punctuated by their constant repartee while the latter half is richly nuanced with desperate, longing expressions of their mutual torture.

Billed largely as a "comedy of manners," UNDERSTANDING may not be PERFECT, but it's pretty darn close, and it's pretty darn impressive.

PERFECT UNDERSTANDING was produced by Gloria Swanson British Productions (the only film she made in Britain). DVD distribution is being handled through Cohen Media Group. As for the technical specifications, the film looks and sounds very solid be aware this is a (standard) two-track audio, and there's some marked gaps in quality in the first fifteen minutes or so, but it clears up as the film progresses. The Blu-ray release is blessed with two selected shorts from the era (two Mack Sennett shorts "Husband's Reunion" and "Dream Stuff").

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Given the era, it's certainly an exercise in some curious morality. PERFECT UNDERSTANDING is a wonderful find from Cohen this is its Blu-ray and DVD debut. It's been longingly restored for this release, and who wouldn't want to experience this Gloria Swanson/Laurence Olivier rom-com now that it's available? The script captures the marked trend of the time to propel the narrative through the use of clever dialogue and it's brilliantly delivered by two masters of the craft. I'll admit it dragged a bit for me in the last fifteen minutes that's when the marriage is coming apart but rest assured there will be a happy ending for those who work for it most ... just like in life!

In the interests of fairness, I'm pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Cohen Media Group provided me with an advance DVD copy of PERFECT UNDERSTANDING by request for the expressed purposes of completing this review.

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This is a great little travelogue of a film, with great shots of various European locations, back before both WW2 bombing and later, globalization, had tampered with the scenery.There couldn't have been much international tourism in 1933, so these characters are indeed priveleged. Olivier seems very good here, not insufferably intense and hard to believe as he became after he returned to England in the 40's (though this is apparently an English film, with Gloria Swanson as a producer and other American actors it doesn'seem so.)

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Hans Christian Andersen (2012)

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-75) was an Ugly Duckling. He lived in the third largest town Odense, in Denmark. The son of a cobbler he was poverty ridden and a failure as an actor and it wasn't until he moved to Copenhagen and won the patronage of Frederick VI, through his poetry, that he wrote his fairy tales and developed into a swan. Like many artists he wasn't particularly happy, and never did marry, although he was very fond of Jenny Lind (1820-87) the Swedish Nightingale a soprano given the name by P.T. Barnum during her tour of the United States between 1850-52.) Charles Vidor's film does state at the beginning, This is not the story of Hans Christian Andersen but a fairy tale about the great spinner of fairy tales. The Danes objected to the way Hans Christian Andersen was portrayed even though Goldwyn had rejected 21 previous manuscripts, so the film company inserted this statement in the credits.

Danny Kaye with his chiselled features does resemble H.C.Andersen when looking at his profile, but apart from this facial feature that's where it stops. Kaye had dark hair but Hollywood soon changed that and he became a blonde, Andersen also had dark hair but he kept it that way.

Unlike some earlier musicals, this film does have a strong story line with loads of songs written by "Baby, It's Cold Outside", Frank Loessen, such as Thumbelina, Ugly Duckling, No Two People, and of course Wonderful Copenhagen. The scenery is very clever, the backgrounds look like illustrations from fairy tale books, but as the camera zooms in to the foreground the buildings and props become three dimensional similar to a pop-up-book.

There are four ballet scenes that I probably found boring back in `52, but revisiting them now, they are visually very interesting, technically I wouldn't know if they are good or mediocre but for a Hollywood musical film, four ballets must of taken an enormous amount of consideration seeing as the film is really for kids. Once again the backdrops for the ballets also resemble fairy tale illustrations and pop-up-books.

Instead of a soprano, Andersen falls in love with a ballet dancer and here's a musical that doesn't have a very happy ending because poor Hans gets mixed up with a married woman. The ballet dancer Doro, is played by Zizi Jeanmaire, and is married to Niels played by Farley Granger. During the last part of the film, the audience is taken behind the scenes of the ballet company playing at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen, but this isn't a film of a show included in a show, similar to earlier musicals, but an uplifting musical film with lots of music with catchy tunes helped by a ton of children.

The last ballet scene takes 17 minutes, quite long for a popular movie. In the film Hans writes a story especially for his love Doro, unfortunately Niels locks him in a cupboard so Andersen never sees her perform but has to use his imagination.

The ballet takes place on land and under the ocean. The surface waves are pop-up so that the dancers can be seen dancing in between the swells, it's really very clever visually, and there's no trickery here. Under the sea filled with monsters and witches, the heroine is probably attached to a pulley so that she can be seen swimming for the surface. There are no blue screens in this film, all effects are up-front and work perfectly similar to a staged ballet. Once again the technicolor process is used and this enhances the fairy tale effect with vivid colors.

Hans Christian Andersen fairy stories are not violent when compared to the Grimm brothers, but the themes usually have a lesson, and in the story written for Doro's ballet, "The Little Mermaid," it is saying that aiming for the stars does not always bring happiness, but then of course Walt Disney hadn't yet arrived on the scene and he soon changed that philosophy.

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN presents a fanciful, fictionalised re-telling of the famed storyteller's life, highlighted by Frank Loesser's beautiful score and the perfect casting of Danny Kaye in the central role.

As the film opens, cobbler Hans is entertaining the children of Odense, Denmark, with yet another fantastic tale, much to the consternation of the schoolmaster who feels the children are having their time wasted when they should be studying. This seems to be the opinion of most of the townspeople, so Hans is politely told to leave town...for a while anyway. Hans and his young assistant travel to the bright lights and bustle of Copenhagen for a fresh start, but old habits die hard and soon Hans is entertaining a new group of children with his amazing storytelling talents. When Hans is engaged to make slippers and toe-shoes for the city's ballet troupe, he becomes entranced by the prima ballerina Doro (Zizi Jeanmaire in her film debut) not knowing that she's married to the troupe's tough choreographer Niels (Farley Granger). His story of "The Little Mermaid", inspired by Doro, becomes the ballet's new work, but discovering the truth, Hans returns to Odense a hero, his storytelling now famous all over Europe.

Danny Kaye is just was is called for in the role of Hans. His natural warmth, fatherly air and ability to combine pathos and heart serves him well in his performance. Zizi Jeanmaire as the glamorous Doro likewise is perfect casting (although Moira Shearer from "The Red Shoes" was first choice, pregnancy prevented her from doing the film). Having shot to fame in husband Roland Petit's ballet version of "Carmen", Jeanmaire adds a European beauty and elegance to her role, and Petit staged all the ballet numbers in this film too. Farley Granger's Niels is the perfect foil to Danny Kaye's innocent and childlike Hans, and the love triangle is thrillingly brought to life in the Dream Ballet.

Frank Loesser's score is what most people remember the film for, and it's one of the best written by the legendary composer-lyricist. He had just come from his phenomenal success on Broadway with the score of "Guys and Dolls" and Hollywood was eager for him to ply his trade for the movie musicals of the 1950's. Songs like "Thumbelina", "The Ugly Duckling", "Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen" and "I'm Hans Christian Andersen" have become well-known standards. "Inchworm", bookended by children chanting their times tables, is so lovely and gentle in it's beauty, and "No Two People" is a jaunty little duet for Hans and Doro in the Dream Ballet.

This film was beautifully-photographed by Oscar-nominee Harry Stradling. The film also received Oscar nominations for Costume Design (Mary Wills, Madame Karinska), Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Music Scoring (Walter Scharf), Best Song and Best Sound Recording. The Technicolor photography is absolutely stunning and the bold colours pop off the screen with their brightness and clarity.

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I fell hopelessly in love with Danny Kaye when I was 8 years old, and I'm still crazy about him many years later. . . no other performer of whom I'm aware has ever shown his unique combination of comic virtuousity, tenderness, silliness, physical bravado and dramatic depth.

He could also really sing, not just comically but straightforwardly, in his naturally rich, sweet lyric-tenor voice. If you really listen to the "Inchworm" song, you will hear just how fine his voice really was.

The ballet sequences in the movie transfixed me as an eight-year-old ballerina wannabe. Maybe they look hokey to present-day grownups, but I bet most kids would immediately understand.

One of the best movies ever!!!!

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This is a truly charming film for people of all ages.

Danny Kaye is perfectly cast as the famous and wonderful

story-teller, Hans Christian Anderson. I highly recommend this

very enchanting film, and would give it ten stars if I could!

Buy it, and your in for a real treat.

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When I was 11 years old, I wanted to marry Danny Kaye when I grew up; my parents kindly explained to me that he was dead. I still don't really believe it, though -Danny Kaye will always live on in the imaginations of his fans.

No comedian was ever so tender; no romantic actor was ever so silly. Danny Kaye is still my hero, and he always will be!

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Every now and then, you come across a film where everything was done just right. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of those films. Directed by Stephen Chbosky, who wrote the screenplay as well as the popular young-adult novel of the same name from which it was adapted, The Perks of Being a Wallflower seems to hit every note just right, capturing all of the tumult and the extreme highs and lows of adolescence as experienced by a group of friends in high school in Pittsburgh back in the early 1990's.

(*** Note: this review contains what some people feel to be spoilers, so if you're sensitive to such things, please stop reading now and just take my word that this is really well-done, enjoyable film and is well worth going out of your way to find and see. ***)

The film begins with 14-year-old Charlie (Logan Lerman) writing a letter to an anonymous "Dear Friend" about his nervousness about starting his first year in high school. He writes because he doesn't feel he can talk to his parents or his siblings about his anxieties, nor does he seem to have any real friends he can confide in, for reasons that are initially only hinted at in the internal narrative of his letters.

Charlie's anxieties prove to be well-founded as he finds himself isolated in his first few days at school, dodging upperclass jocks looking to harass new freshmen, torn between just wanting to be left alone and yet not wanting to feel alone. The only friend he makes his first day turns out to be his English teacher, Mr. Anderson (Paul Rudd), who notices Charlie writing down correct answers to questions he asks of the class but not holding up his hand to be called on. Sensing Charlie's reluctance to be noticed, Anderson reaches out to him, "You know they say if you make one friend on your first day you'll do good." To which Charlie glumly responds "If my English teacher is the only friend I make today, that'll be sorta depressing."

In spite of his tendency to withdraw from everyone, Charlie finds himself unexpectedly drawn into the orbit of an ultra-extroverted and over-the-top flamboyant senior named Patrick (Ezra Miller), who happens to be the only senior in his freshman shop class as well as a major source of annoyance to the shop teacher, Mr. Callahan (Tom Savini yes, for those who recognize the name, it's that Tom Savini). At the school's first football game, Charlie spots Patrick up in the bleachers and ventures up, hoping Patrick will invite him to sit with him, which Patrick cheerfully does. They are soon joined by another senior, a quirky but friendly girl named Sam (Emma Watson), to whom Patrick introduces Charlie and with whom Charlie is immediately encrushed. After the game, Patrick and Sam invite Charlie along to grab something to eat. The two seem so close to each other that Charlie mistakes them for being boyfriend and girlfriend. They laughingly correct him and tell him that they're actually step-siblings who found that they just get along really well-together, always liking the same music and always having each other's backs.

Gradually, Charlie is befriended by Patrick and Sam. At the homecoming dance, to which Charlie goes alone, he ends up dancing with Patrick and Sam, who then drag Charlie along with them to a party where he meets the rest of their circle: Bob (Adam Hagenbuch), an amiable stoner; Mary Elizabeth (Mae Whitman), who's bossy and opinionated; and Alice (Erin Wilhelmi), a proto-goth who's into film. At the party, Charlie unknowingly has his first hash-brownie, which causes him to loosen up to the point of sharing his observations on what he thinks of high school so far, which both amuses and impresses the others. He also later divulges privately to Sam that he hasn't been close to anyone since his best friend committed suicide the year before. Learning this, Patrick and Sam decide on the spot to bring Charlie into their circle of friends, with Patrick making it official by quipping "Welcome to the island of misfit toys."

As Charlie gets to know Patrick and Sam and their circle, he leans that all of them have their own set of individual issues they have to cope with. Patrick is fairly openly gay, but his boyfriend Brad (Johnny Simmons), one of the school's star football players, is very much in the closet and so they have to pretend to not really know each other in school. Sam, whom Charlie only sees as beautiful, smart and talented, has low self-esteem and always settles for guys, like her current boyfriend Craig (Reese Thompson), who always treat her badly. A problem shared by Charlie's sister, Candace (Nina Dobrev), whom Charlie sees being abused by her boyfriend. At one point, when Sam asks Charlie "Why do I and everyone I love pick people who treat us like we're nothing?" he repeats what his English teacher told him when he asked him the same question: "We accept the love we think we deserve." But when Charlie says it to Sam, he is finally beginning to understand what it means.

Chbosky does a fine job of touching on moments that almost everyone can relate to from their own high school experience. The intensity and fragility of adolescent relationships. The way you can sometimes find yourself in a relationship with someone you don't want to be involved with but don't know how to get out of, even as the person you really want to be with is in a relationship with someone else. And how formative moments can suddenly come in the most unexpected circumstances. Like when Patrick and Sam are driving Charlie home after the party and Sam, hearing a song on the radio that she immediately likes, demands that Patrick take the tunnel, where she cranks up the volume and then stands up in the back of the pickup and sways like she's dancing to the music as the tunnel lights flash by overhead. The image is simple and yet entrancing, and we, with Charlie, find ourselves falling in love with her.

Other moments are also well captured. Like when Charlie unexpectedly gets drafted to be the substitute Rocky in the group's live-cast act at the midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and suddenly finds himself nearly naked in gold lame hot pants in a theater full of people, doing the "Toucha-Toucha-Touch Me!" number with Sam's bodiced-and-boaed Janet. Another moment occurs at a party where Charlie his friends are playing truth-or-dare, when Charlie takes a dare and in an unwitting but truly honest moment commits an enormous faux pas, leaving him suddenly shunned by the entire group just as he was beginning to feel like he wasn't alone. And yet another moment reunites Charlie with the group when he comes to Patrick's rescue during a fight in the cafeteria with a ferocity that takes everyone aback a moment that for all its heroic nature also hints at Charlie's deeper problems. Problems that ultimately come to a crisis point when graduation comes and Charlie has to watch as his senior friends leave and he finds himself alone once again. It is to Chbosky's enormous credit that he avoids the usual Hollywood teen-movie approach and treats these situations much as they really are complicated, with no easy answers, and with wisdom often coming painfully and with a cost.

The young cast are all excellent in their roles, with standout performances by Lerman, Miller and Watson. Logan Lerman's Charlie is a complex mix, perceptive and yet naïve, a loner who finds loneliness unbearable, a friend who feels his friends deserve better than they get but cannot bring himself to feel that he does too. He can rise fiercely to the occasion when his friends are threatened but is as fragile as glass when the secrets he carries buried deep inside threaten to overwhelm him. Ezra Miller's Patrick is charmingly rendered, a character who uses his flamboyance to mask his frustrations and sometimes despair at the unfairness of life, only letting a very few, like Sam and eventually Charlie, inside his protective front. And Emma Watson's Sam is a bravura turn as a girl who comes to life among her friends but whose self-esteem withers when it comes to believing she has anything like a future waiting for her or that she can do better in her choices of boyfriends. All three are acting veterans Lerman (Percy Jackson & the Olympians), Miller (We Need to Talk about Kevin), and Watson (the Harry Potter films) but I think The Perks of Being a Wallflower will be a break-out film for all of them. Particularly for Emma Watson, who proves once and for all that she can be a lot more than just Hermione Granger.

But if the actors are extraordinary in their performances, credit must also be given to the heartfelt dialogue Chbosky's novel and screenplay provides them to work with. All are given wonderfully individual voices, but Charlie, as the would-be writer and ever observant `wallflower' among them, is the one ultimately speaks for all of them with an achingly earnest lyrical poetry, as he does at the end when once again he's with Patrick and Sam, driving through the tunnel and listening to the song they'd heard earlier, except that it is now Charlie who is standing in the back and swaying with the lights passing overhead:

"I know these will all be stories someday. And our pictures will become old photographs. We'll all become somebody's mom or dad. But right now these moments are not stories. This is happening, I am here and I am looking at her. And she is so beautiful. I can see it. This one moment when you know you're not a sad story. You are alive, and you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you're listening to that song and that drive with the people you love most in this world. And in this moment I swear, we are infinite."

Highly, highly recommended.

When I think of this movie, I think about perfection. Everything about it is spot on. The acting, the directing, the music, the story, everything. Had their not been so much focus on Argo, Lincoln, Zero Dark, and Les Mis, this movie would have won many awards.

The story keeps you guessing and is anything but predictable. There are several things hidden from you as the plot unfolds and right away the mind gets busy trying to figure everything out.

You feel very involved when watching Charlie's freshman year in high school progress. You root for him and are riding on his emotions, but you are also trying to understand who exactly he is.

Without spoiling anything, the basis goes like this: Charlie's best friend shot himself the summer before Charlie goes to high school. As a result, he enters high school as a loner and outcast, and has to try to get through the year with as little resistance as he can. Luckily he starts to make friends and you are brought into their lives with Charlie.

Many moral issues surface along the way. Not directly, but they are happening. With so much going on to the different characters, you are bound to be sucked in by this movie. One of the story lines will grab your heart and you will enjoy it. My sister doesn't even like movies, but we forced he to watch this and she loved it. We all did.

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I am 74 years old. The world is different now; there are more risks and more choices than when I was 15, but this movie reminded me of what it felt like to be 15 and 16 in 1954 and 1955. In those days homework was accompanied by radio with Rock and Roll music thanks to Alan Fried, Ranger hockey against Maurice Richard, and Gene Shepard,the best story teller of all time. Most of us had after school jobs which gave us enough spending money to begin making choices independent of our parents, and every day we left home and entered the world alone, with very little confidence but with the hope that everything was going to work out. Watching Charlie going through his day, observing the antics of his friends and trying to make sense of it all, brought tears to my eyes. The beauty of the movie is that it captures the universal experience of adolescence, and fortunately, as difficult as the experience may be, just like Charlie, most of us make it through.

Read Best Reviews of The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) Here

I just returned home from watching this film. I thoroughly loved it. If you are a child of the 1980s and enjoyed John Hughes films, you will love this movie. Take the best things about the 80s: making mix tapes for people you like, going to dances, having your first crushes, dealing with insecurities and shyness, knowing deep secrets about the popular people in school, but then combine all of the dramatic scenes with very powerful performances, and you have a film that is just a great watch and will make you experience every emotion. I laughed, teared up, felt sadness, and felt exuberance all in 1 hour and 42 minutes. I will see again, and I am definitely going to add to my video library. I'm also thinking about reading the book. If I were an Academy member, I would vote for this film for Best Picture before I would "Lincoln." I'm dead serious!

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"Welcome to the island of misfit toys." Charlie (Lerman) is a very very shy boy just starting his freshman year in high school. From his first day he counts down the days till he graduates. He meets two seniors Sam (Watson) and Patrick who help him adjust. There are few movies that can suck you in in the first minute. This is one of them. This is a movie that has a character that everyone can relate to, which is very rare these days. There are also movies that are so good that words can not express how good they are. This is also one of those. I honestly can not express how great this movie is and can not recommend this highly enough. I was actually fighting back tears almost the entire time (I almost made it) and for me saying that about a non-sports movie that is saying a lot. I really have nothing else to say except this is an absolute must see movie. Overall, WOW...just WOW. I give this an A+.

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Source Code (Blu-Ray +DVD) (2011)

SOURCE CODE has an element that is lacking in too many of the Hollywood CGI sci-fi experimental movies that are so very cloned these day humanity. Much of the credit for this quality comes from the intelligent and imaginative writing of Ben Ripley and the tight direction by Duncan Jones, but the main reason this film works so well is the presence of charismatic and fine acting by Jake Gyllenhaal.

The story borders on the obtuse: a device has been invented by Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) that can maintain a person in a state of recall much the way a light bulb has a glow after it has been extinguished. Rutledge has placed helicopter pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is missing in action in Afghanistan, in a capsule that is capable, under the direction of military officer Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), of projecting Stevens onto a train entering Chicago that has been planted with a bomb in order to discover the perpetrator who is apparently planning another bomb that will decimate the city of Chicago. It is a back and forth series of 8 minute exercises, each time Stevens relives the moments before a bomb detonation and gradually learns the the device and its owner. On board the train he meets Christina (Michelle Monaghan) who 'sees' Stevens as her boyfriend Sean and during these repeat flashbacks Stevens and Christina form a bond that makes Stevens re-think his 'purpose' in this military gimmicky.

*In the hands of the wrong people this little venture would seem trite and silly, but with this crew of creators it becomes a puzzle that touches on tension, fear, humor, and warmth. That is what a superb cast can do with any material, but with this particular strange tale it works perfectly. Grady Harp, July 11

I'm not going to tell you what this movie is about.

Why, you ask?

Any info will ruin the experience.

And what an experience it was.

Here's what I liked.

Brilliant storytelling.

Incredible acting from everyone.

Direction, pacing, score were all top notch.

Anything I didn't like?

No.

This film does what so few films do, it will make you think.

It touches on so MANY different themes.

Right.

Wrong.

Good.

Evil.

Moral.

Ethical.

This life.

The next.

And pretty much everything in between.

Brilliant.

In an age of movies filled with senseless violence, unnecessary nudity and swearing that would make a truck driver blush, it's refreshing to see a movie that simply does what films should do....tells a story.

A grand story that I give my highest recommendation.

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Acting awesome

Plot awesome

Directing -awesome

Effectsawesome

If you still enjoy being treated as an intelligent human being without compromising creativity, action, supsense, drama, sensuality, fun and believability in a movie then this one is for you. Awesome movie.

Read Best Reviews of Source Code (Blu-Ray +DVD) (2011) Here

I had been waiting for Source Code to come out since I saw the first trailer. Captain Colter Stevens is a helicopter pilot forced to relive the life of one Sean Fentress in order to catch a bomber. The premise is pure genius and the repeating of the same scene is kept fresh by the characters and the small changes that occur. Jake Gyllenhaal is a perfect fit for the main character. He is great at confused and wonderful as sympathetic. Michelle Monaghan is great playing off his character and Vera Farmiga is just terrific as she has to display multiple emotions with just her face. Jeffrey Wright's character is the only one not fully fleshed out but the movie doesn't really focus on him. Yes the ending might upset some people but it opens up a slew of questions (I've read so much stuff that people have written afterward) which is the hallmark of a good movie. Everyone should see this, especially fans of Fringe and the Matrix. I disagree with those who say it's like Groundhog day; it isn't.

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I thought this movie was really good up until the last 10 minutes when the wheels came off and it got all sappy. A sad ending would have made more sense.

Executive Decision (2011)

Okay, it's Die-Hard-on-an-airplane the way _Speed_ is Die-Hard-on-a-bus, _Under Siege_ is Die-Hard-on-a-battleship, and _The Rock_ is Die-Hard-at-Alcatraz. But it's a fine action flick and it beats the heck out of _Air Force One_.

I like Kurt Russell; to my mind he's never gotten the credit he deserves as an actor. And if (like me) you're not a big Steven Seagal fan, you'll be gratified to learn (about half an hour into the film) that he's _not_ the hero of the story.

This film probably couldn't have been made today. In the post-9/11 world, every moviemaker is carefully shying away from the 'Arab terrorist' stereotype; the screen adaptation of Tom Clancy's _The Sum of All Fears_ substituted neo-Nazis, and even the Gubernator took the safe route (using Columbian drug lords in _Collateral Damage_). But in fact, this script does a pretty good job of making clear that the head terrorist (David Suchet) is a loon who doesn't represent even the views of his collaborators, let alone those of the larger Arab/Muslim world.

Anyway, if you like a good action-suspense yarn, you'll like this one. Sure, parts of it are implausible, but less so than in lots of other good action films. And Russell makes an excellent hero.

Terrorists hijack a jumbo jet with over 400 passengers. Terrorist expert Dr David Grant (Kurt Russell) believes that the terrorists have nerve gas bombs on board and therefore, they can't let the plane enter US airspace, since the nerve gas could probably destroy the entire Washington DC. And they don't want to shoot them down, since that would lead to a big scandal. Instead, they send up a special military unit, led by Lieutenant Colonel Travis (Steven Seagal), to get on board the jumbo jet and take control over it. This turns out to be even more difficult than they had thought.

This is an action thriller that unfortunately doesn't seem as unrealistic now as it would've done some months ago, and some people would maybe prefer not to watch it because of the recent attacks. On the other hand, it could be interesting to watch because of that. Either way, it's a very good and well made movie. It's not so different from Air Force One and if you liked that one, you'll probably like this one and vice versa.

Steven Seagal's role is actually quite small, he's out of the movie after approximately half an hour, or even less, and you don't miss him. Kurt Russel, Oliver Platt, Halle berry and the other actors are good.

If you like quality action movies, here is one that will keep you at the edge of your seat for a little more than two hours. I really liked it!

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My attention was fixed to the TV like never before the first time I saw this come on cable. We need more films that can generate suspense as well as this did. But did they really have to have Kurt Russell's character get his foot stuck in that..."thing on the wall" near the end of the film? I think the movie producers could have come up with a better (and more believable) way to hinder him for the situation he was in. There goes the 5th star.

But, holy cow, did any movie foretell 9/11 better than this one? Airline security employees should have been made to watch this; maybe at least some of them would have believed an event like 9/11 was more probable and taken their job more seriously, preventing the disaster.

Read Best Reviews of Executive Decision (2011) Here

Even though Executive Decision today would remind the viewing audience of the tragic, if not cowardly attacks made by Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001 AD, it is still an entertaining and enjoyable action/suspensful/political thriller. I mean, if any film has Steven Segal killed off within the first 40 minutes of the picture (mirroring Roy Thinnes's demise in Airport 1975) and British actor David Suchet playing an excellent heavy, then it has to be worth watching.

Released in 1996 by Warner Brothers, Executive Decision was the directorial debut of British film editor Stuart Baird (Superman The Movie and Outland). With the material he had been given by screenwriters Jim and John Thomas, Baird does an excellent, if not remarkable job in film direction. Especially when it comes to the staging and filming of the action sequences.

The plot of the storyline centers around a group of Islamic Terrorists from the Middle East who hijack a 747 en route from Athens to Washington DC. The Islamic extremists main plan is to force the release of a known terrorist leader, who had been captured and imprisoned by British and American military forces.

Unknown to some of the terrorists, their leader has smuggled a Soviet nerve toxin gas left over from the Cold War. A nerve gas hooked up to a bomb, which is controlled by an al-Queida sleeper agent. The real purpose of the terrorist leader is soon revealed. His plans are to use the 747 as a weapon and detonate the nerve agent over Washington, killing all citizens there and those living along most of the East Coast.

Enter into the picture a group of U.S. Army anti-terrorist commadoes, along with a intelligence analyst/field operative from the Pentagon and an aircraft designer. Their mission is to transfer from a U.S. Air Force stealth fighter onto the 747 in mid-air, locate the nerve toxin, deactivate the bomb, kill all of the terrorists and sleeper agents with extreme prejudice, re-take the plane, and ensure the safety of the passengers and flight crew. Easier said than done. With the help of a courageous flight attendant/stewardess and a U.S. Sky Marshal, it becomes a fight to the death five miles above the Earth, with the fate of the U.S. Capitol and the eastern seaboard hanging in the balance.

Better than Air Force One, The Delta Force, The Die Hard Trilogy, and the Under Siege films, Executive Decision pulls all the punches and the stops when it comes to high flying action and high octane political thrillers. With a cast that consists of Kurt Russell, David Suchet (in a non-Hercule Poirot role), Halle Berry, Whip Hubley, Oliver Platt, B.D.Wong, Joe Morton, John Leguizamo, Andreas Katsulas, the late Charles Hallahan and J.T. Walsh, it is an ultimate winner in explosive action and political thrillers. Even the soundtrack by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith is explosive and excellent. One of his best soundtracks since the 1968 version of Planet Of the Apes.

If you enjoy films that deal with politics, the U.S. Government's policy of not negotiating with terrorists, and the right-winged, if not the best way, to eliminate Middle Eastern terrorism, then Executive Decision is the film for you. Civilian, veteran, any patriotic citizen who wants to stop terrorism dead in its tracks!

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In "Executive Decision", Kurt Russell stars as a reluctant hero who is charged with saving the country from a airborne terrorist attack on the US that would have unbelievable consequences on the country. Co-starring are Steven Seagal as Col. Austin Travis, the leader of a group of Army Rangers who provide Russell with the backup that he needs during the movie. Halle Berry (before she really became HALLE BERRY) stars as the brave airline attendant, Jean, who provides the Rangers and Russell with help during their counterattack.

The plot revolves around a terrorist group's reaction to the capture of their leader in the Mideast. Their response to the arrest is to take over control of an American airliner and hold the passengers for ransom. Or is that really their plan? Rather than provide the viewer with too many plot details, let me suffice to say that a significant plot twist occurs during the first third of the film that changes the pacing and interest level of the film dramatically.

Viewers who enjoy Kurt Russell's action movies and any of the "Die Hard"/"Lethal Weapon" genre' of films will certainly enjoy "Executive Decision". The action is pretty much non-stop and will keep many viewers on the edge of their seats.

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Night of the Living Dead

The five star rating I gave Night of the Living Dead is, of course, for the original, uncut, unadulterated edition. The original is, quite simply, the most terrifying movie I've ever seen, even when compared to horror classics like Diabolique (the original French version), Psycho, Rosemary's Baby, Halloween and The Shining. I saw NOTLD when I was 9 years old on Creature Features at midnight after a funeral. I had nightmares for the next two nights. The film still gives me the chills whenever I see it (usually at Halloween).

When the 30th Anniversary Edition came out, I bought it on VHS as I was curious to see what they termed as "new footage." What I got was a horrible mess that butchered the original film, removed the original music for a terrible synthesizer score and added pointless footage that makes the viewer want to grind his teeth down to the gums. One of the additions is a new character: a fire and brimstone preacher. While the acting in the original is amateurish, at best, the "actor" who plays the preacher makes the original cast look like Oscar winners by comparison. He snarls, and howls and gnashes his teeth like he has rabies. Even more ridiculous is the extra footage of Bill Hinzman -the "cemetary zombie" in the original. The extra footage shows Hinzman's character emerging from the grave, then cuts to the original 1968 opening footage with Judith O'Dea and Russell Streiner. It's absolutely ridiculous as Hinzman looks 30 years older in the new footage. In addition, there are more zombies and a new ending to the film that makes no sense whatsoever. This "new" version is a piece of trash that desecrates the most frightening film of all time. Avoid it like the plague!

ORIGINAL VERSION: *****

30 Anniversary version: No Stars

This review pertains only to the Millennium Edition DVD of Night of the Living Dead.

Okay...as I'd feared, my negative review of the John Russo-massacred "30th Anniversary Edition" of Night of the Living Dead has been lumped unwittingly into this product's review, so I' m writing this one to clarify.

This DVD edition is the best edition I've seen of the film yet. Anchor Bay may have raised the ires of legions of Living Dead fans by releasing the sacrilegious 30th Anniversary Edition, but Elite Entertainment did right by this new edition.

George A. Romero's personal appreciation appears in the back of this DVD -this immediately restores our faith. And the contents don't disappoint -the picture and sound are good, and though this doesn't exactly contain the richest batch of bonus materials (sets like the excellent 3-disc edition of Dario Argento's Suspiria and the recent double-disc Re-Animator both feature loads of extras), it is a nice solid collection. You get a Duane Jones interview (sadly with only audio and no image, but still great); an on-camera chat between Judith Ridley (Judy) and Marilyn Eastman (Helen); the hilarious student-film spoof "Night of the Living Bread" by Kevin S. O'Brien (which also appeared in the double-cassette VHS edition); two commentary tracks with Romero, Russo, Russ Streiner, Eastman, Karl Hardman and others. One very illuminating portion of this DVD for non-film-scholars is visually boring but informative -several histories outlining the beginning of Romero's Latent Image company, on Hardman and Eastman's company, and how the two were married to produce Night of the Living Dead.

THIS is the right edition of Night of the Living Dead, the one to get for both fans and non-fans alike. It includes all the necessary people (notice that Russo, Streiner and Bill Hinzman were included in this release, despite their criminal participation in the 30th Anniversary Edition), and it presents the film the way it wants to be seen.

Now I'm waiting for a deluxe release of Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead...

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This review pertains only to the "30th Anniversary Edition".

I had been collecting George A. Romero's "Living Dead" trilogy on DVD and had purchased this without paying enough attention. Big mistake.

Night of the Living Dead has had some colossally confusing release patterns thanks to a copyright gaffe which had enabled every company under the sun to release the film and profit from it. But of the 'rogue editions' I've seen, nothing is worse than this one.

Notice the list of personnel involved in this project: John Russo, Russ Streiner, Bill Hinzman...anybody missing? That's right: George A. Romero himself. This "30th Anniversary" edition is a collaborated effort by Romero's former colleagues in the Night of the Living Dead crew to rip off Romero's work and make a profit from it.

The result is disastrous indeed. The new footage written and directed by John Russo serve to butcher the original film. Not only do the new scenes not contribute to the story, they look amateurish, mostly due to horrible writing. Russo had always wanted to claim more credit for the success of Night of the Living Dead than was due him; this attempt at appropriating credit for the original film only shows that Romero is the only one who understands the concept of the Living Dead films. Russo's heinous, childish writing and direction -which are no better than that of the tongue-in-cheek soft-core videographers of, say, Seduction Cinema -barely rise above the level of beginner film students. And his claim that the new footage matches the old is just ludicrous. Basically Streiner, Russo, Hinzman et al. have raped Romero's film, trying to use their involvement in the original to steal credit from Romero's work, desperately trying to put as much of their handprint onto the original as possible with this 'new footage'. Well, one minute watching Dawn of the Dead will show you that Romero was the filmmaker, and the others were the hacks.

Yet another guilty party in this whole enterprise is Scott Vladimir Licina, who had composed a new score for the film and plays a priest in the new scenes. The new score jars terribly with the old footage, and Licina's acting is atrocious -reflective of the all-around low quality of the Russo footage.

Skip this one, crucify it, and leave it out for the zombies to chew on. This edition is a disgrace to Romero's legacy. Night of the Living Dead is one of the greatest horror films ever made; don't allow this sacrilegious edition to mislead your perception on the original film.

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Yes, Night of the Living Dead is an excellent, classic zombie movie, but the 30th anniversary edition is a sham with new footage, sound effects, and music haphazardly sandwiched in along with the original film. I have no problem with remaking a good movie. The 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead was fantastic. Remakes or remasters are one thing, but adding brand new scenes to such a beloved film makes no sense. The producers of this final product (George Romero was not involved) should be ashamed of ruining a classic movie.

The new footage, and when I say new, I mean new, shot 30 years after the original, has little to do with the original and really disturbs the flow. New sound effects and score are so heavy handed that they distract you from actually enjoying the movie.

Please be aware that you are not buying a remastered Night of the Living Dead, but a remastered Night of the Living Dead with several new unrelated scenes, music, and sound effects. I just don't want anybody else to get burned on this like I did.

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There are plenty of DVDs out there for George Romero's original classic "Night of the Living Dead," most of which are just as nasty as those VHS versions you used to find in the discount bin at your local video store: scratchy, grainy, unfocused video with muddy, muffled audio. There is also the now-infamous "30th Anniversary" DVD, which needlessly jams new scenes into the original movie (kind of like George Lucas's "Star Wars Special Editions," but with more flesh-eating).

But the only--I repeat, ONLY--DVD of "Night" worth touching is one released by Elite Entertainment. This gorgeous DVD is essentially the same package as the one Elite released on VHS through Anchor Bay a few years back: a pristine print of "Night," along with trailers & an amusing parody film called "Night of the Living Bread" (get it? get it?). This DVD also includes two audio commentary tracks featuring various members of the cast & crew & commercials that George Romero directed back in the '60s! All in all, this is far superior to anything else on the market. Seek it out--it's well worth the effort!

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The Thieves (2012) (2012)

Get over the subtitle issue and watch this movie. The cast delivers great performances. The story's complexity unfolds wonderfully. I was thoroughly entertained by the stunts and action sequences. Many top notch movies have incredible stunts and action sequences but this movie takes the sequences to a significantly higher level... Watch is and let me know what you think...

Caper flicks have been done before. For the record, the French have had a few solid outings. I've yet to see anything significant from the Russians. The Brits can pull them off with surprising aplomb, as can many other production houses throughout the United Kingdom. I would have to say, though, that the United States has put out the lion's share of the truly memorable ones. I couldn't say why that is exactly; maybe it's that I haven't seen enough foreign imports, or maybe it's just that U.S. production companies have a singular knack for taping into that exceptional mix of action and comedic charm needed to pull it off so winningly.

If THE THIEVES is any indication, then South Korea may be set to give the Americans a good run for their money.

(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and characters. If you're the kind of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I encourage you to skip down to the last two paragraphs for my final assessment. If, however, you're accepting of a few hints at `things to come,' then read on ...)

Popeye (played by Jung-Jae Lee) and his crew of thieving misfits (among them Hae-suk Kim as Chewingum; and the lovely Gianna Jun as Yenicall) are "hot" ... and not in a good way. Their last job drew the attention of the local police. Now needing to lie low, they agree to take a job with an old friend of Popeye's the mysterious Macao Park (Yun-seok Kim) to steal the `Tear of the Sun' diamond, a gem valued at a cool $20 million. The hitch? The diamond is kept in a private safe inside the busiest casino in Macau. However, the complexity of the job requires that they team up with another squad of professional burglars, this one headed by Chen (the reliable Simon Yam). Needless to say, things do go as planned, and, before all is said and done, they'll be running for their lives from the police, one another, and the ruthless ganglord Wei Hong (Ki Guk-Seo)!

I could go on and on with great praise for THE THIEVES, but what's the use? It's the kind of picture that you're either going to see or you're not (many will pass on it solely because it's a foreign release, and they don't know what a delight they're missing). So let me say this: it's a heist picture a very clever one scripted by Dong-Hoon Choi (as the director) and Lee Gi-Cheol all built around an ensemble of ten of the most gifted Eastern actors working in cinema today. The U.S. already did this kind of thing (recently) with the OCEAN'S ELEVEN franchise which had a solid first outing so THIEVES is, bit by bit, much of the same, but, to my tastes, it's far more witty and inventive due to the fact that there are several overlapping stories at work here. There are crosses and double-crosses, all with a back story involving three of the main characters, and it's an utter joy seeing how it comes together in the grand finish. Suffice it to say, it probably won't be the way audiences predicted; and there's just enough opening left in the conclusion to leave room for a follow-up should all of the players be interested.

Lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that THIEVES presently holds the title of the single highest grossing film in Korean history, an honor not all that surprising to this reviewer; it's precisely the kind of crowd-pleasing film audiences flock to again and again. Also, it won the award for Best Supporting Actress (Hae-suk Kim) and was nominated for Best Director (Dong-Hoon Choi) at the 2012 Grand Bell Awards; it won the Audience Award for the Best Narrative Feature at the 2012 Hawaii International Film Festival; and it was nominated for Best Cinematographer, Best Editor, and two Best Supporting Actresses (Gianna Jun AND Hae-suk Kim) at the 2013 Asian Film Awards. So, yes, it's that entertaining!

THE THIEVES is produced by CJ Venture Investment, KM Culture Co., Michigan Venture Capital, and Showbox/Mediaplex. DVD distribution (stateside) is being handled through the ever-reliable Well Go USA. As for the technical specifications, I watched this on Blu-ray, and it's perfect: the sound is crisp and well-balanced (sometimes an issue with foreign imports), and the images colors and visuals are stunning. Plus, there's some magnificently nifty camerawork throughout; no expense was spared in getting this ensemble caper to look good on the silver screen. For the record, this is a Korean language film with English-subtitles (no dubbing, though there are a few scenes spoken in English). As for the special features, please allow me to jump up on my soapbox and complain (once more) than you just couldn't put enough tidbits on here to make me happy; sadly, there are only two a all-too-brief `making of' short and an even shorter `Meet the Thieves' infomercial along with the theatrical trailer. Needed more I know it's difficult but it needed more.

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION POSSIBLE. Let me say this: there are a few comedic bits that, apparently, don't translate all that well in THE THIEVES. After all, comedy is so very culturally driven, and, in the translation, some of the comic visuals and the dialogue don't work as well as it should for Western audiences (try telling a joke and then butchering the punchline, and you'll get what I mean). Otherwise, THIEVES is an unmitigated home run, the kind of which will probably get an Americanized remake in about five or ten years that'll be far less charming than the original. Rent it now. See it now. You'll be glad you did.

In the interests of fairness, I'm pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Well Go USA provided me with an advance DVD screener of THE THIEVES for the expressed purposes of completing this review ... and I'm forever indebted to them for making me aware that such a fun piece of unrelenting action came this way from distant shores.

Buy The Thieves (2012) (2012) Now

PART MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 4 AND PART OCEAN'S 11. If you enjoy caper films then try this! I loved it

Explosions! guns! and double crosses!

Read Best Reviews of The Thieves (2012) (2012) Here

It's a simple story of 10 thieves all trying to work together to pull off a big job but at the same time backstabe everyone else and make off with the loot.

If you're up for a thriller, this is a good one.

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Wonderful Movie. I enjoyed it very much. I liked the twists in the plot and the fight scenes were good, also the special effects.

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Kes (The Criterion Collection) (1969)

Kes

Directed by Ken Loach

Starring David Bradley, Colin Welland, Brian Glover

Criterion | 1969 | 110 minutes | Rated PG-13

Video:

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC

Video resolution: 1080p

Aspect ratio: 1.66:1

Audio:

English: LPCM Mono

English: Dolby Digital Mono

Subtitles:

English SDH

Disc:

Single 50GB Blu-ray Disc

Region A locked

The film contains brief nudity and scenes which may disturb young children.

Kes is a very British film, winning two BAFTA awards from its five nominations. Colin Welland won for best supporting actor and was the only professional actor in the film. David Bradley won for most promising newcomer.

The story deals with a troubled young boy, Billy Casper (Bradley). He is bullied by his older brother at home and similarly treated by his peers in school. He's insolent, not above lying or stealing and does little to encourage people to like him. He's a loner.

The setting is Barnsley, Yorkshire, in the north of England. If you have ever seen this part of England depicted in other films, you'll know that it's a poor area populated largely by working class people. In the 1960s, that was very much the case. Billy's brother worked in a coal mine, as did most of the town. The two had to share the same bed, so you can imagine how poor they were.

Anyone unfamiliar with British accents may find the thick Yorkshire dialect hard to follow. It's the main reason that Kes wasn't given a wide release outside England. I'm completely at home with the accent because my grandfather came from Barnsley. He often talked about his tough upbringing and it gives the film additional meaning for me. His father was a miner and my grandfather only escaped that fate by joining the army.

We see Billy on his paper route, taking time off to read his comic. He also steals eggs from the milkman. Milk is still delivered to each home in the UK in this manner. When his mother and brother go out to a bar on the weekends, Billy is left at home on his own. His brother beats him and the house is generally filled with the sound of his mother and brother arguing loudly. He doesn't say much at school, but is often the target of bigger boys.

Early in the film, Billy is taking a walk through the countryside and spies a kestrel. He watches for a while and sees that two kestrels are taking food to a nest. After stealing a book about falconry from a local bookstore, he climbs up to the nest and steals a young kestrel. The bird provides an escape from his unpleasant existence and quickly becomes the focus of his life. This seemingly uneducated boy has discovered his passion. He reads the stolen book and trains the kestrel.

One day, in class, he is asked by a teacher, Mr. Farthing (Welland), to tell the other kids a true story about his life. He's reluctant and says that he doesn't have any, but one of the kids mentions his kestrel. This leads to one of the strongest and most emotional scenes in the film. He's disinterested in everything he is taught and the people around him, but talking about the bird is a different matter. Billy comes alive when he describes how he devotes his time to feeding and training the bird, who he names Kes. Farthing is engrossed in the story and sees for the first time that there's more to Billy than he imagined. He starts to look out for the boy and even visits him to watch him train Kes. It's a strong performance from Welland and he deserved his BAFTA award.

The other teachers wouldn't have a job in modern society. They shout continually and are deeply suspicious of the kids' behavior. The headmaster uses the cane and doesn't seem to mind whether those being punished were truly to blame. The gym teacher cheats at soccer and punishes Billy with a cold shower for conceding a goal. Farthing is the only one who looks at the kids as if they are young people with a chance to make something of their lives.

There's a strong political message in the film, confirmed during interviews in the special features, that many kids have no chance to escape their miserable reality. Billy visits a careers officer who only seems interested in placing him in a pigeon hole. He'll either work in an office if he has the aptitude, or he'll become a miner. The writers talk about how two-thirds of their generation suffered a similar fate. When we see Billy so animated, talking about Kes, it's a sign of his true potential. Will it be recognized or will his life be written off by others as insignificant? This is the essence of the film, along with how Billy substitutes friendship with his love for Kes.

Billy's dishonest nature eventually becomes a problem for him and there are some extremely sad scenes.

The story is based on the book A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines. Bradley was 14 when the film was made and was chosen from pupils who attended the school mentioned in the book. All of the children came from one of three schools in the town. The gym teacher (Brian Glover, Alien 3) was a real teacher at the time and Kes was his first film.

Video Quality 4.5/5

The film was made in 1969 on a low budget, but looks wonderful. Criterion's restoration was approved by director Ken Loach. There are occasional white speckles and softness, but the new transfer looks natural and full of detail. This is exactly what I would expect from Criterion, who, along with Disney, continue to maintain the highest possible standards.

Audio Quality 4/5

Two options are offered on the menu: The filmmaker's original soundtrack with production dialogue (English LPCM 1.0) and the internationally released soundtrack with postsync dialogue (English Dolby Digital 1.0). I recommend the original version. Everything is clear, including the dialogue, but some viewers may benefit from the English subtitles due to the heavy Yorkshire accent.

Special Features 5/5

Making Kes (45 minutes, 1080p) tells you everything you might want to know about the film. Criterion interviewed director Ken Loach, producer Tony Garnett, actor David Bradley and cinematographer Chris Menges in 2010 to discuss their recollections.

The South Bank Show (50 minutes, 1080i) looks at the career of Ken Loach.

Cathy Come Home (77 minutes, 1080i) is an early film from Loach and Garnett shown here in its entirety.

Trailer (3 minutes, 1080p)

Booklet (22 pages) including an essay by Graham Fuller

Kes is a wonderful human interest story with a number of deeper themes thrown into the mix, although the story ends rather abruptly. The largely amateur cast was authentic and did a good job of portraying life in Barnsley. It's on record at IMDB as being director Krzysztof Kieslowski's (The Double Life of Veronique, Three Colors Trilogy) favorite film. I wouldn't quite go that far, but it's certainly worth owning. Amazon.com has it at the bargain price of $18.99 at the time of writing. I'm glad I took advantage.

Overall score 4.5/5

A beautiful and tender story that turns around a 15 year-old Yorkshire boy who tames and trains his pet. One of the most remarkable films of that decade directed by that young and raising promise. Ken Loach.

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I enjoyed this story when I read it at school in the 70's and this is the fourth or fifth time I have watched the movie.

Very realistic socially (I grew up just a few miles from where this is filmed) and don't doubt that the PE teacher is based in reality.

Touching and emotional.

Read Best Reviews of Kes (The Criterion Collection) (1969) Here

This film is so beautiful-i saw it in the U.K.I really wish they would release in U.S format so i could have it to keeeep!!It is very realistic real film that gets right under your skin and into the little boy's head.Life is stark and hard for him but when he flys or handles that bird ,it sets his soul free.Not much time left-he's soon going to grow up and have to work in the mine and be smothered by mundane grind like folks around him.Heartbreaking without an once of sentimentality so this film gets you.Somewhat upsetting.But so goddam beautiful.

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4 1/2 Stars

Ken Loach's acclaimed 1973 film "Kes" is one of the saddest films I've ever seen, literally ever. 90% percent of this film is shown with scenes displaying the public disapproval of small loner Billy Casper; be it by his teachers, peers, or family. No matter where he gos there is always Something someone finds to disapprove of in poor Billy: His appearance, attitude, or just the simple fact that he exists. He is a kid whose past is percieved as horrible, present is obiviously miserable, and whose future is looking as dim as the mine shaft he's destined to plunge into. But in all of this darkness there is one small bright shade of light: Kes. A beautiful kestrel taken from a monastery wall by Billy. He seems to be the only thing in this world that Casper takes a natural interest to. "It's just a bird!" His mother shouts, but it's not. Its his sole reason left for existing.

We have all felt down and out in our lives, but only a few of us have ever reached the level of hopelessness that fills Billy's life. The flying scenes with Billy and kes are brief but beautiful, for they show a kid regaining his reason to live when his society told him he had none. "They beat him. They Deprived him. They Ridiculed him. They Broke his heart. But they could not break his spirit." That is the tagline for this film, and I don't think they could've made one that summed up this film better. In some ways I believe that Kes represents Billy in that he feels the need to take flight, to go make something of himself, but is trapped by the forces of his own environment (that leash).

At Kes' Conclusion we are left in want of a resolution, but are sadly denied it. That to me is what makes the film so painful, we hope deep down that Billy finds a way out of his current situation but everything looks doubtful. All I keep thinking is how many children out there share a similar childhood to Billy's, and all I hope is that each of them has their own Kes. Because without hope, without that spirit, what reason is there for living?

This is not a film that would be enjoyed by a massive american audience. This is not Old yeller and it is certainly not Free Willy. Many will find it overly depressing (which isn't an irrational complaint) and the thick yorkshire accents are difficult to follow (These are not Gosford Park accents). But I would state that this film is incredible for its poigancy, emotional power and the very natural performance by David Bradley. The cinematography is exceptional, especially since the film had such a meager budget, and Ken Loach's directing is acclaimed for a reason. If you are looking for a film with a powerful emotional impact, thou can't go wrong with Kes.

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Trials of Life

A must see for any nature lover, great for kids to watch... I have watched it several times and the photography amazes me every time!

I was mesmerized when i saw this British documentary series on US television c. 1993, and viewing it 14 years later i was still awed.

Quite simply, this is the best nature series i've ever seen, and i've seen hundreds of them, since i fell in love with "wild kingdom" as a kid back in the early 1970s.

Better than the classic 1960s Disney nature films? Yes.

Better than the classic Jacques Cousteau specials? Yes.

Better than the classic National Geographic specials? Yes.

Better than the other Attenborough nature series, Life on Earth and Life in the Freezer? Yes.

Better than the 2006 Planet Earth series? Yes.

Better than anything ever done by the PBS Nature series or by Discovery Channel or Animal Planet? Yes.

Trials of Life is the best 600 minutes of Nature footage ever released to the public. All 12 episodes are great, not a clunker in the bunch.

If you like nature shows and have never seen this, buy the DVD immediately. You can actually get it cheaper from Amazon-UK.

The only way this could be improved is if they released it on Blu-Ray, but for now, DVD is the best option available.

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This is the 3rd entry in the David Attenborough Life series following The Living Planet. The groundbreaking first series Life on Earth was based on evolution and started with bacteria making its way up to modern humans over the course of 13 episodes. The Living Planet was 12 episodes long and dealt mainly with adaptation over a wide range of environments that also incorporated more Earth science along with the life science in terms of geology and environments. The Trials of Life is all about animal behaviour.

While the first two in the life series are very similar The Trials of Life is a little different in that Attenborough has less screen time because animal behaviour needs to be captured discreetly. So most of it is one large narration however there are classic moments where Attenborough does appear. So be prepared for a little cutback in how often you see him engage wildlife.

This is also the harshest of the three and nature red in tooth and claw does emerge more often. For example this is the series with the classic footage of killer whales crashing onto beaches to capture seals and then taking them out to sea only to toss them into the air using their tails before eating them. We also have Chimpanzees hunting and killing monkeys with their bare hands. Sea lions take out their aggression on pups. So be prepared for it.

The 12 episodes are mainly about births, growth, finding food, hunting and evading, navigation, housing, communities, fighting, interactions, communication, courting and mating. It is a wonderful series and worth hunting down if you can find it even if it does sometimes redo some of what was in the first two series and not so much Attenborough, however The Trials of Life is worth it for the Killer Whale scenes alone.

As a note some of the animal behaviour covered in Richard Dawkins' books that where written before The Trials of Life are filmed in this series.

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Attenborough is one of the great videographers of all time, and I have never seen anything by him that I didn't like. What sets this series apart is its central focus on animal behavior. Even after all this time, the illustration of key concepts in the study of animal behavior is generally spot on. Some of the videos such as the killer whales attacking seals on an Argentine beach or the birds of paradise courting are among the first of their kind, and thus have a place in history in terms of documenting behavior that had not been filmed previously, or not been filmed well. I wish it was available in the US format; however, these DVDs can be read by certain players (I use VLC media player) on your PC without monkeying with your DVD player's region settings. And, if you have a Roku or equivalent, they can be streamed from your PC to your TV. Be aware that the resolution of video is NOT high-def.

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I had this a long time ago and loved it so it was a replacement. David Attenborough is one of our families heroes. My daughter and I always loved this and she is now going to college to be a zoologist. I am sure James Herriot, Jack Hanna, the Krat Bro.s and Steve Irwin (God rest)and her Moms obsession had something to do with this as well but David, well he is a charmer!

This series has stuff that may now be old news but when it came out it was like WOW I can't believe animals are that smart. I can't wait to build on my collection.

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Gorgo (1961)

I first saw "Gorgo" as a kid, when it was released theatrically in 1961--in fact, I went to see it several times. To this day, it is one of my favourite "giant monster on the loose" films. I suppose the quickest way to describe "Gorgo"

is to say that this was Britain's answer to Godzilla, Japan's iconic creature of destruction. However, I still find "Gorgo" several cuts above most films of this type.

Two rather unscrupulous divers/salvagers (Bill Travers and William Sylvester) capture a huge, prehistoric beast (it looks like an over-sized, aquatic T-Rex) off the coast of Ireland. Ignoring pleas from the Irish government and scientists who want to study this amazing animal, our two "heroes" are more interested in someone who will "show me the money !" That "someone" is a circus-owner in London, where the creature is put on display for the ticket-buying public. However, when scientists do their homework, they conclude that this "huge" animal is really just a baby ! Could there be a parent somewhere ? You bet ! "Mom" appears--all 200 feet of her--mad as hell, and headed straight for London. Can the Royal Navy stop her ? Fuggedaboutit ! The Airforce ? Just like swatting flies ! The Army ? They might as well use pea-shooters ! "Mom" reaches London--trashes the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus etc. before rescuing junior. Memo to Man--don't mess with Mother Nature !

One reason that "Gorgo" is superior to similar films is the cast. Travers and Sylvester are both good actors, although child-star, Vincent Winter, steals every scene he is in. Eagle-eyed film buffs will also spot Nigel Green for about five seconds. For 1961, I would rate the special effects as well above average. While both creatures are "men in suits", careful editing ensures that your sense of belief can still be suspended. The model work is particularly good--the scenes of destruction are very effective for a 45-year old film. The cinematography is top-notch, hardly surprising when you see that Freddie Young was responsible. Angelo Lavagnino's music score is also to be praised.

"Gorgo" was directed by Eugene Lourie, the third of his "giant lizard trilogy". In 1953, Mr. Lourie unleashed the first film in this genre, "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" (with a lot of help from the king of stop-motion animation, Ray Harryhausen), and in 1958 he attacked us with "The Giant Behemoth". "Gorgo", however, was the only one in colour.

The quality of this DVD is excellent--widescreen, nice colour. For years I had to suffer with an awful VHS tape--even two different laserdiscs were not a major improvement. The DVD also includes an interesting behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the film, a photo gallery and several biographies. Kudos to VCI also for the cute menu--I will not spoil it for would-be purchasers--let's just say that the scene of London has been "updated" !

For reasons of personal nostalgia, I would give this DVD 4 1/2 stars. Younger viewers, used to CGI wizardry, may find the title monsters a bit quaint, but this is a handsome film, well acted and the finale is refreshingly different to many such movies. If you like "creature features", "Gorgo" belongs in your collection. Recommended.

I saw Gorgo when it was first released in the movies in 1960 and I'm probably the movie's biggest fan. This 'Destruction Edition' release by VCI is the first serious print of the movie to be sold. The bonfire scene on Nara Island where Gorgo makes his first appearance is restored to visual perfection. It looks like it was actually printed from the negative as do many other scenes in this release. It seems like all the criticism heaped on VCI for releasing the atrocious previous version with its near black scenes paid off. The fans of Gorgo , which are many, deserved and got this restoration. Unfortunately the glee I felt initially with seeing Gorgo finally restored was short lived when the most bizarre thing occurred.

I began to notice the soundtrack was cheaply tampered with in an attempt to guess 'enhance it'. Now mind you I have seen probably ten different video releases of Gorgo all of which had awful print quality but the movie's soundtrack was never ruined or doctored in any way. Now finally we have a decent restoration of the print and what happens some genius at VCI instead of just enhancing the volume of Gorgo which has one of the greatest soundtracks in monster movie history

, they decide instead to do the unthinkable and tamper with it by adding the tinny lifeless roar used in the DVD screensaver and drowning out the masterful original monster sounds in the movie. They also add echoes and assorted sirens and machine gun fire. So you hear machine guns in a scene where three guys are shooting with rifles. These baffling alterations undo much of the great visual restoration VCI made an admirable effort to attain and I have to say ruin the outcome making many key scenes seem to fall out of synch. It's an annoying distraction that sabotages the robust power and flow the movie's sound is known for. A classic is a a classic because of it's special unique qualities that the public loves about them, the best we can do is preserve them not change them. Not to mention the violations of artistic ethics and integrity. Imagine changing King Kong's roar or Fay Wray's scream.

Oh well,maybe this will set up the release of a VCI corrected version. We'll buy it.

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I remember this film showing on TV in NY, well, it seemed like every Saturday when I was a kid. It came with one of the funniest typical TV Guide blurbs I remember from those days, something like: "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bring that prehistoric monster back to London. Now its mother is coming looking for it." And that was it. And that IS it. That's the plot. Ambitious get-rich-quick guys find monster, bring it back to London over the objections of local boy who is wiser than all the adults in the picture, put it on display a la King Kong or Mighty Joe Young, and find something two or three times larger marching up the Thames Estuary soon after looking for its offspring. Plenty of mayhem ensues, of course. This is not quite up there with the classic Japanese monster films, but it will entertain you. The extras on the DVD are good too.

Read Best Reviews of Gorgo (1961) Here

England's answer to KING KONG (RKO,1933) and GODZILLA (Toho,1954) was the independently produced GORGO, which was released by MGM in 1961. Although lacking the iconic stature of its two cinematic precursors, GORGO is nonetheless a thoughtful, well mounted monster on the loose tale that's still largely underrated.

The story concerns the discovery and capture of a prehistoric creature off the coast of Ireland, which is then transported to London where it becomes the star attraction in a circus. The exhibition comes to an abrupt end when the creature's gargantuan mother arrives to claim her offspring and levels London in the process.

Directed by dino-film veteran Eugene Lourie, GORGO features good performances from its two leads, Bill Travers and William Sylvester, as the sea divers who capture Gorgo and then begin to differ over the morality of the venture. The heart of the film resides in young Vincent Winter's sensitive, intelligent portrayal of the orphaned boy who empathizes with the baby behemoth and its mother. John Loring and Maurice King's screenplay is made interesting by its setting, and cinematographer F. A. Young was able to get some excellent footage along Ireland's fishing coastal region. GORGO's special effects were provided by Tom Howard, and the climactic destruction of London is an impressively staged/executed sequence combining an actor in a monster suit, miniatures, full scale sets, travelling mattes and a large number of fleeing extras. There's an organic, solid quality to these kinds of effects that's infinitely more satisfying to me than the most sophisticated CGI. When those buildings are smashed to smithereens they collapse spontaneously, not in some digitally controlled manner. GORGO's depiction of chaos and devastation is still convincing even after 50 years. What also serves the film well is Angelo Lavagnino's atmospheric music score, which gives it a delicate tone that conveys the parent/child relationship theme while contrasting with the powerful crescendos heard during the rampage scenes.

VCI Entertainment has upgraded their previous DVD of GORGO with a spectacular looking Blu-ray edition that helps us appreciate even more what a well made film this is. Prints of GORGO have always been problematic, with either brownish or washed out color. While the Blu-ray finally corrects this issue, the original process photography and composite optical printing techniques compromised the final result in many scenes, and this needs to be appreciated when watching the film in HD. In the final analysis, GORGO now looks the best it's likely to look, and fans are encouraged to pick up this eye-filling release.

Besides offering a great looking transfer of the movie, VCI has packed in a plethora of extras to sink your teeth into including a making of documentary, two full length comic book adaptations, a lobby card and poster gallery, photo gallery, a toys and collectibles gallery, production notes, original trailer, pressbook gallery, optional music and effects track, and a before/after restoration video. It all adds up to a long awaited, well deserved presentation of one of the best giant monster movies of all time.

Highly recommended.

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The first thing you should know about VCI's "Gorgo-Widescreen Destruction Edition" is that it is missing about 2 or 3 minutes of footage, confirmed by the fact that its running time has been reduced to 73 minutes, although the box lists the full 76 minute version. The first problem you will encounter when watching the films is during Angelo Lavagnino's excellent opening score when there seems to be an echo effect, as if the stereo tracks where out of sync with each other, resulting in the music becoming a garbled mess. Such audio problems occur throughout the feature. Strangely, there seems to have been some additional sound effects added over the original soundtrack. Except for the missing footage, the MGM Technicolor print used for the transfer is in excellent condidtion. As a bonus there is a "behnd the scenes" documentary that, although it runs only about 10 minutes, it is very authoritative and informative. The label on the container is an excellent reproduction of MGM's original poster art. This is one of the worst DVD releases I have yet encounted. It makes me wonder if anyone at VCI bothered to insure that a complete print was being used and that picture and sound are transfered properly. Someone at the company should have at least watched one of the discs before they started shipping them out. Save your money and wait for a better release.

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