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Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Extra tracks, Widescreen
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number of discs: 7
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Release Date: November 3, 2009
Run Time: 532 minutes
Movie
Since this is a boxed set and contains six movies each one will get it’s own star rating
Rocky- The Undisputed Collection on Bluray
Rocky Movie:
Undisputed is a pretty bold name considering this box set almost gets KO’d in the first round!
Rocky eventually became a Hollywood joke to some. Just look at Airplane II- They spoof the Rocky movies with a poster of Rocky XXXVIII in one scene. Part of this joking and poking fun of the franchise is Stallone’s fault, but he is man enough to admit to that.
People do forget though that Rocky started out as a major contender and even won an Academy award for best picture back in 1976.
What sets Rocky apart from the rest of the franchise is the character development. Most people seem to only remember the fight at the end, but the majority of the movie was all about the characters. That’s why Rocky worked so well, people cared about the characters and what was happening to them.
Even the bad guy wasn’t truly a bad person. Apollo Creed was clearly modeled after Muhammad Ali. Ali was a showman, same as was Apollo. There never really was any animosity between Apollo and Rocky in the first film, just two boxers fighting. Granted Apollo had no respect for Rocky’s fighting ability, but that doesn’t make him a ‘bad guy’.
An interesting foot note is that in the original screenplay there were some truly nasty characters that would qualify as bad people… and Rocky was probably the worse of them all! The original story showed a very different Rocky, one that actually did break...
Title: 2012
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover, Amanda Peet
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Written by: Roland Emmerich & Harald Kloser
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 158 Minutes
Release Date: 3/2/2010
Movie
Every decade or two, society must endure some sort end of the world, the rapture is coming thing. I grew up in the eighties and remember being terrified of random dates someone had gotten from Nostradamus and applied predictions of a global nuclear war to. I couldn’t sleep for almost a week after seeing ‘The Day After’. In the nineties it was all about the millennium and how the world was going to end as we knew it on New Year’s Eve 1999 by computer code that would launch all nuclear weapons but by this time I was much wiser to the whole thing and a network engineer. In its current form, the end of the world will come in ‘2012’ which is based on the notion that the world will end on December 21, 2012 because that is when the Mayan calendar ends. Of course there are multiple theories about how it will happen from “geomagnetic reversal” to “black hole alignment” but the end result is the same.
We already know that Roland Emmerich can destroy the planet like no one has done before and 2012 gives him another reason to do what he does best. In his latest “end of the world as we know it” spectacle, the director takes us on a journey through what I feel is his best looking and best sounding destruction of the planet earth to date and one that should get people to start forgetting ‘10,000 B.C.’
The movie begins in 2009 when Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a government geothermal scientist, is presented with evidence that the sun is producing solar flares bigger than any other time in history. These flares are causing the earth’s core to heat at a rapid pace which will eventually cause the planet’s crust to detach and shift. Adrian informs the white house chief of staff Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) who in turn arranges a meeting with President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover). Six months later, now 2010, President Wilson meets with the leaders of other countries to inform them what has been found once all of the data had been validated....
Title: Cop Out
Starring: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Sean Williams Scott, Adam Brody
Directed by: Kevin Smith
Written by: Robb Cullen & Mark Cullen
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 hr 50 min
Release Date: February 26, 2010
Movie
I'll start this review off by saying; this is a slapstick comedy. The sole purpose of it is to sit back, relax the brain and enjoy the movie.
With that said, Cop Out is your typical buddy cop movie. Lots of laughter, better action than you would imagine, and even more laughter. Jimmy (Willis) and Paul (Morgan) play a cop duo, showing both their cop life and their home life. Obviously being cops takes up a large portion of their life. Paul feels that his marriage is crumbling because he has a feeling that his wife is having and affair. Jimmy's daughter is preparing for her wedding, and not wanting her step dad to pay for the 50 thousand dollar wedding, he decides to sell a baseball card that has been passed down to him from his father, which is worth well more than the wedding. Jimmy is mugged upon selling it, capturing only a glimpse of the thief.
After being suspended from the force for a poor job out in the field, Jimmy has to find that baseball card more than ever. Without an income coming in, he surely wouldn't be able to afford the wedding. Paul joins Jimmy in finding the thieves. They work their way to the under underground of the crime world. They even work for the head honcho. They steal a car for him, they get the baseball card. Jimmy, being desperate agrees to do so.
Working with Dave (Williams Scott), Paul and Jimmy have now reversed their thoughts about working for the crime lord. Now knowing there is to be some killing of a lady involved, they turn on the people they are working for, and go back in to cop mode. I think even at this point Jimmy has forgotten about his card, and is more concerned on the safety of the woman.
Being a comedy the movie ends happy. Paul and his wife are on better terms, Jimmy got his card back, however, not in the condition it was originally in. And Dave, well, you'll have to sit through the credits to find out what happened to...
Movie: The Informant!
Starring: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Tom Papa
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: Kurt Eichenwald (book) and Scott Z. Burns (screenplay)
Runtime: 108 mins
Rated: R for language
Blu-ray Release: February 23, 2009
They say truth is often stranger than fiction. Certainly that seems an applicable idea in the case of The Informant!, first a Kurt Eichenwald book now turned motion picture drama-dy (drama/comedy). Both follow the real-life fall from grace of Mark Whitacre, former COO of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). Played here by a noticeably heftier Matt Damon, Whitacre was a rising star at the massive biochemicals firm before his objection to ADM’s market-wide lysine price-fixing scheme thrust him and his family into one of the most baffling episodes of corporate greed and corruption to ever make headlines. Although a plot about lysine price-fixing might not immediately scream “exciting motion picture ahead!”, the sheer ludicrousness of each character’s behavior, coupled with the knowledge that this is, in fact, a true story, makes The Informant! an entertaining movie worth the rental fee involved.
First off, don’t be fooled: despite the fact that the plot sounds a lot like Michael Mann’s very serious 1999 tobacco drama The Insider, The Informant! is much lighter fare. In fact, although it closely follows Whitacre’s life during the early-to-mid ‘90s FBI investigation of ADM, Soderbergh and team embellish the story and characters by using traditionally comedy-oriented actors (including The Soup’s Joel McHale and stand-up star Tom Papa) for most key roles. The result is a film that takes a preposterous true story and merely highlights the insanity of its larger-than-life characters and plot twists.
As mentioned, the movie follows Mark Whitacre (Damon), a Cornell Ph.D. whose graduate work in biochemistry eventually led him to Decatur, Illinois’ ADM, a Fortune 500 agri-business firm whose primary function in the early 1990s was to make just about anything imaginable out of corn. True, this is old news today – where everything from ketchup to soda pop to breakfast cereal is touched by the magic grain – but two decades ago the idea that one crop could be responsible for several dozen food products was very exciting stuff for big firms like ADM. Problem was, the company...
Title: From Paris with Love Starring: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers Directed by: Pierre Morel Written by: Adi Hasak (screenplay), Luc Besson (story) Studio: Lionsgate Rated: R for strong bloody violence throughout, drug content, pervasive language and brief sexuality. Runtime: 92 min Release date: Feb 5 2010
Synopsis
James Reece, (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), lives a busy but pretty cushy life in France as the personal aid to the U.S. Ambassador. He drives a sweet Lincoln Navigator and comes home to a picturesque Parisian apartment where his beautiful girlfriend who’s madly in love with him is patiently waiting. Occasionally he receives telephone calls from an unidentified man giving him specific instructions regarding undercover activities and assignments he must fulfill. It’s not made clear as to what agency or governmental department the man on the other end works for, but it is U.S. based and Reece revels in completing the tasks. Although the current tasks are important, they are minor, easy to complete and involve virtually no danger or trill. Reece hopes eventually a call will come with instructions for a more serious and rewarding task. Soon enough Reece receives the wishful call and shortly after he’s introduced to an obnoxious, foul mouthed, intimidating and loud American named Charlie Wax, played by John Travolta.
The seemingly simple assignment of driving Wax around Paris turns out to be
an understatement and Wax turns out to be more than a simple minded brute. Guns are soon drawn and the body count quickly escalates as Wax tears up the crime scene in Paris in pursuit of more international matters.
Rating
The movie is definitely packed with plenty of kill shots and physical confrontations, all of which are more detailed and elaborate than I expected. Wax doesn’t let anyone get in the way of his objective. Occasionally the manner in which he takes down human threats seems a bit wild and unnecessary, but Wax is always thinking of the big picture;
collateral damage, be it human or inanimate is often the consequence.
There’s a bit of drug use and sexuality, but both instances portrayed are low key and...
Title: Shutter Island
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Dennis Lehane, Laeta Kalogridis
Studio: Paramount
Rated: R
Runtime:
Release Date: Movie
It’s 1954 and Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck (Mark Ruffalo), partners in the U.S. Marshall’s office, are sent to investigate the disappearance of an inmate/patient at a hospital for the criminally insane. The hospital is located on an island off the coast of Boston called Shutter Island. Teddy is an exceedingly brooding sort who’s suffered more than his share of misery in life.
Once they are on the island and have started their investigation, Teddy and Chuck become trapped by a hurricane. The storm causes even more dangerous criminals to escape their cells that must now be caught and put back in holding. This initially appears to hamper efforts of their original investigation but everything is not always what it seems and soon Teddy and Chuck start collecting evidence and running through a gambit of possibilities from brainwashing to medical experiments to try and unravel the mystery behind what seems to be an impossible escape from the island. Cut-off from the outside with paranoia taking hold, Teddy must solve the mystery before losing his mind.
Shutter Island is one of those movies that are neither black nor white but rather countless shades of gray. It is also not the type of movie most people would truly love or hate from a single viewing. It is a very dark, brooding and creepy film that is steeped in paranoia, delusions and scores of flashbacks. Martin Scorsese delivers a very tense psychological thriller married to an incredible visual landscape for the audience to look at and the cast performances were great. Ben Kingsley really stood out to me as an exceptionally creepy yet quiet Dr. John Cawley and the rest of the cast really put forward a lot of effort to give this film a very realistic feel of seediness and distrust. The ending came off to me as very predictable but I don’t believe Scorsese intended any type of M. Night Shyamalan shenanigans either.
I am not what you would call an avid Scorsese fan. I usually like his movies with a couple of exceptions like ‘Bringing Out The Dead’ and ‘Casino’ however; I really feel like he stepped outside...
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick, Waylon Payne, Tyler Hilton Director: James Mangold Studio: 20th Century Fox Runtime: 136 minutes Rating: PG-13 Blu-ray Release Date: February 2, 2010
Movie
“Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”
The man really does not need more of an introduction than his simple, yet boisterous self-introduction. J.R. Cash (Phoenix) grew up with a passion for music. That passion, unfortunately, is overlooked and unappreciated by his father, Ray Cash (Patrick). Ray, who is traumatized by the loss of his apparently preferred older son, Jack, unintentionally takes it out on little Johnny. From that point forward, all little Johnny all wants to do is be satisfactory in his father’s eyes. What’s more, Johnny works so hard to win the respects of everyone around him, from his family all the way to the father of the girl he would like to marry.
When he finally ties the knot with Vivian (Goodwin) her hopes for him to finally settle down and get a steady job begins to clash with his potential music career. As Johnny Cash’s love for music flourishes and as he pursues his dream he finally gets a break with a recording company and makes his first recording. As him and the rest of his band grow in popularity he must face the dilemma of leaving his distraught wife, Vivian and young daughter at home while he goes on tour. As this rift begins to separate the couple, Cash begins to see a sparkle in another woman by the name of June Carter (Witherspoon). Regularly touring together June, Johnny, the rest of his band, Jerry Lee Lewis (Payne) and Elvis Presley (Hilton) begin to see more of one another than Johnny sees of his family. This only leads to him falling more for June than he expected.
Juggling the road life and his family life becomes tougher and Johnny begins to rely on drugs in order to keep his edge as he sails through his career. Unfortunately, this leads to an addiction and a rift between him and everyone around him. Continuing to try to please everyone he is around, he finds himself only falling further and further away from that initiative.
I think I had too high of expectations for this film that it didn’t quite live up to them. It fares better than...
Title: Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant
Starring: John C. Reilly, Ray Stevenson, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Massoglia
Directed by: Paul Weitz
Written by: Paul Weitz, Brian Helgeland
Studio: Universal
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 109 Minutes
Release Date: Movie
Cirque du Freak: A Vampire’s Tale is a movie based on a series of children’s books by author Darren Shan. I personally never heard of these books before hearing about the movie and have to say that after watching the film, I have no desire to see another movie based on them. In today’s plundering of the vampire genre and the mad dash by studios to secure a children’s/teen literary property for film, it is clear that Cirque du Freak was only made to try to mimic and cash in on the success of franchises such as Harry Potter and Twilight.
When Darren (Chris Massoglia) sneaks out of the house to attend a traveling freak show with his best friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson), he steals a deadly spider from Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly); a member of the freak show that we quickly learn is a 200 year old vampire. While hiding in a closet to avoid being caught stealing the spider, Darren overhears his friend Steve trying to make a deal with Larten to turn him into a vampire however; Larten rejects Steve’s offer suggesting that he has “evil blood” to which Steve replies “I am going to kill you someday”. The next day, Steve is bitten by the spider and lies dying in the hospital, Darren makes a deal with Larten to become his half-vampire assistant and in return, Larten will give the antidote for the poison that is killing Steve. Now a half-vampire, Darren discovers that there are actually two types of the walking dead, “Vampires” who are actually good and intend no harm and “Vampireens” that are the blood sucking killers from the books, movies and comics that we all know and love. These two species of vamp are currently in a truce from a war that has been being waged between the two for hundreds of years.
At the center of it all is Mr. Tiny, a mysterious man who comes and goes throughout the movie and a person who is clearly manipulating each side in an effort to end the truce for some vested interest that is never explained. Once Steve learns that Darren has become a vampire, his anger toward him is manipulated and exploited by Mr. Tiny in order to coax Steve, who...
Title: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Starring: Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin McKidd
Directed by: Chris Columbus
Written by: Craig Titley (screenplay), Rick Riordan (novel)
Studio: Fox
Rated: PG
Runtime: 118 min
Release Date: 02/12/2010
Movie
Percy Jackson is a high school student who lives in New York City, a young man suffering from ADHD and dyslexia - struggling to fit in. Percy believes he is simply a misift, what he doesn't realize is that his father is Poseidon, God of the sea. We find out very shortly after the opening that Zeus (Sean Bean) is furious that his lightning bolt has been stolen. Zeus threatens Poseidon with war if the lightning thief does not return his bolt within two weeks, and Zeus beleives this thief is Percy - Poseidon's unwitting son.
Percy is attacked during a trip to the museum by his substitute teacher, who is actually a disguised fury. In this midst of his shock at the attack he finds out that his teacher Mr. Brunner (Pierce Brosnan) is not the wheelchair ridden man that he seems, and that his best friend Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) is his protector. Brunner tells Grover to get Percy and his mother to safety. Percy, his mother and Grover are attacked by a minotaur as they attempt to escape. After a race through the forest to esacpe the beast Percy's mother is captured. Percy is able to defeat the beast but not before his mother is taken.
Percy passes out following the attack and awakens inside Camp Half Blood, a safe haven and training ground for other young demigods like himself. Mr. Brunner warns Percy that he must begin to understand his powers if he is to survive. During his training Percy meets the fiercely competitive Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), the daughter of Athena and Luke, son of Hermes. Percy decides to set off with Annabeth and Grover on a desperate quest to rescue his mother who is being held by Hades but before they can leave they will need some help. Luke provides them with a map, some winged shoes he stole from his father, and a shield. Percy must find a way to rescue his Mother and reach Olympus before the solstice to convince Zeus of his innocence and avert a war that will destroy Earth.
Title: The Wolfman Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt Directed by: Joe Johnston Written by: Andrew Kevin Walker, David Self Studio: Universal Pictures Rated: R for bloody horror violence and gore Runtime: 102 min Release date: February 12 2010
Synopsis
Upon receiving news that his brother has been missing for two weeks, Lawrence Talbot, played by Benicio Del Toro, returns to his ancestral home in Blackmoor England to console his father Sir John Talbot, played by Anthony Hopkins, and await further information. Unfortunately his father confirms the worst scenario; his brother’s mutilated nearly unrecognizable body has been found in a ditch in the woods.
To prohibit the killer from roaming the woods freely and committing another vile and monstrous act, Lawrence dedicates the rest of his stay in Blackmoor to finding the murderer.
Being 1891, the people of the town are easily swayed by folklore and Gypsy
curses; combine that with the unnatural state of Lawrence’s brother’s body and inevitably hypotheses soon emerge stating the one responsible for the death is not just human, but part ravenous beast.
Delving deeper into this theory, Lawrence takes a strange gold coin size amulet found on his brother’s person to a nearby Gypsy camp, from which it’s believed to have originated, and while there consults an elderly Gypsy woman with mystic powers. Following the encounter with the Gypsy woman, but not necessarily related to it, an event occurs that will alter Lawrence’s life forever.
Rating
When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I thought, well actually I hoped that it would be rated R; I didn’t want to see the violence diluted just to make the movie more accessible to younger viewers. I wanted a real dark, violent, and merciless depiction of the Wolfman; and that’s what I got.
After having succumbed to the mysterious altering force of the moon, the newly transformed Wolfman spared no one. He placed no value on human life and killed and wounded without a second thought. These killing sprees resulted in many fast scenes of splattering blood, quick shots of the Wolfman’s huge nasty claws swiping at humans leading to big open gashes and limbs being severed and ripped out of their sockets.
Overall, if you’re expecting guts on the ground, decapitations and other...
Title: Law Abiding Citizen
Starring: Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Written by: Kurt Wimmer
Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Rated: R
Runtime: 118 Minutes
Release Date: Movie
I remember reading reviews for Law Abiding Citizen when it hit theaters late last year. The reviewers were fairly scathing in their assessment of the film and basically scoffed at the ideas that the filmmakers put forth. After watching the movie I could understand how someone may come away with that opinion if their expectations were that they were going to see something grounded in reality however; if they were to go in with one thought in mind they may have had a different response. That thought? This is a fantasy movie so check your rational thought at the door and you’ll be fine. The plot lines require some imagination on the viewer’s part but I thoroughly enjoyed Law Abiding Citizen and was not put off by the fantastic nature in which some of the story and action sequences play out. It really is more in line with an ‘Eagle Eye’ or ‘Enemy of the State’ in that aspect.
The premise is fairly simple. Man has family, man’s family is brutally murdered, man puts his faith in the system, the system lets man down, man decides the entire system is ineffective and decides to dole out his own brand of justice and reset the legal system. Oh yeah, the man is a genius in that "freaky, crazy-smart, genius way". OK, with that settled, lets jump in.
Gerard Butler plays Clyde Shelton, a man whose wife and child are brutally murdered by two scumbags named Rupert Ames and Clarence Darby. When the two go to jail, Darby makes a plea-deal with a slick Assistant District Attorney named Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) who has very high career aspirations and who is unwilling to press for a full convictions for both men because he doesn’t want to risk his 96% conviction rate. The deal leads to the conviction and a death sentence for Ames and a reduced sentence for Darby who will also plead guilty to third degree murder and be eligible for parole in a few short years. Clyde is not happy to say the least and takes matters into his own hands.
The filmmakers run through the setup fairly quickly with the home intrusion, murders, and the trial all taking place within the first 20 minutes. Before you know it, 10 years have...
Title: Public Enemies
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cottilard, Stephen Dorff, Channing Tatum
Directed by: Michael Mann
Written by: Ronann Bennett and Michael Mann
Rated: R
Runtime: 140 mins
Blu-ray Release: December 8, 2009
Flaunting the law and being loved for it seems to be a distinctly American tradition. First there was the wild, wild west, where if you could shoot faster than the local lawman, you could do just about anything you wanted. However, once Frederick Jackson Turner proclaimed the frontier era over at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, America’s bad-boy obsession shifted from the cowboy outlaw to the sultry-eyed bank robber, with few men being more remarkable in that regard than John Dillinger. Although he murdered several police officers, killed countless bystanders, and stole millions of dollars, Dillinger was something of a modern-day Robin Hood for Americans struggling through the Great Depression. In an age when people began to lose faith in their state and its authority, the idea that one could simply walk into a bank and take as much money as he liked captured the imaginations of America’s increasingly desperate population.
Without a doubt, this is a story simply begging to be captured on film. With an all-star cast and a (somewhat) proven director, one would think Public Enemies would have no problem capturing our imaginations just as Dillinger did three-quarters of a century ago. Unfortunately, due to a stale plot, wooden performances, and some terrible directing, Public Enemies is almost a total bore-fest, producing odd plot twists and character changes with all the grace of a jammed Tommy gun.
The film begins in 1933, arguably the height of the Great Depression. In the opening scene, Dillinger (Johnny Depp) is being escorted into the Indiana State Prison by undercover partner John “Red” Hamilton (Jason Clarke). On the surface, it looks like Hamilton is turning Dillinger in, but the scene soon unfolds into a full-blown ambush, with the two aiding their jailed partners in breaking out of the prison. A shootout ensues and several guards are killed, including Dillinger’s close friend, Walter Dietrich (James Russo), but the majority succeed in escaping the short arm of the law.
Title: Universal Soldier Regeneration
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren and Andrei "The Pit Bull" Arlovski
Directed by: John Hyams
Written by: Victor Ostrovsky
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: R
Runtime: 97 Minutes
Release Date: 2/2/2010 Movie
I have to admit that I had high hopes but very low expectations for Universal Soldier Regeneration. I was a fan of the original Roland Emmerich directed film but found all of the sequels to be very unfulfilling to say the least so, when I heard that they were making another film for the franchise that had Dolph and Van Damme I was torn between the guy that liked the original and the pessimist that endured the sequels. Well, I am happy to report that the hopeful have been rewarded with a movie that gives new life to the franchise and, if watched as a direct sequel to the original, will help you forget about those other abominations. This one really brings Universal Soldier into today's world while still preserving the characters and story of the original.
Terrorists have seized the Chernobyl nuclear reactor and threatened to blow it up unleashing a radioactive cloud on the unsuspecting populace unless their demands are met. Armed with a next-generation Unisol (Andrei "The Pit Bull" Arlovski) the terrorists have given the government 72 hours to comply with their demands before detonating the reactor. The only hope is Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), a former Unisol trying to rehabilitate after the years of service in the Universal Soldier program. Once Re-activated and re-trained, it is up to Luc to single handedly retake the reactor, deactivate the explosives and save millions but Luc is unaware that there is a second menace from his past lurking in the shadows. Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren), Luc’s team member from the original Universal Soldier, has been secretly regenerated, enhanced and is looking for a fight.
Over the years, the Universal Soldier franchise has unfortunately suffered the same fate as the “Highlander” film series when both could have been so much more. Luckily for us, Director John Hyams and Writer...
Starring: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Brian Cox, Patrick McGoohan
Directed by: Mel Gibson
Written by: Randall Wallace
Rated: R
Runtime: 177 mins
Blu-ray Release: September 1, 2009
In June of last year, Paramount Home Entertainment announced it would release three of the most acclaimed movies of the ‘90s through a special “Sapphire Series” Blu-ray collection. The announcement, which included “Best Picture” Academy Award-winners Forrest Gump (1994), Braveheart (1995), and Gladiator (1998), sent reverberations through the living rooms of guys all across North America. Each would receive re-vamped audio and video along with a slew of new extras, in the hopes of refreshing the public’s interest in three already very good (but also well-watched) movies. Recently, I sat down with the Sapphire Series edition of Braveheart, and must admit that I was positively blown away by the film’s video and audio quality.
The story of Mel Gibson’s Braveheart is familiar by now. Set during the 14th century reign of England’s Edward I (popularly referred to as “Longshanks” because of his impressive height) Braveheart is an epic and romanticized biography of William Wallace (Mel Gibson), the farm boy who would eventually become warrior defender of Scotland’s tenuous independence. The story begins in the year 1280, as Longshanks (Patrick McGoohan) begins his first push beyond England’s northern borders. After Edward lures Scottish peacemakers into an ambush and hangs them all from the roof of a farmhouse, William’s father, amongst others, ride out to meet English forces in battle. They are defeated and the senior Wallace killed, forcing William, just a boy, to spend the rest of his childhood living with uncle Argyle (Brian Cox). The film then skips ahead two decades to William’s return to Scotland, which having been successfully conquered by Edward is now subject to the king’s growing toolset of divide and conquer tactics, including Primae Noctis, the practice of giving English nobles bed rights to newly-married Scottish women on their wedding nights. “The trouble with Scotland…is that it’s full of Scots,” says Longshanks, who resolves that if England can’t get them out of the country, then it will breed them out.
This doesn’t sit well with any Scot, but becomes particularly troubling when the fiery Wallace marries childhood...
Starring: Matthew Fox, Naveen Andrews, Evangeline Lily, Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Terry O’Quinn, Elizabeth Mitchell, Ken Leung, Henry Ian Cusick, Michael Emerson Producers: Damon Lindelof, Carton Cuse Studio: ABC Studios Runtime: 731 Minutes Rating: TV-14 Blu-ray Release Date: December 8, 2009
Show
As a warning, ‘Lost’ as a TV show is not for those who would like something to casually watch. Those who are interested in seeing what this show is about absolutely need to watch it from the very beginning of Season one. That being said, I will do my best to not spoil as much as possible in this very brief synopsis.
Oceanic flight 815 crashed on the mysterious island over 100 days ago and so much has happened since then. Six survivors of the crash finally were able to make it off the island, defying all odds, but the rest of the people who were around were stuck in a randomly changing time warp. The only problem is those who made it off the island realized they likely should have never left. Now, Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, and Ben are searching for a way to get back to the island. Those who still were on the island must continuously figure out what time period they are in and continue to look for a way off the island.
The list of episodes is as follows:
1 – “Because You Left”
2 – “The Lie”
3 – “Jughead”
4 – “The Little Prince”
5 – “This Place is Death”
6 – “316”
7 – “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham”
8 – “LaFleur”
9 – “Namaste”
10 – “He’s Our You”
11 – “Whatever Happened, Happened”
12 – “Dead is Dead”
13 – “Some Like it Hoth”
14 – “The Variable”
15 – “Follow the Leader”
16 – “The Incident”
The thing about ‘Lost’ is it incredibly hard to describe because for one thing, there are numerous amounts of plots intersecting and branching within a season. To make matters worse there are different timelines to follow, too. So throughout the season you will jump from present day to another time in the past and then back again with one set of characters and then another set of characters that remain in the present time. To make matters even more complicated if you miss one episode and try to pick it up...
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Paul and his wife are on better terms, Jimmy got his card back, however, not in the condition it was originally in. And Dave, well, you'll have to sit through the credits to find out what happened to...
