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| 1 | 2 | | » Stats |
Members: 17,692
Threads: 10,421
Posts: 101,344
Top Poster: Sonnie (9,320)
| | Welcome to our newest member, Carl V | | » Online Users: 480 | | 55 members and 425 guests | | 95RCode, apocalypsesrt, avaserfi, AverageJoe, Bill Fitzmaurice, bjs, blackpiston, brucek, bsoko2, Carl V, ccdoggy, chas, Chuck_V, cixelsid, custard, Doofy, drf, Dudu, E-A-G-L-E-S, funky_waves, Harpmaker, jchiz41, JohnM, jswhitfield, kallagtunet, kishenpatel, mac7585, Maceo23, Matt5112, Mike P., Miney, mowie, Mr Winky, mrsollars, nova, OvalNut, RJdaMoD, salvasol, Shaker78, Sonnie, Space, sparky77, sqall12001, tcarcio, tenzip, Tommy D, Vaughan100, Viliz03, Wayne A. Pflughaupt, wbassett, WirelessDJ, WmAx, zacjones, zilbenz | | Most users ever online was 718, 07-23-08 at 04:20 PM. | |  | | » Dirty Harry: Ultimate Collector’s Edition Box Set (Blu-ray) | |
Jul 13, 2008 - 5:12 PM - by Wayde | The Ultimate Collector’s Edition is a six-disc Blu-ray set that contains all Dirty Harry movies including: Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool.
The Dirty Harry box set has been an obsession. It’s not enough that I have all five Dirty Harry movies lovingly remastered in breathtaking VC-1, 1080P with razor sharp Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtracks. The set came with a small box filled with little goodies like several pages of production notes, a full color Dirty Harry hard-bound book providing details of all the films, perfect coffee table literature. I even have a cheesy looking replica of Dirty Harry’s Wallet complete with SF Police badge and Harry’s ID card – just what I need if ever get carded going into a bar. Unfortunately my days of being carded are way behind me.
For now the box set is the only way to get all the Dirty Harry films on Blu-ray. Only the original is available as a separate disc for now. Any fan of the modern day action film genre would agree … you can’t just watch one Dirty Harry movie. You’re going to have to watch all of them. Each film is contained on a single disc with all relevant special features for each film.
Simple logic…it’s my belief you’ll save money by simply buying box set first rather than buying the original film on Blu-ray. Inevitably you’ll re-buy the first film with the box set down the road because you can’t just see one Dirty Harry movie.
A quick re-cap of all the films.
The modern day action hero owes this film a great debt. Without Harry Callahan there would be no Paul Kersey no John MacLean, Martin Riggs or Roger Murtaugh. There’d be no John Rambo, Casey Ryback and a long list of characters played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and even Chow Yun Fat.
Dirty Harry wasn’t the first action film but it’s the first action film franchise. It set the tone for a formula that would be used over and over again.
Those under the age of 40 might benefit from a quick background check before viewing the original 1971 Dirty Harry. Since your mind is all askew with the last thirty five or so years of action cinema it helps to understand where this film is coming from.
B...
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3 Replies | 96 Views | | » Jumper Blu-ray Review | |
Jun 16, 2008 - 2:51 PM - by Wayde | Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: June 10, 2008
Run Time: 88 minutes
The Movie 
Jumper is an awful train-wreck of a film. Consider that in the tiresome opening expositional dialogue the main character calls the audience chumps. You’ll quickly learn that he means you’re all chumps for having rented or bought this movie.
The main problem with this film is the moral ambiguity of the characters. The main character David Rice is played by Hayden Christensen who discovers he has the ability to teleport. The visual effect is pretty cool when he jumps. But like a comic book super-villain David decides to use his power to rob banks and party. By about 21 years old he eventually robs and steals enough to earn himself a swanky condo in New York City filled with expensive toys. Basically David is a brat who lives a hedonistic lifestyle. He needs to be beaten down by the consequences of his actions.
The whole teleportation thing is interesting. The moral question of what would a young man really do with such power would be explored further by a better movie but here it feels flat. Jumper’s David is self-centered, whining nitwit. I’d like to remind you of another movie-teleporter named Nightcrawler from the film X-men 2 who is a far more interesting character in a much better film.
We eventually meet Roland played by Samuel L. Jackson who has been hunting down David along with other Jumpers. Apparently they’re a kind of sub-species of human a bit like X-men’s mutants. I assumed Roland was the hero and was going to bring the Jumpers to justice. However, Roland is a bit too heavy handed and the character quickly descends into stereotypical territory. I won’t give anything more away about Roland and his associates. Needless to say we’re expected to side with David and a new friend (another Jumper) as they rob and steal throughout the film without a thought to the drag these Jumpers are to society.
The final straw for me was David telling his new Jumper friend that they’re a bit like Marvel Team-Up. That’s a comic series by Marvel where two super heroes t...
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6 Replies | 238 Views | | » The Punisher vs. The Punisher | |
Apr 25, 2008 - 10:19 AM - by wbassett |
It's been awhile since I've done any reviews, work and other projects became very hectic and then in the middle of it I blew my knee out.
I'm back though and like I always tried to do, I like to present sometimes obscure movies that many tend to overlook
Here we have one movie I'm sure many know about and have seen, and then a movie that has a bit of a different take on the same character.
We'll start off with the one most are familiar with... The 2004 release of The Punisher starring Tom Jane.
Actors: Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Will Patton, Eddie Jemison, Rebecca Romijn
Directors: Jonathan Hensleigh
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating:
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Release Date: November 21, 2006
Run Time: 140 minutes
The Punisher is another adaptation of the ever popular Marvel Comic super hero's. The Punisher is a bit different in the sense that he has no super powers and is just an ordinary guy, well ordinary in the sense he can't fly or climb walls or anything like that. Everything else about him is anything but what we would call ordinary.
I have to admit that I didn't read this comic when I was growing up so I can't attest to how well it actually follows the comic book character. I do know a little about The Punisher though and these movies.
In this version Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) is an undercover FBI agent that can speak five languages and change his looks to go deep undercover. The story opens with Frank posing as 'Otto', a German arms dealer about to 'close the deal' on some buyers. During the raid things go bad and there is a shootout, and Frank is fatally shot in view of the buyer. At this point in the movie we don't know (or aren't supposed to know) this is Frank Castle. It is soon revealed that Frank's death was a trick so he could once again disappear and show up somewhere else undercov...
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8 Replies | 777 Views | | » The Assassination of Jesse James - DVD Review | |
Apr 08, 2008 - 8:59 AM - by Wayde | Starring: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Mary-Louise Parker, Sam Shepard
Director: Andrew Dominik
Studio: Warner Home Video
Production Year: 2007
Media Year: Feb, 28 2008
Rating: R
Length: 160 minutes
Movie 
While watching this movie I alternated between two extremes and in some ways I haven’t completely made up my mind which is correct. On one hand I felt dread that I was watching an utter train wreck of a film. On the other hand I loved this movie as an original look at one of the legends of the old west.
Its introspective narration gets you inside the minds of characters. Sure, the film is probably a bit overly-long and the pacing is deliberately slow. But in the end I think it worked. The narratives are often accompanied by a dreamy visual sequence with an out-of-focus trick of the lens. It forces a moody atmosphere to the film, not the action film of many popular westerns. This movie focuses on the collision course between Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) and Jesse James (Brat Pitt). The players collide through this movie in slow motion with their respective dates with destiny.
Ford is a nerdy, under-confident but intelligent young man. He builds up an almost homo-erotic obsession with Jesse James. The obsession (and homo-eroticism) was so blatant that I wasn’t sure where it was going and feared the worst early in the film. There were just too many bath scenes early in the movie so I feared it was going to be one of those proverbial movies with Gladiators in ‘em. I wasn’t ready to go there with the legends of the old west.
Thankfully Assassination of Jesse James stops short of indecency but certainly drives the point home. Robert Ford didn’t just love James, he wanted to be Jesse James. One memorable, early scene has Ford approach a mature and jaded Frank James (Sam Shepard)...
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0 Replies | 520 Views | | | Home theater design and acoustics for home theater systems are some of the most discussed topics in home theater forums today. With the development of high definition DVD, HD-DVD players and Blu-ray players, and the various other home audio components, it's important to focus on the right home theater design and acoustics for home theater systems. DIY projects have become very popular... and at the Shack you'll find some of the most comprehensive DIY Subwoofer LLT and IB projects and extensive DIY Screen information. Be sure to check out our forums for the latest discussions.
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