Bullitt (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Bullitt (Two-Disc Special Edition) Review

Bullitt (Two-Disc Special Edition) Overview

His new assignment seems routine: protecting a star witness for an important trial. But before the night is out, the witness lies dying and cool, no-nonsense Detective Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) won't rest until the shooters and the kingpin pulling their strings are nailed. From opening shot to closing shootout, Bullitt crackles with authenticity: San Francisco locations, crisp dialogue and to-the-letter police, hospital and morgue procedures. An Oscar winner for Best Film Editing (1968), this razor-edged thriller features one of cinema history's most memorable car chases. Buckle up and brace for unbeatable action.

DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Commentary by Director Peter YatesDocumentaries:The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing Steve McQueen: The Essence of CoolFeaturette:Vintage Featurette -- Bullitt: Steve McQueen's Commitment to Reality

Bullitt (Two-Disc Special Edition) Specifications

Peter Yates's 1968 cop drama has its existentialist pretensions, but there is something seductive about its strained seriousness and Steve McQueen's intentionally stoic performance as a San Francisco police detective on the trail of a murderer. A couple of key action sequences boost the film's stature, the most memorable of which is a vertiginous car chase that Yates almost approaches as a dance. Jacqueline Bisset provides window dressing as Bullitt's girlfriend--worried about how much his job strips away his humanity--and Robert Vaughan is almost reptilian as an opportunistic politician. --Tom Keogh

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Mars Needs Moms (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo)

Mars Needs Moms (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo) Review

Mars Needs Moms (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo) Overview

Mars Needs Moms is a comic animated adventure about moms, Martians, and mutiny. Martian hatchlings are springing up out of the ground up on Mars, and there's a desperate need for a good mom to raise the babies. Mars matriarch "The Supervisor" (Mindy Sterling) sets her sights on Milo's mom (Joan Cusack) because she's doing such a good job raising Milo (Seth Green) down on Earth, and she quickly abducts her. As luck would have it, Milo's just said something to his mother that he's come to regret, goes into her room to apologize right as she's being abducted, and winds up getting caught in the spaceship that's transporting her to Mars. On Mars, Milo meets a strangely childlike human named Gribble (Dan Fogler), and the two quickly become friends and set out on a bumbling mission to rescue Milo's mom. Along the way, they get a little help from Martian Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), who sees things a little differently than other Martians, thanks to her exposure to some Earth television from the flower-power era. What ensues is a dangerous and exciting adventure that yields a surprising revelation about the role and value of mothers. Mars Needs Moms utilizes the same digital performance-capture technology animation as Polar Express, and it is a visually stunning film. The pace is exciting; the characters are well developed, captivating, and often quirky; and the story speaks to kids and adults alike. Mars Needs Moms earns a PG rating because of sci-fi action and peril, and it's probably a bit too intense for kids under 7, as well as older children who are especially sensitive. --Tami Horiuchi

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No Strings Attached (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

No Strings Attached (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) Review

No Strings Attached (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) Overview

In this comedy emma and adam are life-long friends who almost ruin everything by having sex one morning. In order to protect their friendship they make a pact to keep their relationship strictly no strings attached. No strings means no jealousy. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/10/2011 Starring: Natalie Portman Ashton Kutcher Run time: 108 minutes Rating: R

No Strings Attached (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) Specifications

No Strings Attached asks the question, "Could you do it?" Meaning, could you have a strictly physical relationship with Natalie Portman or Ashton Kutcher--and not start to fall for them? Under the deft direction of Ivan Reitman, No Strings Attached delivers a surprisingly sophisticated twist on the sex comedy genre, with much more nuance than a viewer might expect. The leads are perfectly cast. Portman is light and wily, a natural for romantic comedies; Kutcher, always charming, has rarely been sexier. The chemistry between their characters, Emma and Adam, is palpable and practically jumps off the screen. (Note to parents: There is a strong raunch factor in No Strings Attached; it's definitely not for younger viewers.) The premise is an age-old one--can good friends become "friends with benefits" without anyone's developing feelings--or getting one's feelings hurt? The answers are less interesting than the frothy journey taken by No Strings Attached. A key reason is the script and great direction. And the supporting cast, including Kevin Kline in a welcome return to films, who plays Adam's randy, pot-smoking dad who hooks up with one of Adam's exes. (Kline also contributes a song to the endearing soundtrack.) At times No Strings Attached is so crudely intimate that the viewer almost feels like an intruder on Emma and Adam's private moments. But that trick tends to make the movie that much more believable. No Strings Attached is a frothy, fun comedy, and a perfect date movie--but probably not a first date movie. --A.T. Hurley

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Sin City (Two-Disc Theatrical & Recut, Extended, and Unrated Versions) [Blu-ray]

Sin City (Two-Disc Theatrical & Recut, Extended, and Unrated Versions) [Blu-ray] Review

Sin City (Two-Disc Theatrical & Recut, Extended, and Unrated Versions) [Blu-ray] Feature

• Title: SIN CITY BLU-RAY
  
• Publisher: BUENA VISTA HOME VIDEO / Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE / Theme: CRIME / Rating: NR
• Product Type: VIDEO /
• Platform: BLU-RAY DISC

Sin City (Two-Disc Theatrical & Recut, Extended, and Unrated Versions) [Blu-ray] Overview

SIN CITY - Blu-Ray Movie

Sin City (Two-Disc Theatrical & Recut, Extended, and Unrated Versions) [Blu-ray] Specifications

Brutal and breathtaking, Sin City is Robert Rodriguez's stunningly realized vision of Frank Miller's pulpy comic books. In the first of three separate but loosely related stories, Marv (Mickey Rourke in heavy makeup) tries to track down the killers of a woman who ended up dead in his bed. In the second story, Dwight's (Clive Owen) attempt to defend a woman from a brutal abuser goes horribly wrong, and threatens to destroy the uneasy truce among the police, the mob, and the women of Old Town. Finally, an aging cop on his last day on the job (Bruce Willis) rescues a young girl from a kidnapper, but is himself thrown in jail. Years later, he has a chance to save her again.

Based on three of Miller's immensely popular and immensely gritty books (The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard), Sin City is unquestionably the most faithful comic-book-based movie ever made. Each shot looks like a panel from its source material, and director Rodriguez (who refers to it as a "translation" rather than an adaptation) resigned from the Directors Guild so that Miller could share a directing credit. Like the books, it's almost entirely in stark black and white with some occasional bursts of color (a woman's red lips, a villain's yellow face). The backgrounds are entirely digitally generated, yet not self-consciously so, and perfectly capture Miller's gritty cityscape. And though most of Miller's copious nudity is absent, the violence is unrelentingly present. That may be the biggest obstacle to viewers who aren't already fans of the books and who may have been turned off by Kill Bill (whose director, Quentin Tarantino, helmed one scene of Sin City). In addition, it's a bleak, desperate world in which the heroes are killers, corruption rules, and the women are almost all prostitutes or strippers. But Miller's stories are riveting, and the huge cast--which also includes Jessica Alba, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Rosario Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Elijah Wood, Nick Stahl, Michael Clarke Duncan, Devin Aoki, Carla Gugino, and Josh Hartnett--is just about perfect. (Only Bruce Willis and Michael Madsen, while very well-suited to their roles, seem hard to separate from their established screen personas.) In what Rodriguez hopes is the first of a series, Sin City is a spectacular achievement. --David Horiuchi

On the Blu-ray disc
Sin City looks and sounds great in high definition, with its rare colors looking especially splashy contrasting with the stark black-and-white and powerful 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (try Marvin's early escape scene to get a taste of the sound). Like the 2005 recut DVD, the two-disc Blu-ray edition has both the theatrical cut and the recut version that shows each of the four stories by itself. (Billed as "Recut, Extended, Unrated," the four separate stories are extended by only about 6.5 total minutes of movie action; the rest of the added running time is the splashy new title shots, named by the title of the story or book, and the four minutes of credits that run at the end of each segment.) New to Blu-ray on disc 1 is Cine-Explore, which plays the theatrical cut accompanied by the Rodriguez-Miller commentary track and drops in picture-in-picture panels of either the original graphic novel, the green-screen shots before the special effects were added, or both. This is a great way to watch a movie that was (1) based heavily on the look of the graphic novel and (2) shot almost entirely on green screen. Occasionally the shots are flipped as well, giving us the large green-screen shot with the theatrical cut in one of the inner panels. The other new Blu-ray feature is "Kill 'Em Good," an 8.5-minute condensation of The Hard Goodbye that combines Mickey Rourke's narration with scenes from the graphic novel similar to a motion-comic style. There's also some gameplay elements added: use the Blu-ray remote to drive the getaway car, toss money at Nancy, or battle Kevin and henchmen in the woods. As with most home-video set-top games, the controls are a bit clunky, but the last activity is worth making an effort to learn.

Also on the discs are almost all the other features that were on the two-disc unrated recut edition, though they're in standard definition. The theatrical cut has the two commentary tracks (the first is by Rodriguez and Miller discussing the concepts and the cast, and the second is mostly by Rodriguez, but Tarantino drops in briefly for the scene he directed as does an enthusiastic Bruce Willis for his segment) and the alternate audio track with a live audience in Austin, Texas. There are also 47 minutes of featurettes covering Miller, Tarantino, cars, costumes, props, and special effects; a 14-minute take in which Tarantino can be heard coaching the actors; Rodriguez's usual "flic school" (among the topics is how scenes were created by merging footage of actors who never actually met); footage of Bruce Willis's band performing in Austin at the time of the shooting; another Rodriguez cooking school (this time it's breakfast tacos); and the "green screen version" of the film: the entire film as it was shot in front of the green screen, sped up to play in only 12 minutes. --David Horiuchi

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Escape from New York (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)

Escape from New York (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging) Review

The film is a cult classic and the sound quality is the major improvement on Blu-ray as compared with earlier versions.

You simply don't find pacing in an action film as good as this dystopic film and it is truly one of Carpenter's best, really capturing the political pessimism of the eighties.

Unfortunately, there are no extras. I would have liked the inclusion of the commentary and the deleted train heist scene. I thought it was a great contrast to the darkness of the rest of the film. These can only be found on certian previous DVD (and VHS) editions.

Escape from New York (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging) Overview

A thrilling landmark film that jolts along at a breakneck pace, Escape From New York leaped to cult status with high-octane action, edge-of-your-seat suspense and a mind-blowing vision of a lone warrior (Kurt Russell) battling his way out of a post-apocalyptic Manhattan! Hailed as "stylish and scary" (Los Angeles Times), "dark and dangerous" (Newsweek) and "gloriously...fun" (Tyler Morning Telegraph), this fast-paced and furiously entertaining thriller grabs you by the throat and won't let go! In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted to a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam. But when the U.S. President (Donald Pleasence) crash-lands inside, only one man can bring him back: notorious outlaw and former Special Forces war hero Snake Plissken (Russell). But time is short: in 24 hours, an explosive device implanted in his neck will end Snake's mission and his life unless he succeeds!

Escape from New York (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging) Specifications

In the future, crime is out of control and New York City is a maximum security prison. Grabbing a bargaining chip right out of the air, convicts bring down the President's plane in bad old Gotham. Gruff Snake Plissken, a one-eyed warrior new to prison life, is coerced into bringing the President, and his cargo, out of this land of undesirables. Kurt Russell put his Disney days behind him as the nicest bad guy in the picture. All comic-book sensibilities and macho posturing, this is one of writer-director John Carpenter's better brainless escapes. There are snappy one-liners and explosive action scenes. However, the film lacks tension and some believability even within the realm of SF fantasy. Even when it fails to gel, though, it always manages to amuse, thanks in great part to a varied and unusual supporting cast (watch for Ernest Borgnine as a cabdriver). Followed in 1996 by Carpenter's overdone and campy Escape from L.A.--Rochelle O'Gorman

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Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set)

Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) Review

There has always been plenty of discussion about different versions of Dune.
This TV Miniseries is definitely my favourite version by far.
Everything I ever imagined Dune to be, seems to have manifested in this series.
The quality of the special effects, the quality of the acting, and the over-all look of the film is beautiful.
If you are going to bother to watch this Children of Dune, then please, please, please make sure you that you watch the companion Dune beforehand. I felt a real sense of things coming one full circle after watching Children of Dune. It made me appreciate Dune in far greater way.
If you are a Sci-Fi fan, then you should definitely add this to your DVD collection - because whenever you can't decide what to watch, you can return to Dune and Children of Dune, and breathe in The Spice.
Peace.

Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) Overview

The spectacular epic that began in the Emmy Award-winning Frank Herbert’s Dune mini-series continues in this dazzling new journey into sweeping interstellar intrigue and visionary sci-fi adventure! On the desert planet of Dune, the ancient prophecy has been fulfilled: the rule of the legendary Muad’dib has triggered a miraculous transformation of the arid wastelands. But as always, the Great Houses of the Empire are alive with rumors of conspiracy, plotting and betrayal. And when Muad’dib no longer wields absolute power as the Emperor, his young son Leto Atreides and daughter Ghanima face the prospect of a disastrous civil war on Arrakis - and chaos on a galactic scale. Now, with the future of the vital Spice trade in the balance, the destiny of humanity itself will depend on the courage, strength and otherworldly wisdom of The Children of Dune!

Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Sci-Fi TV Miniseries) (Two-Disc DVD Set) Specifications

Conspiracies abound in Children of Dune, Sci-Fi Channel's praiseworthy miniseries sequel to Frank Herbert's Dune, loyally adapted from the Herbert novels Dune Messiah and Children of Dune by John Harrison, who passed directorial duties (due to a scheduling conflict) to Greg Yaitanes, a 31-year-old TV director and Dune neophyte tackling his biggest assignment to date. Uninitiated viewers face a disadvantage; it's best to read Herbert's books and/or see the first miniseries before plunging into this remarkably coherent tangle of political intrigue, unfolding 12 years after the events of Dune.

To his horror, Maud'Dib--Arrakis emperor Paul Atreides (Alec Newman, reprising his Dune role)--has become the unintended figurehead of a violent dictatorship, and his enemies are multiplying. Vanishing into the desert, he waits as destiny shapes his twin heirs Leto II (James McAvoy) and Ghanima (Jessica Brooks), who must contend with their scheming aunt Alia (Daniela Amavia) while Princess Wensicia (Susan Sarandon), of the enemy House Corrino, plots her own attack on Maud'Dib's familial empire. Exiled Atreides matriarch Lady Jessica (Alice Krige, giving the film's finest performance) returns to Arrakis, where the enormous, desert-dwelling sandworms face an uncertain future. As always, the spice must flow, and the universe's most coveted commodity remains at the center of this richly detailed and physically impressive production. Special effects range from awesome (fly-over shots of the capital city, Arakeen) to awful (the saber-tooth tigers look like Jumanji rejects), and Dune devotees will endlessly debate the miniseries' strengths and weaknesses. Some may desire more action to punctuate the film's inherent verbosity, but consensus will surely conclude that this is Dune done right, with monumental effort and obvious devotion from everyone involved. --Jeff Shannon

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Cinderella (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Cinderella (Two-Disc Special Edition) Review

I bought this DVD for my daughter who is into everything Princess this year. She wanted to watch Cinderella in the worst way but it's not for sale in the stores so this was a nice alternative. I am so glad I found it and my daughter loves it. I would buy it again.

Cinderella (Two-Disc Special Edition) Overview

The most celebrated of all the Disney classics, CINDERELLA, is also known as one of Walt Disney's all-time favorite films. CINDERELLA has enchanted generations with its spellbinding story, charming music, and endearing characters that live in your heart forever. The beloved fairy tale becomes pure Disney magic as beautiful Cinderella shares her dreams of romance and a better life with the lovable mice Gus and Jaq. When Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, the delightful Fairy Godmother appears! With a wave of her wondrous wand and a bouncy "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," the Fairy Godmother transforms a simple pumpkin into a magical coach -- and Cinderella's rags into a gorgeous gown. At the ball, Cinderella falls in love with Prince Charming, but must flee before the stroke of midnight breaks the spell! Now with an all-new digital restoration, Disney's Enhanced Home Theater Mix, and all-new games and music videos, this 2-Disc Special Edition of Cinderella is the perfect fit for everyone who believes dreams really do come true. Also available on Video.

Cinderella (Two-Disc Special Edition) Specifications

Worry not, Disney fans--this special edition DVD of the beloved Cinderella won't turn into a pumpkin at the strike of midnight. One of the most enduring animated films of all time, the Disney-fied adaptation of the gory Brothers Grimm fairy tale became a classic in its own right, thanks to some memorable tunes (including "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," and the title song) and some endearingly cute comic relief.

The famous slipper (click for larger image)

We all know the story--the wicked stepmother and stepsisters simply won't have it, this uppity Cinderella thinking she's going to a ball designed to find the handsome prince an appropriate sweetheart, but perseverance, animal buddies, and a well-timed entrance by a fairy godmother make sure things turn out all right. There are a few striking sequences of pure animation--for example, Cinderella is reflected in bubbles drifting through the air--and the design is rich and evocative throughout. It's a simple story padded here agreeably with comic business, particularly Cinderella's rodent pals (dressed up conspicuously like the dwarf sidekicks of another famous Disney heroine) and their misadventures with a wretched cat named Lucifer. There's also much harrumphing and exposition spouting by the King and the Grand Duke. It's a much simpler and more graceful work than the more frenetically paced animated films of today, which makes it simultaneously quaint and highly gratifying. --David Kronke

DVD Features

For another of its classic films, Disney delivers another dazzling DVD with a gorgeous, razor-sharp picture and 5.1 sound. (Note: the 1949 film is properly presented in full-screen format, 1.33 aspect ratio, because widescreen films weren't made until the '50s.) The best part of the supplemental features is the archival material, the absolute highlight of which is two unused songs, "Cinderella's Work Song" (in which Cinderella imagines multiplying herself à la the Sorcerer's Apprentice) and "Dancing on a Cloud."

Bippity-boppity-boo! (click for larger image)

Because these numbers were never animated, they're accompanied by stylish illustrations from the Disney artists, and they're simply marvelous to look at. The artist of much of that material, Mary Blair, gets her due in a 15-minute featurette, while the better known "Nine Old Men" are the subject of a round-table discussion among some of today's top animators. In addition, a 38-minute documentary covers their contributions to specific characters of Cinderella as well as the film in general and the vocal cast. Also on the historical side is "The Cinderella That Almost Was," tracking the development of the project through decades of original Disney concepts, characters, and songs, including the 1922 silent "Laugh-o-Gram," which is also included in its entirety.

The pumpkin transformed (click for larger image)

Additional musical material includes three radio programs and a short promo of the movie by Perry Como, in which he summarizes the plot amid some songs by the Fontaine Sisters, star Ilene Woods, and the host himself. Seven other unused songs (17 minutes total) are available in audio-only. The material for kids is on the sparse side, consisting of two music videos, Disney Channel personality Sally (from "Mike's Super Short Show") learning how to become a princess with the help of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition crew and others, a minor dancing-princess feature, and a DVD-ROM design studio. Oddest extra: ESPN's "top Cinderella stories," including the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and Joe Namath's New York Jets, although stories on Mia Hamm and tennis's Williams sisters should appeal to the film's primary target audience of young girls. --David Horiuchi

Cinderella Throughout the Years

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1957 Television Production)	Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1965)	The Slipper and the Rose (1976)
Faerie Tale Theatre - Cinderella (1982)	Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997)	Ever After - A Cinderella Story(1998)

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The Other Guys (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

The Other Guys (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Review

The Other Guys had me laughing so hard in some parts, I was glad I went to the restroom before it started. My friend who watched it with me choked on her popcorn from laughing so much. It has good performances from almost all the cast, especially Wahlberg and Ferrell. Mark W is suprisingly very funny-almost as funny as Will, and in some parts, funnier. I don't want to spoil too much about the movie. It's a buddy cop/bromance like Beverly Hills Cop would have been if John Ashton and Judge Reinhold were the stars instead of Eddie Murphy, because it isn't about the superstar cops. The two main characters played by Wahlberg and Ferrell were extremely likeable, and Wahlberg/Ferrell have such good chemistry together that I enjoyed even the more serious parts of this movie. Honestly, I hope they do a sequel, because there is so much potential in the characters. Watch it and laugh. It's funny, sweet, silly, and exciting, with a rootable team of misfit cops who couldn't be more different.

The Other Guys (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Overview

Misfit NYPD detectives Gamble and Hoitz (Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg) are sentenced to life behind the desk. They hate each other and the monotony of their meaningless jobs, as they’re forced to live in the shadow of the two biggest and most badass cops on the force (Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson). But when those guys go down for the count, opportunity knocks for Gamble and Hoitz. Stumbling onto what could be one of the biggest crimes in years, can The Other Guys step up their game to solve the case without killing each other and destroying NYC in the process? From the director of Step Brothers and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

The Other Guys (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Specifications

Although the comedy team of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg does not sound like a threat to Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello, they conjure up consistent laughs in The Other Guys, yet another comedy from Talladega Nights director Adam McKay. Ferrell plays a mild-mannered police accountant partnered with Wahlberg's hothead (recently demoted to desk-jockey duty after shooting a very famous Yankee player during the World Series), and both men must endure the showboating fame of a pair of supercops (Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson) in their New York City precinct house. Along with sending up cop-movie clichés, the movie basically exists to give Ferrell and Wahlberg room to work amusing variations on their characters (with grace notes for Michael Keaton's stereotypical tough captain, too). The loosey-goosey structure works especially well when Wahlberg is needling his partner's squareness or marveling, in wonderfully awestruck tones, at the unbelievable hot-i-tude of Ferrell's wife (Eva Mendes)--a discrepancy made all the more maddening because Ferrell seems indifferent to her charms. Throw in a plot about a billionaire Wall Street crook (Steve Coogan) and the revelation of Ferrell's hilariously dark past, and the movie finds a nice zone of silliness. Of course, any Will Ferrell vehicle must be judged by the opportunities for the star to launch into some borderline-surreal riff--and happily, this film comes through. From the moment Ferrell begins deconstructing Wahlberg's lion versus tuna metaphor, The Other Guys manages to find time for such nonsense, and the film--the world in general, for that matter--is the better for it. --Robert Horton

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Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (Two-Disc Blu-ray/ DVD Combo)

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (Two-Disc Blu-ray/ DVD Combo) Review

My three 1/2 year old daughter can not get enough of the Tinker Bell movies! This one was even more exciting for her because now she actually believes that some day, Tinker Bell will come and visit her, too. It is so much fun to watch her imagine playing with a fairy, acting out some of the scenes from the movie, and longing to make her own fairy house. So, not only is this fun to watch, it's also supplying endless inspiration for creativity, drawing, crafts and flying around the house!

I have to admit that I am a huge fan of the Disney Fairies movies, myself. After watching a couple of the princess movies and suddenly hearing my little one speak of "killing" and "bad guys" and wondering why there was fighting and violence, I realized that was not what I wanted for my daughter. These fairies are better role models and there are always examples of friendship and relationships with others to talk about (both good and bad) on a more realistic level. We talk about how everyone is different, with different talents, and how that works when we help each other out. She has her favorite fairy, and sometimes it changes, but overall, these movies are cute, fun, brightly animated and truly age-appropriate for young ones. Highly recommended!

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (Two-Disc Blu-ray/ DVD Combo) Overview

"What would you do if you met a fairy? Witness the historical moment when Tinker Bell first meets a human being, and it's not who you think. Years bef

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (Two-Disc Blu-ray/ DVD Combo) Specifications

What would you do if you met a fairy? Witness the historic moment when Tinker Bell first meets a human being, and it’s not who you think.

Years before meeting Wendy and the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell met Lizzy, a little girl with a steadfast belief in the power of pixie dust and the magic land of fairies. During the fairies’ summer visit to the flowering meadows of England, two very different worlds unite for the first time and Tink develops a special bond with a curious child in need of a friend. As her fellow fairies launch a daring rescue, Tinker Bell takes a huge risk, putting her own safety and the future of all fairykind in jeopardy.

Experience Disney’s astonishing all-new movie about the true power of faith and friendship. Bursting with excitement and imagination, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue is magical entertainment for the whole family. You might even learn to fly.

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Rio Bravo (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Rio Bravo (Two-Disc Special Edition) Review

Tension fills this 2 hour plus film notwithstanding that there's not much real action in this classic western starring John Wayne and Dean Martin. The film was directed by Howard Hawks, but if someone told you that it was really directed by Alfred Hitchcock you might, after watching this film, say hmmm that's interesting; in short, you might half believe it. It's a character study of several book-ended by a dramatic opening confrontation and a rousing concluding showdown. It's hard not to compare this film with "High Noon" because that film too seems to to be a spring that is continually coiled until everything is unleashed at its end, but nobody is really particularly likable in "High Noon" and while the tension builds one doesn't really come to like more and more the players herein as one might in "Rio Bravo." The tension continues in "Rio Bravo" but you never have the feeling that an hour glass is generating it which inclines one, I believe, to not so much as look forward to its conclusion as enjoy each minute of the film and, to some extent, not welcome the moment when the film begins to wrap things up for you. It's theatrical in the sense that it is just plain good theater and the characters, albeit on a screen and not on stage in front of you, are just enjoyable to watch as you grow to like and respect more and more of them over the course of this ensemble performance. It's a film, moreover, that one can watch over and over which bespeaks that this is one fine film.

Rio Bravo (Two-Disc Special Edition) Overview

In the dusty town of Rio Bravo, Sheriff Chance arrests Joe Burdette for a brutal murder and must fight off ruthless gunmen to keep him in custody unti

Rio Bravo (Two-Disc Special Edition) Specifications

When it comes down to naming the best Western of all time, the list usually narrows to three completely different pictures: John Ford's The Searchers, Howard Hawks's Red River, and Hawks's Rio Bravo. About the only thing they all have in common is that they all star John Wayne. But while The Searchers is an epic quest for revenge and Red River is a sweeping cattle-drive drama ("Take 'em to Missouri! Yeeee-hah!"), Rio Bravo is on a much more modest scale. Basically, it comes down to Sheriff John T. Chance (Wayne), his sobering-up alcoholic friend Dude (Dean Martin), the hotshot new kid Colorado (Ricky Nelson), and deputy-sidekick Stumpy (Walter Brennan), sittin' around in the town jail, drinkin' black cofee, shootin' the breeze, and occasionally, singin' a song. Hawks--who, like his pal Ernest Hemingway, lived by the code of "grace under pressure"--said he made Rio Bravo as a rebuke to High Noon, in which sheriff Gary Cooper begged for townspeople to help him. So, Hawks made Wayne's Sheriff Chance a consummate professional--he may be getting old and fat, but he knows how to do his job, and he doesn't want amateurs getting mixed up in his business; they could get hurt. This most entertaining of movies also achieved some notoriety in the '90s when Quentin Tarantino (director of Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and Jackie Brown) revealed that he uses it as a litmus test for prospective girlfriends. Oh, and if the configuration of characters sounds familiar, it should: Hawks remade Rio Bravo two more times--as El Dorado in 1967, with Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and James Caan; and as Rio Lobo in 1970, with Wayne, Jack Elam, and Christopher Mitchum. --Jim Emerson

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Coraline (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy w/ 3D)

Coraline (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy w/ 3D) Review

I enjoyed this movie so much the first time I saw it that I decided to add it to my Blu-ray library. This director's movies tend to be dark a more than a little strange (see "The Nightmare Before Christmas") --- just the sort of theme I enjoy. I ordered the two-disk set and it came packaged just as pictured, and included four pairs of 3D "glasses". The real surprise for me was that the 3D worked! It uses the old technology of colored glasses, and the effect certainly isn't perfect, but I tried the movie on both my HD computer monitor and LCD TV and the 3D genuinely worked. As long as you're not expecting Avatar in 3D at an Imax theater I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Coraline (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy w/ 3D) Feature

• Format: AC-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, 3D, Widescreen
• Language: English, Spanish, French
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Actors: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French

Coraline (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy w/ 3D) Overview

Coraline Jones finds a magical world that is similar to her own, but when her "other parents" try to get her to stay, Coraline must look for a way to

Coraline (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy w/ 3D) Specifications

A dark and creepy film about family relationships directed by Henry Selick of Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach fame, Coraline is based on the haunting book Coraline by Neil Gaiman. The first stop-motion feature shot in stereoscopic 3-D, Coraline features big-headed, stick-bodied animated characters with huge eyes and demonic grins set against menacing backgrounds and an undercurrent of spooky music. Coraline is a teenager who has just moved to an old house in the middle of nowhere with her writer parents and she is bored, bored, bored. Her only companions are an annoyingly talkative boy Wybie (short for Why Born), some eccentric neighbors from the theater and circus, and a strange, button-eyed doll with a marked resemblance to Coraline which Wybie found in an old trunk of his grandmother's. When Coraline finds an old door hidden behind an armoire and papered over with wallpaper, she convinces her mother to unlock it, only to find a wall of bricks. When Coraline revisits the door later that night, the bricks magically disappear and she discovers a strange pathway to another world where everything is just what she wishes for. In stark contrast to the real world where Coraline's parents just don't have time for her, her "Other Mother" and "Other Father" in this alternate world are the perfect loving, attentive parents who anticipate her every need and desire. Initially comforted and quite happy in this new world, suspicion that things may not be quite as they seem grows inside Coraline and her disquiet is furthered by the mute "Other Wybie" and a strange-talking cat that seems to move between both worlds. Eventually, Coraline discovers some dark secrets about her "other parents" and the seemingly perfect "other world," but it may be too late for her to escape back to the real world. Teri Hatcher is especially effective in her dual (voice) role as Mom and "Other Mom" and Dakota Fanning also gives a great performance as Coraline. Coraline is a disturbing, intriguing film that both captivates and frightens. (Ages 11 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

Stills from Coraline (Click for larger image)

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Apocalypse Now (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

Apocalypse Now (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray] Review

We watched Francis Ford Coppola's passion project Apocalypse Now (1979) last night in Cinema History class. I had seen the movie once before in 2002. The thing about this movie is that it's definately an "auteur" adult film. The first time I watched it was on my old 27 Sony Trinitron TV, so I didn't get the full movie experience like I did last night in Collins College's movie theater. The sound was absolutely incredible! I can't remember why I was drawn to watching this movie the first time...other than the obvious "everbody said I should" excuse. Of course I've been fascinated with war movies since high school and especially since Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line in the late 90s. What striked me last night about Apocalypse Now was how much more accessible the movie was to me upon a second viewing. I think watching this movie for the first time, it was hard for me to really get it because it is very "abstract". But then all of the great movies in my opinion are a bit abstract. That's what makes them stand up over time and allows one to watch them again and again...you get something new just about every time.

But the thought that really came to me during this viewing last night was that I didn't really enjoy or appreciate this movie as much the first time I saw it. I watched it, thought it was decent, and moved on. It didn't really strike me as a masterpiece of filmmaking. But last night I really saw the greatness in this movie and its concepts. Now maybe my movie appreciation is greater now that I'm moving into the art and business of making films. But it's not just that. I think more and more now that movies are something like any adult acquired taste. I don't think anyone is born loving wine or liquor or beer...it's a taste you acquire and learn to appreciate as an adult. And movies to me seem to be something that you appreciate the subtleties of more and more as you mature. I think you just have to be at a certain place in you life's journey in order to really even understand some movies...like Apocalypse Now. When you're younger and you don't yet have certain life experiences, it's harder to understand and appreciate more sophisticated movies like Apocalypse Now. Whereas something like Star Wars or Indiana Jones or Transformers can be appreciate by kids, young adults, and grown adults. I loved the fun of Star Wars when I was a kid. I then appreciated it for its movie making as a young adult. And now I get the more spiritual and moral values of the movie. Combine all of those things and you have a masterpiece movie that you can watch over and over throughout your life.

Apocalypse Now (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray] Overview

Francis Ford Coppola's timeless classic comes to Blu-ray for the first time!

This 2-Film Set includes Apocalypse Now and Apocalypse Now Redux, presented in stunning new HD transfers supervised by Francis Ford Coppola - and in their original 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratios. With over 9 hours of bonus features, including new interviews with Coppola, Martin Sheen and screenwriter John Milius.

Apocalypse Now (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray] Specifications

In the tradition of such obsessively driven directors as Erich von Stroheim and Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola approached the production of Apocalypse Now as if it were his own epic mission into the heart of darkness. On location in the storm-ravaged Philippines, he quite literally went mad as the project threatened to devour him in a vortex of creative despair, but from this insanity came one of the greatest films ever made. It began as a John Milius screenplay, transposing Joseph Conrad's classic story "Heart of Darkness" into the horrors of the Vietnam War, following a battle-weary Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) on a secret upriver mission to find and execute the renegade Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has reverted to a state of murderous and mystical insanity. The journey is fraught with danger involving wartime action on epic and intimate scales. One measure of the film's awesome visceral impact is the number of sequences, images, and lines of dialogue that have literally burned themselves into our cinematic consciousness, from the Wagnerian strike of helicopter gunships on a Vietnamese village to the brutal murder of stowaways on a peasant sampan and the unflinching fearlessness of the surfing warrior Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), who speaks lovingly of "the smell of napalm in the morning." Like Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God, this film is the product of genius cast into a pit of hell and emerging, phoenix-like, in triumph. Coppola's obsession (effectively detailed in the riveting documentary Hearts of Darkness, directed by Coppola's wife, Eleanor) informs every scene and every frame, and the result is a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon

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Grand Prix (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Grand Prix (Two-Disc Special Edition) Review

Although the film is a bit dated, the actual race scenes are still spectacular. Frankenheimer is absolutely the best in giving a visual treat to the viewer. His montage style filming was way ahead of its time. The actual tracks, and the simulated cars are simply the best racing sequences ever filmed. If you like F1 racing, you'll enjoy the classic race cars and tracks. However, its the extra dvd that really makes this a must buy. The interviews, and the documentaries are informative and wonderful to watch. The Making of Documentaries 40th Anniversary are absolutely a must see for any race fan. Buy it, you won't be disappointed.

Grand Prix (Two-Disc Special Edition) Feature

• Officially Licensed
• Highest Quality Recording

Grand Prix (Two-Disc Special Edition) Overview

Nine races. One champion. James Garner, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford and Antonio Sabato portray Formula I drivers competing to be the best in this slam-you-into-the-driver's seat tale of speed, spectacle and intertwined personal lives. Eva Marie Saint and Toshiro Mifune also star. John Frankenheimer (who 32 years later would again stomp the pedal to the metal for the car chases of Ronin) directs this winner of 3 Academy Awards?,* crafting split-screen images to capture the overlapping drama and orchestrating you-are-there POV camerawork to intensify the hard-driving thrills. Nearly 30 top drivers take part in the excitement, so buckle up, movie fans. Race with the best to the head of the pack.

DVD Features:
Theatrical Trailer
Documentaries
Featurette

Grand Prix (Two-Disc Special Edition) Specifications

Light on story, this 1966 spectacle directed by John Frankenheimer was shot in 70 millimeter, with a cinematically enthralling emphasis on unique, visceral new ways of capturing the sensations of a car race. James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, and Toshiro Mifune are part of the stellar, international cast whose characters plod through assorted relationship and business conflicts. But the film's real hook is the thrilling and inventive means by which Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate) brings an urgency to the drama happening on the racetrack. A true master of the plastic techniques of obtaining and cutting kinetic footage, Frankenheimer offers more than a joyride to viewers: he makes action part of the compelling language of stories. Cameras are strapped to vehicles as they round the track, shots are taken from a helicopter, the screen is split between angles for maximum impact--even if Grand Prix doesn't rank among the director's best character-driven stories, it is certainly driven on its own terms. --Tom Keogh

On the DVD
The much-anticipated release on DVD does not disappoint, with a pristine restored print and upgraded 5.1 Dolby sound. Of course, the Cinerama film can only be fully appreciated if you sit very close to your screen. The absence of a commentary track is forgivable, since director John Frankenheimer died in 2002. "Pushing the Limit" is your standard 30-minute retrospective with many new interviews with the stars and drivers. The universal opinion is that the film caught Formula One at the exact right time when the beauty of the sport was about to be changed in favor of safety and commercialism. There are some fascinating stories on how they were able to use real race footage so seamlessly. "Flat Out" continues the vibe of what racing was like in the '60s with more interviews from the real racers. "The Style and Sound of Speed" talks about designer Saul Bass and how he created the film's different approaches to each race and the cutting-edge use of montages and multiple screens. The vintage doc is kitschy but allows us to see the filming in action (the footage is used extensively in the new featurettes). --Doug Thomas

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Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition) Review

I think Orson Welles was the greatest creative genius in film who never really reached his full potential. Having said that, he remains one of the greatest creative figures in American cinema and radio!!! This review is primarily about Orson Welles the creative genius and some information on the movie that made his reputation "Citizen Kane."

After creating a sensation across America with his radio rendition of H. G. Wells "War of the Worlds" on Halloween night in 1938, this twenty-four year old "wunderkind" was lured to Hollywood to make movies in 1939. His first film idea unfortunately was rejected by RKO studio; it was an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." He had done the story on Radio with his Mercury Theatre Players to great acclaim. I would have loved to seen Welles' make a film on this great haunting story. A loose adaptation would not come for some forty years later with the incomparable Francis Ford Coppolla film "Apocalypse Now." However, Orson's first film for RKO was "Citizen Kane" (1941). He directed, starred and co-wrote the screenplay with Herman Mankiewicz, it was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won for Best Screenplay. Still considered by the American Film Institute as the greatest movie ever made!!! I do not disagree. Here are a few interesting facts about this film.

Orson had no experience in film; he was primarily a radio entertainer. He had to learn about cinematography very quickly. He got his cinematographer Gregg Toland to give him a "crash course" on how to shoot a movie, the great camera angles of the film proves that Orson was a very quick study.

Film scholars and historians view "Citizen Kane" as Welles' attempt to create a new style of filmmaking by studying various forms of movie making, and combining them all into one. The most innovative technical aspect of Citizen Kane is the extended use of deep focus. In nearly every scene in the film, the foreground, background and everything in between are all in sharp focus. This was done by cinematographer Gregg Toland through his experimentation with lenses and lighting. Specifically, Toland often used telephoto lenses to shoot close-up scenes.
Another unorthodox method used in the film was the way low-angle shots were used to display a point of view facing upwards, thus allowing ceilings to be shown in the background of several scenes. This technique happens to be one of my very favorite used in the movie. Since movies were primarily filmed on sound stages and not on location during the era of the Hollywood studio system, it was impossible to film at an angle that showed ceilings because the stages had none. Welles changed all that. There is one great story of how Orson wasn't satisfied with the camera angle of a particular scene, even after Toland had put the camera on the floor of the sound stage. Toland told Orson it was impossible to get a better angle. Not being satisfied, Orson took the fire axe off the wall and proceeded to hack a hole into the floor of the sound stage allowing the camera to be lowered an extra three feet; thus Orson attained his desired cinematic angle and the student surpassed his teacher!!!

When execs at RKO couldn't decide on greenlight-ing "Citizen Kane" (1941), Orson asked for film equipment and a small crew released so he could spend the mid-way time doing test shots. Not wanting their New-York-import to grow cold with the RKO deal, they granted the request ... Orson proceeded to shoot actual scenes of the movie. By the time execs realized what he had done, Orson had many key scenes complete. They green-lit Citizen Kane (1941) ... Already having financed the picture, unknowingly.
Finally, Welles prevented studio executives of RKO from visiting the set. He understood their desire to control projects and he knew they were expecting him to do an exciting film that would correspond to his "The War of the Worlds" radio broadcast. Welles' RKO contract had given him complete control over the production of the film when he signed on with the studio, something that he never again was allowed to exercise when making motion pictures. It is a great pity to of ham strung a creative genius like Wells.

In 1975, in spite of all his box-office failures, he received the American Film Institute's 3rd Lifetime Achievement Award in 1975 from its Chairman Charlton Heston, who said of Welles in his remarks; "The first AFI award went to a director (John Ford), the second to an actor, (James Cagney). In Orson Welles, we honor both crafts." In 1984 the Directors Guild of America awarded him its highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award. His reputation as a film maker has climbed steadily ever since.

Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition) Feature

• A fascinating story of idealism corrupted by wealth, Citizen Kane is frequently named the greatest film of all time and is credited with inspiring more directorial careers than any other film in history. Orsen Welles and Agnes Moorehead star.Running Time: 119 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG Age: 053939656527 UPC: 053939656527 Manufacturer No: T6

Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition) Overview

The story of an immensely wealthy newspaper publisher, as he is remembered by his friends and former wife after his death. Loosely based on the life of William Randolph Hearst. Frequently called the greatest film of all time.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: WELLES/COTTEN/COMINGORE/MOOREH
Title: CITIZEN KANE
Street Release Date: 09/24/2002
Domestic
Genre: DRAMA

Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition) Specifications

Arguably the greatest of American films, Orson Welles's 1941 masterpiece, made when he was only 26, still unfurls like a dream and carries the viewer along the mysterious currents of time and memory to reach a mature (if ambiguous) conclusion: people are the sum of their contradictions, and can't be known easily. Welles plays newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane, taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. The result is that every well-meaning or tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event. Written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz, and photographed by Gregg Toland, the film is the sum of Welles's awesome ambitions as an artist in Hollywood. He pushes the limits of then-available technology to create a true magic show, a visual and aural feast that almost seems to be rising up from a viewer's subconsciousness. As Kane, Welles even ushers in the influence of Bertolt Brecht on film acting. This is truly a one-of-a-kind work, and in many ways is still the most modern of modern films from the 20th century. --Tom Keogh

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Review

I admit that I haven't seen the original 1956 sci/fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers but this remake was fantastic. This was a solid horror/sci-fi story with good production values. Those values include outstanding direction by Philip Kaufman, camera-work by Michael Chapman and acting. The cast of main characters was comprised of Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright. Of the group, Sutherland had the most lines and was the most impressive. All of it added up to a pretty intense and suspenseful film. Spores from outer space fall in San Francisco where they begin to hatch flowers, which eventually ends up in peoples homes. City health department employee Elizabeth (Brooke Adams) confides in her colleague Matthew (Donald Sutherland) that her boyfriend seems to have changed. Matthew soon encounters similar situations, including two friends who find a body in their bathhouse, which takes on features as they sleep. Matthew's friend, psychologist David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy from Star Trek), insists that is all well. But it isn't and as the city quickly gets taken over, everyone will become one of them. Invasion of the Body Snatchers had some really nice and memorable scenes, good scares and a good atmosphere and the ending was brilliant, probably one of the best endings to a horror thriller film ever. The effects of the alien pods was pretty good and quite effective, theres not that much blood and hardly any gore but still it had a creepy atmosphere and dealt with issues like paranoia and distrust. It starts off good but then regressed with the social commentary on relationships and all the transitioning through the psychologist. Great film though, worth a viewing, especially to see all the stars: Jeff Goldblum, Donald Sutherland and Leonard Nimoy.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Overview

When filmy spores fall from space and take root in San Francisco, the city is beautifully transformed by spectacular and exotic flowers. But these lovely extraterrestrial blossoms have gruesome plans for their earthly admirers: to slowly clone their bodies and then dispose of the originals! "A first-rate suspense thriller" (Newsday), this sci-fi adventure is a "chilling" (Leonard Maltin), "dazzling" (The New York Times) and "stunning" (Cosmopolitan) thrill ride that will send your pulse rate soaring! From a brilliant screenplay by Academy Award® nominee* W.D. Richter, filmmaker Philip Kaufman directs an all-star cast that includes Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, Brooke Adams and Leonard Nimoy. With its mesmerizing style and awe-inspiring special effects, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is "a classic of the genre" (New York Post) a terrifying tale that "literally chills the blood" (The Hollywood Reporter)!

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Specifications

Jack Finney's classic science fiction novel has been the basis of three big-screen adaptations, beginning with the 1956 chiller Invasion of the Body Snatchers and most recently as 1994's underrated Body Snatchers. This acclaimed 1978 version from director Philip Kaufman (The Right Stuff) is every bit as creepy as the '56 original, and it fits perfectly into the cycle of paranoid thrillers that thrived in American movies of the 1970s. Kaufman stylishly directs from an intelligent screenplay by W.D. Richter, while Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams lead a distinguished cast (including Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy, and Veronica Cartwright) and must fight for survival as the population of San Francisco is systematically cloned by alien "pods" from a distant, dying planet. The atmosphere of dread and paranoia grows increasingly intense as the complexity of the alien invasion is gradually revealed, until nobody can be trusted to be who they appear. Finely tuned performances enhance the film's eerie atmosphere, highlighted by moments that will lurk in your memory long after the movie's over. MGM's DVD release includes a full-length audio commentary by Kaufman, a "pod culture" retrospective, Body Snatchers trivia, production notes, and the original theatrical trailer. --Jeff Shannon

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Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)

Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition) Review

This movie is a great classic at least that's what I was told by my "teenage" son. I enjoyed having the Collector's Edition with alternate endings, and scenes that were not in the original movie, which are only available with this special edition. This was a gift for my teenage son who was facinated by this movie when he saw it on TV. I had a difficult time locating it in any stores, I can't imagine why??? I finally was told that this movie was "retired", imagine my surprise! I got this movie pack for a very reasonable price from a seller who shipped this item very fast and in great condition. My son would recommend the movie and I would recommend the seller of this item. Both were great in their own way!

Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition) Overview

Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, this classic and compelling Vietnam War epic stars Martin Sheen as Captain Willard, who is sent on a dangerous and mesmerizing odyssey into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade American Colonel named Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has succumbed to the horrors of war and barricaded himself in a remote outpost. Also stars Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper and Harrison Ford.

Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition) Specifications

I love the smell of a collector's edition in the morning. Everyone's favorite Joseph Conrad adaptation gets the fancy packaging and extras treatment with this release of Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier. Both the original theatrical cut and the 2001 Redux version are included, with enough extras to keep one occupied on a long boat trip. Calling this the "complete" dossier is sure to raise hackles among fans who insist that Eleanor Coppola's lauded documentary, Hearts of Darkness, which chronicled husband Francis's harrowing experience making the film, should have been included. (As of this review, Hearts of Darkness has yet to be released on DVD, so battered VHS copies will have to suffice.) Packaged in a cardboard "dossier" sleeve, the two-disc set includes Marlon Brando reading T.S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men," new production featurettes, and cast member interviews. Owners of previous editions of either of the cuts might consider how much they want all the officially sanctioned information on this edition. For newcomers to the Vietnam epic, this is an edition worth going crazy for. --Ryan Boudinot

Apocalypse Now
In the tradition of such obsessively driven directors as Erich von Stroheim and Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola approached the production of Apocalypse Now as if it were his own epic mission into the heart of darkness. On location in the storm-ravaged Philippines, he quite literally went mad as the project threatened to devour him in a vortex of creative despair, but from this insanity came one of the greatest films ever made. It began as a John Milius screenplay, transposing Joseph Conrad's classic story "Heart of Darkness" into the horrors of the Vietnam War, following a battle-weary Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) on a secret upriver mission to find and execute the renegade Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has reverted to a state of murderous and mystical insanity. The journey is fraught with danger involving wartime action on epic and intimate scales. One measure of the film's awesome visceral impact is the number of sequences, images, and lines of dialogue that have literally burned themselves into our cinematic consciousness, from the Wagnerian strike of helicopter gunships on a Vietnamese village to the brutal murder of stowaways on a peasant sampan and the unflinching fearlessness of the surfing warrior Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), who speaks lovingly of "the smell of napalm in the morning." Like Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God, this film is the product of genius cast into a pit of hell and emerging, phoenix-like, in triumph. Coppola's obsession (effectively detailed in the riveting documentary Hearts of Darkness, directed by Coppola's wife, Eleanor) informs every scene and every frame, and the result is a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon

Apocalypse Now Redux
Digitally remastered with 49 minutes of previously unseen footage, Apocalypse Now Redux is the reference standard of Francis Coppola's 1979 epic. A metaphorical hallucination of the Vietnam War, the film was reconstructed by Coppola and editor Walter Murch to enrich themes and clarify the ending. On that basis Redux is a qualified success, more coherent than the original while inviting the same accusations of directorial excess. The restored "French plantation" sequence adds ghostly resonance to the war's absurdity, and Willard's theft of Colonel Kurtz's beloved surfboard adds welcomed humor to the film's nightmarish upriver journey. An encounter with Playboy Playmates seems superfluous compared to the enhanced interplay between Willard and his ill-fated boat crew, but compensation arrives in the hellish Kurtz compound, where Willard's mission--and the performances of Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando--reach even greater heights of insanity, thus validating Redux as the rightful heir to Coppola's triumphantly rampant ambition. --Jeff Shannon

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Green Zone (Two-Disc Limited Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

Green Zone (Two-Disc Limited Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] Review

I expected Green Zone to track more closely to the book upon which the movie was based; "Green Zone, Imperial Life in the Emerald City", and indictment of the Paul Bremer time in Iraq. Instead the movie's focus was on Matt Damon's character and his team of WMD searchers, which was a minor part of the book. The movie perfectly captured the chaos in Iraq at the opening stages of the war as American troops captured Baghdad, and proceeded to consolidate their presence in Iraq. The handheld camera technique emphasized the way unplanned events unfold and the need to plan on the fly as obstacles present themselves. This movie probably captures the feeling of war as well as any movie. Matt Damon is excellent in his role as a chief warrant officer who takes his job seriously and knows when he is getting a lot of b.s. from his superiors. The cast is uniformly excellent and again the movie captures the tension that existed between the CIA and the Defense Department over the authenticity of the information supplied regarding WMD's in Iraq. The CIA was getting it's information from a former Iraqi general in charge of the WMD program whereas the Defense Department was getting its information from a guy code named "curveball" whom even German intelligence said was unreliable. The movie version consolidated the informant into one character, the Iraqi general. There really was a huge disconnect between the civilian political operatives as depicted by the character Poudstone and the military grunts depicted by Damon. Donald Rumsfeld set up is own intelligence operation because he did not trust CIA intelligence or because the CIA was not telling him what he wanted to hear. The movie made it perfectly clear that the CIA and the Defense Department did not get along. I highly recommend this movie since it was not only entertaining but at least 50-75% true account of what happened during that period of time in Iraq.

Green Zone (Two-Disc Limited Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] Overview

Academy Award® nominees Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum) reteam in this action-packed thriller. Damon stars as Roy Miller, a rogue U.S. Army officer who must hunt through covert and faulty intelligence hidden on foreign soil before war escalates in an unstable region. Also starring Academy Award® nominees Greg Kinnear and Amy Ryan, Green Zone is “one hell of a thriller” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times).

Green Zone (Two-Disc Limited Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] Specifications

Matt Damon reteams with his Bourne Supremacy director to create a thriller grounded in contemporary politics: the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Damon) travels across war-torn Iraq, pursuing the intelligence he's been given, but every site indicated comes up empty of WMDs. Investigating the source of the intelligence, he finds himself caught between CIA agent Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson, 28 Days Later) and politician Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear, Little Miss Sunshine) over the identity of "Magellan," the supposed source. As Miller tracks down an Iraqi general, he ends up further and further afield, facing danger from all sides. It's hard to say which is the greater accomplishment--that Green Zone manages to turn a still-volatile political issue into a propulsive action movie, or that it manages to depict Iraqi people as individuals with a wide range of responses to what's happened to their country. Damon's performance is low-key but effective as Miller tries to maintain some semblance of moral clarity in a circumstance that muddies everything. Also featuring Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) as a compromised journalist and Khalid Abdalla (The Kite Runner) as an Iraqi civilian who gets dragged into far more than he expected. --Bret Fetzer

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Meet Me In St. Louis (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Meet Me In St. Louis (Two-Disc Special Edition) Review

This has to be one of the best movies ever made.
All the great songs, and a young beautiful Judy Garland.
It really does stand the test of time.

Meet Me In St. Louis (Two-Disc Special Edition) Overview

St. Louis 1903. The well-off Smith family has four beautiful daughters, including Esther and little Tootie. 17-year old Esther has fallen in love with the boy next door who has just moved in, John. He however, barely notices her at first. The family is shocked when Mr. Smith reveals that he has been transfered to a nice position in New York, which means that the family has to leave St. Louis and the St. Louis Fair.

Meet Me In St. Louis (Two-Disc Special Edition) Specifications

One of the finest American musicals, this 1944 film by Vincente Minnelli is an intentionally self-contained story set in 1903, in which a happy St. Louis family is shaken to their roots by the prospect of moving to New York, where the father has a better job pending. Judy Garland heads the cast in what amounts to a splendid, end-of-an-era story that nicely rhymes with the onset of the 20th century. The film is extraordinarily alive, the characters strong, and the musical numbers are so splendidly part of the storytelling that you don't feel the film has stopped for an interlude. --Tom Keogh

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