A wonderful box set - with an annoying flaw!

The film / miniseries itself is incredible - well worth purchasing.

But this package has one annoying flaw to any German speaker. The English subtitles cannot be turned off!

A very frustrating and unnecessary flaw in what would otherwise be a beautiful product.

Life-changing experience

So...where are all the gushing reviews?

Sansho Dayu is easily one of the best films ever made, and we are incredibly lucky that it has finally been released by Masters of Cinema, the best producers of DVDs in this country (along with the BFI, perhaps). In some ways, this is an even better edition than the one Criterion released in America back in May.

You will never forget the first time you see this film; words can't begin to do justice to its visual beauty and its emotional impact. It stands comparison with the best films of Kurosawa and Ozu - with the best films of any director, come to that. Coupled with the almost equally marvellous (though smaller in scale) Gion Bayashi, this is a must-own DVD set for any self-respecting film buff. It is worth at least twice as much as Amazon are currently charging for it.

A Classic of 60's Italian Cinema, and a Great Presentation

Luchino Visconti is one of the great Italian directors whose career spanned everything from arguably the first neo-realist film ("Ossessione" made in the early 1940's) to his later more elaborate works (such as his great adaptation of Lampedusa's"The Leopard" and the extraordinary 4-hour"Ludwig" about the mad, misunderstood last King of Bavaria).

Visconti made this film in order to try and address the issue of the divide between the south and the north of Italy, but also (as the title hints) as a tribute to one of his favourite authors the German novelist Thomas Mann - the aforementioned title of"Rocco and his Brothers" echoes Mann's monumental biblical novel"Joseph and his Brothers", and the story of the decline of a family has some links to Mann's most famous novel"Buddenbrooks".

The film relates the fortunes of a family (a widowed mother and her 5 sons) who move from rural southern Italy to Milan and try to establish a new life in a strange city. Although it runs for nearly three hours (many of Visconti's movies are quite lengthy, and this is not the longest), the film enthrals because of great direction and performances (especially from Alain Delon in an early role as the eponymous brother, and Annie Girardot as the prostitute Nadia who has such a devasting effect on the family). Although no longer capable of provoking the scandal that accompanied its first release, there are several enormously powerful scenes here that have lost none of their shocking impact.

This is an excellent DVD release from the always reliable Masters of Cinema series - the film looks in great shape (unlike the previously very poor DVD transfers available) and is correctly presented, there is a substantial booklet with essays and interviews with Visconti, and a supplementary disk featuring some excellent subsidiary material (including an hour long RAI documentary on the life and work of Visconti, and a wonderful interview with Annie Girardot).

I can recommend Geoffrey Nowell-Smith's book on Visconti (now available in an updated edition) as an excellent companion to this film for anyone wanting to know more about Visconti, and Masters of Cinema have released a first-rate DVD presentation of another Visconti film"Bellissima".

brutal look at the russian military

Conscripts are trained by a brutal veteran of Afhganistan. Selected and shipped to the front. There fight for survival begins. Great directing you must be a quick reader to keep up with the sub-titles. British army should have watched this before committing themselves.

Christina Lindberg's Swedish Erotica - Collection One

do not buy the worst soft porn i have ever seen, Banned in 36 countries i wish they had been banned here! I got more excited watching sponge bob square pants

A Slow-Burning Shocker

Based on actual events in Aramoana, New Zealand in 1990,"Out of the Blue" is one of those movies where you certainly don't cheer for the villain. David Gray (Matthew Sunderland) is a middle-aged man living in a peaceful town, but one day he snaps for no real reason, gets a gun and starts shooting people: children, their parents and grandparents, everyone who happens to be around. The police team lead by Nick Harvey (Karl Urban) is quickly sent to the area of the shooting, but the men are not quite used to dealing with such cases, and in a situation like this any hesitation on their part may cause somebody a life.

The movie unwinds rather slowly, but after about 30 minutes it becomes very tense, unnerving and unbelievably moving (like in a scene when Nick tries to convince a wounded little girl who has lost her whole family that"everything is going to be alright"). Great photography from Greig Fraser, convincing acting from everyone concerned (especially from Lois Lawn playing a brave old lady) and a fine direction by Robert Sarkies. Just don't expect a formulaic thriller where everything is tied up nicely and ends up with a big-budgeted shootout.

Some good bonus features make the DVD yet more enticing: there's a revealing commentary by the director and author Bill O'Brien (who wrote a book about the incident on which the script was based), a 12-minute long making of documentary, cast and crew interviews, original news reports and other docs on the 1990 tragedy.

Bollyrobics: Highly recommend!

This is a great and fun cardio workout. Divided into 3 sections, each to a great song with a super beat, this is a top notch DVD. Each section has a warm up and cool down, plus a step by step routine break down and a section where you get to put it all together. The instructions are superb, and clear. I very highly recommend this DVD to anyone who wants a fun, fresh workout.

Don't bother

Not the worst film I've ever seen but one I was happy to talk over - not rivetting! I didn't mind the split screen but it should have been used more judiciously. I thought the male lead was miscast and he was cold and unsympathetic. It was a film that was impossible to warm to and had virually no plot line. Quite annoying really. Low budget for sure as not even cinematically interesting.

Noein - To your other self

This is a beautiful and highly under-rated anime, with a great quality of characters and plot that interweave throughout the 24 episodes. Whilst it is confusing to keep track of the action to begin with (unless you are familiar with quantam physics), the use of familiar dialogue, characters and settings soon allow the viewer to gain an understanding of the complex plot. The characters themselves are well drawn and highly emotive, and the series explores them in turn so as to develop a deeper empathy with them as individuals. Added to which, there is an excellent soundtrack and the quality of the animation is fantastic. I would certainly recommend this to fans of anime, but also to those new to the genre and anyone that can appreciate something that's a little bit different. 5 stars, well worth the money.

Haunting and beautiful drama - a real discovery!

A beautiful and quietly devastating tale from one of India's most renowned filmmakers.
Congratulations - again - to Second Run for making these unknown gems available for us. This is a real discovery!

Naruto is the best

I am amazed at this feature film. The anime effects are amazing. The story is full of Naruto trademarks & hi jinks I would recommend this to any anime fan.

Mizoguchi Masters - so far so good

Mizoguchi is the favourite director of many a"cineaste" - that his films are being put out on dvd by the avowedly cineaste Masters of Cinema label is a dream come true. So far the series is more than living up to expectations.
The format is brilliant - each release contains one classic and one lesser known related film, rather like a main feature and a supporting feature. This is a great (& affordable) way of quickly releasing a representative cross-section of Mizo films. As well as the 2 discs, each release has wonderful packaging & very substantial booklets with lots of photographs, original poster art, essays & translations of the Japanese literary source materials.
The only (minor) criticism I have is of Tony Rayns' short filmed introductions. While I normally respect Mr Rayns, here he merely recounts second-hand gossip about Mizoguchi & film company politics, virtually dismissing the films themselves as hack-work. I'm all for demystification but this is ridiculous!
What about the films? They are all black & white, postwar (40s & 50s). SANSHO & UGETSU are feudal period films, stunningly shot & overwhelming emotional roller-coaster rides. Both are extremely haunting - literally so in the case of UGETSU with its strange supernatural & ghostly elements. Both films are both regularly listed on"greatest films of all time" lists & probably need no introduction. If you are relatively new to Mizoguchi you should get the SANSHO & UGETSU dvds first. The other main feature CHIKAMATSU MONOGATARI is a bit erratic in tone but still excellent. It's another period film, telling of doomed adulterous lovers on the run who transgress every social code of the time.
I hadn't seen the three"supporting" films before but they turn out to be interesting if uneven. Mizoguchi's most popular films (in the West) are"classical" Japanese period films while his less popular films have modern (C20th) settings. GION BAYASHI and UWASA NO ONNA are both sharp melodramas set in the modern Geisha world of Kyoto and explore the tribulations & sacrifices of the women and the thin line between Geisha and prostitute. UWASA is a particularly striking film with great performances from the actresses & stands comparison with the recently released Naruse films. Arguably these 2 films work better on dvd / small screen whereas SANSHO & UGETSU lose some of their impact away from the cinema. The third supporting film OYU-SAMA is a real melodrama with a storyline that may be of limited appeal. It has some very good scenes & some awkward/dated ones. It is modern but has some evocative"traditional" Japanese scenes and its strange story of a tangled three way obsessional repressed relationship will give Freudians a field day.
Three releases, six films - highly recommended.
Let's start praying that Masters of Cinema get to release epics like Late Chrysanthemums & 49 Ronin and maybe even some of Mizoguchi's incredible 1930s films...

Words cannot express how much i love this movie!

Being a white westerner bollywood films are a new experience for me - Ive only seen a handful up to now and i can easily say this is my favourite up to now, i absolutely ADORED this movie! Myself and a friend saw this at the cinema and we laughed our way through the movie - you cannot help but love Shah Rukh Khan after seeing this! Of course the storyline is incredibly dramatic but it just makes it more fantastic! The acting is amazing and the music just outstanding. Being a huge fan of the phantom of the opera stage show i loved the homage to that - there were homages to old bollywood movies, a lot of which obviously i didn't get, but for true bollywood fans i think they would doubly love this film. Oh but a love of 'cheesy' movies is an absolute essential to appreciate this film!

Incredible!

The restoration is near flawless, and makes the Criterion look drab by comparison.
And we have 21 added minutes; A nice booklet synopsizing each story;
The sets and set designs are a wonder to behold......and many pretty long black-haired Japanese women.
You can see that THE GRUDGE et al are rip offs of this film.

I am begging the US not to remake this

Great film, great script and two of the world's most compelling and charismatic actors.

What more can I say?

Oh yes - please, Hollywood, don't go anywhere near this and don't even think of remaking.

I beg you.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys a superior cop/crime thriller.

Not better than Heat, but certainly on a par.