Uncinematic

Strangely uncinematic. It's all set up (as much as 90 minutes) and then a little tepid 10 minute pay off. The structure of the film might work in a novel but as a film it plays like a bunch of boring conversations.

I found the music in it to be very dated sounding. The pretty muted horns and the slow beats sounds sooooo early naughties it's embarrassing.

It's better than 12 but that's not saying anything as that was one of the worst movies ever made.

anomalous anomalies

second season of primeval, a show about a group of people who hunt dinosaurs and monsters that get loose in present day britain via anomalies in time that bring the creatures through from either the past or even the future.

If you haven't seen season one then go and watch that first, because the first episode of this continues right from where that left off, which was a major cliffhanger that altered the status quo of the show, and it doesn't make any concession to new viewers. so you'll be better off starting there.

But for those who are familiar with the show, this is season one refined. more monster hunting, but the characters now feel more rounded and better developed, and there is an intriguing ongoing storyline as well. This is good solid and entertaining tv with some appealing characters and it's the kind of thing that the whole family can sit down in front of the tv together and enjoy. just like doctor who. and that's the only similarity it has to that show!

The dvd spreads the entire series of seven episodes over two discs. the first disc contains the first three episodes, english language subtitles, and go to the extras menu to access a commentary from the writer and producers for episode one, and a documentary about the making of the show. this was written and directed and is presented by andrew lee potts, who plays the character connor. he does all the links in the documentary in character which looks as if it might be annoying at first but actually you'll find quickly that it works very well. running for over forty minutes it's a good and comprehensive documentary and very entertaining watching.

a minor annoyance is the way the menus are presented as it scrolls all the options up and down. so miss what you want and you'll have to wait a few seconds for it to come back. but that's a minor irritation nothing more.

disc two has episodes four to seven. for the commentary from the writer and producers on episode five, there's no extras menu, you just access it via the episode selection menu.

An entertaining show, and a good dvd package for it

Fantastic

At last I own one of the best films in one of the best transfers I have ever seen it in the picture quality is superb and much better than the previous dvd releases, its a shame that some new HD extras were not added but thats me been picky

Just A Bit Of Fun For 2 Hours.. Nothing More Or Less.

I'll be honest - I didn't think this was too bad. Ok, so it shamelessly rips off the million times better LOTR movies, but it was fairly enjoyable! I grew up in the time of Hawk The Slayer, Beastmaster, Sword And The Sorceror, Dragonslayer, Krull etc. Trust me, some of these were no Lord Of The Rings either! For every Conan the Barbarian, Excalibur or Dragonslayer (classics!) there was The Iron Master, The Sword Of The Barbarians & Ator The Fighting Eagle!!! Red Sonja and Willow were a bit iffy too, to say nothing of Sword Of The Valiant...
At least, this is innocent of any movie or album's cardinal sin, in that it is never boring! There's plenty of action, the CG is decent in most places - there's some reasonably impressive 'Marching Army' visuals, and the battle choreography is ok, apart from some kung fu elements which are misplaced. Have to say that the 'evil' army, a beast like race known as The Krug are basically a rip off of The Orcs, right down to the subterranean caverns that they live in! The Krug make up & costumes are a bit shoddy and won't give Weta Workshop any sleepless nights!
At least, the armour & costumes are more impressive for the 'good' army!
It's not as dark as The Rings epics and certainly suitable for younger viewers - there's no sex or strong violence, the battle scenes are relativeley bloodless. The film is often light hearted, and after a bit of a shaky start, improves considerably with time
It's basically like a pantomime - lot's of well known faces turn up, in something that is just out to entertain!
Jason Statham; unusually cast but more than ok as the hero, Burt Reynolds; improves as the story evolves, John Rhys-Davies; always good in any movie!
Kristanna Loken; as gorgeous as in Terminator 3.
Ray Liotta; have to say totally miscast as the evil sorceror!(a REALLY poor villain), Matthew Lillard; as entertaining as a bout of dermatitis!
It's not Return Of The King, It's not Troy, BUT if you can happily watch Hercules: The Legendary Journeys or Xena:The Warrior Princess, then there's a fair chance you'll enjoy it.
I know this movie has been really slated, and I can't disagree with a lot of the bad press, BUT come on, how many of us happily sit through Warlords Of Atlantis on Channel 5 or Land That Time Forgot on BBC2 ?? The FX in those films were awlful, even for the 1970's BUT we enjoyed them, we suspended disbelief!
There's a few decent extras on the disc, it hardly costs the earth, so if you like your fantasy, and are a bit forgiving, then at least rent it. It's more than passable entertainment for 2 hours. If you hate it, then dig out the old 'uns like Jason And The Argonauts or The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad...

Spiderman Trilogy with cure

I recently bought the Spiderman Trilogy on Blu Ray and agree with the other peoples comments. I found Spiderman 2 would not read/play on my PS3. Sony should have supplied instructions on how to fix this problem however, I found a solution on my own. I left the disc in the PS3 and rebooted the PS3 with the disc inside then left it a few minutes and then turned it back on again and this corrected the problem and the movie played okay. This is a very good boxset and I would recommend it to anyone the HD and Sound are great and if you follow my instruction you will get your movie to work.

Bond as it should be done

Don't get me wrong, I have loved the Bond films all my life and have seen them all many, many times. I have also read the books. For a long time now I have hoped that the film makers would look once again at the novels. With Casino Royale they have and the film is a classy, stylish, hard hitting masterpiece. It's great to see an almost uncertain Bond becoming the high living, world traveling gentleman thug of a killer. I have to say that even the long scenes in the casino are as thrilling as any car chase and gun fight. It's just so well done. Mention must be made of the score, David Arnold teases us throughout with the Bond theme and its only.... when it explodes into the movie and we are left without a doubt that Bond is ready to take on the world. It looks gorgeous and the camera work is mercifully free of unnecessary shaking as over used by the Bourne movies. And Daniel Craig was born to play Bond. Long may he do so.

Not as good as the first 3

I love Harry Potter, i want to say lots of good things but to be honest i felt cheated when watching this film. Films with a lots of detailed thought put in them at the planning stage tend to end up being really well done, and evidently the creative decisons during the planning of this film have not been thought through, it is as if all the budget has been spent on expensive CG shots and not on charactorisation, or exposition, which leaves the film emotionally unsatisfying.
Because of these flaws i will mentioned them first. The first big mistake in this film, i think, is the choice of director, Mike Newell ( four weddings and a funeral) his style seems to be well suited to charactor driven adult movies, but the sense that he was out of his depth here never leaves the film. i felt that several scenes felt as if there was loads cut out of them leaving the film feeling rushed and slopply edited together. Directorial decisions were made which were in wrong context to the books and other movies ( Dumbledore coming across as agressive and frustrated) and i kept feeling as if the"lens" this film was shot with was" its for kids" and not for" young adults" , in other words i just felt like an adult watching a film about kids, instead of feeling enthralled and caught up in the action and emotion and magic as if i was a child right there at hogwarts with harry, like i felt with the first three movies.
I think the decision to have no muggle related scenes at the beggining prevented the movie from having a grounding and therefore it does not invite you ( the audience) along for the ride.
I felt as if the director had never produced a big a budget CG driven blockbuster like this and made many mistakes that i feel shouldn't be made at this level of film making. The decision to have huge panoramic scenes and huge C G scenes when there is no emotional context to them dilute the movie, and this film has tons, and, as i said at the expense of charactorisation and plot development. The only CG scene that really carries its emotional weight is voldemorts' return, where the CG really supports the scene rather than dimishes it.
Instead of feeling a mystery unfolding around you that keeps you glued to you seat until the end, like the first 3 films did, this film feels like the 3 trials glued together by a string of scenes that really don't do much, in other words the sub plots did not go any where and tie the film together at the end.
This being said the good elements are in there in abundance and beautifully done, The casting choices for Cedric Diggory and Fleur Delacour, are excellent and Ralph Fiennes is truely terrifying as Voldemort, his blend of arrogance, thugishness and cruel intelligence come across very convincingly ( i wouldn't let my kids watch this film) he truely is haunting, The CG when it done is good and what you have come to expect from a big budget film, but it is really the emotional details that lets this film down, decisions made at the drawing board level that in the end let the film down. I was left with the feeling as if each scene was supposed to be much longer but it had to be cut down at the editing stage, i wouldn't be surprised if theres half a movie lying on the cutting room floor.
David Tennant( Dr Who) cast as a barty crounch Jr, i think is a casting mistake, he is a great actor, but he is a leading man, and in this place ( a minor supporting role) i think he was miscast, and its little decisions like this that left me with a slighty cheated feeling through out.
i was left several times feeling as if it was" assumed" at the screen writing stage and by the movies makers, that the majority of the audience would have read the book, this may be so, but i think you owe to the audience to weave the story from start to finish and leave the audience satisfied.Obviously its impossible to make the film exactly as the book, but if you are going to include the subplots, then they should be done justice to.
I won't hear a bad thing said about the main three, Grint, Watson, and Radcliff, as really they are still young inexperienced actors and when people fault find with their perfomances they seem to be missing the point, you can't expect oscar winning perfomances from them and knowing this you can accept them for where they are at this stage of development as actors, i think Radcliff, Grint and Watson make Harry, Ron and Hermonie as lovable and sweet as ever, and if any fingers should be pointed at this film it should be at the movie makers, not the actors.
This being said, its not un enjoyable, its just not up to the standard of the first three, or film number 5 OOTP.
However if you are a Harry Potter fan, you not going to not like the film, but compared to the others and as a standalone film much could have been improved here.

Eastwood's best films - one about the battle, one about the postwar

Flags of Our Fathers took some undeserved flak from a few teenage blowhards & armchair generals because it wasn't the straightforward recounting of the battle of Iwo Jima they imagined. Well it's their loss because seen back to back with its brilliant companion piece, the Japanese language Letters from Iwo Jima, it becomes clear what a twin masterpiece the 77 year old Eastwood has made.

In Fathers the three American flag-raisers come back to the States to be hailed as heroes for having done nothing more than raising a pole. Haunted by horrific memories of combat, surrounded by Government spin that excludes one man who was there & falsely credits another, the Marines just have to bear it as best they can. Eastwood's thoughtful, reflective, melancholy rumination about the gap between combat reality & combat glory is complemented by Letters from Iwo Jima. Evoking amazing emotional power the film takes us deep into the lives of men ranging from a lowly private to a noble General. If Flags was haunted by the sad memories of old men then Letters is all about giving voice to the unknown soldiers sent to their death in a futile cause & denied by their culture even the possibility of surrender.

Both movies are immaculately crafted with memorable performances, beautiful burnished photography that is almost, but not quite, black & white, filled with great scenes both on & off the battlefield & memorable music scores, principally by Eastwood & his son Kyle.

Letters is about the battle & the more emotional of the two as well being the more conventionally told, whilst Flags is about the postwar, is non-linear in it structure & the more intellectual. Both films are less interested in overwhelming the viewer with scenes of battle (although there are astonishingly well done battle scenes in both) than they are in exploring the demands each culture made of its men. Each is impressive on its own but what is so fascinating is that seen back to back they fill in the gaps in the others story & together constitute one of the great cinematic portraits of men in war.

Swashbuckling Stuff

Whether you saw the 'Hornblower' series on the TV or not does not matter, these are wonderful to watch for the first time or again and again. Loads of action to please everyone. Well worth investing in.

Terminator 2 - No 12 - All Time List 2008

An all time favourite - one of the first movies I can remember watching and some fifteen years later I still love it, its special effects stand up even today.
The Terminator (Arnie) arrives back on Earth 15 years after the first mission with a different aim than in the original Terminator - this time he is to protect John Connor and his Mother, Sarah Connor, rather than tracking Sarah to kill an unborn John as in T1 - The shape shifting T1000 this time is the pursuer and the next two hours is spent as a full on action packed adrenaline rush which has to be one of the best action movies ever, and certainly the best of the 90's. Many a memorable scenes, the special effects are incredible, beyond belief considering the age of the movie combining first rate stunts, explosive battles and enough fun to shake a stick at.

Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor does a fantastic job in a highly impressive performance, a young Edward Furlong is equally impressive as John and of course, let's not forget Arnold - first rate acting, direction and script adds up to a first rate movie.
T2 always drives forward to a thrilling conclusion (well until T3 came about!) and any lover of action movies - any movie for that matter - has to watch this film, probably after watching the equally fantastic (but with a smaller budget) Terminator. T2 sweeps you up and pulls you into what's happening. It has humour to ease the tension, classic Arnie one-liners, great cinematography, top notch action sequences and scenes that will stay with you long after watching. If you haven't seen this, you truly should. It is unmissable.

The best sequel ever? T2 certainly has a shout at that accolade.

I hope they'll be back.....

I'm a huge fan of all 3 Terminator films, yes even the 3rd! I don't know what it is about the movies that I love so much, could it be the jaw dropping action scenes? the gripping and intelligent storyline? the ground breaking special effects? Arnold Schwarzenegger? (yes he is one of my heroes)or maybe because the first came out when I was about 8 years old and I have grown up hoping and praying for more!! And how the producers have kept us waiting, with many years between each installment, I do sometimes wish they had churned the films out more quickly, if they had then they could have had the man himself Arnie in allot more of them. Then again maybe this is another charm to the franchise, that we have been made to wait and they have not been overproduced and therefore overkilled.....

So when I heard they were making a series I could not believe my luck! I was desperate for it to begin and when it did, I was gob smacked, never before has a TV series gripped me like this did. I really expected it to be a let down as so many spin off's are, but not this, in fact it takes the franchise to a whole new level. With the movies it always feels like you are only getting a snapshot of the overall picture, with the producers cramming in as much as they can into the 180 mins or so available. But with the series they have been able to show so much more of the daily lives of the characters and their constant fear of being tracked down by the machines...

The cast are superb, and I think I have fallen in love with my first terminator in the form of Summer Glau, if there was ever an excuse to watch TV then it is her. She is simply beautiful, but at the same time actually fills the boots of the big man with absolute ease, this was probably made easier by the 3rd film which introduced the idea of the terrifyingly sexy terminatrix. Summers feminine charm simply takes over and you can't help but want to see more of her whilst at the same time she seems to have a truly deadly and terrifying demeanor....awesome.

The special effects are again fantastic and are on a par with the movies, they really have taken their time to make it look as it should and not some cheap tacky spin off. The storyline too is wonderful and is not all action as you might expect, but gritty and intelligent drama.

I cannot wait for it to be released I will be first in the que!!!

A long anti-smoking commercial

The story is simple; self-centered John Constantine: Hellblazer (Keanu Reeves) did a"no no" in his youth ensuring him a place in the underworld and to compound the problem he is to be short lived due to a smoking habit.

Mean time he, due to his accident he has the ability to see angles and demons. Even though he is conceited and knows where he will be going he still finds time to do some good for mankind and in the process send a few demons back where they came from.

Something has gone horribly wrong with the balance. And with the aid of his young sidekick and a medium that is well done by (Rachel Weisz) he intends to get to the nature of the problem.

The character of Constantine comes from the DC comic world and has been modified a tad to fit a movie with a beginning middle and end.

I could not help but notice Tilda Swinton who played Gabriel. She made you feel that you were watching a first class movie.

The only redeeming feature of value of the movie is not the movie its self but the audio track that explains wheat they are trying to do in the making of the movie. In fact you could just bypass the movie and listen to the voice over audio instead and save yourself two hours.

I think I should have watched the two disk version as even with the audio track they refer to many things that are not in the movie.

Freak of the week formula, but an enjoyable one at that

Smallville starts out with an explosively lavish Pilot directed by David Nutter, and quickly propels the viewer into the life of Clark Kent. The future iconic Superman who will one day fight for 'truth, justice and... other stuff' -- as Clark so eloquently puts it in `Drone'. The Pilot is the best episode of the season both visually and contextually with the introduction of the characters and their world. Season one is the least mythos heavy season of Smallville and purely works as a nice introduction to the comic book universe. Having said that however, season one is also the season that draws the least amount of influence from the vast sprawling comic book universe. The superheroes that appear in the latter years of Smallville are missing here and while season one is strong in its originality and freshness the constant formulaic structure of the episodes can become grating after a fashion. Clark himself is the focus of the show with the theme of the show itself being a simple one: `family'. While it deals with the idea of power and the corruption that it brings, it sheds light on the nature of family using the paralleled lives of Lex Luthor (Superman's future nemesis) and Clark Kent. Lex Luthor is saved by Clark and slowly they develop an interesting and rather Machiavellian friendship. Lex and his politically twisted relationship with his father Lionel Luthor acts as the dark parallel to Clarks loving open relationship with his parents; Lex is envious of Clark and this season we begin to see his very progressive fall to darkness which is chillingly foreshadowed in `Hourglass'. This ominous portent is what gives the Lex character such maniacal depth while he still appears to be a good person; there is a distinct sadness to the character in this respect. The future of both characters is heavily foreshadowed during this season; more often than not the writers enjoy the use of irony when alluding to this. Lex's envy of Clark is an intriguing notion in which to build upon their future rivalry; in future seasons we see how far Lex goes in order to essentially possess whatever Clark has or `had', here this idea begins to form. Smallville as a show is incredibly slow to portray and acknowledge character development or story development with the payoff coming much later. `Queen Industries' for instance is referenced in the Pilot episode and is again revisited in season six, as is the growing mystery surrounding Level 3 which is brought to the fore this season, and will consequently be developed as the series continues.

The characters themselves are all nicely portrayed by their respective actors. Chloe and Pete are more in the background than is necessary this season, but when the two are in a scene they tend to steal it with comical ease. Tom Welling does a competent job as Clark and continues to improve leaps and bounds. Lana Lang is a typical Mary Sue character but she is likable all the same here; Clark's parents are well cast and are particularly good at raising the acting bar on the show. However, the acting kudos undoubtedly goes to John Glover and Michael Rosenbaum who play Lionel and Lex Luthor, the sparring authorative complicated duo really are magnificent in every scene. Rosenbaum really was an inspired choice for Lex, he can play the wounded child whilst retaining the inner darkness of the character which makes Lex all the more compelling.

On the whole there is a lot going on underneath this first season of Smallville than there first appears to be, which will all become more evident in the proceeding seasons. Season one introduces us to the characters and the concept delivering some really wonderful character pieces, and narratives. Highlight episodes include: `Pilot', `Metamorphosis', `Hourglass', `Rogue', and the season finale `Tempest'.

not your typical western

i stopped watching westerns a long time ago thinking they had had their day. the long title of this film intrigued me nevertheless and i was so glad that curiosity got the better of me. Conditioned by 'orthodox' westerns i wondered where the 'action' was until i realised i was watching a work of art which needed close attention. The dialogue, the photography (landscapes, skies), lighting (the night robbery of a train early on stayed with me )the wonderful music score, the camera lingering on shots, the slow and tense unfolding of the inevitable with an unexpected coda ending; it held me and i didn't want it all to end. The principals were brilliant, especially Affleck and all praise to the supporting cast. this film is immensely satisfying and made me want to watch it all over again to discover what i may have missed.

Am i gonna be unpopular now?

I know this may annoy Matrix buffs but over the course of the past few years the more i watch this film the more it irritates me to the point of cringing. This is all the more strange as i used to love it.

It is quite difficult to pinpoint why i dislike the film so much but there is an underlying element of cheesiness about this film which i never originally noticed and as such it has decended into a two star b movie. Agent Smith is excellent whenever i see this film but the rest of the cast appear to be sleeping their way through.

This was a seminal film at release but the longer time goes on i can see it becoming a bit of a chore to watch especially when special effects are continuing to advance. All in all not the worst film i have ever seen but falls short by a long distance im afraid to say and only adds to the public impression that Keanu Reeves cannot act.

For his one excellent performance seek out Devils Advocate because he is brilliant!

Thought Provoking...

Armageddon is one of those movies which u either love or hate. On one hand u have the critics who drill the film for its all American hero storyline whereby the rest of the earth relies on their amazing technology and wisdom to save the planet from disastrous consequences. On the other hand u have the people who just enjoy the movie for its great storyline, stupendous action sequences and how it generally acknoledges the human race as one...I'm the latter. I saw this movie in 1998, i was only 15 at the time, and as we all know movies influence us a lot at that age, but back then i was convinced it was the greatest movie ever made (i was young, forgive me!)

Since then I've seen many action movies, but they're getting worse as time passes unfortunately, but I've always looked at Armageddon as the last great heroism movie. It encapsulates action, intrigue and our love for one another as a human race, something which only seems to shine when disaster is looming...
The highlight of the movie is not the cast, the effects, the story, the directing...its the soundtrack, and i don't mean the pop songs by Aerosmith, Journey etc, but the orchestral score, some moments in the film like when the president is giving his speach and when the world is given bad news of failure the score plays brilliantly into the movies attitude and almost has u in tears.

It is Disney's highest grossing film to date ($500,000,000+) and deserves it, its not an epic, its entertainment, so don't knock the film and place it against Apollo 13 or anything else like that, its unfair.

Finally I will see the end. . .

I cant imagine anybody in my generation who didn't watch this show when it was on TV. It seemed to be on every night for ever. The soundtrack is as remarkable as the show itself.
I first came across the VHS version of this programm about 5 years ago. Then it was a real struggle to collect all 4 tapes. Single tapes were trading at £30.00 upwards. I sold my complete collection at over £200.00 on ebay.
Happy therfore to find this official releaae on DVD. As previously stated it would have been nice if time and effort had been spent on restoration.
Laurel and Hardry was mentioned, I think lessons could also have been learned from the BBC Doctor Who Restoration Team who have performed wonders.

That said it is timeless entertainment. Even my 14 year old son is happy to enjoy it.
And despite all the times I watched it during my youth and beyond, I might now actually get to see how it ended. Well worth a purchase.

This is happening today people - WAKE UP!!!!

A tremendous film for the times we live in today. Although it is set in the future the parallels to the propagandised society in which we live today are clear for those who are paying attention.

Real-life Iraq footage is used in the film to convey to the people that they are at war against an unseen enemy and the government will supposedly protect them. - at the same time the government develops biological weapons to use on its own population - backed up by all the bigbrother- cctv- surveilance techniques that are been enforced upon our society today.

The deep meaning behind this film cannot and should not be ignored. If we all stand up against the lies and fearmongering, our very numbers can create the change that needs to happen if humanity is to survive.

Don't believe me? watch it and see..... you'll be shouting BS at evert TV news broadcast too!!!

Very Impressed...

Very impressed with this blu-ray transfer of Independence Day, the picture is crisp tho has some obvious signs of grain as the film is 12 years old now, but the sound really blew me away, particulary the scene when the mothership gets blown up at the end..unbelievable.. overall this is probably the best quality you will get for this film, a good purchase!