A fascinating, and surprisingly good, Terminator series

Lena Headey had a hard job to fit into the character of Sarah Connor and many said she didn't have the physique to pull it off, but she does and with some real attitude.

The script writing is surprisingly good and if you're not paying attention then much will bypass you. Many questions are also left wanting at the end which are certainly intriguing and I truly hope they make more soon.

bad,bad,bad!!!

first of all, i cant believe someone from the studios that made this,watched it and said"yep, thats great, i can see everything in perfect clarity,lets send it out on dvd!"
all the action takes place in practically 95% blackness. you cant see diddly at all.as for the story-its pants.as for the acting.... well, it certainly wont get a blue peter badge,let alone an oscar. in short-save your money!!

Creeping, undefined dread

Hitchcock used an example to explain the difference between surprise and suspense. If people are seated at a table and a bomb explodes, that is surprise. If they are seated at a table, and you know there's a bomb under the table attached to a ticking clock, but they continue to play cards -- that's suspense. There's a bomb under"The Orphanage" for excruciating stretches of time.


I was expecting the slow-moving"Orphanage" to descend into routine shock and horror movie, or even into the pits with the slasher pictures. But it doesn't. Most of the movie is all waiting, anticipating and dreading. The jolts that come about midway are of a similar magnitude to movies such as Sixth Sense and Blair Witch Project.


The story (no spoilers here) of `The Orphanage' focuses on Laura, who as a young girl was raised in the orphanage before being taken away one day and adopted. Now in her 30s, she has returned with her husband and their young son Simon (who has imaginary friends). They have plans to turn the Orphanage into a home for sick/ disabled children. But before they can embark on this venture, Simon vanishes.


Laura is the main character in this movie; we are inside her tormented mind. Her husband only appears in a few scenes and all the other characters in the move are minor parts compared to Laura. Laura spends months trying to find her son and she seeks help from a psychic, the Police, and her son's imaginary friends.
All the while Laura embarks on a quest to retrieve him that will push her to the limit of sanity.


The film is slow moving, but it manages to expertly linger to create atmosphere, a sense of place, a sympathy with the characters, instead of rushing into cheap thrills.
The Orphanage stands as one of the most beautiful and moving horror movies in recent memory.


As it gears up for a truly unexpected, emotionally draining finale - destined to please or frustrate depending on how nihilistic you like your horror - this elegant ghost story ignores genre conventions to deliver a touching tale of motherhood, love and what may or may not lie on the other side. The last time a movie affected me as much as this was five years ago when I was blown away by `The Vanishing' (the original Dutch movie, not the USA remake).

DIRTY S.O.B.

Thank God FRANK SINATRA turned down the role. There is no way this movie could ever have been the iconic classic it is today had ole' blue eyes reprised a variation on his Tony Rome persona, this time on the streets of San Francisco. Thank God CLINT EASTWOOD became 'DIRTY' HARRY CALLAHAN.

They say first is always best and never has that been more true than here. Four progressively inferior sequels follow DIRTY HARRY, charting not only a decline in script quality but also in the general believability of a character who ends up being little more than a one-note lethal weapon rather than the no-bullsh*t maverick detective who, finding himself up against the SFPD's interminable bureaucracy, prefers to let his Magnum .44 do at least some of the talking. Okay, THE ENFORCER and MAGNUM FORCE just about hold their own but Clint's age is beginning to show by the time SUDDEN IMPACT appears and, frankly, the less said about THE DEAD POOL the better.

There's so much in this film that bears repeated viewings. It's certainly a brutal affair, and definitely non-pc, with director DON SIEGEL blurring the distinctions between cop and killer to the point where it's not always easy to tell one from the other by behaviour alone. But thanks to a brilliant turn by ANDY ROBINSON as the lip-quivering psychopath SCORPIO, it's somewhat less difficult to brush aside any misgivings about Harry Callahan's unorthodox methods. Not so much 'cake and and eat it' as knife and twist it.

Great support from RENI SANTINO assigned to be yet another of his initially indifferent colleague's 'unlucky' partners, CHICO, taking the bullets in the superbly choreographed bloodbath set in Golden Gate Park. Surviving the machine-gunning, he is clearly wiser after the event as to the type of lawman Callahan represents, re-affirming just what the 'Dirty' prefix means as a bottom line definition.

The fast-paced direction ensures that there's a very real sense of tension in the race to rescue a young girl (kidnapped and subsequently buried alive by Scorpio) and prevent her from dying by suffocation. The fact that Harry is frustrated in his attempts and ultimately fails - leading to the discovery of her pallid corpse - only increases his determination to sidestep the law-enforcement 'establishment' and go after Scorpio in the way he knows gets results - much to the dismay of media-courting and increasingly irritable Mayor (JOHN VERNON) and Callahan's own exasperated boss, Lieutenant Bressler (HARRY GUARDINO). A terrifically downbeat ending is a reminder that those who are supposed to protect and serve occasionally cross the line and that sometimes it simply has to be that way. Depends how lucky a person feels on the day, I suppose.

"...I know what you're thinkin', punk. You're thinkin', 'did he fire six shots or only five?' Now to tell you the truth, I've forgotten myself in all this excitement...but being this is a forty-four Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and will blow your head clean off...you've gotta ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya...PUNK?!!"

MOST POWERFUL SCENE(S): in the football ground under the floodlights as Harry steps on Scorpio's bullet wound to the leg; Scorpio's smashed-to-a-pulp face as he demands"every penny's worth..." of the beating he's arranged in order to frame his never-far-from-sight nemesis.

BLU-RAY PICTURE QUALITY: Superb, with a lot of detail not present on the regular DVD - you really get to know about a person's skin complexion via this format. There is still, however, a small amount of grain visible in the darker scenes, but that only adds to the gritty nature of the film as a whole and is not an issue.

BLU-RAY SOUND QUALITY: Excellent, bright and punchy in uncompressed 5.1. Brings to the fore composer LALO SCHIFRIN's cool and very 70's score.

A brilliant film, in it's best possible showcase. And Clint has never been more magnetic. Don't miss it.


VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

In the same league as rocky 5. JUST!!

I loved the first two Pirate films and loved the cliffhanger at the end of Dead Man's Chest. Eagerly awaiting the grand finale which would have put this modern trilogy up with the likes of Indiana Jones and Back to the Future, I was amazed at how badly this film imploded into a load of rubbish.
The plot doesn't make sense, the sexy Keira Knightley is declared King, yes, King! and Jack Sparrow, the only character with any flare, plays second fiddle to the awful acting skills of Orlando Bloom.
I can't stress how bad this film is. I myself have bought the first two blu-rays but have refused to fund this third instalment which is an insult to our intelligence as an audience. And what was the point of Chow Yun Fat being in the film?! He is an awesome actor, but he was completely wasted and the film didn't need him. All we needed was a half decent ending, Captain Jack to make us laugh, and a completely different script.

Blu-Ray quality is excellent, but if you're looking to show off your high def gear, dont use this film, save your cash and show off Beowulf or Ratatouille which are landmark Blu-Ray HD films.

I really wish they had put an ounce of effort into this 3rd installment, I really don't feel any closure and it's such a shame how the franchise has missed out on what could have been a great all round trilogy.

Story Line....What Story Line...Oh Gooding Did Somebody Say 'Monster' Wopey Do!

Yawn, yawn, yawn, predictable, predictable, predictable. At every possible moment a decision is reached where you the viewer could think, whats going to happen now, i'll tell you now, you'll have already conjoured the answer and sure enough you'd be right. At every step of the story line in the film, did it all fall in to place far to easily considering the attack on LA was quite a serious. Hey presto the US army appear with abslutely no warning or 'seriousness around a table' element to increase your anticipation about the whole saga. The film tries to get you to a plato but fails. I purchased the normal DVD, and I'd say be careful as the filming and script also sound & look sub-standard, fuzzy around the edges. I won't go into any details what so ever, it just not worth the effort. The DVD case goes into saying this is a '$75 Million' film and i'm think where, just show me where. As the initial review of this movie state, Whatever you do, do not buy this film.

The Most Beautiful Film Ever Made

I've been thinking of a good way to start my review, I've been pondering many opening sentences, but none of them are close enough to the point, so I've decided to just say that this film is perfect in all aspects. When the credits started to roll I didn't move at all, I sat staring at the screen just thinking about what I just watched. I was trying to understand if what I just saw was really that good, or if I was just thinking it was. The film runs at almost three hours, but never looses your attention for one second. It moves forward through dialog that is poetic, but increasingly haunting at times.

First off, the performances. Brad Pitt as Jesse Jame makes you feel that he is a vulnerable person, and then at the next second he'll make you completely change all your feelings for him. He doesn't talk much in the film, but is none the less flawless. Casey Affleck as Robert Ford is in his best performance ever, makes you hate him. His character is very shaky, very nervous at times, but always seems confident of what he's doing, whether it's right of wrong. He steals most of the scenes he's in. The biggest surprise however for me was Sam Rockwell as Charley Ford, Robert's brother and Jesse's right hand man. At the beginning of the film, you think that Charley is the stupid brother and that Robert is intelligent beyond any standard Charley could reach. At the end of the film though, the roles switch. You realize that Robert has been making all the dumb decisions, and Charley has been trying to save him by covering them up and usually taking all the crap for it. His last scene was intense and beautiful. One other performance to talk about is Paul Schneider as Dick Liddil, an outlaw womanizer. His performance is somewhat comedic, but in some scenes he can be the backbone for the drama. I can easily see Pitt getting a Best Actor nomination while Affleck pulls in the Supporting Actor for the win.

The musical score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis is on par with Clint Mansell's classic Requiem for a Dream score, if not better. In the films most horrific scenes, the music turns them into something beautiful. You'll want to sit through the end credits just to hear it one more time. The music will draw you back to the film to see it again. The score also fits the tone for the most of the scenes.

Andrew Dominik's direction is perfect. He uses the camera in such a unique way that you never miss anything that happens. In one of the film's best scenes, he places the camera so that you can only see Pitt's silhouette become meshed into a train's smoke and then reappear seconds later as it pops out. Dominik also wrote the entire script by himself, which really shows how versatile he is. He originally wrote the film into a 3hr and 50min cut that the studio made him trash. I can't wait to see that cut.

The best thing in the film though, is Roger Deakins' cinematography. That is what you gives the feel for the film. The blurry landscapes, the wheat fields that Pitt gracefully moves through, and the greatest train robbery scene ever on film. It perfectly portrays the landscapes of the old 1800's and everything that took place there. The film is consistent with providing one memorable scene after the other. When the assassination finally happens, you'll be sitting in your chair gawking at the screen in amazement of how sudden it happens.

I am very proud to say that this is now my favorite film of all time, and my definite choice for Best Picture of the year. It brings new flavor to the art-house scene and never lets you down. I recommend this film to everyone. It truly is a beautiful film.

I give it a 5 out of 5

MARVEL-ous!

Expected nothing , got loads from this film! My hubby generally dislikes the comic-book genre but he loved this too. Nic Cage is a wee bit Elvisy at times but that soon changes when he becomes.....oh, no! I mustn't spoil it! We loved the kitchy cheesiness and giggled all the way through. Thouroughly entertaining movie...fun,fun,fun!. Worth watching just for the gorgeous Eva Mendes who is as red-hot as the special effects!

Die Hard...if you do not watch this film

When I first found out that Die Hard 4.0 was being released I couldn't wait to watch it as the previous three films were all great by themselves. As the months drew closer to the fourth instalment's release date, I was becoming more and more anxious at the fact that it would not stand up to its predecessors and it would be another Hollywood franchise sold out of it's dignity. However, after seeing it I was blown away by just how good it actually was. It more than competes with any big budget action film of today's standards and maintains the integrity it built from the first film. Willis is superb, playing McClane just as we remember him, Long is a great sidekick and balances out the action well with comedy and Olyphant is great as the young villain. The story is also very good and although farfetched is still a clever adventure in modern society and shows the transition of Die Hard into the 21st century. The blu-ray edition of this film is as good as it gets. Excellent detail and presentation quality and really emphasises the phenomenal action scenes this movie boasts. Overall brilliant film, of course not as good at the original but still a keeper for the blu-ray collection.

The Hour or so didn't Rush by

I'd previously briefly seen the opening credits with Chris Tucker as a traffic cop and there and then decided I wouldn't buy it, but my 12 year old son persuaded me to get it, and in Blu-ray. Well, I wasn't wrong. The movie just seemed to drag from the very first minute. All I really remember was Chris Tucker in his trademark high pitch voice, screaming his way through the very predictable 'witty' dialogue, with a body language seemingly waiting for the prompt from the director to deliver the line, as nothing was delivered with anything like the spontaneity of the first movie (and the second to a degree). Jackie Chan looked and moved like an old man, the movie being devoid of any real trademark Chan moves. He does have a certain similarity with current Chinese leaders in that their hair gets darker as they get older too...

Having lived in France the French accents were appalling and the singing of the Stars and Stripes by the French taxi driver was so embarrassing...and I'm English...

And the girl interest, bizzare (but then, maybe she was meant to be...).

At the end, even my 12 year old rolled his eyes. Not as funny or as much action as the first two was the verdict. Hopefully they won't be in a Rush to make the fourth...

What languages and subtitles?

If anybody knows what languages and subtitles it has, please write. Is it in Polish language?

Movie: 3.25/5 Picture Quality: 4/5 Sound Quality: 4/5 Extras: 3.5/5

Beowulf: Director's Cut (2007) - Warner - Blu-ray
*************************************

Disc Type: BD-50
Video Codec: VC-1
Average Video Bit Rate: 14.85 Mbps
Running Time: 1:54:42
Movie Size: 19,898,591,232 bytes
Disc Size: 31,281,197,732 bytes
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 16-bit (975 Kbps ~ 3 Mbps) DIALNORM
DD AC3 5.1 640Kbps
In-Movie-Experience: No

Beowulf: 2 Disc Director's Cut (2007) - Paramount (U.S) HD DVD
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Disc Type: HD-30
Video Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Average Video Bit Rate: 21.84 Mbps
Running Time: 1:54:35
Movie Size: 22,921,168,896 bytes
Disc Size: 23,272,262,096 bytes
DDPlus 5.1 1536Kbps
In-Movie-Experience: Yes

WOW blu-ray!!!

Well I think I have the privilege of being the first to review this new blu-ray of 'Signs' on Amazon! Having just watched this on my PS3 via my Samsung 37" tv, hooked up to my Onkyo TX-SR605 Amp...what can I say!!! Despite a few minor flaws & white speckles on the print, this is a flawless transfer, with deep inky blacks & rich vibrant colours. The new level of detail is a revelation compared to the Standard dvd release. The 5.1 PCM Uncompressed soundtrack really rocks with totally immersive surround sound in all the speakers. Checkout the night-time scene in the cornfield and you'll hear what I'm saying! This is one of my favourite M. Night Shyamalan's movies outside of 'The Sixth Sense' & 'Unbreakable', with an excellent script and sublime performances. This comes most Highly Recommended on blu-ray!!!

A fun movie and a superb BluRay release

This is not the sort of movie I go for, but having read a few glowing reviews elsewhere about the film and the quality of picture and sound, and given that it is selling for well under £10, I thought I'd try it.
If you don't like musicals then its best to avoid, but I don't mind them and hoped this would be entertaining part of the film.
From the outset, the movie is crammed with songs, maybe one or two could be better or one or two less for me, and a little more dialogue. I felt it became a bit too broadway,but seeing as this is taken from the stageshow I can see how it's turned out that way.
Some people are saying it's the new Grease or some are going OTT and saying it's better, but I can report IMO, it's not in the same Grade.
On the upside though, I was entertained, even though this is bubblegum stuff that's more of a girlie movie for most of it, I wish John Travolta had been the father and not in a fatsuit in drag, maybe he could have danced better then but thankfully Chirtopher Walken and Michelle Pfeifer play very decent parts and keep the movie from being too cheesy. I thought Michelle Pfeifer in particular was great, she has some really good scenes and wished she was in it more.
Other than that the plot gets a little dull sometimes mainly focusing on the musical numbers and could have been crafted a little better with more character involvement.
The Best thing about this BluRay apart from it being great value and having two discs, is it doesn't dissapoint with Picture or Sound Quality,
Each is absoulutely fatastic brimming with detail and colour - by God, the colours are so vibrant it's like your tv has maxed out on it. You might even want to turn down the colour setting on your tv as its so intense,I didn't but felt like it sometimes or putting it on a cool setting, just to make things a little more natural. It wasn't too distracting though and suited the poppy musical numbers.
The sound is awesome and has the full 7.1 treatment, but I don't know what it's like as I had to settle for my 5.1 speakers, though this is quite enough and extremely high quality.
The Extra's are overflowing - great for the little featurettes and extra deleted scenes and songs.
All in all a very entertaining movie - not one for me personally to watch over and over, I much prefer Grease, but I can see quite a lot of kids and girls loving this and wanting to watch it time and time again, although not every song floated my boat, they were fun to watch and most of the actors gave very good performances. I may watch it every so often just for Pfeifer.
Verdict - Well worth the money under a tenner, superb value, Entertaining performers, Good Songs,5 Star picture and sound.

Brilliant all the way

If you are a fan of the Pirates series, this is a must-have. The movie is good fun, carried almost entirely on the shoulders of Johnny Depp, but the small amount of character development you see with Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook (the oh so eloquent pirate) is a welcome development.

The picture quality is outstanding, and this one really shows why you should upgrade to HD at this point in time.