Honestly, not very good at all

I rented this film on Blu Ray because of some of the glowing reviews this film has had.

Big mistake.

Badly acted, sloppily directed and aimed squarely at a teenage audience. The plot is simplistic and clichéd with no real redeeming features.

I knew something was wrong when within the first five minutes the hero and heroine decided to snog onscreen for a minute. It was nauseating. If a film is trying to show romantic attachment there are better ways of doing it than have the couple involved swapping saliva repeatedly in close up.

Certainly the visuals in the film are excellent. By this I mean the underwater sequences that do look stunning in bluray high definition rather than bad actresses in bikinis.

When the other couple (the hero's friend and his girl) turn up, the overall acting talent manages somehow to get worse.

Put it this way, after half an hour I turned it off out of sheer boredom. The next evening I decided to give it another go, and ended up using the fast forward button towards the end. No exciting action sequences, the bit with the sharks? I was rooting for the sharks.

Really not a very good film, and the reviews I have seen saying this is the best film ever? Are you serious?

2 stars purely for the pretty underwater shots in high def.

Misunderstood

This film is very misunderstood. It has a good story if you can follow it and likeable characters. The problem may be that the story may be too reliant on prior knowledge of the planet and its situation. In a final fantasy game we have around 70 hours to get to know the world and the story. In this film we have around 140 minutes and maybe they were too ambitious trying to get a similar story in that time. But it also has a great ecological message, we should respect and nurture the planet.
Anyway, on another note, at the time, these visuals were cutting edge, and the animation is still probably the finest example of a human like performance I have ever seen. If you are an animation buff then this is definately worth seeing and if you are just a sci-fi fan this is great story, unfortunately ruined by pandering to the american market. By that I mean they did not encapsulise something like 2001 or 3rd encounters. Something Intellectual not just trying to be action based, which unfortunately this film descends into.

Great transfer. And this is an ALL REGIONS blu ray...should play in US players

I have a Panasonic DMP-BD 10 A Blu Ray player bought in the United States, and I had no problems whatsoever watching this movie, so I can confirm that is region free and for all the world to enjoy (as long as you understand sweedish or english). There's a misleading commentary here, stating that the item is"region coded", but if you check the"comments" about that entry, you will find that this person corrected himself.

About the Blu Ray, I have this few notes:

-The format is 1:37:1, which means a full screen presentation. This is claimed to be the original format, so there was nothing to do about it, except maybe trim the image up and down to force a widescreen aspect ratio, which, fortunatelly, they didn't do.
So it's up to you what to do: You can zoom in the image, if your TV allows that, or stretch the image to fit your widescreen, and since its in HD, you will find that the loss of detail won't be great. The problem is (if you chose to zoom instead of stretch) that you will need the complete original screen to read the subtitles, or make adjustments in that regard so you don't lose them.
I personally enjoyed the movie in its original aspect ratio. It's the better way to appreciate it.

-Of course, you have the option to remove the english subtitles (the only ones included) and hear the english dubbed track. The problem is that it won't ever translate so well (just compare what you hear with the english subtitles) and also this particular track is muffled and lacking in fidelity, just as it was taken from an old source. On the contrary, the original sweedish track is clear and full of detail.

-The transfer to HD is amazing. If you compare previous versions of the Seventh Seal, (like the one from Criterion Collection) you won't be that surprised in the closer shots, since they were very detailed and clear in those previous versions, revealing a well filmed and well preserved movie. But as is usual with high definition, is in the long or far shots in which the picture gains a lot in detail.
A revealing scene in that regard is when Jof (or Josef) has a vision of the Virgin Mary. He runs to his wife and tell her about it, adding that the Virgin"smiled at him". Well, I was never quite sure if he was making this up. The Virgin Mary can be seen from afar, and it's hard to catch the details in her face. But now, the scene is very clear, and there's no doubt that she stared at him and smiled.
I found this transfer to be pristine, surprinsigly so, considering it has 50 years of age. It will be unfair to compare it to another 50 year old movie transfered to Blu Ray, like THE SEARCHERS, since it was widescreen an in color. But given the circumstances, I was pleased with the quality of the image.
I was particularly impressed with the contrast in exteriors, and even in interiors. The scene in the barn (when Jons meet Raval), or the tavern, or the woods, or inside the castle, are clear in the foreground, and the blacks in the background or dark parts look constant and without any kind of stains or fadings.
Yes, the image has its flaws. Open shots look a bit granulated (check for instance the shots in which you can see the ocean in the background, or a take in which we have a close up of Mia's face). But that undoubtetly is the price of trying to get more detail out of the print. This is a minor flaw, and won't affect your appreciation of the movie.
Neither will the fact that some scenes have some twinkling or flashing, because they are brief and is obviously something that comes from the original print and couldn't be easily fixed in the tranfer.

-The extras are not that great, and you may miss that fact because of the excitment of having this movie in Blu Ray, which of course is reason enough to own it. A 15 minutes black and white short film by Ingmar Bergman is included, and it consists basically of a collage of very old photographs with some piano music. In light of the director's recent death, I find this to be more an homage than anything else.
More informative and interesting is a 15 minutes special"On-set footage", which by itself could be just a curiosity. It consists of raw material of the crew looking for sets or getting ready to film, but made very interesting by the fact that they added some commentaries (in english) on the movie or on the cast, which made me wish that this special was even longer.
Another advantage is that these extras come also in HD, so they can be played smoothly by the non PAL Blu Ray players (unlike DAYS OF GLORY, in which the main feature runs perfectly, but the extras don't, since they seem to be coded in Pal or in a lower resolution).

All in all, I must congratulate TARTAN VIDEO for giving us the chance of watching this classic in the next generation technology. I only wish the studios begin to release more classics in Blu Ray. Just keep them region free, please !.

Extra note for UK buyers: the package includes a standard DVD with the movie and the same extras. I think is a nice detail, but once you are able to play the Blu Ray, you won't find much use for the standard DVD. BUT if you don't own a Blu Ray player yet, maybe you can consider this an option for the future: enjoy the DVD while you decide to get into the Blu Ray Technology (I guess this is what they mean with"future proof" in the sticker that comes with the Blu Ray). And for non-U.K. buyers, please beware that although the extra DVD is region free, it's also PAL format.

What's with the cover?

It's a well know fact that both Stanley Kubrick and Warner Brothers specialise in cheap, direct-to-video fare. No? Then what's with this rubbish cover?

There's somethine odd about the way that Warners have released the Kubrick films on film. There're all worth five stars but I'm getting the feeling they don't want you to actually buy them, judging by the lazy way they've been promoted and the fact that the artwork would shame a photoshop novice.

My advice is to wait a couple more months (you've waited 28 years since release, another year won't hurt) as you know this and all the other Kubrick films will be heading to the buy-2-get-1-free bargain sale on account of Warner's poor promoition.

Once this happens then buy buy buy. This is one of the greatest horror films ever.

kung fu hustle

Kung Fu Wonder!

I hired this materpiece a while back, didn't realise the potential until seeing in all its Blu-Ray glory. At that price is a real treat to the wallet, don't worry about the plot (it's all about visuals!). Just see how clever the Asian's really are. Jackie Chan eat your shorts (shame what Hollywood will do to a man)!!

Brilliantly OTT.

This film does have a plot, but to be honest it is hardly important to this sort movie. The action is frantic and completely silly that puns are hilariously bad. It really is one of those films that once you have seen the opening you will know if you will like it. It isn't for everyone, it is the definition of high octane dumb action movie. Clearly made as a blokes movie, although my Missus loved it as well, it ain't no date movie.
Is it a worthwhile Blu ray purchase? If you like the film sure if not then you would be dumb to buy it anyway, and if you aren't sure, rent it.

Not talking too much about the movie

I'm not going to talk that much about the movie because I loved it, as I am a fan of all things that contain Giger's Alien, so... 5 stars to the movie.
The 3 start are because I saw the trailer from the online PS3 store and I thought to myself: I need to have this movie in Blu-Ray format (I already have the regular DVD).
I was disappointed to notice that the quality isn't THAT good or THAT different from the DVD format. True, I have a DVD with upscaling, so all the DVD's look good to me, but I noticed that the Blu-Ray movie would sometimes be filled with"noise", specially in the darker scenes, when it should be flawless.
So, if you have a DVD reader that can do upscaling, just stick to the regular DVD's for now. Blu-ray format is only worth if the movie was already made to support high definition.

Great movie viewing on PS3

For the people having trouble viewing blu-ray movies with the 'juddering' on panning scenes blu-ray natively outputs at 1080p, if you do not have a 1080p capable tv but have one of the many inferior cheap lcd hd ready tv's these usually only go up to 720p, this means the movie must step down in terms of its resulution and refresh rate. This causes the 'judder' effect, however I am lucky enough to own a PS3 and a Sony 1080p tv and blu-ray movies look fantastic! this is probably my favourite harry potter movie so far in the series.

COOL FILM!!!!!!!!

I like this film i believe the reviews that only gave it 1 star are overly harsh. If you liked the bourne films then i is sure u would like this, it is not quite as good but still good. Fight scenes are great, soundtrack draws you in and chemistry between 47 and nika is good.
Basically a good action flick,

Good not great

I went to see this with my son at the pictures and didn't enjoy it much but he did which is the important thing.

The story line has all been done before and much better in my opinion in other children's films: Our main character meets legend in the field that he hopes to achieve greatness in himself and has to coax said legend out of retirement in order to learn the trade and valuable life lessons.

On the other hand there are some real belly-chuckle scenes and the real winning character for me was the chicken.

I feel confident that the first few viewings of this film will hold any child's attention but after this I feel equally confident they'll be looking back to the shelf for their firm favourites.

Entertaining and convincing

Great story, great attention to detail - the sets, the weapons, the costumes. Great modern western, but slightly limited by the fact it's a western - it's hard to make the genre original when it's been done so many times before.

Passed the time of day

This was watchable just about. Julia Roberts still is being cast as the sexy character and it doesn't quite work anymore. None of the characters are that likeable but its ok for a bored Tuesday night in front of the TV.

Happy About The HD Transfer

A lot of Blu Ray disks at the moment mainly concentrate on the film itself, which is nice, but having the extras is a bonus, and this disk doesn't disappoint: all the extras from the original The Pursuit Of Happyness are here, which is great.

The film itself is good, Will Smith carrying Chris Gardner off well, and his son Jaden great. The story can sometimes be a bit unbelievable, but the way it's told really does make it enjoyable. Plenty of funny bits in between the sadness; the chases to get the bone scanner being some of the best action bits.

The Blu-ray transfer is great, 24fps, 1080p AVC, so it's great quality. The sound is also well transferred: 5.1 PCM, which isn't bad, would have liked TruHD, but that's by the by.

All the extras are here, in MPEG2 format, which is just a touch over the DVD quality. The best one being the Rubik's Cube featurette, fascinating.

This is well worth getting on the HD platform, it's clear as a bell and reminds me of when I saw it in cinemas, clear, bright and colourful. You won't find a better transfer, well until HD is superseded, but that's a long way away. If you really like this movie, get it, otherwise might be better getting the DVD.

4/5 for the film, 4/5 for the transfer and 3/5 for the extras.

Watch it!

I watched this film for the first time and I thought it was really good. The plot was very cool and different from what you get nowadays. The picture and audio quality in blu-ray is impressive aswell. My favourite scene - the parking lot.

A stunning piece of work.

I'm very fond a Japanese anime but (to my shame) this title had eluded me. I bought it primarily because it's one of the first animations on Blu-Ray and I was curious to assess the image quality. Well you live and learn: this film is extraordinary in the extreme. It's appears to be a simple tale of two boys living and surviving on the streets of a run down Japanese town but it becomes far more than that. Their names are 'Black' and 'White' and I would urge you to consider yin & yang at this point.
The animation is amazing. There's so much detail in each frame that I wanted to frame (as in wooden) most of them. Sometimes the animation is deliberately simplistic but it all blends and builds magnificently. The high-definition really brings this out and any lover of anime will be drooling at this one.
This is now one of my top 5 films and that's really saying something because I'm 43 years old and I've seen a lot of movies. I don't impress easily. If you like anime then just buy this, a no-brainer. If you like a thoughtful and interesting (but at times surreal) story then also buy this.
Genius!

20 minutes for love

A T.S. Eliot quote. A swinging pendulum and spinning hands on a monstrous clock. Countless faded figures moving quickly by.

And in the center of the crush, a man in a cop uniform says (in German),"The ball is round. The game lasts 90 minutes. That's a fact. Everything else is pure theory." He kicks it into the sky.

Well, Tom Tykwer certainly knows how to get our attention. And it's only a few minutes in the kinetic, high-octane, colourful world of"Run Lola Run" -- a wild action/romance that studies the ripple effect of our lives, and the changes we can make in the name of love.

Lola (Franka Potente) receives a call from her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), a drug courier. Because Lola's moped was stolen, Manni had to take the subway home -- and he accidentally left behind a bag of money. Now he has twenty minutes to somehow get 100,000 marks, or his boss Ronnie is going to kill him.

Lola races across Berlin to her father's bank -- only to find him with his mistress, and hear that he's leaving his other family. Desperate, she runs to where Manni is waiting, and helps him rob a convenience store. But as they flee, the police catch up to them -- and Lola is shot.

"But I don't want to. I don't want to leave," she mutters. And time rewinds to where she left her apartment -- and this time, Lola's determined to do things differently. As she runs from one end of Berlin to another, she sends ripples through the lives of those she passes -- and she'll keep running until she finds a hundred thousand marks to save herself and Manni.

"Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt)" was what propelled Tom Tykwer to international fame. And given that his other movies tend to be slower and more dreamlike -- though no less striking visually -- this movie is striking not only for its speed, but the sweet romance and the lesson about the old"butterfly's wings" adage. (Also see:"Happenstance")

Admittedly, a woman running through Berlin is not terribly interesting in itself. But the world of Lola is filled with brilliant rave colours -- Lola's blazing red hair, colourful room, the sights of Berlin -- and her race against the clock is punctuated by little vignettes of the future lives of various people she bumps into. That momentary contact is enough to change their lives -- sometimes for better, or worse.

And Tykwer's style is a spicy mix -- arty shots (going through a clock mouth or an apartment building?), German techno, cartoon interludes with an animated Lola running for it, Lola changing reality with her screeches, and the snapshots of people's futures, seen only for a second -- but very revealing. Not to mention the equally colourful, MTVesque cartoons of Lola running down stairs, evading dogs, et cetera.

But even aside from Tykwer's artistic flair, it's a great movie -- the atmosphere is painful and taut during the scenes in the bank, including Lola's robbery. And periodically, we see some sweet red-tinted interludes of Manni and Lola in bed, discussing their feelings for each other. They're little oases of calm and love, in the middle of all the running.

Franka Potente does a solid job as Lola, an ordinary punky girl who loves Manni more than anything, and must find the RIGHT way out of their shared dilemma. She gets some nasty surprises from her uptight, adulterous dad, though. And Bleibtreu does magnificently as Manni, who is overcome with fear, frustration and anguish because he knows that his boss is going to kill him.

"Run Lola Run" is a kinetic, vibrant, and a romantic little look at how a moment can change your life. Everything else is pure theory.