At last!

Unlike a few of these reviews, I'm writing this after actually seeing the Final Cut 2 disc DVD.

I won't say too much about the film itself. The"Final Cut" is basically the Directors Cut (i.e. no voiceover) plus tweaked special effects and a few minor changes (it's been some time since I've seen the Directors Cut, so I can't give precise details, but it didn't seem drastically different) And"yes", the unicorn scene is there and the"happy" ending is missing.

The picture quality is probably as good as could be expected for a film of this age. Perhaps not quite as sharp as a modern release and some black levels are very slightly off, but overall a good picture, with no noticable dirt, scratches or grain.

The 5.1 mix is particularly impressive. Vangelis' soundtrack fills the room. There are also some nice ambient effects of rain etc, plus the rocket ships have real oomph and zoom from left to right speaker.

The documentary is also worthwhile (not the usual promotional stuff) and is certainly something you can watch more than once.

Overall, a classic film, with good picture, extras and very good sound.

Unless you're a sci-fi geek or completist, I'd opt for the 2 disc edition, rather than the 5 disc.

Must-Buy!

This was the first Classic Who that I watched, as it was time and time again recommended to me as the best story.
And, of what I've seen so far, I'd have to agree.

You can see why Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen are so many fans dream-pairing. They work incredibly well, both together and apart.

By now we should all know that Davros is coming back in the current series finale, and that was another of my motivations to buy this.
I can see why people have been desperate to get him back - he is genuinely scary in this episode! His presence, his apearance and his plans make him a quite terrifying baddie, and when he demands the Doctor tell him the future it is just as powerful as anything the new series could offer up.

One thing I would say that I feel there is a bit too much running between the two opposing buildings on Skaro, and at times I found myself wondering if the production team were inventing certain situations simply to fill time rather than further the story.

If you're thinking of buying a Classic Who to fill the time between this years finale and the specials you couldn't go very much wrong with this.

the worst christmas speacial

voyage of the damned was very dissapointing. corny story and i was hoping for a historical episode. the reason i gave it three stars was for the brilliantly entertaining time crash. hope the speacial is better next year as doctor who is my favorite show. It's watchable but not up to expectations after the christmas invation and the runnaway bride. 4.5/10.

Five stars...but...

I loved the Charmed Franchise the entire way through so was saddened at how it came to an end.

The new character introduced (Billy) is annoying... as is her sister once she is found. Also the fact that she comes into her powers so quickly and is a match for the Charmed Ones cheapens the idea that the sisters are a special power. I think the Billy character was only introduced with the hope of providing a spin-off series, but her popularity (or lack of) put a stop to that idea.

The final episodes however are well done. It's nice to get to see (most of) the family re-united, and we also get glimpses of the future of the Charmed line.

One thing that annoyed me about the Series 8 DVD specifically was that the theme music was different. Perhaps licensing issues?... I don't see any other reason to replace the perfectly good and well-known theme tune that is used on all 7 other series' DVDs. Shame.

bring on the bad guys

A very good series , if you thought series 1 was potent, this is a lot better. A great show as now itv is showing series 3 and not really following it as i will wait for to come out on dvd. Amazing i never really liked these type of programmes, to those who don't like this type of tv give it a try and you may never know.

Breadth of imagination

All TV science-fiction is flawed. It shares this with its book and short-story antecedents: so often real science overtakes future fantasy. However, there are a few TV SF series that stand out despite their flaws as milestones. Babylon 5 is one of them.

What Babylon 5 had which its predecessors did not was an extraordinary breadth of imagination. Dozens of races, thousands of worlds, whole histories of conflict and culture, a complex and fully realised network of alliances and enmities, a number of religions, all of which are taken seriously by the writers, and very distinct groups of technologies belonging to the various races and factions.

This imagination also extended to the plot. Babylon 5 was not the first series to use story-arcs, but it was by far the most extensive continual storyline. The plot flows directly from the first episode through to the close of season 4, and is essentially told as one enormous narrative. Season 5 was made after an initial closure, but is itself a new, complete storyline. The exception is Crusade, which begins but does not properly finish, following network unenthusiasm.

Like everything else, this breadth of imagination comes at the price of the difficulties in realising it with the technology available at the time. The CGI, largely confined to space scenes and views of other planets, is in most cases very rough, with substantial artefacts and pixellation. Babylon 5 relies very heavily on CGI, rather than the traditional disciplines of model-making and matting. At the time it was praised for the absence of 'wobbly models', but in retrospect the CGI has not stood the test of time. On the other hand, the prosthetics used for alien faces are very good, with especially the Narn seeming fully organic, allowing a complete range of facial expression.

In this, the storyline plays to its strengths: Babylon 5 is primarily about human and alien relationships and personalities, rather than exciting battles in space.

It is possible, but ultimately fruitless, to compare Babylon 5 to Star Trek, Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Lexx and Farscape. Each have their own strengths. Babylon 5, though, has the greatest breadth and internal consistency. The depth and resonance of the world of Babylon 5's imagination will outlive criticisms of its graphic realisation, or even of its acting.

If you like watching science-fiction, and you want something big enough to really get your teeth into over many evenings, then there is really nothing to compare with Babylon 5.

This set is powerfully recommended.

Just a mess

Can you handle another Phantom Menace review? Probably not, but having seen this again recently I thought I'd add my view on such a widely discussed film.

The film is regarded by just about anyone who has seen it as a disappointment. However there are some who say it's only disappointing merely because the hype was so huge that nothing could possibly live up to the expectation. Apart from that, some say, it was a great movie.

This is not a good movie.

I am not really a Star Wars fan, although I don't dislike it either. I saw the original 3 in the years when they came out, and enjoyed them from a childs perspective. (BTW if you wonder of the original Star Wars really did make a cultural impact, you bet, it was huge at the time.) So this is not the view of a disappointed fanboy, just the view of someone who found the film lacking.

Firstly I'll get one thing right out of the way, right here. You know what I'm talking about. Him. Jar Jar Binks. Hype can cut both ways I think, positive hype can lead to disappointment, yet negative hype can have the same result. When people refer to Mr Binks as"a mistake of Apocalyptic proportions" and there are websites devoted to finding inventive ways of killing him, I was expecting something so insanely annoying that I feared I might destroy my TV. He walks stupidly, talks stupidly, gets too much screen time, but I never found him as aggravating as I expected. I would still much preferred if he wasn't in the movie though!

No, the real problem is not with Jar Jar Binks. The real problem I found is that even after having seen this film 3 times, I'm still not sure what it was all about. The plot is so weak and meandering that boredom inevitably sets in. I know there's something about a blockade and a trade war, but the political shenanigans of Senator Palpatine and Queen Amidala are just so vague that it's hard to know what's going on. Only the presence of sudden ominous music will wake you from torpor and make you think"Whu? Oh he must be the bad guy then? Hmmm, yeah whatver" There is no real defined point to what's happening to the characters. With,say,Jaws, we know that the shark is going to have to be killed. In Lord Of The Rings we know The Ring must be destroyed. In The Phantom Menace we know.....we know...um....Well I don't know really.

Apart from that all the flaws that have been mentioned about this film are unfortunately true;

Wooden acting. There's no real interaction between characters, they just seem like reading grocery lists to each other. When Liam Neesons character says"Be careful, I feel a disturbance in The Force" it wouldn't sound out of place if he added"If they have any decaffeinated coffee left, get some, thanks" It's not the actors fault, I know they're better than this. In contrast with the antagonism displayed between most of the"good" characters in the original films (sarcastic wisecracks aplenty) everyone here seems largely bored in each others company. Obi Wan is relegated to largely a mild mannered yes man to...uh....forgot his name, the one with the fake beard. I can't offhand remember any lines from this movie apart from the derided"I've got a bad feeling about this" Oh and"Yippee!" too. Jake Lloyd just seems too out of place with his bland"Mom are we out of Cheerios?" approach to acting. There are some terrible cast choices too, mostly with Samuel L Jackson. I like the guy, and he's a great actor, but he just isn't a Jedi Knight. He was just too well known at the time to play such an out of character role. Only Jason Robards dressed in a toga playing Brutus springs to mind as a better
example of bad casting.

The aliens are all either silly like Jar Jar Binks and Pod race announcer, or grating racial stereotypes. I don't believe that Lucas consciously decided to make them so, but how can anyone not see that the evil Trade guys are Oriental caricatures? And just look at that goofy, happy looking egg headed alien at the pod race. *That* was the exact moment when I thought"This movie is bombing"

No real tension. Yes it's a common fault with prequels, we know Obi Wan survives, we know Anakin survives, we know wholesome George won't kill off the"comic relief" character in case the kiddies get upset. The battle droids are there to shoot holes in walls and get cut down by the Jedis.

The midi chlorians. I understand many Star Wars fans *hate* this idea, that it demystifies The Force. Well, I'm not such a fan as to really hate it, but it does seem pretty nonsensical. How do organisms in the blood make you able to move things around, or do mind tricks?

The immaculate conception of Anakin. I'm not religious so I take no offence, except for what a monumentally pretentious bit of twaddle this is.

Anakin destroying the ship by pure fluke was a really lazy and disappointing finale.

And there are just too many inconsistencies in character and believability. Best example of course that Anakin built C3-PO. Pretty impressive for a 9 year old kid who's a slave. Where did he get the money? I guess George loves his soap operas and what's to throw all these unexpected plot twists to the audience. I was half expecting Han Solo to be revealed as Luke's uncle.

In general just about every ham fisted directorial mistake that can be made, is made by Lucas here. This film should become a textbook case of the danger of letting just one person have too much control over the final outcome of a(highly anticipated) film.

It's not all bad. Visually, it's quite pleasing actually. Many say that this is where Lucas abandoned storyline for CGI toys. Well, the CGI ain't bad, but it's not really much beyond Jurassic Park. But CGI looks unnaturtal most of the time too no matter how well done. When you see a silvery CGI spaceship you don't see a futuristic space vehicle, you wonder"I wonder how long it took the computer graphics team to add the reflection mapping on?" For me the meagre enjoyment I got from this film was the sets and backdrops. Yeah, George probably only nudged the graphics designers in the right direction and they took over, but a lot of it is aesthetically pleasing. And the pod race of course is the standard Star Wars obstacle course race. It's engaging for a while, but actually the PC racing game was more entertaining. And the battle with Darth Maul complete with John Williams score, is, if you're forgiving, guite good.

Overall I can't recommend this movie much. Most Star Wars fans will be disappointed to various degrees (some have such a strong aversion to this, that they disown it) The feeling of Star Wars is largely absent here, it unfortunately comes across a Disney movie in space. (Hey, I'm sure even Disney's The Black Hole was a lot more serious than this.) The average viewer like me will be largely bored at the aimlessness of it.

Well its Star Wars...what more can i say?

My dad gave me the Star Wars Trilogy 4, 5 and 6 and I fell in love with them immediately. Just fantastic films! In fact they are so good that I could watch them over and over and over and still not get bored!!

The Phantom Menace was good but not as good as its predecessors. However in this movie, more than any of the others, you get to see the true power of the Jedi. I mean at the beginning when Obi Won and Qui gon(i think that's how its spelt!) have come to talk to the Ambassodors. The Ambassodors panic, they panic!! There's only two jedi! They've got thousands of droids adn stuff and they are frightened by TWO Jedis!! That for me shows the true power of the Jedi.

The second, Attack of the Clones, was brilliant, as all the movies are anyway.


Right, Im now going to get on with the review for THIS movie now!! Heres me babbling on about the other movies and you wanted to read about this one!

Right...Revenge of the Sith:

It was amazing but not without faults. I don't really like Christian Hayden as an actor, but I feel he did a better job in this movie. Athough this movie was faulted, I still gave it 5 stars, because its Star Wars...it deserves five stars even if the film was filled with tu-tu wearing Jedis dancing around singing songs of the force!
On a more serious note, this movie was brilliant, especially the fight scene between Obi Won and Anakin, and I really enjoyed it and felt it did a good job at 'completing the circle' and I would recommend it to anyone. But it was quite a sinister movie in parts, so I would watch it first before you let any young children watch it.
However, this movie still doesn't beat the films 4, 5 and 6 and I remember thinking efore seeing this movie, that it wouldn't - no COULDN'T - anyway!

The acting was pretty good in this, as I said Christian Hayden was better in this movie, and The Emperor was excellent. Padme/Natalie Portman however was a bit whiny and I can't believe how much her charater has changed over the series.

All I can say now is Star Wars is a truly brilliant saga and I would give them five stars every time I watched them!

THE DESTRUCTION OF REALITY ITSELF........

A fantastic climax to a series that has probably been the patchiest of all the 4 'new' to date!
Dalek armies, Davros, Dalek Caan, the Reality Bomb, A Regeneration (or is it??), UNIT, Torchwood, Sarah Jane, K9, The End Of The Universe - It's all here!
Davros was always a favourite from childhood, and he is FANTASTIC here!
Very faithful to the Genesis Of The Daleks look, and yet updated to perfection. The face, the voice - PURE evil and easily the Dr's finest adversary. The dialogue where Davros extols the power of the terrifying Reality Bomb is incredible - A weapon that will destroy matter itself, right down to molecular level, and threatens the very existence of our Universe AND every other universe. The most diabolical plan by any Dr Who nemesis ever. And that laugh of Davros'! On the level of the greats such as Palpatine and Sauron!
I honestly don't know how this will ever be topped for it's sheer scale, scope and some really intense drama!
A classic, Dalek 2 parter. A Great finale!
And didn't Catherine Tate just get better and better...

A CLASSIC FILM GETS THE BEST RELEASE SO FAR

This Blu-Ray release is my 3rd owned Close Encounters to date, first I had it on video, then 2disc DVD, and now finally this 2disc Blu-Ray ultimate edition.
For this price, it is an absolute must buy, I can assure you. From when you first have the item in your hand, you can tell it has not just been cobbled together. It is the nicest Blu-Ray for the money you can purchase. Don't be fooled by amazon's picture of the standard bluray case, it is not presented in a plastic case at all, it is SO much better than that, Such a surprise to find that as soon as you open your parcel, you have got something that looks like it should be double or even treblethe money I payed for it.
The Hard cover is a thing of quality, very thick stuff which wont start to look tatty easily and should last years perhaps decades.
Slide out the inside and you will find two parts, one being the Blu-ray section and the other is a fantastic book, easily the best quality I have ever seen on any format, beautifully produced and such a departure from the usual cheap tiny leaflet type"booklet" you usually get. Not much text here just a few snippets, but a lot of great photographs of cast and crew making the movie. This release has given what I consider to be the best documentation for the money you can buy, not only do you get the lovely little book, but also a reproduction poster of the original movie poster and on the back of it a timeline showing the differences in the three versiion you get here.
I love the menu, simple and stylish featuring the theme and those little coloured rectangles that are so iconic to the film.
This release then gives you the option to watch any of the different versions of the movie from the menu.
THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL RELEASE, THE DIRECTORS CUT & THE SPECIAL EDITION are all on the first disc, it's incredibly well put together featuring seamless branching to get them all on, amazing.

The Picture Quality of the movie is the best release yet, perhaps not as good transfer as say Blade runner, but there are details in this that I have never seen before, The redness of Richard Dreyfuss' face, The greenery of the outside,colours are a vast improvement,and although there is slight grain from the film, it never becomes distracting and the movie feels fresh and wonderfully well made. What a superb release, the sound is great, The extras are plentyful, although not in HD, they are all here, ported from the DVD release.
All in all, this is thoroughly recommended and I love the package as a hole, it is easily the nicest presented blu-ray I have and well worth the money for anyone who loves classic movies,young or old, a wonderful first Spielburg Blu-Ray, let's hope there are more relases like this one in the future, It would be particularly nice to get a lovely book like this in every Blu-Ray release instead of the cheap fliers you usually get, and I hope the studios take note and give classics like this, the ultimate bluray releases they deserve.
Verdict
JUST BUY IT - its a very high quality Blu-Ray and a timeless Spielburg masterpiece.

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!

Classic Dr. Who

Two very camp classic Dr. Who films at a very good price.

They come in a regular Dvd case with a nice glossy slipcase outer cover. The Dvd's no longer come with the trading cards and poster(advertised at time of purchase), but at this price I didn't mind.

As for the films, I've never seen them look better.

Avoid like the plague

Quite simply the worst film i have ever seen. Some of the action was ok (flying things against apache helicopters)but the story was terrible. Some odd reporter falling inlove with the"chosen one" within minutes of meeting her? What! The main baddie was pants as well - some dogey armor and special sword. Anyone who gave this more than 1 stars should be shot!

A Magical Movie

Let me make this clear first. I didn't watch this film with any children, nor am I some sort of child in a mans body. I'm a lover of movies that seek to entertain, inspire and teach. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium does all three and the supporting cast to Dustin Hoffman really make this movie work.

Dustin Hoffman plays the eccentric toy shop owner who's over 240 years old and a believer in magic. One day he tells his dependable shop manager, Mahoney played by Natalie Portman that he's"Leaving." Firstly he must hire an accountant who we come to know solely as Mutant played by Jason Bateman to sort out all his paperwork, all 240 years worth. This becomes a story of friendship, love, belief and living life to the full to achieve all you wanted to achieve.

There are times in this film when it becomes truly heart wrenching. Especially the scene where Magorium finally leaves, but you become accepting of this, as that's what the movie's all about. Moving on. A very entertaining film for the entire family to enjoy and is something I'd strongly recommend.

Will Smith at his best - and the dog was great as well !

The first half of this film is outstanding, the second only average. The combination of a performance of real depth from Will and the very effective use of CGI to create the deserted city, deliver a palpable sense of post apocalyptic desolation. Will is alone of course with the exception of Sam, his dog, who gives him the only opportunity to cling to his fragile sanity. Ironically then the CGI that looks so great in the opening scenes seems to be the undoing of this film as the disturbing fate of the human race is revealed. This is highlighted by Sam who is portrayed using a real dog and is wonderful to watch but as a result makes the CGI animals and Dark Seekers look like the digital creations they really are. I think Steven Spielberg's realisation that a rubber shark was going to frighten precisely no one and his decision to keep it off the screen as much as possible is a principle that still holds true today.

So, as the suspense of the first half is replaced by the action and visuals of the second, a potentially great movie rounds out to a merely good one. The story also loses its credibility with the arrival of two new characters looking remarkably healthy and calm given the rigours of day to day survival in this bleak world. I think if I had managed to survive for three years in this environment at the very least I would have had bad hair.

The picture quality is probably the best I have seen on Blu-Ray so far, combining great detail with a natural look free of any obvious sharpening or edge enhancement. Sound is also great with contrasting use of effects channels to create the atmosphere of the deserted city as well as all the jumps and shocks of the action set pieces. I watched the theatrical release first and then the alternate ending and thought the more downbeat ending of the theatrical version better suited the arc of the story and seemed more believable than the alternate 'happy' ending.

I really enjoyed this film and total respect to Will Smith for a credible, believable performance that makes you really care about him and what happens to him - a fundamental that is too often overlooked by studios in their rush to show off their investment in CGI software. Anyone looking for a reference Blu-ray disc should add this to their collection.

Part 2 damages the Star Wars films even further

The dependency on computer generated images gives the whole film a slight cartoon film, with few real backdrops actual used. The computer generated imagery already appears dated. The script is really bad, and the love story one of the worst committed to film.

YOU ARE CRAZY!!!

Seriously what are you reading this for? You don't need 200 people to tell you how good the Original Star Wars Trilogy is, its a FACT that its a MOVIE CLASSIC and that should be enough to warrant you at least watching it! Come on this is STAR WARS we're talking about! Get out there now and buy it, and if you already have it buy the original versions and special edition version depending on which you have already, just to have two copies in case one gets lost.

BEST EVER

I think thease are the best eposdes of dr who.
the acting is brill,john simm is the best master ever.
BUY ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

WARNING: NO SUBTITLES

The 3 star rating goes to the poor DVD production. The series is very good and it deserves a very solid 4 stars - please check out the great reviews made here.
It's a shame that the subtitles in English, for the hearing impaired and for those, as me, that aren't English and need a little help to better understand the dialogs, are missing. It's discriminatory.

Season 4 - Resitance is Futile!

As Season Three of Star Trek: Voyager neared its conclusion the show really hit its stride. And Season Four just got better. Starting with the second part of Scorpion (which introduced Jerry Ryan as Seven of Nine) almost every story is a cracker. The lost of Kes was unfortunate (losing the irritating Neelix would have been a better option!), but gaining Seven of Nine, later to be know Seven, was a masterstroke. Although maybe too many of the later stories revolved around her - but then she is a great character. There are a couple of great two-parters: The Year of Hell and The Killing Game (which features the Hirogen, who featured in an earlier story in the season).
The actors all know their characters inside and out and have become comfortable with the set up. Kate Mulgrew makes a formidable (and, at times, quite sexy) captain who sparks off of Seven quite fequently. Quite possibly the most completely satisfying Season in Voyagers seven years, with strong stories, great effects and good writing and acting. There are some quite good extras, not over burdend with them, but then there are seven seasons to fill - and there are several 'easter eggs' dotted about (on all seasons).