Attori:    Michael Chiklis, Catherine Dent, Forest Whitaker
Registi:
Casa Distribuzione:    SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Sottotitoli:    Italiano, Inglese, Spagnolo, Francese, Olandese, Portoghese, Arabo
Lingua Doppiaggio:    Italiano, Inglese, Spagnolo, Francese
Produzione italiana:    No
Durata:    505
Anno Produzione:
Vietato ai minori:    No
Formato Video:    Schermo panoramico 1.78:1 anamorfico 16/9
Formato Audio:    Dolby Digital Surround
Area DVD:    2
Colore/Bianco e Nero:    Colori
DVD nella confezione:    4
Comprende:    Commenti, Scene eliminate, Dibattito su The Shield, Dipartimento Affari Interni, Fox Movie Channel presenta: Come si gira una scena, Tributo a Scott Brazil, Prequel della sesta stagione, Dietro le quinte di Feroce condanna, Sottotitoli in inglese per non udenti.

www.dvd.it

]]> http://wrestlingdvdreview.wordpress.com/?p=87 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:37:41 +0000 wrestlingdvdreviews http://wrestlingdvdreview.wordpress.com/?p=87 DVD Review : Inter Species Wrestling’s Hot Summer Rubdown

Reviewed by Steve “Rockamaniac”  Wilson of MainEventRadio.com

What happens when a wrestling promoter takes some of the best independent wrestling talent out there today, mixes them with some “Animals”, “Zombies”, Lego,  and bar room full of drunk people? Well you get Inter Species Wrestling’s latest DVD event, Hot Summer Rubdown, which took place this past June 29^th in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Let’s face it nowadays on the Independent wrestling scene, there is a lot of the cookie cutter, trying to be mainstream type of companies who hope and pray that you’ll give them a look and slide a few bucks their way. On the rare occasion you’ll find a fed who tries to be unique, Chikara is undoubtedly one example, and Inter Species Wrestling took the Chikara idea and gave it their own twist to provide what has to be one of the most unique wrestling events you can watch on DVD today.

As you can tell by the name of the company, ISW prides itself on its battles between man and beast, in ISW, the beast can be a panda, a bear, a terrorist cow, or even a giant alcoholic tiger.  You also get some unique human characters such as Stinky The Homeless guy, The Badd Family (a father and two sons who are biker bullies from the 1980’s that love to dish out some punishment) and T-Unit (a group of wiggers) Yes, ISW takes the comedic side of wrestling to new levels, and the opening battle of the DVD provides you with a definition of ISW’s comedic inter species battles, as Beef Wellington takes on “A Bear” with Giant Tiger as the special guest referee. In recent years Wellington and the giant tiger have had a bitter feud revolving mainly around the fact that the giant tiger had a sexual affair with Beef’s father. Coming off a recent loss to Giant Tiger, Beef Wellington was forced to be Giant Tiger’s “love slave” for a period of 72 hours, during which many sexual acts are alleged to have taken place, all of which Giant Tiger filmed and wants to show to the ISW crowd, Beef however does not want that footage released and this match between Beef and a opponent of Tiger’s choosing would determine the rights to the footage,  Tiger recruits one of Beef Wellingtons long time rivals, a Bear, who legitimately was trained by former WWE star Jacques Rougeau. For those wondering, A Bear, is exactly what you think, a large bear suit being worn by someone, and the match features many of the spots you would expect such as the dreaded Bear hug! And back rake with Claws! Not to mention that Giant Tiger, who has an alcohol problem is the guest referee who has trouble keeping his clothes on. I have to note here that my explanation of this match in no way does its comedic level justice, if you’re a fan of comedic wrestling, you’ll be in stitches watching this match, and quite frankly it will be like nothing you’ve seen to date.

The great thing about Inter Species Wrestling is their ability to provide something for everyone, and with names like Kevin Steen, El Generico, Player Uno, and Sexxxy Eddie, Fans of solid indy wrestling are given what they’re looking for as well. The second matchup on the DVD features a battle for the ISW title between ROH/IWS superstar Mr Wrestling Kevin Steen and Chikara/IWS Star and ISW Champion Player Uno. What ensues is a classic back and forth battle between the two men featuring numerous believable false finishes, its no surprise that Steen’s frustration gets the best of him at the end of the match and he is disqualified by referee Bakais, but this alongside the main event featuring El Generico and Twiggy taking on resident ISW living dead members Izzie Deadyet and Zombified, provide for two of the better matches ive seen not only on the quebec indy wrestling scene, but the Canadian and US indy scene’s this year.

If there was one match on the DVD that is able to showcase both of ISW’s abilities in one match, it has to be the Fans Bring the lego matchup between Moohammad The Terrorist Cow and Flip D Berger (a local Mc Donald’s employee) Sure at first read that sounds silly, and could provide for some laughs, which it does, but at the same time provides for a hell of a battle.

Admittingly, Inter Species Wrestling may at first sound like the dumbest thing you could ever see in the world of professional wrestling, the thought of people in animal suits taking on humans could make any person say why would anyone want to watch something like that? However anyone who says doesn’t realize what they are missing with ISW. If you’ve been searching out something new to add to your wrestling DVD collection, whether you’re a fan of “comedic wrestling” or not, give Inter Species Wrestling a try,  if their sense of humor doesn’t tickle your fancy, never fear, there is enough solid wrestling action for you to watch and not regret the purchase.

Inter Species Wrestling’s Hot Summer Rub Down (as well as all of the ISW’s previous events) is now available on DVD via Fortune Video Editing and Smart Mark Video. Fans in the US can order a copy through SmartMarkVideo.com, Canadian and international fans are encouraged to check out FortuneVideoEditing.com to get a copy, it’ll cost ya 20 bucks and for more info on the fed check out interspecieswrestling.com

I knew this was coming but…my seat is wet…I just peed my pants…August 19th can’t get here quick enough!

Thanks Conner.  Words just can't say enough...

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نام بلو-ری از تکنولوژی لیزر آبی (از نوع بنفش) مشتق شده است که برای خواندن و نوشتن این نوع دیسک ها استفاده می شود. به دلیل طول موج کوتاه (405 نانومتر)، ظرفیت ذخیره اطلاعات بلو-ری بیشتر از DVD ( لیزر با نور قرمز و طول موج 650 نانومتر ) است. یک دیسک بلو-ری دو لایه، می تواند 50 گیگابایت ذخیره کند که شش بار بیشتر از ظرفیت یک دی وی دو لایه است.

در آوریل سال 2008 بیشتر از 350 عنوان دیسک بلو-ری در آمریکا و بیش از 250 عنوان نیز در ژاپن منتشر شد. در طی رقابت دیسک های نوری با کیفیت بالا، بلو-ری در حال رقابت با HD DVD بود و در فوریه سال 2008 ، زمانیکه شرکت توشیبا - تولید کننده اصلی HD DVD- اعلام کرد که این دیسک بعد از این توسعه نخواهد یافت، بلو-ری برنده و پیشتاز دیسک های با کیفیت بالا شد.

در ابتدا به دلیل اینکه لایه ذخیره اطلاعات در این دیسک، در مقایسه با دی وی دی، به لایه رویی نزدیک تر بود، در برابر خش آسیب پذیر تر مینمود و با لایه ی کارتریج محافظت می شد. اما با پیشرفت دانش پلیمر، وجود این لایه ضرورتی نداشت.

یک پلیر برای پخش بلو-ری نیاز به پشتیبانی از کدک هایی مانند MPEG-2, H.264/AVC, SMPTE VC-1 دارد. برای پخش صوت، پلیر باید از تکنولوژی Dolby Digital AC-3, DTS, linear PCM پشتیبانی کند.

نرم افزار جاوا نیز در توسعه بلو-ری نقش دارد نسخه بلو-ری جاوا به نام BD-J، در افزودن منوها و امکانات بیشتر در بخشهایی مانند زیرنویسها، در این تولید مشارکت داشته است.

کدگذاری ناحیه ای
بعضی از این دیسکها ممکن است رمزگذاری شوند. همانند اصول رمزگذاری ناحیه ای برای دی وی دی، بسته به منطقه ای که بلو-ری در آن پخش می شود، رمزگذاری شده و فقط در ناحیه مشخص شده قابل اجرا هستند. هدف این اقدام، رعایت حقوق شرکت های فیلم سازی برای قیمت گذاری و نوع محتواست. بعضی از دیسکها نیز بدون کد تولید می شوند و در همه جا قابل اجرا خواهند بود.

در سال 2008 دو سوم بلو-ری های تولید شده بدون محدودیت منطقه ای بودند.

بلو-ری های اولیه، قابلیت پخش دی وی دی را داشتند اما سی دی بر روی آنها اجرا نمی شد. بعدها تمام گرداننده های دیسک بلو-ری قابلیت پخش دی وی دی و یا سی دی را پیدا کردند.

با اینکه ویژگی های بلو-ری مشخص و نهایی شده اند، اما مهندسین همچنان در حال توسعه آن هستند. بلو-ری بت چهار لایه و 100 گیگابایت فضا، شش لایه و 200 گیگا بایت فضا، دیسک هایی هستند که کار بر روی آنها شروع شده و در حال تحقیقات و پیشرفت است. توسعه لایه ها حتی تا 10 لایه اما با 250 گیگ نیز مطرح شده، اما مشکل تولید آن، پایین بودن تکنولوژی دیسک خوان های امروزی عنوان شده.

مینی بلو-ری
مینی بلو-ری با ابعاد 8 سانتیمتری قابلیت ذخیره 7.5 گیگابایت فضا بر روی خود را داراست و مشابه مینی دی وی دی است. در حالت عادی یک دیسک بلو-ری تنها یک بار قابلیت نوشته شدن را دارد. اما با تولید BD-RE پاک کردن و دوباره نوشتن بر روی دیسک نیز امکان پذیر شد.

Creado en 1967 el Ghost Rider es uno de esos raros casos de un personaje de Marvel que no nació de la inventiva de Stan Lee, aún así el personaje se ha hecho de una base muy importante de fanáticos, en 2007 aprovechando el boom de las licencias de comic se decidió llevar a la pantalla grande al motociclista vengador.

Hace 150 años en el pueblo de San Venganza, Mephistopheles logró hacerse de un contrato de mil almas, envió a su más fiel servidor el espíritu de la venganza, el Ghost Rider a cobrarlo, pero sabiendo que ese contrato haría demasiado fuerte al demonio, el Ghost Rider se revelo y oculto el contrato.

Mucho tiempo después el joven motociclista Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) hizo un trato con Mephistopheles vendiendo su alma para proteger a su padre del cáncer que le consumía y aunque el demonio lo salvó, murió días después haciendo una acrobacia en motocicleta, sabiendo el error que había cometido Johnny abandona el circo y a su novia de juventud Roxanne, pero una nueva prueba le espera a este hombre, el nuevo cobrador del diablo, el Vengador Fantasma que deberá cazar a Black Heart el hijo de Mephistopheles que ha venido por el contrato de San Venganza para llevar el infierno a la tierra.

Aunque la historia de película no se exactamente presente igual a la del comic debo decir que es una adaptación muy bien lograda, como siempre Nicolas Cage, cumple en el papel de Blaze, aunque a secas, así como Eva Mendez en el de Roxxane, Peter Fonda hace de buena forma el papel de Mephistopheles, que siendo exigentes no es precisamente muy difícil de interpretar.

En cuanto a efectos especiales no hay nada que decir, el Ghost Rider se ve como en el comic aunque se echa de menos que Black Heart utilice su aspecto clásico, en cambio solo se le ve como un humano de cara ennegrecida y de vez en cuando unos colmillos que reflejan su verdadera identidad.

Resumiendo la cinta del director Mark Steven Jonson es buena, no estoy diciendo que la cinta sea la mejor historia del mundo, ni que sea la mejor adaptación del comic, pero mejor Elektra y Daredevi, si es, así que si son fans de las películas de superhéroes y quieren pasar el rato con una cinta aceptable, pueden rentar este no pierden mucho y se divierten un rato.

Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Guión: Mark Steven Johnson
Productores: Avi Arad, Michael De Luca, Gary Foster y Steven Paul
Efectos: Peter Stubbs
Música: Christopher Young
Fotografía: Russell Boyd y John Wheeler
Edición: Richard Francis-Bruce
Actores: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley, Sam Elliott, Peter Fonda, Donal Logue.
Género: Acción / Fantasía
Duración: 110 min

MATERIAL EXTRA:

Disco uno:

- Versión extendida con escenas nunca antes vistas.
- Comentario con el productor Gary Foster.
- Comentario con el escritor/director Mark Steven Johnson y el supervisor de efectos especiales Kevin Mack.
- Avances de otras películas.

Disco dos:

Presentaciones especiales:
- Espíritu de venganza
- Espíritu de aventura
- Espíritu de ejecución
- Animatics
- Pecado y salvación: cápsulas mostrando 40 años de la historia del cómic.

Leia a crítica do filme aqui.

Lavoura Arcaica-Edição Especial-Duplo
Diretor: Luiz Fermando Carvalho
Elenco: Selton Mello, Raul Cortéz, Simone Spoladore, Juliana Carneiro da Cunha, Caio Blat Duração: 171 min.

Europa Filmes
Região: 4
Faixa Etária: 14 anos
Áudio: Português (Dobly Digital 2.0) Português (Dobly Digital 5.1)
Legendas: Português, Inglês, Espanhol e Francês
Formato de Tela: Widescreen Anamórfico (Letterbox)
EXTRAS: Nosso Diário; "Uma Conversa" - Primeira Projeção/Canadá 2001; Que Teus Olhos Sejam Atendidos Documentário e Pesquisa.

Preço*:
Americanas - R$ 64,90
Submarino - R$ 54,90
Saraiva - R$ 44,90
Videolar - R$ 44,90

*Frete não incluso

BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS

Anime-inspired direct-to-DVD anthology film. Comprised of six short stories, from diverse creators, including Academy Award-nominated Josh Olsen (A History of Violence), Batman Begins writer David S. Goyer, and comics scribe Brian Azzarello. It's planned for a release window of two to four weeks prior to the release of The Dark Knight, and would bridge the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

So I held off on watching this and or reviewing it until I saw THE DARK KNIGHT...and I'm REALLY glad I did. I remember when this was first announced and I got a feeling that I wasn't going to like this too much...and surprise I was right.  I love anime, have since I saw THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO when I was in 4th grade on a random channel. That being said, I AM NOT a fan of alot of current anime because I either don't like the art style or story. I also don't like when the big two comic companies trot out japanese artist to capitalize on the younger fans love of Manga...and it never works for me, UNCANNY X-MEN and that random BATMAN limited series with really ugly(IMO) artwork. So I hoped what I was going to get was really great short stories, with some so so japanese style art...I got the so so art in spots, but no great stories. Out of the six stories I only enjoyed two. I'm not upset about only enjoying two of the stories, I was upset that I had to wait through about a hour to get about less than 20 minutes of good stuff. The good stories, DEAD SHOT and WORKING THROUGH PAIN, were good for entirerly different reasons. DEAD SHOT was pretty good although nothing of any importance happened, it was just a reason to have BATMAN fight someone. WORKING THROUGH PAIN was good in the sense that it had a meaning to it, which the other GOTHAM KNIGHT stories had no importance what so ever. Hell they weren't even fun. I was most disappointed in GREG RUCKA's story. RUCKA is a pretty big comics and novel writer, he's done great almost classic work in the BATMAN comic universe. But his story, CROSSFIRE, was really not good. I did like him having Crispus Allen in it, being how it's a character he created for GOTHAM CENTRAL...but the story was a throwaway, just a really bad reason to have BATMAN save a cop who doesn't trust him, for no real good reason. The fact that Allen's partner Ramirez veers off the road and screeches to a halt in the middle of a abandoned lot didn't bug me, it was when she looked to her left and saw the russians getting ready for a deal with the Maronies was when I knew this was heading to the crap pile quick.  This was not RUCKA's finest hour, it was phoned in. And BATMAN BEGINS co writer DAVID GOYER, while his story wasn't out and out awful it was dumb and this is a common theme for this review...pointless. His story was just a reason to have KILLER CROC and SCARECROW show up...for about two seconds. Oh and BATMAN throwing a explosive in a guys mouth...even if he is a large man who resembles a giant man like crocidile is stupid.

I'm not even going to talk about I'VE GOT A STORY TO TELL YOU, which starts off the entire dvd...it should have been shelved and never done. It was just the same old rip off of RASHMON and a old GOOD episode of BATMAN:THE ANIMATED SERIES. Oh and bulletproof batman, was really dumb. I never thought I'd be annoyed by a villain blaming BATMAN for killing him when he just got shot in the freaking shoulder. BAD! I have to say the best animation was in the story with the least amount of action, WORKING THROUGH PAIN, it looked the best out of all the stories. It had a clean, fluid look. But that being said I did have a problem with KEVIN CONROY as batman...I know all the old animated fans are going to disagree, but with the design of Bruce Wayne being young...CONROY's voice just doesn't fit. I apperciate them for trying to appeal to old fans like me, but this isn't the way to do it. Why couldn't they just do another MASK OF THE PHANTASM style batman animated movie and I'd be down for CONROY, but not this. I'm just really glad I didn't pay money for this movie....If I would have spent $30 on this for BLU RAY I would have freaked out.

CHARLES' GRADE:D-

PROS:Ummmm...two good stories and one sub par stories against three god awful ones. Makes me want to buy the big Complete set of BATMAN:THE ANIMATED SERIES so I can see good animated Batman.

CONS:only about 18 minutes of good stories...that comes after watching a hour of this movie. Some pretty ugly animation choices. Getting someone to pay actual money for this is just a evil thing to do. Kills the so far flawless tally of awesome DC animated movies.

I don't have any pics or funny comments cause this dvd sucked and I didn't want to live with it too long.

9-11.Chronicles.Part1.Truth.Rising.ISO.NTSC.Official
Alex Jones - Martial Law 911 - Rise of the Police State (VOB)
Alex Jones - Endgame (VOB)
Alex Jones - Terrorstorm - 2nd Edition (VOB)
Alex Jones - 911 - The Road to Tyranny (VOB)

Helpful tools:

Magic ISO
DVD Shrink

Tips for burning .avi's, .wmv's, etc to DVD.
(Summary: Buy a program that does everything for you...Nero Vision (which won't make it the right size...but the link provides info to get around this) or ConvertXtoDVD.)

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  A dangerous, secret presence that seems to mysteriously inhabit an elevator in New York City's Millennium building is killing off passengers -- and the death toll keeps rising. When a mechanic (James Marshall) and a reporter (Naomi Watts) go to investigate, they must battle a vicious enemy and discover a secret that could add them to the casualty list. Dan Hedaya, Michael Ironside, Ron Perlman and Eric Thal co-star.

REVIEW:  This was on the SciFi channel this evening and I'd never heard of it so I tuned it in.  I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It was pretty creepy at points, and had a few funny situations here and there.  But then it went off into some weird territory, trying to explain why the elevators are now killing machines, which I felt it never recovered from.

Actually, at the start of the film, I thought they had a great premise that they could have gone with, along the lines of "Village of the Damned."  The opening scene has a number of near-birth pregnant women taking the elevator down from their exercise class and getting stuck on the express elevator.  The final shot when they are rescued never really shows us what happened to them -- cutting to another scene -- so we assume they are all OK.  But, I was thinking, WHAT IF when the elevator doors opened:

-- None of the pregnant women are pregnant any longer, and there are no signs of the newborns? -- Only a bunch of babies are found on the floor of the elevator, but no mommies?

Now either of those would have been REALLY out there -- especially after the "Twilight Zone" marathon they ran over the weekend.  :)

2.5 stars
Randy the Ogre

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Will Ferrell stars as Jackie Moon, owner and coach of the Flint Michigan Tropics -- the team with the worst record in the renegade American Basketball Association. With the franchise on the brink of collapse, can Jackie's squad rebound to salvation in the National Basketball Association? Director Kent Alterman's entertaining comedy (set in 1976) also stars Woody Harrelson, Maura Tierney, André Benjamin and Andy Richter.

REVIEW:  Another year, another dim-witted, half-baked comedy from Will Ferrell.  2008 finds us watching Will's send-up of the ABA, a basketball league that encountered minor success in the late 1970s before being gobbled up by the NBA.  Will plays, uh, himself, as usual, this time as an owner/coach/player of an ABA franchise in Flint Michigan, who will find his team contracted as the ABA shuts down for good.  Unfortunately, unlike last year's surprisingly amusing Blades of Glory, this is one of those "unfunny" Ferrell flicks where you can safely predict every punch line before it flies out of his piehole.  My favorite part was a brief early cameo by old ABA players George "Iceman" Gervin and Artis "A-Train" Gilmore.  If only the rest of the film had such spirit.

2.5 stars
HAWK

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Botanist Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) is in Tibet searching for a rare flower that only blooms by moonlight when he's attacked by a strange howling creature. After surviving the attack, Glendon travels back to London. But when the city is besieged by a series of werewolf attacks, Glendon learns the awful truth: He's the werewolf! The only thing that can cure his affliction is the rare Tibetan flower in this horror classic from Stuart Walker.

REVIEW:  This is actually the first mainstream werewolf movie, preceding the classic The Wolf-Man by 6 years.  The plot is somewhat similar to the Universal Mummy movies, with a scientist who becomes afflicted with the "curse" abroad and returns home to share it with family and friends.  There are plenty of Freudian interpretations that may be applied to the relationship between Glendon -- before and after his metamorphosis -- and his gal, if that's your bag, especially once her old beau comes poking around.  The makeup and special effects are quite good for the day, but the plot drags almost unforgivably, especially considering the short length of the feature.

3 stars
HAWK

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Cyrano de Bergerac (Gerard Depardieu) pines for his cousin Roxanne, but won't reveal his affections for fear that she'll find his ugly features off-putting. So, Cyrano instructs the studly but stupid Christian how to woo her. Roxanne is entranced by Christian's beautiful poetry and letters -- all ghosted by Cyrano. But Christian dies in battle before he can tell Roxanne the truth. Depardieu won the Best Actor award at Cannes for his performance.

REVIEW:  Snipping a couple inches off the tip of the nose in a nod to realism (I suppose), Depardieu and company have a run at this noble French tale.  I can't tell if it was my own expectations, the questionable translation in the subtitles (by Anthony Burgess, believe it or not!), or some other factor, but the movie failed to engage me during the first 30 minutes or so.  Once Christian appeared, the gears began to mesh and the rest of the movie was greatly improved, including an ending that probably surpasses the otherwise-better 1950 version.

4 stars
HAWK

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  In a futuristic world, human beings have destroyed Earth and evacuated the planet, leaving the cleanup to an army of robots they've programmed to do their dirty work. Due to a mishap, the dutiful WALL-E is the only one left. But with the arrival of a female probe named EVE, the monotony of WALL-E's existence is broken -- and he experiences love for the first time. Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) directs this Pixar tale with a sci-fi twist.

REVIEW:  I watched Wall-E this afternoon with some very high expectations.  I've really liked all the Pixar films and this movie has gotten the best reviews of the year.

The movie is overflowing with so many different visuals and references that I'm sure I missed a lot.  I know a lot of you like old sci-fi films (and so do I) - and you will appreciate Wall-E on another level.  I noticed obvious nods to Omega Man, Silent Running, Star Wars, and especially 2001.  [My Netflix avatar is the HAL 9000 eye which gets duplicated exactly for the ship's computer.]

The main part of the film is actually an homage to Charlie Chaplin movies. Wall-E is a low-class trash compacting robot (like Chaplin's tramp) and he falls in love with a new model probe robot who is obviously out of his class.  Did I mention that most of the movie has no dialogue other than the two robots mechanically pronouncing each other's name?

The second half of the film turns into an anti-consumer comedy full of idiot humans who are now too fat to walk and they only do whatever their computer screen says.  Isn't that Disney's core audience?

I like movies that are different and original and this falls into that category.  I'm curious to see how much small children will like it.  The crowd in my theater seemed restless - lots of "Mommy!  Where's Wall- E???" The middle of the film does have lots of robots being chased which made the kids happy - to me it was the most boring part.

I liked it a lot, 4 out of 5 stars.  It didn't quite meet my 5 star expectations, but I think almost anyone will like it and it's worth seeing in the theater.

4 stars
Phil

*************************************************************************************************

I wonder if PIXAR ever gets tired of hitting home runs? I was skeptical that they'd be able to pull this one off; a story about a robot cleaning up Earth's trash hundreds of years in the future after mankind has abandoned the planet?  But I should have remembered that this is the same studio that made a large fortune off a rat who cooks in Paris, talking toys, bedroom closet monsters who are scared of children and a small clown fish with a "lucky" fin.  Director Stanton clearly borrowed from his own Finding Nemo; there is no antagonist and many of the flying scenes are extremely reminiscent of the underwater reef scenes in Nemo.  The plot lays on the environmental anti-corporate shtick a bit thick at times, and a lot of kids were getting antsy near the end, but it didn't make much difference.  The end result?  PIXAR touches all the bags again.

4.5 stars
HAWK

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Fierce mammoth hunter D'Leh (Steven Strait) sets out on an impossible journey to rescue the woman he loves (Camilla Belle) from a vicious warlord and save the people of his village. While venturing into unknown territories, D'Leh and his fellow warriors battle dangerous beasts and discover an amazing new civilization. Roland Emmerich directs this prehistoric epic full of thrilling action and adventure.

REVIEW:  My God, one can only sit back and marvel in awe at the sheer, spectacular badosity of it all. A movie made for people who have never seen any other movies before, since it rips off just about every good movie ever made. Let's see, off the top of my head, "Apocalypto," "Jurassic Park," "Last of the Mohicans," "2001," "The Road Warrior," any number of classic Westerns, as well as the Bible and quite a few fairytales. It's a hodge-podge, taking various of the best elements from better films, dumbing everything down and jumbling them all together into something they think is a story. The movie as a whole feels like one of those sculptures created out of bits of trash from a junk-pile, except that whole is not greater than the sum of its parts, it's less.

This is lazy filmmaking; there's a scene where the various tribes have banded together and are going to cross the harsh desert to find their adversaries. Of course we know they're going to get lost and be at death's door, then finally find their way out just as they're all about to perish. But we don't get that journey, instead we get a brief scene that lasts about 10 seconds of some of them dying, then bang! - they miraculously find their way outta there the next minute. It's like the filmmakers are saying "Yeah, we all know what's going to happen, blah-blah, why bother showing it? Let's move on to the next cliche. This one doesn't have enough action to hold your interest."

The dialog, oh my. Oh my my my. Again, just banal pieces of other films thrown together for effect. At one point the (terribly hackneyed) narrator actually uses the term "...many moons passed..." The tribes have all kinds of cutesy substitute names that are supposed to make them sound authentic - a winding river is "The Snake", a Mammoth is called a "Mamut" or something like that, and so on. The writers just arbitrarily pick certain phrases and names and insert some like-sounding expression or trite metaphor and expect it to come across as a convincing language of these ancient people. This is most unfortunate since at other times their speech sounds quite modern; I really wouldn't have been that surprised to hear one of the tribal brothers call another "dude."

NF Rating: 1/10 of Star, for the hot ingenue.
Harold

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  An aging boxer (Adam Carolla) turned construction worker dons his gloves again two decades after stepping away from the ring in a bid to win the prize he had been unable to attain before, a berth on the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team. Years past his prime, the onetime up-and-comer struggles in the ring and out as the boxing establishment doubts he can pull off a comeback in this sly comedy from director Charles Herman-Wurmfeld.

REVIEW:  Based somewhat on Carolla's life, The Hammer could loosely be called a comedy.  The plot is typical guy-flick fare: downtrodden everyguy gets dumped by his self-centered girlfriend (how DARE she get bummed out over her fella's lack of ambition!) and discovers that he's missed his calling as an Olympic boxer, upgrading to a more understanding girl in the process.  Like the aspiring boxer portrayed in the film, the plot does deliver a surprise shot from time to time, but the true yucks come from Carolla's droll quips.  Those who don't enjoy Carolla can safely skip this offering, but I laughed out loud plenty of times, and I'll never look at the La Brea Tar Pits quite the same again.

4 stars
HAWK

Like I said, your kids should enjoy this movie, but for anyone else I can only recommend you rent it.

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  An unlikely couple, Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd came from vastly different backgrounds -- he the son of a dirt farmer, she the daughter of wealthy slave owners. This dual biography tells both of their stories, from their childhoods to their marriage, to their years in the White House, touching on their differences of opinion on the Civil War, their marital ups and downs and Mary's fragile state of mind after Lincoln's assassination.

REVIEW:  This is a 3-disc series. I found it very interesting and very well done.  It first was presented as part of the American Experience series on PBS. I highly recommend this DVD set not only for American history buffs but for anyone interested in one of the most heartbreaking and tragic periods in U.S. history.

The narration was excellent and I thought the actors that did the voices for Abraham and Mary Lincoln were very good, especially Holly Hunter as Mary Lincoln.

This series is fascinating and I did learn quite a lot.  For instance, I didn't know that the Republican party was founded by some members of the Whig party, that included Mr. Lincoln, who wished to abolish slavery.  Also, I was surprised to see how much Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln were under attack both by the media and public during his time in government; Mrs. Lincoln because of her lavish overspending and Mr. Lincoln for his policies as President.

This series illustrated the personal heartbreaks this couple endured as well as intense pressure they both were under as the President and First Lady.  There are also some interesting facts about the Civil War, why some battles were won and some were lost.

All throughout this program, though, you never lose sight of the fact that these two very strong-minded individuals, Abraham and Mary Lincoln, were constantly struggling with their own personal demons while trying to keep their marriage and the United States of America together.

A great series and I'm very glad I watched it.

4.5 stars
Big A

If you've been following DJ Kay Slay aka. The Drama King's mixtape series 'R&B Models' or his street DVDs, you know Kay is in with some of the streets' sexiest models. From video vixens to pin-ups to print models to just straight phat-azz dimepieces, Slay always brings you the baddest bit*hes in the hip-hop industry. One of the first to help put Buffie The Body on the street DVD map, Kay Slay and Sub-Zero put the cameras on that dump truck of an ass during Kay Slay's Birthday celebration a couple years back. Bottom line: Slay fucks with the baddest.

Enter the everyday of a DIMEPIECE...Witness these beautiful women's careers as models, adult entertainers and performers on DVD as Kay Slay brings you up close with every dime he can find. Featuring Buffie The Body, Maliah, Spinderella, Gloria Velez, Pretty, Lyric, Simorah, Pillowz and Tayo among others, this DVD catches up with every dimepiece in sight. Also featuring appearances from Slay's celebrity buddies, you'll also find the likes of Papoose, Remy Martin, Busta Rhymes and others stopping by to lend their support for the Drama King (and mess with the dimepieces).

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