 | Cider House Rules (a J!-ENT DVD Review) |
September 27, 2003 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
MOVIE COMPANY: MIRAMAX
CAST: Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Michael Caine, Delroy Lindo, Heavy D and more.
DIRECTED BY Lasse Halstrom
RATING: PG-13
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0124315
DURATION: 125 minutes
Homer is an orphan in remote St. Cloud, Maine. Never adopted, he becomes the favorite of orphanage director Dr. Larch, who imparts his full medical knowledge on Homer, who becomes a skilled, albeit unlicensed, physician. But Homer yearns for a self-chosen life outside the orphanage. When Wally and pregnant Candy visit the orphanage Dr. Larch provides medically safe, albeit illegal, abortions Homer leaves with them to work on Wally’s family apple farm. Wally goes off to war, leaving Homer and Candy alone together. What will Homer learn about life and love in the cider house? What of the destiny that Dr. Larch has planned for him? (Martin Lewison, IMDB)
DVD EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby, Collector’s Edition
• Audio Commentary
• Deleted Footage
• Making Of “Cider House Rules”
• Full-screen and widescreen anamorphic formats
KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): (none that I know of)
DVD REVIEW:
I felt that “The Cider House Rules” was a pretty good movie and I enjoyed watching the settings and the adaptation of the popular Irving novel.
I didn’t think this was the best movie of the year as some critics may feel. I felt it was a good movie and that was it.
The video quality is beautiful especially the different scenery involved in this film. You really see the colors stand out. As for the audio, this is a dialogue movie, so no major use of your rear audio speakers. As for the DVD extra’s, you get the making of the movie and deleted footage which I felt some should of been left in the movie but I’m guessing due to the pace of the movie, the director felt the need to omit it. I really wish there was a director’s commentary though.
All in all a good movie. Very beautiful and interesting storyline.
THE MOVIE: B+
THE DVD EXTRAS: B
THE DVD OVERALL: B+
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| Christmas in August (a J!-ENT DVD Review) |
September 27, 2003 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
DVD reviewed by Dennis A. Amith
CAST: Han Suk-Kyu, Shim Eun Ha
DIRECTED BY: Hur Jin Ho
IMDB MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0140825
DURATION: 96 minutes
TYPE OF MOVIE:
NOTE: Reviewed Edko DVD version with removable English subtitles (All Region)
Imagine you knew you were going to die very soon, how would you spend you last days ? Jung Won chooses to stay in his little photo shop. Everyday, different customers walk in and he, never one to speak too much, just stands behind his counter and watches calmly. his life goes on as if it were a dream. One day, Darim walks in. They fall in love. She waits for Jung won to say those beautiful words ” I Love You ” . But he would never say them because he knows he has to go very soon. Darim, though, knows nothing of his illness. And finally he does go always, leaving his family, his friend, the woman he loves but can’t tell … In Hur Jin Ho’s story, you will find no great promises, no passionate embrace, no dramatic sacrifice. But you tears will still flow. His natural telling of this natural story is the reason for his success.
DVD EXTRAS:
* English/Chinese removable subtitles
* Christmas in August Trailer and Art Centre Promotion Trailer
KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None that I know of
DVD REVIEW:
This is one of those type of films that few people will get. Each person I talked to who has seen this movie saw the movie in different ways, a lot of people didn’t get the movie.
The movie is about a man who is dying and how he tries to cope with his final days with family and friends. He has his own photography business and he meets Darim. Unfortunately, though there is an attraction by the two, she doesn’t know he’s sick and he doesn’t tell her. He doesn’t want to get involved in a relationship because he’s dying and thus the movie is about this man’s life as he approaches near to death.
This defies the typical stories of a happy ending or a Hollywood like ending for a person dying storyline.
For me, this was a different approach to most storylines that I’m accustomed to. Although I got it, there is no Hollywood ending. The ending I was expecting, thus if you come in watching this movie with high expectations, you’re not going to get what you want. It’s pretty much: a person dies and life goes on. I guess like many other people who saw this, we wanted the fairy tale ending or some resolution with the two characters but this movie is doesn’t b.s. with the viewer, it’s about life and death. How you deal with your death is what is important and what is the focus in this movie, not the romance.
The movie is quite beautiful ala DVD and the sound is typical for a dialogue movie. There is a trailer and info. about the actors.
All in all an interesting movie and a different perspective way to see a movie of a person who is dying. Nothing glamorized and nothing Hollywood-like.
THE MOVIE: C+
THE DVD EXTRAS: C-
THE DVD OVERALL: C
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| Charlie’s Angels (a J!-ENT DVD Review) |
September 27, 2003 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
MOVIE COMPANY: Columbia Tristar
CAST: Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, Bill Murray, Sam Rockwell, Crispin Glover, Tim Curry and more.
DIRECTED BY: Joseph McGinty Nichol
WRITTEN BY: Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts III
RATING: PG-13
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0160127
TYPE OF MOVIE: Action, comedy
DURATION: 98 minutes
King and Jack are experts in finding lovers of first love for their clients. One day, a young guy, a man of concealed identity, and Taiwan’s richest business tycoon ask King and Jack to look for their first lovers. To King and Jack’s astonishment, the women all look like the same ……
DVD EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
PLEASE NOTE: Warner and Columbia have recently added a Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE) to Region 1 titles like the The Patriot and The Perfect Storm. Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called “region-free” DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• Director and Cinematographer Commentary
• Featurettes:
• Fashion Featurette
• Set Design Featurette
• Martial Arts and Stunts Featurette
• Special Effects Featurette
• Director McG Featurette
• Wired Angels – Special Effects Deconstruction
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Outtakes and Bloopers
• Music Videos by Destiny’s Child and Apollo Four Forty
• Widescreen anamorphic format
KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): Three Easter Eggs
Hidden scenes:
Select the “Special Features” option at the main menu. Highlight the “Getting G’d Up” option and press Right. A box will appear on Cameron Diaz’s waist. Press Enter to view the scene.
Select the “Special Features” option at the main menu. Highlight the “Wired Angels” option and press Left. A box will appear on Bill Murray’s jacket. Press Enter to view the scene
Select the “Special Features” option at the main menu. Advance to the last screen in the special features section. Highlight the back arrow and press Right. A square will appear over Sam Rockwell’s eyes. Press Enter to view the scene.
DVD REVIEW:
A fun movie to watch and a fun movie to watch if you grew up in the 70’s during the Charlie’s Angel phenomenon.
One of the problems with this movie when it debuted was that some people loved it and some people hated it. Those who hated it, didn’t like the MTV look of the film and how the film wasn’t serious. Some may say it’s more eye candy for the male fans.
Perhaps. But you maybe asking why buy this DVD? Well, it’s kind of hard to convince you if you hate this movie but if you enjoyed it, then the reasons why to buy this DVD is because it’s jam packed. Note: If you have a multi-region player, this DVD may not play.
The video quality is very cool. Since they experimented with different ways to film the movie, colors are brilliant but at times I felt that the colors were over saturated (note: Beach scene, look at the reds). The audio was nice but for some reason I felt that I got more from my digital 5.1 from the trailers. (Yes, the trailers are in 5.1 except Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
As for DVD special features, a small featurette for the director, the action-stunt coordinator, fashion/clothing, for the movie, extended scenes, deleted scenes, outtakes (the ending of the film without the credits), director’s commentary, two music videos and trailers that are in digital 5.1 (including a sneak peak of the highly anticipated CGI film, “Final Fantasy”).
So, if you enjoyed the movie, you will be in for a treat with the special edition DVD.
THE MOVIE: B-
THE DVD EXTRAS: A-
THE DVD OVERALL: B+
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| For Bad Boys Only (A J!-ENT DVD Review) |
September 27, 2003 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
DVD reviewed by Dennis A. Amith
CAST: Ekin Cheng, Louis Koo, Kristy Yeung, Shu Qui, Daniel Chan and more.
DIRECTED BY: Manfred Wong
TYPE OF MOVIE: Romance, Action
DURATION: 101 minutes
NOTE: Reviewed Universe DVD version with removable English subtitles (All Region).
King and Jack are experts in finding lovers of first love for their clients. One day, a young guy, a man of concealed identity, and Taiwan’s richest business tycoon ask King and Jack to look for their first lovers. To King and Jack’s astonishment, the women all look like the same ……
DVD EXTRAS:
* English/Chinese removable subtitles
* Synopsis and cast info. + two trailers (Marooned and Queen of Kowloon) and making of (with selection of subtitles).
KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None that I know of
DVD REVIEW:
A very interesting movie about three men who love women differently (one for the sake of quick love, one looking for Ms. Perfection and the other who will love the girl of his dreams no matter what), the Charlie’s Angels like storyline (but with two guys and one girl) and then the storyline about illegal cloning which makes one interesting storyline “For Bad Boys Only” which is the name of the detective company.
This movie is very hip and entertaining to watch. The CG graphics may turn people off who had enough of it (you will see Matrix special effects in this movie).
For this movie, I’m amazed at how much Shu Qui has grown as an actress and in this movie, she has to play multiple roles.
As for the DVD, the audio is very good and the selection of language has an International selection which features dialogue in Chinese, Japanese, English, etc. Perhaps this was meant to be release stateside like Gen-X Cops. Also, the DVD has two trailers and a making of which Universe added a selection for subtitles (YES!)
All in all a pretty cool movie. It’s not meant to be taken seriously but to sit back and enjoy. Check it out!
THE MOVIE: B
THE DVD EXTRAS: B-
THE DVD OVERALL: B
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| Fly Me to Polaris (a J!-ENT DVD Review) |
September 27, 2003 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
CAST: Richie Yen, Cecelia Cheung, Eric Kot, Eric Tsang, William So, Rickie Yam
DIRECTED BY: Jingle Ma
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0213314
TYPE OF MOVIE: Comedy, Romance
DURATION: 96 minutes
NOTE: Viewed the DeltaMac version with English Subtitles.
What if you are given a wish being the 60th billion person moving to “Polaris (or other call it ” Heaven “) , will you do the same as onion, Who was blind and dumb when he alive. Long to ” See ” his dream lover nurse Autumn, Onion spent his wish in exchange for five days on Earth, only no body knows his real identity. However, Onion finds that being able to see and talk does not do him any good…..At the end of Onion’s stay, a Meteor Shower will bring him back to ” Polaris ” and it will be the time Onion and Autumn have to say good bye .?
DVD EXTRAS:
- Music Video
- Information on Richie Yen and Cecelia Cheung. KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None that I know of
DVD REVIEW:
Many people will call this the HK version of the popular American film “Heaven Can’t Wait” starring Warren Beatty. I really enjoyed this film a lot. There are not many HK films that really makes me want to ponder the storyline and actually make you want to cry. This movie is that powerful!
I’m really impressed by the performances by Richie Yen and Cecelia Cheung. From what you would think would be a corny romance film turns out to be a powerful emotional roller coaster. Also, the movie features a great cast!
The DVD from Deltamac is awesome! Great video and the sound is typical for a dialogue film. Unfortunately, there is is no trailer but at least there is a pretty good music video and cast information for Yen and Cheung.
Remember to have the tissue box ready before watching this film. Want a break from the typical action or dark HK film, check out “Fly me to Polaris”. Highly recommended!
THE MOVIE: A
THE DVD EXTRAS: C
THE DVD OVERALL: B
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| Flash Gordon (a J!-ENT DVD Review) |
September 27, 2003 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
MOVIE COMPANY: Universal
CAST: Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Ornella Muti, Max Von Sydow, Topol, Timoth Dalton, Mariangela Melato, Brian Blessed, Peter Wyngarde and more.
DIRECTED BY: Mike Hodges
PRODUCED BY: Dino De Laurentiis
RATING: PG
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080745
TYPE OF MOVIE: Fantasy, Action, Sci-Fi
DURATION: 111 minutes
Flash Gordon, an outerspace fantasy adventure, is based on the world famous comic strip, which comes to life with action, romance, comedy and music by the popular rock group Queen. When energy waves pull the moon out of orbit, threatening destruction of the Earth, Dr. Hans Zarkov makes a desperate rocket flight with two unwilling passengers – Flash Gordon, quarterback of the New York Jets and love Dale Arden. Their destination is the planet Mongo, the source of the strange energy waves. Ruling over Mongo with primeval brutality is Ming the Merciless, who must be destroyed. Only one person can do it. He is Flash Gordon.
DVD EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Dolby, Widescreen, HiFi Sound, Surround Sound
• Widescreen letterbox format
KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None that I could find.
DVD REVIEW:
This was a hard one to review. As a child, I could remember watching this movie a million times and when I saw that it was available on DVD decades later, I wanted to buy it but lo and behold…I saw the back logo…”Image entertainment” which to DVD collectors know as a company that puts the movie on DVD, no extras, simple scene selections and that’s it. That was a major turn-off…but I loved the movie and I had to watch it again on DVD.
I was so upset to find out that there was nothing on the DVD. Not even a trailer. Geez… I was hoping that the director would have some cool footage…deleted scenes or something for this DVD release. Of course, I recommend the DVD over the VHS but in this case…the main benefit from buying this DVD over the VHS is that you know it’s not going to degrade from watching it many times. But this movie deserved more for the DVD release.
The audio is so-so and the transfer could have been better. I love this movie…I love it! But the DVD should have more… They should of treated this release like most movie releases….a great transfer, sound and much more!!!
I give the movie an A but the DVD a D due to the lack of special features and nothing else but the movie. DVD fans expect more these days but I guess when you get an Image Entertainment DVD, not to have your hopes set so high.
If you haven’t seen the movie or you are a fan and has a VHS that is degrading due to watching it so many times, check out the DVD version!
THE MOVIE: A
THE DVD EXTRAS: D-
THE DVD OVERALL: D
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| Finding Forrester (a J!-ENT DVD Review) |
September 27, 2003 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
MOVIE COMPANY: Columbia TriStar
CAST: Starring Sean Connery, Robert Brown, Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes, F. Murray Abraham, Matt Damon and more.
DIRECTED BY: Gus Van Sant
WRITTEN BY: Mike Rich
RATING: Rated PG-13
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0181536
TYPE OF MOVIE: Drama
DURATION: 136 minutes
Jamal Wallace (Robert Brown) is an inner-city kid from the Bronx who has an aptness at basketball and a genius at writing. While always a C student, Jamal comes to the attention of a prestigious New York prep school when he scores highly on his standardized tests. While Jamal is given a heavy load at his new school, both he and the school know that the real reason they took him on is for his prowess on the court. Befriended by fellow student Claire (Anna Paquin) and helped along by Pulitzer-prize winning author and recluse William Forrester (Sean Connery), Jamal pursues his dreams both on and off the court while overcoming obstacles placed by his bitter literature teacher. As Jamal is shaped by Forrester, he finds that he is changing the old writer as well, forcing him to confront his past…and his future. (IMDB)
DVD EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• HBO Featurette, Found: Robert Brown Featurette, two choir videos
• Commentary by director
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• Full-screen and widescreen anamorphic formats
KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None that I know of
DVD REVIEW:
If there is one film that was underrated and left many people asking what movie should of been selected for Academy Award nomination, “Finding Forrester” is that movie.
Gus Van Sant directed a great movie with “Good Will Hunting” and is back again with a different but similar story. It’s a beautiful film about an African American student Jamal Wallace from the Bronx and a recluse/yet very popular author William Forester.
How both work together and help each other despite their cultural backgrounds. The friendships that develops and the institution/professor’s unwillingness to accept that a Black kid from the Bronx could write beautifully.
The DVD is beautiful and the audio is typical of a dialogue film. The special features are pretty cool with the HBO featurette and also how they found Robert Brown for this film. Also, they included two choir videos and these people can sing! Very cool special features including trailers for films of people who were part of the cast.
Again it’s a shame this movie wasn’t selected for even an “Academy Award” nomination but I guess the selection board were to enthralled with “Chocalat” instead. Anyway, this is a very good film and definitely highly recommended!
THE MOVIE: A
THE DVD EXTRAS: A
THE DVD OVERALL: A
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| Fight Club (a J!-ENT DVD Review) |
September 27, 2003 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
MOVIE COMPANY: FOX 2000 Pictures
DVD reviewed by Dennis A. Amith
CAST: Starring Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf Aday, Jared Leto and more.
DIRECTED BY: David Fincher
PRODUCED BY: Art Linson, Cean Chaffin, Ross Grayson Bell
RATING: Rated R
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0137523
TYPE OF MOVIE: Drama, Thriller
DURATION: 139 minutes
A ticking-time bomb insomniac (Edward Norton) and a slippery soap salesman (Brad Pitt) channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground “fight clubs” forming in every town, until a sensuous eccentric (Helena Bonham Carter) gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.
The New York Times raved that FIGHT CLUB “just might require another viewing.” Here’s your chance. Brace yourself.
DVD EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Closed-captioned, AC-3
• Commentary by director David Fincher
• Commentary by actor Brad Pitt
• Commentary by Composers
• Commentary by Helena Bonham Carter
• Commentary by Edward Norton
• Production notes
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• Five Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
• Still Galleries: Set Design Stills, Costume Stills, Original sketches, Oil paintings, Storyboards, Publicity stills, Lobby cards & Production Stills
• 17 behind-the-scenes vignettes
• Making-Of Fight Club
• THX Optimode
• Widescreen anamorphic format
• Number of discs: 2
KNOWN DVD SECRET(S):
Production credits:
Play Disc 1 and select the “Special” option at the main menu. Press Up to highlight the green smiley face, then press Enter.
Movie products:
Play Disc 2 and select the “Advertising” option at the main menu. Press Down three times to highlight the green smiley face, then press Enter.
DVD REVIEW:
I struggled whether or not to watch this movie because I thought it was a movie all about fighting. I wasn’t it the mood to watch it and it was either getting rave reviews or panned in the media. I figured that ever since I became a DVD junkie, a lot of these movies that don’t do well in the box office or panned by media are actually very good films. Kudos to Edward Norton in his commentary for his comment on media personalities like Rosie O’Donnell who probably prevented people from watching this movie.
Why would I want people to watch this? To tell you the truth, I don’t give a rats ass if you watch it or not, I know that for me, this is one of the best movies I have ever seen. I felt that this movie was absolutely brilliant!
It’s one of those movies that everyone will love, hate or love to hate. Think Arlington Road, American Beauty, those Street Fighter II video games and loads of humor. Taking a very crazy, dark film and making it enjoyable to watch.
Dark? Oh, yes…it’s dark but the story is so well written and acted, I’m still amazed how cool this movie is. When I say dark, I don’t want to compare it to other dark films. In a way, this movie is quite unique. It’s not a scary movie and the violent parts weren’t so gross looking because the blood is oil dark.
OK…why do I like this movie? Many of us are over achievers, make great money and once in a while…during those days you hate your job or your boss pisses you off, you get that little crazy thought in your mind of what if…. This movie is your what if on steroids!
I don’t think this movie glorifies fights. Despite the title, there is more to this intense story. It’s very well written and I’m glad they brought it out to the movie.
OK…on to the DVD review. The first rule with the FIGHT CLUB DVD. Read the booklet first. The second rule of the FIGHT CLUB DVD is read the booklet first. Read and find out how difficult this movie was to make a reality. Then watch the movie! If you are pissed off at your job, this is a great movie to watch. But if you are feeling well…lovey dovey…then watch a romantic film. Then read the FBI warning very carefully. OK, too poor to buy the Video Essentials DVD, no problem, you have the THX optimode. A cool extra…better than what they put in the “Pleasantville” DVD.
The audio is oh so good! At times you hear the rear speakers being used but that gun shot sound. Ah…just as good as that ear piercing shot in the “Thirteenth Floor”. The sound is well done. The video quality is very well done and it’s anamorphic and you will be happy with the video and audio. Now, what about the special features. LOADED! This DVD is fully loaded! I don’t know where to begin but it’s loaded. From the making of certain scenes, many commentaries, deleted/alternate scenes, trailers and those loveable PSA’s, this DVD is loaded. One of the best DVD’s to be released that is fully packaged and definitely worth your money.
So, do I recommend this DVD. Sure I do! But will you like it? I don’t know. It’s a thinking movie. It’s a dark movie. It’s not a super violent movie. It’s not a gross movie. It’s not a screwed up movie. It’s not a movie that makes you feel worthless. It’s a movie that deserves to be watched and a movie for those with an open mind. If you don’t have one, then don’t watch it.
Otherwise….a great movie and one of the best DVD’s fully loaded with so much stuff, you’re going to be enjoying all of it. Highly Recommended!
THE MOVIE: A+
THE DVD EXTRAS: A+
THE DVD OVERALL: A+
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| The Fifth Element (A J!-ENT DVD Review) |
September 27, 2003 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
MOVIE COMPANY: Columbia Pictures
CAST: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker, Luke Perry and more.
DIRECTED BY: Luc Besson
PRODUCED BY: Patrice Ledoux
RATING: PG-13
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0119116
TYPE OF TV SHOW: Action, Sci-Fi
Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman star in acclaimed director Luc Besson’s outrageous sci-fi adventure, an extravagantly styled tale of good against evil set in an unbelievable twenty-third century world. All aboard for “A Futuristic , Eye Popping Adventure!” – Bill Diehl, ABC Radio Network.
DVD EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby, HiFi Sound, Surround Sound, Digital Sound, DTS Stereo
• Full-screen and widescreen anamorphic formats
KNOWN DVD SECRET: None that I know of at this time.
DVD REVIEW:
When I heard that this DVD is known as one of the best reference DVD’s out there. I must admit that it was a decision that was hard for me to decided if I wanted to buy this or not because #1) It’s known that there is no extra’s on this DVD and I heard this movie is so-so. Also, the label on the DVD is on the wrong sides, so you need to put it on the side that says full screen to access the wide screen segment. Then again, this problem maybe my DVD.
I finally saw this movie and this is what I thought. I liked it a lot! This movie is visually stunning and the computer graphics were wonderful. The storyline is good but it appeared an extra 30 minutes or an hour would have given this movie judgment because I felt there were some loose ends.
But people are not buying this DVD much for the extra’s and looking for a good story, they are buying this DVD because it’s the definitive reference DVD.
Now, what makes this DVD so much of a reference DVD? It’s the sound. I watched this movie twice now. The first just to listen to it in regular dolby surround. Then I watched it again in digital 5.1 and all I can say….oh my!
For those who are contemplating if they should upgrade their old home theater receivers for a digital 5.1 system, I have two words for you…”Heck yeah!” You don’t understand that they utilize the sound to the utmost best. I thought “Godzilla” was one hell of a reference DVD but “The Fifth Element” is definitely a reference DVD. The sounds are coming from everywhere…I mean everywhere. Very awesome!
Ah…but although the audio is the main superb highlight, the video is also pretty awesome. Check this out… the colors on the DVD are truly awesome! The colors really do come out on this DVD.
So, all in all this DVD sucks in terms for extras because there are hardly any. The movie is slightly above average because they did one hell of a job on the graphics and colors. The story for me had loose ends and was rushed. I wish they could of added deleted scenes but knowing how much DVD fanatics consider this DVD among the best, I hope a special edition DVD comes out.
I can’t give this DVD a great grade for overall because of the extra’s but as for a reference DVD, this DVD earns the highest of highest of marks.
THE MOVIE: B
THE DVD EXTRAS: D-
THE DVD OVERALL: C
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| The Best of FRIENDS Vol. 1 (A J!-ENT DVD Review) |
September 27, 2003 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
MOVIE COMPANY: WARNER VIDEO
CAST: Starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer
DIRECTED BY: Gail Mancuso, Kevin S. Bright, Michael Lembick and more.
TYPE OF TV SERIES: Comedy
DURATION: 151 minutes per DVD
Volume 1 includes some of the best of the Ross-Rachel episodes. Their star-crossed relationship is set in motion in the “Pilot,” in which runaway bride Rachel moves in with Monica. “The One with the Two Parts” features guest appearances by Helen Hunt and George Clooney, not to mention Marcel the monkey. Lovelorn Ross tries not to be a nice guy but throws in the cards in “The One with All the Poker.” “The One Where Ross Finds Out” and the great flashback episode “The One with the Prom Video” finally bring Ross and Rachel together. Volume 2 contains “The One Where No One’s Ready” and “The One with the Embryos.” The two-part “The One with Ross’s Wedding,” in which Ross famously blurts the wrong name at the altar, launched Monica and Chandler’s secret affair, a subplot that revitalized the series. Two gems from season 5, “The One with All the Thanksgivings” and “The One Where Everybody Finds Out” (about Monica and Chandler), illustrate why Lisa Kudrow won the ensemble’s lone Emmy.
DVD EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Box set
• Full-screen format
• Never before seen footage
• Featurettes
• The Rembrandt’s music video of “I’ll be there for you”
KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None that I could find.
DVD REVIEW:
(The best of) Friends is the 2-volume DVD series featuring the top 10 Friends videos voted by fans. That’s so difficult because every Friends fan has their own favorites and there are over a 100 episodes to choose from and they chose these top 10.
Some of the episodes that were selected are my favorites but some were not my favorites but good nonetheless.
The only people who will be buying this DVD are true FRIENDS fans and you also get a very few featurettes and the music video of the song you either love or hate by now. Oh, and the show is remastered in Dolby Digital 5.0.
So, kick back and watch your favorite Friends DVD’s (my personal favorite is volume 2 btw…).
THE MOVIE: A-
THE DVD EXTRAS: C-
THE DVD OVERALL: B
