RUMOUR HAS IT...? 30/5/06

More than just a rumour actually! It has taken a good few years after the original James Bond Special Editions (Single Disc) to finally see the light of day as 2-Disc Ultimate Editions. I was very annoyed when they released the original series as although the single-disc set was impressive with it's Special Features and Extensive Booklets from "Dr. No" to "Live And Let Die" were all in a Mono Soundtrack form and the Image Transfer was also very poor - so I only purchased copies from "The Man With The Golden Gun" to "The World Is Not Enough" and buying "Die Another Day" separately when it was released as a 2-Disc set. Now at last I get the proper editions I've wanted with revamped 5.1. Soundtracks and all painstakingly restored digitally frame-by-frame. The covers have (as you can see) also been re-designed and all will be available from "Dr. No" to "Die Another Day" as James Bond Ultimate Editions (2-Disc) from 17/7/06 either as individual releases (around £12 each) or you can buy the lot in a massive Attache Case Set for around £200. (This is the Region 2 (UK) release - No date on any other Regions as yet?)

You keep hearing all these rumours about Daniel Craig as Bond and having just seen the trailer I don't know what all the fuss is about? It's obviously just another use of Ian Fleming's story title with a totally different story - Much like when they made "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker". He seems to be fine in the role with lots of action, stunts and so on - It seems like business as usual to me? I can't comment on the film until I've seen it - But I've already added it to my DVD to buy list if that's any consolation?

UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION (DVD Review) - 28/5/06

Found this to be very flat when I saw this back in the cinema in January 2006; but seeing it a second time round on DVD, I really enjoyed it this time. The Region 1 (USA) DVD Cover is pictured above. This time around we get the added gravitas of Derek Jacobi as the head of both the Vampires and Werewolves with a nice return from Bill Nighy as Viktor again. Featuring a strong performance from Tony Curran as Markus and a nice side role for Steven Mackintosh as Tanis; we also get Selene's (Kate Beckinsale) furthered back-story and further threads of Lycan/Vampire history that broaden the scope far from the first film leading to new avenues and horizons. The action is pretty much non-stop and inventive and the blood flows quite copiously amidst the blasts of gunfire and explosions. Taking up more or less from where the last film ended more secrets and deceptions are revealed heading towards (inevitably) a probable third film. I say bring it on and look forward to a trilogy rounding out all the events featured.

Languages: English/French. Soundtrack: 5.1. Subtitles: English/French. Close Captioned. Region 1 (USA) - Colour. Anamorphic Widescreen: 2.40:1. Runtime: Approx 106 Mins. Special Features not rated. Rating: R. 2006 / SONY HOME ENTERTAINMENT / ISBN # 043396146884 / 14688 LAKESHORE/SCREEN GEMS. SPECIAL FEATURES: Director & Filmmaker's Commentary. Featurettes: The Hybrid Theory - Visual Effects, The War Rages On - Stunts, Bloodlines: From Script To Screen - Making-Of, Making Monsters Roar - Creature FX, Building A Saga - Production Design, Music & Mayhem - Music & Sound Design. Music Video by Atreyu "Her Portrait In Black". Preview Trailers. [Incidentally, the featurettes all combine to provide a near effortless rush of fairly seamless CGI; stuntwork, green-screen, models and what have you, to create an imaginative film whilst at the same time giving you some excellent background on just how they put all this together - Impressive! ]

RUNNING SCARED (DVD Review) - 28/5/06

At last this excellent film is available on DVD and I for one am very glad to have it in my collection! The above picture shows you the Region 1 (USA) cover. I cannot recommend this film enough and a superb cast pull off a very fraught 2 hours of nail-biting tension from the beginning to the end. The creepy music and the frightening end credits make this film more of a horror than a thriller drama - But it has so many genre elements it's hard to pin down. Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, Vera Farmiga, Chazz Palminteri and others; hold together a wretched mix of terror and thrills, suspense and twists and surprise upon surprise. Needless to say I'm very much looking forward to Writer/Director Wayne Kramers's next project which is a TV Series of his original "Mindhunters" film. "Running Scared" hits you between the eyes with a shovel right from the opening hotel shoot-out and doesn't let go. It's scenes all muted colours and bleached pathos; reminiscent of a lot of 70's thrillers, keeps on going through camera twisting shots. All of which is visually stunning and frames running backward, with slo-mo sections bringing the action straight into your face in a very claustrophobic way. Edgy and tight it's an awesome film for this decade and should be seen as the classic that it is going to become.

Audio: English - Dolby 5.1. and DTS ES 6.1. Runtime: Approx: 122 Mins. Colour - Region 1 (USA). Subtitles: English - Feature Film only. Spanish - Feature Film only. Close Captioned Feature Film only. Format: 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio - Enhanced for Widescreen TV's. Rating: R. Bonus Material not rated. 2006 / NEW LINE HOME ENTERTAINMENT N10305/ISBN # 0780655036. SPECIAL FEATURES: Commentary with Writer/Director Wayne Kramer. Storyboards of 2 Scenes drawn by Wayne Kramer. "Behind The Scenes" Documentary - "Through The Looking Glass". Theatrical Trailer. Web-Link for DVD-ROM. Sneak Peeks including the Trailer for the new "Blade" TV Series. Also if you happen to get an early copy of "Running Scared" there is available a very Limited Edition EXCLUSIVE Mini-Graphic Novel of the "Ice-Rink" Scene from the film and below are pictures of the Front cover and some further artwork.

DEAD LIKE ME {2nd. Season} (DVD Review) - 22/5/06

Currently only available (As below with DVD Boxset Case Cover) as a Region 1 (USA) Version - 15 Episodes on 4 Discs of the Complete 2nd. Season of "Dead Like Me".

Having really enjoyed the First Season of "Dead Like Me" I went ahead and got the second already knowing unfortunately; that some moronic suit somewhere, had made an "executive" decision to cancel it. At least it managed a reasonable ending to the series but still left a lot of questions unanswered? It annoys me that these TV Companies, Channels, Studios, whatever - go ahead and make these genre shows and unless they get massive ratings or are a major hit immediately; they get cancelled 2 or 3 seasons down the line, then try and get some quick cash back with syndication or a DVD release. This second season of "Dead Like Me" further explores the character's backgrounds and motivations and there is a lot of sadness along the way and a couple of unexpected twists as they cut a swathe through the populace gathering souls for death. I would have been happy for this series to continue and you could see groundwork in these current episodes for future plot threads and storylines, but alas it was not to be!

SPECIAL FEATURES: "Dead Like Me...Again" Featurette, "Putting Life Into Death" Featurette, Over 10 Minutes Of Deleted Scenes & Photo Gallery. Special Features contain unrated material and are not close captioned. Soundtrack: 5.1. Widescreen: 16x9. Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1. Rating: Not Rated. (Presumably for Language & Subject Matter.) Region 1 - NTSC. Running Time: Approx 11 Hours 42 Mins. Colour 2004. MGM HOME ENTERTAINMENT 4008187/1008319/ISBN # 0792867580.

THE LOST SON - TV Film Review 15/5/06

Above is the Region 1 (USA) DVD Cover.

Above is the Region 2 (UK) DVD Cover - If you want to see this film I would go with this version as it has four Featurettes on it which I don't think are available on the Region 1 (USA) Version.

I had noticed this film a few years back when I was at the cinema and picked up one of the free advertising postcards they have there that was promoting the film. Needless to say of course the down-beat subject matter saw that the film never got a showing at the local cinema and as with most quality films it faded into obscurity and that is a pity. With the chance to watch it on TV I recorded this a few weeks back and sat down to find out how a french detective ends up in London after a case goes wrong in Paris and actor Daniel Auteuil plays it to the hilt; chain-smoking continuously on the edge, as he gets involved in what looks like a simple missing persons case. As he investigates the case things take an horrific turn and from a simple thriller this leads into a harrowing tale of child prostitution and murder. With good performances from Nastassja Kinski and Billie Whitelaw and with further support from Bruce Greenwood and Ciaran Hinds this feature shows that these horrors don't just happen in "poor countries" and that the affluent West also has a hand in this despicable trade as human souls are trafficked as "commodities" for sale. Truely an eye-opening film and a gut-wrenching drama it should have been seen by more people to wake them up to the horrors still happening around them now.

THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE / A VERY BRADY SEQUEL (DVD Review) - 14/5/06

Needed a comedy boost and these two puppies are certainly worth a watch! I advise watching them both together for full-on comedic pleasure...it's akin to watching a car crash but the comedy version if you get what I mean? The basic premise is that The Brady Bunch is stuck in a 7o's time-warp and as the world moves on they have stayed the same in look, sound and fashion. Everything in the real world from car-jackers to tattoo parlours doesn't exist for them as they drift through a haze of psychedelic paisley shirts, AstroTurf and other 70's kitsch in a garish hue of acid colours and "groovy happening hip chicks man". Needless to say this throws up an awful lot of innuendo, piss-takes and general nods to the seventies and the original series. Much like the remakes of "Charlie's Angels" and "Starsky & Hutch" these also have a lot of loving detail added to them and although played totally straight are all excellent comedies for a modern audience. You get a heck of a load of cameos - Particularly the original cast members in the form of Florence Henderson and Ann B. Davis and Gary Cole and Shelley Long are spot on as Mr & Mrs Brady! I won't go any further into either of the plots they just have to be seen to be believed. Both discs unfortunately are Vanilla releases and Rated: 12. Soundtrack: English 5.1. Dolby Surround: French, German, Spanish & Italian. At least the Feature Subtitles are fairly comprehensive: English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croat, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish & Turkish. Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. Colour. Running Time: Approx 85 mins each. Region 2 - PAL. PARAMOUNT - "The Brady Bunch Movie" 1995/EC103893 - PHE 8327/ISBN # 5014437832733> "A Very Brady Sequel" 1996/EC104487 - PHE 8328/ISBN # 5014437832832>

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 Film Review - 11/5/06

Tom Cruise goes into overdrive in this sequel with very strong support from Laurence Fishburne, Billy Crudup and Ving Rhames. Firmly backed in the acting stakes with a fine performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman and featuring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and a nice cameo from Simon Pegg, we also get Michelle Monaghan, Keri Russell and Maggie Q. Even Greg Grunberg from TV's "Alias" gets a cameo. As for the story and plot - Well lots of bangs and explosions, stunts and car chases but it isn't anything new - a passable action film to watch and that's about it! I would say that a couple of the set pieces did have me on the edge of my seat - But a bit hard to sustain that over a two-hour film. The aerial sequence in Shanghai being a pretty good stand-out moment flying from building to building.

Director J.J. Abrams fresh from TV's "Lost" tries to add his "Alias" realism to this massive production but does not seem to pull it off leaving it all feeling a little flat - There are several emotional threads that get plucked and a clever title sequence that pulls you in but I wouldn't rush out to buy this for my DVD collection when available. I'm sure it will do sterling business at the cinema and rake in a huge amount of cash due to the story and the stars.

RETRO FLASHBACK "Edward Scissorhands" 8/5/06

Sadly this film parallels Ed Wood's and Bela Lugosi's final film together as screen legend Vincent Price died while making "Edward Scissorhands" his last film with Tim Burton. A number of other threads run through the story especially the suburban housewives taking on the baying mob attribute as they storm Frankenstein's Castle (I mean the Inventor's Mansion) at the top of the hill. A modern fairy-tale parable with Tim Burton again working with Danny Elfman doing the score and Johnny Depp as Edward backed with Dianne Wiest, Winona Ryder and Alan Arkin all mix it up in a pastel crazy pastiche of the little-town attitude hit with an outsider who is different. The townsfolk eventually turn nasty and the real world intrudes on the charm and magic seen through the eye's of an innocent. There are numerous different versions available - So the one I've reviewed is the cover pictured; seen below, since it's release in 1990. Left with scissors instead of hands Edward has to find his way in the world and through Tim Burton's visually imaginative vision we get a tale that knows no bounds. Something he would further explore in "Sleepy Hollow" another inventive take on a folk tale again with Johnny Depp and horror legend Christopher Lee.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Tim Burton & Danny Elfman Commentaries, Original Featurette, Interview Clips Sound Bites, 2 Trailers & Spanish TV Spots. Probably the best feature on here is the Original Concept Artwork Gallery by Tim Burton himself which shows just how Johnny Depp ended up dressed as a zombie goth bondage freak. Region 2 - PAL Colour. Runtime: Approx 103 mins. Language: English - 4.0. Surround. Main Feature Subtitles: English. Rating: PG. Widescreen Version 16:9 - Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1. 20TH CENTURY FOX 1990/2006 FG-SGB 01867DVD / ISBN #5039036003865>

THE MACHINIST (DVD Review) - 8/5/06

This was bought as a Region 2 (UK) DVD release (Cover as above) but on checking the cover it is actually marked as a Region 0 (Anywhere) so most people should be able to play it on their players. Released on the Tartan DVD Label this is another one of those films that Hollywood wouldn't take a chance on - so ending up getting it's finance from Spain and filming in Barcelona as though it's actually downtown L.A. Technically it is filmed as though it could be small town anywhere or anywhen with it's retro look and muted tones and colours. The picture is like the bleach in the film washed across the print draining it of colour into languid blues and greys dragging you down to Christian Bale's character level who may or may not be having delusions or is actually involved in a conspiracy? Slowly burning like a lit fuse Bale's character of Resnik is a tour de force on his part as you watch him skeletal thin slouch across the screen in a daze - My respect for Bale as an actor has gone up another notch watching him do this. Jennifer Jason Leigh gives emotional support as Stevie whilst Michael Ironside and Anna Massey hover in the background. If Alfred Hitchcock was still making films this would be near the knuckle as it is reminiscent of his "Marnie" and also strays into "Memento" territory. As a psychological thriller mystery it twists things around in your head until you get to the final denouement and realise just what was what. I would recommend watching the deleted scenes and making of as both further extend the story - the deleted scenes adding two significant plot points and the making of explaining the reason why Bale's weight loss was integral to the filming. A subtle yet challenging walk through someone else's mental point of view.

SPECIAL FEATURES: UK Exclusive Director Interview, Commentary by Director Brad Anderson, The Making Of The Machinist & 8 Deleted Scenes. Original Trailer, Anwar Brett Film Notes (attached leaflet), DTS 5.1. & Dolby 5.1. also Dolby 2.0. Stereo. Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic 2.35:1/ Runtime: 98 mins. Language: English/USA. Region: 0. Rating: 15. FILMAX/TARTAN 2004 PAL TVD 3569/ISBN # 5023965356925>

SILENT HILL - Film Review 7/5/06

Having seen the trailer for this and finding out that it was by the Director of "Crying Freeman" and "The Brotherhood Of The Wolf" - Christophe Gans, I was looking forward to something pretty special - What I actually got was Radha Mitchell from "Phone Booth" screaming SHARON at the top of her voice for an hour and a half while traipsing through basements running into puddles of water, as ash rained down in a netherworld beyond our own as demons and other assorted nasties off the bad-guy list chase the character's around then followed by a 20 minute explanation of the film by the little girl character. Sean Bean pops in and out as the lonely father and from "Crash" Deborah Kara Unger crops up against the Borg Queen Alice Krige from "Star Trek: First Contact". If the film had actually consisted of what the last really good 20 minutes was like I'm sure I would have been adding this to my DVD to buy list - As it is, I think I'll give this one a miss. Not only was it not at all scary it was also let down by a pretty cruddy ending over the tortuous soundtrack of wailing sirens, screeches, et al. One thing it did have going for it was a good presence of creating a different reality in mood and atmosphere - But unfortunately too little, too late.

SHE'S THE MAN - Film Review 7/5/06

Loosely based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night this teen film is actually rather good fun if you prefer to handle the classics in this way. Shakespeare's timeless tales have come over rather well in film adaptions and this surprisingly good movie is handled with plenty of pep and vigour and has it's heart in the right place. Without ton's of preaching it plonks the character's in the middle of an American high school and then promptly let's them get on with misunderstandings and comedy slapstick in a fairly knowing way. As with most films like this it all has a happy ending once the dust settles - But whilst your along for the ride it fairly chews through it's script of one-liners and bitch remarks. Mostly an unknown cast pull out all the acting stops and everyone has a good time. Fairly undemanding stuff if your in the mood for it.

HOODWINKED (DVD Review) - 6/5/06

Above is the cover of the Region 1 (USA) DVD Widescreen Version of "Hoodwinked". Coming out on DVD (May 2nd 2006) is this CGI animated comedy and very worth your time it is too - so make sure if you don't buy a copy to catch it on rental as it's very funny. Not only is it a bizarre mix of interesting styles it also has a great plot and can be watched by both children and adults. A fantastic cast including Jim Belushi, Glenn Close, Anne Hathaway, Patrick Warburton, Xzibit, Anthony Anderson, David Ogden Stiers and Andy Dick and others pull off a great story that I think deserved a better showing at the flicks and more marketing and publicity to truly bring it into the public's eye - Where are all the posters, the MacDonald's Kid's Meals, the cute fluffy stuffed soft toys? Twitchy the squirrel could certainly give Ice Age's character of Scrat a run for his money. Add Little Red Riding Hood, Granny, the Woodsman and the Big Bad Wolf together with The Usual Suspects and Triple X and you'll get an idea of where this film is headed. My only complaint about the DVD is that it could have done with more Special Features covering the production of this company's first film. So I for one will be keeping an eye out for their next project because as far as I'm concerned this will become a cult-classic. Rating: PG/Region 1 (USA). Runtime: 81 mins - Colour. Widescreen: 16x9. Sound: English & French 5.1. Subtitles: English & Spanish. SPECIAL FEATURES: 5 Deleted & Extended Scenes with Optional Commentary, "Critters Have Feelings" Music Video, How To Make An Animated Film, Commentary With The Filmmakers & Theatrical Trailer. WEINSTEIN COMPANY/KANBAR ENTERTAINMENT 2005/2006 - 79109/ISBN # 1594441219.