LOST {4th. Season} (DVD Review) - 27/9/08

Strange that the first 3 Seasons of "Lost" just really strolled along infuriating people as it meandered here and there with no real explanation of what was happening or why? Then suddenly Season 4 of "Lost" trundles out with it's shortened Season of 13 episodes, that many shows suffered from due to last years Writer's Strike. Not only does it discard the facts it only manages to deepen the mysteries further and punch up into a different high octane level handing out answers but still leaving loose threads hanging. It also manages a sense of fear - A chiller in more ways than one - As aspects of time travel with a different take on the subject jump forward and back in time. It gets confusing because of the cast being in the past, present and future - With nothing linear in most cases. Questions are answered, theories resolved and literally in a number of jaw-dropping moments we see things we really don't see coming at all! Frighteningly a conspiracy abounds back on shore; deep in the past in the 1940's and you realise that nothing is what it really seems as things get more stranger and darker, making you less sure of what might actually be going on or when or what time period? Stepping up into such a high gear I can only hope that more resolution to Lost's conundrums will be answered further in Season's 6 & 7?

The host of Extras on this 6-disc Boxset cover Audio Commentaries, a handful of Featurettes, a Bloopers Reel and a large pile of Deleted Scenes and some Easter Eggs thrown in for good measure.

SMALLVILLE {7th. Season} (DVD Review) - 25/9/08

Season 7 of "Smallville" comes across as very samey from all the previous Seasons what with the interwoven angst and hidden secrets, the back-stabbing & double crossing - It's sometimes very hard to see who is stitching who up and why? But this Season we do have some great delights on show - A handful of cameo episodes with former characters appearing, plus a couple of cameo roles from previous incarnations of Superman from TV & the big screen. We also lose a major character from the guest list with no explanation and a major character is also killed off. We also cover some of the deeper mythology of Superman and uncover a previous conspiracy arc as well. Lex comes into his own leaving a major cliffhanger for Season 8 plus a number of unresolved story plot points. The six-disc Boxset has a pile of Special Features with a couple of Commentaries on key episodes, a large selection of Deleted Scenes with Featurettes on both Supergirl & Jimmy Olsen plus an animated short on Kara with a digital comic book as well.

CHEMICAL WEDDING (DVD Review) - 15/9/08

Bruce Dickinson the Frontman of Iron Maiden brings his view of Aleister Crowley to the mainstream with his film "Chemical Wedding" covering the bizarre lifestyle of Britain's self-named greatest magician for real. Driven solely by the outlandish performance of Simon Callow this movie had a number of things that sparked my mind. The opening scene with a car driving amongst tall hedges as the natural light disappears tree by tree. The strong feeling of fear that was generated by atmosphere very reminiscent of the original Hellraiser film. The strange bit part played by Kirk Brandon one time singer of Theatre Of Hate and then Spear Of Destiny? The low budget nature does not really show from this film at all and the sheer amount of join the dots packed into the storyline would have conspiracy theorists spinning in a tizzy! Add a touch of Quantum Mechanics and you get one hell of a twist. Don't believe any of the sordid blurb on the DVD cover - No, really - Don't believe any of it, it's obviously the PR Department attempting to find an audience to sell the film too and it's just pointless rubbish. A modern day lecturer gets involved in an experiment to transplant memories as a cure for Alzheimer's but really has a hidden agenda involving the Occult.

The 18 Certificate for this film I feel is rather harsh - I've seen worse and they were a 15 Rating? Nestled amongst the Special Features is an insightful documentary of the making of "Chemical Wedding" a whole selection of Deleted Scenes which further the story more (So do watch them in the context of the film) and a selection of Files that cover various Occult links that may not entirely hold absolute truth?

GET SMART Film Review - 15/9/08

Every now and again I like a laugh and no one is better than playing the straight roles than Steve Carell in this film version of the old TV series "Get Smart". Nice to see Alan Arkin back on the big screen as well, as I haven't seen him in anything for awhile. Terence Stamp does his obligatory bad guy role and Dwayne Johnson riffs (Ably!) on his own persona and with typically Hollywood fashion Anne Hathaway ends up as eye-candy! With a massive pile of well-known bit part characters included and a couple of short cameos from others this likably daft story lurches around from scene to scene with a certain amount of humour and good comedy value - At times it can feel laboured - But still I enjoyed it and was fairly entertained from start to finish. Desperate to leave his desk job and go out into the field as an agent; Maxwell Smart gets promoted after the KAOS group attack CONTROL headquarters, with a sinister plan to attack L.A. with a hidden bomb in a piano. Smart now assigned as Agent 86 ends up working with Agent 99 and hindered by Agent 23, as they attempt to foil the nefarious plans of the KAOS group.

STAR TREK {1st. Season} REMASTERED (DVD Review) - 14/9/08

I was very concerned to hear that they were going to "revamp" in essence a number of effects and so on to the original Series of Star Trek - I thought it was very akin to the awful colourised versions of Laurel & Hardy or George Lucas messing about with the original Star Wars and then not allowing you to ever have copies of them apart from the 'new' versions. Having no current Star Trek fix to feed my addiction I bought the HD-DVD Version purely for the Special Features. Luckily I already had the first release on DVD so knew that I could always have the original version to watch in it's entirety. Luckily for silly old me it turned out that the people involved in the revamp remastered version were die-hard Trek fans and had lovingly collaborated on this labour of love to actually enhance the series in retrospect to the sixties feel. With this they completely re-did various effects and minute touches here & there plus a total clean-up of the original print and re-done sound & themes. I love the original and will always value this but now we also have another option with this new 'version' and it shows! Above and below pictures of the front & back of the new remastered set of Series 1 of the original Star Trek.

With these new re-done episodes we get some good Special Features. Of particular mention is the featurettes "Spacelift" covering the remasterisation of Star Trek & "Where No Man Has Gone Before" which sheds light on the Christie's Auction of 40 Years Of Star Trek memorabilia in the shape of costumes/props for sale to the fans. A TV programme from a few years back called something like "Whatever Happened To..." or "Where Are They Now.." on ITV covered Billy Blackburn's Home Movies and a nice featurette on one of these discs looks like it has been lifted straight from that show. Another feature was when Trek was originally released on DVD in the USA the 2-show discs had the original Episode Preview Trailers - This time at last they have been added to these discs in all their crackly, grainy glory. Below is a picture of the first release of Star Trek on DVD in the UK - The pictures had been cleaned up and the sound sorted to 5.1. Dolby. Of course now we have that and a whole lot more!

Not only is the remastered version an excellent buy it is also suitably a good finish before the new Star Trek feature film hits screens in 2009.

The picture above is the 'enhanced' shot from the new remastered edition of the episode "Man Trap". The picture below is the old shot from the first release on DVD.