THE ILLUSIONIST (DVD Review) - 30/8/09

Okay - So jumping back to 2006 when 'The Prestige' came out it's often poorer cousin (More like a very distant relation!) was 'The Illusionist' which had been on the back-burner waiting for me to get around to viewing it. A pitch perfect role for Paul Giamatti who steals every scene he is in against a somewhat restrained Edward Norton. In fact a perfect set piece is when Giamatti (As Inspector Uhl) and Norton (As Eisenheim) meet for the first time. Eisenheim shows Uhl a trick and although held back you hear a clipped accent that Norton is putting on very well in character. Giamatti's response comes back in a velvet tone as he purrs his delight. With the addition of Rufus Sewell and Jessica Biel the main leads are all fleshed out.

Starting out as a testament to illusion and the old style of filming process we begin with a childhood romance gone awry. Jumping forward fifteen years we have the fabled illusionist 'Eisenheim' take to the stage in Vienna. Then murder, scandal and politics takes it toll in this period drama as revenge rear's it's ugly head.

Special Features light on the ground with this one: Just a Director's Commentary, Trailer & Making Of Feature. Watch out for the Easter Egg though - Because that runs down a small list of tricks and how to do them.



POPCORN RATING:

DEXTER {Season 3} (DVD Review) - 24/8/09

There was no way I was waiting for this to come out on Region 2 (UK) DVD with several months wait as it was available from the States on Region 1 (USA) ages before. I wondered how they could top the last two Season's but realised once I got settled down into these latest 12 episodes things took off in a totally different way. This show constantly amazes me as you watch things unfold with people saying one thing and meaning another and other people interpreting it in a totally different way. Watching from the outside and getting a complete overview of what is going on is pretty thrilling. We get some interesting moral parallels about right & wrong which makes for hard digesting. When I watched TV as a kid I enjoyed it - But watching quality made shows now like 'Dexter' has even more resonance with it's shifts and subtleties within it's storylines. This Season 3 brings us a Dexter who throws caution to the wind and he makes the mistake of getting involved with another serial killer who really goes doo-lally and causes an endless stream of problems. Throw in another killer and some information from Dexter's past plus a good measure of inter-personal problem's for the cast of characters to pit-fall into and the thrill ride starts all over again. This 4-Disc Boxset on Region 1 (USA) covers all 12 episodes of 'Dexter' Season 3. On the Bonus Features you get 2 Episodes from the TV Show 'The United States Of Tara' plus Cast Bios, Photo Gallery and if you place the fourth disc into your computer contains a link to further Special 'Dexter' features.

POPCORN RATING:

POPCORN RATINGS

One of the three readers of this blog has mentioned that they are not too certain as to whether I liked some of the stuff I have reviewed? So in a change to the current format we will now have a POPCORN RATING at the end of each review or moan. One box of Popcorn and Oh dear! you really shouldn't waste your time like I had to do. Two boxes and Meh! you can take it or leave it. Three boxes and this was Good - Certainly enjoyable. Four boxes and we're onto the brilliant entertainment which is Worth watching. Five boxes in my opinion usually mean's I think it Worth keeping and have a copy on my own DVD shelf.

RED DWARF: BACK TO EARTH (DVD Review) - 9/8/09

Older & bolder Red Dwarf returns to TV on the DAVE Channel because the BBC can't be arsed! Weirdly it is a strange amalgam of Red Dwarf and whatever? Simply because I felt the story was not really good enough and it was too much of a pastiche of 'Blade Runner' but as a labour of love for Red Dwarf fans I think it will hit the spot. Don't quite know how to feel about the convention of breaking the 'fourth' wall but that gets a strong resolution at the end if you can stomach it! (Even weirder is Lister picking up a DVD case and Kryten reading the back blurb which is an exact match for the real-life product several months down the line?) Top notch effects & acting from the cast make this familiar and disappointing at the same time.

The Red Dwarf crew find a strange creature down in the bowels of the ship. On investigating they re-start another hologram programme by accident (Ummh?) and this all ends up with the crew mysteriously ending up back on Earth through a dimension portal. Unfortunately they then find that they are just characters in a TV show and set out after their creator to find out what is going on?

This 2-disc Director's Cut of the three episodes can be watched individually or in one long hit! You get a couple of Commentaries thrown in with a new 2-part Documentary which covers the 'Making Of Back To Earth' with some interesting insights to be had on the production from another angle. Of course we get the usual 'Smeg Ups' Reel with a selection of small Featurettes. Plus Trailers, Photo Galleries and some Web Videos Behind-The-Scenes.