Smoke

In a world where Big-Budgeted Blockbusters rule,....it's a nice refreshing turn to see "little films" soar! I had the distinct pleasure of viewing this simplistically, yet elegantly shot masterpiece in the art-house theaters,।and it's just damn good storytelling,with NO special digital effects or CGIs from ILM!William Hurt and Harvey Keitel (in his best performance since Mean Streets and Bad Lieutenant) are incredible followed by a bunch of supporters like Stockard Channing, Forrest Whitaker,Ashley Judd (like you've never seen her!)and Oz's Harold Perrineau Jr। All of these characters are intertwined like the best Robert Altman film you've ever seen plus some! Be warned! It IS slowly paced,.but the highlight of the film is the story Keitel tells Hurt in the coffee shop at the end. Just notice how slowly Keitel tells the story,and the slowest dolly push in shot, and how beautifully framed that one shot that covers the whole scene pretty much looks. It's ALL character-driven performances are top-notch all around,and Auggie's(Keitel)Brooklyn Cigar Shop (the central setpiece) will mesmerize you long after the credits roll! Once again,.this film is not for kids, or Steven Segal or Van Damme fans with 1/2 hour Springer time-slot-esque attention spans! Enjoy, and e-mail me with your opinions!( Also check out the sequel called Blue in the Face!It's from the same writer/director team (Paul Auster and Wayne Wang) who brought us Smoke. New music from the Jerry Garcia Band,too!)

Come Hither Aroung the Widescreen Tennis Court

The process of shooting flat screen to wide screen is somewhat is implemented and adapted like this. The motion picture is shot, then goes through a wide lens, to a square piece of 35 mm filter and stretches it back on 2.40:1 aspect ratio. It used to be wider back in the Ben Herr day’s with a 2.76:1 ratio, and the mid 50’s being even wider. It twas wider 2.55:1 rebel without a cause and films from that era which were some of the widest (Oklahoma, The king and I, Carousel). That’s why the “Apocalypse Now” on home video was so wide. ADD Moguls come hither I got the site for you! Let’s go play tennis. Glen Hansard sings some the songs with Markéta Irglová on the soundtrack from the movie “Once” I heard it got a great review. In the preview of the movie I saw a guy is out in the street playing “The Minstrel”, Markéta comes up right up through the crowd and says (by the way she is Czech) who did you right that song for? Your girlfriend?, he replied, yes, she said, is she dead, he says, no she’s gone. It looks like a bitter heart wrenching intense movie. Once I go to Phil and see this I will know more. Another scene shows them in a Sam Ash musictype store singing playing guitar and piano together. The guy play’s one song (When your mind is made up) “broken hearted Hoover fixer sucker guy.” I guess he’s a vacuum repair man.

Netflix RANT!

Netflix and a lot of online DVD retail websites carry only full screen DVD’s out of about 20 to 25 different Columbia / Tri-Star / Sony titles. However Netflix and all the online retailers still have the old widescreen versions tech-specs on display. This is particularly disturbing because the information on the back cover is incorrect! So are the sound format on Netflix 90% of the sound formats are almost always incorrect. If the DVD has 5.1 sound it is most likely listed as having stereo or mono. If the DVD lists stereo or mono tech specs it usually has 5.1. This is particularly irritating to discriminating viewers, the average “Joe Consumer” has a negative integer IQ. SO they wouldn't know the difference to even speak up, and demand more. When Warner Brothers released the original Willy Wonka special edition, it was only available in full screen needless to say 3 months later outrageous fans let them know that no one is going to buy their piece of shit! Angry fan’s sent a bunch of letters basically saying no original aspect ratio, no sale! A year and a half or so later they re-released them only full screen and less bullshit. No longer digitally re-mastered anamorphic, it’s flat and square.

My Big Fat Independent Movie

Not since Ishtar, has a landmark film as this, graced the silver screen in epic form. When one sees this film, it reminds us of golden-age classics like Good Burger and Hudson Hawk....or lavishly "lensed" masterpieces such as Cabin Boy and Jakob the Liar....HA! Why doesn't anyone spoof bad,obscure movies?....

Dune: Extended Edition

Look, Lynch had an original 4hr.and 15min. version that still gets bootlegged at comic book conventions and such...just like Army of Darkness did before Anchor Bay released the Dir's Cut, only this is not a Dir's Cut of Dune Redux by any means,this is a sloppy and desperate marketing scheme, fueled by pure corporate greed, and this new version is even a hack composite of a studio commissioned "cut" of the film,if you will.....that 4hr.+ version that Lynch did will just have to wait, but it's out there in various incarnations........

Enigma: MCMXC A.D

My God!....What an amazingly captivating disc....I want to know where some of this stuff was shot! That high bit-rate DTS is so crisp, yet punchy, and aggressively engaging...cheers to Cretu for doin' it right

U2: Love Is Blindness

Looks like it was upconverted from an old beat-up VHS tape, yet mysteriously has a 5.1 mix, that isn't the best in the world, but actually has some nice punch to it....only 35 mins...though..AND menus presented en Espanol....buyer beware

Directors: Robert Zemeckis

You ALL gotta check this one out....one little fact not covered in this short bio: Robert Zemeckis gave Spielberg the idea for the shot in E.T. where he's surrounded by all the plush toys, hidden in the middle of them...

Cranberries: Best of Videos 1992-2002

The product description to the left promises a 5.1 mix.....this is BIG FAT WRONG..it's regular 2-channel stereo...The song selections were ok...all the good stuff is at the beginning...like the first four or five tracks...I hate when the tech specs are wrong....can we get it together?....just a little bit?....

Grand Prix

First off, John Frankenheimer did NOT direct French Connection, like some other misinformed reviewer claimed...that was Wild Billy Friedkin, of Exorcist fame....2nd...it was shot in 70mm, NOT Cinerama...it may have been blown up to Cinerama when that became a fad, but it did NOT originate that way....who are you people's fact-checkers?...the Teletubbies?....and People still call James Garner "Maverick" for all of it's incarnations and forms....besides, Frankenheimer's best film is the black and white classic,"Seconds", with Rock Hudson....see it...very interesting...

The Boondock Saints

I will be as neutral as switzerland with this one....It IS schlocky, but some of the writing is ok....the operatic slow-motion sequences are probably the only things going for it,..and Dafoe in drag...this used to be only available on VHS AND distributed for purchase AND rental exclusively through Blockbuster....can't wait to see if the new transfer holds up.......

Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth

Anyone know if this is the UNRATED version that was previously only availably on VHS (side by side with a slightly shorter "R" version) or if Paramount messed up (AGAIN) by releasing only the "R" version...they released Sliver UNRATED...why not all the extra snipets of gore that were trimmed to secure the "R" rating....just like over at Lion's Gate...you can get American Psycho UNRATED, but no Return of the Living Dead 3 UNRATED...only on VHS I suppose...that last movie boasted more separate make-up effects companies than any other recent American production to date!....

The Straight Story

I don't even have this dvd, I rented it a long time ago, and i stumble upon this item....the sound is Dolby 5.1, if that's important to you, and the aspect ratio is actually 2.40:1, or 2.35, or 2.39....it was shot in true anamorphic cinemascope!...not that phony super 35, wanna-be scope....anyway....you'd think that reading these things right off the back of the jacket, you'd just enter in the facts....but they are ALWAYS misconstrued

U2: U218 Singles

Finally, nice to see a timeline of cutting-edge videos from these guys, even thought I am sort of partial to the stuff before 1991....well done, nice transfer...only thing missing is the 5.1 dts and or Dolby mixes...that would have truly made this PERFECT!

Hero

The newer wave of some of the re-released columbia/tri-star/sony titles were put out with a FULL-FRAME version only! some of these include the fan,high school high, my life, frankenstein (deniro),replacement killers, and oh yes,.....hero!..go back and change your tech specs!...this wasted one of my rentals because I wanted to see the widescreen version and was promised this, only to be dissappointed by the inferior newer full screen version! What a waste! Almost pointless to even carry....I hope the rest of you clones speak out about this...

Dark Knight Teaser Trailer

There were no 35mm. trailers of Dark Knight sent to east coast theaters, just DLP Simpson's are playing it. It starts with a black screen, a voice over narration of Christian Bale and Michael Caine as small beams of blue light shoot up from the center of the screen, outward, slowly revealing a silhouette of the bat symbol. The second half of the voice over is Heath Ledger as The Joker, making outlandish threats in a weird voice. Then, as the last and strongest beam of light finally puncture through the center of the bat symbol, a giant joker card comes hurtling towards the screen, combined with loud sweeping sound f/x cue, a fraction of a second after the still you see above. Then a Dark Knight title card appears and a summer 2008 uber-vague release date shows up. This first 30 second teaser got me as moist as the Grindhouse trailer!!!