Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) / Attack of the Legion (1996)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Two Great Kaiju Flicks, ONE LOW PRICE!!!

Picked it up for around $9 after shipping from Amazon. Really pleased with how the quality turned out on this. Plus, it's great that I don't have to shell out a ton of money to import these from Japan. I will probably be picking up the Japanese release of Gamera 3 if a U.S. release doesn't come out within the next six months or so. Even though there is no extras, the overall comes to 3.25 and I'll round that up to 3.5.

Total Terror: A Brush with Death (2007) / Harvest of Fear (2005)

Movie: 0.5/5
Video: 2.5/5
Audio: 2.5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 1/5

It Only Got Worse!

Ok... where should I start? Should I even call A Brush With Death a movie? I know in the thread for Total Terror Vol 1 that I bashed the hell out of Demonic, but I admit, I was wrong. Uninvited had my hopes up for Total Terror Vol 2. I am going to give A Brush With Death 0 out of 5. This film was an insult to my intelligence and I've never really been the one to call a movie THE WORST FILM EVER, but for me, this is it. Now, Harvest of Fear is just dull as hell and not really that interesting. I give it a 1 out of 5.

Let's break it down:

Movies - 0 + 1 = 1/2 = 0.5 total.

Video - 2 + 2 = 4/2 = 2.0 total.

Audio - 2 + 2 = 4/2 = 2.0 total.

Extras - 0 + 0 = 0/2 = 0.0 total.

Overall - 4.5/4 = 1.125 and let's round that down to 1.0 for the total.

If you want to see a film with ZERO PLOT AND ZERO ACTING SKILLS, see A BRUSH WITH DEATH!!! Don't pay more than $5 for this junk.

Total Terror: Demonic (2005) / Uninvited (1993)

Movie: 1.5/5
Video: 2/5
Audio: 2.5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 0.5/5

You Get What You Pay For.

Ok, let's break the films down: Demonic - 0.5/5. Uninvited - 2/5. Demonic has no real plot and is just pointless T&A for 84 minutes. Uninvited fares a bit better, but not that much. It's structured but is just not that interesting to boot.

Video: Demonic - 1.5/5. It honestly looks like a PAL DVD at 576i up-converted to 1080p. It looks rough. And there's these weird vertical lines that pop up constantly in shots. Uninvited - 2.5/5. It is a bit stronger but it is also really dull too.

Audio: Demonic - 2.5/5. Audio isn't my strong suit. If I can hear it, then I hear it. I'll just come out and say this; "If you think my reviews on the audio are really wrong, I'll gladly agree. I could hear the audio find on both movies. Sure, the audio was bit low on Demonic and then the music would be loud, but I think it's because they didn't do any ADR in post. Uninvited - 3/5. It's better than Demonic, but not by that much.

EXTRAS: NADA!

Overall - 0.5/5. You really do get what you pay for with this release. If you can get it for $6 total like I did and you love watching really crappy horror films, then go for it.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Movie: 4/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 5/5
Overall: 4.5/5

An Over All Great Release.

I got number 09920/30000 and this is a great Blu-ray release. The video and sound are great. This metalpak has a great cover design. Disc 1 is the movie on Blu-ray with a few bonus features. Disc 2 is special features on Blu-ray. Disc 3 is the DVD of the movie along with the digital copy. First thing I did when I got home was load up that digital copy onto my iPod. I give the movie a 4/5, video gets 5/5, audio gets a 5/5, and finally the extras get 5/5. Over all total is 4.5/5. Also worth the $34 I spent on it.

Silent Hill (2006)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Silent Hill - Needs New Transfer!

I luckily picked this up after Christmas for $15. This film, for me, was one of the reasons why I wanted a Blu-ray player. I love this movie; Silent Hill is my number 1 of all time for me. I've been a big fan of the video game since it's release in 1999 for the Playstation and I was hooked. I do feel that the changes in the film were not needed, like turning our protagonist into the opposite gender. The film really only seems to follow the first half of the video game but I do feel it is probably one of the best videogame to film adaptions of all time.

The Video, I give it a 3 out of 5. Given this title was released a few months after Blu-ray's release into society, I'm sure back in 2006, it was top notch, not so much now when I had purchased it back in 2009. It's just not that sharp if you ask me. But, oddly, when I watched the movie that night I had got it, it almost gave me that feeling like I was back in the movie theater watching it.

The audio, two English tracks, the Dolby and LCPM. The LCPM sounded amazing. My audio set up is a 2 ch. set up and I played it back with headphones and it sounds nice and clear in the LCPM. The Dolby sounds weak in comparison to it. I give it a 5 out of 5 for the audio, LCPM kills it.

The EXTRA'S? Nowhere to be found. There's a 1 hour documentary on the DVD release which I still have two copies of it. That brings it down significantly in the overall rating of this release. I remember back in Summer of 2008 when I got my player and I remember hunting down a copy of this and as soon as I found it, it went back on the shelf. The places near me that was selling it was charging $40 a copy; NO WAY IN HELL! I wait a year and a half later and I get it for $15.

Overall rating is 3.5 out of 5. If this was 2006, I'd probably would have given it a 5 out of 5, but I've been into the format for some time now and this release is not like something like The Fifth Element in terms of PQ. For the fact it is missing the making of documentary is another thing that brings this release down. 5 out of 5 for the film; 3 out of 5 for the video; 5 out of 5 for the audio; 0 out of 5 for Extras; 3.5 out of 5 total.

Ponyo (2008)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Ponyo, One of Miyazaki's Best!

I saw the film almost a year ago before it's U.S. theatrical by importing the DVD. Needless to say, it's a great movie. I picked up the Blu-ray for about $17 and it is stunning. The colors are very vibrant. Video gets a solid 5. Now, a lot of people are bashing this release because of the Japanese audio only being Dolby Digital 5.1. I have an old 2 channel sound system and it sounds great to listen too. The extras aren't much, but also adding in the fact there's a DVD copy of the film added with it, good for iPod converting.

I give this a solid 5/5 for everything. It is an amazing Blu-ray. I should note though, that I have an Insignia NS-BRDVD3 player and it needs a firmware upgrade for this Blu-ray. When you press "Play Movie" on the main menu, you get the Disney Blu-ray screen and then it just goes to a black screen. I ejected the disc and decided to play the film through the Scene Selection at Chapter 2 and it works fine.

Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003)

Movie: 3/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2/5
Overall: 3/5

Buy It If You Can Get It For Under $13!
WARNING: If you are an extremist for perfect 5/5 PQ, stop right now and pick another movie. The video is a 3 at best. The picture is very soft. Also, colors are very weak; you'd think when it's daylight it wouldn't look like there's a dirty sky like in the opening. Also, there's a scene where Ting (Jaa) is on fire, the colors of the flames look extremely weak.

The audio is another rough one; there's Thai and English DTS-HD 5.1. They sound weak and could be improved. Given this is Luc Besson's edit, you'd think he'd re-work the sound to make it top notch, but no. Simply put, outside of directing, Luc Besson is the French equivalent of Harvey Weinstein with getting films and butchering them.

Simply put, if you are fan of martial arts, then this is a good movie to get. Tony Jaa is a badass and he proves it in this film. However, FOX rushed this release to have it tie in with the release of Ong Bak 2. I'm hoping that film studios from Thailand break into the Blu-ray business and we can hopefully get a decent release of Ong Bak and finally see it the way it was meant to be seen. 3/5 for this rushed release. Avoid if you have pay more than $13.

Ong-Bak 2 (2008)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

Very Solid Blu-Ray Release From Magnolia.

I thought the story was over all good. It showed that Tony Jaa has range as an actor as we see him happy, sad, in pain, all other types of emotions through out the film. The plot is pretty much the basic revenge plot. It starts out with Tony Jaa's character as a child on the run and he's put into slavery. He is quickly set free by a group of pirates who in turn raise him as one of their own.

I give the video a 5. I know some will probably disagree with me because in some shots, the film looks soft and blurry. I've noticed these types of shots in two of Jaa's previous films; Ong Bak and Tom-Yum-Goong. I question if these types of soft shots are meant to be artistic or just a possible problem with film stock. But, to me, in some of the shots, it works well.

I watched the film twice with both Thai audio and then the English dubbing; both are in 5.1 DTS-HD. Both soundtracks are very nice and loud, they will not disappoint. When the action scenes are going on, you can hear the elbows hitting the head; swords clashing; people yelling out in pain very clearly. The beautiful score for Ong Bak 2 flows very nicely with the rest of the audio on the disc; it is not too loud nor is it too quiet. I give the audio a 5 out of 5.

Magnolia offers a nice amount of special features on this release; granted most are in SD, but informative none the less. We have a behind the scenes that shows the whole filming process; interviews with the cast and crew; HDnet introduction for Ong Bak 2; US theatrical trailer; Original Thai trailer; the Alternate Europa Corp edit of the film which runs at 88 minutes; coming attractions from Magnolia; and the biggest one on here is the trailer for Ong Bak 3. A word of caution, avoid the Europa Corp edit of the film as it removes ten minutes of footage from the film and places the opening credits at the end and adds a new soundtrack that ruins the intensity of the original Thai version. Also, the music on the end credits has been replaced with a horrible French Rap song.

I give Ong Bak 2 a 5 out of 5 overall. It is a fun martial arts movie to watch; it has action and drama. The video presentation is amazing as well as both audio tracks on the disc. It has a ton of bonus material worth checking out. I got it for the price of $13 and it is well worth it.

Godzilla (1954)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 2.5/5
Overall: 4/5

The King of the Monsters is on Blu-ray!

A misconception about the video is that it is an upconvert from the 2006 DVD. That is not true. Classic Media got a film print of the Japanese version from Toho and they made a raw HD master from their extremely damaged print. They did not clean up and restore the print like Toho did with their releases, which is a shame because this could have looked even more awesome if they did restore the film. The audio, even for 2 channel, is very impressive; it sounds much better than the 2006 DVD release.

The extras are ported over from the 2006 DVD. Now, to address the biggest issue regarding to the U.S. version with Raymond Burr; Toho does not own an actual film print of the 1956 "Godzilla, King of the Monsters". Over the years, the film was replaced with a VHS copy of the film. I'm sure if Classic Media was to make an HD master of a VHS, it would look horrible. Now, there are film collectors out there who own an actual 16mm of the film but was rejected by Classic Media for the 2006 release, however they did get the end credits from a collector but did not use the whole film, which is a shame. Given that Japanese version looks great, despite the poor handling throughout the years, I give this release a 4/5 total.

Smokin' Aces 2: Assassin's Ball (2010)

Movie: 3.5/5
Video: 4/5
Audio: 5/5
Extras: 5/5
Overall: 4/5

Pretty Good Straight To Video Flick.

I thought the movie was pretty good. It's a prequel which brings back a lot of characters from the first film. Vinnie Jones was pretty good in all the scenes he was in. I thought Michael Parks was crazy as the lead Tremors family member in this movie. My only complaint is the actress who played "AK-47" Tremor. She is horrible in this film. She was also in that Lost Boys sequel, she was crap in that too. But luckily, she's not in the film long. 3.5/5 for movie; 4/5 for video; 5/5 for audio; 5/5 for extras; and 4/5 total.