tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13153387366550481362024-03-14T00:37:59.416-07:00Eastwood's Blu-ray ReviewsOrlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-80601380897137251712021-02-05T04:20:00.001-08:002021-02-05T14:34:11.322-08:00February 2021 - Seven Years Later...This was written back in 2016 when I thought I would be coming back. However, things happened. But, for real, I am coming back to writing reviews.<br /><br />I am coming back! I am all ready working on my first review after taking some time off. Cheers, people! I will be re-formatting all previous reviews and changing the cover arts to match my scans. So, for example, if I have the case and cover art intact for said release that I review, the new layout looks like this:<br />
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I hope you like. This will take some time as I have about a hundred reviews up from the past few years.<br />
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- Eastwood.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-39150932782042133782014-04-20T14:18:00.000-07:002014-04-20T14:22:43.612-07:00Easter Casket (2013)<a href="http://images2.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/99486_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images2.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/99486_large.jpg" /></a>Movie: 3/5<br />
Video: 3/5<br />
Audio: 4/5<br />
Extras: 5/5<br />
Overall: 4/5<br />
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"If Only Peter Cottontail Was This Dirty."<br />
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NOTE: This is an official release, but burned onto a BD-R for the public.<br /><br />
<i>Easter Casket</i> tells the story of Asher (Josh Eal, <i>Bath Salt Zombies</i>); a religious warrior of God who must fight to save the world from the demonic possession of Cottontail (voiced by director Dustin Mills). Asher's mission leads him to protect Aubrie (Erin R. Ryan, <i>Skinless</i>) who is in grave danger as her friend and higher ups have all ready been killed by Cottontail.<br />
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For being a small indie production, I enjoyed how wacky as hell it was. It may feel all over the place with following Father Asher and his quest to find Cottontail. Plus, we don't really get much of our villain until the last half of the film. However, the craziness of Cottontail is enjoyable whenever he is on screen and director Dustin Mills does a good job giving him a voice. I give the film 3/5.<br />
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Video: 3/5<br />
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Presented in 1080p with an MPEG-4/AVC transfer, shot in HD, I feel a bit conflicted about the presentation of the film. Bit rates stay around the single digits and low teens, the transfer is good. There is some pixelation and macro-blocking in a few shots. Especially when Father Asher is fighting an army of hatched chicks. Also, when scanning files on my computer, the film has a small size of 7.05GB for the film. Do not let this dissuade you, I give the visual presentation 3/5.<br />
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Audio: 4/5<br />
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For the film, we have English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. For being a basic stereo soundtrack for the film, it gets the job done. No complaints regarding it. 4/5.<br />
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Extras: 5/5<br />
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Packed full of extras; we have a ton crammed onto the disc. We have an hour-forty-five minutes of behind the scenes footage that is presented in 480i. Oddly, this behind the scenes footage rings in at over 9GB in size which is odd considering the film in HD is only 7.05 GB. We also have a commentary track along with subtitled trivia track that goes on throughout the film. Also, we have two introductions that you can have before the movie starts; one by the director and the other by Cottontail. And finally, we have deleted scenes.<br />
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This release is packed with extras that are enjoyable. The 105 minute B-T-S footage is a good insight on how movies are made. Considering how packed the disc is, I give the bonus portions 5/5.<br />
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Overall: 4/5<br />
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This release is out of print and only fifty copies were made. I picked it up on pre-order for $23 shipped. It is presented on a BD-R like previous films I have reviewed like <i><a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/2012/12/psycho-street-2011.html">Psycho Street</a></i> and <i><a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/2013/03/hometown-2012.html">Hometown</a></i>. I would like to see Cottontail return, if Dustin decides to make another one. I give this Blu-ray a 4/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-23858560691969437702014-02-25T13:58:00.001-08:002016-06-22T21:12:13.103-07:00Grotesque (2009)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 2.5/5<br />
Video: 3/5<br />
Audio: 3/5<br />
Extras: .5/5<br />
Overall: 2.5/5<br />
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"Ugh..."<br />
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I wonder what possess a filmmaker to make nothing but extreme violence because<i> Grotesque</i> takes it to the point of overkill. While most people will bash the seven <i>Saw</i> films and brand them with the idiotic and very snobish term "Torture Porn", those films at least have a plot. <i>Hostel</i> at least had a plot. <i><a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/serbian-film-2010-100911.html">A Serbian Film</a></i> had a plot. <i>Grotesque</i> does not have a plot. And this is why this film fails.<br />
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The film is about a crazed doctor who kidnaps a couple and performs various sexual and violent acts upon them both. That's it, a film with no plot that wants to just show human suffering for seventy-three minutes. Why do I give this film a 2.5/5? I found it somewhat creative and the effects are not a total waste.<br />
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Video: 3/5<br />
Presented in 2.35:1 in a 1080p presentation, <i>Grotesque</i> looks like it was shot with a basic high definition camera. While compression artifacts are present throughout, the film does not look completely bad. It's main color scheme of green and brown is somewhat strongly preserved through the whole "film". I give the presentation 3/5.<br />
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Audio: 3/5<br />
<a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/search/label/Media%20Blasters">Media Blasters</a> give <i>Grotesque</i> only one audio presentation; Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo. For what it is, it does it well. Does it honestly matter if you hear the man and woman scream in 2.0 or 5.1 DTS-HD MA? 3/5.<br />
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Extras: .5/5<br />
Only bonus features is a trailer in SD and a DVD copy. Fantastic, .5/5.<br />
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Overall: 2.5/5<br />
I question how much it cost <a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/search/label/Media%20Blasters">Media Blasters</a> to get the rights to this film. A studio that has been running themselves into the ground for years and they cling to whatever shocking garbage that they can get their hands on or make themselves like <i>Late Fee</i>. I think I paid $13 for this, don't pay more than that. 2.5/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-76170595946858168972014-01-31T12:36:00.001-08:002014-01-31T12:36:53.149-08:00An Elf's Story (2011)<a href="http://images.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/36079_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/36079_large.jpg" /></a>Movie: .5/5<br />
Video: 5/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extras: 1/5<br />
Overall: 3/5<br />
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"What's That?"<br />
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If <i><a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-walk-in-my-shoes-2010.html">A Walk in My Shoes</a></i> taught me anything, is that there's more propaganda out there than I thought. Now, the makers of "Elf on the Shelf" have made a twenty-six minute short film that is nothing but nonsense for kids. This short revolves around Chippey (What's That?) who is sent from the North Pole to help make a child believe in Santa Clause again.<br />
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This short film is short of nothing but annoying music numbers that will make anyone over the age of six annoyed. And this biggest thing that puzzled me over this is that if someone touches an "Elf on the Shelf", it looses its power. Then how the hell do you get it out of the box? .5/5<br />
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Video: 5/5<br />
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Considering that this is completely computer animation, the video presentation is flawless. There's also the short film in stereoscopic 3D, but, I don't have equipment to view it. Despite that setback, presented in 1.78:1, the video is crystal clear. 5/5.<br />
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Audio: 5/5<br />
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There's two audio tracks for the short, English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and a LPCM 2.0 stereo track. Default track is the LPCM, why make two mixes is beyond me. It sounds fine for what it is. No complaints, I've complained enough and at the same time, I haven't. 5/5.<br />
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Extras: 1/5<br />
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There's a two minute trailer for this "short" film. However, I don't know where this trailer came from and who played it because this thing breaks down the whole twenty-five minute short in two minutes. It's like an old school digest 8mm film that you could buy back in the day.<br />
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There's a ten minute making of and I found it down right disturbing that this is a family affair. I find it so bizarre how they feel like they made a real movie. If this was fifty minutes longer than what it was, I could understand. This is only twenty-five minutes! They talk about scenes they like where these scenes only last two seconds! Smurfin' smurf, man!<br />
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Finally, we have a commentary track that is torture. Whoever the man is who is talking to the women, he sounds like Kenneth from <i>30 Rock</i>. This is nothing but a self-serving commentary track that's missing lotion. These people clearly have no idea how ADR works as the woman talks about how the actor doing the voice for Santa was putting emotion in to the ADR and throwing his arms in the air.<br />
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And finally we have a DVD copy, because why not? Clearly if someone buys a DVD, they don't get a Blu-ray copy with it, so let's give the Blu-ray buyer a DVD for the hell of it. Please... Don't make me sick. I give these bonus materials a painful 1/5.<br />
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Overall: 3/5<br />
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It pains me to give this Blu-ray the score it gets. It doesn't deserve it. If you do or don't have kids, for the love of everything holy, run away! I paid $4 for this and I regret it since I watched this. Don't be fooled, it does not deserve a 3/5. Maybe Chip Chipperson will love it or at least love Chippey.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-19310043204531439682014-01-31T12:29:00.000-08:002016-06-22T05:32:19.924-07:00The Raid: Redemption (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ravmsXUwNlI/V2qFR_Qo4LI/AAAAAAAAA0I/Irg5i-KsukohoPORdzvNi3sZe6C2ldH3wCLcB/s1600/No%2BCover%2BArt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ravmsXUwNlI/V2qFR_Qo4LI/AAAAAAAAA0I/Irg5i-KsukohoPORdzvNi3sZe6C2ldH3wCLcB/s320/No%2BCover%2BArt.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Movie: 5/5<br />
Video: 3/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extras: 3/5<br />
Overall: 4.5/5<br />
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"German Release Does Not Contain Original Score."<br />
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Note: While the German release does not contain the original Indonesian score, I am not docking points for this release.<br />
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<i>The Raid: Redemption</i> tells the tale of a group of special ops who raid a building ran by a drug kingpin. Once inside, they have their cover blown and every vicious killer in the building is out for their heads. Rama (Iko Uwais, <i>Merantau</i>) is a tough soldier who soon takes the lead as he is cut off from his squad leader, Jaka (Joe Taslim;<i> Fast & Furious 6</i>) and other members from the squad. They all realize that the only way out is to go all the way to the top to face the leader of the building.<br />
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The movie is an action roller coaster. This was one of the first movies that I had seen after I survived getting hit by a car in 2012. I had to go to a small indie movie theater in Columbus, OH because it was the closest theater playing it. I was still heavily medicated at the time I saw it, so, I think the medicine I was on made me enjoy it more. The theater in my town finally got it a few weeks after and saw it digitally for my second showing of the film. Still loved it. 5/5.<br />
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Video: 3/5<br />
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Shot in HD, Koch Media uses Sony's transfer of the film. The transfer is very problematic. When I saw it on celluloid the first time, I don't remember it looking that rough. Seeing it on home video on Blu-ray, it looks rough with macro problems all over the place if it's not a close up shot. If I had to guess, this was shot in 720p. I give the video 3/5.<br />
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Audio: 5/5<br />
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We have two audio tracks for the film; Indonesian and a German dub DTS-HD MA 5.1 tracks. Both tracks sounded evenly good. I have no doubt that the Indonesian audio is probably the same track that is found on the U.S. Blu-ray. I give the audio presentations 5/5.<br />
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Extras: 3/5<br />
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While the extras in this release pails in comparison of the U.S. Blu-ray; we have the audio commentary by the director, Gareth Evans. Oddly, the commentary does not have any German subs as its in English. <i>Claycat's The Raid</i> which is a stop-motion animation version with cats that was done by a guy who makes Youtube videos. Then we have seven trailers and teasers and tv spots for Germany. And then finally, German dubbed trailers for <i>Margin Call; Black's Game;</i> and <i>Who Killed Marilyn</i>. While it's missing out, I do give the bonus material 3/5.<br />
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Overall: 4.5/5<br />
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I got this disc off of a Steelbook collector who got rid of the disc for about $5. While it is region free, it's not English friendly. Lucky for me, since German is my second language, this worked out in my favor that I got to experience one of my favorite films in German. If you don't speak German, please wait for my review on the U.S. release by Sony. I give the German Blu-ray 4.5/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-77315280133430409502014-01-31T12:23:00.000-08:002014-01-31T12:23:47.108-08:00[Rec.] 2 (2009)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 3.5/5<br />
Video: 4/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extras: 5/5<br />
Overall: 4.5/5<br />
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"Interesting, but..."<br /><br />
<i>[Rec.] 2</i> takes place minutes after the first film has ended. The plot is pretty simple, after the original crew is sent in, another goes in to find any survivors. This group of police are armed to the teeth in helmet cams, which transitions back and forth from one to the next.<br />
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With how we get towards the end and with what we get during the film with all the revelations about the plague kinda turned me off of this whole story line. This is just an oddball route to take; the only thing that I can compare it too is like how the first <i>Feast</i> film was great and then by the time we got to the third film it was just downright atrocious. But, for being a horror film that has lots of jump scares, I did enjoy it. I give the movie 3.5/5.<br />
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Video: 4/5<br />
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Entertainment One has presented <i>[Rec.] 2</i> in it's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with an MPEG4 transfer in 1080p. Shot in HD, the quality varies throughout the film. However, it's not as bad as the video quality of another shot on video film I reviewed, like <i>Project X</i>. Mostly the image is crystal clear but there is some video noise that is from the cameras itself, not the digitally manipulated noise that is in post that you can tell is added. I give the film 4/5.<br />
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Audio: 5/5<br />
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Entertainment One has given <i>[Rec.] 2</i> two different audio presentations for the film; Spanish DTS-HD MA 5.1 and Spanish LPCM 2.0 stereo. While listening to the audio, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 sounds better of the two tracks.<br />
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Extras: 5/5<br />
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Entertainment One has given the film a small, but a lot of time consuming bonus materials. First off before we get to the menu, we have trailers for <i>The Tormented, Rec, 7 Days</i>, and <i>Unthinkable</i>. We have an almost two hour documentary of <i>[Rec.] 2</i> called, <i>In an Infected World</i>. This documentary was all right, it covers most ground about the whole production process. And then another hour of behind the scenes footage. And finally deleted and extended scenes. Watching this all in one sitting can be very over whelming, watch in moderation if interested. 5/5.<br />
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Overall: 4.5/5<br />
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Entertainment One has given the U.K. a fine disc for <i>[Rec.] 2</i>. Why they couldn't have made this disc region free since they have Canadian rights is beyond me. This disc is region B locked; I managed to buy this used for $3 and for that price, I think I got myself a deal. I give the U.K. release of <i>[Rec.] 2</i> a 4.5/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-83853284789547796882014-01-30T13:42:00.001-08:002016-06-22T05:32:54.986-07:00Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 3/5<br />
Video: 3.5/5<br />
Audio: 3.5/5<br />
Extras: 3/5<br />
Overall: 3.5/5<br />
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"Leave Town!"<br />
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Doug Liman's <i>Mr. & Mrs. Smith</i> tells the story of two lovers, John Smith (Brad Pitt; <i>Too Young to Die, World War Z</i>) and Jane Smith (Angelina Jolie; <i>Gone in 60 Seconds, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow</i>) who are married and at the same time do not know that they're both hired assassins. After going on a mission, their covers are blown and now all hell breaks loose. Jane's second in command, Jasmine (Kerry Washington; <i>Django Unchained, Lakeview Terrace</i>) wants everything shut down and soon a hit is put out on both John and Jane's heads.<br />
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I have a problem with how the movie ends. To give a slight spoiler to a film that's pushing ten years old, there's no resolution. It's left open for a sequel which never happened and a failed television pilot to continue the story. I'm not too much of a fan of Doug Liman as he's claimed that there would be sequels to this and other films (Jumper) which never materialized. I do think that Pitt and Jolie did a good job on this film, but, the failed resolve makes me give this film a 3/5.<br />
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Video: 3.5/5<br />
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Kinowelt/Studio Canal has presented Mr. & Mrs. Smith in it's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Having not seeing the U.S. Blu-ray by Fox, I do not know if this is the same HD transfer. There is grain present throughout the film, but it looks somewhat scrubbed away. I can't tell if it's DNR or what. But, considering this is ten years old, I doubt this film will look any better. 3.5/5.<br />
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Audio: 3.5/5<br />
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Kinowelt/Studio Canal has given the film two different audio presentations for the film; English and a German dubbing in DTS-HD HR 7.1. For being this high in terms of audio, I found myself turning up the audio slightly. I encountered this in both audio tracks. I guess if you have the proper sound equipment to play in 7.1 channels, it might sound better. I give the audio presentations 3.5/5.<br />
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Extras: 3/5<br />
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German dubbed trailers for <i>The Bank Job, Jumper, Meet Dave, Million Dollar Baby, P2 , Premonition, The Sentinel</i>, and<i> Mr. & Mrs. Smith</i>. Three different audio commentary tracks in DTS; With Simon Kinberg and Doug Liman; Michael Tronick, Jeff Mann, and Kevin Elam; and with producers Lucas Foster and Akiva Goldsman. Deleted scenes. Domestic Violence: The Making of <i>Mr. & Mrs. Smith</i>. And Doug's Filmschool. With all this bonus material, if you're a fan of this film, it might be entertaining; but, I felt somewhat bored with all this.<br />
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Overall: 3.5/5<br />
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Like my previous review of the German Blu-ray for <i><a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-tourist-2011.html">The Tourist</a></i>, I got this disc from a Steelbook collector who sold off the Region B locked discs. Studio Canal simply re-uses the original Kinowelt disc because it was made before Studio Canal bought them out. I paid $3 for the disc and I know that the U.S. release goes for under $10. I give this German disc a 3.5/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-40623355449088533362014-01-30T13:38:00.000-08:002014-01-30T13:38:38.852-08:00Almighty Thor (2011)<a href="http://images.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/21026_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/21026_large.jpg" /></a>Movie: 2/5<br />
Video: 4/5<br />
Audio: 3.5/5<br />
Extras: 3/5<br />
Overall: 3/5<br />
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"Learn How to Frame Your Movie!"<br />
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Loki (Richard Grieco, <i>21 Jump Street</i>) is laying waste to Valhalla in search of the hammer of the Gods. Odin (Kevin Nash) sends the hammer to Earth in his final dying breath. Thor (Cody Deal) and Jarnsaxa (Patricia Velasquez, <i>The Mummy; Mindhunters</i>) evade Loki and his horde of evil monsters to escape to Earth. Loki in his quest for the hammer goes to Earth to kill Thor and to try to take control of the galaxy.<br />
For a film from The Asylum, this one is not as bad, but it's not that great either. I guess Thor running around some major city, I am guessing Los Angeles, with an Uzi was a great idea. I wish I was joking about that last sentence, he's fighting Loki head on and is firing an Uzi at him trying to lay him to waste. There's no real honor in that in my humble opinion.<br />
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Also, I am giving some harsh criticism towards whoever thought to put the film in scope. In the behind the scenes stuff, we can clearly see that it's all 16:9 and all of the other Asylum films that I have seen are 16:9. It's like they just decided to crop the top and bottom of the screen without properly adjusting the image. Because most of the top, either Thor or Loki's head is completely chopped off the frame while he is talking. That is unacceptable. I give the film 2/5.<br />
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Video: 4/5<br />
Presented in 2.35:1 with an MPEG2 encode; <i>Almighty Thor</i> has somewhat of a better transfer than most of the Asylum films that I have seen. Detail is nice and solid with the bitrate being in the high 20's and even goes into the 30's. The film plays on the colors of blue and grey after the first half hour. I think it helps convey the dismal situation that Loki is putting everyone through. I give the video presentation 4/5.<br />
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Audio: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
We have two audio tracks on the disc; English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0. While listening to the audio tracks, the 2.0 stereo track is loud and has more of a kick to it in comparison to the 5.1 surround sound track. If you do decide to watch this film, go with the 2.0 stereo track. I give the audio 3.5/5.<br />
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Extras: 3/5<br />
<br />
Trailers for <i>Battle of Los Angeles, 200 M.P.H, Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes, Ballistica, Mega Shark Vs Crocosaurus, Princess and the Pony,</i> and <i>Almighty Thor</i>. A nine minute making of which shows how miserable Richard Grieco looks and claims that this film has a 124 page script. Patricia Velasquez points how fast this film is being made in terms of training and shooting, which was two weeks. Cody Deal seems to have everything wrong about this film and how an audience will react. And a blooper reel which is undesirable. I give the extras a 3/5.<br />
<br />
Overall: 3/5<br />
<br />
I picked this up for $5. I wouldn't pay more than that for this film. I do know that it is available in a triple feature set with <i>The 7 Adventures of Sinbad</i> and <i>John Carter of Mars</i>. As far as Asylum films go, it's better than <i>Alien Origin; Countdown: Armageddon;</i> and<i> 2012: Doomsday</i>. I give this Blu-ray release of <i>Almighty Thor</i> a 3/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-19694128638707587722014-01-28T13:07:00.000-08:002014-01-28T13:07:50.087-08:00Robocop (1987) - Remastered<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 5/5<br />
Video: 4.5/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extras: 5/5<br />
Overall: 5/5<br />
<br />
"Tastes Like Baby Food."<br />
<br />
Paul Verhoeven's satire/sci-fi classic Robocop has arrived again on Blu-ray in a remastered version, just in time for the new remake. Alex Murphy (Peter Weller; <i>Star Trek into Darkness</i>) is new to Detroit and on his first day, he is brutally murdered by Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith; <i>Fortress, That '70's Show</i>) and his gang. At the same time at OCP, Rob Morton (Miguel Ferrer, <i>Iron Man 3</i>) pitches the "future of law enforcement" and it all lands in his lap.<br />
<br />
Murphy is now the cybernetic being known as Robocop. Reborn, he is sworn to protect the law. All seems to be going well, until he defects and begins to remember his past life and the people who took his life. After chasing down Boddicker; Robocop learns that more sinster things are afoot.<br />
<br />
The movie is a classic with humor and sci-fi elements. I used to watch all three<i> Robocop</i> films all the time when I was a little kid, so this film and the sequels have a special place in my heart. The casting is great as we have Peter Weller playing the protagonist with the existential crisis once he snaps and goes after Boddicker and his buddies. Kurtwood Smith always plays a great villainous role, especially as what most people know him for on <i>That '70's Show</i>. The effects are pretty great with props and the stop motion work on ED-209 is top notch. I give the film a 5/5.<br />
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Video: 4.5/5<br />
<br />
While I never saw the original 2007 Blu-ray, this new remastered version looks fantastic! Presented in 1080p with an MPEG4 encode in it's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It's as close to perfection as we can get, but there is a few shots that I noticed that still looked somewhat rough to my eyes. Now, some of this footage is from television broadcasts with low quality, I can forgive that. How ever, when Murphy is getting killed by Boddicker, some of the shots looked somewhat scrubbed in terms of detail. I also this again when we have several shots with Boddicker's last scene in the film. But, MGM/Fox has given their second 4K remaster (first being <i>The Terminator</i>) a very strong which makes it look like it was shot yesterday. Quality control here is amazing. 4.5/5.<br />
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Audio: 5/5<br />
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I personally like what Fox does with catalog titles that most studios don't do anymore; make their discs for worldwide use. Universal used to do it back when they started doing Blu-rays in 2008. As my second and third languages are German and French, it always pleases me when I see that there's a German dub available on a U.S. release. The film is available on the disc in twelve different audio languages with encodes varying from DTS-HD MA 5.1 to Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. And also Fox has given the film subtitles in twenty-three different languages; that is a lot of hard work in terms of making a great disc, is it not?<br />
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The English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track sounds great. Effects sound live and flow nicely and I personally have no complaints with it. I've also watched the film with the German dub which is presented in DTS 5.1. It sounds weak in comparison. Seeing as how some of the audio tracks range in terms of encodes, I doubt these are remastered tracks. I do give the audio presentation on the original English DTS-HD MA 5.1 a 5/5.<br />
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Extras: 5/5<br />
<br />
With the exception of the 2012 Q&A with Paul Verhoeven and Peter Weller and some of the people who worked on the film, I am going to assume that most of these bonus features were available on the original 2007 Blu-ray. The Q&A goes on for almost an hour and is insightful as are most of the other bonus features. There's four behind the scenes featurettes, two of which are from 1987; a very nice English commentary which is also available subtitled in German and French. I give the bonus material 5/5.<br />
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Overall: 5/5<br />
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FOX and MGM has given <i>Robocop</i> a top notch re-release which you can get for under $10. This is worth having in your library of films. This is an example of a demo disc to show off the beautiful high definition quality of Blu-ray. I give this release a 5/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-69008862890333255522014-01-28T13:02:00.000-08:002014-01-28T13:02:04.174-08:00Dracula 3D (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 2.5/5<br />
Video: 5/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extras: 2.5/5<br />
Overall: 4/5<br />
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"Dario ... Dario ... Dario ..."<br />
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<i>Dracula 3D</i> is Dario Argento's take on Bram Stoker's novel. Harker (Unax Ugalde) is on a business trip to work for Dracula (Thomas Kretschmann; <i>Blade II, King Kong</i>). Harker meets Dracula's previous victim and now servant, Tanja (Miriam Giovanelli); and is attacked and bitten. Mina (Marta Gastini, <i>The Rite</i>) arrives in the village and is meet by her old friend Lucy (Asia Argento; <i>xXx, Demons 2</i>).<br />
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Dracula seduces Lucy and has her persuade Mina to go to Dracula's castle to find her husband. Once there, Mina cannot figure out where she knows Dracula. When Van Helsing (Rutger Hauer; <i>The Hitcher, The Rite</i>) is called in; Mina may not make it out alive.<br />
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I cannot personally decide if I like or loathe this movie. Argento's newer films are not as good as his older films. The film has horrible CGI effects, green screen backdrops, acting, continuity, and atrocious camera work. There are CGI animals and effects which look like they were made with computer equipment from the early 1990's; especially the opening title sequence. Most of the actors in the film do not speak English as a first language; and this film was shot in English. You can tell a good portion of the film is dubbed.<br />
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Camera work was pretty bad. Shots will linger on for far too longer than they should. Angles are pretty bizarre too. There's a scene in a church, where the angle is to a point where you can't even see both actors' faces. Who seriously thought this was a good idea? I give the film a 2.5/5.<br />
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Video: 5/5<br />
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Shot digitally with stereoscopic 3D equipment; <i>Dracula 3D</i> sports a very nice and strong video presentation. We have the film in it's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and in 1080p. Sony Pictures Italy gives this film the video quality that it deserves. While I can only view the film in 2D, color and saturation and grain looks strong. Look at how nice and detailed day time scenes are. It's fantastic. 5/5.<br />
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Audio: 5/5<br />
<br />
Sony Italy has given the film two audio presentations; English and an Italian dub, both DTS-HD MA 5.1. Oddly, for an Italian Blu-ray, Sony has only given the film the subtitles in French. The English audio sounds great; considering that a lot of sound effects used in the film are reused from the past ten to fifteen years. I give the audio track 5/5.<br />
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Extras: 2.5/5<br />
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Most of the bonus material is in Italian. Backstage with the Crew; behind the scenes that lasts for fifty minutes. Backstage with the Cast; almost twenty minutes and I was livid while watching this part. Thomas Kretschmann is talking about how he acts and goes on about the film and flat out says; "I have no idea what we are doing here." With how this film is, I can honestly believe that. Rutger Hauer even looks lost and confused talking about this film. And finally a music video called <i>Kiss Me Dracula</i>, by Claudio Simonetti. 2.5/5.<br />
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Overall: 4/5<br />
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Sony Italy has given Dario's film a great release. However, I don't know if I can honestly recommend the film. I would probably choose <i>Deep Red</i> or <i>Susperia</i> over <i>Dracula 3D</i>. Be cautious going into this film; don't go in thinking this is his return to making great horror. You'll be sadly mistaken. 4/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-53451919045637527742014-01-24T08:20:00.000-08:002014-01-24T08:20:22.210-08:00Little Big Soldier (2010)<a href="http://images4.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/24435_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/24435_large.jpg" /></a>Movie: 4/5<br />
Video: 5/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extras: 2.5/5<br />
Overall: 4/5<br />
<br />
"This is Why Jackie Chan is Better in Chinese."<br />
<br />
Jackie Chan is a nameless soldier who rises from a field of dead bodies. While scavenging for money and whatever he can find, a general (Leehom Wang; <i>Lust, Caution</i>) from the opposing side rises and is soon soldier's prisoner. While being captive, the general and the soldier try to figure out who informed soldier's army about his side's whereabouts. At the same time, a young hunter from the general's side couldn't find his body and being to slay anyone in his path to find the general.<br />
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Released the same year in China as <i>The Spy Next Door</i>, this is the better of the two films. Jackie's comical acting and fighting is hands down the best out of all of the newer films that he's made in the last ten years. And especially when we get towards the end of the film, we see how well Jackie can convey tragedy and can really move you emotionally. I give the film a 4/5.<br />
<br />
Video: 5/5<br />
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Presented in 2.35:1, Well Go USA has given <i>Little Big Soldier</i> a flawless transfer. The grain is nice and detail is clear. Colors are nice and fleshed out. I really liked how well the colors stand out whenever we have the dream sequences and we see a sea of sun flowers and yellow is strong. 5/5.<br />
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Audio: 5/5<br />
<br />
Well Go USA has given us four audio tracks for the film; Mandarin and English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. Listening to the English dub was a tough sit through as Jackie Chan is not doing his dubbing for the film. Both DTS-HD MA tracks sound great. I do not understand why we have a Dolby Digital stereo tracks for both languages? Audio is pretty flawless in the action scenes. I give the audio 5/5.<br />
<br />
Extras: 2.5/5<br />
<br />
Trailers for <i>Shaolin, Legend of the Fist: the Return of Chen Zhen, Kung-Fu Dunk, Ip Man 2</i>; and both U.S. and Chinese trailers for <i>Little Big Soldier</i>. Music video called the <i>Rape Flowers</i> by Jackie Chan, in SD. And finally a fifteen minute making of, in SD. The making of wasn't really that interesting, it kept going on and on and mainly focusing on everyone talking about how great Jackie is. We know Jackie is great and that Jackie did a lot for the film, this was his passion project. And finally, a useless DVD copy of the film. I give the extras a 2.5/5.<br />
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Overall: 4/5<br />
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I picked this up for $8 used back in 2012. For the price, I can recommend it. If you are a fan of Jackie's work, don't pass this one up. This probably his best performance that I have seen. Well Go USA has given the film an amazing release and I give this Blu-ray presentation 4/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-26205226977237290142014-01-24T08:09:00.001-08:002014-01-24T08:09:25.384-08:00The Faculty (1998)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 4/5<br />
Video: 3/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extras: 0/5<br />
Overall: 3/5<br />
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"Another Robert Rodriguez Classic."<br />
<br />
The Faculty starts off with Robert Patrick (<i>T2</i>, <i><a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/from-dusk-till-dawn-1996-from-dusk-till.html">From Dusk Till Dawn 2</a></i>) as Willis who is the stereotypical brute football coach hounding his players as he vents his rage on a water sprinkler, an unseen person approaches him and we fade out. After a faculty meeting regarding budgeting classes comes to a close, the coach appears and begins to assult one of the school heads. We then introduce our leads Zeke (Josh Hartnett; <i>H20</i>, <i>30 Days of Night</i>), Casey (Elijah Wood; <i>Lord of the Rings</i>, <i>Maniac</i>), Stokely (Clea DuVall; <i>Identity</i>), Stan (Shawn Hatosy), Delilah (Jordana Brewster; <i>The Fast and the Furious</i>), and Marybeth (Laura Harris). Each student represents all the basic cliques that you would probably encounter in most, if not all, high schools.<br />
<br />
While Casey, who is the nerd/reject, is eating alone out on the football field finds a strange fish-like animal. They all gather in the science class, which is taught by Jon Stewart! Remember when he used to act in movies? Once this happens, they realize that this is possibly an alien life form and Casey suspects the coach as being one of them. The six realize that they may be the only humans left in the school as one by one students are being called into the principal's office for testing. Will they be able to kill the aliens or die trying?<br />
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Written by Kevin Williamson of the Scream series, he basically recycles the whole "teens in peril at high school" routine. However, what saves the movie is Robert Rodriguez's direction and the special effects of Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero, and Howard Berger who have worked on a lot of other Rodriguez's films. Most of the casting seemed to fit as I can kind of see these actors playing these types of characters. Personally, I thought the alien looked amazing and live action version of it looked a lot better than the CGI variations that we see throughout the film. I give the film a 4/5.<br />
<br />Video: 3/5<br />
Presented in it's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio in 1080p, Filmyard Holdings has given Echo Bridge another problematic transfer. I will gladly assume, like with initial release of <i><a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/crow-city-of-angels-1996-050611.html">The Crow: City of Angels</a></i> and some of the previous Miramax/Dimension films that I have reviewed, that this is the original high definition transfer that Disney created back in the day. Detail and clarity comes and goes and leaves the image with more to be desired. Grain levels are also weak as well and most times it feels like it's been scrubbed away with DNR. While, it's not a complete disaster, I give the video presentation for The Faculty a 3/5.<br />
<br />Audio: 5/5<br />
Here's a problem that I have with this disc, we have three audio presentations. All are English; we have a 5.1 DTS-HD MA, 5.1 Dolby Digital, and LPCM 2.0. The default audio track that plays is the DTS-HD MA track and it sounds fantastic. The LPCM 2.0 track sounds exactly the same as the DTS-HD MA. And finally, a horrifying and dull 5.1 Dolby Digital track. Why is there a need for this many audio tracks for the film? We would be substantially fine with just the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track. Do not mistake this rant, the audio is fantastic, and I give it a 5/5.<br />
<br />Extras: 0/5<br />
Sadly, nothing.<br />
<br />Overall: 3/5<br />
Despite the rough video, this is one of Echo Bridge's better Miramax releases. I was able to get this for around six dollars when it came out. For the price, I can gladly recommend it. And considering it was written by Kevin Williamson, it is better than all of those <i>Scream</i> sequels. And it also shows me what I miss about what made Robert Rodriguez a great director in the day. Now it feels like broken promises about sequels we'll never get or are delayed and all this other nonsense we get from him. I give this Blu-ray of <i>The Faculty</i> a 3/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-30855320803517028442013-11-13T13:59:00.001-08:002013-11-13T13:59:57.418-08:00Osombie (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 3/5</div>
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Video: 4.5/5</div>
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Audio: 5/5</div>
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Extras: 0/5</div>
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Overall: 3/5</div>
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"A Somewhat Original Idea Killed By it's Niche."</div>
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<br /></div>
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Osombie is a big what if! When Seal Team IV went into kill Bin Laden, they had to fight their way through the undead just to find Bin Laden dead ... or so it seems. Bin Laden wakes up as an undead ghoul while being flown out. The helicopter crashes in the Arabic Sea and Bin Laden makes his way back to his homeland while laying waste to everyone in sight. While believing that he is dead; a group of special ops in Afghanistan come across a woman named Dusty (Eve Mauro) who is searching for her brother Derek (Jasen Wade). Derek believes that the cover up is all a lie and soon the truth comes out.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I found the film to be somewhat entertaining; it feels as if this film won't find it's real target audience because of what the film is. The film is CGI heavy and could have used a lot more blood; even though the effects didn't look that bad. Whenever the female soldier in the group is hacking through zombies with a sword, you'd expect her to be somewhat covered in blood. The acting was surprisingly better than I thought it would be. I was mainly expecting something along the lines of a bad Sci-Fi channel movie. I give Osombie a 3/5.</div>
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Video: 4.5/5</div>
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<br /></div>
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British studio Signature Entertainment has given Osombie a nice 1080/50i presentation. The film looks like it was shot with a basic HD camera. Quality is pretty good, however there seems to be a shot or two of bad interlacing. Not entirely sure what that is all about. Detail is nice and crisp. Even with the visual effects added into the image at times, it doesn't bring the quality down. I give the video source 4.5/5.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Audio: 5/5</div>
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<br /></div>
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Signature Entertainment has given the film two audio options, PCM stereo and DTS-HD MA 5.1. While I viewed the film in DTS-HD MA, it sounded it pretty great. Then, I went back through the film and viewed it in the PCM and it blows the DTS-HD MA out of the water. It's loud and clear with the stereo track. You can't go wrong with it. 5/5.</div>
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Extras: 0/5</div>
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<br /></div>
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No extras on the disc.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Overall: 3/5</div>
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<br /></div>
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The disc is region free, however, a 1080/50i presentation kills it. I do not know how the U.S. disc compares this release. I know when the film came out last year on Blu-ray here in the States, it was going for $13; I managed to score this British release for $3 used. I would say don't pay more than $10 for it. I give this release a 3/5.</div>
Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-40592364133431628282013-11-13T13:55:00.002-08:002013-11-13T14:00:59.846-08:00Ca$h (2010)<a href="http://images.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/11964_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/11964_large.jpg" /></a>Movie: 2.5/5<br />
Video: 4/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extras: 1/5<br />
Overall: 3/5<br />
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"This is Thor, Before Thor?"<br />
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I will say this, Chris Hemsworth has came a long way from his earlier films in comparison to how great his role is as Thor. I managed to get this Blu-ray off of Grooves Inc for $10 and boy was I in for a surprise. Sean Bean plays Kubic, a man who has traveled from England to Chicago to see his imprisoned brother (also Sean Bean). His brother informed him that he threw his heist money out the window while being chased by the police.<br />
<br />
The suitcase full of money lands on Sam's (Hemsworth) car. Sam, in anger, throws the suitcase to reveal money sticking out of it. He takes it home to his wife and they believe it to a blessing from God, until Kubic comes knocking at their door. The couple blew through $75,000 out of the $625,000. While visiting his brother in prison, Kubic is told to ignore it and the money they spent is fine. Kubic ignores his brother's plea and wants all of the money back. Kubic then puts the couple into a journey of hell trying to get the cash back.<br />
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For 110 minutes, I felt that the film dragged on and on at times. If twenty minutes would have been cut, I might have enjoyed it more. Obviously, with how it ends, sets it up for a sequel that we will never get. I've seen better performances from Sean Bean and Chris Hemsworth doesn't remotely look like how he does in Thor in this movie. He's all babyface and no muscle. I give Ca$h 2.5/5.<br />
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Video: 4/5<br />
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This looks like it was shot with a basic 1080p camera judging from how looks in movement. A lot of early HD shot films have this speed problem where it moves a bit faster than it should. The video looks a bit soft at times, but, it is pretty detailed. It's not perfect, but, I can award it 4/5 for the video.<br />
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Audio: 5/5<br />
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Ascot Elite gives us two audio tracks on the disc, English and German DTS-HD MA 5.1 tracks. The English audio fares better than the video presentation. Hearing the guns lock whenever Kubic puts the clip into the gun sounds nice and crystal clear. Hearing the sound of a plane landing as Kubic comes to Chicago in the opening sounds nice and loud. I have no complaints regarding the audio tracks. 5/5.<br />
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Extras: 1/5<br />
<br />
Not much in terms of extras. We have an English and German trailer for Cash. Then we have German dubbed trailers for What Doesn't Kill You aka Boston Streets; Cargo; and Nothing But the Truth. And English language trailers with German subtitles for a British film called the Firm and a movie starring Melissa George called Triangle. Quality on all these trailers all look like poorly ripped Youtube videos. It reminds of all the trailers on the Blu-ray for Evil Angel. I give the bonus 1/5.<br />
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Overall: 3/5<br />
<br />
I went into Cash with high hopes. I was somewhat let down. I don't think it was that bad, nor that great. It all felt that Sean Bean dialed it in and Chris Hemsworth was a new and upcoming actor who hadn't yet landed the role as the God of Thunder. Even Bean's performance in the remake of the Hitcher was better; even in Silent Hill: Revelation 3D where he kept flipping back and forth from his English accent to his American accent. Maybe if you're looking to see it, I can recommend it for the $10 if you can play Region B discs. Will it get a replay in my book? Down the road, one day. 3/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-27887894348274651972013-11-13T13:53:00.002-08:002013-11-13T14:01:25.856-08:00Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 5/5<br />
Video: 4.5/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extras: 4.5/5<br />
Overall: 5/5<br />
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"Germany's First Godzilla Blu-ray!"<br />
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Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster was a turning point for the Godzilla series. This is where Godzilla changes from being the destroyer that he is to Earth's savior. After a meteorite crashes to Earth, a group of scientists go to investigate. At the same time, a princess is heading to Japan when her plane explodes during it's flight. Believing that the princess is dead, a mysterious prophet claiming to be from Venus looks exactly like the dead princess. The prophet claims that the monsters are going to be awoken and it all begins to hit the fan.<br />
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The meteorite turns out to be King Ghidorah and soon he begins laying waste to Japan. Rodan, Mothra (in larva form), and Godzilla gather. Mothra tries to stop Godzilla and Rodan from killing each other and begs them to stop and to save the world from the wrath of King Ghidorah. After the monsters ignore her pleas, Mothra goes to fight King Ghidorah by herself. Godzilla and Rodan sees Mothra's sacrifice to save the planet and soon the three unlikely monsters begin the battle for the Earth and duke it out against King Ghidorah.<br />
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I remember being six years old when I first saw this film, in 1996. I had recorded it off of the Disney channel along with Son of Godzilla. Yes, Disney channel back in the day would actually play Godzilla films. Would you see something like that now a days? No. You would get the crap you see on there today.<br />
<br />
What I love about this film is how hysterical it gets when the monsters fight and the sarcasm that they have. You can tell that Rodan is laughing at Godzilla when Mothra is spraying him down and then Rodan shuts up as soon as he gets sprayed himself. This is a film where the suits look amazing and well done. I can't recommend this film enough, 5/5.<br />
<br />
Video: 4.5/5<br />
<br />
Ascot Elite presents the film in 1080p and uses the Toho remaster from 2008. How does the film fare in comparison to Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla Vs Biollante? It's spectacular. It blows the HD remaster away for Destroy All Monsters. However, there's some scratches on the lens which they couldn't remove. The picture is pretty flawless for an almost fifty year old film. I give the visual presentation 4.5/5.<br />
<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
<br />
We have two audio presentations of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster; Japanese and German DTS-HD MA 5.1. Both tracks sound glorious. Hearing Godzilla's roar and the other monsters roaring and fighting all sounds amazing. Both audio tracks sound great. All around 5/5.<br />
<br />
Extras: 4.5/5<br />
<br />
We have some great extras, however, most of them are PAL encoded which means it won't work in your Region 1 players unless your player is compatible. We have a 40 minute score version which is in HD. And we have a German commentary track; I have some issues with it. They claimed that Shusuke Kaneko liked Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster so much that he remade it as GMK. Unless I translated it wrong, I honestly don't believe that is correct. I know that Kaneko loved this film and made Shiro Sano and Chiharu Niiyama watch the film. Also, they claimed that the American title for the film was the literal Japanese translation for the film; Giant Monsters Decisive Battle.<br />
<br />
We have an interview with Shusuke Kaneko, which is fine and good fun, but; we have scrolling German subtitles from the right side to the left side of the screen. It honestly hurt my eyes trying to read it as moved way too fast. And these subtitles are burned into the video itself. And finally, we have the trailer in Japanese and German. Basically, it's just German audio over the Japanese trailer. I do like the bonus material; however since it's all in German, it won't help all of you. 4.5/5.<br />
<br />
Overall: 5/5<br />
<br />
This Blu-ray is region free and is a cheaper alternative to the Japanese Blu-ray which costs about $80. I managed to get the German Blu-ray for $17 off of Grooves Inc. Like the Japanese Blu-ray, this German Blu-ray is not English friendly. However, if you've watched this film as many times as I have, you get used to watching the film despite the fact there's no English subtitles. Much like how i can watch the German Blu-ray Casshern and don't really need subtitles whenever it's playing in Japanese or German. This is classic Godzilla, remastered, and very stunning for an almost fifty year old film. I give this Blu-ray 5/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-19300198609348169522013-11-13T13:52:00.000-08:002013-11-13T13:52:06.291-08:00Plaguers (2008)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 3/5<br />
Video: 3.5/5<br />
Audio: 3.5/5<br />
Extras: .5/5<br />
Overall: 2.5/5<br />
<br />
"An Homage or Rip-off?"<br />
<br />
<i>Plaguers</i> is a film that I cannot figure out. I cannot tell if it's paying homage to space horror films of the 70's or 80's or if it's one big rip-off. A space shuttle returning to Earth gets a distress call from a nearby vessel. Once the crew goes on board, they find four somewhat attractive women and rescue them. All is not as it seems as they turn out to be space pirates. At the same time, the crew are carrying a deadly power source that is broken while fighting with the pirates. Now, the power source's fuel is turning people into blood thirsty monsters. Now the crew and pirates fight to make sure that the ship doesn't make it to Earth or else...<br />
<br />
The monsters are not exactly zombies, but, some sort of monsters. Are re-animated corpses coming back from the dead? Yes. It felt more like Lamberto Bava's <i>Demons </i>set in space. It even has some effects shots that reminded me of <i>Demons</i>; like finger nails growing out and teeth popping out of the jaws, etc. I really like how the film wasn't that big on CGI with the exception of what was used for gun shots and bullet effects. I give the film 3/5.<br />
<br />
Video: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
Presented in 1080/50i, the disc is region free, however, you will need a Blu-ray player that can support this type of video format. Interlacing is seen in a few shots, but other than that; it's got a nice visual presentation. This was shot digitally, probably with an HD camera as opposed to RED. The color pallet is mostly grey as the backdrop of the sets since this is set on a spaceship, but, the green and red are strong whenever we see the Thanatos orb and the blood from the monsters. I give the video 3.5/5.<br />
<br />
Audio: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
We have two audio tracks on the disc, 5.1 DTS-HD MA English and German. The English audio seems to have some bad ADR work done on it. When one of the crewman starts yelling, clearly, he is yelling something quite different. I've noticed this several times throughout the film. The German dub does sync up somewhat nice to the video. However, if you do get this disc and you speak English, I doubt you'll turn over to the German dub. I give the audio element of <i>Plaguers</i> 3.5/5.<br />
<br />
Extras: .5/5<br />
The only extras on the disc are trailers for <i>Pontypool</i> and <i>Delta Farce</i>. Too bad there was nothing in terms of extras on the film itself. .5/5.<br />
<br />
Overall: 2.5/5<br />
<br />
I managed to buy this off a user who I have bought from in the past off of Blu-ray.com. It is region free, but the PAL menu and the film being encoded at 1080i makes it difficult for me to recommend it unless you have the capabilities to play this on you player. For what the film was, if you got time to kill, I can recommend it. 2.5/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-16261225580113011972013-09-22T11:44:00.000-07:002016-06-23T09:49:18.906-07:00From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://images2.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/1780_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images2.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/1780_large.jpg" /></a>Movie: 5/5<br />
Video: 3.5/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extras: 0/5<br />
Overall: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
Really? FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: ROUND 4!<br />
<br />
This marks the fourth review that I have done on the Robert Rodriguez film <em>From Dusk Till Dawn</em>. I have reviewed this film in the individual release by Echo Bridge followed by the double feature which contained <em>Texas Blood Money</em> and then finally in the series release that had all four films crammed onto one disc. To get my views on the film, please visit my review of the <a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/from-dusk-till-dawn-1996-from-dusk-till.html">double feature</a> from 2011. How does the initial 2008 disc from Alliance (now Entertainment One) stack up in comparison?<br />
<br />
Video: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
I initially gave the video presentation on the Echo Bridge version 3.5/5. I am giving this version a 3.5/5 as well. The EB release was actually a remastered version produced sometime after or during this Canadian release. The visual presentation is opened up slightly from 1.85 to 1.78; but it's miniscule to worry about having an opened matted presentation since these two aspects are almost the same thing. The visual presentation on both releases of the film has been a debate for some time now; after watching both, I am leaning towards the Echo Bridge release.<br />
<br />
I will be giving spoilers in these following descriptions of shots; when Jimmy is now a vampire, the blood on his white shirt in the Canadian release is almost orange. At the almost 1:23 into the film, Kate is thrown by Sex Machine; in this version, you can clearly make out the wires attached to Juliette Lewis. In the Echo Bridge version that's been remastered, wires were completely removed from the shot. Despite the somewhat orange skintones on people in the remaster, the color scheme seems more natural on blood and other things.<br />
<br />
You might ponder why am I giving this the same score? The detail is still pretty strong in this transfer and that is a big pro for this. The biggest con on this transfer, and I assume this is why it was remastered, is that the print damage is all over the place. Another pro against the EB release is that the right side of the screen doesn't show any sort of distress which was noticeable after the gang leaves the stock room of junk for weapons. One other thing and this minor, the end credits look like it has finger prints visable throughout on the Canadian transfer. I give this transfer a 3.5/5 along with the remaster, it's all about that concept called the power of suggestion which I will leave for you to decide which version is best.<br />
<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
<br />
Alliance (Entertainment One) has given this initial transfer a pretty powerful English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track along with a Dolby Digital 5.1 and French DTS-HD MA 5.1 and DD 5.1 tracks. I think they might have gone overboard on the audio tracks if you ask. To compare audio on both releases, I would give it to this disc. The sound has a more raw and gritty feel to it, whereas the DTS-HD MA 5.1 on the Echo Bridge sounds more subdued. The French dub sounds average in my opinion. I award the audio on this disc 5/5.<br />
<br />
Extras: 0/5<br />
<br />
Just like the Echo Bridge Blu-ray, this Canadian release has no extra features.<br />
<br />
Overall: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
As far as I know, this disc is out of print now. After the Echo Bridge Blu-ray came out, Alliance put out a combo pack and a steelbook and from what I read, those two releases contained the remastered version that Echo Bridge used. One of the big cons on the Echo Bridge Blu-ray is that English subtitles are rarely applied to releases and this one falls in that category. If you're a person who relies on subtitles to help you enjoy the film, this Canadian release has English subtitles. I give Alliance (Entertainment One) initial release a 3.5/5.</span>Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-23202480965749450762013-09-11T08:01:00.001-07:002013-09-11T08:01:35.075-07:00The Hole / Venom (2001 - 2005)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 2.5/5<br />
Video: 3.5/5<br />
Audio: 4/5<br />
Extras: 2/5<br />
Overall: 3/5<br />
<br />
"Miramax ... Why?"<br />
<br />
Movies: 2.5/5<br />
<br />
<i>The Hole</i>: 2/5<br />
<br />
A group of kids decide to go into an abandoned bunker from World War II while they were supposed to go on a school field trip. Needless to say, something happened and everyone ends up dead. Except for one soul survivor, played by beautiful Thora Birch. While locked up in a hospital, a detective (Embeth Davidtz, <i>Army of Darkness</i> and <i>Europa Report</i>) is trying to help her to understand the situation in which the three others died.<br />
<br />
I am going to go into spoiler territory because I need to. If you haven't seen <i>The Hole</i>, please skip this review or scroll down to <i>Venom</i>. I hate movies about characters who have this sort of mental disorder where it has to be about "ME". Take the film I reviewed not too long ago called Roman. Roman disgusted me to no end because I sat through that garbage. I felt that <i>The Hole</i> was going to be ok until we got to the twist and I was like; "NO!"<br />
<br />
Thora Birch's character is revealed to be this stalker type character who is obsessing over Desmond Harrington's character in the film. She lies to cover her ass and whenever something doesn't go her way, she kills them. It's this annoying "ME" complex where it has to be about them and not take into consideration the other people involved. It's a wreckless behavoir of someone who is disturbed and mental. Even at the end of the film, she ruins the life of Embeth Davidtz's character and virtually walks away scott free.<br />
<br />
I hated it; is the film well made? Sure. I thought the acting was pretty good from Kiera Knightley and Thora Birch. Didn't care that much for Desmond Harrington's acting. I also find it funny how it's marketed around Knightley on the box art, including a quote about her, when she's probably only in the movie for fifteen minutes tops. 2/5.<br />
<br />
<i>Venom</i>: 2.5/5<br />
<br />
Everyone in town knows Ray Sawyer as the local and creepy tow truck driver in a small Louisiana town. While Eden (Agnes Bruckner) and Eric (Jonathan Jackson) are fighting one night, Ray drives by and has a head on collision with an elderly woman who practiced voodoo. While Ray proceeds to save the old woman, he opens the suitcase she had with her and is soon killed by the snakes living inside it. As soon as the police salvage Ray's corpse, it vanishes and soon a body count starts to rise quickly in the small Louisiana town.<br />
<br />
This was a "so-so" slasher flick. The film was based on a video game that never got finished and released to the public. From what I could find on both the bonus material and searching on the net, Ray was originally going to be named Mr. Jangles after the keys that were on his belt loop. This film was also a casualty of Harvey Weinstein leaving Disney and was just dumped into a small run in theaters by Disney.<br />
<br />
The acting was cheesy as hell and had a very stereotypical teenage slasher feel. It felt almost as if this was <i>Scream</i> with a supernatural entity instead of Ghost Face. Meagan Good was ok in the five minutes of screen time that she had. Agnes Bruckner was okay in the lead, but I couldn't really care that much. I give the film 2.5/5.<br />
<br />
Video: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
<i>The Hole</i>: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
Presented in open matted in 1.78:1 instead of 2.35:1, Echo Bridge gives <i>The Hole</i> a decent HD presentation. I did notice a glitch in the video in the opening, Thora Birch's character is walking to a pay phone and the video distorts. Other than that, it's got a nice grainy transfer throughout. Would it have been better if it was presented in OAR? Sure. I give the transfer 3.5/5.<br />
<br />
<i>Venom</i>: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
Echo Bridge has released <i>Venom</i> several times on Blu-ray and every time has released it in this open matted 1.78:1 from the 2.35:1 source. Grain is pretty strong throughout; there was a shot were the image looked real dull in this morgue sequence. I also noticed that the shading covering the camera is visible in a shot when Bijou Philips's character is going around Ray's Happy Time shop. I give the presentation 3.5/5.<br />
<br />
Audio: 4/5<br />
<br />
Echo Bridge has given <i>The Hole</i> a very typical 2.0 DTS-HD MA English track and it sounds average. <i>Venom</i> on the other hand has a wide variety of audio tracks present; English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0, and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. Why do we honestly need the English DTS-HD MA 2.0 when we have the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track? That seems like a waste of space if you ask me. I give the audio presentation on both films 4/5.<br />
<br />
Extras: 2/5<br />
<br />
We have no bonus material for the film <i>The Hole</i>; but, we do have all the extras ported over from the Disney DVD of <i>Venom</i>. We have a Making Of, storyboard to film comparisons, and cast auditions. The making of was only a few minutes which was ok. Storyboard comparisons shows how close everything matched up in the few scenes that were selected. And the casting auditions were so-so, especially when all of the acting was bad. I give the bonus 2/5.<br />
<br />
Overall: 3/5<br />
<br />
I picked this up and several others for $3.99 plus tax each during Best Buy's Echo Bridge sale. For that price, I can recommend this release. I doubt that we'll ever get these in their proper aspect ratio any time soon. Will these encodes most likely get re-used in another Blu-ray from Echo Bridge? I wouldn't be surprised, 3/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-38394010458577369132013-09-11T07:56:00.001-07:002013-09-11T07:56:29.112-07:00White Vengeance (2011)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 2.5/5<br />
Video: 4.5/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extra: 1/5<br />
Overall: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
"Worth the $5. I guess..."<br />
<br />
Two soldiers form a bond to take down the Qin empire in ancient China. Liu Bang (Leon Lai, <i>Seven Swords</i>) is asked by Xiang Yu (Feng Shaofeng) to take back his love Yuji (Liu Yufei, <i>Forbidden Kingdom</i> and <i>The Assassins</i>) to their home. Liu agrees but sees that he's being denied from raiding the Qin empire and taking the throne; this is something Liu's comrades cry foul over. Liu agrees with them and secretly go to raid the Qin empire so Liu can take the throne. Xiang Yu is angered and seeks advice from Fen Zhang (Anthony Wong, <i>Hard Boiled</i> and <i>Black Mask</i>) and learns that this will not end well.<br />
<br />
I managed to pick up this UK Blu-ray of <i>White Vengeance</i> along with <i>A Tale of Two Sisters</i> and <i>Evil Angel</i> at Grooves Inc. It has an impressive cast with Anthony Wong, Liu Yufei, and Andy On appearing in it; ultimately, the film is too long. If Daniel Lee (director of <i>Black Mask</i>) could have shortened this by a half hour, I would probably liked it more. Also, I noticed Chinese copyright infringement with the opening studio logos; the first uses the audio from the Sony Home Entertainment credits and the second studio logo has an altered Godzilla roar. Not making it up. I give the movie 2.5/5.<br />
<br />
Video: 4.5/5<br />
<br />
G2 gives <i>White Vengeance</i> a beautiful 2.35:1 transfer. This transfer is top notch however, I did notice some sort of stutter in the image in some spots. I do not know if that was intentional or not. Cannot complain with how it looks over all. The contrast and color scheme of the overall image is stunning. I give the visual presentation a 4.5/5.<br />
<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
<br />
G2 has only given us one audio track for the film; Mandarin DTS-HD MA 5.1. Accompanying the audio is a nice variety of subtitles; English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. The audio presentation is nice and loud. Audio is demo worthy during the fighting scenes. 5/5.<br />
<br />
Extra: 1/5<br />
<br />
Before we get to the main menu, we have trailers for<i> Detachment</i> and <i>Transit</i>. Then when we get to the main menu, we only have a trailer for <i>White Vengeance</i>. Kind of a bummer that there's nothing else. 1/5.<br />
<br />
Overall: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
For $5, it wasn't bad. I think if I had to choose, I'd re-watch Daniel Lee's <i>Black Mask</i> over <i>White Vengeance</i>. It is nice to see Anthony Wong popping up in both of Daniel's films. However, this film is far too long, as it clocks in at 132 minutes. This disc is Region B locked, you have been warned. 3.5/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-4294359705370525142013-09-11T07:52:00.000-07:002013-09-11T07:52:04.401-07:00Small Town Folk / Vanguard / Zombie Diaries (2006 - 2009)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 3.5/5<br />
Video: 1/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extra: 2.5/5<br />
Overall: 3/5<br />
<br />
"Standard Definition British Horror Invades France."<br />
<br />
<i>Small Town Folk</i>: 3/5<br />
<br />
A couple out on the English country side are lost and stop and ask a man and his companion (Warwick Davis, <i>Leprechaun</i>) for directions. They are told to stay away from a place called "Grockleton". The couple don't heed the warning and go to the quiet, empty residence. Once there, they discover that sinister beings run the place and slavery and murder are a way of life.<br />
<br />
I'm guessing that the budget is close to nothing, or all of it went to Warwick Davis for his two minutes of screen time. The biggest problem which all will catch is that it will switch from filming on location to green screen. And the green screen work is pretty bad. The acting on the main couple was ok, I've seen better. I think Chris R. Wright as the main villain was probably the best out of all the actors. The story was not that bad either, but the green screen work will stand out. 3/5.<br />
<br />
<i>Vanguard</i>: 4.5/5<br />
<br />
Max is a deaf man who lives in the forest in a post-apocalyptic 2015. Max struggles to survive on a day to day basis in the forest with zombie-like creatures called Biosyns. Jamaal is a hunter who is searching for Max and quickly finds him when Max is attacked by a Biosyn. Max and Jamaal form an alliance and try to make their way through the forest. The duo find two other survivors and soon they all realize that the Biosyns may not be the only killers in the forest.<br />
<br />
I really enjoyed the film. The silence in the atmosphere as we follow Max is a very nice touch to the zombie genre. The color spectrum that the film has is also a very nice touch as well. Almost like how the film <i>Hobo with a Shotgun</i> played with different hues. The acting was very good too. I can recommend <i>Vanguard</i> as a must for zombie fans. 4.5/5.<br />
<br />
<i>Zombie Diaries</i>: 3.5/5<br />
<br />
<i>The Zombie Diaries</i> is an eighty minute horror films from the perspective of three different groups of people during various points of the zombie outbreak. In the first portion, we have a group of journalists who are going out to the English countryside to interview a farmer. While waiting on his property, the farmer is nowhere to be found and the first zombie is found inside his house. We cut to the second story which deals with a couple looking for supplies to survive. The third group is holed up in a house who try to survive day by day.<br />
<br />
For a horror film that is not as long, it wasn't that bad. I think it would have worked better if it was eighty minutes of just one group instead of three and kept a decent span of time throughout. The acting was very good and believable. The visual effects were good on the zombies too. I give <i>The Zombie Diaries</i> 3.5/5.<br />
<br />
Video:<br />
<br />
<i>Small Town Folk</i>: .5/5<br />
<br />
At the end of the film, the film states that it was filmed on Canon XL1S and Canon XL2 cameras. I worked with XL2 cameras in my film classes in Germany and they're all SD cameras. Obviously, it means that this film is upscaled. But, I think this was shot in 4:3 or 640x480 and then cropped from 4:3 to 16:9, which is 640x360. Despite the fact that this film will never look good, it's visual presentation is better than say <i>The Zombie Chronicles</i>. .5/5<br />
<br />
<i>Vanguard</i>: 1.5/5<br />
<br />
I don't know if this was mastered in SD or if Emylia messed up on the transfer for this film. You can tell that portions of this film were shot on celluloid and then some was shot on digital. Whenever you do see scenes that were shot on film, you can see the print damage. However, there's scenes where you can see text on the screen and it's horrible looking! I give the visual presentation for<i> Vanguard</i> a 1.5/5.<br />
<br />
<i>Zombie Diaries</i>: 1/5<br />
<br />
Emylia has given <i>Zombie Diaries</i> a 1.78:1 presentation. In the making of documentary of the film, it shows the director with an old school 4:3 television behind him with the film playing. It seems as if this film was shot in 4:3 and cropped to 16:9 for the mastering process. The presentation looks better than <i>Small Town Folk</i>, but not as good as <i>Vanguard</i>. And there is a lot of post-production tinkering with the video to simulate damage to video source. 1/5.<br />
<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
<br />
Emylia has given all of the films a DTS-HD HR 5.1 track for the English audio and French dubbing in DTS-HD MA 5.1. I think all of the audio sounds good for these films. No real complaints all around. Too bad none of these films were shot in HD to match the nice audio. 5/5.<br />
<br />
Extra: 2.5/5<br />
<br />
<i>Small Town Folk</i> and <i>Vanguard</i> do not contain any special features as they are on one disc. Disc two which contains <i>The Zombie Diaries</i> and has a collection of deleted scenes and an almost hour long documentary called <i>When the Lights Go Out</i>. The documentary had a decent amount of input from everyone who worked on it. Does it have much of a re-watch value to it after the first time? No. The deleted scenes do not have enjoyment to them either. You can see why they are cut. I give the bonus material 2.5/5.<br />
<br />
Overall: 3/5<br />
<br />
I managed to trade a sealed Canadian Alliance Blu-ray of <i>Dracula 2000</i> from a nice person off the Blu-ray website. Considering it was about $10, it's worth it. I don't believe Amazon France is selling this anymore and you'll have to pick up the individual Blu-rays. It's region free, however, 1080/50i will stop you from getting past the Emylia studio screen. 3/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-44295720794044128962013-09-11T07:46:00.000-07:002013-09-11T07:46:14.581-07:00Evil Angel (2009)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 3.5/5<br />
Video: 4/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extra: 1.5/5<br />
Overall: 3.5/5<br />
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"An Interesting Horror Flick."<br />
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While I was in the process of buying the UK Blu-ray of <i>A Tale of Two Sisters</i> from Grooves Inc, I stumbled across this German Blu-ray for a film called <i>Evil Angel</i>. I never heard of it and saw that it advertised Ving Rhames (<i>Lilo & Stitch</i> and <i>Piranha 3DD</i>) as the lead. I looked up the trailer for the film and was pretty surprised. For $10, why not?<br />
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The film deals with two storylines that collide; Ving Rhames plays agent Carruthers who is investigating murders at a crackhouse when his son is killed by a woman who is under demonic possession, Lillith. Marcus (Kristopher Shepard) is a paramedic going through a crisis as he discovers that his wife is having an affair. The death of a young girl draws Marcus into learning about religion and various other possessions as the bodies pile up. Carruthers soon realizes that Marcus is possibly next on Lillith's list and must try to save his life and soul.<br />
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I think Richard Dutcher made a great film and he's not only a good writer, director, but actor as well. Richard Dutcher plays Marcus's former partner and helps him out in the last half of the film. Now, does the film need to be over two hours? Possibly not. The pacing was decent, but, I did think some events should have happened sooner when it all hits the fan for Carruthers and Marcus. I can recommend it, 3.5/5.<br />
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Video: 4/5<br />
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Shot on film and presented in 2.35:1, WGF films gives <i>Evil Angel</i> a very sweet and devilish presentation. The grain levels are pretty strong throughout the film. I did spot a few specks of dirt here and there, but, you won't really see it if you're focused on the story. Contrast and colors are very stunning for an unknown film. I give the visual presentation 4/5.<br />
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Audio: 5/5<br />
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WGF has given <i>Evil Angel</i> two different audio presentations; English and German DTS-HD MA 5.1. The English audio sounds great in motion whereas the German dubbing has been cranked up an extra notch with the dialog. Despite that small problem with the German dubbing, which most reading this will probably not watch it with that audio option, it's pretty solid. 5/5.<br />
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Extra: 1.5/5<br />
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The ball was dropped on the extras portion of the disc. Regarding <i>Evil Angel</i>, there's a trailer and a slideshow gallery. We also have trailers for <i>Terra Nova</i> aka <i>Island of the Damned; Alexander: Der Kreuzritter; Nobel Son;</i> and <i>The Burrowers</i>. Quality on the trailers looks like they were ripped straight from Youtube. I question where the <i>Terra Nova</i> trailer came from as it's in English and Russian with English subtitles for the Russian dialog. 1.5/5.<br />
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Overall: 3.5/5<br />
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This disc is region all, however, 1080/50i is problematic from the start. I loaded it up on my PS3 and nothing happened at all. This film hasn't been released yet in the U.S. and from what I've read on the internet, Richard Dutcher has been trying to get this film a theatrical release. It was supposedly going to be released on Halloween 2012, but, the date came and passed. It has managed to get Blu-ray releases in Australia, France, Germany, and Taiwan. If you're in the U.S. and you can play 1080/50i material, you can get this for a good $10. Go for it. 3.5/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-10681437083941153812013-09-06T11:52:00.000-07:002013-09-06T11:52:25.220-07:00Grindhouse #3: Evil Unleashed: The Mummy / The Zombie Chronicles (2002 - 2003)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Evil Unleashed: The Mummy</i> (2003) - <i>The Zombie Chronicles</i> (2002)<br />
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Movies: .5/5<br />
Video: .5/5<br />
Audio: .5/5<br />
Extras: 1/5<br />
Overall: 1/5<br />
<br />
"Shock and Awe."<br />
<br />
Before I start my review on both films, I have seen some bad movies. Read my previous reviews for <i><a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/2013/01/other-side-of-game-2009.html">Other Side of the Game</a></i>, <i><a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-walk-in-my-shoes-2010.html">A Walk in My Shoes</a></i>, <i><a href="http://eastwoodblurayreviews.blogspot.com/2012/11/i-spit-on-your-grave-1978-2010.html">I Spit on Your Grave 2010</a></i>, etc. I think this might take the cake in terms of horrendous movies that I have ever seen. There will be spoilers, but, I don't think that many people will be seeking this Blu-ray 3D out. You have been warned.<br />
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<i>Evil Unleashed: The Mummy</i> (2003): .5/5<br />
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In the days of ancient Egypt, Princess Nefertiesia wants to live forever and gives herself to a demon God. Thousands of years later, in Egypt, her remains were found and the poor souls who discovered it were killed by scorpions. The remains of Nefertiesia are somehow transported to America to some school for special needs college kids. At least, that's what I think because our protagonists in this film must of had some sort of mental problems with all the alcohol consumption and stupid answers that are given in their professor's classes. When the Mummy of Princess Nefertiesia is set loose; all kinds of wacky shenanigans and murder is beset on the four kids.<br />
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If you noticed that I took a serious approach to the first part of the last paragraph and just went from smart to stupid in one sentence, that's this film in a nut shell. This is one of the worst films that I have ever sat through. I prayed for the seventy-four minutes to come fast and thankfully, it did. However, the acting is atrocious! I couldn't feel any connection to this film and felt brain cells just firing off and dying in my brain. I couldn't recommend this to anyone, .5/5.<br />
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<i>The Zombie Chronicles</i> (2002): .5/5<br />
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Tara is a writer who is searching for a small town. Upon driving, she hits a man who talks like a loony drunk. She agrees to give the man a ride in return to going to this small town. The old man stops her at a busted and weathered barn to discuss the history of this supposed place. He proceeds to tell the story of a retired soldier and his girlfriend who are haunted by a zombie. Then, he finally tells the story of three college kids who awake a two-hundred year old zombie cowboy and his family. Tara goes off calling the old man crazy and he disappears, making Tara wonder what is really going on.<br />
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Just as atrocious as the first film on this disc. The seventy-one minutes went at an ok pace. Other than that, boo hoo. This was crap. I will honestly say that the visual effects used on the one college girl who had her face ripped off by a zombie was pretty good. .5/5<br />
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Video: .5/5<br />
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Before I start the video portion, I do not have a 3D TV, so these reviews are based off of the 2D versions that are presented on the disc. And besides, how good can these look in 3D anyway?<br />
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P.S: I don't know if they tried to shoot these with some sort of 3D equipment at the time, there's some strange things with these transfers.<br />
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<i>Evil Unleashed: The Mummy</i> (2003) - .5/5<br />
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Presented with an MPEG4 AVC transfer in 1.33:1. The video quality is horrendous! I cannot distinguish whether or not if this movie was shot on VHS or miniDV or something else or an overall combination of multiple formats. The quality is all over the place, even with some of the footage looking like blown up VCD footage. .5/5<br />
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<i>The Zombie Chronicles</i> (2002): .5/5<br />
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Could the transfer get worse than the previous film? Yes! It can and it does with <i>The Zombie Chronicles</i>. I am calling it that this was shot on VHS or that this master used was a VHS tape blown up to HD. One of the things that shows off the horrendous quality is that oddly the color yellow is completely shifted to the right of the screen. Not sure if was some sort of 3D conversion that went wrong or not. .5/5.<br />
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Audio: .5/5<br />
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Both films on this disc are presented in English with a plain Dolby Digital 2.0 track. It's pretty rough by my standards and if you go through my reviews, I am pretty lean on audio. You'll hear glitching and clicks here and there. Other than that, sounds like audio from a VHS tape. You'd be surprised how the horrible audio compliments the horrible video. .5/5.<br />
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Extras: 1/5<br />
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We have trailers for the other "Grindhouse" films which this is disc is marketed as. It's funny that the titles for several of these films has the same cheesy video generated titles that you would see on porn from the 80's and 90's. Other than that, nothing else. 1/5.<br />
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Overall: 1/5<br />
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I managed to pick this up used for $6. I honestly cannot recommend this Blu-ray at all unless you like bad movies. I love a bad movie like the rest of us, but, I don't know anymore. I honestly don't. Is this the worst thing to grace Blu-ray 3D? Let's wait until I get <i>Traumatic Possession 3D: The Tape</i> comes out to judge. 1/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-52571707112965569072013-07-30T08:47:00.002-07:002013-07-30T08:47:32.275-07:00Horror (2005 - 2011)<a href="http://images.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/75814_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/75814_large.jpg" /></a>Movies: 2.5/5<br />
Video: 3/5<br />
Audio: 4/5<br />
Extras: .5/5<br />
Overall: 2.5/5<br />
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Movies:<br />
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2:13 (2008): 4/5<br />
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<i>2:13</i> tells the story of a cop (writer and co-producer of the film, Mark Thompson), who is going after a serial killer who leaves a particular type of evidence to the crime scenes. At the same time, the detective is dealing with his own problems after his ex (Teri Polo, <i>The Arrival</i> and <i>Meet the Parents</i>) tries to re-connect with him. As the group gets closer to discovering the identity of the killer, they might have all ready know who it is...<br />
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If you have watched this film. does it play kind of like a <i>Saw</i> film? Does it also seem to have that same style of color saturation to a <i>Saw</i> film? Well, the film was co-produced and shot by David A. Armstrong who has worked on the first six <i>Saw</i> films. It appeared fairly evident as soon as the film starts. I really liked that they were able to capture that look and feel, especially since it's been a good three years since we've had a <i>Saw</i> film. I give the film a 4/5.<br />
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Gingerdead Man 3 (2011): 2.5/5<br />
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For what it was, a parody of numerous films ranging from <i>Saturday Night Live, Carrie,</i> and <i>Silence of the Lambs; Gingerdead Man 3</i> is a slow paced horror film with a few laughs. <i>Gingerdead Man 3</i> starts with a <i>Silence of the Lambs</i> parody with Gingerdead Man basically being like Hannibal Lector. Animal rights activists break in and think that all of the captive killer foods are animals. One thing leads to another and Gingerdead Man is now freed and is on the lamb. As he runs through the prison, he hears two scientists talking about a time machine that can send food back through time. He escapes and finds himself in 1976. Gingerdead Man then finds himself in between a parody of <i>Saturday Night Live</i> and <i>Carrie</i>.<br />
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The movie has a few laughs but the pacing is slow. When there is laughs, it is funny. One of the biggest flaws in the film, and slight spoilers, is that people are able to use this food time machine. Two kids finds the remote as soon as the Gingerdead Man drops it and are then sucked through time. The women were nice to look at it. I have a strong suspicion that there was a porn star present on set. She's in the background and her face is barely visible and whenever it cuts to a dance scene, whenever she's about to come into the shot, it cuts to another shot. And to point her out, she's wearing like a green jump/bodysuit; not the girl in the green dress, but suit. I give the movie a 2.5/5.<br />
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Hoboken Hollow (2005) : 2.5/5<br />
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Based on the true story of the so-called "Texas Slave Ranch" which went down in the 80's, the story deals with a group of people wrangling up hitchhikers across Texas and turning them into slaves. If you try to leave, you will be executed. In this modern day telling, Travis (Jason Connery, <i>Alone in the Dark II</i>) is a soldier who's lost everything after being deployed to Afghanistan. While out fighting the war, one of his best friends is killed by insurgents and returns home and soon heads out across the country after his wife leaves him. At the same time he is out, three other poor souls are taken into the ranch where they might never get out.<br />
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For what this film was, I thought it was average. If you want to watch something around the lines of this and enjoy it, go for <i>House of 1,000 Corpses</i> or it's sequel, <i>The Devil's Rejects</i>. This movie was also made around the same time C. Thomas Howell made his come back after being hospitalized and coming close to dying because of his appendix. I think for this being one of his comeback films, I think he really did good as a neutral character in the film. Michael Madsen also pops up in this for a good five minutes and his this horribly taped on mustache, but just disappears halfway through the film. And Dennis Hopper shows up for a good five minutes throughout the film as the local deputy. <i>Hoboken Hollow</i> tries, but at the end of the day, I give the film a 2.5/5.<br />
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Keepsake (2008): 1/5<br />
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Janine's car breaks down. She calls for a tow truck to come and get her. The man, named Earl, arrives but cannot speak because his tongue is gone. While searching for a pen in his truck, she comes across the driver's license for the real Earl and tries to make a run for it. Earl captures her and handcuffs her to a bathroom stall while a police officer comes across the empty tow truck. Earl kills the officer and takes her to a barn and keeps Janine there as his prisoner.<br />
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In my honest opinion, if I could sum this film up in one word; awful. The pacing is slow as hell and the film has these dream sequences like it's an episode of the television show Lost. And these dream sequences are pointless to the plot because of this plot twist that takes the film on a sharp left turn. I hated it. This movie was 105 minutes too long. If this would have been about 80 minutes, I would have probably liked it more. 1/5.<br />
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Killjoy 3 (2010): 3.5/5<br />
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In this third installment of the Killjoy franchise by Full Moon; Killjoy is brought back to life by a professor who bails on the ritual process. A group of college kids are house sitting for the professor when a magical mirror to Killjoy's world is brought to his household. The kids place the mirror on his wall and are soon sucked into his world of hell.<br />
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For a 76 minute horror-comedy, it works. The comedic aspects of the film worked really well for me. It's a horror film that doesn't play for the safe gags. There's blood and guts and nudity, especially with one of Killjoy's minions being just an actress, naked, and covered in paint. For a movie with a shorter time length, I give Killjoy 3 a 3.5/5.<br />
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Roman (2006): .5/5<br />
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<i>Roman</i> tells the story of man who is mentally unstable who falls for a girl (Kristen Bell). Once Roman (writer of the film, Lucky McKee) gets her attention, he takes her back to his place and ultimately ends up killing her. While keeping her body in his bathroom, Roman falls for another tenant in his apartment building named Eva (Nectar Rose). Eva's obsession is talking about death. Is Roman able to keep his love for Eva going with her obsession or let her go?<br />
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This film is GOD AWFUL! I do not think that I have ever sat through something that I really wanted to truly turn off. But, for reviewing this release, I had to sit through it. This and <i>Tree of Life</i> and <i>Crazy/Beautiful</i> are the worst damn movies that I have ever sat through. Lucky McKee as Roman is an uninteresting sad piece of crap that I couldn't care for. Kristen Bell must have done this movie as a favor for someone because I don't think that she would have really done something like this. Angela Bettis should stick to acting instead of directing.<br />
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Just everything about this film, I downright loathe. This film is filled with examples of filmmaking dos and don'ts. If your film has shots that go on for far too long, that's a no-no. If your shot composition has your actress with tons of dead space above their heads, that's a big no-no. When Roman is strangling Kristen Bell's character, there's so much dead space as he's killing her at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It's just atrocious. .5/5<br />
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Video:<br />
<br />
2:13 (2008): 4/5<br />
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Shot on 35mm and presented in 1.78:1, 2:13 has a very beautiful HD presentation. Grain is present throughout with an instance or two of print damage that you will not really catch unless you have your eyes glued to the screen. There was some weird macro with the black levels present whenever the group of detectives go to Dwight Yoakam's sex shop in the film. Other than that, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the same transfer on the German Blu-ray release. 4/5.<br />
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Gingerdead Man 3 (2011): 2.5/5<br />
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Considering this was shot in High Definition, <i>Gingerdead Man 3</i> has an average looking transfer. Whenever looking at the bitrates, the video stays in the mid-10's in the Mbps; which means that the datarate is slightly higher than a DVD. I don't know if that's just how the transfer was handled by Full Moon whenever they handed the transfer off to Echo Bridge. Towards the end of the film in the final fifteen minutes whenever the massacre happens, there's some interlacing which occurs in a few shots that's makes the video look a little rough. I give the transfer a 2.5/5.<br />
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Hoboken Hollow (2005): 3/5<br />
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Shot in the early days of High Definition, this film must have had a nice budget. Picture is nice and clear pretty much throughout. There is an exception to this as I spotted a few shots in the film, possibly re-shoots, that looked like standard definition footage blown up to HD. This was mainly in the opening chase sequence in the film where two men escaping. You'll be able to notice the shots when it switches from HD to SD. And then there's a shot where someone is looking through a hole in wood shed where you can tell that as well looked like SD footage. Also, throughout the last half hour or so when Travis is freed and it takes place at night, there's this nice sized white vertical line on the right side of the image. It is pretty distracting and it is present until the last five minutes of the film. But, the image is nice to look at, I give the visual presentation a 3/5.<br />
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Keepsake (2008): 3.5/5<br />
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<i>Keepsake</i> sports a very nice high definition transfer. I wonder if Echo Bridge compressed this video transfer down any as the bitrate kept around 21 kbps throughout the film. Only problems I have is that the dream sequences have a very drab and a little too much grain to the image. There was an outdoor sequence towards the end when Janine is outside and the image looked like it could have used some sort of color correction to it. Other than that, I give the transfer a 3.5/5.<br />
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Killjoy 3 (2010): 4/5<br />
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You would think by the opening studio logo shot of Full Moon Pictures that this would have a horrible transfer, but, Full Moon proved me wrong. The transfer is pretty flawless for an HD transfer. There is a few slight things here and there with the effects shots not being completely cleaned up which brings the video transfer down. A character gets decapitated, as he stands there and falls, there's a white box that falls with the body. Other than that, I give the visual performance 4/5.<br />
<br />
Roman (2006): .5/5<br />
<br />
<i>Roman</i> is a film that will never look beautiful in Hi-Def. The film was shot with a basic DV camera and it shows. When we have the first shots of Roman who is sitting in his apartment, you see how God awful the video presentation is in HD. The flaws of blowing up a Standard Definition source to High Definition show throughout the whole entire film. When Roman is out burying parts of Kristen Bell's character in a swamp like environment, the color is vibrant, but the definition is horrid! .5/5.<br />
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Audio: 4/5<br />
<br />
Echo Bridge has given all six of the films a nice DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio track. Couldn't really find a problem with these audio presentations. I had no problems regarding turning up my sound on my television. They all sounded great. 4/5.<br />
<br />
Extras: .5/5<br />
<br />
Only extras included is a digital copy of all six films via Vudu. I love how Echo Bridge is pandering to Wal-Mart with all of their recent Blu-ray releases because it's printed on the artwork itself that these are "Blu-ray + Vudu Combo Pack". Maybe Wal-Mart can license out their films to Echo Bridge and we can have all of those crappy "FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT IS BACK" crap shoved onto one disc. Despicable. I give the extras a .5/5.<br />
<br />
Overall: 2.5/5<br />
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You can pick this up for $8 at Wal-Mart. Considering that I am giving this set a 2.5/5, I can recommend it if you love indie horror films. <i>2:13</i> and <i>Killjoy 3</i> are probably the best films in this set. If you're a Kristen Bell fan, go else where, these are not the droids that you are looking for. 2.5/5.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-14525583046527702602013-07-29T14:12:00.000-07:002013-07-30T11:54:42.882-07:00The Hanged Man (2008) / A Lure: Teen Fight Club (2009) / All God's Creatures (2011) / Visible Scars (2012)<a href="http://images3.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/76239_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images3.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/76239_large.jpg" /></a>Movies: 3/5<br /> Video: 2.5/5<br /> Audio: 4/5<br /> Extras: .5/5<br /> Overall: 2.5/5<br /> <br /> Movies:<br /> <br /> Visible Scars (2012): 3/5<br /> <br /><i> Visible Scars</i> tells the story of a woman (Jillian Murray) who wants to escape her abusive boyfriend in the mountains. While staying at her uncle's cabin, the woman hears strange noises which sounds like little girls calling for their mother. Things start to spiral out of control while an undercover cop is investigating a twenty year old cold case file in which a junkie and her twin daughters went missing.<br /> <br /> I had first hear about the film around the time that it was hitting festivals in November 2012, mainly because Tom Sizemore was involved with the film. It's a typical slasher, horror film but with a twist. This twist was something that I was not expecting. With the overall scheme of how the film plays out and how the film just kind of ends, I felt left wanting more. Maybe if they shot another twenty minutes or so to the film. I give the movie a 3/5.<br /> <br /> A Lure: Teen Fight Club (2009): 2/5<br /> <br /> What a title, "A Lure: Teen Fight Club". Sounds like we're getting into some real classy horror here. Film starts out with a detective, played by the writer and co-producer Jessica Sonneborn, who goes undercover into a high school in which three cheerleaders went missing. While there, the detective gets in with a clique and soon goes out to a party where sinister things are going down.<br /> <br /> I felt that this film was pretty bad. The writing almost felt that it was a wannabe tomboy writing a film from the mind of a male perspective. Nudity left and right, which isn't a bad thing; and stereotypical high school language that most of us have heard. Acting was ok, but, the acting couldn't save the story and plot, which was a rip off of Eli Roth's <i>Hostel</i>. Probably the worst film in this set. 2/5.<br /> <br /> All God's Creatures (2011): 4/5<br /> <br /> Jon is a serial killer, taking prostitutes into his apartment and having them meet their maker. He does it almost every night. He talks about how he praises serial killer Ted Bundy while doing his ritual murders. While working his day job as a barista, Delia comes into his life and everything changes and Jon grows a heart. But when the truth comes out about both of them, will Jon make her another victim in his long list of killings or will he and Delia have a happily ever after?<br /> <br /> For what it was, I really enjoyed it. At first, it felt like a cheap knock off of <i>American Psycho</i>. Jon, played by writer and co-producer Josh Folan, does give a good performance. I felt Jessica Kaye did a great job with her performance as the disturbingly broken Delia. I think this film will get replay value here and there, especially around Halloween time. I give the film a 4/5.<br /> <br /> The Hanged Man (2008): 2.5/5<br /> <br /> Six strangers on the internet talk about gathering for a mass suicide; only five show up to a barn on one of the stranger's property. While the group waits for the lead internet user who promised to bring the poison that would end their lives, a cop shows up and ruins their plans. The five have their sanity tested throughout the night and hope to make it until sunrise.<br /> <br /> The film was decent; I don't know what the point of the film was? We see that these five people are somewhat not sane. When we get to the final twist at the end of the film, how does it make sense? I felt that more could have been done to make this entertaining, but, it wasn't a complete wreck. 2.5/5.<br /> <br /> Video: 2.5/5<br /> <br /> Visible Scars (2012): 3.5/5<br /> <br /><i> Visible Scars</i> has a decent high definition transfer. Looking up close, there is some compression and there's a shot towards the end where the image has some rough compression that is strongly visible. Considering this was shot last year, it's completely what I expect it to be. I have read that the presentation on the individual release was almost flawless, not here. I give the visual presentation on <i>Visible Scars</i> a 3.5/5.<br /> <br /> A Lure: Teen Fight Club (2009): 2/5<br /> <br /> The visual presentation for <i>A Lure</i> is a tough one. When the film takes place in the daylight, which is just during the first fifteen minutes, the visual presentation looks good. However, the last hour of the film which takes place at night looks atrocious. There's a shot of the antagonist and he's backlit and you can see the black being macro and it's really strong. Even when there's strong light in the fight scenes, it feels subdued. I am not entirely sure if that was a creative choice during the color correction, but, it doesn't help the film at all. 2/5.<br /> <br /> All God's Creatures (2011): 4/5<br /> <br /> While the presentation was not perfect. I felt that the visual presentation for <i>All God's Creatures</i> was the best out of this set. With the exception of a few interlacing in some shots, it's pretty good. Whenever the scenes are in the middle of the night and it's pitch black, it's still strong, at least to my eyes anyway. Color and balance is pretty strong for this film. I give it a 4/5.<br /> <br /> The Hanged Man (2008): 1/5<br /> <br /> For the oldest film in the group, I honestly do not believe that this was shot in high definition. Even if you're not looking closely at the image, you can tell is has this blurry look to it. Looking up closely, even at characters' facial features, it's all jagged and blocky which screams that it's a standard definition master blown up to HD. Considering that this was shot in 2007 and it's a very low budget horror film, it's possible that they didn't have access to an HD camera. I give <i>The Hanged Man</i> a 1/5 for it's visual presentation.<br /> <br /> Audio: 4/5<br /> <br /> Like the previous newer double/triple/quad Blu-ray releases by Echo Bridge that have basic Dolby Digital 2.0, we only have English DTS-HD MA 2.0 for all four films. For <i>Visible Scars</i>, it's individual release had both English Dolby Digital 2.0 and a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. That DTS-HD MA 5.1 is not present on this disc. Echo Bridge is obviously focusing more on the video aspect of their Blu-rays. For what these audio presentations are, I feel that it's ok. I couldn't find no real complaints with it, all though it would have been nice if the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track would have been present on <i>Visible Scars</i>. I give the audio presentation a 4/5.<br /> <br /> Extras: .5/5<br /> <br /> Again, like all of these newer Echo Bridge titles, pandering to Wal-Mart. Vudu digital copies for all four films. What a waste of my time. <i>Visible Scars</i> does not contain any of the bonus material which was present on it's individual release. Considering how I felt about the film, I don't think I will honestly seek out the individual Blu-ray release. .5/5.<br /> <br /> Overall: 2.5/5<br /> <br /> Considering that you can get this for under eight dollars at Wal-Mart; I feel that this is worth picking up, despite the score that I am giving it. <i>All God's Creatures</i> and <i>Visible Scars</i> are worth it in this set while <i>The Hanged Man</i> and <i>A Lure</i> could have been so much more. I award this release a 2.5/5. Get it if you like indie horror films.Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1315338736655048136.post-90549360961267222142013-07-29T13:44:00.000-07:002013-07-29T13:44:15.194-07:00A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)<span style="font-size: x-small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Movie: 4/5<br />
Video: 2/5<br />
Audio: 5/5<br />
Extras: 1.5/5<br />
Overall: 3/5<br />
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"Is it Supernatural or All in Your Head?"<br />
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<em>A Tale of Two Sisters</em> is a South Korean horror film made by Kim Ji-Woon (<em>The Good, the Bad, and the Weird</em>). While most are probably not aware of this film, they might by aware of it's 2009 remake <em>The Uninvited</em> starring Emily Browning. If you've seen the American remake, almost everything is the same, with the exception of a real sinister supernatural element to the film. Su-Mi (Lim Soo-Jung) and Su-Yeon (Moon Geun-Young) come home from a mental institute and return to their father and his new wife, Eun Joo (Yum Jung-Ah).<br />
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The two girls do not take too kindly to their step-mother. At the same time, the step mother begins to see some sort of apparition while having a dinner party when one of her guests has a seizure. After that, the step-mother and Su-Mi become hostile to one another until it hits the breaking point.<br />
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I felt that the Yum Jung-Ah did a much better job as the wicked step mother in this version than Elizabeth Banks did in the remake. That real feeling of hatred towards Su-Mi felt more convincing. The odd thing is that when the inevitable twist comes in the plot, there's still a good half hour left in the film where the supernatural element comes into play again. This felt jumbled and ultimately not needed, even if it's justified in the final moments in the film before the end credits start to roll. Other than that; I give the film a 4/5. <br />
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Video: 2/5<br />
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I have some bad news and I got some even worse news. Bad news is that the film was shot on 35mm in a format called VistaVision which is a very out-dated method of filming that was dropped in the late 1970's. The worse news is that this video quality is pretty bad. I believe this might have been an SD master, not a DVD master mind you, blown up to HD for this Blu-ray. It is a 1080i transfer and it more or less shows throughout the film and even at the end. The interlacing gets bad pretty much during the last half hour of the film. Also, the image is jagged pretty much in every shot.<br />
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Also, from what I guess is the problem with VistaVision filming is that the film has this horizontal wobble in a lot of the shots. This wobble oddly reminds me of how the video looked on my own film that I shot with a cheap 720p camera. It looks like this throughout. That's nothing to blame Palisades Tartan for, as a matter of fact, I don't think PT had anything to do with this master.<br />
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From what I've seen with films made in Asia, the preservation has not been kind. Look at the masters on the Jackie Chan films from Fortune Star. The review I wrote on the South Korean film <em>Into the Mirror</em>, which was made the same year as <em>A Tale of Two Sisters</em>. Even though <em>Into the Mirror</em> was just on DVD in my Mirrors 2 review, it's visual presentation was atrocious as well. I do not believe that a lot of Asian countries had the means to preserve films in high definition at that time in the early 2000's. And it would also cost a lot of money to go back and rescan these films in HD. For that, this might turn people away from buying this release for this fact alone, 2/5.<br />
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Audio: 5/5<br />
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Palisades Tartan has given <em>A Tale of Two Sisters</em> two different Korean audio tracks; DTS-HD MA 5.1 and Dolby TrueHD 5.1. The audio, unlike the video, is fantastic. I couldn't find no real complaints with it. Sound effects sound nice and clear. Dialogue sounds crisp and not muted or subdued. I really enjoyed the audio. 5/5.<br />
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Extras: 1.5/5<br />
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<em>Creating a Tale of Two Sisters</em> is a twenty-four minute behind the scenes making of the film. From the first impressesions of viewing this extra, the quality looked as if it were something ripped off of Youtube. The video 4:3 with black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. Technical specs aside, for what it was, it was informative of the behind the scenes process of how shots are put together and how the crew are basically moving around as the shots are being done. I like it, but, the original U.S. DVD by Palisades Tartan was two discs with lots of bonus material. None of that is present here. I give the extras portions of the film 1.5/5.<br />
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Overall: 3/5<br />
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Despite the video quality and extras aside, did anyone also notice the spelling error on the "Copytight" warning on the first screen? Even though I am giving this release a 3/5, I do not know if I can honestly recommend this U.K. Blu-ray. I think if you have all ready gotten rid of your DVD copy and you do have a region free player, I'd go for it. This title in particular went for a very high price around $30 U.S. dollars. I managed to pick this up from my favorite Swiss store Grooves Inc for $11 U.S. dollars. For that price or any lower price, go for it. 3/5.</span><br />Orlando Eastwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09101723214281878566noreply@blogger.com0