DVD Collectors Online

Live Free or Die Hard, a review by Dragonfire

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Live Free or Die Hard The action explodes as never before in this 2-Disc Collector's Edition of Live Free or Die Hard! Start with the unrated version, packed with more thrills, more attitude...more John McClane! Then add a spectacular 10-part documentary that takes you where no Die Hard fan has gone before, plus an uncensored interview with Bruce Willis on the studio backlot and more. With over two and a half hours of special features, this is the ultimate Die Hard experience. Yippee ki yay!

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Even though a lot of time had passed since the release of the third movie and some people probably figured there was no point in another Die Hard movie, I really enjoyed this one and think it fits in well with the previous movies.

John is a bit older, but he is still a bad ass.  He is once again in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he still steps up and does what has to be done.  That's the kind of guy he is.  If that aspect of the movie had been changed, the movie wouldn't have worked as well I don't think.  What made the first two movies so great - while I still like the third movie, I don't think it is as good as the first two - was that John was just a normal guy thrown into the middle of a huge, dangerous mess.  He gets hurt and makes some mistakes along the way, but he gets done what needs to be done.  He's not some unstoppable guy who dodges bullets and is never hurt in any way.  Even though he does some crazy, wild things, it seems more believable because of how the character is set up.

I like the plot and the fact that the bad guy is using technology.  Thomas is a decent bad guy and I like him overall, but he's no Hans Grubber. 

I like the character of Matt and how he interacts with John.  I mostly like Lucy as well, though she is slighting annoying a few times.  John is a lot like he was in the first movie, but he's changed from how he was in the third movie.  In that movie, things were really bad for him.  I'm glad that the movie has the character more stable even though there are issues with his relationship with his daughter.

It does seem wrong that the studio pushed for and got the PG-13 rating.  A Die Hard movie having that rating is just wrong...and then they go and cut off John's signature line.  At least there is an unrated version on the DVD - which is what I always watch.  It's not that I particularly like hearing lots of swearing, but John is a character that uses colorful language...that was clearly established in the first movies, and changing it now is wrong.  I think most of the differences are in adding in more swearing.  I'm not sure if the unrated version is more violent or not.

People who liked the previous Die Hard movies should give this one a chance. 



I did get a review posted at Epinions after seeing the movie in the theater.

Live Free or Die Hard

(From Marie's Random Movie Viewing on August 13th, 2011)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, a review by DJ Doena

May, 1st


William Shatner    ...    Admiral James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy   ...    Captain Spock
DeForest Kelley   ...    Dr. McCoy
James Doohan   ...    Scotty
Walter Koenig   ...    Pavel Chekov
George Takei   ...    Hikaru Sulu
Nichelle Nichols   ...    Cmdr. Uhura
Bibi Besch   ...    Dr. Carol Marcus
Merritt Butrick   ...    Dr. David Marcus
Kirstie Alley    ...    Lt. Saavik
Ricardo Montalban   ...    Khan
Judson Earney Scott    ...    Joachim Weiss

Synopsis: The Enterprise has become a teaching ship and Captain Spock is in command. When Admiral Kirk is on inspection and takes the ship for "a tour around the block" they get a disturbing call from Dr. Marcus. Someone is trying to get his hands on the "Genesis" project, a secret research project to create life on lifeless planets. But this Genesis device could also be used as a terrible weapon. And Kirk's enemy is no other than the genetically enhanced Khan. He tried to kill Kirk and take his ship fifteen years ago.

My Opinion: Still a great movie. I really liked how they used the fact that space is three-dimensional, a fact that even especially Sci-Fi shows forget too often. I also liked how Khan used quotes from Moby Dick, but replaced some of the places with astronomical locations. Technically he couldn't have this knowledge, he was in stasis and shortly after his defrosting he was banned to Zeti Alpha 5. He also couldn't know that the Klingons have a proverb: "Revenge is a dish best served cold". But I am willing to overlook that because Montalban was awesome when he said it.
And I loved those close combat scenes, it reminded me of the old battles between sailing ships.

(From DJ Doena's movie watchings 2009 on May 1st, 2009)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon, a review by Achim

9. ComplicationsMy comments:
After the fast paced episode 8 is=t was quite reasonable to have things pulled back a bit for episode 9, getting some more character and story development done. There is basically three threads running, one for Sarah (boring), one for Derek (intense) and one for Ellison (short jaw-dropping).

Sarah is having some sort of recurring nightmare involving Cromartie and three dots that even has her sleepwalking. I don't really understand what they were trying to do with this and it had me mostly bored. It was nice to have Dorian Harewood as Dr. Sherman back though.

Derek's story I found very exciting. The slow build up and twists and turns that bring us to the revelation at the end. Two really interesting things are achieved in this episode, one being the discussion about changing the future and the other how they basically got Derek's girlfriend Jesse off the hook "with a whip-pan" . The stuff under her bed shall not be forgotten though...

And then there is Ellison, who gives us a big jaw-dropping moment at the end.

(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on February 7th, 2010)