DVD Collectors Online

Mission: Impossible, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Mission: Impossible
Year: 1996
Director: Brian De Palma
Rating: PG-13
Length: 110 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.35:1, Pan & Scan 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Dale Dye
Marcel Iures
Ion Caramitru
Tom Cruise
Jon Voight
Emmanuelle Beart

Plot:
Tom Cruise ignites the screen in this runaway smash hit that "holds you on the edge of your seat before blasting you out of it" (Howard Rosenberg, Los Angeles Times). Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt, a secret agent framed for the deaths of his espionage team. Fleeing from government assassins, breaking into the CIA's most impenetrable vault, clinging to the roof of a speeding bullet train, Hunt races like a burning fuse to stay one step ahead of his pursuers...and draw one step closer to discovering the shocking truth.

Your mission should you decide to accept it: hang on for the "wildest ride of the year!" (Stephen Holden, The New York Times).

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
While I have seen this one before (when it was first released.. on VHS)... it has been so long that I went into this one without remembering anything at all about the story. It has also been many many years since I seen an episode of the TV series... so can't really comment on how well this movie portrayed the series. But taking this movie on it's own footing... it is a pretty cool action flick with some great scenes. It is one I definitely enjoyed.

Tom Cruise has always been hit or miss for me... only like half the stuff I have seen him in. But I liked him in this one. I thought Jon Voight was good in this one as well. Matter of fact... I pretty much enjoyed everyone in it. Though the DVD itself could have been better... the Audio/Video quality was fine on my 24in standard TV... but there wasn't any real extras to speak of... just the theatrical trailer.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs on January 29th, 2011)

Back to the Future, a review by RossRoy

WHAT THEY SAY

Experience one of the most popular movie series of all time like never before with the Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy! Join Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and a time traveling DeLorean for the adventure of a lifetime as they travel to the past, present and future, setting off a time-shattering chain reaction that disrupts the space time continuum! From filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, these timeless films feature all-new 25th Anniversary restorations for perfect picture and the purest digital sound available, plus hours of exciting bonus features.

MY THOUGHTS

Does this movie really need presentation?  And yeah, I watched it on Blu-ray. The movie itself? Just as good as ever. I love it. Loved it the first time i saw it (though I have a slight preference for Part II, mostly because of how it integrates itself with this one), and I still love it, 25 years later. Not much more to say about the film itself. Blu-ray? Ha! ... Ok, it looked AWESOME. Best quality I've ever seen this movie in. Now I know what Jon means about Blu-ray probably being more of a boon for older movies than for recent ones. It's incredible how much background detail come back to life here on Blu-ray! I even had to take out my DVD version to compare and.. yeah, Blu-ray brings out details that DVD misses. One particular moment that jumped at me is when the time machine reappears at the beginning of the movie after Einstein's 1-minutes time leap. The camera is behind the DeLorean with Marty and Doc behind it, maybe 25-30 feet behind, and in the the background are trees, scrubs and the mall further back. You can easily make it all out. It looks clean and sharp. You can see difference in the greens for the leaves and stuff, the street lights (well, technically parking lights) are sharp and clean on screen, I wouldn't be surprised if I had a bigger TV that I could make out the sign of the store that there. On the DVD, it all looks somewhat muddled in comparison. (Can't wait to see Part III - I don't know why, but I have a feeling the "western" look will lend itself to Blu-ray quite well!) The DTS-HD audio track sounds awesome! I think it's the first time I can say that I liked the sound of DTS over DD. I always felt DTS (on DVD) to be artificially boosted to make it appear to sound better than DD. Here it's all really well mixed and the level of sound details is amazing. Really, I never thought it could be that big of a step up. And keep in mind, I'm still listening with t he same 5.1 setup from DVD. Sure, my 5.1 decoder and speakers are THX certified and all, but DTS-HD wasn't even available when I bought them! That the codec is backward compatible AND manages to still sound better on older equipment? More power to them! I sounded great! Now, I know, this all sounds overly enthusiastic and I can see a few of you jumping around saying "yeah! another convert"... but don't jump too fast. Sure the picture is, I have to admit, leaps and bounds above DVD. Sure, it sounds much better. But did it really improve my enjoyment of the movie? Hard to say, but I don't think I would enjoy the movie less on DVD than I do on Blu. So I keep my previous stance. For the same price? Blu all the way. Is Blu worth a 10$ premium (which seems to be the average here in Canada)... No. Am I glad I got Black to the Future with "PERFECT PICTURE + PERFECT SOUND"? You betcha! But I got it at a ridiculous price (especially if you factor in the fact that it was paid by a gift certificate I received at Xmas  )

RATING

(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on December 31st, 2010)

Tom's TV Finales marathon, a review by Tom

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Birds of Prey: The Complete Series (2002/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Warner Home Video (United States) Length: 542 min. Video: Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: English

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Plot:
Who will stand up to villains now that a heartbroken Dark Knight has mysteriously vanished? Never fear, New Gothamites, a trio of champions is ready to take wing - and Helena, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, is among them. She calls herself Huntress and crime is her prey. Teenaged Dinah is the youngest of the group, learning as she goes and gifted in clairvoyance. And overseeing the awesome threesome's high-tech nerve center is Batgirl. Left wheelchair-bound by The Joker, she has reinvented herself as OracleBirds of Prey. Fighting together. Living together. And soaring into adventure together in 13 breathtaking live-action episodes.


Birds of Prey
Season 1.12 Feat of Clay & Devil's Eyes
Writer: Adm Armus (Writer), Kay Foster (Writer), Hans Tobeason (Screenwriter), Adam Armus (Story By), Melissa Rosenberg (Story By)
Director: Joe Napolitano, Robert J. Wilson
Cast: Ashley Scott (Helena Kyle/Huntress), Dina Meyer (Barbara Gordon/Oracle), Rachel Skarsten (Dinah Lance), Shemar Moore (Det. Jesse Reese), Ian Abercrombie (Alfred Pennyworth), Mia Sara (Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn), Shawn Christian (Wade Brixton), Robert Patrick Benedict (Gibson Kafka), Ian Reed Kesler (Chris Cassius), Kirk Baltz (Clayface), Patrick Fischler (Dr. Will Kroner), Steve Hytner (Dr. Franklin Rominic), Brad Blaisdell (Guard #1), Ted Underwood (Guard #2)

This is another series which was cancelled early. But here they at least got a chance to a last two-parter to conclude the main storylines of this season. Which is a luxury not a lot of series get to do in similar circumstances.
So they had to put a lot of stuff into these episodes, which makes the conclusion of these storylines a little rushed. But at least we get a resolution for them. Like the two love interests for the two main characters. One of them finally get together after a season of teasing. The other gets to find out about the crime fighting and all (thanks to Alfred where he pulls the same stunt he did in the first Batman movie with Vicky Vale). Another thing which comes out of nowhere: The resolution of whom killed the mother of Huntress.
The music replacements in this DVD release is something which really bothered me. One thing I mentioned before is the removal of the great theme song. The other big replacement is the final showdown. In the original aired version, they played T.a.t.u.'s "All the Things She Said", which worked really well. Also it was the first time I had ever heard the song. Although I have to admit, you would not notice these replacements, if you haven't seen the original version.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Finales marathon on January 28th, 2013)