DVD Collectors Online

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)

Demolition Man, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Demolition Man
Year: 1993
Director: Marco Brambilla
Rating: R
Length: 115 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1, Pan & Scan 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: Mono, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Sylvester Stallone
Wesley Snipes
Sandra Bullock
Nigel Hawthorne
Benjamin Bratt
Bob Gunton

Plot:
Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes go at it amid a dazzling cyber-future in this explosive hit. In 2032 archcriminal Simon Phoenix (Snipes) awakens from a 35-year deep freeze in CryoPrison to find a serene, non-violent Los Angeles ready for the taking. Unable to deal with Phoenix's brutal 1990s style, officials seek an old-fashioned cop to fight old-fashioned crime. They revive Sgt. John Spartan (Stallone), unjustly serving a CryoPrison sentence because of his last encounter with Phoenix. Sandra Bullock and Benjamin Bratt (TV's Law and Order) also uphold the law in this "terrific mix of action and humor" (Joel Siegel, Good Morning America/ABC-TV).

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Production Notes
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
This is the first movie I became aware of Sandra Bullock in. To me this is just a fun movie... it is a good mixture of comedy and action. A movie I have enjoyed watching countless times. Sure it is far fetched... pretty much have to suspend believability... but I think as long as you can do that you can definitely enjoy this movie. I thought Sandra Bullock was hilarious in this movie,,, but of course Stallone and Snipes were also good.



(From Monday Mini-Marathon: Happy Birthday Sandra Bullock on July 26th, 2010)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Batman: The Animated Series


On Leather Wings
Batman must clear his name when he investigates a horrifying bat creature terrorizing Gotham City.

My Thoughts:
Now to the original Batman... I used to watch this series all the time in the '90s.Definitely an enjoyable series (and episode). Though part of me would have preferred an origin story for the pilot episode. Or at least in the beginning of his journey. In this episode he was already well know in Gotham. But that is ok... if I remember right... they did go back and do an origin story at some point in this series.

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on November 2nd, 2009)