DVD Collectors Online

Queen on Fire: Live at the Bowl, a review by Jon

Queen on Fire: Live at the Bowl
5 out of 5



Returning to the original rushes the concert is restored to its full length and presented, for the first time, in its entirety. This amounts to an additional 47 minutes of previously unseen material! Not released on Video, this is the first time this 1982 concert will be available for the public to buy. The pictures are restored and colour graded. The sound will be offered in both a brand new PCM stereo mix, and a fabulous DTS 5.1 surround sound mix.

Being as this features the best band in the world, ever, in the history of music, ever, fronted by the most talented front-man to pick up a microphone (...ever), you can rely on me to give you an objective review. These upstarts are going to have to earn their five stars, dammit.

Seriously, ratings are moot in this case. If you like Queen, buy the DVD. If you don’t like Queen, buy therapy. But assuming you are one of the intelligent majority, yet inexplicably haven’t bought this, I’ll try and put it in context.

Queen made two soundtrack albums: Flash Gordon and A Kind of Magic (for Highlander). Flash was a bit silly really and is difficult to listen to stand-alone. It’s their most famous work though from a lean period that saw them experimenting with euro-pop (or “funk black” as Freddie calls it) in the Hot Space album. A Kind of Magic is entirely opposite and features some of their best work. That return to form starting with The Works, coincided with their performance at Live Aid, where they blasted everyone else off stage. They then followed that with the Magic tour and much live material comes from that.

So Live at the Bowl is quite unique, especially as there are no releases of their early years, certainly not to this video quality anyway. Filmed in 1982, just after the release of Hot Space, it finds the band almost in limbo, though it hasn’t dulled their confidence. It’s mainly old classics peppered with Hot Space stuff, but nothing from their second phase (Radio Ga Ga, etc). So this is a fairly rare opportunity to see Action This Day, Dragon Attack, Back Chat and even Get Down Make Love performed live. But they really perform the shit out of both new and old! They were always unpredictable on stage and willing to mess a little with the music, so you got something worth seeing and not just video versions of the records. No-one else got audience interaction of this level either, so you get a real sense of being there, enhanced by the amazing DTS audio.

It starts properly with Hero, a filler track from Flash expanded to a brief rip-roaring rocker. They follow with the rare “fast” version of We Will Rock You. An amazing start! Other stand-outs (difficult to find when they are all fucking superb) include a gorgeous alternative intro to Somebody To Love which also gives Roger Taylor a drum solo. May gets his first show-off point in Now I’m Here, as you’d expect. Soon it settles into the much loved classics, with other rarely seen live versions, like Sheer Heart Attack.

Freddie shows off constantly of course! Playful and full of attitude throughout and in great form from the off, typical of the born performer, and changing occasional lyrics here and there. A week after Hot Space’s release and they’re all ready getting flak, so he has a screw you, nothing to prove demeanour. Stage was home and he is sorely missed. Their range as a band is unsurpassed.

Sorry if this isn’t balanced enough for you. If you wish to complain, please sod off and watch Westlife or Celine Dion instead.



(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 22nd, 2009)

Retroactive, a review by Tom

Retroactive (1997/United States) IMDb (United States) Director: Louis Morneau Writing: Michael Hamilton-Wright (Writer), Robert Strauss (Writer), Phillip Badger (Writer) Length: 91 min. Video: Widescreen 1.85 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: English, French

---

Stars:
James Belushi as Frank
Kylie Travis as Karen
Shannon Whirry as Rayanne
Frank Whaley as Brian
Jesse Borrego as Jesse

Plot:
If you could leap back in time and change the past, would you? If you did, could you face the consequences? A young woman comes face to face with these tantalizing questions in this action-packed sci-fi thriller starring James Belushi, Kylie Travis and Frank Whaley. Exploding with breathtaking special effects and startling twists and turns, this full-throttle adventure pushes the envelope for cutting-edge excitement.

Karen Warren (Travis) is a beautiful hostage negotiator trying to escape a tragic past. But her desperate flight leads to an even greater horror when she finds herself stranded on a deserted highway and at the mercy of a violent psychopath (Belushi) who commits a brutal murder right before her eyes. But this time, Karen gets a second chance. Stumbling upon an isolated research center, Karen meets a brilliant young scientist (Whaley) and discovers a top-secret device that gives her the opportunity to stop the savage rampage 'before' it begins!

Awards:
Nominated:

Saturn (1997)

Best TV Longform

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Trailers

Decent time-loop movie. Here the characters can travel 20 minutes back in time to try to prevent a maniac (James Belushi) killing other people with at first worse outcome as before. I can recommend it when you find a good bargain. Bad thing is, that the DVD release is quite old and has non-anamorphic picture and no bonus features.

Rating:

(From Tom's Time-Travel Movie Reviews on January 5th, 2008)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season Two
Year: 2008
Director:
Rating: NR
Length: 964 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
Leny Headey
Thomas Dekker
Summer Glau
Brian Austin Green

Plot:
The hunt is on in a season of powerful revelations, breathless pursuits and bravura effects. A mysterious 3-dot symbol (do UFOs provide a clue?), a girlfriend for John (is Cameron jealous?), a mysterious tech company ZeiraCorp (can it master the renegade software called Turk?) - Season 2's 5-disc action arsenal is locked, loaded, ready to amaze.

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Scene Access

This season started promising. Although not quite as great as the first season, I was enjoying it. But then I had the feeling that all involved were getting worn out making an action series and wanting to slow down. I have no problem with that, but I didn't really enjoy the storylines they were making then. For me it just didn't fit anymore. Added to that I didn't really like the Weaver/John Henry storyline. Her character just did not appeal to me, though the original idea involving her wasn't so bad. Also the Derek/Jessie was not that interesting. For my feeling Cameron had too few scenes. I also missed scenes with the group working together. Everyone had their own agenda.
The series picked up again towards the end, but never to the level of the first season. Contrary to the first season, which I already watched twice and could start watching again anytime, I think the urge to revisit the second season anytime soon will not be that great.
The last episode made me really worried. As it did go on they were opening up new threads one after another with the ending coming closer and closer. I was fearing that I will face a massive cliffhanger. But at the last minute with the last scene, it came all full circle for me and I think it was the perfect way to end the series. I am not sure if I would have liked a third season. I thought the last scene worked really great as a series finale.

#	Episode	Rating
01	Samson and Delilah
02	Automatic for the People
03	The Mousetrap
04	Allison from Palmdale
05	Goodbye to All That
06	The Tower Is Tall But the Fall Is Short
07	Brothers of Nablus
08	Mr. Ferguson Is Ill Today
09	Complications
10	Strange Things Happen at the One-Two Point
11	Self Made Man
12	Alpine Fields
13	Earthlings Welcome Here
14	The Good Wound
15	Desert Cantos
16	Some Must Watch, While Some Must Sleep
17	Ourselves Alone
18	Today Is the Day - Part 1
19	Today Is the Day - Part 2
20	To the Lighthouse
21	Adam Raised a Cain
22	Born to Run

(From Tom's Random Reviews on January 25th, 2010)