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Captain America - The First Avenger: Triple Play (Blu-ray + DVD)
by Decanus As some of you who have read my various reviews may now be aware, I am something of a Captain America fan. I've got comics, statues, t-shirts, toys etc...love the guy. When Marvel announced they were going to make a Captain America movie, I was a tad apprehensive. With the best will in the world, I know the character can come over a bit ... hokey, a bit old fashioned, and be perceived (wrongly) as just a jingoistic American superhero. Just to clarify the last bit, as this always annoys me, Captain America wears the American flag as he represents the American dream, the people, NOT the government or military. In fact, he once gave up the costume when the government tried to make him a puppet... But I digress.... What had also set alarm bells ringing was that the most recent proposal, by Director Jon Favreau (who directed Iron Man and Iron Man 2) was to make it a comedy; thankfully that was rejected. A Captain America movie had been in development since the late 1990's, but took until 2008 until all the pieces fell in place. As the movie was going to be a period piece, with its World War 2 setting, Joe Johnson (who had directed The Rocketeer) was signed up as Director, and he oversaw a script rewrite and began special effects design and casting. Interestingly, Joss Wheedon did the final script 'polish' to ensure that Captain America's 'voice' was right. Casting followed in 2010, with Chris Evans signed up first; fans were unimpressed, Evans not seeming right for the role and having already played the Human Torch in The Fantastic Four. Hugo Weaving signed up as The Red Skull, Toby Jones as Arnim Zola, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, Stan Sebastian, Hayley Atwell and Dominic Cooper completing the main cast. The majority of the film was shot in England, and shooting wrapped in April 2011. Main Cast:- Chris Evans Captain America / Steve Rogers Hayley Atwell Peggy Carter Sebastian Stan James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes Tommy Lee Jones Colonel Chester Phillips Hugo Weaving Johann Schmidt / Red Skull Dominic Cooper Howard Stark Richard Armitage Heinz Kruger Stanley Tucci Dr. Abraham Erskine Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury Toby Jones Dr. Arnim Zola Neal McDonough Timothy 'Dum Dum' Dugan Derek Luke Gabe Jones So whats the story? What I enjoyed about this film is that, yes, on the surface it is about a big guy with muscles beating up bad guys, but there is a lot more too it than that. The film is about Steve Rogers, not the costume. Steve Rogers starts out as your typical 98 pound weakling, unable to enlist in the army because he is too puny. A scientist, Dr Erskine, offers him an opportunity by enlisting in an experiment to create a 'super soldier', called Project:Rebirth, which Rogers joins. Erskine selected Rogers as he he had previously worked on the serum in Germany, where the serum had created The Red Skull, and he wanted the person who was granted the enhanced abilities to still be the good person they always were. A strong man does not appreciate the value of being made even stronger, whereas making a weak man strong makes him appreciate it every day. The experiment is a success, but Erskine is killed by a Nazi spy. As Project Rebirth was supposed to create an army of super soldiers (with Erskine dead there is no more formula) no one is sure what to do with Steve Rogers, until a Senator decides to utilise him as a symbol to improve morale in the country, and Captain America is born. Initially wearing the proper comic book costume Cap tours the U.S but tires of being just a poster boy and in Europe launches a sneak attack (with the help of Howard Stark and Peggy Carter) on a Hydra base, the organisation led by Red Skull. He frees the captured soldiers and destroys the base, proving his worth. Cap's 'for show' triangular shield is ditched in favour of a round vibranium shield, developed by Stark. From then on, he and his team (called The Howling Commandos in the comics) launch attacks on Red Skull bases everywhere, leading to the final confrontation when Captain America and Red Skull fight aboard the Skull's aircraft, laden with bombs to attack the U.S. Cap wins, but has to down the craft in the Arctic, supposedly a fatal act. However...due to the super soldier serum he doesn't die, but goes into a sort of hibernation, until discovered 70 years later by SHIELD agents. My Opinion? I thought it was fantastic. It struck just the right note between appealing to the fan and the neutral and although taking its inspirations from a variety of sources, tied it all together organically so you never noticed the stitches. As well as using a lot of Cap's original background from his creation in 1941, a lot of the more recent material by comic writers Mark Millar and Ed Brubaker is utilised. His superhero costume becomes a proper uniform, an armour, his shield slinging is shown to good effect, and his relationship with Bucky and the others is well done. The use of Hydra as Red Skulls organisation was interesting, as they are two separate foes in comic book land, and I wonder if it was so Nazi symbols could be kept to a minimum, and the German market not offended. The cast were all fantastic, Chris Evans was the perfect Captain America, the effects were great, and the origin was nicely retold while being integrated into a good story. Great stuff. On top of it telling its own story, the film also seamlessly slots more pieces into the cinematic Marvel Universe, as we see the first use of the tesseract, meet Tony Stark's father, and see other nods and winks. It makes this old fanboy happy! Blu-Ray Set Thoughts? Its a decent set, though not outstanding. Blu-ray disc is excellent quality, and the normal dvd looks good on my pc when I played it. The digital copy I have downloaded, but yet to play. The extras are all genuinely interesting, if not quite as in depth as I was hoping for. We get a handful of deleted scenes, and several featurettes which add a little background knowledge; the Red Skull one for example is good, showing us how Hugo Weaving was transformed, and edited, and in another we are shown how they managed to shrink Chris Evans into his puny state, before he bulks up as Captain America. The audio commentary is excellent, with some nice extra titbits and genuine insights; for example, we are shown Bucky being rescued by Cap from Zola's laboratory in the film, but nothing is really said. However, when Bucky falls to his 'death', we learn that whatever Zola was doing to Bucky actually saves his life. Hmm, wonder who that mysterious Winter Soldier character is, in Captain America 2.....great commentary. It is probably the best film you could get on screen of Captain America. Nuff said. Read the complete review |
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Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + UV Copy)
by broxi3781 The title of the film completely put me off. I really had no intention of watching it ever, but my sons do love monster films, vampires, zombies that sort of thing, and it was in 3D so I added it to our love film list, and once it arrived gave it a go. I was expecting to be bored silly with it, but as long as the children are happy I can ... enjoy watching their reactions to a film. As it turns out I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm not going to tell you this was a good as The Godfather, Gone With The Wind or the The Green Mile. It isn't. If you are expecting award winning drama the very mention of vampires should put you off. This is primarily and action film with highly choreographed fight scenes that have been popular since the Matrix, and a bit of horror thrown in. But along with the fights and frights, there is a real story in this, and even a moral. I ended up enjoying this film far more than I would have thought possible - and what's more - I'm willing to admit to it. The film is based on a novel of the same name by Seth Graheme Smith. The book is part of a rather strange new Genre called Mashups. These combine something like a classic piece of literature or a period in history with monsters of some sort. Other Mashup titles include Robin Hood and the Plague Undead, Little Vampire Women, Pride Prejudice and Zombies etc... It sounded like the type of thing that might be fun for children - but not exactly adult literature, so I brushed the entire genre off without a second thought. After watching this film I might actually give one a try - despite the silly names. The story begins with a young Abraham Lincoln on a dock alongside a large river. A black man is being forcibly dragged onto a boat. The plantation over seer then ends up beating a black child, who happens to be young Abraham's best friend. When Abraham intervenes a chain of events is set in motion that will result in the death of his mother and a life long battle against the forces of evil. When Abraham grows up he plans revenge on the vampire who killed his mother, but is nearly killed himself. He is saved by the very mysterious Henry, who then trains young Lincoln as a vampire hunter. The vampires are taking advantage of the peculiar institution of slavery to provide them with helpless human beings to feed on, but Lincoln sees slavery as an evil of its own as well. If his life is dedicated to fighting evil - then he must confront this dark blot on the so called land of the free as well. This will lead the nation to the edge of collapse and begin a full scale war between vampire and human, North and South, slavery and freedom. Friendships will be tried and tested, and loyalty may be found in unexpected places. For the most part - this is a fight film. There are a number of epic fight scenes and of course a fair amount of bloodshed. Some of these are really masterpieces of special effects especially the ones with the horses and the trains. But beneath it all, in the words of Lincoln himself : "It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle." In this film Lincoln struggles not only against the imaginary evil of Vampires, but also the very real evil of slavery. He also battles against himself with teh very human desire to have an ordinary life and keep his own loved ones safe balanced against the need to stand up for the rights of those who can not protect themselves. Of course painting the Southerners as evil monsters is really over simplifying things. There was much more to this conflict than slavery and there were good and noble people on both sides, as I'm sure is true with all wars. But there is the very clear impression of a duty for people to join the struggle for right. There were not any academy award winning performances and Benjamin Walker looks absolutely nothing like Abraham Lincoln, but the acting was good. there is nothing I can fault it on, but I can't say it was brilliant either. The one exception to this I believe was Dominic Cooper who was exceptionally good as Henry. I won't go into historical accuracy. If you are looking for accurate historical fiction I would strongly advise against picking up a film with vampire in the title. But I do not believe Lincoln had a black man as his best friend, always with him through the speeches and the discussing the war with him - nor do I believe black people were treated as equals in the North either, but it all makes a good story, and that is really what this film is about. I'd have given this film a 4 star rating. It was enjoyable, and had some brilliant special effects, but I would not class it as 5 stars. However, my children both loved this. They both feel it should receive 5 stars, and in addition to being very entertaining it has drawn out some very deep conversation from my oldest. Neither child was upset by vampires - they don't believe in monsters. But they were both upset by the very concept of slavery and this is a difficult thing to explain to a child. My oldest was quite interested in the underground railway, and so perhaps has learned a tiny bit of history from this, but he was more interested in the basic struggle between right and wrong - how good people could allow something so deeply wrong to take place. This led to a discussion of whether people have an obligation to stand up for what is right, or does the right to self protection outweigh this? Considering the fact that my children enjoyed this so much, and the depth of conversation it provoked - I am giving this 5 stars. This film is rated age 15. My sons are much younger than this ( ages 4 and 8) , but are not at all frightened by make believe monsters. Obviously this would not be a good a choice for every child as the vampires are quite well done and could be very frightening. If the child does not have a very clear concept of reality vs. fiction this film would not be suitable. There is violence, death and quite a lot of blood, but no prolonged scenes of suffering or cruelty. I do not recall any bad language at all, and there were no graphic scenes of a sexual nature. Finally, as I did watch this in 3D and this review slot is for the bluray 3D version of the film, I feel some mention must be made of the 3d effects. The film is always crystal clear, with no ghosts or blurry scenes. The depth is good, but in all honesty I forgot I was watching this in 3D for long segments of the film. There is however one long segment with a train which is very, very good, although there are never any jump out of the screen moment or moments where you feel you could reach out touch something. I can only describe the 3D as good, but mild. It quite likely was better in the cinema, and you may get a tiny bit more wow with active 3D, but I can only base the review on my own experiences, which was using passive 3d Technology. I may well buy this film at some point, because the children liked it so much, but I most likely will buy this in 2D DVD as this usually works out far cheaper. I borrowed this from Love Film, so recieved the 3D disk only. However looking on Amazon, I can see this is listed as "Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + UV Copy" which means you should get a 3D Bluray, a 2D Bluray and the right to download up to 5 copies free to devices such as tablets, i-pods or phones. Amazon is currently selling this for £19.99 which is average for 3D films. Used copies are available for roughly £15. Read the complete review |
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Hotel Transylvania 3D (Blu-Ray)
by broxi3781 I celebrated Mother's Day with a quiet night in and yet another movie night with the children. We usually choose 3D films for special occasions as the children really love the 3D experience. Hotel Transylvania begins with a few lovely father and daughter scenes with a doting father and an adorable baby. There is just one ... small twist - both are vampires. It soon becomes evident that there is no Mother in this picture. Of course that is no big surprise - most animated films do follow Disney's practice of killing off Mommy. In this case it is necessary as the loss of his his wife has deeply affected Dracula, making him overly protective of his only child. Rather than a terrifying monster, Dracula is a terrified dad, raising his child in fear behind closed shutters. He ends up building a hotel for monsters where they can have a holiday safe from humans, and most importantly of all - he can keep his beloved child safe. Of course children grow up and soon little Mavis 118 and anxious to see the world. A human back packer , Johny, stumbles onto the secret hotel and the scene is set for one disaster after another as Dracula tries to keep his guests from finding out there is a human in the hotel, arrange the perfect birthday party, get rid of Johny and in the meantime keep Johny away from Mavis, who has taken to him immediately. Johny is quickly disguised as Johnystein, and introduced as a party planner. He may be just what this old crowd needs after a century of the same thing. Johny certainly livens things up - but Dracula isn't fond of change. Absolutely nothing is going right for Dracula. Can he let go of his own fears and prejudices in time to bring his daughter happiness? I liked this film more than I expected too. It is primarily a comedy and there is one laugh after another, but there is more than one moral to the story as well. The story encourages children to not to judge by appearances, and to be more accepting of differences. It is a bit of an odd twist that humans are the frightening creatures in this, seen as different, evil and ignorant. This film does have a message about fear turning to hate and the sorrow this can bring. There is also something for parents - about letting go when the time comes and putting your child's happiness above your own. Dracula is an extremely sympathetic character, and one can not really help but feel for him. I was surprised to realise Adam Sandler provided the voice, as I tend to think of him in less serious roles, but he pulled it off perfectly. In fact the entire cast was flawless. My children both absolutely loved this film. Both say this should get 5 stars, with comments like brilliant, one of the best ever, and will there be a part two? They laughed themselves silly for the most of the film. The music was fun and well suited to the scenes from wild jams and rap to sweet lullabies. The animation is exceptional. I've never noticed Sony Pictures animation before, although apparently they do have a few other 3D films under their belt. They have stormed into the market with this film. This is one of the best CGI films I have ever seen. It would have been brilliant even without the 3D, but once again this film comes up trumps. The overall 3D was extremely good. There were not many moments where things came out of the screen - but there definitely was one "ohhh moment" where you felt like you could reach up grab something. This is not the most extreme 3D I have ever seen, but this is about as good as it gets without getting ghosts, blurred vision, eye strain and headaches. You do have to sacrifice some picture quality for the most extreme jump out at you scenes, and this film has not sacrificed quality in anything. I really can't find much to fault this film on. Of course a few bits are predictable, I'm sure most adults will guess at how this ends, and this is a film better suited to watching with children than for adults only. But even if I would not have bought this film for myself, I did enjoy watching it. Everything about this film juts seemed to go together so smoothly leaving an absolutely flawless finished product. I don't know how much room there is for a sequel, but if they should come up with one, it is something I would plan to see at the theatre and buy the bluray as well. This is most certainly a film I will watch again - especially around Halloween. I feel this film is suitable for all ages. There is one frightening scene where Dracula remembers his wife's death, but the monsters in this film will most certainly not frighten anyone. This is a comedy - not a horror film. I did enjoy this film, but I do feel it is best watched with children. If you really love animated films and sweet natured comedies, go ahead, but as much as i enjoyed this, I can't really see it being worth the purchase price for adults only. I got this for only £15 from CEX and trading in old DVD's made it even less. This sells for £22 from Amazon with similar prices at many retailers including Tesco's. I do feel this is well worth the full purchase price - or even more. I bought this on 3D Bluray. This came with the Bluray disk which plays in both 2D and 3D. There was not a 2D DVD included, but there is a dvd-rom for use on computer only with behind the scenes and a short animated feature as well. This also includes and ultraviolet code which means you can download up to 5 copies of this film to watch on phone or tablet for free. I have not attempted this yet as I assume it would take up an awful lot of hard drive and my sons tablets have limited memory space. * As always, 3D playback requires a 3D capable TV, 3D bluray player and glasses. I have watched this film using passive 3D technology. 3D quality may vary considerably based on several factors. For a perfect 3D experience you will need immaculately clean, unscratched glasses, a viewing position which allows you to see the TV looking straight forward rather than at an angle and just the right the distance from the TV. I would strongly advise moving back and forwards in front of the telly until you find just the right spot. We use inflatable furniture or gaming chairs and beanbags as the right spot is not where we have a comfortable place to sit. Read the complete review |
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Genre: Action & Adventure / Blu-Ray Movie / To Be Announced / Director: Jee-woon Kim / Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Forest Whitaker, Peter Stormare ... / Blu-ray released 2013-05-27 at Lions Gate Home Entertainment UK Ltd |
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Genre: Crime & Thriller / Blu-Ray Movie / To Be Announced / Director: Juan Antonio Bayona / Actors: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland ... / Blu-ray released 2013-05-06 at Entertainment One |
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Suitable for 15 years and over / Blu-Ray Movie / Director: Thomas Vinterberg / Actors: Mads Mikkelsen, Lasse Fogelstrom, Annika Wedderkop, Thomas Bo Larsen ... / Blu-ray released 2013-03-25 at Arrow / Features of the Blu-ray: PAL |
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Genre: Comedy / Blu-Ray Movie / Suitable for 15 years and over / Director: Richard Donner / Actors: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green ... / Blu-ray released 2008-10-06 at Warner Home Video |
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Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy - Fantasy / Blu-Ray Movie / Suitable for 12 years and over / Director: Barry Levinson / Actors: Kristen Connolly, Christopher Denham, Lauren Cohn, Andy Stahl ... / Blu-ray released 2013-03-18 at Momentum Pictures Home Ent |
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Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy - Science Fiction / Blu-Ray Movie / Suitable for 15 years and over / Director: Danny Boyle / Actors: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Troy Garity ... / Blu-ray released 2007-10-29 at 20th Century Fox Home Ent. |
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Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy - Fantasy / Blu-Ray Movie / Suitable for 12 years and over / Director: J.J. Abrams / Actors: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana ... / Blu-ray released 2010-11-01 at Paramount Home Entertainment |
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Genre: Comedy / Blu-Ray Movie / Suitable for 15 years and over / Director: David O. Russell / Actors: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Julia Stiles, Chris Tucker ... / Blu-ray released 2013-04-01 at Entertainment in Video |
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Genre: Comedy / Blu-Ray Movie / Suitable for 15 years and over / Director: Ben Wheatley / Actors: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Eileen Davies ... / Blu-ray released 2013-03-25 at studiocanal |
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Genre: Children's DVDs - Animation / Blu-Ray Movie / Parental Guidance / Director: Peter Ramsey / Actors: Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher, Jude Law ... / Blu-ray released 2013-03-25 at Paramount Home Entertainment |
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