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Warrior (Blu-ray)
by carlz2001uk
Settling down to watch the other night, I had already made my mind up hat I would enjoy this film. I expected it couldn't be too far from The Wrestler and The Fighter both of which I absolutely loved. I'm not a fighting fan by any stretch of the imagination and being a typical girl usually wince at every punch, however I have liked the ... style of the two mentioned films, in that they focus on whats going on emotionally in the lives of fighters and why they have chosen this path in life.
Settling down to watch a film last night, I had already made my mind up that I would enjoy this film. I expected it couldn't be too far from The Wrestler and The Fighter both of which I absolutely loved. I'm not a fighting fan by any stretch of the imagination and being a typical girl usually wince at every punch, however I have liked the style of the two mentioned films, in that they focus on what's going on emotionally in the lives of fighters and why they have chosen this path in life.
When this film first started I have to admit I was a little disappointed. It was, in my opinion, quite slow to get going, although my husband disagreed and told me it was just introducing the characters. We were initially introduced to Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy), who straight away came across as a very complex character. He goes to visit his father (Nick Nolte) and there is obviously a lot of history here with Tommy holding a massive grudge against his father. I have to admit, I switched off here for about five minutes, although I got the general gist of what they were talking about, I found it to just drag on a little too long. Once the film gets past this stage I soon started to like it and we are introduced to Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) who is a Physics teacher in a high school. He seems a totally different character to Tommy, and is settled and seems happy with the way his life is going. It quickly becomes apparent that the two men are brothers. Brendan is facing foreclosure on his house and is desperate not for that to happen and to raise the money he needs in order to stop it going through in 90 days. This is when we learn that, despite Brendan's squeaky clean image, he is a former UFC cage fighter, as Brendan turns to fighting in amateur fighting in order to raise the money.
I quite liked the way in which the film follows Brendan for 10 minutes or so and then skips back to Tommy, so you are constantly drip fed information, leaving you wanting to know more all the time. While Brendan is desperate to try and save his family home, there doesn't seem to be an underlying story with Tommy who just seems desperate to fight. He soon becomes a you tube sensation when he knocks out Pete 'Mad Dog' Grimes who is expected to become the middleweight champion of the world. It is at this point that the film introduces the Sparta tournament in Atlantic City in which the last man standing of 16 mixed martial arts fighters will win $5 million.
I thought this film was excellent. The camerawork was really good, as was the acting which I always find astounding when actors film roles such as this where they are basically taking on characters that have devoted their whole lives to the sport. Hardy and Edgerton were excellent actors but the fighting just puts it in a different class. Some of the moves they perform had me wide eyed (and flinching!). Both Edgerton and Hardy suffered injuries during production with Hardy breaking his toe, finger and several ribs, while injuries to Edgerton halted fighting scenes for six weeks. The men look fantastic too and while the men will most likely be watching the fighting, the women will perhaps be watching the amazing bodies!
I really really enjoyed this film, but I did guess what was going to happen after about a quarter of the film had passed. I knew where the film was heading but I also guessed more detailed aspects of the film. While this didn't bother me, it may be frustrating for some viewers. One thing that I did like was a story about Tommy which only surfaces half way through the film but takes us right up to the finale. This explained some of his behaviour and made the film more credible, rather than just having a stereotypical angry fighter we knew the reasoning behind this. The film and the fighting was 100% believable and the characters who played in the fight scenes added to this. One of the fighters (Koba) is introduced as an Olympic Gold medallist in the film, which is also true of the actor, Kurt Angle, who plays Koba, which again makes the film more credible.
The Blu-ray extras on the disc make this version more worthwhile getting with special features such as: Bringing warrior to life, deleted scenes, blu-ray enhanced viewing mode and feature audio commentary.
Running time: 140 minutes.
Release Date: 23 September 2011.
Praise for the film:
'All the Rocky's rolled into one' - Shortlist.
'Inspirational' Men's Fitness.
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127 Hours (Blu-ray)
by Whizz11
I just got around to seeing the film 127 hours. I had wanted to see it at the cinema but missed it and have only now finally gotten around to watching the blu ray that we recently bought. Well, I have to say I am glad I didn't see it in the cinema and sort of feel like I wasted my money on the blu ray. Don't get me wrong, the actual ... story behind this film is amazing and some parts were really cool but for the most part I found it really boring and actually switched it off half way through, only going back at a later date because I wanted to see how the gory bit would play out.
127 hours is the true story of canyon ever Aron Ralston who, in 2003 went hiking on his own in Utah and has his right arm trapped by a boulder is an isolated canyon.
The film starts out by showing us that he is quite an experienced canyon walker as he has been to this spot lots of times before and knows his way around. He also has all the right equipment with him and when he meets two girls on a hike he is able to show them to their trail and to an amazing plunge pool in one of the canyons. The scenery in the first part of this movie is amazing, absolutely stunning with beautiful canyons and rock formations and not another person in sight. I think the Blu ray high definition format really brings this scenery to life and its almost as if you are there yourself in the spectacular scenery. The images are so crisp and stunning and there really is no other way to watch this film than on a blu ray player.
When he leaves the girls we see the accident take place and his arm become trapped by this huge boulder. This was actually quite a good couple of scenes as we see him come to the realisation that he could be stuck here forever and that this will pretty much be his final resting place on this earth. It must be quite a horrible, intense feeling to realise this and I think James Franco, the actor who played Aron portrayed this well. However, shortly after this my husband pretty much summed up the rest of my feelings on the movie by saying, "how are they going to stretch this out for the next hour and a half then?" Well, this was achieved by the viewer watching Aron become more and more delusional as hunger, fatigue and lack of water starts to hit and you see him hallucinate,, dreaming of things that happened in the past and also having glimpses into his future. This is where it got a bit too mind trippy for me and although this really did happen in real life as they followed the video blog of the real Aron quite closely I think I would have preferred to see more of the practical side of the story but still.
So, I eventually got to the end, I won't spoil it for you but given that Aron wrote the book on his experience that this movie is based on it sort of tells you what became of him. There are some quite gruesome bits where you see how the end comes about. All in all I thought this film was so so but Danny Boyle (The Director) fans will probably love it.
Extras on this blu ray include:
Audio commentary
Deleted scenes
127 Hours: Movie Special
Search and Rescue featurette
127 Hours: An Extraordinary View
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Speed (Blu-ray)
by T4imbo3107
It's hard to believe that this film was released back in 1994, okay it's been on the TV a multitude of times and edited in parts to be shown on TV earlier than the 9pm watershed, but the problem is that this film is addictive to watch and as you watch it you seem to become immersed in the story itself. Speed is a high octane old ... fashioned 20th century film that I still like to watch, the reason is simple. It's just fun, it tells the story of a Los Angeles cop, Jack Travers, who as part of the LA Bomb Squad, thwarting the plans of a bomber in a down town skyscraper, with the help of his partner Harry Temple free the hostages from a lift just before the bomb explodes and the lift plummets to the ground. Realising that the bomber is still in the building, Jack and Harry decide to give chase, in a stand-off situation with Harry having a gun at his head, Jack decides to even the playing field and shoots his colleague in the leg, the bomber appears to commit suicide. The next day as Jack goes to work a bus explodes just outside a coffee shop, nearby a phone rings and Jack answers it, it's the bomber and this time Jack becomes the hunted rather than the hunter as he is told that another bus will explode if his demands aren't met, the catch being if the bus falls under 50mph in speed then the bomb will go off.
I did notice that the majority of the cast went on to bigger things after this film, for example Keanu Reeves plays Jack Travers. This for me was a revelation seeing him as the lead hero, okay so he had made Point Break before this one, but the character is totally different to his previous roles, cropped hairstyle, intelligent and experienced in his job. A complete flipside to Bill and Ted and his role in Speed would act as a foundation to his role he played The Matrix trilogy. At the start of the film he brash and cocky and once he has been "given" the task of the runner and problem solver the character tends to grow up quite quickly.
Co-starring with Reeves in the film is Sandra Bullock, her role as Annie was carried over into the sequel which was good but as is always the case that the sequel doesn't quite match up to the original. Her part is more comedy relief and the introduction of her character is something that the film manages to build very quickly as her personality and demeanour is given to the audience on a plate right from her first shot. This was Bullock's big break and in the film she is the one who deserves to get this for her part. Also it's plainly obvious that she becomes the love interest. Thirdly we have the bomber himself played by veteran actor Dennis Hopper who acts his socks off throughout the scenes he is in; for the most part he is the protagonist in charge of the proceedings, finely homed and requires applying quite a bit of micro-management to get what he wants. Jeff Daniels plays Harry, Jacks colleague and although he is injured in the first part of the film he does come back into it as the partner that watches Jack's back and so the pair are split up. His reaction when Jack shoots him in the leg is priceless and although this doesn't set the tone at that point, you do get the impression the two are close in terms of their working relationship.
The premise of the film is fresh and is extremely exciting to watch being played out, the emphasis is on mind games and the problems occur when either Jack or the bomber are trying to get the better of each other as the film plays out, this really does give the story a psychological edge that gives the film as a whole more dimension and basically makes the film interesting instead of one character being the single point throughout the film. The main character is not the only story in the film and the bus that the bomb is on plays a vital part in the plot itself as the claustrophobic area of the bus is used to some extent to convey the tension and also the emotions that the passengers are going through. With the bus being the point of focus for at least half the film the actions sequences are top notch and this includes the effort in trying to keep the bus at the required speed and also attempts to free the hostages, these are done in a clever manner which although diversionary in manner is something that the viewer watching will be sitting on the edge of their seat. The tension and suspense that is built up as the film steadily evolves is something that a lot of film makers could easily use as a reference to use and see as an example as to how an action thriller should be made. The story tends to take in a lot of Los Angeles and thankfully the action isn't as simple as the bus being driven around the same areas with different camera angles used, in fact the bus goes on motorways, fly overs and ends up at the airport, as the theme throughout seems to be movement and transportation. The climax of the story not only seals this but resolves a lot of issues in spectacular fashion and again shows what can be done if the thought processes are aligned. For me watching the film, it has to be a number of things that simply just bond to make this film something special to watch. One of these is the direction - Jan De Bont was a well-known cinematographer before Speed and here he takes the helm as director. I like what he has done; a lot of the shots are simple but complimented with angular shots that show the audience the entire situation, even managing to capture shots from under a bus or beneath a lift, the music by Mark Macina delivers a repetitive beat that is used at the right points and in the right places, this is effectively Jack's theme and is used throughout in the right places, I noted it was interesting that the music wasn't used in some scenes at all and this tends to elevate the scene even more and give it more strength. Lastly the opening titles are shown from inside the lift shaft where Harry and Jack start the adventure. Overlaid with a powerful opening score the film immediately gets the heart beating as this tell the viewer that this is going to be a rollercoaster ride.
Okay this is a Blu-ray release and so the picture quality and definition are of the highest quality possible, sound wise the noise is rather chaotic, especially in the gunfights where I was ducking for cover as bullets seemed to be flying around the room with high intensity such was the quality of the soundtrack, surprisingly I had heard things that I hadn't done before like background conversation in the brief coffee shop scenes that bough the film alive. Documentaries on this release are the same as the VHS! This was made of a Billy Idol music video and a documentary about the making of the film, however additionally there are more extras that you would expect to have on the second disc including a breakdown of stunts performed in the film, and interviews with the cast and director that give some idea as to why certain decisions were made. With the obligatory deleted scenes and also a photo gallery included I was impressed and spent over an hour going through these and have yet to play the commentary as well.
Overall this is a good film and a Blu-ray package that is worth buying, not only does the film work on many levels, with a good mix of action, suspense and a sprinkling of comedy as well. The film can easily be considered to be an edge of the seat thriller and definitely a film that breaks the mould, bottom line is that as soon as the titles finish then it goes up a gear and never really stops till the end titles have elapsed. A sure fire Saturday night winner! Just a shame the sequel that Reeves didn't want to be involved wasn't the same.
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