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Reviews Written By: AQP1VPK16SVWM

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	Contact
	"Secret messages"	2009-10-22
An exceptional looking Blu-ray, "Contact" tells the story of Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster)and the impact that her discovery of a message from an alien race impacts society. In essence "Contact" acts as both a literal title and a pun--the film is about contact between science and faith, between a woman who loses her family at a young age trying to reconnect in some little way with what's she lost and her unending faith that she will discover there IS life out there. Working with authors Carl Sagan and Anne Druyan director Robert Zemeckis has refashioned the tale adding the character of David Drumlin (Tom Skerrit)as an adversary who dogs Ellie every step of the way pushing her further and further away from her opportunity to embrace her discovery. Featuring a terrific supporting cast "Contact" focuses more on the humanity rather than the hardware but deals with a number of complex themes in the process. Rather than focusing on a team that goes to meet the Vegans Zemeckis and screenwriters James V. Hart & Michael Goldberg elect to make one person go throwing the finale into question--again, it comes down to a matter of faith and Ellie believes. The Blu-ray has all of the original extras that were on the 1997 DVD. While the transfer looks extremely good with nice detail, color and clarity. It appears to be digitally scrubbed though with a bit too much digital noise reduction used reducing the level of the detail in the process. Nevertheless, it does blow away the original DVD by leaps and bounds particularly the opening sequence as we look at the Earth following the radio waves as they leave our planet moving further and further away from our solar system. "Contact" is a very good if flawed film. The faith vs. science themes that were so prevelent in Sagan's book are still here but presented in a bit of a muddled fashion. There's zero chemistry on screen between Foster and McConaughey. David Morse brings a strong, quiet presence to his role as Ellie's father. The ending although it is touching and does provide a sense of closure (and while it does make sense in many respects) may feel like a cheat to some. I thought it worked quite well within the context of the film. Some of the story elements like the subplot involving a terrorist attack on the "Machine" and NASA are deftly handled--they could have been blown up (pardon the pun)into soap opera spectacle but Zemeckis plays it low-key. The other flaw is the time compression from discovery to execution; while it was essential to keeping the film moving forward it also makes everything seem as it it happens rather quickly. Over all this is a exceptionally good looking Blu-ray and the fact that Warner has ported over all the DVD extras (something that many studios have chosen not to do)is a big plus as well. Highly recommended.
	Contact
	"Secret messages"	2009-10-22
An exceptional looking Blu-ray, "Contact" tells the story of Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster)and the impact that her discovery of a message from an alien race impacts society. In essence "Contact" acts as both a literal title and a pun--the film is about contact between science and faith, between a woman who loses her family at a young age trying to reconnect in some little way with what's she lost and her unending faith that she will discover there IS life out there. Working with authors Carl Sagan and Anne Druyan director Robert Zemeckis has refashioned the tale adding the character of David Drumlin (Tom Skerrit)as an adversary who dogs Ellie every step of the way pushing her further and further away from her opportunity to embrace her discovery. Featuring a terrific supporting cast "Contact" focuses more on the humanity rather than the hardware but deals with a number of complex themes in the process. Rather than focusing on a team that goes to meet the Vegans Zemeckis and screenwriters James V. Hart & Michael Goldberg elect to make one person go throwing the finale into question--again, it comes down to a matter of faith and Ellie believes. The Blu-ray has all of the original extras that were on the 1997 DVD. While the transfer looks extremely good with nice detail, color and clarity. It appears to be digitally scrubbed though with a bit too much digital noise reduction used reducing the level of the detail in the process. Nevertheless, it does blow away the original DVD by leaps and bounds particularly the opening sequence as we look at the Earth following the radio waves as they leave our planet moving further and further away from our solar system. "Contact" is a very good if flawed film. The faith vs. science themes that were so prevelent in Sagan's book are still here but presented in a bit of a muddled fashion. There's zero chemistry on screen between Foster and McConaughey. David Morse brings a strong, quiet presence to his role as Ellie's father. The ending although it is touching and does provide a sense of closure (and while it does make sense in many respects) may feel like a cheat to some. I thought it worked quite well within the context of the film. Some of the story elements like the subplot involving a terrorist attack on the "Machine" and NASA are deftly handled--they could have been blown up (pardon the pun)into soap opera spectacle but Zemeckis plays it low-key. The other flaw is the time compression from discovery to execution; while it was essential to keeping the film moving forward it also makes everything seem as it it happens rather quickly. Over all this is a exceptionally good looking Blu-ray and the fact that Warner has ported over all the DVD extras (something that many studios have chosen not to do)is a big plus as well. Highly recommended.
	Contact
	"Secret messages"	2009-10-22
An exceptional looking Blu-ray, "Contact" tells the story of Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster)and the impact that her discovery of a message from an alien race impacts society. In essence "Contact" acts as both a literal title and a pun--the film is about contact between science and faith, between a woman who loses her family at a young age trying to reconnect in some little way with what's she lost and her unending faith that she will discover there IS life out there. Working with authors Carl Sagan and Anne Druyan director Robert Zemeckis has refashioned the tale adding the character of David Drumlin (Tom Skerrit)as an adversary who dogs Ellie every step of the way pushing her further and further away from her opportunity to embrace her discovery. Featuring a terrific supporting cast "Contact" focuses more on the humanity rather than the hardware but deals with a number of complex themes in the process. Rather than focusing on a team that goes to meet the Vegans Zemeckis and screenwriters James V. Hart & Michael Goldberg elect to make one person go throwing the finale into question--again, it comes down to a matter of faith and Ellie believes. The Blu-ray has all of the original extras that were on the 1997 DVD. While the transfer looks extremely good with nice detail, color and clarity. It appears to be digitally scrubbed though with a bit too much digital noise reduction used reducing the level of the detail in the process. Nevertheless, it does blow away the original DVD by leaps and bounds particularly the opening sequence as we look at the Earth following the radio waves as they leave our planet moving further and further away from our solar system. "Contact" is a very good if flawed film. The faith vs. science themes that were so prevelent in Sagan's book are still here but presented in a bit of a muddled fashion. There's zero chemistry on screen between Foster and McConaughey. David Morse brings a strong, quiet presence to his role as Ellie's father. The ending although it is touching and does provide a sense of closure (and while it does make sense in many respects) may feel like a cheat to some. I thought it worked quite well within the context of the film. Some of the story elements like the subplot involving a terrorist attack on the "Machine" and NASA are deftly handled--they could have been blown up (pardon the pun)into soap opera spectacle but Zemeckis plays it low-key. The other flaw is the time compression from discovery to execution; while it was essential to keeping the film moving forward it also makes everything seem as it it happens rather quickly. Over all this is a exceptionally good looking Blu-ray and the fact that Warner has ported over all the DVD extras (something that many studios have chosen not to do)is a big plus as well. Highly recommended.
	Star Trek The Original Series: Season Two [Blu-ray]
	"The second season of "Star Trek" looks exceptional but this set does have some problems"	2009-10-12
Bascially this is the same set as the remastered/restored season two set released late last year on DVD except with superior encoding and, of course, Blu-ray 1080p resolution. The second season of "Star Trek" was almost as strong as the first with pivotal episodes developing and filling in the background on the major characters of the show. It also introduced Chekov (Walter Koenig) as a regular member of the cast. Episodes like "Amok Time", "The Doomsday Machine" and others benefit from the new digital visual effects. The nice thing here is that you can toggle between the old and new visual effects with this set.We also get some terrific extras here including "Star Trek The Animated Series" episode "More Trouble, More Tribbles" as a tie-in to the original episode included here as well as the "DS9" episode that celebrated the anniversary of the original series. It's upscaled from 480p for its presentation here and while it doesn't look quite as good as the episodes included here it does suggest that the show look exceptionally good if they go back to the original master film elements and transfer them to Blu-ray (they'll probably have to upscale the visual effects though). We also get commentary tracks on "Trouble" and "More Trouble" by writer David Gerrold. The rest of the special features have been ported over from the original DVD set. All of the original special features are ported over in SD. Blu-ray Live content includes "Writing for Spock", "Creating Chekov", "Listening to Actors" and "Spock's Mother". The Mobile Blu content is what's troublesome; evidently it causes problems for older players to access the episodes themselves. For example I can't play these discs on my older player which is kept upstairs. I would suggest that Paramount/CBS make sure that the discs are backwards compatable with older players. One of the issues that dogged blu-ray early on was the fact that it wasn't a finished format. The easiest way for the winner of the format wars to be a loser is to tick off consumers and requiring them to buy new players.
	Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection [Blu-ray]
	"The theatrical voyages of The Next Generation" crew--looks really good some new extras"	2009-10-11
Review for Blu-ray only. Got an opinion? Write a review or post a comment. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had a mixed series of films released in the wake of the end of the TV show. This terrific Blu-ray set brings us all four films looking from extremely good to terrific looking. "Star Trek Generations" acted as a transition film between the original cast and the STTNG crew. Soren (Malcolm McDowell)hijacks material from the Romulans to cause a sun to go nova. His purpose to alter the course of an energy ribbon where one can exist in almost a fantasy world and going backward and forward in time. Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart)must face off against Soren and uses the help of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) to stop Soren, save a populated planet and his own crew from death so Soren can relive his own past. While hardly perfect, "Generations" features a complex almost sympathetic villian as portrayed by McDowell. The Blu-ray looks extremely good with nice inky blacks, solid detail and a crisp image that doesn't suffer from overprocessing like some of the original "Star Trek" films did when they came to Blu-ray. Extras include a marvelous commentary track by co-writer Ronald Moore ("Battlestar Galatica")and Brannon Braga ("Threshold") as well as a new commentary track by "Enterprise" co-producer/writer and "Odyssey 5" creator Manny Cotot (also "24") and director David Carson. There's also deleted scenes as well as a visual dictionary giving you definitions for many of the things in the film and about the "Trek" universe. The best film in the series "Star Trek: First Contact" allows Picard and his crew to engage the Borg the best villian introduced on "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Picard discovers that the Borg plan on assimilating humanity in the past while at their most vunerable. Picard and the Enterprise crew survive the change of the future and travel to the past to undo the damage they've done in their attempt to prevent the first flight of Zephram Cochran (James Cromwell). Data must resist the advances of the Borg Queen (Alice Krige in a brilliant performance) who tries to use him to take over the Enterprise. Featuring exceptional direction by cast member Jonathan Frakes "First Contact" also benefits from a first rate script by Braga and Moore again. The films allow us to see a darker side to Picard's character developing a literary parallel with Melville's MOBY DICK. The entire cast does a terrific job with the material and brings humor, pathos and a stronger sense of humanity to the characters in the film. The extras are exceptional here. It appears that the original extras have been ported over along with a new commentary track by the writer of J.J. Abrams' next "Star Trek" film Damon Lindelof ("Lost") and Anthony Pascale that compliments Brannon and Moore's insightful, trivia filled commentary track that gives us insight into the writing process for the film. We get the majority of the special features ported over from the original (many of them in SD)including the visual effects featurettes. We also get "Industrial Light and Magic-The Next Generation", "Greetings from the International Space Station", "Spaceship One's Historic Flight","Data & Beyond", "Trek Roundtable" discussing the "Next Generation" films as well as "Library Computer" and "Star Trek IQ" with the last available only via BD Live. "Star Trek: Insurrection" the third film fell back into TV territory in terms of scope and story. That's not a bad thing but the theatrical version of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" needed to break free of its TV origins with bigger, broader stories. Where "Insurrection" falls down is a smaller character driven story the late Michael Piller ("The Dead Zone", "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine") and producer Rick Berman. Director Jonathan Frakes makes the best of his material and Piller's screenplay does provide us with plenty of "character" moments that stand out in the film. The terrific character actor Anthony Zerbe("The Omega Man", "Matrix Revolutions") and Oscar winning actor F. Murray Abraham ("Amadeus")make the best of their roles. Abraham tries to chew the scenery appropriate given that his villian SHOULD be larger-than-life but he just doesn't have the material here. The film looks exceptionally good with a colorful and sharp BD transfer. While Data is away observing an alien civilization called the Ba'ku he goes bananas revealing the observation station and not responding to commands. Picard and the Enterprise are called upon to help shut him down and discover a conspiracy to remove the Ba'ku from their planet. The extras here are feature the original DVD materials ported over along with new material as well including a goofy, endearing if hardly informative commentary by Frakes and actress Marina Sirtis. Sirtis apparently remembers very little about the shooting of the film. We also get "Trek Roundtable" again discussing "Insurrection", "Origins of the Ba'Ku and Son'a Conflict", "Marina Sirtis: The Counselor is In" and the third part of "Data and Beyond". Again, we get "Library Computer" (not my favorite special feature) and "ST:IQ" as a BD-Live extra. I never understood the hate directed against "Star Trek: Nemesis". It's probably the second best film in the series with a strong performance by actor Tom Hardy, Ron Perlman playing a creature once again and the examination of a number of terrific themes including family, mortality and the path not taken. The transfer itself looks extremely good if a tad overprocessed--I suspect it was pulled from an earlier HD master where a large amount of noise reduction was used as detail isn't quite as sharp although it still looks better than the DVD. I can only surmise that the sometimes generic action direction of Stuart Baird. Baird a talented editor elected to remove most of the character moments that endear these films to Trek fans. Those scenes are included in SD in pretty bad quality in most instances. The original extra from the two disc set are included. The screenplay by "Gladiator" writer John Logan (who also wrote "The Time Machine" remake)has a number of marvelous set pieces but it fails to add up and doesn't quite hold together as well as "First Contact". The new extras include a commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda, HD featurettes including "Reuion with The Rikers", "Today's Tech, Tomorrow's Data", the last part of "Data and Beyond" with Brent Spiner, another "Trek Roundtable" about the film, "Robot Hall of Fame" and a "Starfleet Academy" piece on "Thalaron Radiation". As with the other "Star Trek" boxed set we get an "extra" disc with plenty of HD content including interviews with "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" & "Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country" director Nicholas Meyer, the writers of J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci discussing the villians in the "Trek" universe. We also get an intersting documentary on "The Evolution of The Enterprise". Overall, this is a very good set with two exceptionally good movies, two entertaining if less than brilliant "Trek" excursions (you decide which is which), plenty of new BD high def material, a bit of BD exclusive material and the original extras ported over from the two disc DVDs from a couple of years back. The transfers look from very good to exceptional. "Generations" 3 1/2 stars, "First Contact" 5 stars, "Insurrection" 2 1/2 stars, "Nemesis"...well you decide what you want to give it.
	Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones
	"Terrific debut sounds extremely good on CD nice mastering job..."	2009-08-22
With "Chuck E.'s in Love" Rickie Lee Jones became an overnight sensation. Although she didn't have any other huge hits from her later albums Jones continues to make terrific music. "Pirates" the second album is more ambitious and certainly less "pop" mainstream that the first and, perhaps, on a song-per-song basis a better album but "Rickie Lee Jones" manages the difficult balancing act of creating radio friendly pop songs and jazz/blues inflected classics. The original Warner CD sounds terrific. Could it be improved? Well maybe. The horns are a bit thin sounding but the ringing tone of acoustic and electric guitars as well as the bass all sound great courtesy of a brilliant original mastering job by engineer Lee Herschberg. For $8 you can't go wrong with this CD as it captures much of the warmth of the original vinyl and the detailed sound as well. The only improvement that I can see is if Audio Fidelity or Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs elected to do this fine album as an SACD similar to "Pirates" her second album. The CD booklet has the original lyrics and full album credits.
	Big Trouble in Little China [Blu-ray]
	"My second favorite John Carpenter film arrives with nice extras ported over on exceptional looking Blu-ray"	2009-08-06
John Carpenter had good stuff to sell unfortunately the public wasn't buying. "Big Trouble in Little China" like "The Thing" (my favorite Carpenter film)didn't connect with audiences at the time but has discovered renewed popularity on home video. Kurt Russell appears in his fourth Carpenter film ("Elvis", "Escape from New York", "The Thing" and later he would appear in "Escape from L.A." which parodies the first film and all the films that imitated its post-apocalyptic style. Interestingly Carpenter was inspired to make "Escape" after watching a then little known movie called "Mad Max")with a John Wayne swagger, macho attitude and parody of that type of hero. The Blu-ray looks excellent. Colors pop and detail is remarkably sharp. Fox has clearly learned a thing or two after the debacle of the over processed "Patton". Dialogue comes across loud and clear. Most of the extras are ported over for this special edition including the entertaining Carpenter/Russell commentary track. In fact, I'm hoping that "Star Man" (my third favorite Carpenter film)will finally have the commentary track that was on the British edition when it arrives on Blu-ray. I'm also hoping that Sony will take the same care that Fox has here. A very pleasant surprise, "Big Trouble in Little China" arrives looking terrific and Fox has wisely chosen to port over most of the extras from the Special Edition from a decade ago. Highly recommended.
	Olivia Newton-John, ELO, Cliff Richard - Xanadu
	"Fun, entertaining soundtrack for an amazingly BAD movie"	2009-07-12
The movie "Xanadu" is, well, just plain bad. The soundtrack on the other hand has some terrific pop songs. John Farrar's written track "Magic" sung by Olivia Newton-John fits is pure pop heaven. Most of the other tracks vary from OK to really good. The ELO tracks sound like they belong on some sort of lost follow up to "Discovery". "I'm Alive" and "The Fall" meld gorgeous melodies to the classic ELO sound mixed with a disco beat. "Don't Walk Away" and "All Over the World" are the highlights while the title track written by Jeff Lynne and performed by Olivia Newton-John (Jeff Lynne did a version that is on the ELO boxed set)is perfect pompous pop music capturing everything that is both absurd and terrific about ELO all and ONJ. The sound on the CD is quite good. I haven't heard the remaster from the UK.
	The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
	"Exceptional movie unexceptional presentation"	2009-06-07
Joseph Sargent's film of "The Taking of Pelham one Two Three" is an exceptional 70's thriller that has a decent looking nonanamorphic transfer to DVD. Here's hoping the film will be reissue on Blu-ray or DVD (or both)with an improved looking presentation in the wake of the remake by director Tony Scott. The film has faded a bit and certainly could benefit from a restoration for home video. When a subway train and its passengers are taken hostage by a group of men identified only as Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw), Mr. Green (Martin Balsam), Mr. Gray (Hector Elizondo)and Mr. Brown(Earl Hindman best known as Wilson on "Home Improvement"), a subway police officer Garber (Walter Matthau) finds he may be the only person that can keep the passengers alive by acting as a go-between on the radio with the hijackers and city officals as they try and meet their demands for ransom. The film is filled with marvelous character actors from Jerry Stiller (yes, Ben Stiller's dad and a comedian/actor who appeared in a number of films and TV shows)to Dick O'Neill who give a ring of authenticity to the film. The location shooting also adds a sense of reality to this terrific thriller. Shaw's icy performance as Mr. Blue (the use of colors as code names for the characters was taken from this for "Reservoir Dogs"). Matthau likewise gives a terrific performance as the weary, cynical Garber bringing a lived quality to his performance. The DVD comes only with the original theatrical trailer which is a pity because, if I recall correctly, there WAS a short promo piece made that aired on late night TV when this show was made in the early 70's. Likewise, director Sargent is (as of this writing)still alive. I'm not sure if he's up to doing a commentary track but it would be nice if someone asked him on one of his best films from the 70's. Sargent wasn't the original director chosen initially for the project--Steve Spielberg was but wasn't chosen for some reason. Regardless, Sargent does a marvelous job with the actors and structuring a terrific thriller. I'd love to see some of Sargent's other work (including the terrific 1975 TV movie "The Night That Panicked America" and 1989 TV movie "Day One")be brought to DVD as well. Recommended thriller but I'd wait for a reissue with a better anamorphic transfer.
	The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
	"Exceptional movie unexceptional presentation"	2009-06-07
Joseph Sargent's film of "The Taking of Pelham one Two Three" is an exceptional 70's thriller that has a decent looking nonanamorphic transfer to DVD. Here's hoping the film will be reissue on Blu-ray or DVD (or both)with an improved looking presentation in the wake of the remake by director Tony Scott. The film has faded a bit and certainly could benefit from a restoration for home video. When a subway train and its passengers are taken hostage by a group of men identified only as Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw), Mr. Green (Martin Balsam), Mr. Gray (Hector Elizondo)and Mr. Brown(Earl Hindman best known as Wilson on "Home Improvement"), a subway police officer Garber (Walter Matthau) finds he may be the only person that can keep the passengers alive by acting as a go-between on the radio with the hijackers and city officals as they try and meet their demands for ransom. The film is filled with marvelous character actors from Jerry Stiller (yes, Ben Stiller's dad and a comedian/actor who appeared in a number of films and TV shows)to Dick O'Neill who give a ring of authenticity to the film. The location shooting also adds a sense of reality to this terrific thriller. Shaw's icy performance as Mr. Blue (the use of colors as code names for the characters was taken from this for "Reservoir Dogs"). Matthau likewise gives a terrific performance as the weary, cynical Garber bringing a lived quality to his performance. The DVD comes only with the original theatrical trailer which is a pity because, if I recall correctly, there WAS a short promo piece made that aired on late night TV when this show was made in the early 70's. Likewise, director Sargent is (as of this writing)still alive. I'm not sure if he's up to doing a commentary track but it would be nice if someone asked him on one of his best films from the 70's. Sargent wasn't the original director chosen initially for the project--Steve Spielberg was but wasn't chosen for some reason. Regardless, Sargent does a marvelous job with the actors and structuring a terrific thriller. I'd love to see some of Sargent's other work (including the terrific 1975 TV movie "The Night That Panicked America" and 1989 TV movie "Day One")be brought to DVD as well. Recommended thriller but I'd wait for a reissue with a better anamorphic transfer.
	Linda Ronstadt - Heart Like a Wheel
	"One of Ronstandt's essential albums"	2009-05-25
PLEAE NOTE THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE NEW AUDIO FIDELITY LIMITED EDITION GOLD EDITION MASTERED BY STEVE HOFFMAN Linda Ronstandt made a slew of terrific recordings during the 70's sustaining her career through the 80's and 90's by tackling everything from the Mexican music she grew up listening to (she's part Mexican)to Big Band standards conducted by Nelson Riddle. "Heart Like A Wheel" mixes some of her most compelling vocal performances ("You're No Good", "Heart Like A Wheel") with some of the strongest material that she and producer Peter Asher ever chose for her albums. The new Audio Fidelity edition of the album sounds stunning. Every little bit of detail in the original recording is clean and clear sounding without anyone second guessing how it should sound. Audio engineer Steve Hoffman captures the rich sound of the original master staying true to the very qualities that made this such a strong sounding production to begin with--Ronstandt's pure and direct vocal approach. The CD is available in a limited edition of 5000. The insert includes picturs of the original vinyl labels along with credits for the album. The only thing that might have improved this terrific album would have been an outtake or two recorded for the album but not included or the lyrics printed in a booklet for fans of the album. This is as close to a perfect representation of how this great album should sound. Kudos Mr. Hoffman and thanks for doing it right!
	From Russia With Love
	"One of the best Bond films arrives on Blu-ray with a nicely cleaned up transfer; colors could be stronger"	2009-05-02
One of the best Connery Bond films along with "Goldfinger", "From Russia with Love" focuses more on story and less on the gadgets that came to dominate the Bond films. Fox and MGM (Fox is now marketing MGM/UA films even though MGM is owned by Sony)have done a good job of upgrading this classic film. The Blu-ray looks extremely good with a good digital scrubbing that still manages to retain the film grain and has plenty of detail, texture. Colors are good but could be stronger. Skin tones look quite good throughout. The special features are comprehensive. Director Terence Young does a nice job recalling the making of teh film in the commentary track, a CBC interview with author Ian Fleming, Ian Fleming discussing Desert Island discs (with some interesting although not too surprising selections), "Inside from Russia with Love", a featurette on Ian Fleming and noir author Raymond Chandler, animated storyboard sequence. Trailers, radio, TV spots are also included. There is also a nice featurette on co-producer Harry Saltzman and image datatbase and an interactive "007 Mission Control" into the world of "From Russia with Love". Terence Young ("Dr. No", "Thunderball")directs this classic Bond film with flair using the opening as a teaser to catch your attention and throw you off. Richard Maiubaum's screenplay is top notch taking the elements of Ian Fleming's novel and brilliantly using them in the context of the film. Pacing of the film is typical for era although fans that have grown used to more recent Bond films may find this a bit slow going at times. Bond (Sean Connery)tries to obtain a Russian decoding device from a woman who believes her mission is to "defect" to the west. Bond's got competition for the device--Spectre's agent (Robert Shaw playing a ex-con killing machine). The fight sequence at the conclusion of the film between Connery and Shaw is terrific. 5 stars for the film, 3 stars for the digital clean up/transfer.
	From Russia with Love (James Bond) [Blu-ray]
	"One of the best Bond films arrives on Blu-ray with a nicely cleaned up transfer; colors could be stronger"	2009-05-02
One of the best Connery Bond films along with "Goldfinger", "From Russia with Love" focuses more on story and less on the gadgets that came to dominate the Bond films. Fox and MGM (Fox is now marketing MGM/UA films even though MGM is owned by Sony)have done a good job of upgrading this classic film. The Blu-ray looks extremely good with a good digital scrubbing that still manages to retain the film grain and has plenty of detail, texture. Colors are good but could be stronger. Skin tones look quite good throughout. The special features are comprehensive. Director Terence Young does a nice job recalling the making of teh film in the commentary track, a CBC interview with author Ian Fleming, Ian Fleming discussing Desert Island discs (with some interesting although not too surprising selections), "Inside from Russia with Love", a featurette on Ian Fleming and noir author Raymond Chandler, animated storyboard sequence. Trailers, radio, TV spots are also included. There is also a nice featurette on co-producer Harry Saltzman and image datatbase and an interactive "007 Mission Control" into the world of "From Russia with Love". Terence Young ("Dr. No", "Thunderball")directs this classic Bond film with flair using the opening as a teaser to catch your attention and throw you off. Richard Maiubaum's screenplay is top notch taking the elements of Ian Fleming's novel and brilliantly using them in the context of the film. Pacing of the film is typical for era although fans that have grown used to more recent Bond films may find this a bit slow going at times. Bond (Sean Connery)tries to obtain a Russian decoding device from a woman who believes her mission is to "defect" to the west. Bond's got competition for the device--Spectre's agent (Robert Shaw playing a ex-con killing machine). The fight sequence at the conclusion of the film between Connery and Shaw is terrific. 5 stars for the film, 3 stars for the digital clean up/transfer.
	From Russia with Love
	"One of the best Bond films arrives on Blu-ray with a nicely cleaned up transfer; colors could be stronger"	2009-05-02
One of the best Connery Bond films along with "Goldfinger", "From Russia with Love" focuses more on story and less on the gadgets that came to dominate the Bond films. Fox and MGM (Fox is now marketing MGM/UA films even though MGM is owned by Sony)have done a good job of upgrading this classic film. The Blu-ray looks extremely good with a good digital scrubbing that still manages to retain the film grain and has plenty of detail, texture. Colors are good but could be stronger. Skin tones look quite good throughout. The special features are comprehensive. Director Terence Young does a nice job recalling the making of teh film in the commentary track, a CBC interview with author Ian Fleming, Ian Fleming discussing Desert Island discs (with some interesting although not too surprising selections), "Inside from Russia with Love", a featurette on Ian Fleming and noir author Raymond Chandler, animated storyboard sequence. Trailers, radio, TV spots are also included. There is also a nice featurette on co-producer Harry Saltzman and image datatbase and an interactive "007 Mission Control" into the world of "From Russia with Love". Terence Young ("Dr. No", "Thunderball")directs this classic Bond film with flair using the opening as a teaser to catch your attention and throw you off. Richard Maiubaum's screenplay is top notch taking the elements of Ian Fleming's novel and brilliantly using them in the context of the film. Pacing of the film is typical for era although fans that have grown used to more recent Bond films may find this a bit slow going at times. Bond (Sean Connery)tries to obtain a Russian decoding device from a woman who believes her mission is to "defect" to the west. Bond's got competition for the device--Spectre's agent (Robert Shaw playing a ex-con killing machine). The fight sequence at the conclusion of the film between Connery and Shaw is terrific. 5 stars for the film, 3 stars for the digital clean up/transfer.
	Manfred Mann's Earth Band - The Best of Manfred Mann's Earth Band
	"Good stuff here including full length "Blinded by the Light" but includes inferior live "Quinn the Eskimo""	2009-04-29
Manfred Mann Earth Band is probably best remembered for their exceptional cover of Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light". This Best of focuses on their hits from 1974-1980 when they appeared on Warner Brothers in the United States. While it still lacks essential Manfred Man cuts from his earlier band and has a live version of "Quinn the Eskimo" (which is inferior to the studio version although to be fair that was recorded by Mann's PREVIOUS band), this is a pretty good collection over all focusing on the band's shift in style to more of a mixture of stadium rock/early 70's prog. The sound is exceptional. The mastering by Lee Herschberg has a wide dynamic range with plenty of detail and a nice warm sound. The booklet also has plenty of info on this incarnation of the band including personnel changes (the departure of Mick Rogers, the addition of Dave Flett replacing him on lead guitar, the addition of vocalist/guitarist Chris Thompson, ex-Wings member Geoff Britten joining, etc.)and plenty of pictures. Aside from the Springsteen covers, the best material here comes from the late 70's including "Don't Kill It Carol", "On the Run", "You Angel You"--another Dylan cover and "Davy's On The Road Again" co-written by Robbie Robertson. Mann's band clearly was focusing on appealing to mainstream rock audiences and their efforts here spanning "Nightingales and Bombers"("The Good Earth" which preceded "Nightingales and Bombers" has nothing from that album here) to 1980's "Chance" which featured the last appearance of Chris Thompson (he left after 1979's "Angel Station" but appeared on a couple of cuts on "Chance" as well). I like this collection quite a bit but it gets dinged a star for having the live version of "Quinn the Eskimo" without noting that it is a live version however it does get points for including over an hour's worth of music as well as the full length version (not the single version)of "Blinded by the Light". If you're looking for the best songs from the mid-70's incarnation of the band, this is a good single collection.
	The Fly
	""I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over... and the insect is awake."-"	2009-04-16
David Cronenberg took the same approach as John Carpenter did with his remake of "The Thing"; he created a film that is every bit as unique as the original film returning to the themes that interested him. The screenplay by Charles Edward Pogue and Cronenberg focuses on Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldbloom) who creates a device to teleport things but he's failed at teleporting humans. Science writer Ronnie (Gena Davis) chronicles his attempt to figure out why he can't transport humans. He licks the problem and foolishly decides to make himself the first human test subject. When a fly accidently gets into the telepod, the computer combines the DNA of Seth and the fly creating a bizarre hybrid in the process. The blu-ray looks good but not as brilliant as I had hoped. Keep in mind that the source is over 21 years old. The fly does look better than the DVD with a sharper image, better depth and detail but it doesn't look as good as a more recent film. Make no mistake though it IS an improvement but it's incremental not a huge leap. We get all the extras from the previous two disc edition including the excellent documentary on the making of the movie. The new extras here include a swat the fly game (which like the annoying "Build a Gort" a game on "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is a waste of resources). We also get a good trivia track and blu-ray search index. All the other extras including the commentary tracks and featurettes are ported over from the regular DVD. While the Blu-ray transfer here isn't a huge leap compared to the DVD (I suspect the previous high def remaster that was prepared for the DVD reissue forms the basis for this version), it does look better than the DVD. It's a pity that Fox didn't elect to do an upgraded high def transfer but what we do get looks quite good. The film which came out during the beginning of the AIDS epidemic was seen as a metaphor for that outbreak the film manages to touch on a number of common themes in Cronenberg's work. It's a terrific film that manages to be creepy, humorous and touching. I'd give the film five stars, the transfer three and the extras four.
	Band - Band
	"Review for Audio Fidelity Gold Remaster-Excellent remaster for the first time from the original master tapes"	2009-04-13
One of my favorite albums and one of The Band's best, their self titled second album sounds terrific in this remaster. The sound stage, dynamics and detail that are often missing from "modern" remasters are all here. Audio Fidelity has done a nice job with this reissue and Steve Hoffman's remaster nicely captures the warmth of the original recording and Hoffman uses the original master tape for the first time since the original pressing of the album (let's just say that one band member has had it all this time and wouldn't give it up). If you're going to buy the regular remaster from 2000 that sounds pretty good as well and does have the advantage of the additional alternate takes for other tracks on the album but it doesn't sound as clear and warm as this edition. The big difference between this and the previous reissue aside from the master being used for the first time in years is that this has only the original 12 tracks for the album plus "Get Up Jake" an outtake from the sessions that should have been on the original album. The outtakes that were on the reissue of the album aren't here but that's a small issue for me as this album has never sounded this good on compact disc before.
	Donnie Darko
	"Both versions of exceptional film presented with an unexceptional Blu-ray transfer-4 stars for the film/3 stars for transfer"	2009-03-04
A bizarre, stunningly original film that shows clear influence from writer Philip K. Dick and his surreal novels/short stories and film directors like David Lynch/David Cronenberg, "Donnie Darko" even sounds like a Phil Dick novel title. The plot concerns a giant rabbit in a bizarre twist of the film "Harvey" that tells teenage Donnie that his mission is to save the world and how he has the ability to manipulate space and time. A quirky mixture of cultural satire and science fiction, "Donnie Darko" may be an acquired taste but if you have a taste for the off-beat, then you'll love the film. My focus here is on the Blu-ray presentation of the film and while it looks better than the two previous DVD releases of the film, the Blu-ray is not a huge leap up. I've been underwhelmed by many of Fox's recent Blu-ray catalog releases and this one isn't an exception. While images are a bit clearer here they still appear flat and the darker scenes aren't rendered with as much detail as one would expect from a Blu-ray. The major advantage of this Blu-ray is that it features both the "Director's Cut" and original theatrical cuts of the film which feature some different songs and with the former running about 20 minutes longer with a more lucid, involving story than the latter. All of the extras have been ported over from the two DVDs in high def so that's good news for fans. If, however, you already have this on DVD in both versions I'd suggest waiting to buy this on Blu-ray since the image quality while better isn't a huge leap (unlike some other catalog titles). I suspect that this was rush released using older high definition transfers because of the direct-to-video sequel that Fox is releasing in March. Fox should have spend as much time on new, pristine high def transfers for this rather than rely on older elements because it clearly shows in the presentation here. While this is a terrific film, I can't suggest taking the plunge if you already have the first two movies on DVD. While this looks slightly better than the previous version and features all the extras from BOTH the theatrical and "Director's Cut" of the movie, you might do well to spend your money on something that you don't already have on home video. Five stars for the movie--3 stars for the transfer and 4 stars for the extras.
	Neil Diamond - Serenade
	"Musically rich but lyrically weak outing from Diamond"	2009-03-02
As much as I love Neil Diamond's way with a melody and as rich as some of the melodies are on this album, "Serenade" doesn't quite live up to its potential with its greeting card sentiments. Some of the lyrics are extremely good but on the whole, "Serenade" features some of Diamond's simplest lyrics in ages. Opening with "I've Been This Way Before" Diamond is in good voice throughout really shining on "Longfellow Serenade" and "The Gift of Song" the last track on the album. "Rosemary's Wine" has one of Diamond's most interesting arrangements. This is a solid outing from Diamond with rich, fascinating musical arrangements and melodies just lacking in the lyric department. Although not quite as inspired as the soundtrack he crafted for the awful movie "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (the book was drivel, too)which features some of Diamond's richest melodies and beautifully crafted orchestrations from Diamond's long time collaborator Lee Holdridge, "Serenade" is less than the sum of its parts. This edition of the CD hasn't been remastered and it features the original packaging from the previous CD edition. The album sounds really good with a nice, wide dynamic range and rich detail. It's a pity that Sony couldn't have put more effort into the packaging and include credits for the album, lyrics and additional information on the recording of the album but what matters is the sound quality. if you like this album you should definitely pick up this edition of the album. Diamond would hit a homerun with the follow up album "Beautiful Noise" produced by Robbie Robertson of The Band(!)fame a loose concept album about the experience of writing for Tin Pan Alley and his two most recent albums.
	Hindu Love Gods - Hindu Love Gods
	"The late Warren Zevon fronts REM minus Michael Stipe"	2009-03-02
A terrific album out of print for far too long (and in print again for a limited time). the one-off Hindu Love Gods "supergroup" featured Warren Zevon fronted the band REM for a recording made during the time the trio of Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry played on Zevon's album "Sentimental Hygiene" (also available again as a limited edition CD from Rhino). This appears to be the same mastering as the previous version available in the late 80's, early 90's. That's a good thing because usually when these things are reissued they are remastered as a compressed, loud mess that sounds little like the original issue of the album. The band and Zevon cover a variety of blues tunes but the outstanding track here is the cover of Prince's "Rasberry Beret" given a straight forward bluesy reading in complete contrast to Prince's original version from "Around the World in A Day". The booklet is the full booklet and everything here looks like the original issue except for the Rhino logo on the back of the booklet and the CD case. It's definitely worthwhile for fans of Zevon and even fans of REM will probably enjoy these blues unadorned versions of the songs. I would have loved to hear any outtakes that weren't included on the album. It's a pity that the quartet didn't try some original material as part of this but what we do have is extremely good to excellent. Highly recommended but probably an acquired taste for most fans.
	Neil Diamond - Play Me: The Complete UNI Studios... [Box]
	"Diamond's six studio albums for Uni plus live tracks with so-so remastered sound"	2009-02-07
Neil Diamond signed with Uni for more artistic freedom and stronger promotional support after his short stint at Bang Records. Diamond already had a couple of hits to show forhis efforts but in a disagreement over the song "Shilo" (which Diamond wanted as his next single), Diamond left the label after the death of founder Bert Berns. "Play Me: The Uni Studio Recordings...Plus" takes all of Diamond's albums and puts them in chronological order on a three CD set that also features bonus live tracks from his two live albums. The sound isn't as good as I had hoped--Eric Labson has remastered these using compression and making the songs louder than necessary squeezing the life out of the recordings in the process but I have heard worse. The sound will be passable to most folks and really won't bother you unless you're an audiophile. The next six studio albums that Diamond recorded were wide ranging and varied. Most of the albums hold up remarkably well although there are flaws such as the horrendous "The Pot Smoker's Song" (what WAS Neil thinking?), "Knackelflerg" (which would have sounded out-of-place on everything that Diamond did) and "You're So Sweet Horseflies Keep Hangin' 'Round Your Face" but on the whole the originals mixed with the covers work quite well. Diamond's first two albums for Uni "Velvet Gloves and Spit" and "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" had a number of strong songs including "Brooklyn Roads", "Shilo" (which if I recall correctly wasn't on the original album but on a reissued version a couple of years later)and the title track (along with "Sweet Caroline" which was added to the album a year later becoming a hit). The latter album allowed Diamond to incorporate his love of gosepl music into a diverse collection of strong songs. We also get the rare b-side "Broad Old Woman(6 A.M. Insanity)" here. Diamond followed these two up with "Touching You, "Touching Me" and "Tap Root Manuscript" two of his strongest albums for the label. The former had a fair amount of covers but also had one of Diamond's best songs "Holly Holy" where Diamond turned a traditional love song on its head by melding with a melody/arrangement that made it sound almost like a religious gospel song. "Tap Root" had Diamond's song cycle that featured the influence of African music and imagery (over two decades before Paul Simon tapped similar influences)and the brilliant hit singles "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Free Life". Diamond's last two albums for the label were also quite enjoyable with "Stones" mixing Diamond originals like the confessional songwriting of "I Am...I Said" (which some fans love and some folks thing is a pretentious mess written when Diamond felt he blew an audition to play Lenny Bruce in a movie)along with covers of Leonard Cohen ("Suzanne") and Randy Newman ("I Think It's Gonna' Rain Today")that fit in easily with the original songs. "Moods" may have been a tad less consisten but it had treasures in the form of "PLlay me", "Walk on Water", the charming rocking "High Rolling Man" and "Morningside" as well as the hit single "Song Sung Blue". This three CD set closes out with seven tracks representing earlier hits he had on Bang and/or popular songs from Diamond's impressive songwriting catalog. The live tracks are pulled from "Gold" and "Hot August Night" the latter the two album set that Diamond recorded before going to Columbia Records. The flaws of the set are many--the albums are broken up oddly over the three CD set with, for example, some songs that were the second or third track appearing as the first on another CD. This does break up the flow of the original albums. Also, the mastering is loud and compressed which robs the original recordings of much of their rich warmth and dynamic range. If the fact that this isn't the best sounding collection doesn't bother you, this is the most economical way to get these albums and the only place to find "Broad Old Woman" that I know of right now. The booklet is informative with a good overview of each album and credits for each one (although they are all lumped together on the last page and credits for those guest vocalists often aren't mentioned at all). I'd give this collection 3 to 4 stars for the albums themselves (as the quality varies)and the mastering 2 stars. Personally, I'd go with "Glory Road" if you want the bulk of his singles and a few album tracks from the same time frame as it nicely captures the hits and highlights with better sound quality.
	J.D. Souther - You're Only Lonely
	"Terrific album from unacknowledged "sixth" Eagle"	2009-01-29
You may not know John David Souther but you've heard some of his music before. Souther co-wrote "Best of My Love", "New Kid in Town" and wrote "How Long". This 1979 album is one of his best with a hit single that finally gave Souther the break through he had waited for. The title track "You're Only Lonely" is the great Roy Orbison song that Orbison never wrote or sang. Souther's voice which sounds a bit similar to Glenn Frey's compliments the country/rock songs on this fine albu, This isn't the Japanese reissue (despite what the description above states) but a budget reissue from Columbia. It uses the same mastering as the previous CD edition and sounds terrific with a nice, wide dynamic range and a warm sounding transfer (which isn't a surprise given that it was recorded by Lee Herschberg). If you're an Eagles fan or country rock fan you'll enjoy it.
	French-Frith-Kaiser-Thompson - Live Love Larf & Loaf
	"Larfing and loafing with a true cult band"	2009-01-24
The only supergroup worth a darn outside of The Traveling Wilburys and Blind Faith (no others need apply), French, Firth, Kasier and Thompson's first album "Live, Love, Larf & Loaf" is a fun hodge podge of styles that don't quite mesh but that's part of the fun of the album--having these first class musicians plays on a Richard Thompson song...a Henry Kaiser song...a John French song...a Fred Firth song AND even a Beach Boys song. The highlights include "Killerman Posse" and "Bird in God's Garden" but really the highlights outweigh the weaker tracks on the album. The remaster here sounds pretty good overall. The packaging reflects the original Rhino packaging AND we get four live tracks from a show the band performed in Berkeley, CA. The follow up album "Invisible Means" is a bit more consistent but it also doesn't have any truly brilliant tracks like the best here (excepting "March of the Plastic Surgeons" Richard Thompson's witty mini-rock opera). It's still a fine champion piece to this album and I keep hoping that these brilliant musicians will reform and give us a third album. Third time;s the charm after all and I don't doubt that these guys could deliver a truly great album.
	Song of Kali
	"Exceptional supernatural thriller by Dan Simmons"	2009-01-06
Dan Simmons presents Calcutta as a city haunted by its past and present in Song of Kali. Writer Robert Luczak goes to Calcutta on an assignment to retrieve the manuscript of a massive poem written by the legendary Das. Das disappeared nearly a decade ago yet suddenly new works that appear to be his surface. Luczak is also supposed to try and interview the reclusive author while and takes his Indian born wife Amrita as interpreter and their baby Victoria. Luczak discovers that the poem that Das has written is designed for some evil purpose and suddenly finds his family in peril as he tries to uncover the truth of what really happened to Das and what sinister purpose lies beneath the surface of Das' new epic poem. One of author Dan Simmons' earliest published novels, Song of Kali won the World Fantasy Award when it was published back in 1985. Simmons is an accomplished prose stylist and has written a riveting supernatural thriller. The minor flaw in the book also manages to be a strength as well because the main character of Luczak often has to play the role of idiot when it comes to the mythology that provides the backbone of the novel. Luczak should be better informed about Indian mythology and religious cults and yet has to have things explained to him. As aresult we discover much of what is happening just as Luczak does. This narrative device works pretty well overall increasing our identification with Luczak although there are times when it does stretch credibility. Unlike some reviewers, I don't feel that the ending is forced at all, overly sentimental or optimistic. It provides a coda that rounds off the story while still keeping the door open about what could happen. There's a sense of unfinished business and doubt about the future of humanity even as Luczak finally finds himself able to live again. Song of Kali still demonstrates that Simmons is a master of storytelling. It's pretty clear that his skills were continuing to develop with Kali. Kali clearly set the stage for later more masterful works such as his horror thriller Carrion Comfort and even his science fiction masterpiece Hyperion Cantos.
	Rear Window - Collector's Edition
	"" We've become a race of Peeping Toms""	2008-10-09
Spying through a glass darkly (his camera lens), L.B. Jefferies (Jimmy Stewart) believes a neighbor (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife. His evidence is circumstanial at best and the wheelchair bound photographer has to convince his girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly)of the crime. In the process he puts his friends in harm's way. Hitch laces his film with more than a touch of humor and irony pulling this thriller together as it's L.B.'s peeping that reveals the ugly underneath--revealing something unsavory about himself as well without him truly realizing it. br /br /One of Hitch's hidden classics for years was finally revealed again to the public in the early 80's. This remaster looks extremely good (and is the same as the boxed set remaster) but keep in mind the age of the film, when it was shot, etc. as it IS grainy (there seems to be a generation tht is convinced that grain is bad)but still looks marvelous. THis anamorphic transfer looks crisper with better fine detail than the previous single disc release. br /br /The extras that came with the boxed set as well as those from the previous single DVD release have been ported over to this release as well. We get one delicious extra--a theme appropriate episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" with the Hitchcock directed episode ""Mr. Blanchard's Secret".br /br /Hitchcock manages to do more with less than just about any director out there. Using a single soundstage, a small cast and the witty script by John Michael Hayes, Hitchcock crafts one of his classic films. "Rear Window" has aged yes but it looks, sounds and plays remarkably well fifty four years after it's original theatrical release. Highly recommended. br /br /
	L.A. Confidential [Blu-ray]
	""I admire you as a policeman - particularly your adherence to violence as a necessary adjunct to the job. ""	2008-10-01
Film noir continues to be one of the most difficult genres to make well particularly today (I'd note for purists that film noirs are largely in black white a fixture of the genre). Film directors can't hide the flaws of a noir behind big explosions, car chases or visual effects. "L.A. COnfidential" probably isn't for everyone because it combines the film noir genre with a solid mystery and strong dramatic performances.br /br /Set in Los Angeles during the early 1950's, "L.A. Confidential" opens with a bang quite literally--Three very different detectives the by-the-book golden boy Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), the hard nosed violent Bud White (Russell Crowe) and the celebrity obsessed Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey)try and unravel the conspiracy behind a seemingly random shotgun slaying at a popular diner and how it is tied into the murders of organized crime kingpin Mickey Cohen's gang. The three detectives make a reluctant team hoping to solve the crime and achieve their own personal agendas in the process. They also must find out how Lynn Bracken (Kim Bassinger) a hooker who looks like Veronica Lake and a cavalcade of other hookers made up to look like Hollywood stars figure into all of this. br /br /Well directed by Curtis Hansen from a terrific script by Brian Helgeland and Hansen that manages to adapt James Ellroy's novel without betraying its story or atmosphere, "L.A. Confidental" was nominated for a bucket load of Oscars winning two for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Kim Bassinger). The entire cast is terrific from Crowe to Danny DeVito who plays Sid Huggins the editor of the scandal rag L.A. Confidential. Spacey plays oily Vincennes with confidence and style while Crowe embodies the brutal force of Bud White. Pearce who plays Exley the son of a highly regarded murdered police officer gives depth to a character that could easily have been cookie cutter.br /br /The Blu-ray looks positively stunning particularly. How does this look in comparison to the 1998 original DVD release? There's greater detail and sharpnes. The original DVD was one of the best transfers of its era (and still holds up remarkably well). The new DVD also looks sharper but the Blu-ray manages to capture the golden cinematography Oscar nominated Dante Spinotti perfectly.br /br /We get a great mix of previously released extras ported over from the first "Special Edition" when DVDs were still being released in snapcases to some stunning brand new ones as well. The best here is the audio compilation of comments by the director, cast and crew. Although it isn't as fascinating as a scene specific commentary track, it allows each important member of the creative team to give their thoughts on shooting the film, the characters and the story. br /br /"Whatever You Desire" is a brand new 30 minute documentary on the making of the film. "Sunlight to Shadows" another new extra focuses on the cinematography. "The Cast" is pretty self explanatory focuses on the seven main characters and two relative "unknowns"-Pearce and Crowe. "From Book to Screen" gives us Hansen and Helgland discussing the difficulty of translating Ellroy's terrific novel to the screen without sacrificing too much of the story or characters. We also get two very neat extras--"L.A. Confidential" a 2003 pilot for a TV series that was to star Keifer Sutherland and a second disc that gives us a sampler of the soundtrack featuring the following songs: Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers -- "Ac-Cent-tchu-ate The Positive" br /Chet Baker -- "Look for the Silver Lining" br /Betty Hutton -- "Hit the Road to Dreamland" br /Kay Starr -- "Wheel of Fortune" br /Jackie Gleason -- "But Not For Me" br /Dean Martin -- "Powder Your Face With Sunshinebr /br /The DVD set has three discs if you count the sampler while the Blu-ray has two. A terrific 10th Anniversary reissue I'm glad this reissue wasn't kept off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush. br /
	Touch of Evil (Restored to Orson Welles' Vision)
	""Touch of Evil" presented in its three different variations with actor commentary"	2008-09-24
Overlooked when it was released (except in France where it won awards and critical praise), "Touch of Evil" was Orson Welles' last major studio project as writer-director-star. When the original director bowed out, Welles (supported by star Charlton Heston)asked for the chance to write and direct the film. Welles' revamped Paul Monash's screenplay, recast Heston as a Mexican offical and delivered efficently (it was only 1 day over its shooting schedule and slightly over budget). Shot in Venice, Ca which stood in for a Mexican border town, "Touch of Evil" looks marvelous with a sharp beautiful restoration done for the film.br /br /Based on Whit Masterston's novel BADGE OF EVIL, Welles plays the corrupt police chief of a border town who butts heads with Vargas (Heston) a newly married Mexican D.A. trying the Grande crime family. His wife (Janet Leigh) and his life are threatened because of the case.br /br /We get all three versions of the film--the original theatrical cut (96 minutes)edited by the studio with new footage shot by director Harry Keller, the "preview" version that features 15 minutes of footage shot by Welles and cut prior to release and this restored version which features most of Welles' footage restored and the film re-edited according to a lengthy memo Welles wrote to the studio (included here).br /br /We get four commentary tracks. The first commentary on the restored version features stars Heston, Leigh and Rick Schmidlin. Schmidlin jogs the stars memories using the extensive research from the call sheets, Welles' memos and Welles biographies to clarify the making of the film with the two of them and put old myths to rest. Schmidlin also appears solo on one commentary track focusing detailing the painstaking detail it took to recreate the version Welles envisioned. br /br /Film critic F.X. Feeney provides us with a very good commentary track on the 96 minute theatrical cut and the preview version features Welles authorities James Naremore and Jonathan Rosenbaum discussing the difficult birth of Welles' last major studio film as a director. br /br /We also get the original trailer as well as two brief featurettes focusing on the restoration of the film and the location shooting in Venice, California hosted by filmmaker Curtis Hanson (Venice stood in for the border Mexican town in the film. br /br /Although Universal had previously released the restored version of the film, it had no extras. This special edition a worthwhile double dip corrects that oversight and makes this the complete version of "Touch of Evil" for fans of Welles' classic film noir. I'd highly recommend this.br /br /br /br /
	Free - Heartbreaker - England
	"Terrific swan song from Free version 2"	2008-09-05
"Free at Last" was the last gasp of the original line up of Free. Bassist and songwriter Andy Fraser (who had co-written the bulk of the band's output with Paul Rodgers)left the fold burned out. This final album from Free is particularly strong with Rodgers doing most of the writing aided by new member John "Rabbit" Bundrick on two tracks and co-writing the b-side to the single "Wishing Well". The remaster sounds has good points and bad. It lacks the dynamic range of the original vinyl and suffers from compression which brings up additional detail but shrinks the dynamic range of the music squashing the sound. Some people like that. The big selling point are the bonus tracks. We get the US mix for "Wishing Well" which differed slighly from the UK and album versions. "Let Me Show You" a b-side appears here as well and we also get an unfinished song "Hand Me Down/Turn Me Round" written by Rabbit that only lacks Paul Rodgers' vocal (it features Rabbit on vocals). There are also two concert rehearsal versions of songs from the band's tour of Japan "Heartbreaker" and "Easy On My Soul". Although they don't sound quite as good as a studio recording, they sound decent (remember they were taken from a tape made from the mixing board and were originally only for the band's ears). We also get notes on this final incarnation of Free and its troubled history. Kossoff appears on a handful of tracks with Paul Rodgers and Snuffy Walden playing the guitar on the remaining tracks. I'd suggest trying to find the original Island CD and see you can pick up the bonus tracks somewhere else as they are quite good. If you can't find the Island CD or vinyl, just keep in mind that this isn't quite as true to the original mastertapes as the vinyl or original CD releases. It sounds pretty decent just not quite as good as it could. Either way, this is an essential album.
	Paul McCartney - Wingspan (Hits & History)
	"A solid compilation of McCartney hits and misses from his solo/Wings career"	2008-08-28
"Wingspan" does a pretty good job of presenting hits and "History" as McCartney refers to the second disc of album tracks, singles and b-sides that he felt were overlooked previously.br /br /The first disc focuses on McCartney's singles as both solo artist and in Wings duplicating most of "Wings Greatest" but it does offer a more generous and comprehensive overview of McCartney's career post-Beatles. Fans should be warned, however, that some of these are the single edits NOT the original full length songs (for example "Junior's Farm" is about a minute shorter than the original single).br /br /The selections on the second disc are a bit more problematic. This disc allows McCartney to highlight some really good songs that were buried on crap albums or highlighting an album track that might have been overlooked on an outstanding album. Some are brilliant inclusions ("Heart of the Country", "Every Night") while others are a bit odd ("No More Lonely Nights"-Playout Version recorded for the closing credits of "Give My Regards to Broadstreet", "The Lovely Linda" which is charming but little more than a fragment McCartney made up on the spot to test his recording equipment). br /br /br /The sound is pretty decent on this compilation although it doesn't sound quite as good as "Wings Greatest". The mastering here is more compressed and louder lacking the dynamic range of the earlier CDs but it is the only place to get some of the single edits and other rarities. Nevertheless this is a solid anthology and if you only want one McCartney anthology with a healthy collection of hits and some album tracks, this would be the one to get.br /br /br /The two CD set also has a booklet with information on the recordings, photos, etc. The first edition comes with a lenticular cover and with the CDs housed on a cardboard hardcover cover. As other reviewers mentioned it is missing some key tracks but with only two CDs to cover a 31 year solo/Wings career, that's to be expected I suppose. There are some odd choices though on the "History" portion of the set but more often than not the McCartney gets it right as to key album/single tracks that were important to his career. br /br /This is a pretty good compilation if all you're looking for is the hits along with key album track but if you want something with better fidelity I would go with "Wings Greatest" (for his career through 1978)and/or "All The Best" (which has its own flaws as well)first and expand from there.br /br /
	The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made
	"It's a miracle a good film gets made..."	2008-08-24
It's a miracle that a good movie gets made. Having seen the machinery at work while at Dino De Laurentiis Productions, I can attest to the fact that when it comes to a movie whatever can go wrong will go wrong and that's BEFORE a single frame has been shot. Author David Hughes has updated his book so we have the ongoing saga about why good films often don't result from good novels, comic books and original screenplays. Hughes covers the difficult birth of "Spider-Man" a project tied up in legal limbo for over a decade. He also brings to light the long ongoing saga of both Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End which the late writer-producer Phil DeGuere tried to mount for TV as a mini-series only to see cut down several times and how Alfred Bester's classic science fiction novel The Stars My Destination was derailed before it ever had a chance to have a final screenplay written. We also learn about projects that eventually did get produced but after a birth so difficult that the creative team should have been given an epideral to deal with the pain. The movie business is crazy precisely because just when you think you've learned the rules, you learn there are no rules except that until the film is finally released it might not happen. It's a bizarre world where movie executives and "suits" often have no clue as to the history of a project (or even the history of film as an art and commerical form--when an executive wonders aloud who Alfred Hitchcock was or has never heard of "Citizen Kane" but has the clout to green light a project you know you've entered Porky's Wackyland)or even the history of the world (one executive suggested that the Mayan civilization somehow be featured in a "Star Trek" pitch by noted writer Harlan Ellison that was set before the Dawn of Man. The executive thought it would be cool because he had just read Erik Von Dankien's Chariots of the Gods not thinking about the fact that there were no Mayans nor any other humans for most of Earth's history)and yet influence the making of movies. As I said it's a miracle when a good film is made because quite simply Hollywood will do absolutely everything it can to screw it up before you and I see it. Highly recommended.