Watch What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? Movie Online

March 12th, 2010 by lilianna2856733
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Movie Title: What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?
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Claire Marrable, a destitute widow, finds a way to keep herself living the good life by hiring a series of housekeepers whom she eventually murders, steals their life savings and buries them in her desert pine tree garden. An incredibly fun movie which derives pleasure from the lead actors. Geraldine Page (as Mrs. Marrable) and Ruth Gordon (as Alice Dimmock, the latest housekeeper who is actually trying to find out what happened to her friend who mysteriously vanished while working for Marrable) chew the scenery to the hilt and it is so much fun watching the interactions between the two. Watch Page’s reaction when Gordon tells her the amount in her savings account – priceless! The film as a whole suffers somewhat from some dull supporting characters and a dreary romantic sub-plot involving Gordon’s nephew and Page’s neighbor. Still worth it for the acting dynamo of Page and Gordon and even Mildred Dunnock manages some nice moments in her few scenes. And you’ll never forget the frenetic zither music score!

The quality of the dvd is very good. The picture is sharp and the colors are strong. The only extra feature is a trailer for the film which delivers the memorable tag-line – “Whatever happened to Aunt Alice is more terrifying than what happened to Baby Jane”!

In the early 1960s director Robert Aldrich teamed aging stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in a suspense thriller called “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” The movie was a smash hit. Two or three years later he brought the two actresses back for “Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte”. Crawford dropped out and was replaced by Olivia De Havilland. Again, Aldrich struck pay dirt. In 1969 his production company made yet another such movie, “Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?”, starring Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon. This was directed by Lee H. Katzin. I don’t think it was as successful at the boxoffice, but the important thing is that Alice is almost as much fun as Jane and Charlotte.

Page plays Claire, a woman of sixty or so. In the opening scenes she finds out that her recently deceased husband left her with virtually nothing. Furious because her grand lifestyle has ended, Claire moves to the American Southwest, where she cooks up a scheme. She hires timid little old lady housekeepers and, over time, convinces them that she can make them a lot of money in the stock market. Once an unsuspecting employee turns over her life savings, Claire kills her and buries her in her garden, marking each grave with a new pine tree. Soon the yard is filled with trees. One day a new housekeeper named Alice [Ruth Gordon] shows up. Alice, however, has an ulterior motive. One of the women was her friend, and Alice suspects that Claire is responsible for her disappearance. Thus begins a grand game of cat and mouse.

Unlike Davis and Crawford, Page and Gordon were not movie stars fallen on hard times. They were great character actresses with extensive stage experience. Both had had an occasional starring role in films but had played mostly supporting roles over the years. They were older but hardly faded. If anything, they were at the height of their popularity when they made “Alice”. They are the reason the movie, otherwise an outlandish melodrama, is still worth seeing. Gordon is outrageous fun as Alice, playing the part with true professionalism, yet barely able to conceal her glee and amusement at being in such a movie. But it is Page who dominates throughout. Her Claire is both hilarious and sad. Sometimes she stalks, sometimes she slithers through the movie, reminding one of a cross between a leopard and a cobra. She’s obviously having a grand time.

Other Geraldine Page movies I particularly like are “Summer and Smoke”, “The Trip to Bountiful” and “Sweet Bird of Youth”. Great Ruth Gordon movies include “Harold and Maude”, “Where’s Poppa?” and, of course, “Rosemary’s Baby”.
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Code Geass: Leouch of the Rebellion, Part 1 Streaming

March 11th, 2010 by lilianna2856733
Code Geass: Leouch of the Rebellion, Part 1 Streaming. Code Geass: Leouch of the Rebellion, Part 1 Streaming.

Movie Title: Code Geass: Leouch of the Rebellion, Part 1
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Excellent! “CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion” is objective generous!

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It’s been awhile since I watched an anime series and fair enjoyed it from animation, art, mecha designs, music, character designs, storyline, etc. I may be a slow bloomer when it comes to the fandom of “CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion” but now I can view how this series has captured the attention of fans worldwide.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

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“CODE OF GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion” is featured 1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. The animation and video quality is intellectual and digitally fresh since it is a newer anime television release. What I admire about the video quality is the sheer amount of people fervent. Everyone with detail, buildings, mecha and the destruction has detail. The character designs based from CLAMP’s character do concepts are impartial modern and cold to see at. One of the coolest looking character designs in an anime mecha series without being a full-on mecha series. Very chilly!

I watched the anime series on my 52 and then afterwards on my 24 LCD and video quality was impartial mammoth from the character animation to the backgrounds. Because this series features so distinguished lively around Japan, this series really featured so many things in each different scene. Again, I’m very impressed with how worthy went in creating a single episode.

As for the audio, the audio is English and Japanese stereo. For a television series, I was sort of expecting stereo sound but incandescent some television series including Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD soundtracks, I was hoping that there may have been a Dolby Digital 5.1 track for Code Geass but the audio is stereo. Dialogue is positive and you can understand what the characters are saying. Both the English and Japanese dispute acting are well done.

If I had one itsy-bitsy pickle is that I enjoyed the Japanese exclaim acting a lot it’s objective that Johnny Yong Bosch’s converse acting of Lelouch sounds too similar to his Ichigo of “Bleach”.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

You can regain really icy special features on both volumes. Let’s begin with the volume 1 DVD:

1. Recount Drama Episode – This is short drama episode featuring non-animated stills or drawings but featuring both Japanese and English jabber acting. This one is about Lelouch and Nunnally arriving to Japan and finding their unique situation to live. Lelouch comes into contact with Suzaku.

2. Audio Commentary – There are three audio commentaries featuring the Japanese converse actor for Lelouch, C.C., the director and the screenwriter. The explain talent talk about their characters and experience of working with so many sigh actors and also their auditions. They are very careful not to explain what happens in future episodes, so there is quite a bit of banter about experiences and the boom talent asking the director and screenwriter about obvious scenes. One example is the writer talking about how he fashioned one of the mecha in this series after a mecha from another anime series “Gasaraki”.

3. Textless Opening

With the second volume, the special features are:

* Recount Drama Episode – There are two recount drama episodes included. One featuring the girls of Ashford Academy all at a hot bath. The draw the characters are featured shows a puny sexy fan service as they catch to know Kallen. The second drama episode features Suzaku and Rivalz talking to each other followed by Lloyd and Cecille talking to each other.

* Audio Commentary – There is one audio commentary for episode 8 and this time featuring Jun Fukuyama (Lelouch), Mitsuaki Madono (Kaname Ohgi), Kazunari Tanaka (Tamaki) and Kawaguchi (producer) . A festive commentary as the Shaded Knight guys are together and joke around.

* Textless Ending I

When I first started seeing the distinct comments in Japan, followed by the US and then watching the album become the first anime album in nearly two decades to debut at #1 on the Oricon Album Daily Charts, impartial shows you the popularity of this anime series.

Having now joined the bandwagon of those who care for “CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion”, I can’t benefit but tumble in worship with this series. It’s substantial! A lot of suspense, violence, mecha battles, worship triangles, drama, political corruption and so powerful emotion alive to in each episode’s storyline and balancing it out with awesome animation, awesome artwork, really gargantuan advise acting on both Japanese and English. I really feel that “CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion” is an salubrious anime series.

The first nine episodes started with a lot of action and each episode thus far have been safe. Even the commentary by the Japanese drawl talent is enchanting and fun to listen to. And I like the addition of the Describe Drama Episodes as well.

With everything so certain, the only negative, and it’s really not a negative but more or less I enjoying hearing the action all around me via Dolby Digital 5.1 (especially in DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD ala Blu-ray) is that I wished that audio was presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 but quiet dialogue is quite obvious and easy to understand in stereo and the music as well.

“CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion” is a incredible anime series that doesn’t arrive along to frequently. Everything about Allotment 1 so far has been satisfactory and I highly recommend this DVD collection

!

When I first saw this series, I knew it was going to become a future classic. Code Geass is the sage of one man’s conquest to bring down a country.

On August 10th of the year 2010 the Holy Empire of Britannia its sights status on Japan and began a campaign of conquest. It took one month thanks to Britannias deployment of current mobile humanoid armor vehicles called Knightmare Frames to bewitch over Japan. Japans lost it rights and its identity was stripped away, now being referred to as Place 11. Its citizens, now called Elevens, are forced to scratch out a living while the Britannians lives in comfortably within their settlements. Pockets of resistance appear throughout State 11, working towards to free Japan from Britannia’s rule. Lelouch Lamperouge, who’s his proper name is Lelouch vi Britannia, is an exiled Imperial Prince of Britannia who was disowned by his father after his mother was murdered. He and his sister Nunnally were sent to Japan before the war. Now assume dull, Lelouch was now posing as a student in a Britannian school. He soon finds himself in the heart of the ongoing conflict for Japan. Through a chance meeting with outmoded friend named Suzaku Kururugi who was now an Britannian soldier, Leluoch meets a mysterious girl named C2, who gives him the power of Geass, the power of the king. Now endowed with absolute dominance over any person, Lelouch may finally realize his goal of bringing down Britannia from within and fulfilling his two wishes: to discover revenge for his mother and to do a world in which Nunnally can live happily.

If you haven’t seen this, You have to. It is a mammoth point to.
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The Jewel in the Crown Streaming

March 11th, 2010 by lilianna2856733
The Jewel in the Crown Streaming. The Jewel in the Crown Streaming.

Movie Title: The Jewel in the Crown
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This DVD set is a real heartbreaker!

The Jewel in the Crown is absolutely one of historic the highlights of “quality” television. An absolutely arresting story. Wonderful script, wonderful acting, etc. I can’t add anything on that count to the reviews already here.

That makes the TERRIBLE quality of the DVD transfer all the more disappointing. This set has literally the WORST video quality I have ever seen on a DVD! Murky, muddy picture with visible scratches and dirt on the film. The soundtrack is a little better. On my home theater setup it sounds like its coming over a half-decent clock radio. Seriously, the picture looks like they took an old VHS tape of the show and just ran it through a disc burner.

No, I don’t expect blockbuster quality from an 30-year old BBC film, but I would have expected something more like the recent DVD set of Elizabeth R, which is quite watchable.

Sadly, this is almost surely the only DVD we’ll ever see of this marvelous series. I’m going to rent the old tapes of this. They might easily be better. If not, I guess this is what we’re all stuck with.

Heed Spoffo’s warning.

While the series itself is wonderful and certainly worth owning, I have NEVER seen a worse DVD transfer. Even my seedy Madacy Entertainment copy of Fritz Lang’s 1226 “Metropolis” is of higher quality. The visuals are fuzzy and grainy at the same time, and there are severe block artifacts everytime the screen gets even slightly dark. All scenes shot at night or in the darkness are almost unwatchable because of the visual noise.

The sound seemed alright to me at first, but then I turned the volume up a bit and found that there is a kind of low-pitch static, like machine noise underneath the vocals and music.

Please buy the VHS tapes – and let A&E know that this is simply unacceptable!
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Streaming Men in Black II Online

March 11th, 2010 by lilianna2856733
Streaming Men in Black II Online. Streaming Men in Black II Online.

Movie Title: Men in Black II
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With tongue planted so firmly in cheek as to be in danger of serious injury, Barry Sonnenfeld set out to surpass his own 5 year old triumph with Men in Black II. He didn’t quite clear the mark set by MiB, but he came much closer than I ever thought he could.

Clearly, the goal of the MiB2 cast and crew was to expand the best elements of the first movie and lose those bits which didn’t work so well. They had a great idea and implemented it well, but I think that they may have gone just a tad too far in paring the story and script down. MiB2 is a great ride, from the first frame to the last, and rarely have I seen 90 minutes go by so quickly. A little too quickly, as it turned out.

This flick is even more densely packed with one-liners, droll humor, visual puns and delightfully cynical satire than the first. It opens with a segment from a no-budget TV series on strange and unexplained phenomena (hosted by Peter Graves, of course) describing how the Earth narrowly escaped destruction in 1978 when we were caught between Serleena, a powerful and evil alien, and the object of her desire, a mysterious force known as the Light of Zartha. At that critical juncture 25 years ago, a super-secret government agency (which licenses and polices alien activity on Earth) kept us out of the line of fire by refusing the Zarthans’ request to hide the Light on Earth.

Cut to the present day and Serleena’s back. Naturally. She’s still looking for the Light of Zartha and she’s severely POed that she hasn’t found it yet. Arriving on Earth undetected, her first problem is the same faced by the galactic cockroach in MiB: find a disguise that will pass among the primitve humans. As a shape shifting nest of snake-like apendages, though, she had an easier time of it than the 20 foot Bug. Almost immediately, she comes accros a magazine open to a full page Victoria’s Secret ad and before you can say “brand new Edgar suit”, she’s taken the form of Lara Flynn Boyle . . . in nothing more than Victoria’s best black lingerie. This is one dangerous alien.

Actually, Boyle does a good job of filling Vincent D’Onofrio’s shoes. She’s a smarter (if less ghastly) villain than the Bug and before long has put J and K at a serious disadvantage by completely taking over MiB headquarters.

Ah yes, Jay and Kay. Let’s face it: the real key to the success of Men in Black was the hillarious juxtaposition of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Well, Kay is back and the chemistry has lost very little zing in the 5 years it was on the shelf. it turns out that the erstwhile Agent K is the only human being who might possibly know how to find the Light of Zartha. Unfortunatly, he’s still got a 35 year gap in his memory and is working as the Postmaster of a small town in Maine. Zed dispatches J to bring him back and get him de-neuralized, post haste.

I won’t give away any more of the plot than this; it’s thin enough as it stands and I wouldn’t want to spoil what few surprises there are. Fortunatly, the movie isn’t really about the plot, now is it? it’s about the gags, the special effects and watching Smith and Jones have *way* too much fun. Several other characters from the first flick also return, including Tony Shalhoub as the occaisionaly headless pawnbroker Jeebs, the four ungrateful worm guys and the wisecracking, karaoke singing pug, Frank.

Go see it, it’s a hoot. The humor is a bit more juvenile than in the first movie, perhaps, but it really doesn’t suffer much for all of that.

I really enjoyed Men in Black. I thought the relationship between J & K (Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones) was wonderful. Tommy plays a wonderful straight man to Smith’s zaniness.

I went to see Men in Black II last week, and I found that it fit like a thoroughly used, but still kind of comfortable glove. It’s nowhere near as good as the first one, and it suffers from recycling too many of the jokes as well. The talking dog returns in a much more prominent role, the worms are back as well and have more to do. While funny (listening to the dog sing Gloria Gaynor is hilarious), ultimately they don’t work as well in expanded roles. It feels almost like running the joke into the ground. A much more successful return is the ever-wonderful Tony Shalhoub as Jeebs. He’s in for one scene, but he’s still great.

Lara Flynn Boyle completely fails, in my opinion, as Serleena. First, she doesn’t play menacing very well. Secondly, she doesn’t seem to handle the wry humour and the quips that a villain in a picture like this requires. She comes across as very flat. Thankfully, Rip Torn is wonderful, and Jones and Smith slip into their comfortable roles very easily. They really make the movie.

The film is very short (88 minutes), which also tends to make it seem rushed. The characters jump from place to place without much reason. When reason is given, it’s usually very quickly so as to move the plot along to the next set piece.

It was a funny film. No doubt about that. It was worth the [money] that I paid for it. Just don’t go in expecting something as good as the first one.
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Watch X – Three Movie Online

March 11th, 2010 by lilianna2856733
Watch X - Three Movie Online. Watch X – Three Movie Online.

Movie Title: X – Three
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The X TV series continues to be one of the best anime releases in current months. These three episodes focus more on character development than continuation of the overall storyline; but they manage to do it without loosing momentum or the viewers’ interest.

Without giving any spoilers, let me say that the third episode, focusing on Subaru, stands out as one of the most memorable anime episodes I’ve ever seen. This is one of the few points, in my anime-watching experience, that I’ve conception to myself “Wow, this is really well directed.” The meander of the episode is tiresome and deliberate, with a lot of attention to shadows and reflections; which provides an exciting segue into several memory and dream fragments. Overall, it’s a rare example of fair artistry in anime. For those who are disappointed by the coarse episode count (three episodes per disc), I would say that this one episode is well worth the trace of the DVD alone.

After three discs, I’m smooth in admire with the X TV series; and waiting impatiently for the next disc to be released. While I can understand the argument that this series is too stylistic, and broken up with too many visions, dreams, etc… I would say that there’s some proper substance unhurried the style, and that the many fragments do a righteous job of keeping the, otherwise fatalistic, epic involving. This is an example of a fable that should be enjoyed as it unfolds, not simply for a dramatic climax.

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Finally I must say that, the comparison of the characters to Shinji in Evangelion (above), is totally erroneous. While many characters do reach off as alienated, it’s sure that huge difficulty have been taken to effect them accessible and give them room for growth. If you’ve seen Evangelion, you’ll know that character growth is not it’s strong point… but that works well in the context of a larger message about human fallibility. Suffice it to say that X is not the same sort of show; one of its sizable strengths is that it does focus heavily on character development.

X #3 starts upright where #2 left off. The Dragons of Heaven and Earth are smooth assembling to win ready for the final showdown and the battle for Earth.

This is really icy series. It’s got a lot of what I like: sage position, lots of characters, and some wintry fighting. The animation is gorgeous — it’s hard to absorb that this is a T.V. point to and not a titanic budget movie and the music is quite edifying as well. This disc covers 3 more episodes and basically serves to introduce more characters as the two sides open staffing up so they can fight it out. In terms of state, having seen the series in its entirety already, things really initiate to heat up once the seven warriors (on each side) win together which happens in another disc or two. For now, be swear with episodes focus on the individual characters and their background and motivations.

I would have given this disc 5 stars if it had four or five episodes instead of three and some extras (there really isn’t any) .

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Overall, I’d highly recommend this series.
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Streaming Around The World Live Online

March 10th, 2010 by lilianna2856733
Streaming Around The World Live Online. Streaming Around The World Live Online.

Movie Title: Around The World Live
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This superb 5 disc set is the definitive John Denver DVD release. There are three complete live performances with full band from Australia in 1977, Japan in 1981 and England in 1986. These are complemented by a solo acoustic performance from Japan in 1984 and his performances at Farm Aid from 1985, 1987 & 1990. The final disc has two hour long documentaries.

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TRACKLISTING – JOHN DENVER – AROUND THE WORLD LIVE

Disc One – Thank God I’m A Country Boy – Live In Australia 1977

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1. Farewell Andromeda

2. Spirit

3. Fly Away

4. Looking For Space

5. Come And Let Me Look In Your Eyes

6. Baby You Look Good To Me Tonight

7. Druthers

8. I’d Rather Be A Cowboy

9. How Can I Leave You Again

10. Singing Skies And Dancing Waters

11. Love Is Everywhere

12. Pickin’ The Sun Down (Blue Grass & High Sierra)

13. I Want To Live

14. Rocky Mountain High

15. Follow Me

16. Moreton Bay

17. To The Wild Country

18. Grandma’s Feather Bed

19. Back Home Again

20. Matthew

21. Thank God I’m A Country Boy

22. Take Me Home, Country Roads

23. Annie’s Song

24. Eagle And The Hawk

25. Calypso

26. Sunshine On My Shoulders

27. Leaving On A Jet Plane

Disc Two – Rocky Mountain High – Live In Japan 1981

1. Starwood In Aspen

2. Take Me Home, Country Roads

3. Follow Me

4. I’d Rather Be A Cowboy

5. Leaving On A Jet Plane

6. Goodbye Again

7. Rocky Mountain Suite

8. Matthew

9. Fly Away

10. Dancing With The Mountains

11. Back Home Again

12. Thank God I’m A Country Boy

13. Sleepin’ Alone

14. Rocky Mountain High

15. Eagle And The Hawk

16. Annie’s Song

17. Calypso

18. Sunshine On My Shoulders

Disc Three – Country Roads – Live In England 1986

1. Farewell Andromeda

2. Take Me Home, Country Roads

3. Grandma’s Feather Bed

4. Back Home Again

5. Matthew

6. Dreamland Express

7. The Harder They Fall

8. I Can’t Escape

9. Flying For Me

10. What Are We Making Weapons For

11. Sunshine On My Shoulders

12. Eagle And The Hawk

13. Wild Montana Skies

14. Relatively Speaking

15. I’d Rather Be A Cowboy

16. How Can I Leave You Again

17. I’m Sorry

18. Shanghai Breezes

19. Fly Away

20. My Sweet Lady

21. Heart To Heart

22. Rocky Mountain High

23. Annie’s Song

24. Calypso

25. Peace (poem)

26. It’s About Time

27. Perhaps Love

Disc Four – Solo Acoustic Show – Live In Japan 1984 / Farm Aid

1. Rocky Mountain High

2. Sunshine On My Shoulders

3. Leaving On A Jet Plane

4. Goodbye Again

5. Follow Me

6. Matthew

7. Grandma’s Feather Bed

8. I Want To Live

9. Rhymes & Reasons

10. Eagle And The Hawk

11. The Gold And Beyond

12. Take Me Home, Country Roads

13. Biwako Shuko No Uta

14. Seasons Of The Heart

15. Annie’s Song

16. Calypso

17. It’s About Time

Farm Aid 1985:

1. Take Me Home, Country Roads

2. Back Home Again

3. Thank God I’m A Country Boy

Farm Aid 1987:

1. Take Me Home Country Roads

2. Matthew

3. What Are We Making Weapons For

Farm Aid 1990:

1. Rocky Mountain High

2. Matthew

Total Running Time: 99 minutes

Disc Five – Two One Hour Documentaries

As I have read on Amazon.co.uk this 5Disc DVD Box-Set is Live concerts in Sydney {Aust}-Japan-England all digitally re-mastered from the master tapes…..All John Denver fans will be waiting for this…..Fantastic news. This will bring back wonderful memories for millions of fans around the world….WELL DONE
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Streaming Sword of the Stranger Online

March 10th, 2010 by lilianna2856733
Streaming Sword of the Stranger Online. Streaming Sword of the Stranger Online.

Movie Title: Sword of the Stranger
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Sword of the Stranger is available for streaming or downloading.

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I have always had a fondness for anime that explored the Bushido period; considerable hits such as the anime series “Basilisk” and the anime film “Ninja Scroll” have garnered a great following. Most recently the almost Okamoto/Kobayashi inspired “Shigurui Death Frenzy” has left me in panic. Director Masahiro Ando with screenplay by Fumihiko Takayama has adapted a anecdote from the unusual legend by “Bones”. “SWORD OF THE STRANGER” (aka. Sutorenjia Muko Hadan) is an challenging film with amazing action that uses the Sengoku period (a period of warring states) as its backdrop. It is a fable of faith, ambition and survival.

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The film was a nominee for Best bright Feature at the 81st Academy of film awards.

A young boy named Kotaro (voiced by Yuri Chinen) and his dog are wandering the lands of Japan; fleeing the Ming forces led by Lord Bai-Luan. They advance across a nameless Ronin (Nanashi, voiced by Tomoya Nagase) who is paralyzed by the memories of his past and who has vowed to maintain his blade sheathed. Chinese mercenaries are dispatched to claim the cramped boy for a bent ritual for immortality. Seeing the remnants of his past within the boy, the nameless samurai chooses to act as his protector but does he have the distinguished skills to hold him from the clutches of the Ming and their blood thirsty, gold-haired swordsman named Luo-Lang (Kouichi Yamadera)?

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The film uses this chaotic period in feudal Japan; the Sengoku period or the era of the Warring States is a period after the decline of the second shogun. The film ponders the question: What makes a man genuine or harmful? Is it the corruption of the amount of political power or the ambition to rise to such powers? Is it the skill of swordsmanship or the manner he serves his Lord? “Sword of the Stranger” does flesh out these questions in the spirit of its characters. Itadori is a general whose skills as a swordsman allowed him to rise above the ranks. He is ambitious and power hungry and he serves a unfavorable feudal lord in the persona of Akaike; who in turn is driven by greed and lust for more power. Bai-Luan is an aide to the Emperor and seeks immortality to prolong his dwindling life. Luo-Lang is a warrior who serves the Ming Emperor but he is flawed in a diagram that he is longing for a fine opponent. He is real, but only as that loyalty serves him. The nameless swordsman is a man exhausted, he has killed and served his Lord in the past–such actions have made his soul empty. He has tied a knot on his sword to maintain him from drawing his blade, but his skills are profitable enough to fell highly trained opponents.

The film captures determined interpretations of the evils that men would do, for ambition, greed and loyalty. Kotaro represents the innocence and purity of youth, and as such he is the key to the Xian drug, believed to be the key to immortality. Kotaro’s dog, Tobimaru also plays a well-known role in the film, as he proves to be the catalyst for Nanashi and Kotaro’s allegiance. The film has some touching and droll moments, as we notice the dog practice generosity and sacrifice. After all, if an animal can learn compassion, why can’t us human beings? The nameless swordsman’s past in shown in the get of dreams and flashbacks. (Also, there is a short film in the DVD’s features that further develops his character)

It is easy to ignore the film’s subtle meanings, as the film does have fantastic action sequences that rival Ryuhei Kitamura’s “AZUMI”. The action scenes hold a advantageous amount of gore and loads of blood. But not too bloody that the film should be rated `R’. I loved the method Nanashi defends himself without even drawing his sword, it is a suitable testament to his skills which provokes Luo-Lang’s obsession in facing him in single combat. The fights are long, stylish and brutally violent at times. Chinese Wuxia meets Japanese swordsmanship in the encounters. I liked the manner in which Luo-Lang and Nanashi were developed through their separate fights, it allows them to be further developed and allows for build-up in the inevitable final encounter. One flaw the film has is that Kotaro’s past wasn’t fully fleshed out and the reasons for him being special weren’t really fully explored.

The action is well intriguing and the moves are fluid and soft. The position designs have that minor touch of CGI, and the backgrounds almost sight very photo-realistic. The mood is cleverly expressed through its effects in the execute of blowing wind, ominous snowfall and the darkening of clouds. The character designs may gaze simple and may not be as clarify as other anime films of this kind, but it was composed ravishing righteous. The music track perfectly complements the film’s mood and attitude; I found the music quite rousing in its contain proper.

“Sword of the Stranger” is one obedient section of inspiring feature. I am mild rather impressed how the Japanese can retain adult themes in the acquire of animation, whereas here in the U.S. animation is often associated with “kiddie-flicks”. The film is plump of very chilly action, violence that pushes the PG-13 envelope with a strong humanity that can let the film stand on its contain. The viewer has to search for beyond the action otherwise; he may lose some of the subtle details and may perform him mediate the set is a small contrived. It may not near the classic site of other acclaimed anime hits but it is lively enough to maintain the experienced anime fan enthralled and to attract those irregular with Japanimation.

Highly Recommended! [4- Stars]

Video/Audio: 1.78 ratio anamorphic widescreen. Nice, well-organized transfer with some muted colors on some scenes. The 5.1 Japanese Language track is worthy and determined with sterling Subtitles. There is also the option of an English Language 5.1 track.

Extras: Beautiful bare bones, there are trailers and commercials but the pilot film called “Muko Hadan” is worth a spy. There are also character interviews.

This movie made a one day appearance at the theaters and thanks to a killer trailer I made a point of not missing it. Despite the movie being relatively fresh, there’s a outlandish nostalgia I felt while watching it. For one, most or all of the art is hand drawn. On the expansive camouflage, the line quality is very noticeable, especially since the past decade most animation has been exempt from any line quality at all en lieu of 3D. So seeing the hand of the artist in motion was a feeling I had missed from the primitive days of watching Charlie Brown :-) How I manage to place Charlie Brown and a Master Samurai in the same sentence…I don’t know.

But anyway…

The other thing that grabbed me was that this movie actually spends time developing both yarn and its characters, and it does an wonderful job at that. Granted, the dwelling itself is a bit cliche: The abominable guys are after an immortality potion that requires a young boy, Kotaro, to be sacrificed in order for the potion to work. But the cliche is padded with a strong historical abet plunge that gives the fable a surprising gritty realism. While so many movies reduce away at a capable legend and evolving character elements, this one slows down impartial enough to gain you actually care about the fate of the Nameless Samurai, Kotaro and even his dog.

The exact pacing was a first-rate blueprint to form up to an ending so loaded with tension that I could actually feel my muscles locked up. As the Nameless character does battle with his enemies, you can’t serve but to feel that he may be in contrivance over his head. In a lot of contrivance, the movie reminded me of “Ninja Scroll”: there are a host of foes that the Nameless Saurai must confront and you’ll have your doubts about his skills being matched to each one. Such doubts are the hallmark of a arresting account.
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Stream How Art Made the World Movie Online

March 10th, 2010 by lilianna2856733
Stream How Art Made the World Movie Online. Stream How Art Made the World Movie Online.

Movie Title: How Art Made the World
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How Art Made the World is available for streaming or downloading.

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This 5-part BBC documentary series (2005) is a fascinating look at why humans developed representational imagery or visual art, and how visual art has shaped the world we live in today. It’s a topic that has been tackled before but here we see it from an archaeological as well as socio-anthropological perspective (Dr Nigel Spivey is a lecturer in both Classical Art and Archaeology at Cambridge University). His views are buttressed with insights from neuroscientists and psychologists. The focus is purely on the visual arts and centres on ancient and prehistoric art. It tackles broad questions such as why humans want or need to create visual images, why especially images of humans and why the predilection for distorted forms? Why humanity sees the need to represent death in art. How visual art is used for social and political purposes. How visual art has been refined to be the storytelling medium par excellence. It is meant for the lay audience and is easily accessible even to the uninitiated. Spivey is a captivating host and puts his ideas across clearly and succinctly.

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The 5 episodes (58 mins each) are:

Ep.1: More Human than Human – Why have humans felt the need to create visual representations of themselves and specifically why indulge in distortions of the human form? Is this hardwired in the human brain? What can we learn from modern studies in neuroscience?

Ep.2: The Day Pictures Were Born – What might have been the reasons for the Paleolithic cave paintings of Altamira and Lascaux? What can the the more recent cave paintings left by the San bushman in the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa tell us? What have studies into altered states of consciousness taught us and how is this applicable to our understanding of the cave paintings?

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Ep.3: The Art of Persuasion – The role of visual art throughout human history to organise and mobilise society; to persuade, to propagandise, to lie. From its earliest use by Darius of Persia, through Alexander the Great, to Caesar Augustus, to the modern spin-meisters of Bush and Blair.

Ep.4: Once Upon A Time – The role of visual art in story-telling, from its earliest beginnings as carved scenes on the Palace walls of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, to the marble statues of Classical Greece, to the epic carvings on Trajan’s Column, to the Hollywood spectacles of today. Includes a fascinating reappraisal of Australian Aboriginal art, seen in its cultural context as a blend of picture, story, music and dance and how one element cannot be divorced from the other, making it one of mankind’s earliest forerunners to the modern film.

Ep.5: To Death and Back – Humanity’s fear and fascination with death and how we utilise art in an attempt to conquer it. How images of death are used to gird a society under external threat. Examines the significance of ancient images of death. Compares Christian iconography with ancient Aztec and Incan representations of death.

One criticism is that Spivey is at times too emphatic in his conclusions. What he proposes may certainly be true but we cannot be sure of that (reasons for people producing distorted human imagery – the meaning of paleolithic paintings – the role of death in art). What we can say is that they are valid conclusions in the light of present knowledge. Still as an entry point for the lay audience, it is an excellent series. And Spivey certainly charges the viewer with his sheer enthusiasm.

The series is shot in 1.78:1 widescreen and presented as such on DVD (enhanced for widescreen TV). Picture quality is excellent. Photography is often stunning. Sound is in front-centered, crystal clear, 2.0 Dolby Surround. Optional English subtitles are provided. Extras include a 5-minute long interview with Spivey and Mark Hedgecoe on the series, as well as roughly 12 minutes worth of footage on shooting at the Gobekli Tepe archaeological site in modern Turkey. This series is accompanied by a fully illustrated companion book written by Nigel Spivey available separately from BBC Press.

This is an examination of various aspects of art – depiction of human form, origins of painting, storytelling, art of persuasion, depictions of death – and connecting their origins to today. Interesting stuff. It is visually stunning, and presented in a dramatic way that is entertaining.

One of the most interesting parts was the section on Gobekli Tepe, in Turkey, where huge engraved pillars were erected 12,000 years ago. This was the same time and place where wheat was first cultivated, and people moved from hunting/gathering to farming. The theory presented was that the agricultural endeavor was begun in order to feed the thousands involved in building and enjoying these decorated pillars. This differs from the usual assumption that people went where the food was and then culture developed. Intriguing.

My issue with this series is the unquestioning acceptance of brain theories in some of their analyses. People in unrelated cultures made figurines of the female form with rotund bellies and breasts, and minimized other features. Baby birds whose mothers have red stripes on them peck at sticks with red stripes painted on them. Therefore, a brain expert declares, it is hardwired in our brains to exaggerate certain characteristics. Where is the evidence that it has anything to do with the brain? And what does “hardwired in our brains” mean, exactly? It always amazes me when silly theories are accepted without question because they are expressed with an air of authority by an “expert”. It is not surprising that unrelated people in harsh environments, where starvation and racial extinction were real concerns, would make a fetish of the female form looking well fed, pregnant and laden with milk. Nowadays, we are more concerned with obesity and overpopulation, so we find the gaunt form attractive. The tendency to exaggerate favored characteristics is a conscious aesthetic decision, no hardwiring needed.

In the part on death – comparing comforting and frightening images of death through the ages – it is said that people – even children – feel bad when someone dies because they’re worried about their own death. That is an unwarranted generalization. I think most people feel bad because they miss the person who died, or worry about losing someone else. If children are concerned about their own death, I think it is because they are reminded of a previous death, as in the end of a previous lifetime. The spiritual aspect of these subjects is completely neglected in this series.

Nevertheless, it is worth watching for its unique approach to art history, and the relating of various periods and cultures. Just fast forward through the psychobabble.
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Streaming She – In COLOR! Also Includes the Original Black-and-White Version which has been Beautifully Restored and Enhanced! Online

March 9th, 2010 by lilianna2856733
Streaming She - In COLOR! Also Includes the Original Black-and-White Version which has been Beautifully Restored and Enhanced! Online. Streaming She – In COLOR! Also Includes the Original Black-and-White Version which has been Beautifully Restored and Enhanced! Online.

Movie Title: She – In COLOR! Also Includes the Original Black-and-White Version which has been Beautifully Restored and Enhanced!
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She – In COLOR! Also Includes the Original Black-and-White Version which has been Beautifully Restored and Enhanced! is available for streaming or downloading.

Click Here to Stream or Download She – In COLOR! Also Includes the Original Black-and-White Version which has been Beautifully Restored and Enhanced!

The packaging for the DVD boldly announces this film as “From the Creator of ‘King Kong’” and there are indeed such striking similarities between the two that She–produced by Merian C. Cooper during his tenure at RKO might well have been called Kong Goes North. (Cognoscenti of the earlier film will have no difficulty in spotting the monumental wall with its Babylonian-style gates that separated the inhabitants of Skull Island from the lair of the beast.) Once more a band of intrepid explorers intrude upon the sacred precincts of a “lost world” that has been cut off from contact with the outside for centuries–and with predictably disastrous results for all concerned, since the hero turns out to be a reincarnation of the man the immortal mistress of the chthonian realm of Kor had loved five hundred years before. In making King Kong, Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack had drawn upon their earlier documentaries like Grass and Chang, but She, based upon another febrile romance from the pen of H. Rider Haggard (King Solomon’s Mines) is a wildly romantic creation that more resembles a Hollywood adaptation of Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde than any conventional adventure picture. In fact, what makes She still quite charming today is its highly anachronistic quality, especially evident in the extravagant sets designed by Van Nest Polglase, which hark back to the visual style of classic German films from the early 1920s like Fritz Lang’s Destiny as well as Alla Nazimovia’s silent version of Oscar Wilde’s Salome. I would also surmise that She may have had a influence upon the look of some later movies including Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon and Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz, and most interestingly of all upon Walt Disney’s Snow White, whose evil queen bears a remarkable likeness to the one who rules over Kor. Helen Gahagan in her unique screen appearance is grandiosely malevolent as She Who Must Be Obeyed–as the movie styles the character. Randolph Scott is quite acceptable as the explorer Leo, and Nigel Bruce his usual solid self as Leo’s companion Holly. But Helen Mack is ludicrous as Tanya, the mortal for whom Leo gives up the chance of eternal life, and Gustav Von Seyffertitz as the high priest of Kor is a prototypic example of old-time studio miscasting. As another reviewer pointed out, this DVD has been made from excellent print material and the picture quality is quite impressive, although I personally found the sound level had to be cranked up quite a bit.

If the 1935 SHE reminds you vaguely of the 1933 KING KONG do not be too surprised: both films were produced by Meriam C. Cooper, who endowed them with similar visual styles–and who tweaked the 1887 novel by H. Rider Haggard to create a similar story line as well. Starring Broadway actress (and later two term Democratic congresswoman from California) Helen Gahagan in her only film role as The Eternal One, SHE did not, however, meet with the same financial success. It lost a tremendous amount of money for RKO, was withdrawn, and for many years was thought to be completely lost.

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Although the film alters the Haggard novel in a great many ways, it retains the basic elements. Lured by a family legend, Leo Vincey (Randolph Scott) braves the frozen European north with family friend Horace Holly (Nigel Bruce, best known for his appearances in the Sherlock Holmes series) and innocent Tanya Dugmore (Helen Mack, popular 1930s ingenue.) When an avalanche exposes a cavern, the three find that the Vincey family legend is not quite so fanciful after all.

Most particularly, they find themselves at the mercy of She Who Must Be Obeyed, a woman who recalls talk of Jesus Christ in the Jerusalem market place, a woman two thousand years old who preserves her life by bathing in a radioactive flame that vents from the volcanic floor of her hidden kingdom. She (known here as Queen Hash-A-Mo-Tep) has been waiting for the reincarnation of her long-dead love, and Leo is his spitting image.

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The acting styles are stiff even by 1935 standards and although Miss Gahagan is attractive in a 1930s way she lacks the stunning beauty attributed to She by the Haggard novel–but the great draw of the film was never intended to be great acting: like KING KONG, it is an action-adventure film with knockout sets (a few of them actually lifted from KING KONG), memorable special effects, and remarkable cinematographic set pieces. Even as it borrowed from earlier films such as the 1932 Boris Karloff THE MUMMY, it would also influence later films in turn; it is hard, for example, to imagine the 1937 Ronald Coleman LOST HORIZON without it, and even the look of the evil queen in Disney’s 1938 SNOW WHITE is said to have been inspired by Gahagan’s look and performance.

The film has been released in several editions to the home market, and fans may be tempted by less expensive editions. A word to the wise: Don’t. The film shows its age and there is no significant bonus material, but the Kino Video release (be it on VHS or DVD) offers what is probably the best print short of a digital restoration. Recommended for fans of 1930s fantasy cinema.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer
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Spaceballs Streaming

March 9th, 2010 by lilianna2856733
Spaceballs Streaming. Spaceballs Streaming.

Movie Title: Spaceballs
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Spaceballs is available for streaming or downloading.

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I love the film so it was a no-brainer to get it for the store, and my slight disappointment is offset with showing what a high storage capacity can do for this product.

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The package comes with both the BD and the standard def discs and included are all of the special features we know from the 2005 release. So what’s changed? Nothing except for the languages: Dubbed in DTS for six languages (including Castilian, German, Italian and French) and Mono or Dolby for three others, and subtitled in nine languages (incl. Danish, Swedish and Norwegian). None of the supplements have been upgraded but that DTS always sounds awesome during the main feature. The picture has not been cleaned up from the transfer so there is plenty of artifact, hair and random film discolorations. I enjoyed watching some of the same special features again, including the John Candy memorial and the Mel Brooks conversation. The ludiricous speed is just as lame as before.

The menu is a killer if your player is not tuned up (or older). It becomes painful when trying to watch those flubs sequences as there is no play all option. It is Spaceballs, it is Mel Brooks – so it makes it a worthwhile purchase if you did not already upgrade a few years ago to that special edition DVD (especially with both included here). I would normally rate this lower but there is so much here I had to go up one.

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In a Galaxy not so far away, a ruthless race of beings called Spaceballs lead by the dreaded runt Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) and moronic president Scroobe (Mel Brooks) have came up with a diabolical plan to take all the air away from their neighboring planet Druidia. A runaway princess named Vespa (Daphne Zungia) with sassy robot maid Dot Matrix (Voice by Joan Rivers) is rescued by a stubborn but lovable space trucker named Lonestarr (Bill Pullman) with half-man half-dog alien companion Barf (John Candy) as they all join forces to learn the ways of the magical and mysterious Schwartz power from master Yogurt (Mel Brooks) and stop Dark Helmet’s plans.

Excellent Sci-fi satire from co-writer, producer and director including actor Mel Brooks is one of the coolest and best comedies i’ve ever seen. I love how he makes fun of the Sci-fi genre with movies like “Star Wars”, “Alien”, “Planet of the Apes”, “Star Trek”, and other sci-fi movies of the time. The film co-stars Dick Van Patten as King Roland, George Wyner as Colnel Sanders, Michael Winslow and the voice of Dom Deluise as Pizza The Hutt even with a cameo by John Hurt. It’s a great 80’s cult favorite that provides the best laughs of the decade thanks to the magic of Mel Brooks and is always pure comedy gold.

This 2-Disc Blu-Ray offers the movie in beautiful high definition that it’s not even funny even with quality sound that would make you go into luduicrous speed including a standard definition DVD of the movie. The extras including BD-exclusive which is “Watch the Movie in Luduicrous Speed”, Trailers, Audio Commentaries, Film Flubs, Storyboard comparisons, interviews, Spaceballs: The Documentary, a memorial featurette on John Candy, behind-the-scenes footage and of course still galleries.
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