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Synopsis Plot Overview The characters Andreas, Jorgen, Finn, Giulia, Olympia, Karen, and the displaced Reverend are introduced in rapid succession at the beginning of the film. I thought the initial introductions seem a little amateurish, especially the succession of similarly unfortunate events that happens to the main characters. However, each develops a comically believable personality, complete with over-the-top traits and concerns. After the introduction, the story is pleasing and mostly believable, though predictable. The six main characters become closer through a few coincidences and a common setting, the night class with the movie’s namesake. Witty conversation, true-to-life issues, and a goofy lightheartedness make this film an open-minded crowd pleaser. Just don’t expect much Italian or the type of polish that the cover would suggest. Commentary Director Lone Scherfig weaves an amusing and sweet tale of several everyday people looking for love, or at the very least, a working knowledge of Italian. The movie is a participant in the Dogme movement, which basically means that it has to look like its budget is lower than student projects. Seriously though, Dogme is a niche that was carved out to preserve the viability of authentic and independent movies. An intriguing concept, the full “Vow of Chastity” can be viewed here: http://www.tvropa.com/tvropa1.2/film/dogme95/menu/menuset.htm A home theater demo DVD this is certainly not, as the Dogme rules require a single consumer DV cam be used for all shots. Additionally, no tripods or optical filters may be used. All shots must be at found locations, with no set creation. All sounds must come from the shooting environment. Certainly, these rules take their toll on the movie, resulting in distractingly bad shaky camerawork and shockingly abrupt cuts. With production value like this, the viewer focuses on the characters and story as a means of self-defense. - Ya-Bing Chu - Technical This is a fairly bad looking disc, but it is not the encoding that is the problem. It is just what happens when you make a film this way. On a positive note, it is an enjoyable film, and that is what matters most. The only thing worse than the image is the audio quality, so it is a good thing it is subtitled. The entire film is encoded as video, which is no surprise given how it was filmed. If you are watching this on a flag reading progressive scan player, like an HTPC, you will be unhappy. However, if you have an Genesis/Sage based DVD player, you will see just how good DCDi really is. As for the MPEG PIC flags, hooray, there is not a single drop to video, but there are a few film 3-3 and 2-2 anomalies.
To have a better understanding of what the flags above mean, please refer to our "A Beautiful Mind" review. - Stacey Spears -
Synopsis Plot Overview FBI Agent Ecks (Banderas) has retired because his wife's death has turned him into an alcoholic. But, the FBI calls him out of retirement to rescue a kidnapped child held hostage by a Chinese agent, Sever (Liu). He refuses, but they force him to help, saying that they know his wife is alive, and will only tell him where she is if he takes the job. Commentary This movie has the necessary requirements for a nice evening, including actors, acting, directing, and great effects, but it is missing one important item, a quality script. It seems to me that if they are willing to spend millions on the production, they could do better than this. I am not sure why the title has Ecks vs. Sever in it. Perhaps there will be a Ballistic II. Extras Included are The Making Of, Know Your Enemy Challenge, Trailer, and interviews with the stars and director.
- John E. Johnson, Jr. -
Synopsis Plot Overview Jason Bourne (Damon) wakes up on a boat with two bullets in his back, along with a capsule in his skin that has a Swiss bank account number. Even worse, he can't remember who he is. After docking in a Zurich port, he goes to the US embassy, only to find people trying to kill him. The bank account number leads him to a box with money and numerous forged passports. He discovers he has remarkable offensive and defensive powers, and enlists the aid of a young lady (Potente) to take him to Paris, where he has an address under one of the passport names. Meanwhile, the American CIA tries to either bring in their wayward agent, or liquidate him. Commentary Although the story is vintage Robert Ludlum, Damon seems out of place in this film. Perhaps he just looks too young to have the skills and assignments that Bourne has had in the past. Even though Harrison Ford is a little old to play this part, it would have looked more appropriate. Extras Included are Alternate Ending, Deleted Scenes, an Interview with Doug Loman, The Making Of, and Games.
- John E. Johnson, Jr. -
Synopsis Plot Overview Elvis plays a charter-boat skipper who loves his simple life. But when his boss decides to retire and sell the gear, all he can think about is buying the sail boat. To help raise cash, he agrees to work as a singer at the local club even though that means going up after his old girlfriend. He also tries being a fishing boat captain, but that turns out to be less than lucrative. Good thing he finds a new girl with plenty of money, though she doesn't want anyone to know she has it. Commentary This is actually not a bad story in and of itself, but it feels really cheap. As with all these "quickie" Elvis movies, everything in the script is really just an excuse to jump into a song. When Elvis is on the fishing boat, one of the crew says something off handed about shrimping in Louisiana, and bang, Elvis can sing "Here come da shrimp boat". Elvis is actually not a bad actor, but there just wasn't anything for him to do here. Extras There are no extras whatsoever beyond some period trivia on the DVD case. Technical The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is a bit of a fooler: Its not really a 5.1 remix. The soundtrack is as mono as mono can be until a song comes on and then suddenly we are two channel stereo. It doesn't really work though because if you are off center, you'll only hear the music from the speaker to the side you are on. On the other hand, the 5.1 track is much much cleaner in the hiss and noise department as compared to the also included "Restored Mono" track. So, use the 5.1 The video, though 16x9 enhanced, is a pretty sore sight. Edge enhancement and ringing are abundant, to a distracting extent. There is often an excessive amount of noise and compression artifacts are plentiful. About the one thing we can say is that the film is pretty consistent in its look from start to finish. Contrast has been dialed in with blacks and shadow detail that aren't half bad, but perhaps is a little over done. The MPEG PIC flags.
Interestingly, as you can see, the encoding of the PICs is on the better side, suggesting that this film was sourced from a raw interlaced master with perhaps no tampering or editing at all. - Brian Florian -
Synopsis Plot Overview This time Elvis starts out as a boat hand who gets fired while stopped in Acapulco. With no money and no way home, he lands a job as a life guard at a hotel by day and lounge singer at night. A young local boy acts as his manager, driving up the price at all the hotel night clubs for him. The local female bull fighting champion takes an interest in the new boy on the block, as does the social director at the hotel he works at (played by Andress). Oh dear: Elvis has to juggle two women. Commentary This movie is one of the more entertaining of the Elvis pictures of the period, showing the original "playa" that Elvis was. As usual, many elements exist simply as an excuse to break into a certain song, and as such the film feels a little cheap, but man the tunes are catchy. Extras There are no extras whatsoever beyond some period trivia on the DVD case. Technical The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is a bit of a fooler: Its not really a 5.1 remix. The soundtrack is as mono as mono can be until a song comes on and then suddenly we are two channel stereo. It doesn't really work though because if you are off center, you'll only hear the music from the speaker to the side you are on. On the other hand, the 5.1 track is much much cleaner in the hiss and noise department as compared to the also included "Restored Mono" track. So, use the 5.1 The video, though 16x9 enhanced, is a pretty sore sight. Edge enhancement and ringing are abundant, to a distracting extent. There is often an excessive amount of noise, and compression artifacts are plentiful. About the one thing we can say is that the film is pretty consistent in its look from start to finish. Contrast has been dialed in with blacks and shadow detail that aren't half bad, but perhaps is a little over done. The flags...
To have a better understanding of what the flags above mean, please refer to our "A Beautiful Mind" review. - Brian Florian -
Synopsis Plot Overview Elvis plays an ex-airline pilot who's trying to start a charter helicopter business in Hawaii. In order to get customers, he promises affections to the various social directors on each of the islands, while his heart is actually captured by the secretary he's hired for his company. What will happen if they all meet? Commentary I can just imagine the conservative folks of the day thinking this is the most awful picture, showing a man who literally has a girl on every island. There is no other reason for the PG rating. That's Elvis for you! The plot is less interesting than the other "quickie" Elvis pictures of the era, and will only interest die hard fans of the king. There are a few good tunes you'll be tempted to tap your feet to though. Extras There are no extras whatsoever beyond some period trivia on the DVD case. Technical The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is a bit of a fooler: Its not really a 5.1 remix. The soundtrack is as mono as mono can be until a song comes on and then suddenly we are two channel stereo. It doesn't really work though because if you are off center, you'll only hear the music from the speaker to the side you are on. On the other hand, the 5.1 track is much much cleaner in the hiss and noise department as compared to the also included "Restored Mono" track. So, use the 5.1 The video, though 16x9 enhanced, is a pretty sore sight. Edge enhancement and ringing are abundant, to a distracting extent. There is often an excessive amount of noise, and compression artifacts are plentiful. About the one thing we can say is that the film is pretty consistent in its look from start to finish. Contrast has been dialed in with blacks and shadow detail that aren't half bad, but perhaps is a little over done. The flags...
To have a better understanding of what the flags above mean, please refer to our "A Beautiful Mind" review. - Brian Florian -
Synopsis Plot Overview Elvis plays a Marine diver on shore leave who decides to investigate the potential for buried treasure in a sunken ship he found while disarming water mines. A local hippy go go dancer just happens to be a descendant of the ship's captain so of course Elvis has to go to work on her. At the same time, a yacht full of bosomy girls and a fit dude decide they'd like to get to the treasure first. Commentary This is a terrible script which is difficult to watch. Definitely a yawn. Only Elvis fans will get anything at all out of this one, and at that, chances are it will only be the tunes (not his best either). Good thing it's easy to skip around a movie with DVD. Extras There are no extras whatsoever beyond some period trivia on the DVD case. Technical The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is a bit of a fooler: Its not really a 5.1 remix. The soundtrack is as mono as mono can be until a song comes on and then suddenly we are two channel stereo. It doesn't really work though because if you are off center, you'll only hear the music from the speaker to the side you are on. On the other hand, the 5.1 track is much much cleaner in the hiss and noise department as compared to the also included "Restored Mono" track. Use the 5.1 The video, though 16x9 enhanced, is a pretty sore sight. Edge enhancement and ringing is abundant, to a distracting extent. There is often an excessive amount of noise and compression artifacts are abundant. About the one thing we can say is that the film is pretty consistent in its look from start to finish. Contrast has been dialed in with blacks and shadow detail that aren't half bad, but perhaps is a little over done. If you feel deja vu on the previous two paragraphs, it is because all of the Elvis movies reviewed here have the same issues, so Copy & Paste was in order for the html editor. Notes by JEJ: These old Elvis movies were silly, but I remember them as a lot of fun when I saw them as a youth. I came out of the theater feeling good. Contrast that with today's movies that can leave you shocked and feeling sick to your stomach in some cases. Try and get a production company to make a movie now, with a guy and some girls, and tell them you want it to be rated G. They will laugh and say that they would rather make a movie about families trying to escape nuclear contamination in their homes near Three Mile Island. If you want to get started, they will ask you as producer to find a company to rent you some dummies that look like rotting corpses. You will also need 100,000 rounds for the Kalishnikov AK-47 assault weapons. Then they will say they want to film it in Prague to save production costs. The flags...
To have a better understanding of what the flags above mean, please refer to our "A Beautiful Mind" review. - Brian Florian -
Synopsis Plot Overview Action seeker Xander Cage (Diesel) steals one too many cars, and the NSA catches up with him. When he passes a test arranged by the government agency, they (un-credited Samuel L. Jackson) force Xander to make a choice between going to jail or helping the NSA infiltrate a Russian gang in Prague. He takes the obvious selection, and goes undercover in the Czech Republic, under the guise of wanting to buy stolen luxury cars. He uncovers a plot to produce chemical weapons that would be used to launch World War III Commentary The movie highlights Diesel's ability to perform all of his own stunts, which I assume, is the reason he is in the film to begin with. It looks like some of it was shot with a video camera, and dark scenes have lots of video grain in the shadow areas. It is non-stop action, and that is actually one of the warnings in the PG-13 rating part of the lead in. Extras Included are Director's Commentary, The GTO is Back, Deleted Scenes, Storyboard, Building Speed, and Visual Effects: How To. - John E. Johnson, Jr. -
Synopsis Plot Overview Detective Jake Malloy (Stallone) has a very serious problem. A serial killer is targeting his fellow detectives, and Jake must not only track him down, but deal with the fact that the killer is doing this because Jake tried to catch him in a previous set of crimes. So, Jake's colleagues blame him as part of the problem. When Jake's fiancee is murdered, Jake becomes an alcoholic, and his supervisor talks him into going to a recovery center for policemen, in Wyoming. With sub-zero temperatures and a major snow storm setting in, the patients are dropping one by one, and they must confront the fact that the serial killer is among them. Commentary This movie went direct to video rather than to theaters first. It is a bad sign for Stallone's career, but nevertheless, the film is reasonably entertaining. In today's non-stop-action movies, perhaps this film just dwelled too long on the alcoholism thing instead of getting right to the action. Extras Included are Deleted Scenes, Actor Interviews, and Trailer. - John E. Johnson, Jr. -
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