Most recently watched DVD(s)?

[Alien Redrum]

I loved this documentary, and I was so happy I went into it completely blind (only knowing the very basic info). It's jarring at points.

This has been at the top of my instant queue for awhile now but I still haven't got around to watching it. Heard nothing but great things though.

Watch it soon. It's Paradise Lost anger inducing. Okay, not as much, but damn close.

[Blair76]

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Visually very stunning between the ground snow, thick ice, thin ice, lava, and wide variety of plant life. Also impressive was the overall show of scale when showing the dinos. The flaws for me where that there were way too many characters and in turn too many different stories (when you include the Scrat side story as well... but then again, the movie was only 94 minutes long and would have been much shorter without them), and the use of stereotypical jokes (hearts showing love, water for the birth, "red wire, blue wire").

[fnordboy]

02/07/2010 - Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) - (DVD: Rental - Zip) - 8.5/10 - A very moving documentary that is best if you know very little about the subject matter. A film that portrays and evokes true emotion and outrage.

I loved this documentary, and I was so happy I went into it completely blind (only knowing the very basic info). It's jarring at points.

I started watching this a few weeks ago, but couldn't get into it. I probably just wasn't in the mood for it that day. I just found that I really didn't care about the guy or the people talking about him...

Spoiler:

I do know the ZOMG twist of the film, and honestly I think if you don't know anything about it the emotional impact probably makes it seem better than it is... which to me means it relies too heavily on it. Granted, I haven't watched the whole doc so I am talking out of my ass.

[Alien Redrum]

02/07/2010 - Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) - (DVD: Rental - Zip) - 8.5/10 - A very moving documentary that is best if you know very little about the subject matter. A film that portrays and evokes true emotion and outrage.

I loved this documentary, and I was so happy I went into it completely blind (only knowing the very basic info). It's jarring at points.

I started watching this a few weeks ago, but couldn't get into it. I probably just wasn't in the mood for it that day. I just found that I really didn't care about the guy or the people talking about him...

Spoiler:

I do know the ZOMG twist of the film, and honestly I think if you don't know anything about it the emotional impact probably makes it seem better than it is... which to me means it relies too heavily on it. Granted, I haven't watched the whole doc so I am talking out of my ass.

Spoiler:

Well of course it's going to make it better (note I didn't say "seem" better). It's like saying, I knew about the twist in Sixth Sense and I honestly think if you don't know anything about it, the impact probably makes it seem better. That twist is the crux of the documentary.

[fnordboy]

I loved this documentary, and I was so happy I went into it completely blind (only knowing the very basic info). It's jarring at points.

I started watching this a few weeks ago, but couldn't get into it. I probably just wasn't in the mood for it that day. I just found that I really didn't care about the guy or the people talking about him...

Spoiler:

I do know the ZOMG twist of the film, and honestly I think if you don't know anything about it the emotional impact probably makes it seem better than it is... which to me means it relies too heavily on it. Granted, I haven't watched the whole doc so I am talking out of my ass.

Spoiler:

Well of course it's going to make it better (note I didn't say "seem" better). It's like saying, I knew about the twist in Sixth Sense and I honestly think if you don't know anything about it, the impact probably makes it seem better. That twist is the crux of the documentary.

Spoiler:

Agreed, but I would argue that the Sixth Sense is still atleast a well made film. And yes, I am only basing this on the 1/3 of the movie I watched, but what I saw seemed like a very amateur doc.

[supersushiboy]

Yu Yu Hakusho Season One Discs 1-3

[Alien Redrum]

Spoiler:

Well of course it's going to make it better (note I didn't say "seem" better). It's like saying, I knew about the twist in Sixth Sense and I honestly think if you don't know anything about it, the impact probably makes it seem better. That twist is the crux of the documentary.

Spoiler:

Agreed, but I would argue that the Sixth Sense is still atleast a well made film. And yes, I am only basing this on the 1/3 of the movie I watched, but what I saw seemed like a very amateur doc.

Spoiler:

Ow, yeah, it certainly could have been done better, I won't dispute that at all. If you know the reveal before going in, the entire documentary will suffer greatly, I think. Of course, Sixth Sense had a much better budget and talent behind the camera. But, yeah, I agree with you. I will say this: the doc maker is a shit ton better, and less annoying than that british assclown that did the Cobain doc.

[Blair76]

Bolt

This movie was great fun. The story was fairly unique for an animated feature in that it treated humans and animals as equals with the expected exception for reality sake that the humans couldn't understand the animals. In my opinion, this particular movie easily rivals Pixar on a visual level. For me, these days with computer generated animation always improving, movies with scenes that look like plastic just don't cut it no matter how great the story is; the story becomes almost secondary to amazing animation. Bolt managed to cover a wider variety of scenery and effects... err... effectively... than probably any other GCI film that I have seen to date.

Effects that this movie uses that other movies might have toned down, minimized, or eliminated altogether to save time/work:

• Multi-layered types of smoke (engine and wood fire, and white smoke which react differently)
• Wind through smoke
• Multiple types of fire
• Burning and blackened wood
• Fire embers and ash
• Multi-layered lens flares
• Scene and lighting reflections in glass, metal, laminated wood, porcelain, plastic (hamster bubble), and several types of flooring
• Day and night lighting of many different intensities and cloud cover (ie: a halo moon); the only thing missing was a sunrise/sunset
• Fog and moving dirt (though minimal)
• Sprayed water
• Night water reflections under moonlight
• Shadow variances
• 200 different photographs (even if the same pose and background changed)
• Dozens of different human faces (surprised not to see a few more animals)
• Wide variety of scenery and objects (recreating the Las Vegas Strip including the Bellagio fountain show for what little time it was displayed was a huge step above)
• High and low-speed camera shots.
• Distortion/magnification (through the hamster bubble) inside of regular space
• Good depth of field usage

The only things missing on the DVD, are a commentary track, the trailer, and (for all animated films) effects-only and score-only tracks.

[JohnnySack]

Eight Legged Freaks 2.5/5
The silliness of the spiders single-handedly knocked this down from a 3/5. They laugh. They cough. They go "ewww" and make plenty of other human noises. I realize this movie is meant to be a bit of a comedy but the spiders were just too absurd for me. Overall though, I enjoyed it.

[fnordboy]

Spoiler:

Ow, yeah, it certainly could have been done better, I won't dispute that at all. If you know the reveal before going in, the entire documentary will suffer greatly, I think. Of course, Sixth Sense had a much better budget and talent behind the camera. But, yeah, I agree with you. I will say this: the doc maker is a shit ton better, and less annoying than that british assclown that did the Cobain doc.

Spoiler:

I just want people to think we are having a really intelligent film conversation/debate.

Fart.

[Blair76]

Spoiler:

Ow, yeah, it certainly could have been done better, I won't dispute that at all. If you know the reveal before going in, the entire documentary will suffer greatly, I think. Of course, Sixth Sense had a much better budget and talent behind the camera. But, yeah, I agree with you. I will say this: the doc maker is a shit ton better, and less annoying than that british assclown that did the Cobain doc.

Spoiler:

I just want people to think we are having a really intelligent film conversation/debate.

Fart.

Spoiler:

Yea... the spoilers in this conversation are getting a bit tiresome.

[supersushiboy]

Yu Yu Hakusho Season One Disc Four
Star Trek The Voyage Home

[Spez]

The Darjeeling Limited - I'm a Wes Anderson fan but this was a tough movie to sit through. First of all, the short film / prequel was painful to watch even though it featured a full butt shot of Natalie Portman. The actual film just felt like they weren't trying at all. It was like they just filmed the table read. No emotion or anything. 2.5 / 5

[DoubleDownAgain]

02/09/2010 - Cold Souls (2009) - (DVD: Rental - Zip) - 6.5/10 - A high concept idea of what a soul is, or how it defines us. Part satire, part drama it doesn't seem that it doesn’t know what it wants to be. There are some funny parts with Paul Giamatti, especially him acting out a play he is doing as William Shatner. The tone of the film is uneven, at first the attempt to make fun of a soul and the ridiculous thought that it could be extracted and stored, as well as have other souls injected into you. But then it sways back to more of a grounded reality where we are supposed to relate with someone being 'soulless'. While there are some great performances & parts of this movie the entire things falls apart.

[supersushiboy]

Private Parts
Highlander