Random DVD thoughts

RocketSledFight

New member
I've recently been on a little DVD buying/viewing spree, and thought I'd share some comments and questions to get feedback from you guys.

1. I've been thinking about getting Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, after listening to the superb soundtrack by Clint Mansell. Would anybody recommend this? It got great reviews if I recall correctly (at least from CHUD and aintitcool) and has a great visual style judging by the bits I've seen.

2. The Office Season 4 set needs to be released. Now. Right Now.

3. After all of the hype and hooplah that prepared me for the experience that would be Citizen Kane, I finally caved and bought the DVD (in a nifty set with Maltese Falcon and Ben Hur). While the first 15 minutes seemed to drag on and were both disorienting and unengaging, once Welles showed up as the character Kane, I got what the fuss was about. Charles Foster Kane is an amazingly deep and charismatic creation, and every moment he is on screen I was pulled in. Welles' cinematography was top notch as well.

And then, as fate would have it, the DVD crapped out on me 60 minutes in, unplayable on any machine in my home. And then I tested Maltese Falcon (Glitchy, lacking sound) and Ben Hur (unwatchable, garbled).

Anger. Furious furious anger. NEVER buy anything online from Best Buy. Fitting that I have ordered dozens of films and games off Amazon that have worked perfectly but the one item I buy from BB that costs roughly 3 times as much as the average Amazon purchase is completely defective. Sorry for taking a moment to vent.

4. Rented and Loved Mr. Brooks. Quirky as all get out, but with strong performances across the board (well, not really. Demi Moore wasn't in the same league as the wonderful William Hurt). Costner's best performance in a very, very long time. Interesting soundtrack, and great atmosphere.

5. Bought and Hated Assault on Precinct 13 (original). One of those John Carpenter movies that balance out his classics (The Thing, Halloween, EFNY) with utterly boring crap (EFLA, Vampires, Ghosts of Mars).

6. New Indiana Jones DVD release set (slightly used) at vintage stock for 20 dollars. A steal. I couldn't believe that price.
 

Michael24

New member
RocketSledFight said:
1. I've been thinking about getting Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, after listening to the superb soundtrack by Clint Mansell. Would anybody recommend this? It got great reviews if I recall correctly (at least from CHUD and aintitcool) and has a great visual style judging by the bits I've seen.

I have this on my NetFlix queue and am very anxious to check it out. I've heard mostly negative-to-mixed reactions, but I'm curious to see it for myself.

RocketSledFight said:
3. After all of the hype and hooplah that prepared me for the experience that would be Citizen Kane, I finally caved and bought the DVD (in a nifty set with Maltese Falcon and Ben Hur). While the first 15 minutes seemed to drag on and were both disorienting and unengaging, once Welles showed up as the character Kane, I got what the fuss was about. Charles Foster Kane is an amazingly deep and charismatic creation, and every moment he is on screen I was pulled in. Welles' cinematography was top notch as well.

I watched Citizen Kane in one of my college film classes, and I think I was the only person who didn't care for it. I mean, I guess I can "see" what everyone else sees, but me personally, I just didn't get it. I enjoyed the earlier scenes when Kane was younger, though, and Welles himself did a fine job.

RocketSledFight said:
4. Rented and Loved Mr. Brooks. Quirky as all get out, but with strong performances across the board (well, not really. Demi Moore wasn't in the same league as the wonderful William Hurt). Costner's best performance in a very, very long time. Interesting soundtrack, and great atmosphere.

I'm glad you liked it. I thought it was a very solid, well-made little thriller. I'm a Costner fan already, but I agree it was one of his best performances. The final scene was a shocker, too. I hope plans to make it a trilogy pan out. I think its budget was low enough that it's box office grosses were able to warrant moving a sequel into development.

RocketSledFight said:
5. Bought and Hated Assault on Precinct 13 (original). One of those John Carpenter movies that balance out his classics (The Thing, Halloween, EFNY) with utterly boring crap (EFLA, Vampires, Ghosts of Mars).

Assault on Precinct 13 is pretty dated, I think, and even I didn't like it the first time I saw it. (I'm a big Carpenter fan, too, and like the good vast majority of his filmography.) But after some repeated viewings, I got into it, and now I have my own copy. From what I've seen, the remake is awful, though.
 

Goonie

New member
RocketSledFight said:
I've recently been on a little DVD buying/viewing spree, and thought I'd share some comments and questions to get feedback from you guys.

1. I've been thinking about getting Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, after listening to the superb soundtrack by Clint Mansell. Would anybody recommend this? It got great reviews if I recall correctly (at least from CHUD and aintitcool) and has a great visual style judging by the bits I've seen.

I have The Fountain in my DVD collection. I've seen it twice now. It's a very interesting movie, different from you avarage fare. It jumps between three time zones/stories. In the first, Hugh Jackman is a conquistador on a quest to locate the Tree of Life/Fountain of Youth. In the second story Hugh Jackman plays a doctor/cancer researcher on a quest to find a cure to cancer (with the help of a sample of bark off an old growth tree from South America), and in the third story Hugh Jackman is an astronaut (not your typical NASA astronaut) on a quest to xibalba to save the tree of life. Very interesting story with really neat visuals. However, this is in my opinion, one of those movies that some people really dislike or really enjoy. I thought it was an interesting and fresh/original sci-fi movie.
 

Agent Z

Active member
RocketSledFight said:
Anger. Furious furious anger. NEVER buy anything online from Best Buy. Fitting that I have ordered dozens of films and games off Amazon that have worked perfectly but the one item I buy from BB that costs roughly 3 times as much as the average Amazon purchase is completely defective. Sorry for taking a moment to vent.

Wow! Really, why blame Best Buy?! Truth be told, they didn't press said disc. Return the defective disc for a replacement. These things happen. I'm not sure why you are blaming the middle man, the retailer. Strange.
 

deckard24

New member
RocketSledFight said:
I've recently been on a little DVD buying/viewing spree, and thought I'd share some comments and questions to get feedback from you guys.

1. I've been thinking about getting Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, after listening to the superb soundtrack by Clint Mansell. Would anybody recommend this? It got great reviews if I recall correctly (at least from CHUD and aintitcool) and has a great visual style judging by the bits I've seen.

2. The Office Season 4 set needs to be released. Now. Right Now.

3. After all of the hype and hooplah that prepared me for the experience that would be Citizen Kane, I finally caved and bought the DVD (in a nifty set with Maltese Falcon and Ben Hur). While the first 15 minutes seemed to drag on and were both disorienting and unengaging, once Welles showed up as the character Kane, I got what the fuss was about. Charles Foster Kane is an amazingly deep and charismatic creation, and every moment he is on screen I was pulled in. Welles' cinematography was top notch as well.

And then, as fate would have it, the DVD crapped out on me 60 minutes in, unplayable on any machine in my home. And then I tested Maltese Falcon (Glitchy, lacking sound) and Ben Hur (unwatchable, garbled).

Anger. Furious furious anger. NEVER buy anything online from Best Buy. Fitting that I have ordered dozens of films and games off Amazon that have worked perfectly but the one item I buy from BB that costs roughly 3 times as much as the average Amazon purchase is completely defective. Sorry for taking a moment to vent.

4. Rented and Loved Mr. Brooks. Quirky as all get out, but with strong performances across the board (well, not really. Demi Moore wasn't in the same league as the wonderful William Hurt). Costner's best performance in a very, very long time. Interesting soundtrack, and great atmosphere.

5. Bought and Hated Assault on Precinct 13 (original). One of those John Carpenter movies that balance out his classics (The Thing, Halloween, EFNY) with utterly boring crap (EFLA, Vampires, Ghosts of Mars).

6. New Indiana Jones DVD release set (slightly used) at vintage stock for 20 dollars. A steal. I couldn't believe that price.
The Fountain is great, don't miss out on that one! Just a warning though, it's an emotional rollercoaster of a film. You may want to balance it out with some lighter fare if those kind of movies affect you.

I agree Assault on Precinct 13 doesn't really hold up well these days, and I'm a huge Carpenter fan!
 

bonoferox

Active member
I wanted to like the Fountian and was throwing all previous negative reviews aside when I watched it, but I ended up just bored with it.
 

Agent Crab

New member
Had Best Buy Blues from orderin' form their site? I never had any issues with buyingoff from their site at all.

Amazon I had a few issues, but it was bette rthan nothin'.
 

phantom train

New member
RocketSledFight said:
I've recently been on a little DVD buying/viewing spree, and thought I'd share some comments and questions to get feedback from you guys.

1. I've been thinking about getting Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, after listening to the superb soundtrack by Clint Mansell. Would anybody recommend this? It got great reviews if I recall correctly (at least from CHUD and aintitcool) and has a great visual style judging by the bits I've seen.

2. The Office Season 4 set needs to be released. Now. Right Now.
QUOTE]

As others have said, "The Fountain" is an interesting film, with great visuals. I've only seen it once, but you would probably need to see it twice to fully appreciate the story. Like a previous reviewer said, it's one of those movies that you will either really like or really dislike.

I'm also a big fan of "The Office". Season 4 is scheduled to come out on 9/02/08.

Re: "Assault on Precinct 13", check out the re-make that came out about 3-4 years ago. Much better than the original, IMHO.
 

Michael24

New member
I was curious about the remake, but I heard from my brother that he couldn't even finish it and turned it off a little over halfway through, so it dropped on my curiosity meter. So far, I've yet to see any Carpenter remakes that I thought were better or improved upon the original.
 

Dr. Wolfwood

New member
The Fountain is an excellent piece, but it may require some lighter fare afterwards to get your mood back to normal. But it does serve as food for many conversations with others who have seen it, so I propose that you see it with someone.
 
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