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Author Topic: DVD Review Thread  (Read 6827 times)
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DrThunder88

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« on: 12-08-2002 00:27 »

The name of this thread pretty much sums it up.  I've recently fallen in love with DVDs, as I tend to skip around to different parts of movies, and DVDs allow me to do that with ease.  This is for the reviews of the DVDs themselves, not the actual movies.  I'd hope to discuss things like special features, formatting, DVD-ROM extras, and sound system support.
DrThunder88

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« Reply #1 on: 12-08-2002 00:29 »

The Sum of All Fears

I've only had this DVD for a few days, but it's fast becoming my favorite.  The special features are great.  They include the theatrical trailer, producer/director commentary, casting and production featurettes, as well as special effects breakdowns of some of the movie's most technically difficult scenes (the aircraft carrier attack, the A-4 sequence, and the nuclear explosion).  The menus are constantly active with music taken directly from the soundtrack, and the transitions between menus are animated as well.  Like I said at the beginning, not only did I enjoy the film, but I also love this DVD.
TSN-Bot
Bending Unit
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« Reply #2 on: 12-08-2002 00:55 »
« Last Edit on: 12-08-2002 00:55 »

red dwarf series I

is good.

but they should have included the american pilot instead of the japanese one
bartman

Starship Captain
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« Reply #3 on: 12-08-2002 02:12 »

Family guy season one on DvD.

To watch a brilliant show this good again and again is exellent, but sadly thereare no special features, which would have made this DvD a lot better now.
dadbot

Bending Unit
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« Reply #4 on: 12-08-2002 16:14 »

I got the 2 disc Spiderman set the other day - a good package. Disc 1 has a  couple of commentaries, pop up facts and in movie mini documentaries.  The 2nd disc has 3 features - 2 on the movie and 1 about the comics and best of all The 'Hero' video by Chad Stroker.
~FazeShift~

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« Reply #5 on: 12-08-2002 17:35 »

Leon
Bugger all special features (cept different languages) and widescreen only (I have Region 2, R1 has special feats and 30 mins extra footage), otherwise brilliant film.

The Big Lebowski
No special features either but at least full frame. Brilliant film too.

South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
Widescreen and normal, Music video for What Would Brian Boitano Do? song (weird), interactive menus and 4 cinema trailers.

And finally, getting Fazey's Shoe-in of the week:
Monty Python and The Holy Grail
Packed into 2 discs, with subtitles from Henry IV, Part II (for people who don't like the film), 2 seperate commentaries (actors and directors), animated menus, 24 extra seconds of footage, 3 mindless sing-alongs, documentary of Holy Grail film locations, The Knight's Song in Lego, and plenty more which I'm too lazy to list.
Juliet

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« Reply #6 on: 12-08-2002 18:43 »

Austin Powers Goldmember

This DVD is cool and has some nice extra features like 5 trailers My fave one is the mini me one:



There some great deleted scenes too which I think they should let some of those scenes in


Austin and the mirror scene.


More Fook Twins


The Sharks with lesser scene with the extending version where the bad guys just puke all the time. Gross but funny.
Melllvar

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« Reply #7 on: 12-08-2002 21:35 »
« Last Edit on: 12-08-2002 21:35 »

Having just watched Dadbot's DVD of Spiderman, I'd say that one of the best features is the Pop-up Video style facts which come up throughout the movie.

Gives us another way of enjoying the movie (along with the movie itself, and the two commmentary tracks.

I'll be getting it.
FishyJoe

Honorary German
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« Reply #8 on: 12-09-2002 20:52 »

Attack of the Clones

The video quality is amazing. Some scenes looked kind of sketchy in the theaters, but they look great now. I'm not sure if it's because it was filmed digitally, and now I'm seeing it in its true digital form, or if seeing the movie on a small screen hides the imperfections, or what. But everything looks a lot better on the DVD. The clone battle, especially, looks as good as anything I've ever seen.

Special features are kind of a disappointment. The episode I DVD was a lot better.

There are some documentaries, which are pretty cool, but they focus way too much on post-production crap.

The deleted scenes are mostly pretty bad. Nearly all of them are Padme-related, and come on, Natalie Portman sucks.

I am a nerd who read the leaked script way before the movie came out--I was relieved when these scenes were cut. There were some other, better scenes/lines that got cut, which I would have rather seen on the dvd. But oh well.

The commentary is pretty good, but once again, I wish it focused less on post-production crap. They should have given the director and producer their own commentary track...the special effects guys talk too much.

If you liked the movie at all, I would definitely recommend the DVD. As a nerd, I am being a little harsh on the special features. It's better than most of the other DVDs I've seen. Normal people would probably like it, and as I said, the video quality is amazing.
Melllvar

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« Reply #9 on: 12-10-2002 12:15 »
« Last Edit on: 12-10-2002 12:15 »

I loved the movie (second only to Empire Strikes Back), I also watched the DVD and was amazed at the picture quality (digital photography, digital mastering). 

We got to see the outtakes (one of the easter eggs) which I thought were funny.

I will be picking up a copy of this (if I don't get it for Xmas) pretty soon.
Mitsui

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« Reply #10 on: 12-11-2002 07:35 »
« Last Edit on: 01-04-2003 00:00 »

Spaced Series 1 on DVD

Well, to me the show is great, it's witty, clever, interesting and has good characters. But we're not reviewing the show here.

The DVD is quite good too.
The menu system is reasonably good, maybe a little plain, but it's easy to navigate. The graphics they do use for menu scenes are excellent, Tim's artwork.

Personally I don't know much about judging picture quality and sound quality, so I can't really say conclusively. However, yesterday I watched the video version, and I did notice quite a big difference, especially in video quality. So I guess these two features on DVD score pretty high.

The extras are good, but there aren't loads of them. The commentries are very funny and quite informative, and the outtakes are also amusing to watch. The deleted scenes seem a bit flat, but then again most deleted scenes shown seperate to the main feature do. There's also a photo gallery which isnt especially great, and the cast's biographies, which again, aren't thrilling.

In Total DVD style (to the best I can r)
emember):

Sound: ****
Picture: ****
Entertainment: *****
Extras: ****
Value for money: ***** (you can get it quite cheaply now)

Overall: *****
   :).

DBCrader

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« Reply #11 on: 12-12-2002 01:01 »

   How can the extras on Episode One be better than the ones on Episode Two???  It's basically the SAME extras!!!
DBCrader

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« Reply #12 on: 12-12-2002 01:04 »

 
Quote
Originally posted by Melllvar:
Having just watched Dadbot's DVD of Spiderman, I'd say that one of the best features is the Pop-up Video style facts which come up throughout the movie.

Gives us another way of enjoying the movie (along with the movie itself, and the two commmentary tracks.

I'll be getting it.

    This seems to be a growing trend, and a good one, as far as I'm concerned...  both the STAR TREK Collector's Editions of the movies, and the DOCTOR WHO DVD's have this "Pop Up production notes" feature as well... instead of the captioned actors lines, you get tidbits of info, often concerning the scene you are watching...

Just Chris

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« Reply #13 on: 12-12-2002 10:46 »

I think it's called "Infinifilm" by some movie producers. It may sound like a marketing ploy, but it's a really cool feature. I also enjoyed seeing the pop-up notes in Spider-man. They should do that with the hidden in-jokes in The Simpsons and Futurama.
DrThunder88

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« Reply #14 on: 12-13-2002 14:45 »

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Another one of my up-and-coming favorite DVDs, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone blows most of my DVDs out of the water.  To be fair, this is a two-disk set, so the special features are a bit more extensive than my one-disk movies.  The first disk contains the movie itself and the theatrical trailers.  The film is widescreen, which I like but my folks hate, as are the trailers.  The second disk is where the fun really begins.  Taking the form of a game, the user is challenged to 'find' the Sorcerer's Stone through a series of puzzles and trivia challenges.  When the Stone is finally found, several deleted scenes are shown.  One of my favorite parts of the game is in the 'Spells and Charms' classroom, where you can play a scene in any of eight languages.  The 'Library' section contains several books that contain mini-documentaries on Hogwarts' ghosts, concept drawing for the film, and a screaming face.  Another section of the second disk is the 'Interviews' section, where a featurette involving filmaker interviews will play.  Overall, I'd give this DVD eight out of eight stars.
FishyJoe

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« Reply #15 on: 12-13-2002 17:54 »

 
Quote
By DBCrader:
How can the extras on Episode One be better than the ones on Episode Two??? It's basically the SAME extras!!!

True. But the deleted scenes in Episode One were cool and had completed special effects. Episode Two had some backgrounds and such put in, but it was done by the animatics team, so it wasn't anywhere near as good as the movies.

Also, I thought the Episode One documentary gave a better behind-the-scenes look. It showed the writing, the storyboarding, the casting, the table-read, the actual filming, the editing, the mixed reactions to the rough cut of the film, the hyped-up release and everything in between. The Episode Two documentary--don't get me wrong, it was good, but it really only focused on digital characters. It just wasn't as interesting.
VelourFog

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« Reply #16 on: 12-13-2002 21:46 »

 
Quote
Originally posted by ~FazeShift~:

The Big Lebowski
No special features either but at least full frame. Brilliant film too.

stop making me cry!
dadbot

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« Reply #17 on: 12-15-2002 03:45 »

Since Peter Kay picked up a couple of awards at the British Comedy Awards last night, I'd like to enthuse about the first series of Phoenix Nights. On the DVD you get all six episodes complete with cast commentaries (all hilarious), some deleted scenes (with commentary again), half an hour of outtakes (with or without swearing) and a couple of trailers.  This is the second Channel Four comedy to receive decent DVD treatment after, as Mitsui points out 'Spaced'.
~FazeShift~

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« Reply #18 on: 12-15-2002 17:26 »

VF?  :confused:
Cos there's no special features?
DrThunder88

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« Reply #19 on: 12-15-2002 18:19 »

Hehe, here's an update on The Sum of All Fears.  Tom Clancy is a bitter, bitter old man.  His commentary with Phil Robinson is a string of nitpicking.
VelourFog

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« Reply #20 on: 12-16-2002 20:43 »

 
Quote
Originally posted by ~FazeShift~:
VF?   :confused:
Cos there's no special features?
the bold was added to help you understand:

people that think full screen movies are better than widescreen make me sad

~FazeShift~

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« Reply #21 on: 12-18-2002 17:55 »
« Last Edit on: 12-18-2002 17:55 »

Even for people who don't have a bleedin widescreen TV?

The Matrix (well, The Matrix Revisited really):
Everyone's seen the film, nothing new to report there, great stuff.
So on to the special features on the extra disc, there's plenty of previews of the training for Reloaded (and possibly Revelations).
There's loads of behind the scenes and chat's with the actor's, directors, producers and the other dudes involved and there's 3 hidden features (including a great story about how the Woman In Red distracted a guy on set causing his car to be mangled with him inside  :laff: ).
There's also a look at the upcoming anime short films, Animatrix.
VelourFog

Space Pope
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« Reply #22 on: 12-18-2002 20:56 »

 
Quote
Originally posted by ~FazeShift~:
Even for people who don't have a bleedin widescreen TV?
 
well sure, i mean, no one i know even owns a widescreen tv
I'm a nerd ok? widescreen preserves the movie in the original format, everything that the director wanted you to see remains intact in the frame. full frame (pan and scan) hacks the image to make it fit the shape of your tv. you lose about 50% of any given image. yuck!
Ben

Space Pope
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« Reply #23 on: 12-18-2002 21:00 »

Yeah, cropped frames are terrible, even if you do have to put up with black lines at the top and bottom of the screen to watch widescreen format.

Now, if only I could get Nero to burn vcds in non-cropped widescreen format...
Nixorbo

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« Reply #24 on: 12-18-2002 21:34 »

Heck, I stop noticing the black lines like five minutes into the movie.
evan

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« Reply #25 on: 12-18-2002 21:50 »

I've noticed that most non-film geeks like the full-screen version. These people are bastards. I always make sure to pick up wide-screen DVDs when I get the chance. It just, well, it just looks better. I can't imagine something so visually exciting (take LotR, for example) crammed into a t.v. sized screen.
DrThunder88

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« Reply #26 on: 12-18-2002 23:26 »

My parents hate widescreen.  They claim it makes the image too small, so I just hit the zoom button and say, "Ta-da!  Full screen!"
~FazeShift~

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« Reply #27 on: 12-19-2002 14:30 »

I only don't like widescreen DVD's on my PC cos I only have a 17" monitor, if I had a proper DVD player (which I was gonna buy online today real cheap but the special offer had fuckin ended   :mad: ), I'd get all widescreen films too.
FishyJoe

Honorary German
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« Reply #28 on: 12-20-2002 01:54 »

Even with a 17" monitor, widescreen is so much better. The smallness combined with the black bars might seem annoying at first, but after a few minutes you won't notice it.

Besides, what are you gonna do when you finally get a real DVD player? Sure, you'll have a nice big TV, but you'll also have all these crappy pan and scan DVDs, and nobody will ever love you.
~FazeShift~

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« Reply #29 on: 12-20-2002 14:35 »

You buy DVD's so people will love you?
Kryten

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« Reply #30 on: 12-21-2002 18:15 »

Don't you?
~FazeShift~

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« Reply #31 on: 12-22-2002 12:28 »

Well......no, not love exactly!
FishyJoe

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« Reply #32 on: 12-31-2002 15:41 »

I am bumping this thread, because I want someone to review the Back to the Future DVDs for me. I love the movies...is the DVD set sexy? What are the extras and stuff? I am too lazy to look things up.

I wanted to buy it with my Best Buy giftcard, but they are a bunch of whores and are charging 50 dollars for it. Wal-mart is only like 30, but I don't have a giftcard there.
futurefreak

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« Reply #33 on: 12-31-2002 16:49 »

i too will admit to being DVD's ultimate lover.
SlaytanicMaggot
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« Reply #34 on: 01-01-2003 01:08 »

Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring: Special Extended Version

Hands down, this is the BEST DVD that was released this year.
Hands down. Don't start with me, I won't have it. The extended and added scenes were seamlessly woven into the theatrical version, allowed for much better character development for the hobbits and especially Aragorn, and to top it off, TWO FUCKING discs both loaded with about 6 hours of every single damn thing they did to get this movie out the block and running. Besides, disc one of the movie had the MTV Movie Awards spoof of the Council of Elrond as an easter egg, which was hilarious as hell (Jack Black: "Uh, I have the ring, but you see the thing is, me and my friends had a little too much mead last night, and we ended at the piercing parlor...Well, to make a long story short..."(drops pants)), and disc two of the movie had the first theatrical trailer for TTT. And, to top it off, my copy came with a free ticket to TTT. Did Episode 2 have that? NOOOO....And Jar Jar Binks can kiss Gollum's ass!
dadbot

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« Reply #35 on: 01-03-2003 01:54 »

Eddie Izzard's new DVD Circle is pretty cool.  You get 2 gigs - one from New York (in English), the other from Paris (in French). They have completely different material and both have commentaries from Eddie.  There's also a 30 minute documentary covering the US tour.
~FazeShift~

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« Reply #36 on: 01-03-2003 13:19 »

Blackadder II and Blackadder Goes Forth:
I still have to get series 3 but I'm not going to bother with series one, Edmund's too whiny and weak.
6 episodes on each disc, each one a gem with quotes coming out the wazoo!!
I especially love Rik Mayall's appearances, "WOOF!!".
However, there's feck all special features although I hear R1 has a few goodies in the box set and includes the Xmas special!!
Bastards.
Impossible

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« Reply #37 on: 01-03-2003 13:33 »

The Simpsons : Treehouse of Horror
I liked this DVD, as it had 3 of my favourite episodes (5, 6 & 7), plus #12, which I hadn't seen. There was only a featurette of Kang & Kodos with it, but I enjoyed the DVD  :)
Mitsui

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« Reply #38 on: 01-04-2003 08:18 »
« Last Edit on: 01-04-2003 08:18 »

Trigger Happy TV 3

Now, firstly, let me say I like this show, but I'm not that big a fan. I received this as a suprise Christmas gift, and was pleasantly suprised by it.

As I said, the show was quite good IMO, so that was quite fun to watch. Some gags were shameful, others were hilarious. It balanced out to be good, as Ive just said twice before (geez Im repetative).

Anyway, what made me appreciate this more was the extras. The commentary was great, very funny. Dom Joly commented on the lame-ness of some gags, which was good, and also told us a story behind some of the sketches, such as times they got arrested, where the cameraman was, how many times they did it etc. Great stuff.
The rest of the extras were good too. Brushes with the law - was brief but funny
15 unseen clips - again, funny, these were on the whole as good as ones in the show.
The other extra clips were also quite good.

All in all, one of the best overall DVDs I've ever watched.

Entertainment: 4
Extras: 4.5
Overall 4.5
Nefnar

Professor
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« Reply #39 on: 01-04-2003 09:10 »

Overall should be 4.25
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