5 comments about The Cowboys (Deluxe Edition).

1. the cowboys is one of john wayne's best if not the best highly recommend this movie.



2. Would buy again from this seller. Item arrived quickly, and in condition described.
   Thanks so much!



3. Watched the DVD recently with my two sons and it was a nice experience. I had seen the movie when I was in my teens and it was nice to see the reactions it got from my boys.



4. I bought this movie for my son. He loves John Wayne and this movies with all the boys is wonderful.



5. ** Some necessary SPOILERS near the end of this review **
   
   John Wayne made 23 films in the last decade and a half of his career after the banner year of 1962 in which he managed to put out 4 top-notch pieces of work (HOW THE WEST WAS WON, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, HATARI! and THE LONGEST DAY), but though many of the later movies are fondly rememembered by his fans (particularly the older ones who were around when these films first came out), few are particularly well regarded critically, and the directors he was working with just weren't generally on the level of Ford and Hawks anymore. This isn't to say that the 60s and 70s were disastrous by any means - he worked with Hawks twice more as a matter of fact, and there are still at least a couple of outright classics in my opinion - TRUE GRIT and THE SHOOTIST. But there's no question that most of his greatest work was behind him, and it didn't help that Wayne resisted the changing natures of the western and the war film, still prefering to make "family"-oriented, often rather sanitized films with old-fashioned values and little or no realistic violence, language or sex.
   
   Of course, his great films of the 40s and 50s might seem just as anachronistic and "dated" today as the later, lesser work - but both the films and Wayne himself had more energy and juice, and the Duke seemed more often able to work at the service of a screenplay and a directorial vision - rather than simply hoping there was enough in the star vehicle with himself as the center for the film to succeed. Most of his films still did all right at the box office, so he had no reason to tamper with his formulas: the Duke was always the hero - flawed perhaps, but never deeply so, always the moral center and often the imparter of wisdom to his typically much younger costars, always the exemplar of a definite and simple "right".
   
   Certainly Mark Rydell's film THE COWBOYS seems to fit this pattern in most respects, at least at the beginning, though it's not without interest. Wil Andersen (Wayne) is a rancher in circa 1876-77 Montana who loses all of his ranch hands to a gold strike and is left with a herd of cattle that he needs to move 400 miles east to market. He has no idea what to do until his friend Anse (Slim Pickens in a tiny throwaway role) suggests that he take on a group of local schoolboys, aged 10-15 or so. Andersen of course rejects the idea initially but Anse convinces him (in about 30 seconds) that they're no younger than he was when he started on his first cattle drive. Roscoe Lee Browne as Jebediah Nightlinger completes the crew as cook and driver of the chuckwagon, and soon after the drive starts we run into a trio of ex-convicts looking for work who Andersen rejects for lying to him. Their leader, curly-haired and evil-looking Bruce Dern, doesn't take kindly to Andersen's curt dismissal, and we know he'll be back.
   
   In its first hour and a half or so, THE COWBOYS is fine entertainment - if a little silly at times. The boys were mostly nonprofessional actors - some were burgeoning stunt men and rodeo cowboys - but Rydell's a good director of kids, and their interactions with each other and with Wayne and Brown rarely feel forced or false. Robert Carradine as Slim and A Martinez as Cimarron - a Mexican or Native American cowody, it's never made clear - are probably the standouts, and the two actors have had the most notable careers of any of the kids. The early bronco-busting scene which Andersen uses to test the kids is well done and there's a nice sequence in the latter part of the film when the kids get ahold of a bottle of whisky that Nightlinger and Andersen occasionally dip into. All of this is reasonably fine "family entertainment", and even the larger question of how Andersen could possibly think he could use nothing but kids and one other adult who approaches his own 60 years to drive cattle for weeks can be disregarded to some extent. Kids had to grow up early in the Wild West I guess.
   
   Wayne himself is fine as the grizzled veteran rancher who, interestingly, has a seemingly quite negative attitude about violence - confiscating all of the kids' guns early on and locking them up, and warning them against a confrontation with Dern's gang of bandits even when it become apparent that there won't be a choice late in the film. He's matched in his ability to command the screen by Browne, who certainly seems more than a little out-of-place here, not because of his race but rather for his Ivy League rhetoric professor voice. Certainly his was one of the most mellifluous and perfect speaking voices in all of Hollywood history, and it never stops sounding a little weird coming from a guy driving a chuckwagon in 1870s Montana. But again - a suspension of disbelief is in order already, and Browne's a good sport about it and has a good rapport with Wayne, even though he apparently had no desire to do the film given the star's well-known hard-right conservatism and opposition to many Civil Rights issues. Somehow they must have worked it out, at least on camera.
   
   Bruce Dern is fine also, doing his typical nasty evil-eyed psycho, playing the role that Wayne suggested would make him the most hated man in Hollywood - the man who shoots John Wayne in the back at the climax of the film, as Andersen confronts "Long Hair" (Dern's character never gets a name). But he's a cypher, just a faceless "bad guy", and as he and Andersen come together the film starts to fall apart. What had been a rather fun and optimistic cattle ride movie becomes at the end a bloody quest for vengeance as the boys refuse to leave Andersen's death - and the bandits' theft of his cattle - unpaid for. Which would all make a little bit more sense if the film had led up to it in an even faintly realistic fashion. Andersen just allowing himself to get shot several times in the back makes no sense after he beats the crap out of Long Hair, and Nightlinger's willingness to join in the quest for vengeance after a half-hearted argument against it also seems out of character and ridiculous. We've been told that the boys can shoot, early on, but never seen any evidence of it over the course of the film, and the few conversations about violence and war that we hear aren't exactly of the "they do it to you, you got to do it to them" variety. Not that we don't sympathize with the kids - it's just that it takes the film in a 180-degree turn and feels like a "movie" ending to a film which - however unrealistic overall - had at least a slight feeling of dramatic consistency to it.
   
   The music by John Williams, though occasionally overbearing and very reminiscent of Aaron Copland at times, is probably some of his best and fits the rousing, boy's adventure mood of most of the film quite well. I watched the old Warner Brothers DVD which drains much of the beauty of Robert Surtees' widescreen photography into a series of muddy and dusty browns; it appears that the Blu-Ray is much, much better.
   
   Overall then a lesser film in the late career of John Wayne; better for me than his work with Andrew V. McLaglen (McLINTOCK! and CHISUM), but not on a par with the couple I mentioned in the first paragraph or THE WAR WAGON. The three adult leads keep it watchable enough and Rydell keeps things moving along - the film is over 130 minutes long and doesn't need to be, but it doesn't feel boring either. Some missed opportunities and bad decisions involving the direction of the narrative are really what keep this from being a solid piece of work all around.

5 comments about Bruce Lee Ultimate Collection (The Big Boss / Fist of Fury / Way of the Dragon / Game of Death / Game of Death II).

1. I think that it was a well buy, because, the box is great I liked very much, and the quality of image and sound is acceptable, I recommended this item so much thanks a lot to amazon



2. POOR picture quality. POOR sound quality. Better when I watched them on commercial cable TV.



3. The remastered picture has never looked better! Best of all, it's in widescreen!The 5.1 English track sounds great however I personally love the 2.0 Original Cantonese soundtrack. I would've given it 5 stars if the Cantonese track was remastered also. There's nothing like hearing the true lines. If you turn on the subtitles you'll notice that the dubbed version is quite different from the original script. For $11 you can't go wrong with this collection.



4. Product arrived in good condition, and didn't take too long to get it in the mail.



5. Its a good selection.
   3 movies you dont see in the USA movie genre..
   The last 2 are comedic.
   1. Bruce died and it was filmed from the END, so bruce is there, and the BEGINNING LAST, and bruce is DUBBED IN..
   2. In the last video..its a collage of CRAP. Bruce wasnt involved and was long DEAD.
   tHIS IS PROBABLY AN ADDON to finish a collection, and has a few EXTRAS that show what the movie WAS and EDITED for, in the specials..

5 comments about Pearl Harbor [Blu-ray].

1. I always love this movie on DVD and the Blue-Ray quality just make it perfect! The resolution and sound are a lot better, the war scenes feel so real.



2. It dosn't matter what they do with this movie. Unless they burn all of them it will still be the worst historical play on a US tradgity ever made. People who like this hours and hours of tripe really need to think about they're lives. You can't be to intellegent if this cast seems to good, or fair or the story is realistic to you. This is one of the worst movies I had to sit through. This movie drags, the story is false and could be more fake(the pathetic love story) and the lousy acting all make this a terrible movie. My one star dosn't even account the this takes three and half hours of your life. I would give this negitive five stars! And counting the two days worth of additional footage it should be banned! The cast should never work again for this.



3. This is a great movie, it has been and always will be. It looks beautiful on Blu-Ray.



4. This has to be one of the worst war movies ever made. I felt very angry after watching it. It takes some effort to take an important historical event like this and turn it into a routine soap opera. Bay doesn't even have the talent to create his own soap opera plot either. He has to "borrow" from Titanic. Talk about a no-talent director. This movie is not interested in teaching anything about the Pear Harbor attack or honoring those who fought and died there. It is only interested in shoving the hokey love story, Ben Affleck, Josh Harnett and Kate Bekinsale down your throat. I wouldn't have been bothered with a love story if it was actually good and not completely implausible. I have nothing against good love stories or even war love stories. However, the defeat at Peal Harbor is the wrong venue for this. This was a very influential and emotional event in our history. Obviously, Michael Bay has no conception or appreciation for this. To him, it's just another thing that happened that he can try and make money off of. It is a total insult to every American WWII vet (hero) involved in the attack. The casting was horrible. Affleck and Hartnet are terrible as Air Force pilots. Although, they were dealing with a very bad script. The movie goes out of it's way to make Affleck into a super hero. He flies fighters over Britain, he flies a fighter in the Air Force, he flies a bomber, he pulls sailors out of the water, he single handedly guns down a platoon of Japanese soldiers, he gives blood for wounded sailors, and he barn storms out of a hanger during the attack and shoots down Japanese planes. Wow, all this and no cape. What a joke. If you want to watch a real movie about Pearl Harbor, see Tora Tora Tora. If you want to see a good love story, see Titanic.



5. First of all, This movie is great, and even better on bluray. As far as entertainment goes its 5 stars but i gave this movie 4 stars because there was too much love story telling more than the actual pearl harbor story. It was a bit distracting when the blood is rushing and flowing in other parts of my body besides my brain, I like the love story, but i feel it overpowered the historical attack on pearl harbor, the Movie is called "Pearl Harbor" so I feel it should focus more on the historical facts more than the love story. Also near the end, when the airforce plans a counter attack, it would be nice to see more war and fighting action, but instead it was a sad ending.
   I am a history major at uc irvine and i learned in one of my classes that there was more depth in why japan attacked pearl harbor. It would be nice if this movie could explain that, but there are too many details to go into as far as japan/usa politics,I had to buy 2 textbooks for that class which covered a lot of material, it was interesting, but also a challenge to read that much. the movie would be way too long, but i wouldn't mind. Basically like the saying goes," a good defense is a good offense". That is basically why japan attacked pearl harbor. But the movie didn't clearly show the reasons for why pearl harbor was attacked, it just jumped straight into: japan attacking pearl harbor and when and where are they going to strike? It would be more interesting to show a story with a wider spectrum of the attack on pearl harbor start to finish, and not focus so much on the love story. As for the love story,
   I thought kate beckinsale was awesome, but the only problem is that she is so darn good looking that it actually distracted me from focusing on the movie. That is why i give this movie 4 stars because im afraid the may have made a mistake casting such a sexy lady to play the role. shes so darn sexy that I just focus about her and not the movie.
   Anyway it would have been 5 stars if they did not use such a gorgeous hot sexy woman, i was a little hot and bothered, but for those who arent as perverted as i am, this bluray is an awesome 5 stars for those who do not easily get distracted by beautiful women.

5 comments about The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition).

1. I ordered three videos from this same seller. The items arrived promptly and in great condition. My only negative feedback is that I ordered three videos and had to pay shipping for each individual item even though they arrived in the same package. It would be great to receive a multiple item discount.



2. This is the absolute best dvd set ever! Lord of the Rings knows the meaning of special features. Forget special 2-disc sets..This has 4! There is so much I could say...But I'll keep it short! This has all the special features you could ask for,besides bloopers.But it doesnt matter that there are no bloopers cause you get hours and hours of behind the scenes.Plus great commentary by the cast(thats the only commentary I have listed to,there are 4 commentaries in total).Anyone would love these dvds!



3. Sauron's forces increase. His allies grow. The Ringwraiths return in an even more frightening form. Saruman's army of Uruk Hai is ready to launch an assault against Aragorn and the people of Rohan. Yet, the Fellowship is broken and Boromir is dead. For the little hope that is left, Frodo and Sam march on into Mordor, unprotected. A number of new allies join with Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Pippin and Merry. And they must defend Rohan and attack Isengard. Yet, while all this is going on, Sauron's troops mass toward the City of Gondor, for the War of the Ring is about to begin. The battle sequence alone represents successful movie making in its highest form. The choreography of the battle, the visual effects, the pacing, acting, cinematography, and music, all work together in perfection to achieve grand movie making which is as entertaining and enjoyable as a movie can be. For this very reason, no one, whether a fan of Fellowship or not, should miss The Two Towers.



4. The CD's themselves worked, but the box case was worn and smelled like smoke. Overall, for 5 bucks it was a good deal though!



5. The Two Tower Continues Frodo Struggle To Get Rid Of the one ring, the two towers is the second movie to the lord of the rings series. this is such an excellent movie i recommend it to eveyone.

5 comments about The Karate Kid Collection (Four Film Set).

1. It takes me back to the 80's watching The Karate kid, when martial arts was all the rage (fashion) it is a good family film which holds something for everyone, laughter suspense and the thrill of what good old Mr Miagi will show young Daniel how to defeat his enemies. Awesome family fun, go and watch it



2. I ordered this 4 DVD set for my grandchildren because they had never seen or heard of The Karate Kid. The service from Amazon.com was great; they were delivered within 2 days and the DVD's are first rate and great quality. I would definitely recommend this product.



3. Great set of movies! Nice to have the whole collection all in one place. My boys love it-they are 12 and 5 years old. Can't pass up a classic.



4. The whole family loved part 1, and part 2 was even pretty good. But, the whole experience will be ruined if you watch part 3. Part 3 is ridiculously awful. The villains are so extremely evil, it's very unsettling to watch. You keep waiting for something good to happen, but it never does, until that last 3 seconds of the movie.. BUT, that doesn't even come close to fixing the extreme dilemma. The team of villains, lead by an infinitely rich psychopath, end up with even more reason (not that they ever really had any reason in the first place) to continue torturing Daniel. If you want to feel good after the movie, then stop after part 1 or 2. Part 3 will leave you wishing for a part 4 where ALL of the evil predators get mauled to death by lions.



5. I bought the box set because my son is studying karate. We watched one each night for four nights and enjoyed all of them.

5 comments about Pearl Harbor (Two-Disc 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition).

1. Original DVD had a couple of 'glitches'. Seller was quick to replace with another DVD that had no issues. Would do business with this seller again.
   
   Thanks.



2. 
   Great movie that un-covers the bombing raid that had been classified over Japan for many years and just now more and more facts are comlng out on how the US new that the Japanese fleet was going to hit Pearl Harbar, sound formula ( 911) .
   
   This movie will bring a tear to your eye during the bombing and during the sence when all the men were trapped.
   
   Think of the Hundreds that were trapped the next time you start your Japanese import.



3. I've seen quite a bit of Michael Bay movies, and I'm not going to review them all, most likely the movies I thought were worth three stars (Armageddon, Bad Boys, maybe the Rock). But god damn, was this movie painful to sit through. Pearl Harbor is a visually slick movie with some great battle scenes, and while the movie delivers on this and all of the slow motion, a cheesy melodramatic score, and sunset sequences typical of a pandering, shlocky, it doesn't help this movie features absolutely no sembelance of characters, honor, genuine emotion, or plot.
   
   Initially, I was among the people that thought Michael Bay had no talent at all, but that's' because of other factors that his movies sometimes suffer (and it also comes from my obsession with "Third Person-Syndrome"). He knows how to direct action, and his visuals are always impressive, sometimes even awesome (please use that word literately). Pearl Harbor has plenty of beautiful images that abound everywhere. The look of the film, based on good old romantic movies like Casablanca, is very nice, and even stunning as well. It's a great looking movie and feels lavish, technicolor, and lush, a perfect look for capturing the 40's. Bay's camera skills provide the right aesthetics in a homage of those kinds of movies. The Sound design is great too, not tepid and carries a wallop, as few things are spine tingling to me as the loud roar of a plane. Same goes for the military and plane scenes this movie has, all designed with visual flair that makes it stand out from the average lame action movie that comes out each year. That's where Bay knows how to specialize, and even the worst of his movies (IE this) at least have this aspect. You could learn something about visuals by studying Bay's use of the camera.
   
   Pearl Harbor also succeeds as an action movie, even though it feels more like a videogame or Star Wars at times. The aforementioned scenes where they fly in planes all over the place are exhilerating, of course, delivered with flair just like his explosions, guns fights, and chase scenes he makes. The Doolittle raid is short but satisfying as long as you don't let your morals get in the way. And the central battle, the 30 minute attack on Pearl Harbor, is a top notch battle scene, although not quite bombings from start to finish. IT's lengthy, and contains the ships being blown, people being shot down, a length scene regarding people succumbing to their wounds, and a very fun dogfight. It's also avaialable in a Director's Cut, although to be honest the gore seems like it's thrown in and only makes the battle scene seem like a violent video game than at least somewhat credible, so I would stick to the original cut without the gore. Sure, these battle scenes don't dethrone or give Saving Private Ryan much competition, but that's not really an insult as far as I'm concerned. Nothing can top Saving Private Ryan in my opinion.
   
   Unfortuntaely, unlike Armageddon (which I would give three stars or something of that nature), everything else is second rate crap, ranging from bad to shuddingly awful. The two characters are among the most boring lead men I've ever seen, being basically just two cookie cutter GI Joe's, delightfully bland, who are all in some underdeveloped and boring love circle with a loathsome excuse for a love interest. And they speak the worst dialogue I've heard, which is cheesy and boring, pandering soap opera nonsense that is more attributed to a soap opera than a war movie (war movies should be sentimental, harrowing, cold, or fun within respect for the fallen, not melodramatic or insulting). Furthermore. the characterization of the Japanese is just stupid and very very annoying, portraying these guys as evil, loathing, unsocial, and almost even subhuman. I don't exactly mind stereotypes, I'm not a prude an I wasn't even offended by this. I was one of the few people who wasn't entirely bothered by Bay's later controversy regarding the Twins in Transformers (though far from hilarious, I mostly bought it for the fact that they are _______ Transformers). But the portayle of the Japanese in this movie is just, annoying beyond belief, it's just trash. It's just one of the reasons why the war part of this movie is as hard to buy as a barbie for a boy.
   
   This movie is 180 _________ minutes, and the worst offender is just how tepid this movie feels, from it's characters to it's lame love triangle rip off that I don't care about, corny just like Titanic. And the final nail in the coffin is the story. The wretched story. First off, it's unacceptable that a love triangle this weak is spread onto a three hour length. Never mind the almost _________ buddy friendship these two lamesauce characters share, the love triangle is much worse. It's underdeveloped and extremely overblown and pandering, cheesy with more shots of slow motion kisses and lame slow motion scenes of the two couples spinning each other around (______ _________) than anything else. Banal conversations and cheesy after cheesy lines that go absolutely nowhere are in place of conversations that actually contribute to development. Not that it matters much, considering the theme of creating a love triangle in a tragic thing such as war. This is supposed to be a war movie, right?
   
   Nevermind Titanic, who's love story is much better compared to this (even though I hate that movie), which is kind of an insult. Not only does Pearl Harbor totally ignore the real tragedy of Pearl Harbor, but it's racist, laughable, wildly inaccurate, and soooooooo boooooooorrrrrrrriiiiiinggggggg. I don't hate Michael Bay for making this movie (Id even say some of his style is a influence on me, mainly his knack for making sweeping visuals, not storytelling or character), but at least he made his other movies somewhat respectable despite their flaws. However, this movie is better off not existing, because it's really an embarassment to the war film genre and Michael Bay movies itself. I'll bet you that when you mention Michael Bay to people (especially those who hate him), you'll very much haer this one as a first offejder. Either way, life is too short to waste much more time with this one. Avoid this and try Black Hawk Down instead, a war movie that was 1000 times better.
   
   CHARACTERS 0/10
   PLOT 0/10
   DIALOGUE 0/5
   HISTORICAL INACCURAIES 0/10
   ACTION SEQUENCES 9/10
   DIRECTING AND STYLE 16/20



4. Great service, the product was in great shape.
   
   I really just like Ben Affleck's face... and lip syncing to Faith Hill's "There You'll Be". (The only good use for Faith Hill's music...)



5. A better Pearl Harbor attack film is 1970's Tora Tora Tora, made at a time when CGI didn't exist (and before Ben Affleck's career existed). Those filmmakers had to rely on models, matte shots, and sometimes real airplanes, ships & explosions for their special effects. Also, Tora Tora Tora takes a straightforward, almost docu-drama approach to this historical event -- no cheesy love triangle, thank heaven -- and its performances and dialogue are almost like Citizen Kane next to 2001's Pearl Harbor.
   
   What does Pearl Harbor (2001) have going for it? Very good, often thrilling, visual design -- photography, sets and mostly (I'd guess) computer-generated special effects...and not much else. The attack on Pearl Harbor is excitingly shot & edited. Otherwise I thought the equally dumb characters & dialogue from Independence Day had been digitally copied and pasted into Pearl Harbor. Just skip the pre-attack DVD chapters and watch the Japanese bomb Hawaii. Then take the disc out of your machine, do yourself a favor and watch Tora Tora Tora. You'll be glad you did.

5 comments about Mansfield Park (1999).

1. I love this movie. Definatly one of my top favorites. If you like the Classics you'll love this movie. Fanny Price is such a great character you fall in love with her immediately. The hidden Love triangles through out this movie are fantastic and it kept me guessing until the end which of course you'll love. A girls night movie for everyone. If you like Jane Austin you have to see this



2. Austen purists are snobbish people who always find fault with cinematic adaptations. But with "adaptations" like this one, can anyone blame us? Does no one feel our frustration when the Hollywood Hacks think they can add something that Jane Austen missed? Or totally ruin the beautiful harmonious balance and wit of the book with modifications to make it amenable to the modern viewer? This version is appalling. Fanny is all wrong, Maria and Julia look like baboons, Sir Thomas is very evil and Tom driven to dissolution by the family's Antigua slaveholdings. This last is the most significant departure. While exploring how institutions like slavery morally bankrupted those who profited from it makes a worthy subject, Mansfield Park is not the venue. Especially as it is done with such a heavy touch. The issue is so blunderingly belabored that it completely destroys the movie. Add to this the enragingly pointless scenes where Fanny accepts then rejects Crawford's proposal (WHY?), and this movie is a confirmed stinker.



3. This movie made me IRATE. MP is one of my favorite Austen novels, but this movie was horrendous. I agree that you might like it if you haven't read the book, but if you HAVE read the book, get ready to get really pissed off. I don't know if I would call myself an "Austen Purist"--I LOVE the 2007 Persuasion despite its liberties. I feel the changes they made in that one were fairly minor and added to the story. They did NOT, however change the characters. In this MP, the only thing they kept the same about the characters were their names. The reason I love Jane Austen is that I love her characters. And Fanny Price is my favorite of all. I take great offense to how much her character was completely rewritten for the movie. Edmund? Same thing. And honestly, I can't handle how they changed Sir Thomas either. His character is completely unlike the Sir Thomas in the book.
   
   Whose idea was this? They should be forced to...well...I don't know. Sit through something really enraging. Because that's what just happened to me.



4. This is a movie (not a book.) The characters therein are developed very well (and the director only has two hours to successfully do this-which she has.) If a director is successful enough to get me to care about her characters then she has done a darn good job. I love this movie-the look, the feel, the characters-everything goes together quite nicely. I highly recommend it especially if you love a good romantic period piece like I do.



5. This is, not only the worst adaptation of a Jane Austen novel I've ever seen, but the worst adaptation of any novel. Even if you view it as a stand-alone historical drama, it suffers from some very strange shifts in style and mood that make it feel cobbled together. Watching this film, I got the feeling that it had been done by a group of at least five different directors, working each from a different script, who took turns passing the camera back and forth. One scene is a whimsical comedy, the next a dark historical drama that wanders far from the text of the novel to explore England's part in the slave trade.
   
   One or two scenes actually did seem to be based on the original work, and these where a bit of a tease, because they where fairly well cast and well acted, but the story was always whisked off in some new and unexpected direction immediately afterward, there being a clear understanding between the makers of this film that there was no way Mansfield Park, (one of the only six completed novels given to the world by Jane Austen) could possibly stand on its own, without at least some gratuitous lesbianism thrown in.
   
   A couple of the directions this movie tried to stumble in actually seemed really interesting; the added subplot of the slave plantation that the Bertram family drew its income from put an entirely different spin on Tom Bertram's character, so that instead of being a worthless prodigal son he became a sensitive artist tormented by guilt. The problem was that this was far too serious a matter to be relegated to subplot and then forgotten when the movie took another turn for the whimsical. The different styles all crammed together in one movie just got in each others way and the scenes didn't seem to fit together in any logical way.
   
   There was no general consensus on what the main character, Fanny Price, was supposed to be either, except (you need only look at the product description to surmise) that she not be allowed to be anything close the the character from the book. She seemed to divide her time between riding great black horses through rainstorms in order to proclaim her liberated womanliness, and quoting directly from the Juvenalia, Jane Austen's early works, in order to establish that she leads a rich inner life, I suppose.
   
   If you've read the book you may be able to enjoy this movie in a MST3K kind of way. I'm curious to know if someone who hasn't read the book would be able to enjoy this movie, or if they would still find the shifts in style as jolting? One thing is certain though; if you haven't read it, and are trying to fake it, for the purposes of a book report, trying to impress someone at your book club, etc, you'd do much, much better with the clifnotes.

5 comments about Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (Widescreen Edition).

1. I can't review it, because the dvd is broken, and will not load. every other dvd of mine will load, but this dvd (pirates of the caribbean II) will not load. I need to return it.



2. Captain Jack Sparrow is back and the action is twice as big. The adventure picks up with Capt. Jack in trouble again, this time with Davey Jones looking to collect a debt now due him. The plot thickens when Will Turner learns his father is a crew member aboard Jones' Flying Dutchmen and will do anything to free him of his service. All this and the East India Trading Company is hunting down not only pirates but the means to control the sea! This is probably the weakest of the 3 and it still gets 5 stars. Simply great fun!
   
   NOW FOR MY BLU-RAY THOUGHTS: Another EYE POPPING blu ray! The picture and sound are what blu-ray is suppossed to be! The special features are carried over from the dvd with blu-ray special features added. It's worth every penny. FINAL VERDICT: Walk the plank if you don't upgrade matey! ABSOLUTELY UPGRADE WORTHY!



3. This is the best movie of 2006 This has Veteran actor Bill Nigny as Davey Jones and they have the people from The grand Original like Johnny Depp Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom so buy it today.



4. Another very good movie in the series. This is the second movie. I liked the first one Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl [Blu-ray]a little better but thats my personal preference. The effects are awesome as usual and the hi-def video and audio quality were great too. If you liked the Curse of the Black Pearl I think you'll like this one too!



5. I wasn't too surprised that this film was great after how great the first one was! This movie is by far my favorite out of the whole series. If you thought Johnny was great in the first flick, then just see in in this one! Love this movie, if you liked the first one then you have got to see this one!!!

5 comments about Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest [Blu-ray].

1. I can't review it, because the dvd is broken, and will not load. every other dvd of mine will load, but this dvd (pirates of the caribbean II) will not load. I need to return it.



2. Captain Jack Sparrow is back and the action is twice as big. The adventure picks up with Capt. Jack in trouble again, this time with Davey Jones looking to collect a debt now due him. The plot thickens when Will Turner learns his father is a crew member aboard Jones' Flying Dutchmen and will do anything to free him of his service. All this and the East India Trading Company is hunting down not only pirates but the means to control the sea! This is probably the weakest of the 3 and it still gets 5 stars. Simply great fun!
   
   NOW FOR MY BLU-RAY THOUGHTS: Another EYE POPPING blu ray! The picture and sound are what blu-ray is suppossed to be! The special features are carried over from the dvd with blu-ray special features added. It's worth every penny. FINAL VERDICT: Walk the plank if you don't upgrade matey! ABSOLUTELY UPGRADE WORTHY!



3. This is the best movie of 2006 This has Veteran actor Bill Nigny as Davey Jones and they have the people from The grand Original like Johnny Depp Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom so buy it today.



4. Another very good movie in the series. This is the second movie. I liked the first one Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl [Blu-ray]a little better but thats my personal preference. The effects are awesome as usual and the hi-def video and audio quality were great too. If you liked the Curse of the Black Pearl I think you'll like this one too!



5. I wasn't too surprised that this film was great after how great the first one was! This movie is by far my favorite out of the whole series. If you thought Johnny was great in the first flick, then just see in in this one! Love this movie, if you liked the first one then you have got to see this one!!!

5 comments about Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl [Blu-ray].

1. This is one of the best live-action Disney movies I have EVER seen! In the tradition of sword-slinging, gun-toting, cannon-blasting pirates with humour that you wouldn't necessarily expect, this movie brings the ever popular ride from both Disneyland and Walt Disney World to life in the most exciting way!



2. Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl is such a wonderfully filmed movie. The scenery, props, costumes... everything fits so perfectly to make the Disneyland theme ride come to life in a totally fantastic way. Of course the acting is amazing - how could it not be with Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom in the leading roles? I've been a fan of Johnny Depp for a long time and enjoy that he selects off beat characters to portray. Jack Sparrow is definitely my new favorite of all his characters. The Keith Richards movements, swagger and swashbuckling lingo all roll into one great pirate.



3. Don't guess if you love johnnys' acting this is a must. I can only imagine his real personality being exactly like this



4. The first in the Pirates trilogy and it's a swashbuckling romp. Johnny Depp is amazing in his role as the conniving Captain Jack Sparrow. The special effects are amazing and draw you into the story as the curse is revealed in moonlight. The story is rich and the acting from all, outstanding. It's a fun adventure that you can watch over and over again!
   
   NOW FOR MY BLU-RAY THOUGHTS: ABSOLUTE WOW!!! The best transfer possible. Amazing clarity and color. The image pops off the screen. The sound is amazing and pounding. As for the extras...all from the dvd release and more! Interactive menus that will blow you away. FINAL VERDICT: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? THIS IS THE BLURAY TO OWN! DEMO DISC!!! GET IT!



5. This movie really is one of the best movies I've ever seen. It's got great story, great characters, great humor, and great action. It even has a love story for the romantic types. :) It truley is entertaining. It rates right up there with Scfis like Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter.
   
   If you are thinking about watching this movie then please do it! I remember when I first seen it advertisted I thought, umm do I really want to watch a Pirate movie? But after watching it I was so impressed! It really isn't done cheesy at all like you see in the old pirate movies.
   
   If I could give this movie more the 5 stars I would!!! If you are a Depp fan then you are sure to love his performance in this one!!!