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| Shrek 2 -Released Nov 5th, 2004 -Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy -Written by Kev - 11/06/04 -DVD SCORE: 8/10 - Gold Award -Movie Score: 9/10 |
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| The Movie: Shrek 2 is a classic. I have never laughed so much in an animated flick than I have on Shrek 2. It deserves every bit of success it had at the Box Office. The story is simple, and isn't too deep or complicated. The movie starts out with a knight climbing up to the twoer that Fiona (Cameron Diaz) was trapped in. Once he gets to the top though, she isn't there, and thats when the adventure begins. Fiona wanted Shrek (Mike Myers) to meet her parents in Far Far Away Land. He refuses but she eventually gets her way. So her, Shrek and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) arrive at Far Far Away Land and everyone is shocked to see that Fiona married an ogre. Her parents are the most shocked and upset. Its safe to say Shrek and the King don't get along. Later on, the King gets snatched into a big pumpkin cart (Cinderella style) and the Fairy Godmother tells him that they had a deal that her son (the knight in the beginning) would find Fiona and they would get married...not her marrying Shrek. The King says he'll take care of it. So thats pretty much it. The King is trying to break up Shrek and Fiona, and other things. I won't get into more. Like I said before, this movie is hilarious. It has so many jokes about topics of today. The new character, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) steals the show. I was cracking up. The voice acting is superb. So well done. None of the cast has changed since the original and they dont need to, it was perfect. Bu the new characters are awesome as well. Props to Dreamworks. There are some parts that get a little boring, and some jokes aren't that funny because they overdue it. But overall, this was a great movie, one that everyone should see no matter how old you are. The Disc: Holy crap, the picture is SOO good. This is one of the best looking pictures I have ever seen on a DVD. The colors are out there and crisp, everything is just so clear especially on a 53. Good stuff. Audio is good as well, but sometimes things can get a little muffled. Its nothing bad though, you wont notice unless you really pay attention. Very good transfer here. The Features: I have a problem with the features. They could've made this good, but they copped out. There are 4 featurettes but all of them are like 7 minutes long. Its a joke. They could've made them so much longer and increase the enjoyability. But no. Come on Dreamworks! Don't be like 20th Century Fox! But form what you get, its alright. There are cast interviews, a look on the making of Puss in Boots, some pretty funny bloopers, and some CGI look. The alternate ending that they're hyping on the commercials isnt as good as they make it out to be. Its a spoof on American Idol, called Far Far Away Idol. You choose the winner after watching them do their stuff. Its a nice touch, but you'll never look at it a second time. Then you got your commentary and a few kids games. Everything is alright except for those featurettes. Make them longer. Oh wait, they probably will in 2 years when Shrek 3 comes out and they re-release Shrek 2 on DVD. No surprise. Overall: Shrek 2 is a nice add-on to your collection. I enjoyed this movie alot. It made me laugh a few times so it works. Thats the purpose of it. So the movie does its job in entertaining you. The features could've been better, but what you have is good enough. At least there ARE features to watch. So pick up Shrek 2 on DVD. If you're still not sure, then rent it first. You'll figure out if its for you or not. |
| The Stepford Wives -Released Nov 9th, 2004 -Nicole Kidman, Matthew Brodrick -Written by Jay - 11/09/04 -DVD SCORE: 9/10 - Gold Award -Movie Score: 6/10 |
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| The Movie: After viewing the teaser trailer for this movie I was really looking forward to this movie, also Nicole Kidman looked hot. Then I saw the trailer and it looked pretty good but I knew I was going to give it a try on DVD. So I rented it on DVD and a made a good rental. The movie is about a woman named Joanna who is a top name in the TV industry and she just got fired. So she moves to Stepford with her family because her husband recommended it. While living in Stepford, Joanne suspects very fishy feelings about the town. The women are perfect and have great incredible sex. This leads Joanne to think with what is happening and then later her two friends who were fishy about the town turned weird too. They became different, Joanne finds out they are robots now. All the women in Stepford are robots created by their husbands. So Joanna tries to find out what's happening and to stop the men from making her a robot. It's a goofy plot, which made it fun. The movie was pretty short and watch able. It wasn't boring at times; it was just a plain old watch able movie that was stupid. There were two funny scenes in this movie were I laughed out loud. Those were the only times I laughed pretty much loud. They were other funny moments to but nothing special. The Stepford Wives was worth a watch but very forgettable. The women were hot for housewives, ill give props to that. The Disc: The Disc itself is a respectful cover, with stepford wives art. I would have rather gotten Nicole Kidman's face on it but oh well. The quality was great, great for a comedy and enjoyable. The sound I was first disappointed then I put it at 5.1 and it was very good for this type of movie. Great Disc here. The Features: The movie did okay at the Box Office with 60 million, but the budget was north of 90. So I was expecting no features. I was wrong. The features on this disc were great and shocking. Two pages of features were made up for this DVD. The DVD was all out cool and enough information on it. The only bad thing was the packaging; the packaging looked like a 5 year old did it for a contest. The paramount logo is at the side of the DVD, were it should be at the top. Very shitty packaging, but the features are top notch. Overall: The Stepford Wives was a good movie to rent; it's not a movie that's worth to buy. I gave it a 6 because it's just an ordinary movie that's worth a rent and a view when it's on TBS. It was not boring or anything which made it watchable. It's a good movie to rent. The DVD though, gets a 9. Fans of this movie should pick this DVD up because it's great. The features and Disc are great, I would give this a 10, but I will give it a 9 because the packaging just sucks. So rent the Stepford Wives because it's a rental type of movie, if you're a fan of the movie, pick it up! |
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| Elf -Released Nov 16th, 2004 -Will Farrell, Jon Favreau -Written by Kev - 11/17/04 -DVD Score: 9/10 - Gold Award -Movie Score: 8/10 |
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| The Movie: When Elf came to theaters last year, I was planning on watching it since I love Christmas movies, but something else was in the way (Matrix Revolutions), so I decided to wait for it on DVD. The movie is about a guy named Buddy (Will Farrell). When he was a baby, he accidentally crawled into Santa's bag without him noticing. So after he made his rounds, he finally found out about the baby in his bag and decided to adopt him. A few years later, Buddy grows up as a normal human being and is the biggest elf of the bunch. Because of his height, he has trouble roaming around the North Pole since it was setup for midgets, and he screws up on toys most of the time. So Santa finally tells him the truth about where he came from, and he eventually decides to go to New York to find his family and figure out where he belongs. I really liked this movie, since it really got me into the Christmas mood. I love Christmas movies that can do that, and they become my favorites. There are some funny moments in here, which is good. The best part of the movie is that its for the whole family. You would think with Will Farrell on board and all the movies he has done in the past, that this would a kind of edgy flick, but it isn't. Its really tame and sincere, so even the young ones can watch it. And casting Farrell was a GREAT idea, I can't see anyone bringing the role to life, so good pick. The acting is great, and the story may be simple and predictable, but I don't mind. Its a Christmas movie, its supposed to make you happy and in the mood for the season, and this movie did the job for me. The Disc: This is a 2-disc DVD, which I'm happy they did and didn't go with the double sided DVD. Packaging is great, and it comes complete with a chapter booklet. Theres also a little flier for Son of the Mask. The video quality is disapointing. The quality is so grainy and fuzzy at times, and it becomes really obvious sometimes. Also, the CG in the movie sticks out with red lining, which is just horrible. Bad quality by New Line. Sound is better, but not perfect. Some sound effects are drowned out at times, that it makes it hard to hear things. And they didnt take advatage of surround sound. The Features: This is where the DVD shines. Since its Infinifilm, you can't expect anything less than stellar. This DVD delivers in the features department. You got the Infinifilm pop-up feature that everyone who has bought a Infinifilm DVD should be familiar with. There are 2 commentaries, one with director Jon Favreau and the other with Will Farrell. There are 8 deleted scenes with optional commentary from the director. You can understand why they were cut since they would've dragged the movie on. There is one deleted scene that is HILARIOUS. But I won't ruin it. There are 5 different featurettes that detail different aspects of the movie. Like how they created the set, casting Will Farrell, Farrell preparing for the role, the aftermath of shooting, and loads more. There are also a few trailers in here, and 3 games for kids to enjoy. Its a really great DVD. Overall: Elf is a great movie to own for the holidays. For thos wanting a family experience, Elf is your choice. The soon to be released Surviving Christmas is a lot more edgier, so Elf should be your pick if you're looking for a good time with the family. In terms of the DVD, its pretty surprising that New Line didnt put much effort into the sound and picture quality. They've done a great job in all of the other DVDs I own from them, so its surprising. But the features kinda make up for it if you're into finding out behind the scenes stuff. In the end, Elf is sure addition to your DVD library. Pick it up! |
| November Archived Reviews |
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| Spider-Man 2 -Released Nov 30th, 2004 -Tobey Maguire, Kristun Dunst -Written by Jay - 11/30/04 -DVD Score: 9/10 - Gold Award -Movie Score: 9/10 |
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| The Movie: The first movie became an instant classic no doubt about it. They say this one was better than the first. So was it? This movie was amazing. The movie was probably the best sequel since RE2 and The Godfather 2. The first movie gets a 10 out of 10 and this one does not get the same but it's right their. I rate Spider-Man 2 a 9 out of 10. The movie was amazing and it's a must own. It's easily one of my favourite movies, but it's not better than the first, so I gave it a 9. I'll start of with the negatives first. First off, Spider-Man took his mask off to many times and when the people in the train say they won't tell, yeaaaaaaaaaa. Also this movie was more of a love story then an adventure. It felt as if Dr. Octopus was just a pussy. He could have been more of a bad ass but it didn't focus well on that. The villain represented the problem with Peter Parker well, but the movie could have toned it down the romance and had more action. So with this two thoughts I was pretty disappointed. But other than that the movie was great, it picks up were the first one did and now Peter is finding out if he wants to take the responsibility of being Peter Parker and Spider-Man. This movie is a must own and it's a 9. I can't wait for the third one. The Disc: The package is well nice with the slipcase, the discs are well neat and the page inside it is to advertise other Columbia movies and the other side has Dr. Octopus. Pretty disappointing that there was no chapter booklet. This can hurt the overall score. The picture of the movie was great, but it wasn't perfect. If this was a movie like Bourne Supremacy then I would rate it perfect, but this is Spider-Man 2 and it should have been perfect, it's a good picture but the quality should have been better. It's not as sharp as one would think. The audio is great too but it's not spread out good. You can tell with the 5.1 mix that the sounds are together and not spread out. The audio is great I'm telling you, but for Spider-Man it could have been better. The Features: This movie is packed with more than 10 hours of footage and I wonder who has the time to see all this, this is the kind of DVD a blockbuster movie deserves. You got every feature you can think of in here. This features here a top notch and spread it on the discs, with a lot more on the second. Great job Columbia on the features. Overall: Spider-Man 2 is already a classic, the difference with the first one is that the first one did not have negatives but this one had two. But regardless, this is a must own. The disc is top notch, but the audio, and video could have been better. This DVD gets a 9 out of 10; it's not perfect because of the audio and video. So this movie is 9 for everything. It's not worth a rent, it's worth a buy ASAP, people who don't have this movie, I pity |