Hitman [HD]

This was a hit with me
I didn't expect to be impressed with this movie because in my mind it was simply another flick made from a video game but man, I was blown away! In fact it was so enjoyable that ten minutes after finishing it I wanted to see it again, and that rarely happens. Never mind the few geographical errors, this movie is all action and there is no waste of precious minutes on mindless love scenes - the one actually has one cut short by the main hero and it was humorous, how he was all business, him being this monk killer for hire who lives a chaste life. In a way it was like a James Bond character who actually didn't try to bed all the babes, impressive. And Timothy Olyphant was flawless, even thought I prefer men with longer hair he looked cool and totally acted the part, mysterious, brooding but with a heart in there somewhere.

Bald and serious, dressed in an expensive suit, red silk tie and an impeccably crisp white shirt the Hitman is a force to be reckoned with. He's not too...

It helps that he is a little bit HOT!
I really enjoyed this movie....I mean what is there not to like. You have a hitman (the sexy #47) who has been trained from childhood to be the best at what he does. Trained to hold his breath, shoot anything that moves from any distance, armed with sexy weapons and a barcode (tattooed beautifully in his scalp), along with an air of calm (that would make anyone scared who he faces), he is the perfect killing machine and running for his life. Determined to protect Nika, a prostitute to the President of Russia, from who else (her lover), #47 goes about the task of fighting the bad guys and righting what he thinks are wrongs. With a Interpol Cop on his heels, he attempts to uncover the truth about why someone he thought he killed wants him dead and what the whole thing is about. I enjoyed this movie...with its cool fight scenes and nice special effects. It was definitely worth renting on a Sunday afternoon.

Much Better Than I Heard
I had heard a lot of bad things and bad reviews about this movie. I was suprised when I watched it that it was as good as it was. I thought Timothy Olyphant did a good job and that the girl who played his love interest was also good and HOT. The guy that plays T-Bag on the TV show Prison Break was also good. I have never played this game but I thought the story was pretty solid. It kind of reminded me of The Bourne Identity as he is a trained super assassin from a place that churns them out and he has flash backs of good and bad things.

Anyway, the action rocked and it was exciting and entertaining beginning to end. It was pretty good and fun to watch.

Click to Editorial Reviews

A Shine of Rainbows [HD]

Beautiful Must See Movie
What I Can Tell You: Although I am not in love with the title, this was a beautifully done movie. Truly moving in so many ways. It is so visually appealing and real I could smell the salt air and the scratchiness of their sweaters.

The acting by Aidan Quinn, Connie Nielsen and John Bell (Tomas) was stellar. The only one I am familiar with is Aidan and thought his silent, strong, loving, desperate, character, Alec was brilliantly played.

Connie Nielsen's Marie was amazing. She is beautiful, mesmerizing and full of heart. She is everything you would wish for if you were a child like Tomas in need of love. I was unaware of the many films I have seen with her. Her impact from this movie will make me remember her forever.

John Bell's Tomas was unbelievable. My heart ached for him. He is like Oliver Twist, full of heartbreak, tears, fears and completely capable of love even after being in an orphanage and teased. He is a gentle soul who Marie falls...

Heartwarming and Inspiring- why aren't there more good films like this
Set in the natural beauty of Corrie Island on the breathtaking west coast of Ireland, this uplifting story uncovers a troubled orphan's journey of self discovery, and the healing power of love and the miracles of nature. Outstanding performances by 10 year old John Bell playing the lonely orphan Tomas, and Connie Nielson playing the extraordinary, kind, loving, joyful Maire, make you want to be a better person. It is a story about the transformational healing of a lonely boy, his new stepmom Maire, and a reluctant stepfather played brilliantly by Aiden Quinn.

Simply a Gorgeous Movie
Set on Corrie Island, Ireland in the early 1960's, A SHINE OF RAINBOWS is the story about an orphan boy named Tomas who is adopted by a woman named Maire (Connie Nielsen) and her husband Alec (Aidan Quinn). Tomas (John Bell) has always been a bit of an outcast. He sees the beauty in what others consider mundane, but also has difficulty speaking. He is vilified by the other boys because he is not normal. Maire and Alec are unable to have a child of their own and Maire selects Tomas to be her son. Life on Corrie is much different than at the orphanage on the mainland, but Tomas adapts to it well. He has people who love him, he is surrounded by beauty and nature, and he begins to overcome his speaking problem. Maire adores Tomas and he loves her and shortly after arriving begins calling her Mum. Alec likes the boy and shows little moments of affection, but he can't quite bring himself to call Tomas his son (most clearly evidenced by his refusal to sign Tomas's adoption papers). A...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Die Hard [HD]

Everyone should Die Hard
At the end of the Eighties the action movie genre, which had flourished throughout the decade, began to stagnate. Cinema goers had seen enough explosions and gunfights cloned from the same formula made popular by Arnie and Sly. Both of these men were moving in the direction of comedy and action movies needed something new.. something fresh. In stepped John McTiernan and Bruce Willis with DIE HARD. Willis, most famous at the time for the comic T.V. Series 'Moonlighting', made a perfect ordinary-man-in-an-extraordinary-situation action hero. He was believeable as John McClane and not immune to being hurt. He blead and felt pain, a first for the genre. And yet his cool confident delivery of a great wisecracking, intelligent script made him all the cooler. But most credit should go to Director John McTiernan, king of the sophisticated action flick. He made action movies slick, smart and full of pace and wit while never letting up on the bullets, cars and bombs front. Special...

The Only Currently Available Die Hard DVD Worth Buying
Because of the fact that the new Die Hard movie is coming out, 20th Century Fox has discontinued the GREAT Special Edition DVD's of the first three Die Hard DVD'S, and are replacing them with newly-packaged one-disc versions with only half of those original DVD's features. This DVD, the Special Edition Steelbook, is the only DVD that Fox has just released worth buying, because it is a repackaged edition of the original Two-Disc Special Edition of Die Hard. Hopefully Fox will do the same thing with the other Die Hard movies.

Bottom Line: Forget the new Die Hard boxset, get this instead and wait for the other ones.

YIPPIE-KI-YAY @#$%%@!!
When I bought the "Die Hard Ultimate Collection" set, I really didn't think they would be able to do much with the very first Die Hard. It's a pretty old movie. I really didn't know if they could do much to improve the picture and sound quality of the movie. Well, I thought wrong, for when I watched this movie, I was completely shocked and stunned. I said to myself, "I can't believe they made this movie better."

This has to be one of the best transfers I have ever seen. The picture is ten times more crisper and sharper than the older DVD version. When the terrorists shoot out the glass windows to trap Willis, you can literally see every single piece of glass landing on the floor. Also, the sound is explosive and very impressive, especially if you can watch it in DTS. When I watched this new version of "Die Hard", it was like seeing it for the very first time.

If you are not familiar with "Die Hard", here's the story: Bruce Willis is...

Click to Editorial Reviews

End of the Road

A tattered signpost of late sixties indie cinema
After working on Easy Rider, Terry Southern began collaborating with Aram Avakian on an intense adaptation of John Barth's debut novel. Shot in the summer and fall of 1968, when America was reeling from assasinations, the quagmire of Vietnam, rioting and ideological meltdown, the resulting film transforms Barth's existential character study into a chilling, visually stunning critique of political, sexual and cultural dysfunction. If the film's reach sometimes exceeds its grasp, there is still much that astonishes in this rarely screened film: the superb acting by Stacy Keach, James Earl Jones, Dorothy Tristan and Harris Yulin; the feature film debut of legendary cinematographer Gordon Willis; the haunting opening montage that relate's the lead's typical boomer upbringing against the horrorshow of post-WWII history; the music supervised by jazz producer George Avakian; and last, but not least, the uncompromising visionary screenplay by Terry Southern, Aram Avakian and Dennis McGuire...

Wonderful Film.
A wonderful piece of counter-cultural cinema.
Available at last on dvd.
Gives the viewer the opportunity to fully understand the work cinematographer Gordon Willis did with colors and composition.
Avakian's sense of editing is prevalent here too.
Amazing performances by the leading actors and a great example of the strengths of Terry Southern's tragicomic prose.



Click to Editorial Reviews

The Earth Dies Screaming [HD]

Doomsday Done Right...
Another Midnite Movie double feature masterpiece! CHOSEN SURVIVORS concerns a group of eleven men and women chosen (by the government) to be the ones who wait out WWIII. Yep, they get to repopulate the planet! Luckily, our beloved elected officials have thought of everything, sending these folks deep beneath the earth. Once there, they are greeted by a pre-recorded message telling them that the world has been destroyed. Tensions start to build as each person tries to comprehend what has happened. Unfortunately, things go badly, as a massive swarm of vampire bats somehow infiltrate the underground facility, hungry for the red stuff! Richard Jaeckel (Grizzly, Day Of The Animals, The Dark) is the military engineer. Bradford Dillman (Bug, Piranha) is the psychiatrist who just might know something the others don't. Jackie Cooper (Superman 1 and 2) is the slimy corporate executive of the bunch. CS is a nice claustrophobic thriller. THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING is sort of the british version of...

Don't forget the "second feature"!
It seems like many of the reviewers of this release have concentrated on "Chosen Survivors" in their comments. I'd just like to put in a plug for "The Earth Dies Screaming" as the movie here that I liked better. (Admittedly, an awful title if one wanted the film to be taken seriously).

A movie directed by Terence Fisher cannot fail to be of interest to genre fans. Dumb title aside, the plot is reminiscent of The Day of the Triffids; I actually find this film as good if not better than the 60's version of that. All in all, a sort of Triffids meets Village of the Damned meets Target Earth. And I can't say enough for the demo-quality black & white transfer. I know I'll be returning to this film often, something I can't say about "Chosen Survivors".

If you like 50's-60's sci-fi, do treat yourself to this set! (Four stars for "Earth", two for "Survivors" is what is behind my overall three-star rating.)

BATS!! ROBOTS!! RICHARD JAECKEL!!
Grab that popcorn kiddies and light up that smoke coz we gonna enjoy another fun Midnite Movies Double Feature. Usually with these discs, they try to choose two films with at least a similar theme, but these two are quite different from one another. First on the bill, Chosen Survivors, is a very fun little piece of early seventies drive-in nonsense. It deals with a group of humans hand picked to live in an underground facility in the event of a worldwide war or catastrophe. The idea is to preserve the human race, but you'd think if this was the last hope for humanity, they'd at least pick some hotter chicks(going with Dr. Strangelove's theory) and people who could respond to stress and pressure better. The facility is damn near perfect in every way except the damn bats who have somehow crept in. The survivors have to deal with a swarm of hungry vampire bats that begin to pick them off. Hey, at least it breaks up the boredom. It stars B 70s sci-fi regular Bradford Dillman. We...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Antwone Fisher [HD]

Facing the Past and Confronting Inner Demons.
To be honest, I was a little hesitant to see "Antwone Fisher," the directorial debut by Denzel Washington. Movies directed by actors can be little more than self-serving vanity projects that merely say, "Hey! I'm an actor! And I can also direct! I'm so multitalented!" You can say the same thing about this movie, but you would be wrong. While it's a little sentimental at times, "Antwone Fisher" is one of the most heartfelt and genuine movies of 2002. Derek Luke is the title character, a young and hotheaded seaman who gets sent to Jerome Davenport (Washington) for psychiatric evaluation following a heated brawl with another soldier. From there, the two begin a painful journey that involves discovering the roots of Fisher's anger and, more important, the broken family that left him behind. It's often disturbing to see the psychological abuse Fisher suffered at the hands of his elders, and his strong will and tenacity make him all the more...

If it were at all possible...
...i would give this film ten stars even, more if there were a way. I saw this movie when it first came out on DVD in 2003, and i think i pretty much understood it for what it was, but i still didn't feel it for what it was. Then, i saw it again last night for the first time since 2003, when it very first arrived on DVD. This time, i both understood it for what it was meant to be and felt it the way it was meant to be felt. As a young, black writer trying to make my way along the same path that people like Toni Morrison, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, J. K. Rowling, Antwone Fisher and Ralph Ellison have paved before me, it is always a very interesting thing to see such an honest and heartfelt screenplay make it to the big screen. The actors are superb throughout the entire picture, and they always manage stay in character. Just when you expect the characters to suddenly change due to some happy or sad or traumatic event in their life at the moment, BAM, reality is smashed into your face...

This movie helped to see healing in my own life.
All I can say is: Thank you, Antwone, for sharing your life with us, and thank you, Denzel, for bringing this story to the theater. You have made a huge difference in my own life, and I wish I could thank you personally.

As a child, I suffered much of the same abuse (though not so violent) and loneliness that Antwone experienced. It has been a long and difficult journey for me to move towards health. I did not make it as quickly as Antwone did.

What this movie did for me was to help me face again some of my old pain, but also, like Antwone in the movie, to see that I have finally found my own "Welcome Home" family in my two children, my two "in-law" children, their families, and my new grandson.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Happy

Nice movie about happiness in many societies.
I watched this movie because lately I have been interested in what makes people happy.

I was surprised that the people who made the movie had examples of happy and unhappy people from all over the world. There was this example of happy people that lived in a community in Denmark (I think), where they each had apartments that were part of a cluster, and they took turns cooking, and it was basically like living with a giant family. I had not ever heard of modern people living like that. Those people were very happy. There was also an example of unhappy Japanese people--in Japanese culture, there is a word for people who die of working too much, and that phenomenon is just part of their society. That was kind of sad.

I felt like this movie was more entertaining than informative; I didn't leave the film with a clear idea of what things I could do to become happier, except maybe to spend more time with friends. I did enjoy watching it, though. The wide variety...

This movie made me happy! :)
I really liked this movie. I too saw it with my family (10 year old son, 13 year old daughter and husband) and we all liked it. I think it all comes down to the fact that we're happiest when we're feeling connected to other people and I think there's been enough research over the last decade to support this. It was interesting to note that extreme happiness and sadness are both short lived in that we all pretty much have a happiness set point that we revert back to quite quickly. When I think of all the mindless drivel we could have watched on a Sunday night I have to say that I think this movie was well worth my family's time. It was positive, sweet, informative and heart-warming and made us feel more connected because we watched it together.

Happy video
I heard about this video on Hay House Radio. I decided to rent it while I was convalescing from chronic fatigue. It definitely drives home that happiness is a choice. The rickshaw man who lives in the Indian slum made an impression on me. Whenever I start feeling down, thinking about what I lack and forgetting to be thankful for what I have, I replay the segment about him in my mind. It also helped me to be less judgemental of others who don't conform to the "norm".

Click to Editorial Reviews