The Ultimate Matrix Collection (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)"The Matrix" in high-definition video fulfils the prophecy of the A/V geek elders: this is audio and video of a higher order, a plunge into the future of home theater.
The video has little in common with some of the jacked-up, overly hot presentations of older films we've seen in high-def formats. The colors, though muted by design, feel lush and true to the theatrical vision. The experience is that of watching moving images on film, not television or DVD. (The series was produced "with future technology execution in mind," Warner points out.)
High-def has rarely delivered the stunning audio we heard about when the formats first hit the market, but here it is. The rear soundstage doesn't sound subordinated: when the audio engineers send a jolt to a specific, discrete speaker, the result is powerful and distinct. The percussive sounds of gunfire are unlike anything I've heard on disc or in theaters. Some soft-spoken dialogue sounded indistinct or muffled from the center channel, but given the overall quality this is likely in the original elements.
Flesh tones are true, but only on close-ups do you get that film-like definition. All that computer-land metal looks astounding; sharp with three-dimensional pop. When primary colors break through the algae-green atmospherics, they radiate but without the annoying signs of artificial boost.
"The Matrix" was the first DVD title to sell more than a million copies back in the launch era. This set probably won't be a breakthrough for high-def, but it most certainly is a milestone in quality. The set is available only in HD DVD. Blu-ray Disc versions of both collections will be released later this year.

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The Ultimate Matrix Collection, for the hardcore Matrix fan, presents the complete adventures of machine battling truth-seekers Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) in all three of the Wachowski brothers' post-modern epic films. This collection will contain, for the first time, all three HD DVD versions of The Matrix series with more than 35 hours of bonus material in five double-sided discs.

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Spartacus (1960) Review

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If you're a fan of the movie "Spartacus", this is the version to get; the Universal DVD is as bare bones as they get with just the movie. The Criterion version looks great. The facelift the film received help return much of its luster. Kubrick later disowned his version of the epic Hollywood Sword & Sandal genre, but Kubrick brings much of his sensibility to bear; the fight sequences and epic vistas bring to mind Kubrick's work on Paths of Glory and 2001. True, this isn't a complete Kubrick picture; Kubrick had nothing to do with the screenplay and Douglas had all but cast the picture in collaboration with director Anthony Mann (dismissed after butting heads with Douglas one too many times).
Is it Kubrick's finest film? Well, frankly no it isn't. It's an interesting mishmash between Kubrick's detached, ironic style and Hollywood glitz. Spartacus is Kubrick for people who don't care for Kubrick's detached style. It doesn't measure up to Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001 or A Clockwork Orange although it does compare favorable to the much darker Paths of Glory.
Kubrick stated that his intent at the time was to subvert the cliches of the genre. As a result, Kubrick manages to reinvent a genre that was in danger of becoming a parody of itself. As a collaborative effort, Spartacus is a great piece of entertainment and far more sophisticated than almost everything else that came out of Hollywood at the time.
The transfer is beautiful with much of Kubrick's bold use of color restored. The strong acting of most of the cast has always been a virtue of Sparatcus. The soundtrack has been meticulously transferred to 5.1 and Alex North's beatiful score has never sounded so sweet, tragic and powerful before. The audio commentary is the same one that was on the laserdisc version. It provides additional understanding about the complexity of making an independently produced project like Spartacus. Kirk Douglas' bold decision to produce the film himself (with Universal-International distributing)was a leap of faith in both the material and the talented director.
The second disc is stuffed with supplements that are found nowhere else.There's two older interviews with Peter Ustinov, Jean Simmons plus one that Ustinov did in 1992 for the laserdisc edition. It's delightful and he shares a number of funny stories about the picture. There's also a text overview of Kubrick's career and his involvement with the picture. Included also are sketches Kubrick made for the motion picture (artistically they're nothing special but they do provide insight into Kubrick's role in the visualization of the film). Included are some vintage newsreels and a promotional film originally made but unfinished for Spartacus that gives us a glimpse behind the scenes. The promotional film is missing it's soundtrack (in fact, it might have been lost if not for the forsight of a private collector) and has much from North's score. We also get to glimpse at Saul Bass' wonderful title design sequence.
Criterion has been both praised and criticized for their DVDs and laserdiscs before. While they tend to be expensive, this is the complete package. Occasionally Criterion will release a package that isn't up to their usual standards. Spartacus isn't one of them. Robert Harris (Harris restored the film along with Vertigo)evidently was also involved in the transfer to DVD. If you want a spectacular transfer of the film, loads of extras about the making and background of the project from those involved, this is the set to pick up.

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Universal Spartacus - HD-DVDThis presentation of the powerful film classic features an additional five minutes of footage cut from the film's original release, plus the original overture and extended soundtrack. Director Stanley Kubrick tells the tale of Spartacus (Kirk Douglas), the bold gladiator slave,and Varinia (Jean Simmons), the woman who believed in his cause. Challenged by the power-hungry General Crassus (Laurence Olivier), Spartacus is forced to face his convictions and the power of the Roman Empire at its glorious height. The inspirational true account of man's eternal struggle for freedom, Spartacus combines history with spectacle to create a moving drama of love and commitment.

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Jarhead (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a little confused that there's so many user reviews complaining that Jarhead is 'a war movie without any war.' Well.. based on my own experiences as a Marine in our most recent trip to the sandbox, I'd say war without war sounds true to life. Jarhead isn't showing you what you'd like for Marines and servicemen to be; it's showing you what we ARE like. Yes, we're crude, vulgar, irreverent, and largely morally ambivelant. Mostly though, we're bored. 99.9% of war is waiting. Waiting for to go on patrol, waiting for patrol to be over, waiting to go on or off of guard duty, waiting to sleep, to wake up, to eat, to piss, to finally go home. That's how it was for my dad in Vietnam, for my cousins in the Gulf War, and for myself in Iraq last year. To some degree, that's how it's been for everyone, in every war. To quote this film, "Every war is different, every war is the same."
If you've been in the military, and especially if you've been deployed, this should all be sounding pretty familiar. If not, fine. I'd just ask that you consider what it is that would make you dislike this movie. Is it that you don't like the characters as they are portrayed? Or is it that you don't like the conflict between your preconceived notion of what a Marine 'should' be and what you're being shown?

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Universal Jarhead - HD-DVDJake Gyllenhaal ("The Day After Tomorrow," "Moonlight Mile"), Jamie Foxx ("Ray,""Collateral") and Peter Sarsgaard ("Kinsey," "Boys Don't Cry") star in Universal Pictures' "Jarhead," the adaptation of Marine Anthony Swofford's bracing memoir that took readers into his disorienting firsthand experience in the Gulf War. "Jarhead" (the self-imposed moniker of the Marines) follows "Swoff" (Gyllenhaal), a third-generation enlistee,from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, sporting a sniper's rifle and a hundred-pound truck on his back through Middle East deserts with no cover from intolerable heat or from Iraqi soldiers, always potentially just over the next horizon.Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazingdesert fields in a country they don't understand against an enemy they can't see for a cause they don't fully fathom. Foxx portrays Sergeant Sykes, aMarine lifer who heads up SW's scout/sniper platoon, while Sarsgaard is Swoff's friend and mentor, Troy, a die-hard member of STA-their elite Marine Unit. An irreverent and true account of a war thatwas antiseptically packaged a decade ago, "Jarhead" is lace with dark wit, honest inquisition and episodes that are at once surreal and poignant, tragic and absurd.

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