The Game Plan Full Screen Edition
July 14, 2009 by Indoor Games · Leave a Comment
The Game Plan Full Screen Edition
Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/15/2008 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Mistoke Dwayne for Ben Stiller
I own this movie on Pay-Per-View on my Tivo. Like the title says above, when I first saw this movie I thought Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was Ben Stiller from Night at the Mueseum and Madagascar. Madison Pettis is not new to Disney’s work. She played Megan on Corey in The House which is still on Disney Channel. Overall a hilarious movie. I am technically reviewing this in preperation of Super Bowl XLIII (or Super Bowl 43). This is good film also for football fans. Unlike myself, I just play at school in PE, but I don’t mean to brag, but I scored quite a couple touchdowns.
1 Star Never received
Since I ordered this on dec 10 and still have not received it over a month later, I really can’t review it. I will never order from Amazon again. I have sent them 3 emails telling them I never got the movie, but they have ignored them.
5 Stars The Game Plan
This is a great movie with a wonderful story line. Lots to warm your heart & make you laugh. Great for the whole family!
5 Stars Family Movie
First of all i love madison pettis.Great actor.Her and the rock are good pairs.The movie had a great message behind it and it was a very very funny and a great family movie.
1 Star I never got it
I never got the item for the person that I purchased it form. I am very disappointed in the order.
Dangerous Liaisons
June 9, 2009 by Indoor Games · Leave a Comment
The biting satire about love and lust passion and deception includes directors commentary. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 04/03/2001 Starring: Glenn Close John Malkovich Run time: 120 minutes Rating: R Director: Stephen Frears
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars 3 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:
Far better than Cruel Intentions, the recent remake, Dangerous Liaisons is a biting costume drama that portrays pre-revolutionary France as just about the most decadent place on earth; with good performances by the always-reliable Malkovich and a suprisingly villainous Glenn Close, it’s an effective film.
5 Stars A great adaptation of a great story…
DANGEROUS LIAISONS is the PERFECT good vs. evil story. The two main characters just so happen to be the sleaziest people to ever grace the big screen - or the literary world, for that matter!
You all know the basic plot of the film. It’s an intense game of seduce and destroy that keeps you on the edge of your seat. At moments, it is actually quite disturbing. Glenn Close and John Malkovich were the perfect people to portray the evil duo. The best thing about them is that they allow their characters to be multi-dimensional, rather than the cardboard cut out villians of CRUEL INTENTIONS, another film based on this material. You also have the satisfaction of seeing the bad guys get it in the end, yet the film never lets you forget that the innocent end up suffering as well. It’s not a happy ending.
If you haven’t been introduced to this story yet, see this film. You won’t regret it! It’s amazing.
Nominated for several Oscars, including Best Actress - Michelle Pfeiffer, as you’ve never seen her before! Amazing performance. Also, be on the lookout for a young Uma Thurman. Keanu Reeves is also makes an appearance.
3 Stars Troublemaker.
Dangerous Liaisons starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfeiffer star in this classic film. All three stars bring excitement, strength, and charmisa to their roles. Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman also star as supporting and naive characters. Close is no stranger to playing an unappealing dame. I like this film but the language and costumes are too distracting to fully enjoy this old-fashioned film.
4 Stars Don’t Pass This One Over
Dangerous Liaisons
This movie, to say the least, is very different. It is a period piece from the 1700s and takes place in France. Vicomte de Valmont and Marquise de Mertuil have become obsessed with destroying people’s life. They find it entertaining and treat it like a sick game. Vicomte was summoned by Marquise to carry out the deed of deflowering a family member of hers, Cecile de Volanges. Cecile is set to marry Marquise’s ex-husband and Marquise wants her revenge for him leaving her. Vicomte refuses to accept such a petty task and claims he is on his own mission. His mission is to corrupt another women named Madame de Tourvel, of course by deflowering her and destroying sense of moral. He will be leaving for his Aunt’s home to find her soon. The two make a bet that Vicomte cannot finish his personal mission; if he does then Marquise will sleep with him.
Vicomte is one of the most devious main characters I have ever seen. Every move he makes is cunning and used to rip apart his victims until they fall into his arms. Marquise often helps him in his sinister plots to destroy these women. This is one of my favorite villains of all time, and I am happy that he is the main character.
Marquise eventually makes it able for Vicomte to do both assignments by moving Cecile into Vicomte’s Aunt’s home. Cecile had desired a young man named Chevalier Danceny, played by Keanu Reeves, and Marquise suggested a move into the country with Vicomte’s Aunt. From there Vicomte approaches both tasks in hopes to win over Marquise.
The story is wonderful and it continues to amaze you how evil Vicomte really is. He smiles after every single sick move he makes just to show you how evil he is. Before the end of the movie you will see a different side of him though, a side that cares less about Marquise and more about one of his victims. I recommend this movie to anyone looking for something interesting and new.
5 Stars Great film
Fantastic film. Manages to convey the tone of the original book better than other versions. Casting is unexpected, but John Malkovich is brilliant, as is Glenn Close. (Uma Thurman is just strange as Cecile.)
NHL New York Islanders 10 Greatests Games
May 20, 2009 by Indoor Games · Leave a Comment
NHL New York Islanders 10 Greatests Games
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 03/03/2009 Rating: Nr
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars What memories
Growing up during the dynasty, this set brought back some great memories. I too wish that there were more versions with the Islander announcers as well. It’s also the same thing when they’ve shown a lot of the old games on their website. I don’t know why that is.
I was also surprised the ‘80 cup winner game didn’t have Nystrom’s goal at the end of the second period. I’ve seen that on their web.
I guess I am getting a little picky but I still love it. With this team, they could have easily made a 20-DVD set. Maybe they will come out with a part two and include games like Parise OT in ‘75, Bossy’s 50 in 50, Tonelli’s winner against Colorado during the win streak, Game 1 vs Edmonton in ‘83, Bossy in mid-air in ‘82, Bourne’s end-to-end game, a couple of the Capital games from ‘93, another Penguin game from ‘93 and game 6 against Toronto in ‘02
5 Stars great gift for an Isle fan or hockey fan in general
I would agree that some of the games are poor video transfers but that is something that has to be taken into consideration when some of these games are over 30 years old. They are bound to deteriorate. But I think the crown jewel of this set and makes the set worth the purchase alone is the Easter Epic which is not just one of the best games in Islander History but one of the best playoff games ever. It was a classic.
5 Stars A must have for any Isles fan.
The ten games that will be on this set are:
1-1980 Cup Final, Game 6. (CBC)
2-1981 Cup Final, Game 5. (CBC)
3-Game 5 of 1982 Division Semi Finals vs Pittsburgh (WOR)
4-1982 Cup Final, Game 4. (CBC)
5-1983 Cup Final, Game 4. (CBC)
6-Morrow’s OT goal beats Rangers, 1984 Div. Semi Finals, Game 5. (CBC)
7-The Easter Epic vs Washington, 1987 (CBC)
8-Volek’s OT goal in Game 7 beats Pittsburgh, 1993 (CBC)
9-Bates penalty shot game vs Toronto, 4/24/2002 (ESPN2)
10-Al Arbour’s 1500th win. (MSG)
There are some problems. With just three exceptions all the games use the (Hockey Night In Canada Feed (CBC). You only get to hear Islanders’ announcers Jiggs McDonald and Eddie Westfall in one game. (1982 Game 5 vs Pittsburgh) and the picture quality on that game is terrible.
Picture quality on most of the game is just fair to good. Even the Bates game fromm 2002 is sub par.
I actually have better copies of some of these games on VHS tape so I wonder why the quality could not have been upgraded on the DVDs.
Rosemarys Baby
May 19, 2009 by Indoor Games · Leave a Comment
In roman polanskis classic adaptation of ira levins horror bestseller a young couple expecting their first child stumble onto satan worshippers in their chic manhattan apartment building. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Mia Farrow Ruth Gordon Run time: 136 minutes Rating: R Director: Roman Polanski
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Classic Thrillers …
Nothing like a good scare. I’m waiting for the sequel (”Look What Happened to Rosemary’s Baby” and “Rosemary’s Baby II”). Thess movies had me terrified when I first saw it (in the 70’s). I still get scared today! It is real. If anyone knows a little about spirit beings (dwelled inside “some chosen” people). I saw firsthand what that is like. Heck, today, we read it in the newspapers and see it everyday and just don’t realize that it is the powers of darkness which causes a lot of today’s evil. Then there are the people who worship such events…those people are even more scarier.
Check out the sequels where Adrian grows up to become a rock singer in a bar and he was just diabolically deranged!
I look forward to its release on DVD.
5 Stars A Great Achievement!
“Rosemary’s Baby” is a classic horror story, well-acted by a team of top-flight actors and well-directed by Roman Polanski. A young Manhattan couple seem completely unlikely for what befalls them, but the husband (John Cassavetes) is an ambitious actor who may be willing to deal with the devil and evil forces to get ahead in the theater. His wife (Mia Farrow), wan and chalky-looking, is the innocent foil who becomes a vessel through which he can achieve success. The couple goes apartment hunting in the famous Dakota apartment building. The Gothic rooftops of the famous building help to build up a sense of dread, gloom and doom.
Three great character actors–Ralph Bellamy, Sidney Blackmer, and Maurice Evans do yeoman work in the movie. Blackmer and the incomparable Ruth Gordon are the old couple next door, garishly dressed, wacky, crass. Who could ever believe that such a batty couple could be running a witches’ coven in the next door apartment?
The story sneaks up, creeps up on you subtly and with teasing deliberateness. It seems so ordinary and commonplace at first. What will Rosemary’s actor husband do to get a juicy part–sell his soul and her body to get a juicy part?
A suicide early in the movie makes Rosemary suspicious of her flamboyant and eccentric neighbors. They and their friends seem so removed from anything dangerous.
This is a great, masterful movie that spawned a number of sequels. It has often been twinned with “The Exorcist.”
5 Stars Extraordinary restraint and style
You watch horror films from the 1950s and 1960s and they have a curiously dated feel - ghosts rattling chains, men morphing into bats, Vincent Price. Then you watch Roman Polanski’s 1968 classic “Rosemary’s Baby,” and it’s like a gut punch. One of the creepiest films ever made and certainly one of the five greatest horror films of all time, “Rosemary’s Baby” has aged well because of its extraordinary restraint and style. Polanski, making his first American film, went to great pains to create a work of subtlety, insinuation and ultimately, growing paranoia.
The film is a faithful adaptation of Ira Levin’s bestseller Rosemary’s Baby but, more importantly, it turns a routine shocker into an examination of apartment culture, prenatal depression, women’s liberation and the 1960’s rejection of traditional values. Such substance in the horror genre is rare. There are really no outright shocking moments, with the exception of the unsettling dream sequences, predating similar scenes in The Exorcist years later. But it’s the accumulation of revelations that create an unbearable atmosphere leading to the shocking conclusion.
Casting was key, and rumors surrounding what could have been are part of the film’s enormous legend. Robert Redford was a favorite for the role of husband Guy Woodhouse (a perfect choice), and Tuesday Weld and Jane Fonda were considered for Rosemary. But like all great films, luck is a crucial to the equation. I can’t imagine anyone as Rosemary other than Mia Farrow. It’s a magnificent performance, shaded with angst, sorrow and genuine love for Guy and her unborn baby. Farrow, innocent and child-like (thanks in no small part to the Vidal Sassoon haircut), conveys a complex and unique heroine. When watching the film recently, I found myself wanting to protect her.
John Cassavetes, hot off the success of his Oscar-nominated role in The Dirty Dozen, is perhaps the one weak link. He was Polanski’s first choice and ultimately the performance works, I think. His mannerisms, when he embarrassingly admits to filing his nails after having had sex with a passed-out Rosemary, is great stuff. There’s also a brilliant scene (a continuous shot lasting several minutes) when he argues with Rosemary following a party with younger friends. Physically, it’s difficult to believe Cassavetes is the matinee idol/budding movie star his character is supposed to be. Then again, if he had traditional looks, why would he need the assistance of witches? Classic films should be studied, and each time I watch “Rosemary’s Baby,” I fluctuate on Cassavetes. There’s an odd distance to his character. Could the drama have been stronger had we been able to understand Rosemary’s absolute devotion?
Casting of the supporting roles is perfect, having much to do with the film’s success. Ruth Gordon is sublime as nosy neighbor Minnie Castevet and was well-deserving of the Academy Award. I also loved Sidney Blackmer and Ralph Bellamy, old veterans who convey extraordinary menace. It’s a fine line Polanski walks with these characters. They are eccentric enough to be instantly identifiable (and in many ways comedic), and yet small mannerisms and physical reactions convey deep, nightmarish evil. The musical score of Krzysztof Komeda Rosemary’s Baby, strategically used with great reserve, further adds to the drama’s disturbing nature, most notably variations of the eerie lullaby played during the credits.
There are really no spoilers to give away in “Rosemary’s Baby” as it is such a famous film. Newlyweds Guy and Rosemary Woodhouse move into a Gothic-like apartment in New York City with a sordid history (dead babies found in the basement, serial killers). They soon become friends with their neighbors the Castevets, an aged couple suffering from recent trauma of a step-daughter committing suicide. Much to Rosemary’s puzzlement Guy, a struggling actor, becomes close friends with them. She soon becomes pregnant after a bizarre night when she passes out. Eventually, the Castevets and their elderly clique take an unusual interest in Rosemary’s pregnancy. Guy supports their incursions, and is now receiving career breaks that could lead to major stardom. After multiple incidents, Rosemary begins to suspect her irritating neighbors are part of a witches coven with plans to ritually sacrifice her baby.
What makes “Rosemary’s Baby” so heartbreaking and ultimately terrifying is the growing paranoia Rosemary feels as the drama progresses. She is slowly falling into a trap and, as viewers exposed to the same clues, we want to help but are unable to do so. Many urban myths surround this film - Anton LaVey was a technical adviser, Polanski’s wife Sharon Tate had a cameo, Rosemary’s baby is shown during the final scene. All are false, though their existence is a testament to the film’s power. One could argue the frightening aura has much to do with what happened later, the death of Polanski’s family a year after the film’s release, John Lennon’s death at the Dakota where the movie was filmed, etc. There’s a disturbing extra included on the DVD, a vintage “Making of” documentary. It shows Polanski kissing his wife Sharon and Farrow adopting the persona of the flower child. Personally, it gave me chills. I would have liked the famous preview of the film, the baby carriage on a lonely mountain top, to have been included. It’s only the most terrifying trailer in the history of cinema.
With the passage of time, as memories of terrible crimes and fate recede, we still have “Rosemary’s Baby,” withstanding the years as a genuine, multi-layered horror classic. And other horror films I would place in the top-five? In no particular order, Nosferatu (1922), Frankenstein (Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection) (1931), The Haunting (1963) and “The Exorcist” (1973).
1 Star Overrated!!!
This movie is 2 plus hours of wasted time. Let me tell you the movie in one sentence: Mia Farrows husband in the movie is a struggling actor, who makes a deal with the Devil in order to procure more work. As a result, Mia Farrow’s child becomes the son of Satan. That’s the whole movie! There is absolutely no suspense, terror, horror…nothing. With the exception of a tense moment right before the 2 hour mark, this movie is boring and bland.
Our DVD case states “Roman Polanski’s Award-Winning Film”. It’s hardly award winning! The only winner was actress Ruth Gordon, who won for Best Supporting Actress. Other than that, I can’t say what is so award winning about it. I will say that in my book, it is award winning for being one of the top 10 worst movies I’ve ever seen.
1 Star The most overrated movie I have ever seen.
Maybe I am just too young to get it, but it was not scary, not clever, and just not good.
I watched the movie anticipating that it had to end well, but the ending made the movie worse.
This is my first review. I just had to speak out against this movie.
Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 1 Blu ray
May 3, 2009 by Indoor Games · Leave a Comment
Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 1 Blu ray
Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 11/06/2007 Run time: 54 minutes
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars Very poor Content
In this case the cost-benefit relation is very low. The product contains very old animation and we have seen many others and more recent in the movies. Is not fair to pay such a price for such short DVD and without the most representative short films.
4 Stars Like the shorts? You’ll like the disk, funny how that works!
Some of the early shorts are kind of a snooze, but it’s a completeness thing I guess. It’s fun to see the Pixar Lamp for the first time, and it’s amazing to see how long they’ve been doing this. A CG short from 1984? That’s crazy! Their contemporary shorts are as good as their films and definitely a good watch.
4 Stars The best part of this is the history of Pixar itself
This is a collection of Pixar’s 32 short films so far along with a history of how Pixar got into the business of making short animation.
The first film I saw in theatres, “Gerri’s Game” depicts an old man playing chess in the park with himself. We also see Luxo and Luxo, Junior, the desk lamps with lives of their own. The last films show alternate views of the lives of our friends from “Monsters, Inc”, “Cars”, and “The Incredibles.”
What’s so inspiring about this film is the animators themselves and what they went through to bring these characters to life. Some of the details are a little geeky, but utterly fascinating.
Rebecca Kyle, December 2008
4 Stars All in One Place…and on Blu-ray!
I love the Pixar shorts that appear before the movies. And while I have the shorts w/ the individual movies, it’s nice to have them all in one place. Also, there are some bonus items which are fun. One other nice thing is that the shorts are on blu-ray and since I won’t be replacing all of my Pixar movies with blu-ray discs, I at least have the shorts in HD.
For those not familiar with Pixar Shorts, they are made to exhibit new technologies and CGI techniques. There isn’t one short that I don’t enjoy. I always get a chuckle from Gerald’s Game and Boundin’ is pure delight.
4 Stars Movie: 4/5 Picture Quality: 3.75~5/5 Sound Quality: 4.25~5/5 Extras: 3/5
Version: U.S.A / Region A, B, C
Title: Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1
MPEG-4 AVC BD-50
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Running time: 0:55:26
Movie size: 15,04 GB
Disc size: 31,89 GB
Total bit rate: 36.18 Mps
Video bit rate: 25.30 Mbps
LPCM 5.1 24-Bit/48kHz/6.9Mbps English
DD AC3 5.1-EX 640Kbps English / Spanish / French
Subtitles: English SDH / Spanish / French
Number of chapters: 16
Special Features
**************
#Audio Commentaries
#The Pixar Shorts: A Short History (HD, 23 minutes)
#Sesame Street Clips (SD, 6 minutes)
13 shorts included
# The Adventures of Andre and Wally B (1984)
# Luxo Jr. (1986)
# Red’s Dream (1987)
# Tin Toy (1988)
# Knick Knack - Remastered (1989)
# Geri’s Game (1997)
# For the Birds (2000)
# Mike’s New Car (2002)
# Boundin’ (2003)
# Jack-Jack Attack (2005)
# Mater and the Ghostlight (2006)
# One Man Band (2005)
# Lifted (2006)
