Recent Rentals...

[Worf101]

Been on a watching bin this past week or so.. some notables..
1. "Transformers" - B-Plus - Good popcorn muncher. Great special effects. Best seen on a LARGE screen as the action is so fast and furious that letter boxing won't do. Good sound effects, decent sound track. WAY TOO LOOOOOONG. I swear it was like this movie was 4 hours long. Phew... all in all better than I expected.

2. "28 Weeks Later" - C-minus - All the gore of the original and none of the heart or plot. You don't care about the stupid assed kids who push the action as they manage to do every single thing wrong you could imagine. Whiney, self-absorbed bastiches you want them dead so bad you can taste it. The only saving grace was/is the Scottish character actor Robert Carlyle who manages to makes us feel and empathize with him for a brief moment before the movie careens into abject stupidity. Classic trash sequel to a great original.

3. "Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer" - A-Minus - Far better than I expected the film to be. Despite the fact that the siblings Sue and Johnny Storm look about as related as I do to Forever Autumn the movie was funny, fast paced and engagin. Perfect popcorn muncher with great special effects and a wonderful sound. As a Merry Marvel Marcher from about 1962 I know the FF and their history with the SS and Galactus. Interesting take with Galactus, nothing like as depicted in the book. Great villain in Doctor Doom as well, love his maniacal desires for death and destruction. I'd have to say, FF was the best of the lot last weekend.

Da Worfster

[PeruvianSkies]

Been on a watching bin this past week or so.. some notables..
1. "Transformers" - B-Plus - Good popcorn muncher. Great special effects. Best seen on a LARGE screen as the action is so fast and furious that letter boxing won't do. Good sound effects, decent sound track. WAY TOO LOOOOOONG. I swear it was like this movie was 4 hours long. Phew... all in all better than I expected.

2. "28 Weeks Later" - C-minus - All the gore of the original and none of the heart or plot. You don't care about the stupid assed kids who push the action as they manage to do every single thing wrong you could imagine. Whiney, self-absorbed bastiches you want them dead so bad you can taste it. The only saving grace was/is the Scottish character actor Robert Carlyle who manages to makes us feel and empathize with him for a brief moment before the movie careens into abject stupidity. Classic trash sequel to a great original.

3. "Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer" - A-Minus - Far better than I expected the film to be. Despite the fact that the siblings Sue and Johnny Storm look about as related as I do to Forever Autumn the movie was funny, fast paced and engagin. Perfect popcorn muncher with great special effects and a wonderful sound. As a Merry Marvel Marcher from about 1962 I know the FF and their history with the SS and Galactus. Interesting take with Galactus, nothing like as depicted in the book. Great villain in Doctor Doom as well, love his maniacal desires for death and destruction. I'd have to say, FF was the best of the lot last weekend.

Da Worfster

I'd have to say my ratings are about the same for those, although I never felt like TRANSFORMERS was too long, it had a great pace and I felt that it was just the right amount of time to establish what it needed to and then devote enough time to machines crashing into each other.

FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER was really great on the big screen, but the DVD is lame. The fact that they didn't do DTS this time around on the DVD is bogus!

[L.J.]

Hey Worf, thanks for the thoughts. I actually got off my butt and saw a few of these at the theater (Transformers & FF of course). I agree with Transformers being too long or at least it felt that way. Alot of unnecessary comedy put in, if you ask me. I just didn't care for the part when the Autobots were standing outside the kids house, hiding from his parents. Enough action to keep you going and a very nice action filled ending. I can't wait to hear this on my home system. The theater in my area sucks and I should have known better.

I really didn't care for FF too much. I thought it was OK if anything. Not enough Surfer (teased with flyby's the first half of the movie) and what was that mess with Galactus. Give me something. I'm not familar with the book you mentioned. I own the 94-95 animated series, so I'm not sure how true this stayed to the comics or book. I would love to get your thoughts on the book's Galactus vs what they did in the movie.

[kexodusc]

Hey Worf, thanks for the thoughts. I actually got off my butt and saw a few of these at the theater (Transformers & FF of course). I agree with Transformers being too long or at least it felt that way. Alot of unnecessary comedy put in, if you ask me. I just didn't care for the part when the Autobots were standing outside the kids house, hiding from his parents. Enough action to keep you going and a very nice action filled ending. I can't wait to hear this on my home system. The theater in my area sucks and I should have known better.

I really didn't care for FF too much. I thought it was OK if anything. Not enough Surfer (teased with flyby's the first half of the movie) and what was that mess with Galactus. Give me something. I'm not familar with the book you mentioned. I own the 94-95 animated series, so I'm not sure how true this stayed to the comics or book. I would love to get your thoughts on the book's Galactus vs what they did in the movie.

I tend to agree with your order of preference, though I did enjoy both.

Transformers was a bit on the long side, but it sure went by fast - aside from the goofy teenager plots and the aforementioned Autobot hide-and-seek routine, and maybe a few other minor annoyances I was quite happy - the movie exceeded my expectations and my wife just loved it. Would have been better if they brought back the voice of Megatron from the cartoons instead of the guy they used, but oh well.

I'm a huge Silver Surfer fan, loved the animated series, followed the comic appearances etc. IIRC, the movie didn't really present Galactus as the being the mortals perceive him as but rather just the world eatin' space entity...guess that was safe, but there was no Galactus characater at all.

Would have liked more surfer and less F4 but this was a solid b-plus movie IMO and much more palatable than the first one. Haven't seen the DVD though, if there's not DTS, that does indeed suck.

[L.J.]

No DTS on the DVD huh? Ouch, sorry fellas. Gotta nice DTSMA track here on BR. Even at the "core" 1.5mbps, I'm sure it's gonna be top notch. I know......I'm such a jerk :D

[dean_martin]

I picked up the HD-DVD version of Transformers last week using some of my BestBuy rewardzone coupons, but didn't get to watch it until last night. I was impressed. Yes, it was a little slow in parts, could've used some editing of cheese and I didn't think they got the best they could've gotten out of John Turturro. But overall it was entertaining and better than I expected. It was hard to believe I was getting that kind of picture at home. The new 50" plasma display and HD-DVD player are a great combo. I'm anxious to move from stereo with a sub to multi-channel audio. (BTW, my sub never hit as hard or as low as it did last night.)

[PeruvianSkies]

I picked up the HD-DVD version of Transformers last week using some of my BestBuy rewardzone coupons, but didn't get to watch it until last night. I was impressed. Yes, it was a little slow in parts, could've used some editing of cheese and I didn't think they got the best they could've gotten out of John Turturro. But overall it was entertaining and better than I expected. It was hard to believe I was getting that kind of picture at home. The new 50" plasma display and HD-DVD player are a great combo. I'm anxious to move from stereo with a sub to multi-channel audio. (BTW, my sub never hit as hard or as low as it did last night.)

How did the action scenes hold up on the HD-DVD? Since they were really lighting fast digital effects I am curious.

[dean_martin]

In my amature opinion and considering I didn't see it at the theater, I thought they held up well. Some of the really fast movement seemed to be a blur, but I would imagine such fast movement would look like a blur in real life.

Anything in particular I should look for? I didn't notice any flaws.

[PeruvianSkies]

In my amature opinion and considering I didn't see it at the theater, I thought they held up well. Some of the really fast movement seemed to be a blur, but I would imagine such fast movement would look like a blur in real life.

Anything in particular I should look for? I didn't notice any flaws.

Well, the first thing that you may notice is whether or not the effects seem realistic and that the movement is smooth and not jerky, but that it also has a film-like appearance and is not too digital looking in nature.

[bobsticks]

I guess I bring something different to the rental gig. Films like Silver Surfer or The Transformers I just purchase outright ( or at least will when someone, anyone, gets the d@^% HD-DVD version instock).

It wouldn't have occured to me to rent or buy 28 Days if only becuase there weren't any unanswered questions left from the first crappy installment. That said, I usually rent dreck, swill, unfettered crap. Ever since the demise of Rhonda Shear's "Up All-Night" I've found the need to find some video junk from time to time and this past weekend was a whopper.

I grabbed Someone To Watch Over Me, a 1987 crime drama with Mimi Rogers and Tom Berenger. Frankly, it was better than I thought it would be with some decent cinematography and lighting. Ridley Scott paints a decent portrait of the traditional murder suspense genre with few surprises and the usual just-a-little-too-evil-looking antagonist.Wouldn't it be nice if every wrong doer looked this sadistic in real life? You'd never be taken by surprise.

On the plus side, Lorraine Bracco does her typecast victim role to a tee and Sting does a memorable version of the title song. Overall, rates a begrudging "B" for being too good for what it was intended.

Just in time to save the day was Species 2. Wow, did this suck. I mean, just blew even as a vehicle to show clips of Natashia Henstridge naked. Whereas a good crappy film or B flick will poke fun at itself and/or the audience, Species' main crime is that it actually takes itself seriously. Even Michael Madsen's jackass smirk isn't enough to convince the viewer that the filmmakers don't intend for you to take this pathetic pupetshow for face value.

You know it's a rotten film when it doesn't make the cut on Crappy Film Night.


I'm hoping for better luck with Death Proof from QT's Grindhouse. Wish me luck...

[PeruvianSkies]

I guess I bring something different to the rental gig. Films like Silver Surfer or The Transformers I just purchase outright ( or at least will when someone, anyone, gets the d@^% HD-DVD version instock).

It wouldn't have occured to me to rent or buy 28 Days if only becuase there weren't any unanswered questions left from the first crappy installment. That said, I usually rent dreck, swill, unfettered crap. Ever since the demise of Rhonda Shear's "Up All-Night" I've found the need to find some video junk from time to time and this past weekend was a whopper.

I grabbed Someone To Watch Over Me, a 1987 crime drama with Mimi Rogers and Tom Berenger. Frankly, it was better than I thought it would be with some decent cinematography and lighting. Ridley Scott paints a decent portrait of the traditional murder suspense genre with few surprises and the usual just-a-little-too-evil-looking antagonist.Wouldn't it be nice if every wrong doer looked this sadistic in real life? You'd never be taken by surprise.

On the plus side, Lorraine Bracco does her typecast victim role to a tee and Sting does a memorable version of the title song. Overall, rates a begrudging "B" for being too good for what it was intended.

Just in time to save the day was Species 2. Wow, did this suck. I mean, just blew even as a vehicle to show clips of Natashia Henstridge naked. Whereas a good crappy film or B flick will poke fun at itself and/or the audience, Species' main crime is that it actually takes itself seriously. Even Michael Madsen's jackass smirk isn't enough to convince the viewer that the filmmakers don't intend for you to take this pathetic pupetshow for face value.

You know it's a rotten film when it doesn't make the cut on Crappy Film Night.


I'm hoping for better luck with Death Proof from QT's Grindhouse. Wish me luck...

Ok, you are in desperate need of a good film, have you seen 1990's NARROW MARGIN?

[Worf101]

I picked up the HD-DVD version of Transformers last week using some of my BestBuy rewardzone coupons, but didn't get to watch it until last night. I was impressed. Yes, it was a little slow in parts, could've used some editing of cheese and I didn't think they got the best they could've gotten out of John Turturro. But overall it was entertaining and better than I expected. It was hard to believe I was getting that kind of picture at home. The new 50" plasma display and HD-DVD player are a great combo. I'm anxious to move from stereo with a sub to multi-channel audio. (BTW, my sub never hit as hard or as low as it did last night.)
Sorry Deano!!!

But you're now on my "Ah'm jealous of this guys rig and hate him to death" list. Sob, snarf..... as I'm stuck looking at my POS 35-inch CRT 600 pound mankiller T.V. from LAST CENTURY!!!!

LOL.... Well, I'll know who's brain to pick next year.

Da Worfster

[dean_martin]

Sorry Deano!!!

But you're now on my "Ah'm jealous of this guys rig and hate him to death" list. Sob, snarf..... as I'm stuck looking at my POS 35-inch CRT 600 pound mankiller T.V. from LAST CENTURY!!!!

LOL.... Well, I'll know who's brain to pick next year.

Da Worfster

Well...I've still got a ways to go on the audio side and the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray battle may leave me with a finite # of titles in the end. BUT the worst part of the transition was moving my own 32" CRT mankiller!

(For '07, Panasonic came out with a 720p series of plasmas first then within months a 1080p series which made the 720ps a little easier on the wallet. I happened to catch a sale on Toshiba's entry-level HD-DVD player at 269.99. I've seen it since for 249.99. BTW, its performance with standard def dvds over its HDMI output is excellent - much better than my old Pioneer Elite which was good during its time, but it's really not up to the high def challenge.)

[topspeed]

Hey Worster,

Nice write up. Pretty much agree with everything you wrote, although I think I enjoyed Transformers more than you. Megan Fox definitely made it worthwhile :).

Never saw 28 Days. Looked too stupid and from your review, I guess I was right.