This one’s for you Steve! I don’t understand the fascination with this movie. I thought it was boring. But for those of you who like it, here’s another version you could potentially buy.

Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985)

When I was a kid I used to watch shows like Buck Rogers, with its Princess Ardala and Wilma Deering. I also enjoyed Battlestar Galactica and Galactica 1984, though the former was by far the better show. When the remake came around I started to watch it, but found it quite depressing. The good guys could never catch a break! I started watching season 2 on DVD from ZIP.CA, because the picture quality was so much better than what my cable company provided. The only problem was that I had to wait for it. Once finishing the first half of the season on DVD (what the?), the second half is finally being released. I already went to the ZIP.CA website and preordered the rental. Unfortunately for all you buyers out there, Universal is charging $50 for half a season!

Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.5

My friend Thuy sent me this link, and it contains some disappointing news. Remember my post about the original trilogy on DVD? Well if you’re at all interested in image quality, here’s a shocker for you:

The original theatrical versions of the films are going to be non-anamorphic (our original post on this indicated otherwise, but we have confirmed that the widescreen versions will be letterboxed only). What this likely means is that Lucasfilm has simply re-purposed the non-anamorphic transfers that were done for previous laserdisc and VHS releases of the “original” versions of the films.

Oh well. I won’t be buying it. Now I’ll cross my fingers and hope that they dig out some better source material for an HD version of the original trilogy.

Digital Bits - My Two Cents

Surprise surprise. Bowing to public pressure, or trying to milk the same cow for the umpteenth time (whatever way you want to look at it), LucasFilm is releasing another version of the Star Wars Trilogy come September.

But this time it’s a little different. Remember how Lucas said that the original trilogy was dead (or somesuch) and that it would never see the light of day? Apparently he changed his mind:

The new two-disc sets of Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi feature both the original and remastered film versions.

Each street Sept. 12 (prebook Aug. 16) from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment priced at $29.98 apiece and will be available only until Dec. 31.

I’m a big Star Wars fan, so I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I don’t mind that George Lucas wanted to spruce up the special effects when he released the new “improved version”. But I don’t like how he fundamentally changed Han Solo’s character by not making him shoot first. I think, though, that the latter outweighs the former, and that I’ll get the original trilogy on DVD. I only wonder if an HD DVD or BD version will be in the offing, because I don’t want to buy it yet again. My only real problem is that the original movies will be in Dolby Surround 2.0. It’s true to the theatrical release, of course, but an improved soundtrack would have been nice as an option.

Original Stars Wars return

I don’t like horror movies. I really don’t. I don’t need to see people getting hacked to death, stalked, mutilated, etc. I don’t really want to see the depraved side of humanity to that extent and I wish that I’d never watched Sin City, a truly sick movie. (There’s something about it, though, that kept me watching to the end, even though I didn’t like it. I’m guessing it was the chicks. ) On the other hand, I’ve always been fascinated by Death, with a capital ‘D’. That is, death as a sentient being. Like in the movie Meet Joe Black. Or the book On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony.

So there’s something about Final Destination that I really liked. I liked the sequel too, though it was more gory than the first one. Given what I just told you above, you won’t be surprised to learn that I didn’t like that aspect of it. But I really like the idea of Death as a living will going after people whose time has come.

So I’m looking forward to the third movie, but at the same time I’m hoping it won’t get even more gory. But I do know one thing about it - the DVD’s features are going to be pretty cool.

From Video Business Online: “With the Final Destination 3: Thrill Ride Edition, viewers will be able to choose between dozens of different fates for characters via a combination of newly filmed alternate scenes. At a budget of $700,000 to $1 million, the extras are meant to continue the movie’s story line, in which characters are able to foresee they way they will die.”

Neat, huh? I think when I rent this flick that I’ll definitely give those features a try. And speaking of extra features, it’s gotten to the point where I ignore them. I have a subscription to zip.ca (like Netflix, but for Canucks) and so I watch a lot of movies every month. And I never check out the special features. I just don’t care any more. Anyone else like that?

Video Business Online - New Line boosts third Destination

On Saturday evening some friends and I watched the Japanese anime movie Appleseed. We all liked the movie, even with the boring parts that so many anime movies seem to have. There were some things we didn’t understand, but of course we kept watching anyway. The story had some plot holes, some things weren’t explained very well, and the writers seemed to want to make the viewer sympathetic towards bioroids. The whole time, though, I was thinking that they should just get rid of them.

The characters were flat (character-wise) and there wasn’t much character development to speak of. But that’s not what you watch anime for, is it?

Appleseed had some great action sequences and the particle effects were awesome. Great explosions and smoke. The movie seemed to be completely done in 3D computer graphics (like Toy Story). But unlike the Pixar films, characters were 3D but were shaded with a 3D cell shader, to give them a somewhat 2D look. The 3D environments were amazing. The graphics were amazing. This movie just looked really cool, and it’s obvious that the 3D artists put a lot of work into it.

I’m a sci-fi buff. Just the other night I watched War of the Worlds. Afterwards I watched Battlestar Gallactica. Smallville is my favourite TV show. Star Wars is my favourite movie. I’m currently reading a military science fiction book.

So when I saw Ultimate AV’s article on Sci-Fi TV on DVD, I perked up. Let’s see, what shows does Ultimate AV talk about… Star Trek: Enterprise was first. Whatever. Not a good show in my mind. Next was some X-Files stuff. Never really got into X-Files, gotta admit. Space: Above and Beyond. Hey, I liked that series. Too bad it didn’t last long. And I wasn’t the only one that liked the series - it seems to have gotten a good following. Now it’s on DVD. Cool. Next? Stargate. Whatever. Never really got into that. Then Farscape. Bah! Never liked the stupid looking aliens in that one.

Hmm, for a sci-fi buff, there doesn’t seem to be many sci-fi shows that I actually like. I say that’s because most sci-fi on TV is crap, and I’m sticking to it. Remember the premiere episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation? Crap. I stopped watching half way through. How can anybody like that stuff? I want my Firefly back! Now that was good!

Anyway. Where was I?

Battlestar Gallactica. Now there’s a show! I really liked the original as a kid, but even though I watch it, there’s something about the new show I don’t like as much. Actually, it’s a couple things. One, the stupid stupid camera. Are they trying to nauseate me? Is this show an experiment to see how much abuse I can take? Please please stop with the handycam footage, and shoot this thing for real!!! Two, the lack of hope. I always finish watching an episode of Battlestar Gallactica with a feeling of hopelessness. Why do I want that in my life? But I put up with it anyway, because other than that (and the camera) I think it’s a good show. Too bad the feed I get on my local TV station is crap. The show looks terrible. I’ve recently given up on watching it (we get it late here in Canada) and decided to rent the DVD’s through zip.ca. Hopefully the picture quality will be better.

Ah, such is the state of sci-fi on TV today. Firefly was a much better show than anything in recent memory, yet it was canned after just a few episodes. Why, oh why? There is no justice in this universe…

Ultimate AV - Sci-Fi TV on DVD: The New Generation

I watched War of the Worlds last night. My wife doesn’t like these kind of movies, so I experienced the movie solo. I’ve heard some not-so-nice things about the pic, so I have to admit that my expectations were low. And I don’t know if that’s the reason or not, but I quite enjoyed the movie. It is one of the most tense, suspenseful movies that I’ve seen in a long time. Something interesting was always happening, and I always wanted to know what happened next (which many movies fail on).

The movie takes the view of a non-combatant (played by Tom Cruise of course) in the war between humans and aliens. And it does this very well, showing the wonder and terror of everything to do with the alien invasion. The special effects were quite good, and the movie had a very good cohesiveness to it.

I have to say that I disliked the ending for two reasons, but I can’t really tell you without giving it away. The movie had a lot of death in it, so it’s not for the faint of heart.

All in all, I quite enjoyed the movie and was pleasantly surprised. The little kid could have screamed a little less though.