5 comments about Where the Wild Things Are [Blu-ray].

1. I had really high hopes for this movie. I vaguely remembered the book and liked it so I was really looking forward to the movie. The trailers looked great. But...
   
   The movie was VERY disappointing. The movie is about a very depressed and emotionally unstable child. Who leaves reality in pretending. He lashes out at his mother and sister and sister's friends for that matter and runs away. Gets on a boat and sets sail to another land. Now, I'm pretty sure that land doesn't exist, but that it is his dreamland. He meets these odd creatures that remind me of H.R. Puff N Stuff.
   
   The whole movie has really no plot. More like a long Jerry Seinfeld episode. However, the Jerry Seinfeld episodes were so much better and well crafted. This movie lacked a plot and just didn't keep my interest. I watched it with my 10 year old and just explained to him that the child on this movie had problems and that kids should behave like that.
   
   The creatures themselves were cool looking and were CGI, but they did have this whole "man in a costume" kinda look to them. Now whether they did have people inside, really wasn't apparent, nor did it matter.
   
   I don't recommend this depressing movie at all. It really has no value to it and there is no lesson to be learned other than, "There are kids out there that are like that, and they escape reality through dreams and make believe."
   
   There were little stories here and there, but they either didn't make sense, or didn't resolve.
   
   I recommend you steer in another direction and leave this one behind. Forget about it. It's not really a movie worth watching.



2. Ok so this movie is really cool and i actually liked it.. I do have one thing to add that you should keep in mind especially if you have a little one at home.. THIS MOVIE IS NOT FOR SMALL CHILDREN... now its not because it has a message where the kids can actually learn something i'm actually all for that kind of thing. It because the "wild things" are pretty scary now not all of them but when max first meets all of them and they decide they should eat him that part gave me the creeps and im and adult im just saying that you may want to watch it by your self before you let you kid lets say 7 or younger watch it.. Now all kids are different i have a 3 almost 4 year old daughter at home and she wont be watching this movie for a while... other than that the movie was good the monsters were a little tripy but it still deserves a 5 star in my book



3. This is a disturbing and weird movie. I do highly recommend NOT to watch it and definetely do not let your child watch this movie on its own.



4. This was not a book I grew up with, or even knew about until the film was released (was not popular where i lived), and it sounded very intriguing. So got the book, and was very surprised at how short it was ! Now the film sounded even more worth watching.
   
   Good credit for the young actors to pull off a believeable performance using this very long, drawn-out script. The imagination spark in the story was lost to an overly bloated wild thing community who were given no character.
   
   This film is extremely boring and tedious. Unless you're a film critic student, give this a miss.
   
   Avoided 1* as the animation and acting was good.



5. Just finished watching Where the Wild Things are on DVD and I didn't get it at all. My kids 5 & 9 lasted for about 15 minutes and they bailed to go play in their rooms. I stuck it out since I paid for the movie. They seemed to be trying to get some kind of a message across, trying to make a connection with something abstract in the kid's phyche, but I didn't get it, my kids didn't get it and none of us could detect any plot. Late in the movie his beast friends get a little violent and one eats him. She does cough him back up, but a bit disturbing.

5 comments about Twilight (Two-Disc Special Edition).

1. I think this movie was based on a great story. So what if the vampires are sparkly? It's about the relationship between Bella and Edward, sort of Romeo & Juliet-ish w/o all the family drama. If people can look past all the "cheesy" parts, then they probably could appreciate the story for what it is: a LOVE story.



2. Have read and heard all about the Twilight movies, books, Robert and Kristen, etc., thinking it was for just teenagers. Wow, was I wrong! The Twilight movie was on cable TV a couple weeks so I thought I'd watch it as nothing else good on. Well, I have watched it twice since then as absolutely loved it. And it's not just for teens...but for those of you 30+ years old that love a good love story! Who doesn't want to be swooped off their feet with your soul mate, etc.? Like everyone else adore Robert's brooding eyes and Kristen was awesome as Bella! Needless to say, I'm buying the DVD so to watch again...as very seldom see real chemistry between two actors which I felt immediately and think helped make the movie such a huge success!



3. I ordered the video and paid for the one day shipping rates and received it 3 days later. This was a last minute birthday gift which cause me to purchase another gift. I wrote Amazon concerning this incident with no response in return.



4. Honestly, I wish I could give it a zero.
   
   I read all of the twilight books and was really excited when I heard they were making a movie out of them. I checked her website every single day and sometimes even twice a day to see if there were any new updates on the movie. Then I saw the cast list. Right away I knew it wasn't going to be a good movie based upon the cast. The actors that they got didn't even look like the characters in the book! Edward is suppost to be hot, and instead he looks constipated throught the enitre movie. Many girls will argue however that he is amazingly hot (apparently the "unable to take a crap" look is really in). I'd say rent this movie just for a laugh, or as torture for someone you really hate because of the terrible acting and weak plot. This movie is a 100% waste of money. This movie made me loose all and any respect I had for the series and the author.
   
   
   
   
   **Spoiler Alert**
   
   Way off from the book, and painfully so. Bella was not stoned through the entire book, so why does the actress look that way? Also the way the vampires actually try to act cool? Hello! Not in the book they don't.
   
   
   Edward- I thoguht he needed his own section because of how off he was. In the book Edward acts like he couldn't care less (Not constipated!!!) The biology scene is entirely messed up. First of all the way Bella walks in front of the fan looks really lame, I don't think anyone would ever stand like that and walk up to a fan just to stand there. Especially a new girl trying to make it through her first day. Also he dosen't act like he wants to hurl just by her sitting next to him. And (for those of you who havn't seen the movie but have read the books) he calls Bella "spider monkey" when he climbs up a tree with her. The character from the book would never do that. And the way he "sparkles" makes him look like he just ran ten miles and is all sweaty. Cheap glitter body powder would have looked better than that.
   
   
   All of the characters in general looked and acted way different from those in the book, most of them couldn't even act. In my opinion they should have gotten a ton of unknown actors and actresses who were actually good actors and looked the part instead of paying a ton to get famous actors. Hello?!?! This movie didn't need faces you see all over the place for it to make money, the books were already popular enough to sell tickets. (And maybe they could have spent the extra money on better effects...like glitter body powder).



5. I thought this series would be very geared to teens but I am in my 30's and I love them. It really is a Love story and Bella and Edward are great together, has some suspense to it with the vampire stuff. But that is what movies should be fantasy and fact and fiction all combined. I'm hooked.

5 comments about Star Trek (Three-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray].

1. The special effects are a strong point of the movie and they do their best to not let up on the action. I give this part a 5 star. Watching even the opening sequence of the battle with the USS Kelvin and seeing the startship unleash all that firepower was a plus. It definitely wasn't old series with a pair of phaser beams.
   
   The acting gets a three star from me. I liked the "chip on his shoulder" Kirk. He was suitably brash. Spock alternated between being a wooden puppet and then a drama queen. It's like they tried to do too much with his character over the course of the movie. McCoy was a hoot, probably the most true to the original character. Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty were underutilized and mostly window dressing. Uhura was portrayed well.
   
   The plot gets a whopping 2 stars. Along the lines of Independence Day and stories along the same line, you should just watch the movie and not try to think too much about it. A time traveling divergent reboot opens up a whole can of worms. It's easy to see why they chose the deleted scenes for deletion. They would have made the plot even
   more difficult to stomach.
   
   The screenwriters went out of their way to ensure that all the main characters were "special." Things like Chekov leaving the bridge to run down to the transporter room when there is an enemy ship right in front of them or the rapid promotion of Kirk, Spock, and everyone else from cadets to command staff. (I believe he had the con at that time.) I won't go into all the major plot spoilers and plot holes, I'm sure you could go to the 1 and 2 star reviews for that, but suffice to say there are many.
   
   On the positive side, it is uptempo and doesn't stop the action so someone can monologue about the morality of thier predicament. The director just keeps the action rolling.
   
   So, if you're looking for a roller coaster ride with lots of things blowing up and everyone jockeying to get in everyone else's face, you'll enjoy the movie. If you want a deep plot go elsewhere.



2. I love this movie. I ordered it from closeoutvideo and they sent it to me in very good time. But the disc stalled during the movie and closeoutvideo gave me a refund immediately. What nice people.



3. The video and audio quality are great, which makes this lens flare/glare orgy completely unwatchable. If you can tolerate the over abundance of pointless and illogical lens flare/glare then you will be fine watching this movie. All bridge scenes are likely to send anyone even remotely susceptible to flashing lights a seizure.



4. Sure do miss the originals. This starts out with loud noise, too much action and general overall chaos. By the time all this was over I was asking myself - and when do we get to the plot.
   
   Not of the quality or character of the original. We didn't like it much.



5. Many original Trekies don't like this movie but I did. I saw every TV episode and all of the Star Trek movies. This was by far and above the best of the movies. Special effects were great. I've seen it both in DVD and Blu-ray formats. It deserves Blu-ray.

5 comments about Where the Wild Things Are.

1. I had really high hopes for this movie. I vaguely remembered the book and liked it so I was really looking forward to the movie. The trailers looked great. But...
   
   The movie was VERY disappointing. The movie is about a very depressed and emotionally unstable child. Who leaves reality in pretending. He lashes out at his mother and sister and sister's friends for that matter and runs away. Gets on a boat and sets sail to another land. Now, I'm pretty sure that land doesn't exist, but that it is his dreamland. He meets these odd creatures that remind me of H.R. Puff N Stuff.
   
   The whole movie has really no plot. More like a long Jerry Seinfeld episode. However, the Jerry Seinfeld episodes were so much better and well crafted. This movie lacked a plot and just didn't keep my interest. I watched it with my 10 year old and just explained to him that the child on this movie had problems and that kids should behave like that.
   
   The creatures themselves were cool looking and were CGI, but they did have this whole "man in a costume" kinda look to them. Now whether they did have people inside, really wasn't apparent, nor did it matter.
   
   I don't recommend this depressing movie at all. It really has no value to it and there is no lesson to be learned other than, "There are kids out there that are like that, and they escape reality through dreams and make believe."
   
   There were little stories here and there, but they either didn't make sense, or didn't resolve.
   
   I recommend you steer in another direction and leave this one behind. Forget about it. It's not really a movie worth watching.



2. Ok so this movie is really cool and i actually liked it.. I do have one thing to add that you should keep in mind especially if you have a little one at home.. THIS MOVIE IS NOT FOR SMALL CHILDREN... now its not because it has a message where the kids can actually learn something i'm actually all for that kind of thing. It because the "wild things" are pretty scary now not all of them but when max first meets all of them and they decide they should eat him that part gave me the creeps and im and adult im just saying that you may want to watch it by your self before you let you kid lets say 7 or younger watch it.. Now all kids are different i have a 3 almost 4 year old daughter at home and she wont be watching this movie for a while... other than that the movie was good the monsters were a little tripy but it still deserves a 5 star in my book



3. This is a disturbing and weird movie. I do highly recommend NOT to watch it and definetely do not let your child watch this movie on its own.



4. This was not a book I grew up with, or even knew about until the film was released (was not popular where i lived), and it sounded very intriguing. So got the book, and was very surprised at how short it was ! Now the film sounded even more worth watching.
   
   Good credit for the young actors to pull off a believeable performance using this very long, drawn-out script. The imagination spark in the story was lost to an overly bloated wild thing community who were given no character.
   
   This film is extremely boring and tedious. Unless you're a film critic student, give this a miss.
   
   Avoided 1* as the animation and acting was good.



5. Just finished watching Where the Wild Things are on DVD and I didn't get it at all. My kids 5 & 9 lasted for about 15 minutes and they bailed to go play in their rooms. I stuck it out since I paid for the movie. They seemed to be trying to get some kind of a message across, trying to make a connection with something abstract in the kid's phyche, but I didn't get it, my kids didn't get it and none of us could detect any plot. Late in the movie his beast friends get a little violent and one eats him. She does cough him back up, but a bit disturbing.

5 comments about 2012 (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray].

1. The best way to capture the imagination of individuals is to update a traditional story. Through familiarity and repetition, the listener/viewer is mesmerized to believe the story, because it is already embedded into the psyche. "2012" is a contemporary version of Noah's Ark. It's a dramatic, pseudo-scientific explanation to how the world, as we know it, will end. Like any Hollywood morality tale, the fight is against saving all of humanity (including the dregs) versus the upper echelon that would create a world based on genetic and economic specialization.
   
   "2012" is filled with altruism, special effects, and subliminal messages. There's a part in the movie after the flood where John Cusack's daughter asks him when are they going back home. His response was "We're going to make a new home here." "2012" is the Terror Attacks of September 11, 2001 multiplied by a million and the sentiments are tantamount to a tree falling on a house and someone saying---"We're just call All State for an estimate." Obviously, we have to grant a certain amount of "Dramatic License" to imaginary events, but this movie asks us to suspend reality altogether.
   
   This movie has artistic value in its cinematography, but the storyline is hackneyed and overly moralistic.
   
   Edward Brown
   Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute



2. I have a 52" Samsung LCD flat panel with a Samsung Blu-ray DVD player connected to my Sony digital receiver and all my other Blu-ray DVD's play fine. The 2012 disc is giving be problems. It will not play no matter what. This is the 2nd DVD, with the same problem. Anybody have some suggestions



3. This review contains no real spoilers but let me basically sum it up for you. This is just simply an absolute waste of movie film, digital film, or whatever the heck they are using these days to make cheesy flicks like this. Albeit, the special effects were decent but nothing you havn't already seen many times over in your typical disaster movie. On the other hand the acting was like something out of a 70's B movie, the plot was...wait a minute...there was no plot,and the storyline in general was nothing short of complete predictability. As if the non stop narrow death misses of the main characters were unbelievable enough the writer of this train wreck apparently thought it amusing to have several moments of humorous quips from the characters while the world was falling down around them. Adding further suspension of disbelief, people in this film stop and talk about stupid personal issues during the most ridiculous moments as buildings are toppling all around them and the earth is virtually crumbling under their feet. By the way, did I mention that none of these characters are interesting or likable except for maybe Woody Harrelson as the amusing nut job conspiracy theorist. Poor ol Woody must have really needed the paycheck because this film will end up going down as one of the worst made on his resume. During the film all I could do was wish and hope for everyone to DIE and die quickly to put me out of my misery from this maelstrom of over dramatic non-sense. Lastly, of course it's the MADE IN CHINA ship that provides the true safe haven for humanity. Gee, don't see any political double meaning with that? Guess we should all keep shopping at Wal-Mart because we are actually funding our future for survival of the human race.



4. 2012: 8 out of 10: I love disaster movies. I love good disaster movies such as The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure. I love bad disaster movies such as The Swarm and Independence Day. I even enjoy, if not love, Horrible disaster movies such as Syfy channel stalwarts Megafault and Magma: Volcanic Disaster.
   
   2012 is solidly in the good disaster movie genre. As I have stated before in my The Core review Disaster movies always seem to do better when the disaster is local in scope. A city threatened by avalanche, a tower threatened by an inferno, a Poseidon threatened by an adventure, that kind of thing. Earth killer movies are always a harder road.
   
   2012 dodges this bullet slightly by having neutrinos from a massive solar flare penetrate the Earth and cause the temperature of the core to increase rapidly. Like a microwave one scientist very helpfully explains. Of course why these same neutrinos dont cause the oceans to boil is a plot hole that the movie delightfully ignores. Still compared to The Core or The Day after Tomorrow, 2012s science is practically textbook.
   
   Now since the core is expanding this causes the earths crust to erupt in different directions (think a Jiffy Pop container). This allows disaster footage from all over the earth. And we all know where disasters strike first. Thats right monuments. Vegas, Washington DC, Vatican City, Los Angeles, Yellowstone, Hawaii, and others get there turn in the special effects blender. The set pieces are generally well thought out often with sly commentary attached. (A giant rolling donut in LA, A slick atheist Where is your God now rub at the Vatican.). The special effects are all magnificent.
   
   I will briefly talk about the actors in a minute (Generally speaking they all do fine) but the star is the effects. The detail work (as can be seen in the disaster porn pictures below) is simply amazing. Director Roland Emmerich puts his 250 million dollar budget on the screen. For once the buildings that collapse have people in them. The disasters do not happen in the rain or at night and the camera doesnt jerk around as if directed by an epileptic sugar glider.
   
   The location work is creative as are the disasters. (Lets face it a tsunami driving an aircraft carrier into the White House is imagination at work.) In addition, the story is a fairly grounded version of that old When Worlds Collide plot where all the smart rich and good looking people get on a spaceship and escape Earth while all the less attractive people all die horribly.
   
   The movie halfheartedly tries to address the unfairness of who gets chosen but we really didnt come for a civics lesson and honestly there are worse ways to go than just picking attractive rich people. We also didnt come for the acting, but unlike many of its contemporaries, the acting in 2012 seems solid across the board.
   
   Some of the various side plots fall a little flat (especially considering the two and a half hour length, the old guys on the boat subplot could have been jettisoned in its entirety.) On the plus side Zlatko Buric as the Russian billionaire ex-boxer and Woody Harrelson as the crazy mountain man (doing his best Matthew McConaughey impression mind you) are the stand outs.
   
   Overall we came for the disaster porn and simply put 2012 delivers some of the best disaster porn ever seen on screen, and manages this feat with fewer of the bad acting and horrible storyline distractions that usually accompany such films. Bravo.



5. Everything except the ending was very entertaining if you happen to really like apocalyptic or "doomsday" films.
   
   80 percent of the film features a lot of action and I don't see how you could get bored watching it - it was very entertaining.
   This majority part is what I really liked about the film.
   Unlike some other reviewers I think the special effects were very impressive and had an epic feel to them.
   
   So up until the ending I would have rated the film 5/5 for its entertainment value alone.
   
   This leads me to the bad part of it: the ending.
   The bad part is the extremely "cheesy" ending, I hated the ending of 'Independence Day' and the ending of this film is too similar to that. It's the same unrealistic, "pretty", and really stupid ending.
   
   
   
   
   

5 comments about The Princess and The Frog (Three Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo with Digital Copy).

1. For a while now, Pixar has been doing most of the heavy lifting for Disney's animated film department. Apart from distributing Hayao Miyazaki's occasional masterpiece, Disney has little stock left in the hand-drawn animation department, though they seem out to remedy that unfortunate trend with their recent feature The Princess and the Frog. It might not be the cure they wanted, but it will definitely be considered a solid strike towards the direction of getting their once revered house of mouse back in the hand-drawn animation biz. To its credit, The Princess and the Frog does a lot to recreate that magic Disney was once known for around the world (would anyone have cared about the Disneyworld resorts were it not for that sense of whimsy?). It has a few inspired musical numbers, a majority of wonderfully animated scenes against terrific backdrops true to the story's bayou setting, and most of the elements needed to set it in the pantheon of Disney greats - it's just not quite there.
   
   The film's title deceives both the audience and the frog prince by calling its protagonist Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) a princess. She's not really a princess until the end (spoiler - if you don't already know the story it's based on), and even then the movie's pretty much over. Digression. Disney has transposed the traditional story from some setting in Victorian England to the streets and bayous of New Orleans, Louisiana. If you want an interesting way to look at Disney's newest film, it's the first, good, hand-drawn Disney film set in modern America since Oliver and Company. That says something.
   
   The stunning Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) from abroad arrives in Louisiana for festivities and on the lookout or a bride. Tiana'a best friend since childhood (Jennifer Cody) is ecstatic and has her father (John Goodman) invite the royal man to their annual masquerade ball. As the prince sings and dances his way through New Orleans, he catches the eyes of the lithe, sinister Dr. Facilier (Keith David) who casts a spell turning the prince into a frog and giving his bumbling servant the appearance of the prince. This comes immediately after the shadowy man tells the prince his fortune, the predicted events coming true following the tarot card display just doesn't seem fair. That's not fortune telling, that's insider trading.
   
   Newly transformed into a frog, the Naveen escapes and hops about New Orleans until he shows up at the Masquerade ball where Tiana, a workaholic dead-set on raising the necessary funds to open her own restaurant, is working as the main pastry chef. She dresses up for the party donning a dress and tiara, thus prompting the frog prince to mistake her for a princess. He convinces her to kiss him (because he thinks she's a princess), only to find them both slimy amphibians after the fact. Then, because it's dangerous living as amphibians in New Orleans, they escape into the bayou hoping to find a way to transform themselves back into their human forms. Each learns a respective lesson about their life (him to take responsibility, her to loosen up) and make a few animal friends along the way. A musically ambitious alligator and hepcat lightning bug become their comrades in adventure.
   
   Disney was very proud of itself for producing its first African-American princess, a point which actually does address a discussion raised a few years back. However, the inherent message for this princess is similar to that of Aladdin: marry into royalty. At least here the message isn't completely moot as we learn early on that the Prince Naveen was cut off financially by his parents, thus inciting his search for a rich princess. Ending the story with Tiana, the two of them opening up her dream restaurant, poses a rather decent lesson of hard work being the ultimate solution to good fortune.
   
   We tend to talk about the beauty of Pixar's gorgeous CGI renderings, but hand-drawn animation can be just as great. The Princess and the Frog rarely disappoints visually save for a few scenes where certain characters just don't fit into the typical animation schema. It's a weird occurrence but it happens enough to be noticeable. Otherwise it's a brilliant animated film and certainly warrants a high-definition purchase on Blu-ray.
   
   Blu-ray Bonus Features
   
   Disney continues its Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy combo packs - good for them. For extra features we get the full Disney treatment analyzing every aspect of the film, from the creation of a princess for a new generation, a sinister villain, the joy of hand animation, to a music video by Ne-Yo. Ne-Yo, really? Rarely is a Blu-ray's animation stills set worth a look, but in this case it's interesting to see the concept art behind the venture. A featurette chronicles the Disney legacy up to this point, covering past films, their princesses, while making suggestive hints at the future hand-drawn animation projects they might have in store.



2. I liked Tiana. I think she's a good role model. She worked hard to make her dreams come true. I didn't think there was anything racist in this movie like some others have said. But, for my family, the "I've Got Friends On The Other Side"/voodoo/demons theme of this movie was too dark. We saw this in the theater but won't be buying it.



3. This movie was horrible! It left my mouth hanging open for the first thirty minutes. The beginning could have been eliminated. The plot picked up a bit, but a huge disappointment. It reminded me of a Saturday's cartoon. Hey fiver star commenters, this is our first movie. It could have been much better. Do we have to continue to go down memory lane where we were sewing clothes, living in low class neighborhoods, and working in the kitchen hoping for a piece of ownership? I am not surprised that Disney would have such a poor story plot for our first movie. It took them this long to make one about us. The voices did not match the characters. Why did our Fairy Godmother have to be blind? Why was Princess Tiana tricked out of her money for a ran down building. Typical stereo types that you are given to us that we are going to be nothing but dreamers. I am surprised they did not have Princess Tiana coming from a single parent household. It would have fit in with the rest of the ridiculous stereotypes. Wake up people! The prince, was he an African American? He looked like a colored Ken. It reminded me of Kizzy in Roots and a black Cinderella. I could go on forever with the faults with this movie. It is a disgrace. I do not even want it in my home with the voodoo and the demons throughout the movie. The movie was dark and gloomy.



4. I'm a huge fan of Disney movies, especially the old traditional way of doing it. This comes back to its roots on how to make animated movies. My kids love the movie from beginning to end. I haven't seen it in the theatres so it is a blind buy for me knowing that all the reviews are high. I have a 4-1/2 and twin girls that are almost 2 years old and they all love it. I like the way Disney combos the item with a DVD aside from the Bluray disc. This makes it ideal if you would like to take it with you on trips if you have portable DVD players in your vehicle. Worth every penny.



5. Music has always been a part of Walt Disney cartoons, going way back to Steamboat Mickey in 1928! But Disney never seemed to acknowledge jazz until now. The studio's newest feature film, The Princess and the Frog, has New Orleans jazz all over it! From the jazz based score by Randy Newman, and a jazz-talking alligator named Louis (who has the unmistakable voice of that cat named Satchmo) who plays "Dippermouth Blues" and a tribute to Sidney Bechet, this is one truly delightful film. The story takes place in the 1920s French Quarter and features the high quality hand drawn animation Disney is famous for. For the zydeco and cajun music fan there's a bit of that too, courtesy of Terrance Simien. Dr. John also gets a song and he's on the soundtrack CD too! Okay, there's the pop vocal love song by Ne-Yo to attract the teens, but there's plenty of other great music and a fun story line for adults. This may be my favorite Disney movie in years! Highly recommended for anyone from 8 to 80! Check out the companion Soundtrack on CD too!
   
   Steve Ramm
   Anything Phonographic

5 comments about 2012.

1. The best way to capture the imagination of individuals is to update a traditional story. Through familiarity and repetition, the listener/viewer is mesmerized to believe the story, because it is already embedded into the psyche. "2012" is a contemporary version of Noah's Ark. It's a dramatic, pseudo-scientific explanation to how the world, as we know it, will end. Like any Hollywood morality tale, the fight is against saving all of humanity (including the dregs) versus the upper echelon that would create a world based on genetic and economic specialization.
   
   "2012" is filled with altruism, special effects, and subliminal messages. There's a part in the movie after the flood where John Cusack's daughter asks him when are they going back home. His response was "We're going to make a new home here." "2012" is the Terror Attacks of September 11, 2001 multiplied by a million and the sentiments are tantamount to a tree falling on a house and someone saying---"We're just call All State for an estimate." Obviously, we have to grant a certain amount of "Dramatic License" to imaginary events, but this movie asks us to suspend reality altogether.
   
   This movie has artistic value in its cinematography, but the storyline is hackneyed and overly moralistic.
   
   Edward Brown
   Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute



2. I have a 52" Samsung LCD flat panel with a Samsung Blu-ray DVD player connected to my Sony digital receiver and all my other Blu-ray DVD's play fine. The 2012 disc is giving be problems. It will not play no matter what. This is the 2nd DVD, with the same problem. Anybody have some suggestions



3. This review contains no real spoilers but let me basically sum it up for you. This is just simply an absolute waste of movie film, digital film, or whatever the heck they are using these days to make cheesy flicks like this. Albeit, the special effects were decent but nothing you havn't already seen many times over in your typical disaster movie. On the other hand the acting was like something out of a 70's B movie, the plot was...wait a minute...there was no plot,and the storyline in general was nothing short of complete predictability. As if the non stop narrow death misses of the main characters were unbelievable enough the writer of this train wreck apparently thought it amusing to have several moments of humorous quips from the characters while the world was falling down around them. Adding further suspension of disbelief, people in this film stop and talk about stupid personal issues during the most ridiculous moments as buildings are toppling all around them and the earth is virtually crumbling under their feet. By the way, did I mention that none of these characters are interesting or likable except for maybe Woody Harrelson as the amusing nut job conspiracy theorist. Poor ol Woody must have really needed the paycheck because this film will end up going down as one of the worst made on his resume. During the film all I could do was wish and hope for everyone to DIE and die quickly to put me out of my misery from this maelstrom of over dramatic non-sense. Lastly, of course it's the MADE IN CHINA ship that provides the true safe haven for humanity. Gee, don't see any political double meaning with that? Guess we should all keep shopping at Wal-Mart because we are actually funding our future for survival of the human race.



4. 2012: 8 out of 10: I love disaster movies. I love good disaster movies such as The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure. I love bad disaster movies such as The Swarm and Independence Day. I even enjoy, if not love, Horrible disaster movies such as Syfy channel stalwarts Megafault and Magma: Volcanic Disaster.
   
   2012 is solidly in the good disaster movie genre. As I have stated before in my The Core review Disaster movies always seem to do better when the disaster is local in scope. A city threatened by avalanche, a tower threatened by an inferno, a Poseidon threatened by an adventure, that kind of thing. Earth killer movies are always a harder road.
   
   2012 dodges this bullet slightly by having neutrinos from a massive solar flare penetrate the Earth and cause the temperature of the core to increase rapidly. Like a microwave one scientist very helpfully explains. Of course why these same neutrinos dont cause the oceans to boil is a plot hole that the movie delightfully ignores. Still compared to The Core or The Day after Tomorrow, 2012s science is practically textbook.
   
   Now since the core is expanding this causes the earths crust to erupt in different directions (think a Jiffy Pop container). This allows disaster footage from all over the earth. And we all know where disasters strike first. Thats right monuments. Vegas, Washington DC, Vatican City, Los Angeles, Yellowstone, Hawaii, and others get there turn in the special effects blender. The set pieces are generally well thought out often with sly commentary attached. (A giant rolling donut in LA, A slick atheist Where is your God now rub at the Vatican.). The special effects are all magnificent.
   
   I will briefly talk about the actors in a minute (Generally speaking they all do fine) but the star is the effects. The detail work (as can be seen in the disaster porn pictures below) is simply amazing. Director Roland Emmerich puts his 250 million dollar budget on the screen. For once the buildings that collapse have people in them. The disasters do not happen in the rain or at night and the camera doesnt jerk around as if directed by an epileptic sugar glider.
   
   The location work is creative as are the disasters. (Lets face it a tsunami driving an aircraft carrier into the White House is imagination at work.) In addition, the story is a fairly grounded version of that old When Worlds Collide plot where all the smart rich and good looking people get on a spaceship and escape Earth while all the less attractive people all die horribly.
   
   The movie halfheartedly tries to address the unfairness of who gets chosen but we really didnt come for a civics lesson and honestly there are worse ways to go than just picking attractive rich people. We also didnt come for the acting, but unlike many of its contemporaries, the acting in 2012 seems solid across the board.
   
   Some of the various side plots fall a little flat (especially considering the two and a half hour length, the old guys on the boat subplot could have been jettisoned in its entirety.) On the plus side Zlatko Buric as the Russian billionaire ex-boxer and Woody Harrelson as the crazy mountain man (doing his best Matthew McConaughey impression mind you) are the stand outs.
   
   Overall we came for the disaster porn and simply put 2012 delivers some of the best disaster porn ever seen on screen, and manages this feat with fewer of the bad acting and horrible storyline distractions that usually accompany such films. Bravo.



5. Everything except the ending was very entertaining if you happen to really like apocalyptic or "doomsday" films.
   
   80 percent of the film features a lot of action and I don't see how you could get bored watching it - it was very entertaining.
   This majority part is what I really liked about the film.
   Unlike some other reviewers I think the special effects were very impressive and had an epic feel to them.
   
   So up until the ending I would have rated the film 5/5 for its entertainment value alone.
   
   This leads me to the bad part of it: the ending.
   The bad part is the extremely "cheesy" ending, I hated the ending of 'Independence Day' and the ending of this film is too similar to that. It's the same unrealistic, "pretty", and really stupid ending.
   
   
   
   
   

5 comments about The Twilight Saga: New Moon [Blu-ray].

1. this is worse than the first one ,very bad movie ,,,,uhh ,what happen with this film?



2. I never say that a movie made after a book is just as good as the book. It never happens that way. But I can honestly say that I enjoyed the New Moon movie more than I enjoyed the book. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and I am thrilled that the DVD release is finally here. The book was just so boring. But the way this was directed made the second book in this amazing series so much better. I am really looking forward to Eclipse and looking forward even more to Breaking Dawn - though I hope they don't make it into 2 movies as speculation is saying.



3. Um, WOW! Have read all of the books and couldn't wait to see this.....what was I thinking! Acting, what acting!



4. I was a huge fan of "New Moon" the book and couldnt believed how they could make this wonderful book into this poorly done movie..The screenplay slighted nearly every event in the book. The director had a gold glow that just didnt work for me..All the characters looked different and not for the better...No great music, wow what happened their....I did like it better at home than at the movie theater with 20 screaming girls....****THIS IS ABOUT THE AMAZON DOWNLOAD******.....I purchased the 24 hour digital download which was nice because I was able to watch it at 9pm pacific time on the 19th...It downloaded easily BUT GUESS WHAT NO VOLUME.... I TRIED TWO DIFFERENT COMPUTERS, HEADPHONES, EARBUDS AND EVERY POSSBLE ADJUSTMENT ON TWO COMPUTERS BUT NO VOLUME....**********UPDATE********* TALKED TO AMAZON TECH...HE EXPLAINED WHEN USING WINDOWS 7 GO TO CONTROL PANEL---CLICK ON SOUND-DOUBLE CLICK ON SPEAKERS---CLICK ENHANCEMENTS----TABS DOWN AND CHECK LOUDNESS EQUALIZATION BOX ...PROBLEM SOLVED!!!! A++ AMAZON TECH SUPPORT



5. I love this movie despite it's flaws, just as I loved "Twilight." It is just so fun to see the "Twilight" series come to life on the big screen. I'm a grandmother and having so much fun from all of this! It's pure fantasy...no need to over analyze...relax and enjoy.
   
   A great big thank you to Amazon for providing "New Moon" on line, March 20th, for those who pre-ordered the movie. That was unexpected and appreciated. That kind of service is one of the many reasons that I shop on amazon.com.

5 comments about The Princess and the Frog (Single Disc Widescreen).

1. For a while now, Pixar has been doing most of the heavy lifting for Disney's animated film department. Apart from distributing Hayao Miyazaki's occasional masterpiece, Disney has little stock left in the hand-drawn animation department, though they seem out to remedy that unfortunate trend with their recent feature The Princess and the Frog. It might not be the cure they wanted, but it will definitely be considered a solid strike towards the direction of getting their once revered house of mouse back in the hand-drawn animation biz. To its credit, The Princess and the Frog does a lot to recreate that magic Disney was once known for around the world (would anyone have cared about the Disneyworld resorts were it not for that sense of whimsy?). It has a few inspired musical numbers, a majority of wonderfully animated scenes against terrific backdrops true to the story's bayou setting, and most of the elements needed to set it in the pantheon of Disney greats - it's just not quite there.
   
   The film's title deceives both the audience and the frog prince by calling its protagonist Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) a princess. She's not really a princess until the end (spoiler - if you don't already know the story it's based on), and even then the movie's pretty much over. Digression. Disney has transposed the traditional story from some setting in Victorian England to the streets and bayous of New Orleans, Louisiana. If you want an interesting way to look at Disney's newest film, it's the first, good, hand-drawn Disney film set in modern America since Oliver and Company. That says something.
   
   The stunning Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) from abroad arrives in Louisiana for festivities and on the lookout or a bride. Tiana'a best friend since childhood (Jennifer Cody) is ecstatic and has her father (John Goodman) invite the royal man to their annual masquerade ball. As the prince sings and dances his way through New Orleans, he catches the eyes of the lithe, sinister Dr. Facilier (Keith David) who casts a spell turning the prince into a frog and giving his bumbling servant the appearance of the prince. This comes immediately after the shadowy man tells the prince his fortune, the predicted events coming true following the tarot card display just doesn't seem fair. That's not fortune telling, that's insider trading.
   
   Newly transformed into a frog, the Naveen escapes and hops about New Orleans until he shows up at the Masquerade ball where Tiana, a workaholic dead-set on raising the necessary funds to open her own restaurant, is working as the main pastry chef. She dresses up for the party donning a dress and tiara, thus prompting the frog prince to mistake her for a princess. He convinces her to kiss him (because he thinks she's a princess), only to find them both slimy amphibians after the fact. Then, because it's dangerous living as amphibians in New Orleans, they escape into the bayou hoping to find a way to transform themselves back into their human forms. Each learns a respective lesson about their life (him to take responsibility, her to loosen up) and make a few animal friends along the way. A musically ambitious alligator and hepcat lightning bug become their comrades in adventure.
   
   Disney was very proud of itself for producing its first African-American princess, a point which actually does address a discussion raised a few years back. However, the inherent message for this princess is similar to that of Aladdin: marry into royalty. At least here the message isn't completely moot as we learn early on that the Prince Naveen was cut off financially by his parents, thus inciting his search for a rich princess. Ending the story with Tiana, the two of them opening up her dream restaurant, poses a rather decent lesson of hard work being the ultimate solution to good fortune.
   
   We tend to talk about the beauty of Pixar's gorgeous CGI renderings, but hand-drawn animation can be just as great. The Princess and the Frog rarely disappoints visually save for a few scenes where certain characters just don't fit into the typical animation schema. It's a weird occurrence but it happens enough to be noticeable. Otherwise it's a brilliant animated film and certainly warrants a high-definition purchase on Blu-ray.
   
   Blu-ray Bonus Features
   
   Disney continues its Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy combo packs - good for them. For extra features we get the full Disney treatment analyzing every aspect of the film, from the creation of a princess for a new generation, a sinister villain, the joy of hand animation, to a music video by Ne-Yo. Ne-Yo, really? Rarely is a Blu-ray's animation stills set worth a look, but in this case it's interesting to see the concept art behind the venture. A featurette chronicles the Disney legacy up to this point, covering past films, their princesses, while making suggestive hints at the future hand-drawn animation projects they might have in store.



2. I liked Tiana. I think she's a good role model. She worked hard to make her dreams come true. I didn't think there was anything racist in this movie like some others have said. But, for my family, the "I've Got Friends On The Other Side"/voodoo/demons theme of this movie was too dark. We saw this in the theater but won't be buying it.



3. This movie was horrible! It left my mouth hanging open for the first thirty minutes. The beginning could have been eliminated. The plot picked up a bit, but a huge disappointment. It reminded me of a Saturday's cartoon. Hey fiver star commenters, this is our first movie. It could have been much better. Do we have to continue to go down memory lane where we were sewing clothes, living in low class neighborhoods, and working in the kitchen hoping for a piece of ownership? I am not surprised that Disney would have such a poor story plot for our first movie. It took them this long to make one about us. The voices did not match the characters. Why did our Fairy Godmother have to be blind? Why was Princess Tiana tricked out of her money for a ran down building. Typical stereo types that you are given to us that we are going to be nothing but dreamers. I am surprised they did not have Princess Tiana coming from a single parent household. It would have fit in with the rest of the ridiculous stereotypes. Wake up people! The prince, was he an African American? He looked like a colored Ken. It reminded me of Kizzy in Roots and a black Cinderella. I could go on forever with the faults with this movie. It is a disgrace. I do not even want it in my home with the voodoo and the demons throughout the movie. The movie was dark and gloomy.



4. I'm a huge fan of Disney movies, especially the old traditional way of doing it. This comes back to its roots on how to make animated movies. My kids love the movie from beginning to end. I haven't seen it in the theatres so it is a blind buy for me knowing that all the reviews are high. I have a 4-1/2 and twin girls that are almost 2 years old and they all love it. I like the way Disney combos the item with a DVD aside from the Bluray disc. This makes it ideal if you would like to take it with you on trips if you have portable DVD players in your vehicle. Worth every penny.



5. Music has always been a part of Walt Disney cartoons, going way back to Steamboat Mickey in 1928! But Disney never seemed to acknowledge jazz until now. The studio's newest feature film, The Princess and the Frog, has New Orleans jazz all over it! From the jazz based score by Randy Newman, and a jazz-talking alligator named Louis (who has the unmistakable voice of that cat named Satchmo) who plays "Dippermouth Blues" and a tribute to Sidney Bechet, this is one truly delightful film. The story takes place in the 1920s French Quarter and features the high quality hand drawn animation Disney is famous for. For the zydeco and cajun music fan there's a bit of that too, courtesy of Terrance Simien. Dr. John also gets a song and he's on the soundtrack CD too! Okay, there's the pop vocal love song by Ne-Yo to attract the teens, but there's plenty of other great music and a fun story line for adults. This may be my favorite Disney movie in years! Highly recommended for anyone from 8 to 80! Check out the companion Soundtrack on CD too!
   
   Steve Ramm
   Anything Phonographic

5 comments about The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Two-Disc Special Edition).

1. this is worse than the first one ,very bad movie ,,,,uhh ,what happen with this film?



2. I never say that a movie made after a book is just as good as the book. It never happens that way. But I can honestly say that I enjoyed the New Moon movie more than I enjoyed the book. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and I am thrilled that the DVD release is finally here. The book was just so boring. But the way this was directed made the second book in this amazing series so much better. I am really looking forward to Eclipse and looking forward even more to Breaking Dawn - though I hope they don't make it into 2 movies as speculation is saying.



3. Um, WOW! Have read all of the books and couldn't wait to see this.....what was I thinking! Acting, what acting!



4. I was a huge fan of "New Moon" the book and couldnt believed how they could make this wonderful book into this poorly done movie..The screenplay slighted nearly every event in the book. The director had a gold glow that just didnt work for me..All the characters looked different and not for the better...No great music, wow what happened their....I did like it better at home than at the movie theater with 20 screaming girls....****THIS IS ABOUT THE AMAZON DOWNLOAD******.....I purchased the 24 hour digital download which was nice because I was able to watch it at 9pm pacific time on the 19th...It downloaded easily BUT GUESS WHAT NO VOLUME.... I TRIED TWO DIFFERENT COMPUTERS, HEADPHONES, EARBUDS AND EVERY POSSBLE ADJUSTMENT ON TWO COMPUTERS BUT NO VOLUME....**********UPDATE********* TALKED TO AMAZON TECH...HE EXPLAINED WHEN USING WINDOWS 7 GO TO CONTROL PANEL---CLICK ON SOUND-DOUBLE CLICK ON SPEAKERS---CLICK ENHANCEMENTS----TABS DOWN AND CHECK LOUDNESS EQUALIZATION BOX ...PROBLEM SOLVED!!!! A++ AMAZON TECH SUPPORT



5. I love this movie despite it's flaws, just as I loved "Twilight." It is just so fun to see the "Twilight" series come to life on the big screen. I'm a grandmother and having so much fun from all of this! It's pure fantasy...no need to over analyze...relax and enjoy.
   
   A great big thank you to Amazon for providing "New Moon" on line, March 20th, for those who pre-ordered the movie. That was unexpected and appreciated. That kind of service is one of the many reasons that I shop on amazon.com.