5 comments about Blade: Trinity [Blu-ray].

1. I Love the movie Blade - Trinity DVD Now I have the full start to finish Movies of Blade TYSM For this Amazon Keep up the wonderful work!!!
   TYSM Amazon.com for letting all of us have a wonderful online place thats secure and very Relaxed Customer Service I Give not only Blade - Trinity (New Line Platinum Series) 5 Stars Amazon too :P
   
   TYSM again ;-))~



2. Good movie for special "bloody" special effects. If you like Wesley Snipes and killing vampires this is a good movie for you.



3. Blade Trinity: 1/10: Press reports at the time of Blade: Trinity's release claimed that star Wesley Snipes went off the deep end and tried to kill the director David S. Goyer. Lord knows he could have gotten away with it. Show the jury this movie and let the acquittals fly.
   
   After two better than we deserved films the third Blade is a mess. For one thing the casting director is insane. The good guys consist of Snipes, Gabby Hayes (Kris Kristofferson), Elektra (Jessica Biel), Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds), a retarded guy, a blind woman and Newt from Aliens.
   
   The good guys have a "club" called the Nightstalkers. (What no Darren McGavin). Biel fights with an overtly plugged iPod playing horrible techno. (I would think being able to hear would be important in hand-to-hand combat) Reynolds's character spouts off endless one liners (most of them remarkably lame) and is saddled with the name Hannibal King. (Also needless to say remarkably lame) and fights with a light saber bow. (Please see above).
   
   Speaking of lame we have the bad guys. We have wrestler triple H (who cannot act), Parker Posey (who cannot speak with the fangs in her mouth) and best of all Dracula (Who calls himself Drake. Thinks he is in a Highlander movie. He is also a pacifist piece of Euro trash that looks like he fell of a Harlequin romance book cover. And is easily the least convincing screen Dracula I have ever scene (I'm including both George Hamilton and Mel Brooks in this equation).
   
   The script is awful (even if you remove Reynolds's one-liners), the film was edited in a Cuisinart, the continuity was done by the blind girl, and the plot consists of bad guys finding good guys headquarters, then good guys finding bad guys headquarters.
   
   If your still not convinced a contribution to Mr. Snipes potential legal defense fund is in order let me remind you. Parker Posey is the head vampire and has a climatic battle with Van Wilder. You can make the check out to cash.



4. Marvel Comics didnt support this series like the others. matter of fact, Stan Lee didnt have the decency to appear in any of the movies, yet Wesley Snipes still created a Blade that no one else couldve pulled off. and this particular movie had the comedic Ryan Reynolds in it with his incredible one-liners. i rated this a 5 star because despite all the odds Blade still did it!



5. Blade Trinity is a wonderful movie but takes a different path then the first two. If you are looking for a good action flick with humor thrown in, Blade Trinity is definitly for you.

5 comments about Robin Hood.

1. While there are not a lot of extras on this disc, the movie itself is a must own for any Robin Hood or period film fan. The movie was originally shot somewhat dark, but the disc offers plenty of detail even when the screen is manually set lighter.
   The inclusion of both full- and wide-screen versions is also appreciated, as some of us still have 4:3 TV's.



2. Yes, I went for a tour of Sherwood here this day off. This movie isn't my favorite Robin Hood, that I reserve for Audrey HepburnRobin and Marian, but I liked it, sure. (In fact I can't generally stand Uma Turmond but after revealing my prejudices I did like this Robin.) Sure. Ok. I'm human.
   
   This version is muddy, dark, sticky, sweaty, slimy, definitely you smell that everyone needs many bath, several, it gives me some idea that things are unlikely I'll push this era's button when the time machine gets invented, lots of swordplay, pretty fascinating play of Normand versus Saxon. I don't know if one can say it's historically "accurate' as I read somewhere here. Wasn't this a tale, like a myth? In the movie we follow the telling of that tale and it feels we are at the ground level, as if cameras might be fixed onto the front of the vestments and mics are swinging from the bows. I liked it. You might too. Shoot those bows.
   
   I will tell you I didn't care for saucy smarty mouth Marion but I know THAT'S going to be over ruled by most males that watch. And I couldn't see so well many of the shots, due to my particular TV's limitations and my vision. But it was a welcome adventure on a day I'm marathoning movies trying to get in a story I loved as a child.



3. After seeing the earlier charming Errol Flynn versions and the later Kevin Kostner disaster I stumbled onto this version by accident on the Fox Movie Channel one evening and was blown away. Being a student of British medieval history for decades I was first struck by the authenticity of the costumes and settings representing the general period between the 13th and 15th centuries, the era of the earliest written and folklore references to Robin Hood. Unrecorded versions of the legend could have existed even earlier, perhaps the early 1200's or before. Legends usually exist long before they are written down.
   
   The earliest known clear written references appear in Piers the Plowman in the late 1300's. They depict Robin Hood as a yeoman, a commoner of the same approximate social status as an artisan such as a potter, miller, or bow maker. Writers and bards seem to have elevated him to the rank of nobleman much later, at the end of the 16th century, giving him the title of Earl of Huntingdon. A Robert Locksley no doubt existed, but his connection with the much older Robin Hood legend is pure fantasy.
   
   Despite many attempts scholars have been unable to connect Robin Hood with an actual historic person, although the legend might have been originally inspired by an actual person, as is often the case with legends and folklore.
   
   Friar Tuck seems to have existed in seperate legends even earlier than Robin Hood and appears to have been merged into the Robin Hood legend later. The earliest eight or more known Robin Hood written verses make no mention of either Friar Tuck or Maid Marion.
   
   Maid Marion appears later still, in the early 1400's, well after the first known versions of Robin Hood and Friar Tuck appeared together in the same literary contexts.
   
   A definitive and scholarly discussion can be found on-line in Robin Hood, Wikipedia.
   
   The Danny Webb, Conrad Asquith, Barry Stanton, and Patrick Bergin depiction of Robin Hood was produced in the U.K. and is about as authentic as it can get. No cleanly pressed forest green tights and feathered green caps worn on neatly combed hair. The unwashed characters were dressed in appropriately dingy clothes, sometimes almost rags, as real commoners would have been dressed in that period. This is a "dark" film until the very last, when it concludes with a beautiful, bright, Art Nuveau ending.
   
   One scene depicted Robin and Marion briefly hiding in the loft of a small peasant house. It was dark and cramped, and the underside of the thatched roof could be seen almost touching their heads, just as it would have been in real life. The streets were muddy and domestic pigs and chickens roamed freely. Medieval celebration and processional costuming was well done in several scenes. There are just too many quality aspects of this film to cover in one evaluation.
   
   The acting was acceptable or better and some of the lines were actually outstanding. The itenerant bowmaker with his trade cart in which Robin and Marion hid was a good example of well-written and well-delivered lines.
   
   All-in-all, criticisms of deviation from the "original" story are totally unfounded because there is no known original story. Over the centuries there have been many versions, none of which can be proven original. This version seems to be an amalgam of the very earliest surviving references to, and ballads of, Robin Hood, with Marion and a rather crude friar folded in for viewers who expect them and feel cheated if they aren't there.
   
   The primary conflict, which most modern formula film scripts demand, is in this instance the conflict between Normans and Saxons, especially between the nobles, rather than between the more traditional Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham, a much later convention. Marion was there to satisfy the other formula requirement for inclusion of a love story.
   
   The film gave me the wonderful experience of witnessing life in 14th century Britain as it actually was. My only criticism is of the ending with the obviously contrived Politically Correct concession of "we Saxons and Normans must all live in harmony together on this same little island." ... Blah! ... They might as well have all held hands and sung Koombaya. Other than that it was an excellent movie, well written, well cast, well photographed, well acted, and except for the brief bit of nausious PC dialogue at the end, devoid of any hidden political agenda. Easily the best film version of Robin Hood, and well worth five stars.
   
   I was so impressed I bought the DVD.



4. There are various versions of the legend of Robin Hood, and many different retellings on film. Quite simply, this is the best I've seen.
   The amazing thing about this, I think, is that it was orginally a made-for-TV movie that came out the same year as Kevin Costner's "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," a big-budget movie--and is head-and-shoulders better than Costner's "What English Accent?" dreck.
   The plot is much closer to the original legends (although I'm sure it takes liberties here and there) than most, and is tight and solid.
   The acting (not to mention the casting) is first-rate. Patrick Bergin plays Robin Hood with the perfect mix of cunning, bravado, and sense of justice. Uma Thurman as Maid Marian is perfect. She is one of the few actresses that could really pull off playing a young page(sp?) boy convincingly, and still be attractive enough to turn Robin's head. Jürgen Prochnow and Jeroen Krabbé are perfect in their supporting roles, bringing their characters to life and saving them from the one-dimensional bad-guy flatness that they could have been.
   
   All and all, an extremely well-made--and fun!--movie.



5. The DVD is double-sided.
   
   Side A is 1.85:1 Widescreen (Anamorphic)
   
   Side B is 4:3
   
   The back of the box states incorrectly that the film is 1.235:1
   
   I am very pleased that Fox has finally released this on DVD after all this time. It never once looks like it was made for TV. John Irvin did a wonderful job directing this. It is a very well acted and produced film with some beautiful cinematography and thoroughly deserves it's place in your DVD collection.

5 comments about The Professionals [Blu-ray].

1. After seeing The Magnificient Seven, this one was not up to the mark. But I am giving it 4 stars since I liked the script. The best part was tha it did not potray the maxsicans in the all negetive light.....at least in the end.... The extras... not that great...But its a real good western of the eara when westerns were a big draw.The Professionals [Blu-ray]



2. There's several qualities that contribute to this being a top 10 western classic and few 'corny' elements that keep it out of the top 5 for this genre. The 4 main characters (Lancaster, Marvin, Strode and Ryan) have enough screen presence on their own to make a "shoot 'em up" (Lancaster/Marvin being the obvious best of the 4). First, the good.
   
   Lancaster doesn't stray completely from his goofy athletic screen persona with his "tite" pants and some of his athleticism (climbing up a canyon on a rope vs. going down the rope). He puffs cigars, bares his pearly-whites and swigs some whiskey... along with plugging a few banditos (and horses) in cool/gritty fashion. Sly glances, great one-liners and some suave playboy genuiness couple with a "burned too many times" cynicism. Great stuff. His character does a great job of personifying the young Hollywood Golden Age actor transitioning into his role as a, well, no longer young/ athletic does-it-on-looks-alone actor.
   
   Lee Marvin clearly steals this movie. With a grittier than usual tone, and cold / calculating deliveries of lines (regarding life, romance, money and the future), it seems each scene is crafted to compliment and conclude with Marvin's presence. The way he handles firearms with obvious ease stems, in part, from his time as a United States Marine. In the first scene, he is demonstrating the capabilities of a Maxim machine gun.. and very cooly as usual. Later on he wields a Lewis [machine] gun. He departs from the Colt SAA's .. the ubiquitous 'cowboy gun' .. and uses a Colt DA .38 spl.. and looks cool as heck handling it. The 'knucklebuster' Winchester '97 is used with cool dexterity as well.
   
   Ryan and Strode play complimentary roles and do them pretty well. Ryan shows some of his stale deliveries at times. Strode has fewer lines, but is very believable as a tracker. Was his character the model for Zen archer in Conan the Barbarian? Maybe.
   
   Jack Pallance does kind of a laughable job as the stereotypical Mexican bandito. The scene where he goes for broke.. a desperate last ditch effort .. on the back of some donkey is pretty corny.. which made me kinda grimace.
   
   The music is a bit overdone by modern standards. Kind of all over the place and a bit too cliche.
   
   Oh yeah.. the scenery is worth the price of admission. Great desert southwest xeriscape; sandstone canyons, playas, arroyos, bajadas... like I said, good stuff.
   
   Over-all, the story is just ok. Nothing compelling and you won't be surprised. Believable action. Great dialogue. Unique. Hard to describe, but it's a mix of cynicism and hope coupled with the characters obvious motivations and what really makes them tick. Yeah.. hard to explain. I definitely recommend this one to anyone who appreciates westerns OR this assemblage of actors.



3. The Professionals is one of Hollywood's last great Westerns. It's not the last great one made; Westerns that followed it include The Wild Bunch, Once Upon a Time in the West (non-American) & Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, just to name a few but not all. The cast is loaded: Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale, Woody Strode, Jack Palance & Ralph Bellamy. It's almost a who's who listing of actors.
   
   J. W. Grant (Bellamy) wants his kidnapped wife, Maria (Cardinale) rescued. He hires a team of professionals to accomplish this: Bill Dolworth (Lancaster), an explosives expert; Henry Fardan (Marvin), expert in tactics; Hans Ehrengard (Ryan), a horse expert; & Jake Sharp (Strode), an expert with the longbow. All of these come in handy because there's a call for their particular expertise.
   
   They are given 9 days to pull off the rescue. They have to enter the Mexican desert & the fortress stronghold of Capt. Jesus Raza (Palance). Not only will this be difficult, Dolworth & Fardan had fought alongside with Raza earlier in the Mexican Revolution. The film takes place in 1917 which makes it one of the latest Westerns ever done. Let it be suffice to say that not all things are as they seem as this team of crack professionals go after Raza. There are some plot twists & a surprise ending.
   
   The Professionals is an extremely well done film directed by Richard Brooks. Brooks was not on Hollywood's A-list but he was one of their better directors & had some excellent films to his credit. Brooks began his career as a screenwriter then went into directing. In the vast majority of the films he directed he also did the screenplay.
   
   The Professionals was nominated for 3 Academy Awards in 1966: Best Adapted Screenplay (Brooks), Best Color Cinematography (Conrad Hall) & Best Director (Brooks) but didn't take any of them home. The Directors Guild also nominated Brooks for Best Director but failed to capture this award either.
   
   This Special Edition has some bonus features: "The Professionals - A Classic", "Burt Lancaster - A Portrait" & "Memories from The Professionals". These are all entertaining & informative. The audio & video are in excellent condition.



4. Arrived on time and I am very satisfied. Would use seller again without hasitation.



5. A very good movie. The special features with interviews with surviving members of the cast are well done and add some nice footnotes. The discussion regarding location shoots for this film are also a good addition.

5 comments about Blade - Trinity (New Line Platinum Series).

1. I Love the movie Blade - Trinity DVD Now I have the full start to finish Movies of Blade TYSM For this Amazon Keep up the wonderful work!!!
   TYSM Amazon.com for letting all of us have a wonderful online place thats secure and very Relaxed Customer Service I Give not only Blade - Trinity (New Line Platinum Series) 5 Stars Amazon too :P
   
   TYSM again ;-))~



2. Good movie for special "bloody" special effects. If you like Wesley Snipes and killing vampires this is a good movie for you.



3. Blade Trinity: 1/10: Press reports at the time of Blade: Trinity's release claimed that star Wesley Snipes went off the deep end and tried to kill the director David S. Goyer. Lord knows he could have gotten away with it. Show the jury this movie and let the acquittals fly.
   
   After two better than we deserved films the third Blade is a mess. For one thing the casting director is insane. The good guys consist of Snipes, Gabby Hayes (Kris Kristofferson), Elektra (Jessica Biel), Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds), a retarded guy, a blind woman and Newt from Aliens.
   
   The good guys have a "club" called the Nightstalkers. (What no Darren McGavin). Biel fights with an overtly plugged iPod playing horrible techno. (I would think being able to hear would be important in hand-to-hand combat) Reynolds's character spouts off endless one liners (most of them remarkably lame) and is saddled with the name Hannibal King. (Also needless to say remarkably lame) and fights with a light saber bow. (Please see above).
   
   Speaking of lame we have the bad guys. We have wrestler triple H (who cannot act), Parker Posey (who cannot speak with the fangs in her mouth) and best of all Dracula (Who calls himself Drake. Thinks he is in a Highlander movie. He is also a pacifist piece of Euro trash that looks like he fell of a Harlequin romance book cover. And is easily the least convincing screen Dracula I have ever scene (I'm including both George Hamilton and Mel Brooks in this equation).
   
   The script is awful (even if you remove Reynolds's one-liners), the film was edited in a Cuisinart, the continuity was done by the blind girl, and the plot consists of bad guys finding good guys headquarters, then good guys finding bad guys headquarters.
   
   If your still not convinced a contribution to Mr. Snipes potential legal defense fund is in order let me remind you. Parker Posey is the head vampire and has a climatic battle with Van Wilder. You can make the check out to cash.



4. Marvel Comics didnt support this series like the others. matter of fact, Stan Lee didnt have the decency to appear in any of the movies, yet Wesley Snipes still created a Blade that no one else couldve pulled off. and this particular movie had the comedic Ryan Reynolds in it with his incredible one-liners. i rated this a 5 star because despite all the odds Blade still did it!



5. Blade Trinity is a wonderful movie but takes a different path then the first two. If you are looking for a good action flick with humor thrown in, Blade Trinity is definitly for you.

5 comments about Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves (Two-Disc Special Extended Edition).

1. I've avoided this film for years. It is surprisingly action-packed in a good way and the settings are appropriate. Alan Rickman's character of the Sheriff of Nottingham, George, is marvelous and with the deleted scenes, much more interesting than Robin Hood's. Morgan Freeman does a credible job which could have been expanded. I found muting Kostner each time he spoke to vastly improve the watching experience. It isn't so much his American accent in an English setting as the lack of emotional depth. He has none at all. He looks the part, can't act it, though. Pay extra for the deleted scenes as they are worth it.



2. The product came in perfect shape, time and convenience. Couldn't ask for any better service. Thank you Amazon.



3. I love this film, everything about it I love. The story, the humor, the intrigue, the romance and even the special cameo of Sean Connery at the end of the film. This is a awesome movie.



4. This movie is really good and this particular version is extended and has many scenes that I had never seen before.



5. I am very satisfied with my movie and if I search for any more items I will serch here again
   thank you very much

5 comments about Robin Hood - Men in Tights.

1. This dvd arrived in a resonable amount of time and in good condition. It's a funny movie.



2. This movie was just, okay. It lacked the goofiness the movies of this era had. While some movies of this time was not well put together, I felt this movie was too well pieced together. I wish Robin Hood (Carey Elwes) had a greater heir of aloofness to him. It felt almost like watching a serious, dramatic piece like The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn, which is not bad, but in my opinion a movie is only as good as what it is supposed to be. I think more of a seperation from seriousness would have given Elwes greater character depth... Ah... Maybe next time.
   Still a good movie. I wouldn't toss it for what it's worth. Fun, adventurous, delightful. Great to watch with the kids.



3. This was yet another Mel Brooks comedy spoof that could've been better. For every funny joke or sight gag, there's about 2 or 3 stale ones behind it. Nevertheless, it's still a pretty good spoof of the Robin Hood legend. Cary Elwes--one of those actors Hollywood doesn't know what to do with--makes for a wonderful tongue-in-cheek Robin. Amy Yasbeck is good as the virtuous Miriam. Even Dave Chapelle appears in a pre-success supporting role as Robin's "soul brother" merry man. But the real standouts are the incomparable Tracy Ullman as the witch Latrine, Richard Lewis as the mole-bearing, neurotic Prince John, and Roger Rees as the snotty, overbearing Sheriff. There's terrific in-jokes as Robin pokes fun at past actors who "don't speak with an authentic English accent", and even Brooks himself (as Rabbi Tuckman, his variation on Friar Tuck) sneaks in the nostalgic line "It's Good to Be the King" when King Richard (the one & only Patrick Stewart) shows up at the end. In spite of some real groaners, I can't resist such bits as when Robin urges his fellow countrymen to "lend me their ears"...and they obediently pull off their ears & throw them at him! Or the rowdy "Men In Tights" musical number, a welcome throwback to the "Rock Ridge" song from "Blazing Saddles".
   Compared to other lame spoofs of the time---and if you can get past some of the silly, juvenile, and obvious bits of humor---RH:MIT is pretty entertaining stuff!



4. Fun for the whole family, wonderful actors with perfect timing, something for everybody.
   Mel Brooks did it again. (And Carey Elwes is easy on the eyes!)



5. "We're men, we're men in tights, tight tights..." So sing Robin Hood's Merry Men in Mel Brooks' comedic retelling of the classic steal from the rich and give to the poor big screen tale. After escaping from a Muslim prison during the Crusades, Robin Hood (Cary Elwes) returns home to England only to watch his family's home being taken (literally) by Prince John's (Richard Lewis) men for non-payment of taxes. As Robin Hood ventures around Sherwood he notices the oppression of the English people by Prince John and his lackey the Sheriff of Rottingham (Roger Rees), and vows to take down Prince John's rule and win the heart of the lovely Maid Marion (Amy Yasbeck). And, of course, we know he'll succeed, "Because," as Robin Hood says, "unlike other Robin Hoods I speak with an English accent!"
   
   Mel Brooks has carved himself a niche in Hollywood by writing and directing movies that have essentially become unmakable (or unwatchable, you choose) these days: spoofs. Nowadays supposed "filmmakers" have no idea how to make a good spoof creating movies like [Insert Genre Here] Movie, which practically just feature a handful of really stupid jokes inserted in scenes stolen from other movies. But from the 60's on Mel Brooks helped to create spoof television shows and movies that weren't just good, but were classics. Movies like Young Frankenstein, The Producers, Get Smart, Silent Movie, History of the World: Part 1, Spaceballs, and of course Blazing Saddles. Robin Hood: Men In Tights easily stands up with the rest of these as another great movie in Brooks' portfolio of classic films.
   
   Amongst a lot of Mel Brooks' later movies, there not a complete feeling of cohesion throughout the entire movie, typically feeling more like a series of skits rather than like a complete whole. For the most part Robin Hood: Men In Tights avoids this, mostly by having a built in plot in the material, but possibly also because the movie he made right before this wasn't a spoof movie. One of the great things about Brooks' movies is their timelessness. Unlike a lot of spoof movies these days, Brooks chooses to satirize timeless material, material that's still ever present in the media. Not only does he use Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves as the jumping off point, but he also runs spoofs on Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood and Disney's Robin Hood as well The Godfather, Dirty Harry, Home Alone, Malcolm X, The Freshman, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Winston Churchill speeches, and even a sly joke on then President Bush and George W. Bush.
   
   But while the movie has more of a feeling of cohesion than his other movies of the late 80's and 90's, it still feels more scatter shot than his earlier greatest works. And while most of the jokes are timeless a few of the jokes feel exceptionally dated (pump up Nike's anyone?). Also while better acted than say, Spaceballs (don't get your panties in a bunch, I still love the movie), the acting can be a little over the top at times. All of this is made up for by the casting of Dave Chappelle in his first big screen role, definitely inspired casting.
   
   If you haven't seen this I highly suggest you check this movie out. Especially if you like other Mel Brooks movies or TV shows or wish that Hollywood could make more and better satirical spoofs than what they're doing in movies these days. Nobody knows how to do comedy quite like Brooks!
   
   4/5

5 comments about The Adventures of Robin Hood (Two-Disc Special Edition).

1. We are watching a 1.4 million dollar early production of "Robin Hood" (1922).
   The sets were the most expensive at the time.
   
   King Richard the Lion-Hearted (Wallace Beery) oversees a tournament just before the great crusades. The winner of course is a knight, The Earl of Huntingdon (Douglas Fairbanks.) What does he win? The right to be Richards's right hand man in the Crusades. Richard knowing that the Earl is woman shy forces the winner to be surrounded by every female available.
   
   While the king is away on the Crusades, his brother has a plan in process to usurp the thrown and practices his evil ways on the people of England.
   
   Can no one save them? Is there no leader to champion their cause against oppression?
   
   This is the KINO international film.
   We are al familiar with the most popular version of Robin Hood and this film pretty much follows form. However (it just may be from watching it nearly a century later) Lady Marian Fitzwalter (Enid Bennett) looks like a sixties hippy. Who ever picked the music? The film is almost better off without it; this is some sort of electronic concoction.
   
   Of course after the fact better versions of the story were filmed. However that can not distract that this one was a biggie in its day; the premiere was held at Grauman's brand new Egyptian Theater in Hollywood.
   
   To get a better background on the story I suggest you read about the cinematic history of Robin.
   Robin Hood: A Cinematic History of the English Outlaw and His Scottish Counterparts by Scott Allen Nollen (May 1999)
   
   
   
   Robin Hood: A Cinematic History of the English Outlaw and His Scottish Counterparts



2. Not just the greatest Robin Hood movie ever made, but one of the greatest movies ever made!



3. I bought this as a gift for someone who loves the classic films. Together we must have seen this film before at least a dozen times. I wasn't expecting a lot of difference between the DVD version and the blu-ray version but I was wrong. The colors and details of the imagery just pop out at you! Blu-ray is the perfect showcase for this classic!



4. This is one of the greatest films of all time, folks. I don't know if I've ever seen such cast camaraderie in a film cast before (the only other occurrence that comes to mind is "Rio Bravo" with John Wayne, Dean Martin, Rick Nelson, Angie Dickenson, and Walter Brennen). It permeates through this film and it is one of the reasons that this film in particular has become a classic and probably one of the top ten best movies of all time. It is beautifully shot, perfectly acted, and the score is gorgeous. If you are a fan of cinema, this belongs in your collection, especially on blu-ray. I will admit that I do like the Costner version as a guilty pleasure, but THIS is the cornerstone, the truest representation of Robin Hood on film.
   
   **Postscript** Also recommended as a sequel to this film is "Robin & Marian" with Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn. Trust me.



5. An excellent transfer to blu-ray. This disc is Region Free and does play on UK blu-ray players.

5 comments about The Professionals (Special Edition).

1. After seeing The Magnificient Seven, this one was not up to the mark. But I am giving it 4 stars since I liked the script. The best part was tha it did not potray the maxsicans in the all negetive light.....at least in the end.... The extras... not that great...But its a real good western of the eara when westerns were a big draw.The Professionals [Blu-ray]



2. There's several qualities that contribute to this being a top 10 western classic and few 'corny' elements that keep it out of the top 5 for this genre. The 4 main characters (Lancaster, Marvin, Strode and Ryan) have enough screen presence on their own to make a "shoot 'em up" (Lancaster/Marvin being the obvious best of the 4). First, the good.
   
   Lancaster doesn't stray completely from his goofy athletic screen persona with his "tite" pants and some of his athleticism (climbing up a canyon on a rope vs. going down the rope). He puffs cigars, bares his pearly-whites and swigs some whiskey... along with plugging a few banditos (and horses) in cool/gritty fashion. Sly glances, great one-liners and some suave playboy genuiness couple with a "burned too many times" cynicism. Great stuff. His character does a great job of personifying the young Hollywood Golden Age actor transitioning into his role as a, well, no longer young/ athletic does-it-on-looks-alone actor.
   
   Lee Marvin clearly steals this movie. With a grittier than usual tone, and cold / calculating deliveries of lines (regarding life, romance, money and the future), it seems each scene is crafted to compliment and conclude with Marvin's presence. The way he handles firearms with obvious ease stems, in part, from his time as a United States Marine. In the first scene, he is demonstrating the capabilities of a Maxim machine gun.. and very cooly as usual. Later on he wields a Lewis [machine] gun. He departs from the Colt SAA's .. the ubiquitous 'cowboy gun' .. and uses a Colt DA .38 spl.. and looks cool as heck handling it. The 'knucklebuster' Winchester '97 is used with cool dexterity as well.
   
   Ryan and Strode play complimentary roles and do them pretty well. Ryan shows some of his stale deliveries at times. Strode has fewer lines, but is very believable as a tracker. Was his character the model for Zen archer in Conan the Barbarian? Maybe.
   
   Jack Pallance does kind of a laughable job as the stereotypical Mexican bandito. The scene where he goes for broke.. a desperate last ditch effort .. on the back of some donkey is pretty corny.. which made me kinda grimace.
   
   The music is a bit overdone by modern standards. Kind of all over the place and a bit too cliche.
   
   Oh yeah.. the scenery is worth the price of admission. Great desert southwest xeriscape; sandstone canyons, playas, arroyos, bajadas... like I said, good stuff.
   
   Over-all, the story is just ok. Nothing compelling and you won't be surprised. Believable action. Great dialogue. Unique. Hard to describe, but it's a mix of cynicism and hope coupled with the characters obvious motivations and what really makes them tick. Yeah.. hard to explain. I definitely recommend this one to anyone who appreciates westerns OR this assemblage of actors.



3. The Professionals is one of Hollywood's last great Westerns. It's not the last great one made; Westerns that followed it include The Wild Bunch, Once Upon a Time in the West (non-American) & Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, just to name a few but not all. The cast is loaded: Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale, Woody Strode, Jack Palance & Ralph Bellamy. It's almost a who's who listing of actors.
   
   J. W. Grant (Bellamy) wants his kidnapped wife, Maria (Cardinale) rescued. He hires a team of professionals to accomplish this: Bill Dolworth (Lancaster), an explosives expert; Henry Fardan (Marvin), expert in tactics; Hans Ehrengard (Ryan), a horse expert; & Jake Sharp (Strode), an expert with the longbow. All of these come in handy because there's a call for their particular expertise.
   
   They are given 9 days to pull off the rescue. They have to enter the Mexican desert & the fortress stronghold of Capt. Jesus Raza (Palance). Not only will this be difficult, Dolworth & Fardan had fought alongside with Raza earlier in the Mexican Revolution. The film takes place in 1917 which makes it one of the latest Westerns ever done. Let it be suffice to say that not all things are as they seem as this team of crack professionals go after Raza. There are some plot twists & a surprise ending.
   
   The Professionals is an extremely well done film directed by Richard Brooks. Brooks was not on Hollywood's A-list but he was one of their better directors & had some excellent films to his credit. Brooks began his career as a screenwriter then went into directing. In the vast majority of the films he directed he also did the screenplay.
   
   The Professionals was nominated for 3 Academy Awards in 1966: Best Adapted Screenplay (Brooks), Best Color Cinematography (Conrad Hall) & Best Director (Brooks) but didn't take any of them home. The Directors Guild also nominated Brooks for Best Director but failed to capture this award either.
   
   This Special Edition has some bonus features: "The Professionals - A Classic", "Burt Lancaster - A Portrait" & "Memories from The Professionals". These are all entertaining & informative. The audio & video are in excellent condition.



4. Arrived on time and I am very satisfied. Would use seller again without hasitation.



5. A very good movie. The special features with interviews with surviving members of the cast are well done and add some nice footnotes. The discussion regarding location shoots for this film are also a good addition.

5 comments about Henry V.

1. This movie elicits an almost schizophrenic reaction on my part. On the one hand, I can't disagree with the rave 5-star reviews most have posted here about Kenneth Branagh's powerful and imaginative interpretation of this Shakespeare classic. (There seem to be some serious problems with the current DVD rendition, but I'll leave that aspect to other reviewers.)
   
   But I see a HUGE caveat about Branagh's film itself, one strangely and almost entirely absent from the reviews posted here on Amazon: Branagh CUT OUT very substantial chunks of Shakespeare's timeless lines in this play!
   
   This is all the more unfortunate, given the superb quality of the acting, the stirring music, and the liberating magnificence of the production. This could have been the definitive version of "Henry V" for all time, and surely one of the best movie adaptations of ANY of Shakespeare's plays, period. Instead, for a true Shakespeare lover, it is an enormously frustrating cheat.
   
   Now, let me hasten to say: I'm not necessarily condemning the concept of any abridgment or editing of Shakespeare. The Bard himself might well have scoffed at the notion that his every word was sacrosanct; he probably would have cut and stitched enthusiastically to adapt his work to a new medium. Given Shakespeare's classic status, however, a modern adapter should cut only very judiciously. The usual justification for cuts in a film adaptation is time pressure. Yet Branagh's "Henry V" is only about two hours and 20 minutes long, barely above the Hollywood average. There have been plenty of great and popular 3-hour (or even 3 and 1/2 hour) movies. (See, e.g., "Gandhi" or "Dances With Wolves.") True, with the short attention spans of the modern music-video generation, any film over 2 hours risks losing viewers. But surely Branagh was not aiming for the typical shallow modern viewer. This is Shakespeare, for heaven's sake! Surely moviegoers willing to go see Shakespeare would have been willing to invest the time necessary to see an unabridged (or at least a LESS-abridged) version of this classic play!
   
   The deeper problem, however, is that even if it were justified to make some cuts, Branagh does a very bad job of the cutting. Henry's own patriotic speeches and royal ruminations come off very well; they don't get cut much if at all. (Hmmm, could that have something to do with the fact that Henry is portrayed by Branagh himself?)
   
   But several of the lesser characters get the shaft. Falstaff's Boy (Christian Bale, a fine actor completely wasted here) shows up in some early scenes, but then never gets another line. This leaves incoherent and incomplete the exploits of Ancient Pistol, Bardolph, and Nym, the roguish Falstaffian trio for whom the Boy serves as a sort of chorus. There is a moving scene at the end when Henry carries the slain Boy across the battlefield to the strains of "Non Nobis," but the scene would have been a good deal MORE moving if he had been even remotely developed as a character, as Shakespeare accomplished in a few brief scenes (all cut by Branagh).
   
   Gone completely is the entire scene (one of the most memorable in the play, and one of the best comedic scenes in all of Shakespeare) in which Fluellen forces Pistol to eat the leek.
   
   In the early scene in which Henry confronts the three traitors, Branagh cuts out the crucial lines (illustrative of Henry's character, at least as fictionalized by Shakespeare) in which Henry explains that he condemns the traitors to death because of their threat, not to his person, but to the security of his kingdom.
   
   In the scene where the Dauphin of France makes a fool of himself boasting about his horse, Branagh once again amputates some of the Bard's timeless humor. He cuts out the ribald back-and-forth between the Dauphin and a mocking constable. ("CONSTABLE: Methought yesterday your mistress [i.e., the Dauphin's horse] shrewdly shook your back. DAUPHIN: So perhaps did yours. CONSTABLE: Mine was not bridled.")
   
   Branagh leaves in the famous line remarking that "that island of England breeds very valiant creatures," but leaves out the comparison to England's mastiffs, dogs "of unmatcheable courage," who "run winking into the mouth of a Russian bear." This one pained me especially, since my late grandfather and late uncle, who loved this play and introduced it to me, loved to quote that very line. (My uncle was a dog-lover who owned a huge mastiff at one time.)
   
   Leaving in ALL of the above lines and scenes would have added perhaps 15 or 20 minutes at most. That would have resulted in a film no more than 2 hours 40 minutes long, well within reasonable standards. Given Branagh's admirably fast pacing, a completely unabridged version could surely have clocked in at under 3 hours. As noted, there have been plenty of classic films that long or longer.
   
   Too bad this is not one of them. Half a loaf is better than none, but in the case of Shakespeare, one cuts at one's peril!



2. Excellent DVD! If you ever wanted to know where the expression "band of brothers" comes from this is it! Great acting.



3. My favorite Shakespear play is done great great justice by Kenneth Branagh. This film version has just the right mix of pagentry, mud and blood.
   
   If ever you needed proof that Shakespear (or whoever wrote this play) was a soldier; you have only to watch this movie.



4. Kenneth Branagh is one of the premier actors of our time, well-known for his excellent work with William Shakespeare's plays. In this 1989 big-budget production of Henry V, Branagh directs and plays the title role. He does an excellent job of bringing to life Shakespeare's take of Henry, as a one-time party boy who now has the moral certainty to dare the great power of France to a duel.
   
   Also, the large budget brought to the production, means that it is visually very entertaining to watch, with a great feeling of reality. Also, the production is filled with big-names including Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane, and even a very young Christian Bale, not to mention many other faces you will immediately recognize.
   
   This is a great production of Shakespeare's Henry V, perhaps the best one yet made. If you like Shakespeare, then you will like this movie, I know that I certainly did, and I give it my highest recommendations!



5. This is the kind of Shakespeare production where even the most cold hearted towards Shakespeare will find their hearts enflamed - this is really stirring stuff - Branagh shines as Henry V, both as King and as lover to his then wife, Emma Thompson.

5 comments about Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves (Snap Case).

1. I've avoided this film for years. It is surprisingly action-packed in a good way and the settings are appropriate. Alan Rickman's character of the Sheriff of Nottingham, George, is marvelous and with the deleted scenes, much more interesting than Robin Hood's. Morgan Freeman does a credible job which could have been expanded. I found muting Kostner each time he spoke to vastly improve the watching experience. It isn't so much his American accent in an English setting as the lack of emotional depth. He has none at all. He looks the part, can't act it, though. Pay extra for the deleted scenes as they are worth it.



2. The product came in perfect shape, time and convenience. Couldn't ask for any better service. Thank you Amazon.



3. I love this film, everything about it I love. The story, the humor, the intrigue, the romance and even the special cameo of Sean Connery at the end of the film. This is a awesome movie.



4. This movie is really good and this particular version is extended and has many scenes that I had never seen before.



5. I am very satisfied with my movie and if I search for any more items I will serch here again
   thank you very much