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- First reviewApril 13, 2013
- Last reviewFebruary 24, 2017
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![Die Hard [DVD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/prescaled/500/500/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/304b2327-370a-41e7-956a-951dd4939472.png)
Customer Rating
5
Yippie-Ki-Yay-Mother-Flubber
on April 24, 2016
Posted by: cornjakecake
from Huntington, WV
Has anyone not seen the ultimate action film? Okay, for those of you living in a fallout shelter since 1962, this film is a must once you crawl out from below ground, smelling of Spam and sporting a Brylcream hairdo.
Anyways, the film, based of a novel called "Nobody Lasts Forever" (Sequel to the novel "The Detective", which was turned into a film in 1968 starring Frank Sinatra) where a detective visits his daughter for Christmas and terrorists take over a skyscraper forcing John Leland to take matters into his own hands. When Sinatra refused to return for a sequel, the writers spun the script in a different direction (First as a sequel to Commando, then as the film we know and love today), made a name change from Leland to McClane and made his daughter his wife and you have the makings of a classic.
So, McClane (Bruce Willis, in a star-making performance) is flying to L.A., mistakenly invited to his estranged wife's ,Holly (Bonnie Bedilia), Christmas party, hoping to possibly patch up their marriage and spend Christmas together as a family. Unfortunately, terrorists led by Hans Gruber (The late, great Alan Rickman) ruin the party and McClane is the only one to escape capture.
With his wife, and shoes, left hostage, McClane must use his will and wits to survive multiple gunfights, elevator shafts and broken glass to save his wife and the hostages.
Before Die Hard, there were very few action films to actually excite, entertain and stand up to modern day scrutiny (I can say Some of the Bond films, Indiana Jones and Lethal Weapon just to name a few) without aging as much as a day. Sure the visual F/X, sound design, cinematography and editing can give away the age without taking away the charm, but Die Hard set the mold that is still used to this day and seemingly unlikely to be broken any time soon.
Bruce Willis' performance is terrific, showing range beyond what he has done previously (Moonlighting did give us the Willis smirk and smarm that he expels here, while Blind Date showed us his comedic chops) and gives us a hero that didn't as to be one. He isn't Rambo or John Matrix from Commando, being a 'roided out, emotionless robot that cannot be hurt, regardless of torture, bullet wounds and even jumping from a plane into a swamp without a parachute. McClane is a man who is a tough guy, but is scared, not knowing if he will make it out alive, and extremely vulnerable. Wow isn't enough a word to describe him or his performance.
Of course every great hero must have a great villain and look no further than Rickman's Hans Gruber. Smart, well-dressed, well-funded and dangerous, this is equally his show, as it is McClane's. I love how he is a natural leader supposedly on top, but I love how he is increasingly irritated by McClane's doings, seemingly losing his "kingdom" so to speak.
Bedilia does very well as Holly McClane, posing a strength that most movies wouldn't even dare give their leads, and is more than a damsel in distress and can stand her own ground. Every other performance is excellent and memorable with no overacting or poor line readings at all.
The direction is extremely self-assured, with John McTiernan delivering the goods with a great grasp of the material, not afraid of having fun amidst the seriousness of terrorism, but able to quickly and ably turn to more darker material with ease, and with some style to boot (Look at all the iconic imagery throughout!).
The screenplay is its own animal, sticking fairly closely to the source material, while changing details here and there without sacrificing the sanctity of the original novel and being its own story. The cinematography is gorgeous in its own way (The 2.35 scoping by Jan de Bont is amazing with all the lens flares that would make J.J. Abrams cry), the editing sharp as a tack, with legendarily good sound and a pitch perfect score by the late Michael Kamen being the cherry on the best action film sundae ever concocted. Heck, even could be considered one of the best films. Period.
Moving on to the disc itself, we shall start with the PQ. Being a classic film, you'd figure we'd have multiple re-releases, sporting either new extras, 4k re-masterings or even a 3D conversion (Please no, Hollywood!) but this film is surprisingly not been released that often. Coming from the 5-star DVD set from Fox, the image is better than the DVD, but you can tell they didn't do much when it was released the first time around in 2007. Although this would be a nice release in 2007, but having paseed the 20th and 25th anniversary marks, you'd figure Fox would pony up some cash to remaster one of their perennial best sellers in 4k with a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X surround remix. Still, its a very adequate image, just don't expect anything to show off your hi-def TV.
The sound on the other hand is still pretty awesome, with the DTS-HD 5.1 track offering a nice and loud playback though yet again could use a nice remix to up the bass response and maybe make it flow a bit more.
The extras are mostly recycled from the DVD, but not all. Starting up is are two commentaries: one full length (John McTiernan and Production Designer Jackson DeGovia leading a fairly quiet yet insightful track), one scene-specific (Visual F/X Supervisor Richard Edlund talking about his creation of the effects and explosions in nice detail). The Newscasts is an 8 minute feature show the newscasts from the film along with some outtakes. Nest up is a nice array of stills with a few interactive logos that lead to more outtakes, designs and et cetera. Finishing off the disc are a series of trailers and TV spots that make it seem like Lethal Weapon than Die Hard.
Missing from the 2-disc DVD is the extended version, a text commentary track, deleted scenes, 2 magazine articles, an editing feature and more, so hold on to your 6-disc trilogy box set fan boys and girls!
All in all, its a must have for your collection, though with the upcoming 30th (!) anniversary and the advent of 4k BluRay's, I can also say maybe hold out unless this is extremely cheap and you must have it on your shelf.
My Best Buy number: 0751976050
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Customer Rating
5
Comic Book Fans... Assemble... In 3D!!!!
on April 10, 2016
Posted by: cornjakecake
from Huntington, WV
Yes.... this is it, the event of a lifetime. Seeing Sean Connery as the bad guy wearing a huge Teddy Bear costume as a disguise. Oh wait, wrong Avengers... silly me. No this is the Avengers where Earth's (And...um... Not of Earth) mightiest heroes assemble and fight evil, and in cooler costumes.
In the lead up from the previous 5 films, the film starts in a remote S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, with Dr. Selvig experimenting with the Tesseract, and in the process opens up a wormhole that unleashes Loki, who was last seen in Thor letting go of his grip and encountering The Other, leader of the Chitauri. Loki promises The Other to conquer Earth and enslaves Dr. Selvig and Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye) in the process. Nick Fury reinstates the dead Avengers Initiative, and orders Natasha Romanoff (aka Black Widow) and Agent Coulson to find Bruce Banner (To use his extensive gamma radiation research to find the Tesseract) and Tony Stark (To figure out everything about Selvig's research). Fury himself recruits Captain America to spearhead efforts to retrieve the Tesseract.
Locating Loki in Stuttgart, Germany, Loki is creating a diversion while Hawkeye steals iridium to contain the Tesseract's power, when Rogers, Stark and Romanoff manage to subdue and capture Loki. While transporting him to the Helicarrier, Thor arrives from Asgard to retrieve Loki (But how since Thor destroyed the BiFrost in his standalone film...?) hoping to stop Loki and return him back home. Iron Man and Captain America catch up to Thor and after a sweet fight that ends in quite a stalemate, they agree to return Loki to the Helicarrier to be held while Banner and Stark try to find the Tesseract.
On suspicion of S.H.I.E.L.D.S. motives along with division amongst the group on how to approach Loki, The Avengers begin to fight, realizing that this is what Loki wants and at the same time, Hawkeye manages to invade the Helicarrier and retrieve the God of Mischief and invade Earth. They put their fight on the backburner and try to stabalize the ship, stop the Hulk's rampage and find the Tesseract. Unfortunately, the Tesseract is atop Stark Tower, with Selvig opening up a wormhole and unleashing the Chitauri on Manhattan and on all of humanity. Now its up to the Avengers to save the world despite their differences and stop Loki.
Wow, this is a film I have been waiting ages for, the ultimate team up of superheroes tackling evil. While I wish Batman vs. Superman was first, this film more than makes up for it with a hugely entertaining film overall. I was afraid that since there would be a huge amount of characters, four of which having solo movies beforehand, how would the cast interact and would they have chemistry. To my surprise, every cast member gels extremely well with each other with ease, bouncing off like this wasn't their first film together. Joss Whedon was another problem I was afraid of, at first. I had knew Whedon's work for years, having him create Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse, and writing for several different films and TV series such as Toy Story, Alien: Resurrection and even Roseanne. But he had only directed one film previously, Serenity: a sequel to the short lived Firefly. My fears were unfounded when I finished the film, loving how every frame was permeated with his signature style and wit, with Whedon also writing the film being part of his artistic vision coming through. The visual effects are amazing, detailed and fit in with the universe of Marvel.
The only thing I can knock about the film is the story. Yes it wasn't the worst story I have heard or seen, and this one has a fairly satisfying ending unlike some other MCU films (*cough cough* Iron Man *cough cough*) but the plot was fairly thin and the whole battle scene on the HeliCarrier could have been shortened by a few minutes to shorten the 2 hour and 22 minute run time. Other than this issue, I had an absolute blast and concludes Phase One extremely well, and I have a opportunist outlook on Phase Two.
Moving onto the disc itself, the bluray is a visual and audio treat that is absolutely demo-worthy. The 1.85 digitally-sourced (A few slo-mo shots were shot on film however) photography shines well here, that is colorful, detailed, and no defects whatsoever. Shadow detail in darker scenes are also well-resolved and no crush is evident at all. The 7.1 DTS-HD audio is also a foundation-buster, with a deep bass and battle scenes scenes like you are actually in the middle of the battle.
The 3D is surprisingly amazing, and compared to the previous MCU 3D discs, this one is a revelation. Sure, certain scenes in dim lighting lack dimensionality, but for a post-conversion, this one is superb.
Extras are surprisingly lacking though but fairly decent for whats at hand. Starting off is the commentary with Joss Whedon, giving us hilariously deadpan chat about him being chosen to direct a huge blockbuster, shooting with 3D in mind, and much more. Next up is a Second Screen experience, using a phone or a tablet to access story and character files. The next Marvel One-Shot: Item 47, is a fun 12 minutes with two criminals who find alien technology and help them achieve their dreams.
15 minutes of deleted scenes, a 5 minute outtakes reel (A first for a MCU film), two featurettes lasting 15 minutes discussing the making of the film and last but not least a 5 minute music video by Soundgarden ending the scant set of extras. A DVD copy, 2D BluRay and digital copies are also included here.
Overall, a must buy, though if you are looking for hours of making of documentaries, featurettes and more, best to keep waiting.
My Best Buy number: 0751976050
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Customer Rating
5
Go out and buy it now!!!!!
on April 4, 2016
Posted by: cornjakecake
from Huntington, WV
As I left off with Thor, I have been a fan so far, enjoying each film so far in the series though with several flaws, namely the lack of a strong or truly memorable villain and lackluster third acts. Does Captain America right the wrongs of the previous four films or does it continue the downward slide of poor third acts?
Opening up in the midst of WWII, Steve Rogers is desperate to join the fight. He is a classic 4F case, short, skinny and of ill-health. His friend Bucky Barnes is already joined the cause, who is shipping out in 24 hours, but that doesn't stop him from going out in style. Steve decides to falsify his enlistment form to get in and is thought to be in trouble, but is instead confronted by a Dr. Abraham Erskine.
Erskine admires Steve's will and honesty and is chosen along with a few recruits to test for the "Super Soldier" program, where he trains under the scrutinous eye of Col. Philips (A very fun Tommy Lee Jones) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). Despite not being physically fit, he does impress with his intelligence, gumption and bravery. After being chosen to go through with the procedure, he is transformed into a tall, muscular soldier, who not only has undergone a physical change, but a molecular one as well.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Johann Schmidt (AKA Red Skull played by Hugo Weaving) is planning on surpassing the 3rd Reich and is planning on ruling the world with his advanced weaponry developed under HYDRA. After sabotaging the lab and killing Erskine, Rogers is eager to go after HYDRA but is instead pushed to being a face for the war effort, Captain America, which is a funny montage of a great 40's song, short newsreels and inspiring millions to join the effort. After a demoralizing USO show in Italy and learning of Barnes' team being captured by HYDRA, Rogers decides to solely infiltrate HYDRA's factory, with Howard Stark (Tony's father) and Carter fly him in behind enemy lines.
Successfully capturing their technology and freeing 400 men, Cap doubles down on Schmidt and he goes after HYDRA, but will it be enough to prevent world domination?
If you didn't the tagline of the summary, then you have no idea how much I loved this film. The penultimate film before The Avengers was released, this was simply a great comic book film. Starting off, Chris Evans is Captain America. He exudes the classic American do-gooder, by being brave, strong, moral and not afraid to fight for what's right. Atwell does a great job as Agent Carter, not only just a pretty face, but a smart, confident and strong presence and a role-model for any female fans of comic book films. Jones is fun as the colonel, and Cooper is fun as Stark. Stanley Tucci is probably my favorite performance in the film, making Dr. Erskine a living, breathing character with such a small amount of screen time.
Which brings me to Red Skull. What did I think of him? Well, I loved how totally evil he is, completely consumed by rage and evil but Weaving doesn't do much beyond a few evil glares and snarling with his lines. He's done this before, and it shows, but he still sells it well enough. But how does the story fare?
Actually its quite engaging and gripping, with the story being familiar of a guy gaining powers and saves the world, but with some great lines, plot moving along at a nice clip and some smart, well-written action (C/O Chrostopher Markus & Stephen McFeely), its no wonder its one of my faves. And who can forget Joe Johnston directing? He is an unfortunately overlooked director most of the time, having not only directed several classics like Jumanji and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, but also an Oscar-winning Visual F/X artist, knowing full and well to skillfully blend practical and digital effects, as well as knowing that the effects are nothing without a great story and characters to use with them. His experience with the time period with another 40s inspired comic book film, The Rocketeer, is also greatly appreciated and welcome. Everything else ranging from the 40's-styled cinematography, period set design, sumptuous visual effects and a great score all blend to an awesome popcorn flick.
Of course, how did the ending fare after all the praise? Actually quite well, with the 3rd act sneaking up on me a tad, and the denouement of the Red Skull feeling underwhelming, but the emotion of how Rogers saves the world is well done and ends with a fantastic that I won't spoil here. Overall, my favorite film of the origin films of Phase One and probably the entire MCU.
Moving on to the PQ/AQ, I'll just start by saving this is a demo worthy 2D presentation that does look pasty with the period lighting, the colors are nicely saturated, detailed image (Sourced from a digital shoot with several scenes shot on 35mm film) with an awesome 7.1 DTS-HD track that balances the explosions, pings of the shield bouncing on the enemies, dialogue and music balancing out beautifully. Moving on to the 3D, I was very skeptical of the added dimension, since the Thor 3D wasn't anything special and largely an unneeded experience so I went in with lowered expectations. The opening logo looked amazing of course, but then past the logos, I was greeted with an overall nice 3D picture, that had several scenes of convincing depth, natural spacing of fore, mid and background objects and even several moments of the "comin' right at ya" scenes, but still plagued by several scenes of darkness that flattens to the point of me pulling off the specs just to check if they were okay. Nice enough for a post-conversion, though don't spend $42.99 on this disc for the 3D alone.
Extras wise, this is a nice package starting with an audio commentary with Johnston, cinematographer Shelly Johnson and editor Jeff Ford. For his first commentary, Johnston does quite well, though mainly technically oriented with nice insight to editing, directing, camera work and more, it is just an average track worth at least a listen. Next up is Marvel's 2nd One-Shot, "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Thor's Hammer" a 4 minute long piece that is superior to The Consultant and is fun to see Agent Coulson do more than just talk and pulling a Caruso (Dramatically removing his sunglasses). Next up are 6 featurettes that are as follows:
- Outfitting a Hero - a 10-minute look at the costumes
- Howling Commandos - a 6-minute look at Cap's allies he saved from a HYDRA work camp
- Heightened Technology - a 5-minute look at the futuristic weapons used by HYDRA in the film
- The Transformation - an 8-minute look on how they shrunk Evans for the role of Rogers pre-serum
- Behind the Skull - a 10-minute look at the creation of the makeup and casting the role
and last but not least
- Captain America's Origin - a 4-minute look at the creation of the comic book.
Next up is The Assembly begins,, a short look on the last film of Phase One, The Avengers. 5 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary, trailers for the film and video game complete the solid set of extras. Lastly, there are no 3D specific extras, and there is a DVD and digital copy included. All in all, a nice release with terrific PQ/AQ, decent 3D, and a generous amount of extras for a terrific film and is a must own.
- Howling Commandos - a 6-minute look at Cap's allies he saved from a HYDRA work camp
- Heightened Technology - a 5-minute look at the futuristic weapons used by HYDRA in the film
- The Transformation - an 8-minute look on how they shrunk Evans for the role of Rogers pre-serum
- Behind the Skull - a 10-minute look at the creation of the makeup and casting the role
and last but not least
- Captain America's Origin - a 4-minute look at the creation of the comic book.
Next up is The Assembly begins,, a short look on the last film of Phase One, The Avengers. 5 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary, trailers for the film and video game complete the solid set of extras. Lastly, there are no 3D specific extras, and there is a DVD and digital copy included. All in all, a nice release with terrific PQ/AQ, decent 3D, and a generous amount of extras for a terrific film and is a must own.
I will return for The Avengers!
My Best Buy number: 0751976050
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Customer Rating
4
Not as good as the first.... But still a fun ride!
on April 1, 2016
Posted by: cornjakecake
from Huntington, WV
"I am Iron Man." was the final words uttered of the first movie, and with that broke new ground in comic book films, and films in general. A daring line that told the world Tony Stark was indeed Iron Man. What if Clark Kent told the world he was Kal-El aka Superman? Bruce Wayne as Batman? It wouldn't work, but with how Tony Stark sells himself it fits perfectly. And with that declaration comes great admiration. Stark saves the world on a regular basis, is dating his assistant turned CEO Pepper Potts and even restarted Stark Expo to reinvigorate his father's legacy, all the while Tony is slowly dying. The very same arc reactor that is keeping him alive is also slowly killing him, with the power source being made of deadly palladium, a radioactive material. Struggling to find a powerful enough substitute, he grows more despondent of drinking, growing more reckless and self-destructive. In one bout of self-pity, he drives his own sponsored car in the Monaco Grand Prix, where Ivan Vanko (Whiplash, played by Mickey Rourke) displays his own arc reactor powered armor and whips. He is defeated by Iron Man, though he is proving that Iron Man is not invincible and very much mortal. Stark's rival, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell in a great sniveling weasel-esque performance) hires Vanko to build an army of rival Iron Man suits to upstage his rival and make a fortune. Stark, knowing he is mortal, facing death, and also the long arm of the law trying to take his suits and designs away for military use, Stark falls into a deeper depression, leading to a drunken fight between Iron Man and his best friend, Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) and successfully takes the suit for military use. S.H.I.E.L.D. approaches Stark, hoping to convert him to a member, reveals his new assistant is Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and gives him some of his father's possesion, also revealing he was a founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. and co-created the arc reactor with Vanko's father, whose son wanted revenge for the death of his father. Stark finds a hidden message, finds a cure for his ailment and goes head to head with Hammer, and Vanko to a certain degree.
Okay, I was really hyped to see this movie back in 2010, loving the trailers with great looking CGI, Robert Downey, Jr. back as Tony Stark and seeing an awesome villain shot as Whiplash is cracking his whips, about to cause major damage, all while AC/DC play in the background! What's not to love?!?! Plenty ...unfortunately.
The cast is truly awesome, with RDJ returning with flying colors as Stark, bringing the same smarm while also adding a new layer or two with his impending doom and depression, Don Cheadle, replacing Terence Howard as Rhodey, is good as Iron Patriot, and Johansson is the perfect Black Widow, while not having much to do here, she subsequently shows us her real strength later on in the series. Sam Rockwell is terrific, Rourke is fun, if too eccentric, as Vanko but does a lot with such an underwritten villain with Hammer being a more rounded character than the man with the electric whips!
Jon Favreau returns to direct, adding his special touch and delicate balance of action, comedy and drama with a nice visual panache aided with terrific camera work by Matthew Libatique. CGI is wonderful as ever, as is pretty much everything else in this huge budgeted blockbuster. Which brings me to what doesn't work in the film.
Tropic Thunder writer, and future Mr. Jennifer Aniston, Justin Theroux was picked to write the film and does pretty well, but some of the story is just a bit undercooked. I enjoy his added humor, some more development with Stark, but when you have a potentially awesome villain with Whiplash and you delegate him to a lab feeding a bird some seeds while spewing some sporadic Russian, you tend to alienate your fan base a bit. The depression Stark suffers is suddenly lifted since he found a secret in his dad's Expo diorama, some 30 year previous than his son would need it to power a suit made of iron and save his life? Plot holes! And the real villain is a man in a suit, a well tailored suit, but a suit nonetheless. Same as the first movie, just a bit different since we don't see Sam Rockwell donning powered armor and trying to destroy his rival for corporate and person gains. Eh.... regardless this is still an action-packed film that is very fun for kids and adults, though there will be lingering questions laying dormant for years to come, failing to ever rest permanently. C'est la vie.
The BluRay on the other hand is simply fantastic, starting with the terrific presentation. The 1080p 2.35 image is truly to die for, offering us a heavily detailed, sharp, colorful and well-defined image that doesn't have one noticeable flaw, at least none that I could see. The audio raises the roof and shakes the foundation to its very core with the 5.1 DTS-HD getting down and dirty with every line of dialogue being fully fleshed out, every explosion being loud yet surrounding the viewer accurately and every AC/DC song coming through in stunning lossless audio. A true demo-worthy disc, even 6 years after the film left theatres and landed on home video.
The extras are the true meat and potatoes to this package, split over 3-disc filled with hours of extras and most, if not all, in HD. Disc one starts off with an audio commentary with director Jon Favreau. Thankfully included here (Since the only flaw of the first film's disc was the lack of a commentary), Favreau is a very enthusiastic delving into his involvement in the sequel, alternate opening details, story, acting, and more. A very likable commentary from a very likable guy, so much so I offered to buy him a beer, though he was just a recorded voice. Next up is a PiP mode called S.H.I.E.L.D. Data Vault, which can be viewed over the film in a mode called Footage Scan Mode or by itself in a mode called The Vault. Both contain the same footage, just different ways of viewing and contains data on Stark, weaponry, armor and more.Disc one concludes with PiP storyboard Pre-Viz and animatics that compare and contrast paper, to computer to silver screen.
Disc two is where the real fun begins, starting with Ultimate Iron Man: The Making of Iron Man 2 is a four-part documentary, lasting nearly 90 minutes, detailing everything from comic book influences, casting choices, story, costumes, sets and much, much more! A truly essential watch for everyone wanting to know all things Iron Man 2 (Note: all four can either be played separately or all together for one documentary). 6 featurettes follow and titled as follows:
- Creating Stark Expo - A 6-minute featurette about the creation of... you guessed it.. the Stark Expo
- Practical Meets Digital - An 8 minute feature about how they seamlessly combined practical, on set effects with digital effects, including some nice footage of Downey, Jr. mostly wearing a mocap suit since being in a full-on suit would be costly and impractical.
- Illustrated Origin: Nick Fury - A 6 minute talk about the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Illustrated Origin: Black Widow - A 3 minute talk about Black Widow
- Illustrated Origin: War Machine- Another 3 minutes learning about War Machine/Iron Patriot
- Practical Meets Digital - An 8 minute feature about how they seamlessly combined practical, on set effects with digital effects, including some nice footage of Downey, Jr. mostly wearing a mocap suit since being in a full-on suit would be costly and impractical.
- Illustrated Origin: Nick Fury - A 6 minute talk about the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Illustrated Origin: Black Widow - A 3 minute talk about Black Widow
- Illustrated Origin: War Machine- Another 3 minutes learning about War Machine/Iron Patriot
... and last but not least...
- Working with DJ AM - A short, 2 minute talk about the late DJ,
Next up art 11 concept art galleries featuring set designs, costumes, armor drawing, unused concepts and more. 8 deleted scenes (w/ optional Favreau commentary) are next, lasting 17 minutes and offering the alternate opening talked about in the commentary (Not as good as the one from The Incredible Hulk), followed by 3 trailers for the film, the video game trailer and opening scene from the game and a trailer for the then upcoming Avengers Animated, and concluding disc 2 is the music video to Shoot to Thrill by AC/DC.
Moving on to disc 3 is the DVD which also houses the digital copy of the film. The DVD lacks the commentary from the standalone 1-disc version (A 2-disc version was also released, the last for a Marvel film, which had 2 featurettes, deleted scenes w/ commentary, music video and the digital copy and is totally not recommended unless you want a scant amount of extras without upgrading to HD, then by all means) but still plays very well as a DVD with great picture and sound in its own right, and even looks HD in certain parts upconverted on my HDTV.
The packaging does include a nice slipcover, though is just a recreation of the box art and doesn't stand out amongst the Iron Man set with the slip being the Iron Man suit and the box art containing Tony with a reflective arc reactor in the center, or The Increbile Hulks lenticular slipcover and Mountain Dew green BluRay case. All in all, a great set for your money with great specs and a bounty of extras to spend hours exploring every nook and cranny for input about Iron Man 2. Or if you don't care about extras, there is also a single disc release that just contains Disc 1 and the extras included on the disc. Even as a demo disc, this belongs in every library, its that amazing.
I will return for Thor!
Coming Soon.
My Best Buy number: 0751976050
I would recommend this to a friend!
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5
A great start to the MCU!!!!!
on March 30, 2016
Posted by: cornjakecake
from Huntington, WV
I remember 8 years ago, comic book movie, while growing in popularity over the years (Superman from 1978, Batman from 1989, Blade from 1998, X-Men from 2000 and finally Spider-Man in 2002) with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Bryan Singer's 2 X-Men films (Let's forget about X3 for a spell) set the stage for critical and commercial success, but Marvel still wanted to do something that it had done years prior in paper & ink form, which was to create a universe and populate it with their characters (Those that it held rights to, so no X-Men, Punisher, Daredevil crossovers just yet) which for the time being was a huge gamble. Marvel created its own film unit, received $500 million in credit and have Kevin Feige at the head of it all. Iron Man was announced first as the "big bang" of the MCU, so to speak, which was followed by a collective "Huh?!" since Iron Man was a little known character outside the comics and seemed like the universe had ended, just as it started. Then, Jon Favreau was chosen to direct. Yet again, same response since he was mainly known for acting in Swingers, and directing comedic and family films such as Elf and Zathura. Then, recently cleaned up actor Robert Downey, Jr. was cast to star as Tony Stark, ahead of superstar Tom Cruise and many others. I wasn't hugely interested in this film at first, mainly diverting my time to Raimi's Spider-Man films and Nolan's Batman films with the rest of my time split between work and video games. 2008 came, saw a trailer for Iron Man, after pretty much forgetting it existed, and was instantly hooked. The trailer showed us the main setup, some laughs, good action and a great look at the amazing looking CGI. May couldn't come sooner, and was excited to see it, though I eventually waited until the DVD hit the shelves in September of that year. The mail came in that day, I saw a red envelope from Netflix, knowing good and well that Iron Man was finally in my grasp. I turned on my PS2 (Yes, I still played my PS2 in 2008) loaded in the disc and sat there for 2 glorious hours, transfixed on the beauty that is Iron Man. I instantly had to know more about the MCU, also knowing there was a new Hulk film out as well, also part of the MCU, and started eagerly awaiting every trailer, news article and magazine with a few snaps of photos and tidbits for info. 8 years later, I still do the same, awaiting new stuff for Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange coming out later in 2016. First things first, this is the movie that made Robert Downey, Jr. a star, well not just a star, but a living legend and today one of the highest paid actors in the world. And for good reason, he knocks the tole out of the park. His Tony Stark is smarmy, brilliant, rich, funny, and more and RDJ just makes the part his own. He knows that he is all these things, but I love how he turns himself around, actually caring for a cause to stop the spread terror and violence and actually makes us care for Tony. Bravo! And the direction is also surprisingly light hearted when its needed, but also emotional and dark when needed. Everything else from supporting performances (James Bridges to Gwyneth Paltrow to even the voice of Paul Bettany as J.A.R.V.I.S.) are exceptional. Cinematography, the score, sound and visual effects are truly top notch and still hold up almost a decade later. Only the story is a flawed that has two fantastic act of Tony being captured and escaping his kidnapping, and building and mastering his Iron Man suit but then it collapses on itself with a rushed and underdeveloped third act, but then it ends with probably on of the best closing lines ever that I will not spoil for those who have yet to see this film. Truly amazing film. Moving on to the BluRay itself, the PQ/AQ are stunning, with sharp, colorful and detailed image that still stands up almost a decade later with the image free from any major problems ,and ,for that matter, minor issues as well with grain kept level and detailed throughout with only a few spikes during the darker scenes, but even the it still avoids the look of bees swarming the cave. The sound is turned up to 11 with great surround usage, deep and rumbling bass response and may knock off unsecured items off the walls, its that good (and Oscar-nominated!). Of course, the final area is the extras, and here's where the disappointment starts. In 2008, the film came in 4 varieties to watch, a 1 and 2 disc DVD and a 1 and 2 disc BluRay. Unfortunately, Paramount (and now Disney) pitched the second disc and the cool slipcover in favor of this one-disc release. Even though this lacks the second disc full of amazing extras (Luckily found a 2-disc BluRay with slips extremely cheap) the one-disc will suit those who just wants the film and nothing more. The biggest and best extra is the over-20 minutes of deleted scenes which were rightfully yanked from the film, but shines some light on some lightened or completely removed subplots from the film. Next up is the Hall of Armor which is a showcase of the different suits used in the film. The Invincible Iron Man is a series of biographies about the origins of Iron Man and his place in comic book history. Lastly is a BD-Live feature called Iron Man IQ which are just a series of quizzes, from the content producers and user created content. I really wish they would re-release this film on BluRay, not only with the 2nd disc included but also include the 2008 commentary recorded live (Wasn't included on either format, but still worth a listen!) and a new commentary by Marvel and Jon Favreau. All in all, worth a purchase just for the movie itself, but don't pay $20+ just for the 1-disc release, search for the 2-disc edition for the same price, you'll thank me for it.
My Best Buy number: 0751976050
I would recommend this to a friend!
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Canon PIXMA All-in-One Printer: With print speeds up to 8 ISO ppm in black and up to 4 ISO ppm in color*, this all-in-one printer lets you tackle large documents with ease. The 3-in-1 functionality lets you quickly print, scan and copy text and photos.
Customer Rating
4
A good, solid budget photo printer
on January 25, 2016
Posted by: cornjakecake
from Huntington, WV
My HP 1010 printer (Which had no scanner or copy functions) finally died out, after 4 years of faithful service so I decided to look around for a good replacement. I prefer HP printers, with their high quality ink and printers and their capabilities (The HP Instant Ink program is also nice hook) but I couldn't find a decent one for under $50 without sacrificing a huge drop in print quality and lacking certain features. So, after looking high and low, I looked for a different brand, as hard as it was for me. Epson was ok, but ink was very expensive and the yield was very mediocre, Brothers are great at laser printing, but not much else, and then I saw this printer from Canon. It was small enough for my space, has a nice design to it, capable of printing high quality photos (This is the PIXMA series printer after all!) scanning is nice an quiet and you can set it to print quietly as well if you like. Even the ink is a very nice quality and fairly cheap ($17.99 for black, around $22 for the tri-color cartridge). The only disadvantages are the lack of a WiFi connection (Saw an HP printer for $20 on Walmart.com that had this but has been sold out for some time), no included USB 2.0 cable (Luckily I had one from my last printers) and the print speed is fairly slow (8 ppm black, 4 ppm for color). The software that is included (Either use the included CD-ROM or just go on the website to download the drivers, which is also compatible with Windows 10!) is fairly mediocre as well,but for $30, it does what I need it to, and then some. Total recommend for those just looking for a casual print job, and the occasional photo.
My Best Buy number: 075197605
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+16points
16of 16voted this as helpful.
Customer Rating
4
Great movie for the price!
on April 13, 2013
Posted by: cornjakecake
from Huntington, WV
This movie is pretty much a crass American Graffiti with a huge lack of story and cohesion. Of course, beyond those negatives, the film feels like a product of the 1960's pre-war America, and it is pretty hilarious to boot. Most of the actors in the film are given characters with just one dimensions, and only a select few rise above the material. Robert Wuhl is hilarious as Newbomb Turk, who is the head of the dying Knights gang, who has a great rendition of "Volare". If anything, the film is worth watching for the nostalgia of those from the past and the crass humor. It's cheap enough time waster and a good time above everything.
My Best Buy number: 751976050
What's great about it: Funny all around.
What's not so great: The story
I would recommend this to a friend!
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