Conviction

Guilty Of Being Quality Entertainment--BBC's "Conviction" Is A Gritty Exploration Of Regret, Duty, And Loyalty
I'll be the first one to tell you--I'm sophisticated and classy. You know why? I watch BBCAmerica, and the Brits--they are the leaders of urbane and upscale entertainment. If you need any convincing, just watch an episode of "Footballer's Wives," "Mile High," or "Bad Girls." Of course, I'm kidding. These shows are brassy, bawdy, and loaded with bad behavior! But, you know what, they are also filled with life. They embrace their nastiness wholeheartedly and make no apologies for being pure popcorn entertainment. With language and nudity not permitted by American networks, it seems as if the genre of nighttime soaps has been revitalized by Britain. But that's not all BBCAmerica has to offer, they are just the shows that helped the network grow in popularity. Some other intriguing entries that recently aired in the US are on their way to DVD--there is a new hip take on "Robin Hood," the supernatural "Hex," and the complex crime story "Conviction." So beware! The British are...

Great British Crime and punishment movie
The movie is a Who don' it? to the very end. I have watched it many times over.

Beware the first episode BUT don't give up
This is quite funny really. I had had this series ordered on NETFLIX for over 3 months and it said LONG WAIT I got tired of waiting so I bought this copy. I watched the first episode and HATED IT thought it was CRAP very badly constructed disjointed just awful' despite the graphic OMG twist So I threw it aside and quit.... HOWEVER bored a few days later because U had nothing to watch I tried episode two (this is a 6 part series) and it was MUCH better. There seemed to be a more coherent thought process and the story began to become interesting. By the end I had really quite enjoyed it. SO here's the funny part when I went to put it on my DVD shelf I ALREADY owned it I kept thinking I had seen it before OH well LOL. Not the best I have ever seen but quite entertaining.

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Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Vol. 1 - Gathering of Fates

Wonderful introduction to the world of anime
Outside of watching Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon with my son I really haven't watched any anime for myself. However, when I discovered that the manga of Tsubasa that I had just started reading was also an anime I was determined to check it out. After getting past the initial sticker shock for anime in general I picked up this first volume. I wasn't at all disappointed, except perhaps by the fact that it ended.

The anime has presented an entirely different way of viewing these characters. Right from the opening credits I've loved everything about the anime. The music is great and everything is so colorful, a huge departure from the black and white panels of the manga (not that I don't enjoy the manga, I do, this is just so different!) Fai in particular has such a cute personality and I love the interactions between him, Kurogane and Mokono. It seems a wonderful balance between humor and drama and I'm really looking forward to watching more of this series!

Great because it doesn't try to be
First of all, I love everything CLAMP has ever made, so there was no way I was going to miss this release. But I don't think I'm biased when I say that this is a good show for anyone to watch. Fans of the original manga might be disappointed by animation, which is about average and could have been better, but they'll still enjoy the creativity and beauty of the different worlds that Syaoran and his companions travel to. The characters are what really make Tsubasa worthwhile, and the English dub does an excellent job of bringing out their often hilarious personalities. My favorites are the voices of Tomoyo and Fay, who is voiced by fan-favorite Vic Mignogna (Edward in Fullmetal Alchemist).

The only downside to Tsubasa is that it's plot starts out rather predictable, but that gets better later on in this season. The simplicity of this series is actually what makes it appealing. The innocent love between the two leads is a bit corny, but at the same time oddly heartwarming. I...

Better than the Original!
This first DVD features the first whopping five episodes of the series (take that Region 2!) which introduces us to all the main characters and takes them on their first adventure to the world of Hanshin.

Having watched the series during it's original run on Japanese TV and being sorely disappointed with several of the voice actors (I'm looking at you Sakura, Fai and Kurogane!) I was looking forward to hearing the English actors and what they would do with their roles and man, not only was I pleasantly surprised... I was ECSTATIC!!! The English voice actors not only manage to match the characters but they also achieve something the Japanese actors couldn't: giving their characters personalities!

The Japanese Sakura has always been, for me, an example of one of the most boring portrayals of an anime character. The actress always came across as rather weak and wispy and this even includes the scenes before Sakura lost her features where she was supposed to be full...

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Dark Corners

Hell Awaits...
I enjoy movies that I can't figure out immediately. I also like movies that are a bit odd, off-kilter so to speak. You know, films like MEMENTO, HEADSPACE, JACOB'S LADDER, CARNIVAL OF SOULS, etc. Well, DARK CORNERS fits right in with these other classics of bleakess and dread! Thora Birch (American Beauty, Ghost World, The Hole) plays the dual role of Susan- in the sunny, happy world of light, and Karen- in the darkworld of nightmare. I was perplexed by what connection there could possibly be between these two women. I was pleasantly stunned by the answers at the end! The last movie to make my jaw drop (in a good way) was HIGH TENSION. DARK CORNERS had that same twisty, grabber of a finalé for me. So, if you are a fan of the macabre, weird, or creepy, then this one will be a treat...

Better than average horror cheap flick with GREAT nightmares
I sometimes have really vivid nightmares that are similar to the somber world the protagonist finds herself in when she sleeps. Those sequences come closer to the look and feel of the sort of nightmare where everything seems sort of off key and grotesque than anything I've seen except maybe parts of Jacob's Ladder. If your significant other tends towards dreams of peaceful meadows with happy bunnies (OK, I admit I'm being sarcastic), but never has nightmares, and just doesn't understand why you sometimes wake up shaking and on the edge of tears from a harmless little dream, show him this.

I noticed the director is British. I wonder if a little of that is flavored by C.S. Lewis's Great Divorce, such as the bus trip with one end in Hell.

Strong Women in Peril - Again
Thanks to Thora this is much better than average. A weird dual world theme is explored in this clever but not great scare film. The script and direction are just okay. Nice look too. Not too graphic, more of a suspenseful mind game. A good example of the lead raising the whole production. Also see the obscure "Left in Darkness" for another good but not great film with a strong female part.

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Cutthroat Island

Swashbuckling fun at its best!
Pure joy for fans of old fashioned sea adventure and entertaining, if stereotypical, peg-legged, eye-patched pirates shouting "Arr!", this movie does not pretend to be anything else than it is - great fun based on popular legends and beliefs rather than the facts on pirate lives. And so much the better! Non-stop action, fantastic score, breathtaking sceneries and props, adequately fun script, and, yes, even good acting (to my surprise, Geena Davis actually managed to deliver a good performance!). Frank Langella is almost as good a pirate as Walter Matthau was in Roman Polanski's equally underrated pirate classic. Hearing various bad comments about the movie, I had low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that the bad reviews and comments were simply unfair. Apparently, critics these days follow one another in "their" opinions rather than actually watching the movies, and people are looking for violence and blood of "Dobermann" kind...

Great swashbuckling fun!
This film features everything a good pirate flick should: stormy seas, a spectacular naval battle, a sexy pirate captain (Geena Davis) and buried treasure complete with a treasure map written in latin (the preferred language of pirates).

This is one of the few times I've seen Davis in a leading role; normally, she is a supporting actress. She pulls it off quite well, although in a couple of scenes her acting is a bit wooden. Frank Langella stands out as an old-salt, ruthless pirate while Matthew Modine is great as the movie's comic relief.

What really makes this movie worth buying, tho, is just how well done it is. The 17th century sets are lavish - you feel as tho you are back in the period in which the movie takes place. The soundtrack is riveting, and I found the sound of the DVD quite excellent. Not sure if they did anything different than they do with other DVDs, but it sure seemed like the audio was a notch above most DVDs - esp in the storm sequence.

This is the...

Lots of fun for a rather mediocre movie
Cutthroat Island is not a great movie by any means. But it is a lot of fun if you enjoy pirate treasure, sea battles, sword fighting, a great soundtrack, and wonderful period costumes. The script is pretty weak and much of the acting is wooden. Worse yet, it seems that no one learned anything from Errol Flynn's The Sea Hawk because they once again include a rather annoying monkey as comedy relief. But what they do right is what makes this movie worth watching. The film wonderfully recreates the 17th century Caribbean world of the pirates and is probably the most realistic looking realization of this time and place to date. The actual portrayal of the pirates themselves owes more to "Treasure Island" and "Peter Pan" than "The American Sea Rovers", but there is definately something compelling in the romantic myth of the golden age of piracy. The pirate movie has suffered in recent years and Cutthroat will probably do nothing to revive it, which is...

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Henry Rollins: Uncut from NYC

More from Henry's Never Ending Stream of Contentiousness
Once again, Henry Rollins doesn't just get in your face, but he's all over it. His never ending stream of contentiousness is captured for an evening once again for his 2006 DVD. HenRoll's got some great stories that I could listen to him tell over and over, just like you would for a good buddy recanting the war stories from the good old days.

A lot of these spoken word/talking shows seem interchangeable to me, where if you like one, you'll like the next -- and I do like them. Not as many bonus features as "Up for It" had; but ironically, there was a featurette of cut clips from the Uncut performance... wha? Oh well, stuff like that just happens sometimes.

Not his best material, but worth watching again and again
If angry, nihilistic punk rock grew up and broke out of its anti-social niche of non-conformity and joined the trendy attire wearing, coffee klatch gossiping, restaurant hopping, Whole Foods shopping, globe trotting, book inhaling world of current 'It-ness,' we would get something that looks and sounds a lot like the post-Black Flag/Rollins Band Henry Rollins. Ever the contrarian, Henry 2.0 channels his rage and indignation into spoken-word keen observations about every type of conceivable pet-peevish thing that irks the hell out of him. Henry admits that he is an angry man but says his urge to rip apart every stupid thing he hates with colorful words and sentences also motivates him to keep living, travelling, reading, learning, seeing, smelling, eating, tasting and breathing. In "Uncut from NYC" Rollins takes us on a tour of the Trans Siberian Railway, he delineates and laments the humanoid creatures popping up across the land which he calls Wal-Martians, and he fires hard-edged...

Uncut laughter
This show is one of Henry's best so far. With the same gripping intensity and humor as "shock and awe" he delivers one sharp-edged obeservation after the other. With fire and intensity he has created a show worth remembering.

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Ultimate Fighting Championship, Vol. 64: Unstoppable

Great card and ignore the guy who says the image is bad
This was a good card with two title fights and a solid undercard. Ignore the other reviewer who gave it one star because of the image quality. It is fine and he probably got a bad copy of it.

WOW
UFC 64
UNSTOPPABLE

This was a very historic event in my mind, mainly because of the huge upset that regardless of what people say now was not expected.

1.KURT PELLEGRINO VS JUNIOR ASSUNCAO-this was a quick opening fight to the event with a great rear naked choke applied by Kurt. Junior did the best he could in this one but he was over come early by Kurt. A great quick opening bout.5/5

2.CLAY GUIDA VS JUSTIN JAMES-the first round of this fight was amazing, both of these guys came to fight and win. It was back and forth between these two the entire round, Clay even gets caught in a deadly arm bar yet slips out. The second round was just as exciting as it went back and forth until it had 20 seconds left in the round. That is were it ended with Clay getting the win with a nice rear naked choke.5/5

3.YUSHIN OKAMI VS KALIB STARNES-good enough first round between these two as most of it is just a feeling out process. Other then a few kicks and...

OH MAN!
As a UFC fan, this event had some good fights. I bought it while I was away from home and t.v so I started collecting all of the UFC's. It became just another DVD to the collection.

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Air Gear, Vol. 3: A New Legacy

Air Gear
I was bored and running out of cash at the time. The only anime I didn't have that I could afford was Air Gear. Air Gear is a pretty good show. I was quite surprised. It's more of an anime about beating up street gangs who just happen to ride roller blades with electric motors in them. I used to ride roller blades in middle school but I never associated it with being tough. These guys and girls really stick it to each other.

The main character, Ikki, lives with a family of sisters. He is a delinquent in a street gang. One day he finds a pair of "At's" in one of his housemates rooms. The story is about him climbing to the top of the AT battle world with his friends.

This series has a lot to offer. It has action, comedy, drama, and a bit of romance. Not as much as Ikki would like though. The animation is good and so is the soundtrack. It has a different kind vibe to it. It's very pop culture oriented and there is a descent amount of fan service. My only complaint...

Very pretty
Bought this disc to get it signed, and I loved it. Very cute, shiny... Basically everything I could ask for.

ADV's best series yet!
Air Gear vol. 3 is a noteworthy buy since its where the series really picks up the pace. New characters and plot revelations kept me in my seat. I couldnt belive it and the great sense of humor that the first two installments brought is still intact and just as funny. The action gets turned up a notch and the new characters add a real twist to the plot of the story and the main characters.

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