3.42
DVD quick review: LOTR- RETURN OF THE KING
by David Blackwell
ANALYSIS: RETURN OF THE KING is a great end to one of the best book to film adaptations of a book trilogy
ever. However the movie does suffer from the same flaw that Fellowship of the Ring has- the pacing could have been tightened
and the movie would have been better with ten minutes edited out (The Two Towers had the best editing (pacing) out of the
three movies). The last 20 minutes felt choppy, but I think the pacing and such will be fixed by the Extended Edition at the
end of the year.
VIDEO/AUDIO: The video is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture is clear and sharp. The colors
are good while the blacks are deep. There are no picture artifacts.
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround sound or Stereo Surround Sound with the option of
English or Spanish subtitles (or English Close Captions). the audio is nice and rich. You can hear the dialogue very well,
but five percent of the dialogue is muffled a little bit by the loud music at times.
The Special Features on disc two will be reviewed at a later date due to the content I'm working on at the
moment and the stuff I have planned for this summer in form of reviews and articles.
this review is (c)6-7-2004 David Blackwell and this review cannot be reprinted without permission. send all
comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com and look for additional content at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia
DVD Review: PAYCHECK
by David Blackwell
ANALYSIS: PAYCHECK is a competent movie, but it is a paint by numbers action ride. I miss the days of great
John woo movies like HARD BOILED and THE KILLER. Are Woo's best movies behind him? I would have probably enjoyed the characters
played by Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman better if they weren't played by Ben and Uma. PAYCHECK does start out a little slow,
but the pace does pick-up after everything is set-up for the main plot.
VIDEO/AUDIO: Dolby Digital is available in English and French 5.1 Surround, and English Dolby surround. The
only subtitles available alas are English.
SPECIAL FEATURES. There are two commentary tracks (one by director John Woo and the other by screenwriter
Dean Georgaris). There are two featurettes. One is Tempting Fate: The Stunts of Paycheck which goes into the stunts of the
movie. The other featurette is PAYCHECK: DESIGNING THE FUTURE. This featurette features interviews from the cast and crew,
production design photos, and pre-production artwork.
Previews included are SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMMORROW, TIMELINE, and two others.
MENU DESIGN: Very cool. Nice interactive video file format as you see various bits from the movie played in
a continuous loop to some music from the movie. The movie chapters are timecoded numbered in the scene selection submenu.
FINAL ANALYSIS: PAYCHECK is an OK movie, but it shows that John Woo could be doing much better as a director
as I wait for Woo to recapture the glory of great films like Hard Boiled and The Killer.
this review is (c)6-14-2004 David Blackwell and this review cannot be reprinted without permission. send all
comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com and look for additional content at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia
