Monday, September 30, 2013

Death in Love



Not a "pretty picture" but raw with battered feelings and bodies. For one who loves acting and storytelling without censoring.
Honestly, I rented this because I find Josh Lucas to have an emotional honesty lacking in most actors and I look for his work. He did not disappoint, nor did the rest of the cast. I had an instinct that this film would be hard to watch because I countered it with "Have you heard about the Morgans"..so I was not wrong to pair it with this film. It has a rare sexual rawness that is disturbing, and images of concentration camp experiments that sicken your heart. For all the nakedness and sex, it actually told an important part of the story for a change. It's about how the horror of one young woman's experience of being abandoned by her family in Nazi Germany, to be put in a concentration camp, falling in love with a German doctor, abandoned again, then how it affects her two sons lives years later. It is a film that left ME to think through what I saw, and it brought up feelings about my own experiences, and it left me feeling like I'd seen a story told which has the potential to...

Trapped people
This film is not for every one becouse it will shock,offend,and psychologically assult you. It might even show you the dark place you might be in but dont want to see and what could happen if you don't get out of it. If you are attracted to films that are psychologically dark, surreal,and uncompromising like the works of Luis Buneul, David Lynch, and Claude Chabral then this film is for you. This films commentary is a must listen to if what the film is about flew over your head. I viewed it on blu ray its a bit grainy but if you get engrossed in the story like i did you will not notice it.

Very difficult film, a non BD
Normally I would not rate a BD this high if it has nothing to offer for hidef clarity and sound, but the performances by everyone here make it a higher rating. The content is extremely disturbing, from that beginning montage of lovemaking and human butchery, to that last scene of misery, pain and release. I had been warned ahead of time to expect extreme dysfunction in all of the relationships shown, from the concentration camps to 1990s NY, so hopefully this will help a little.

The story follows a concentration camp survivor, later played by Bisset, who with her two sons (played very well by Brody and Lucas) fill a life of guilt, morose relationships and shallow emotions. As the story progresses we are intermittently subjected to harsh visuals from the war years to modern day abusive lovemaking. A difficult watch through and through, but it should not detract from the believability of the performances. The BD clarity is non-existent in all scenes, with prevalent grain and...

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Invention of Lying, The



I truly did not think Hollywood could make a movie of this caliber
Wow. I was totally blown away. The last thing I actually expect Hollywood to do nowadays is make a movie that is thought provoking, tackles some truly profound issues about the human condition, and is funny to boot.

Ricky Gervais has won instant respect for me. I bet a friend before coming to Amazon (I rented the Blu-ray on Netflix) that there would be a bunch of 1 star reviews. And that none of them would actually be about the film per se or its quality but would be religious peoplem who, get offended when someone asks them to think about what they say they believe and why.

Gervais ends up examining 2 aspects of the human condition, lying and religion. What would a world be like where people simply not only did not but could not lie. You get a number of humorous situations from this. It makes you think about the role of 'social lying' in particular. Manners, in a way, for lack of a better word

Now on to religion. I think Gervais hit on 2 issues that...

Truly spectacular--but in an odd sense
This film plays out like a British reality TV show. It just feels a bit off, but bear with it. That is part of its charm. Around 37 minutes into it (if memory serves), "WHAM!", it follows true reality and goes completely off script. That's all I can tell you. But here's why you really need to see this movie:

It's pure genius. The whole of it has a rather laid back feel, and the pacing is more a nice leisurely stroll through the park on a warm Autumn day than a Jason Bourne movie or the latest Transformers (both of which I enjoyed, but have nothing more to do with this review). This film draws you in slowly. For some of you it may seem a bit dry and boring, even pedantic at first--stay with it! This is the evolution of personal existence. This is real life as it happens. We go through our days performing our daily rituals and fulfilling our self-imposed duties and then we see something shiny and we pick it up, and suddenly the world starts to find color. This shiny new thing...

Funny but flawed
If the Amazon reviewing system let me give half stars, I would give this 3.5. 3 feels too low for it, but I just can't bring myself to give out a 4. This movie has a fantastic premise - nobody is capable of lying, which gives for some funny lines and great situations. What brought down the star rating was the ending, which to me, felt very cliched.

One thing I can say is that it'd be great if the ads had more truth in them. I loved the way ads were presented in the movie, especially the Coke ad and the guy being all like, it's sweet brown water' and what not. The Pepsi bus ad was also funny, and the labels given to places often feel rather more appropriate than the ones we give them.

That there was no religion in this movie before is a simple and efficient truth - no one knows for sure that god is real, and if we could only speak the truth and nothing but, then the BS connected with religion would just disappear. This movie isn't so much a comedy as it's a...

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Dorf: Super Fan Collection



Blast from the past!
Overall satisfied, but there are no chapter divisions in the individual shows. They are also on one disc that comes in a paper cd envelope just inserts inside the disk box. The video quality is good, and I would still purchase it.

Comedy Deluxe
Anything Tim Conway does is funny, especially the Dorf series.

Thank you for offering this to us Conway fans.

Not All Boring
Dorf on golf is really cute, but the subsequent themes were extremely boring. We kept waiting for the "funny parts", then (finally) ejected the disc to end our brain drain.
If you're buying this for the golf video, it may be fine, but don't expect much beyond that.

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Pandorum



Scary, creepy Sci-Fi...I liked it!
The year is 2174. The population of Earth has reached over 24 billion. Famine and wars are commonplace. In a last ditch effort to save humankind, we send out a probe to find a planet that can sustain us. The mission is a success, though it will take over a hundred years to reach the new home...

Fast forward:

Two men wake up from deep sleep; alone, disoriented and suffering from memory loss. As their recollections slowly return, they realize they are part of the space ship crew navigating 60,000 settlers from Earth to the new planet. They have questions, but few answers. Where is everyone? How long have they been asleep? Why are they awake? Who's on bridge, flying the machine? And finally, once they discover they are NOT alone: what are those things, and where did they come from?!

Butterflies in my stomach? Check. Nails (my own ;o)) digging into my arm? Check. Conversing with friends about the movie long after the end? Check. All are side effects of a...

Creepy And Atmospheric!!
So many people these days want to do movie comparisons with just about every new title that's released...here is another one getting that same treatment. These are the movies I have seen this one compared to: "Alien," "Solaris," "Event Horizon," and "2001: A Space Odyssey." This flagrant need to compare movies is largely due, in my opinion, to Hollywood's decade long quandary with not being able to come up with much new material...everything has already been done...and everyone has been conditioned to not expect anything new from that corner of the planet. Well, I'm not buyin' it! Books pour out of author's imaginations and onto the shelves of our local bookstores on a daily basis, and they are ALL different from the next. If book writers can do it, then I'm sure movie writers can do it as well. And this movie is no exception. It has plenty of newness to it. As a matter of fact, once you get through the creepy and atmospheric body of "Pandorum," which takes place on a...

I did not expect it to be this good. Worth your money.
See the movie BELOW, about the WW2 submarine? A sleeper right? Seeing this with low expectations reminded me of seeing that with low expectations. Especially when the ending credits came up and I realized that they made it all the way to the end without losing it.

When I first saw the trailers for Pandorum I said (as it seems a few others did), well, I gotta see it but it's probably another Event Horizon or an Aliens(1 or 2) ripoff attempt or a space zombie "bug hunt". (And I joked with my wife that Quaid must need some quick cash to re-do his basement or something, and he'd probably be killed off in the third scene when it's too late to get your ticket money back.)

Not that there's anything wrong with any of those things, Event Horizon was good for the first half till it overexplained the obvious, Aliens 1/2 were classics that deserve homage and Resident Evil (1 and 3) were great zombie fun with excellent fight dancing. (And every actor is human with human...

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How to Make Pierogi



Agree with First Reviewer. Excellent Chef/Teacher and Good Pianist too
I love Susan's Cooking School videos. Some are on Youtube too. She is an excellent teacher. I also like that cooking is done in a regular kitchen rather than some glossed up set. The music that accompanies this video is lovely. Watching her knead dough is measmerizing. You can tell she knows what she is doing. HIghly recommended.

Surprisingly Good Video and Instructions
This cooking instructional video is very helpful. I'm not a good cook at all, and I'm not even someone who enjoys cooking. By some random chance, I happen to find this video (I mainly use Amazon's Video on Demand to rent movies), and I watched the free preview. That enticed me to actually purchase the full video.

The reason I really like this video is that the cook (the lady in the video) does things and explains them in a way that you couldn't possibly mess up. I also like that this video isn't very "Hollywood-ish" (you know, with audience members and a super-slick kitchen). This is filmed (and I'm guessing) in the lady's own home kitchen. I like that, it is more down-to-earth.

The recipe looks really good. I haven't gotten around to try cooking it. But I am confident it will turn out pretty good. Her instructions are quite clear and detailed. I wish she posts more videos on Amazon. But she does post some videos on YouTube (not this one though). But her...



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Hunter: The Complete First Season



A classic 80's police drama...
Nominated for three Emmys, Hunter stands out as one of the premiere action police dramas of the 1980s. Just as Tom Selleck's on-camera charisma carried Magnum, P.I. through nine highly-rated seasons, Fred Dryer's knack for drawing an audience to his unique persona carried an otherwise lackluster series through much of the decade. The brainchild of Frank Lupo, creator of The A-Team (1982) and writer for such hit series as Battlestar Galactica (1978), Magnum, P.I. (1980), and Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), Hunter is built on the clichéd concept of a rogue cop who breaks the rules and takes justice into his own hands. Dryer does well in his role as the Clint Eastwood of the small screen, yet the show's writers give him little to work with in terms of a highly developed character and, as the seasons pass, the plot becomes quite formulaic. Nevertheless, Hunter is pure mind-numbing police chase entertainment with the added element of nostalgia for those who long for the 1980s when...

Original music replaced with a horrible generic soundtrack!
The original music for each season of Hunter has been removed and replaced with generic music. Many consumers buy old TV shows such as Hunter because of the nostalgia value. When totally generic music and bland vocals erupt where there was once the popular music of the era, the scene is completey ruined. The new soundtrack is quite horrible and ruins the mood and much of the nostalgia value of quite a few episodes.

These DVD sets are cheap, and it's fun to see the episodes with a high quality picture, but whoever was in charge of changing the soundtrack should be fired!

Note:

It isn't a matter of COST for the studio to get the rights to the original music, it's a question of GREED concerning profit margins. VEI (an excellent company) released all THREE seasons of Hardcastle and McCormick (Another great Stephen J. Cannell TV series), quickly, and with all the original music. In comparison, Anchor Bay has RUINED every single Stephen J. Cannell release by...

Works for me..
Hunter was probably my favourite cop show growing up in the 80s. It had a much grittier edge than a lot of it's contemporaries, and the interplay between Hunter and McCall was superb. I think it's great that companies are releasing seasons of these old shows, (Knight rider, quantumn leap, Miami Vice etc) and I can't thank Anchor Bay enough for picking this one up. Occasionally looking back on old 80s shows you tend to remember them as being a lot better than they actually are, and can get a bit disappointed when nostalgia induces you to buy an entire season of an old series - but Hunter (along with Tour of Duty, and Miami Vice) is one of those that wil totally live up to how you recall it. I remember havin the wildest crush of Stephanie Kramer too, and sitting through these hugely enjoyable shows again, I totally remembered why.. She's hotter than hot, the action is great, the scripts are fast paced and massively ientertaining. As for the music substitutions (I didn't even know this...

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Naruto: Shippuden, Vol. 5



awesome
if you are looking to purchase this particualr series of Narto i would suggest to check out the original Naruto so you are not completely lost. if you have all ready seen the original Naruto then please get the Naruto: Shippuden series.





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Rifftrax: Planet of Dinosaurs - from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000!



Jurassic Jerks!
How Mystery Science Theater 3000 missed skewering this movie is a mystery to me. The Rifftrax trio of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett do an outstanding job of tearing this movie apart, much the same way that the stop-motion dinosaurs tear their victims apart. One pointless shot of the sun in the sky elicited this memorable comment. "Hi. This is God. Watch me mess with these chuckleheads!" The only way anyone can sit through this movie of space shipwrecked survivors wandering around aimlessly, periodically stopping for rest periods, and occasionally getting killed, is by enjoying the riffs of the Rifftrax trio.

Yet Another Gem
"Halt, who plods there?" Oh I know, a bunch of hairy people from late 70s public television... all to the wonderful sounds of painfully awful synthesizer music. If you like watching people walk around while not really doing anything, then it's the greatest movie you've ever seen. On the other hand, it's much more fun hearing the gang give it their all they've got. I was very impressed with the job they did this time on the commentary because there is A LOT of downtime in the movie for them to cover and they pull it off wonderfully, even slipping in a callback or two to MST3K episodes. Basically, it's another quality Rifftrax episode that's worth every penny if you like the commentaries they produce.

This is it...
...this is the one that does it.

I've watched quite a few Rifftrax DVDs and, on the whole, I'm rather entertained by them. They're always funny, Mike and Co. always do a good job, but its just not quite the same as MST3k. I don't know what it is exactly, but they always fall just the littlest, tiniest bit short of being as great as MST3k was.

I figured at some point I'd get the DVD that finally brings it up a notch, and this one is it. "Planet Of Dinosaurs" is incredible, and ranks right up there with my favorite MST3k episodes.

The movie is about a marooned spaceship crew that wanders around, fights, complains, wanders around some more, has several rest periods, and occasionally comes up against some dinosaurs. Its prime MST3k material, and Mike, Kevin and Bill just knock it out of the park. It really does measure up with the best of the Sci-Fi years. Rapid fire, super funny, its the best RiffTrax I've seen to date.

If you're mourning...

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Wolverine and the X-Men: Fate of the Future



A review about the reviews
I've seen many reviews on these DVD's, claiming they are "Rip-Off's" and "Wait for the box-set". Now, I do not have satellite, or even cable for that matter. I can't watch this great show on TV.

So (Unlike alot of people, it would seem) I'm willing to push out the 10 bucks every 4 or so months, (I will NOT however, pay the 20 they wanted for the first volume) so I can get five more episodes of this show that I have grown fond of. Besides, I believe the audio commentaries alone are worth the money.

I'll buy this when it comes out. And I'll probably love it like I have the others.

Good adaptation of the X-Men Mythology
This voulume in paticular has my favorite nemesis. The Sentinels! This one is worth getting to see the X-Men battle them to the finish. I was really impressed with the action sequences in this entry. This paticular one gives you five episodes instead of the usual four or three. I do like watching Wolvie being the leader is this story. Scott Summers (Cyclops) turns out to be the brooding outcast in this one. Wolverine and Cyclops switch roles in this universe. The writing was better than the previous voulumes and the interactions between the characters are much better in this set of episodes.

Such amazing art work
This video was well done for an animated video. The art work and animation was well done. These guys and gals who are the artists, are very skillful in their chosen profession. I tip my hat off to you. You do such excellent art work. I wish I had the abilities that they pocess to do this same work and I would love to work for a video animation company. It is very interesting work, I love it.

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Care Bears: Helping Hearts



Care Bears
I grew up with the original plump fluffy care bears in the 80's. This is a more modern version of the care bears. The stories are very cute, teaching little ones to care about other peoples feelings and belongings and about being careful. Each story has a point it's trying to make too. I recommend this for little ones. My 2 year old daughter loves it and I find myself watching and liking it too, especially since I watched the original care bears when I was little. I like this even better.

Care Bears Helping Hearts - Review From H-Town
I purchased this item for my 3 year old daughter. She absolutely loves it. I viewed it with her (in its entirety) and must say I was pleasantly entertained as well. The theme/message with each episode was love & sharing. I recommend this item to all parents with little ones.

Perfect!
I loved the series as a little girl and am thrilled my 2 year old son loves it as well. Each little mini episode has a wonderful story/theme.

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Mist - Sheepdog Tales: The Great Challenge



A delightful DVD in the Mist series.
I would not miss even one of the DVD, Mist-Sheepdog Tales. I wish there were more avilable. I have a Border Collie, and am actually taking lessons in Sheep herding. This makes these stories so special to me. I am 56 years old, and I love Mist. They are heart warming, gut funny, with precision sheep herding. The stories are written with very clever talent by the real owner of Borough Farm in Devon England. The are simply delightful, and perfect for the whole family to watch.
This DVD has Fern learning a lesson,and teaching a lesson, and Mist in her second sheep herding trial, and Jake and a golf ball and his fear of ducks that is a quack up! There is also a story about Macpherson the Ram, and Swift's getting older. These are real sheepdogs, at their real home with their real life Boss(owner). Thank you for asking me to write a review. It was a pleasure.

Mist Sheepdog tales
I'd never seen these before, but being a Border Collie owner and fanatic, I had to order it. Not quite what I expected, but I love it nonetheless. Very cute and fun to watch. Highly recommend.

Great family show!
The Brits have done it again! I am a somewhat biased reviewer as I tend to enjoy BBC programs and other television programs and/or movies that come from Great Britain. That being said, this is one of the most enjoyable DVD's I have seen for children in a long time. I initially rented it on a whim and loved it so much I bought several of the DVD's with multiple episodes. I come from a rural setting, my family actually has sheep, cows, and working dogs, so most "pet" movies drive me crazy. This was so great from the voice talents to the use of real working dogs instead of "actors". I love that you can tell the dogs are actually doing what the show is talking about. This is a great fun alternative to the obnoxious cartoons and boring "talking" dogs that are CG. Great product!

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Sunday, September 29, 2013

Manhattan Merry-Go-Round



Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
3

Let's Grow: Lend a Helping Hand



Great for little minds...easy to understand
This is a fun video for little ones. In Lend A Hand each story concentrates on what it takes to be a friend. What it takes to be helpful and caring. Using great characters like Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina and Barny allows the child to interact and understand the story line.

Our personal favorites were Fireman Sam "Mother's Helper" and Angelina Ballerina "The Ballerina Ragdoll". Learning about fire safety in Mother's Helper was an added bonus to the story line...one that my girls immediately understood and scolded the father for not realizing. The sweet story of The Ballerina Ragdoll displayed a wonderful moment between Angelina and a little friend. While every child must grow up... it is wonderful to share your love, toys and friendship with those that are still younger then you.

Lend A Hand offers many teaching moments for parents and children. Great opportunities to discuss why this or that decision was made and whether it was helpful and wise.

Sprout!
Sadly, we only get Sprout when our dish provider has a 'free weekend'. Our toddler loves Sprout, so this DVD lets him see his favorite friends (and Chicka). Win-Win.



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Hot Shots!: Part Deux



Rare: A Sequel That Outshines The Original!
Hot Shots: Part Deux! is an amazing rarity---a sequel that's actually superior to the first movie. (Not that Hot Shots! was bad; it was quite funny and enjoyable in its own right.) Like the second Star Trek film, this sequel gels all of the good elements from its predecessor and discards whatever didn't quite click. In this case, the supporting cast made the movie even more than Charlie Sheen as its troubled hero Topper Harley. Returning are the late great Lloyd Bridges, this time as the president, and Valeria Golino as the lovely Ramada. Joining Topper are his former CO (Richard Crenna), a no-nonsense tough-guy soldier (Miguel Ferrer), a cool blonde CIA operative (Brenda Bakke) and Ramada's hapless yet scornful spouse (the wretchedly hilarious Rowan Atkinson).

Abandoned for no apparent reason by Ramada, Topper seeks inner peace at an Asian monastery, kicking the crap out of whoever steps into the fighting arena with him. His former CO finds him and asks Harley to go...

Caution: Side Effects May Include....
Just one word of advice: Don't watch this movie while recovering from hernia surgery. I literally laughed till it hurt.

FITFULLY FUNNY
HOT SHOTS PART DEUX is an admirable sequel to the hilarious HOT SHOTS. Charlie Sheen, Valeria Golino and Lloyd Bridges return from the original, but their characters have different histories in this one, which doesn't really make much sense in a sequel, but hey, who's complaining? It's a fun-filled movie filled with some excellent sight gags, some off the cuff dialogue and the wonderful background gags you might not see if you're paying too much attention to the movie. Both a cinematic and political spoof, Sheen shines in his reprisal of Topper Harley in his buffed Rambo body; Golino and Brenda Bakke keep the hormones bubbling in their effectively sexy and funny performances. The Sadam Hussein spoof is hilarious, with his lisp and his Americanized habits. Check out the different foods he keeps in his cupboard. The T-2 "morphing" sequence has hilarious results too. Bridges as usual steals most of his scenes, and Richard Crenna effectively spoofs his own RAMBO character. I...

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Give 'Em Hell Malone [Blu-ray]



A decent piece of pulp
While I've come to enjoy Thomas Jane the more and more I see of him lately, it appeared upon first glance that Give 'Em Hell Malone may not have been one of his better decisions. Happily though, the film is a stylish, semi-enjoyable piece of pulp-noir that Jane appears to be quite at home in being in. Jane stars as Malone, a tough PI who has been double crossed and is now up against a crew of gangsters, including an old nemesis (Ving Rhames), a pyromaniac (Doug Hutchison, doing his best Heath Ledger Joker impersonation), and their boss (Gregory Harrison); all the while with a mysterious damsel (Elsa Pataky) in tow. Unapologetic in its blood-letting and violence, Give 'Em Hell Malone is certainly fun enough to enjoy and features style to spare from Highlander and Resident Evil: Extinction director Russell Mulcahy. What detracts from the film however is some just plain horrible editing and a screenplay loaded with plot holes. Still though, for what it's worth, Give 'Em Hell Malone...

Tom Jane+Hardboiled Fiction= Great Movie
I really enjoyed this movie. It's a gritty, down and dirty, hardboiled flick that shines a good light on the film noir style of yesteryear. I would love to see a few squeals come out of this movie. If you are looking for a solid film that is just plan fun then this movie is for you.

I hate it when a movie is to be continued with little chance of that actually happening.
Don't misunderstand my title, aside from the last 30 seconds, this film is fairly self-contained. I just thought it really dumb to end it as if there will be more to the story, knowing that such likelihood isn't very high, especially for this type of production; it's hardly a major franchise. If there is a sequel, I fear it'll be recast to account for an even lower budget and might not even be worth watching, as this film itself has some serious storytelling flaws. If not for the cast, I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought. But it's got some familiar faces; some of whom I'm somewhat of a fan.

The action and script can be a lot of fun. The visual style might have been too, if a little more went into it. As is it looks like they were shooting for the kind of stark visuals of Sin City, but didn't have the budget or vision, leaving the look somewhere in between daring and mundane. I enjoyed the films dialogue, but the actual storytelling isn't very clear,...

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Direct Action/Retrograde/Direct Contact



2 out of 3 ain't bad
Well, my worst fear of a multi-disc certainly came true. Retrograde is missing from the set. It's advertised as being on one side of one disc, but, we get the same flick on both sides. Too bad, as I wanted Retrograde. Despite that, Direct Contact was good, especially the eye candy of actress Polly Shannon. Even Dolph wasn't his usual wooden personality. However, the overall problem is "once bitten, twice shy." I've always feared issues with multi-disc sets, now that there is a problem with one, I seriously doubt I will ever buy another.

There is a flaw at the manufacturer
Advertised and packaged as 3 movies, there are, in fact, only 2 different movies on the discs. Direct Action was on both sides of the first disc, where side B reads Retrograde. Amazon replaced it once, with the same results. I guess I'll have to buy Retrograde separately. The movies included were enjoyable, but I was hoping to see Retrograde.

WHERE'S "RETROGRADE"???
I see "Direct Action" and I see "Direct Contact" now where's "Retrograde"???
This is a bloody farce...where's the movie???? Enjoyed the other 2 as much as one could!! Maybe the movies' in retrograde!!
Ya Dig??

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The Burning Plain



Brooding, evocative & redemptive.
I have enjoyed the work of Guillermo Arriage, including Babel and 21 Grams. However, Arriage uses the same technique with 'The Burning Plain, as he did in 'Babel,' which for me can be confusing, at times, and not a preferred methodology for most viewers. Here again, we are faced with current time, running parallel with a significant amount of back-story, and a multitude of characters that initially seem disconnected. It took me a while to realize what was going on. I should have had a clue, from Babel. Finally the stories began to converge---rather flawlessly, so it was well worth the patience required. In fact, in some respects, I think it was better constructed than Babel, in tying up loose ends.

Be warned, this (107 min) R-rated, romantic, mystery/drama, will not be for everyone. It is not action driven, aside from some self-mutilating behaviors, sensual scenes with nudity, and a trailer blowing up. It is not filled with gratuitous violence, awesome CGI, or other...

Fragmented tale of love as cycle of pain, scars and healing
The directorial debut of Guillermo Arriaga, screenwriter of 21 grams and Babel, is a tortured piece of work. Rather like its characters, it is beautiful to look at but bleak as we come to understand it. Thankfully, we are left with a message of hope, but it's a fragmented journey getting there as we experience love as it evolves not just through joy and happiness but through pain and scars.
It's one of those multi-stranded stories Arriaga specialises in... except this time, it is not always different characters we are observing - it's the same ones, in different times. One strand with Kim Basinger, involves a married woman, sneaking off from her empty marriage at lunchtime to her lover, in a trailer on a plain. It's this trailer on fire which gives the film its title. Then, there is the teenage daughter who has her own secrets and is drawn to the young Mexican man who she meets at his father's funeral. Finally, Charlize Theron plays the beautiful restaurateur, who away from...

Heated Parallels!!!
I'm certainly NOT an eloquent movie reviewer. I knows what I likes, and I likes what I knows. The Burning Plain deals with, well, pain...in the very REAL sense of the word. Dark secrets, hunted down, revealed, cloaked in ritualistic, mental and physical, self-inflicted pain!

I enjoyed the movie's flashbacks. Kept me on my toes. I UNDERSTOOD so much of the story plot. Human frailties, so raw, so exposed. The need to fill up the avoidable guilt-ridden void brought on by the inability to refuse, to just say no, to turn the other cheek, to just accept without questioning.

Watch the movie, The Burning Plain.
(Superb acting, exceptional cinematography...btw.)

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