I saw Dark Shadows on a flight that lasted about 15 hours and it was so bad that I wished I had spent the equivalent time contemplating into my complimentary tomato juice instead.
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Honestly, there have been so many Princess Bride DVDs and Blu-rays that I have no idea what's new in this release other than a two-part documentary/retrospective, so you might want to do some research before you decide to upgrade.
• Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection
Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Phantom of the Opera and Creature from the Black Lagoon, all on Blu-ray in one beautiful, extras-laden set.
On Blu-ray, for you Disney nerds out there. Warning -- the Limited Edition contains the "Cinderella trilogy" which means you have to take Disney's two crapped-out straight-to-DVD sequels, too.
Some people have told me this movie has some moments, but man, all those previews and trailers looked so dire I can't imagine it being anything other than horrible, even if you liked the original Dark Shadows TV series. Thoughts from the peanut gallery?
An odd assortment of 16 episodes.
• Iron Sky
That "Moon Nazis attack Earth" movie I never really covered. Mainly because I saw the first movie these guys did, a Trek parody named Star Wreck, and it was so terrible I just knew Iron Sky was not going to live up to its premise.
On Blu-ray, finally.
I'm pretty sure in this case "25th Anniversary Edition" solely means "We put it on Blu-ray."
More like Season Only, Book Last, am I right? Oh, I just made myself sad.
14 episodes of the crazy Japanese game show based on retro videogames.
A Hammer Horror starring Christopher Lee as a modern (i.e., 1973) Dracula. This "special edition" comes with a "music inspired by the movie" CD, which is almost certainly terrible, but it's nice to have Satanic Rites available in DVD again anyways.
More links from around the web!
40 comments
Without giving any spoilers away, you might want to watch Dark Shadows for its cinematic version of "And Then John Is. A Zombie" during the finale, Rob. No, it doesn't change my opinion on the movie, but it does make it slightly bearable.
To add the final nail to the coffin, you can practically see the movie's indecisiveness to whether or not it wants to be a comedy or a horror movie with each memorable scene, if you can call them that. Its basically hopping from one foot to the other whil going, "Okay, I'm a horror now, I mean a comedy, I MEAN horror! Horror! I'm a horror-COMEDY!! COMEDY!! Definitely comedy! Yep, I'm a comedyHORROR!!!" And yes, I know there is such a thing as a Comedy Horror, but this, this was NEITHER!
On the other hand, the "Angry Magic Sex" scene would probably the reason why the Normals applaud this movie, so...yep.
I really wanted to love Iron Sky but hated it. Too much "Modern" humor and satire and not enough awesome throwbacks to 1950's serials. It could have been the best thing ever and I'm it's model audience but it left me utterly annoyed that I'd wasted my time watching it instead of Zombies Of The Stratosphere. Bah.
Trust me, you're wrong about "Iron Sky": it's a surprisingly good, funny, and somewhat poignant film. I highly recommend it.
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Rob, I am admittingly somewhat of a die-hard Tim Burton fan, & even I thought Dark Shadows was pretty damn weak, to say the least. It's his second-worst film, right before Planet of The Apes. Christ, there were at least three deus ex machinas during the final battle alone...
Also, screw this inferior Voice Nation crap.
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Saw "Masters" has audio commentary by the director but nothing else.
Also, understand that Universal will be releasing the Monster movies seperately if you want to pick and choose.
Also, on that, they're releasing the Bond films on Blu-Ray seperately if you don't want the huge 50th set but spreading the Blu-Ray debut ones out. Target gets View to a Kill, Living Daylights and Tomorrow Never Dies; Best Buy will have Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice; and Wal-Mart will have Goldeneye, Octopussy and Diamonds are Forever. So, if you like some films over others, nice way to get them.
Thundercats
More like Season Only, Book Last, am I right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7erl9k01C2M
I also noticed that you didn't even bother giving Rescue Bots a description. I don't blame you.
Heck, I'm just happy they're gonna air Thundercats in the wee small hours on Toonami starting on the sixth. At least the night-dwellers get to see good tv. I think Sym-bionic Titan's been added, too.
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Dark Shadows had potential to be good if you look at how 21 Jump Street made a good comedy. Unfortunately this had to be the single worst script Burton has worked on. The movie lacked focus and structure, and there was no balance between humor/dark/campy.
At best it's worth checking out if you're a die hard Dark Shadows fan. There are nods to the original and the change to the 70's is a nice alternative to the 50's gothic setting.
"Go see the Cooper woman perform." Best line with the lead up of that movie and a damn many others, just walk out of the theatre, turn the video player off, immediately after that
"I'm pretty sure in this case "25th Anniversary Edition" solely means "We put it on Blu-ray.""
LMAO!! Good One!
@rpgforms First thought that came to mind was The Rocketeer, I bought that without reading reviews first day release. The was the absolute most disappointing movie purchase I've had in a long time. Don't get me wrong, it looks great, but it should not have been billed as an Anniversary Edition of any sort.
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I love me some Universal monsters, but that Blu-Ray set is OBSCENELY expensive for a group of movies that are mostly public domain.
@SpindashShoryuken The films besides having the spanish language Dracula is the first set to ever have the polorized sbs release of Creature from the Black Lagoon as it was originally released. Much much better than a crappy anaglyph bootleg like the one that has been sold forever. on the net. Only hole in the wall theaters got the anaglyoh in its second cycle or release. Now see it as it was meant to be seen.None of the films are public domain, which is why the 1925 silent phantom is not here( universal never renewed it, so they will not release it.). Plus there are a ton of bonus features.
@MovieVixen Bonus features should never be included in the cost of a DVD/Blu-Ray set. That's why they're called "bonus."
Official releases which are, by the way, almost crap. (Not due to the transfer, but due to the cheap encoding which renders a random 1/3 of the movies glitchy with dvd-player-killing bugs.)
I'll look into updating to Blu ray, but I'll wait first for proper collection sets (similar to what was released in recent years) and second for verification that the Blus were encoded properly.
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@SpindashShoryuken Yeah, as I wrote above, considering that the UK version of this set is less than half the price of the US release, you're right, it's way too expensive.As for the public domain issue, I'm sure that, had any of the actual films fallen out of copyright, you'd be able to find a ton of crappy knock-off DVD releases in various bargain bins. As it stands, the only ones you can find are official releases.
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@mrm1138 Still ridiculously expensive, regardless. Box sets are supposed to tone DOWN the prices of the show/movies included.
@SpindashShoryuken Also, I think it's worth noting that, if you count the Spanish language version of Dracula, the set comes out to about $17.75 per movie (SRP, before tax). (If you go by the current Amazon price, it's less than $12.50 per film.)
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@Lithroe So I just discovered that the UK version of this set is selling for £36 (less than $60 US). Apparently, the packaging is supposed to be better, too. Okay, I'm now inclined to believe that this set is way overpriced.
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@mrm1138 @SpindashShoryuken Still seems high to me, right now the Bond box set is selling at approximatley $7.60 a film. That's 22 movies and a bonus disc.
@Darth_ill As did I! I get the distinct impression Rob has no idea how this movie actually was.
Princess Bride - a pity they didn't use the cover art that can be flipped over: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2BOCP1DUSL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
Iron Sky - worth a watch. It's stupid and funny and cool looking. And Sarah Palin is excellent as the president.
My thoughts on the Dark Shadows film was after the horrible Planet of the Apes, and then making a mockery out of what could have been the best movie based on a TV series, this is Tim Burton's second cinematic abortion. Also his having pissed on another classic property, especially another one loved by me as part of my childhood, I have sworn never to see another new Burton film. If he is involved the box office will never see another dime going to him from me. Dark Shadows could have been a cinematic treasure instead of the turd Burton turned it into. shame on him.. Thats my two cents worth of opinion.
It's really getting to the point I need to get a Blu Ray player. I would give all of my blood for that Hammer set, although I'm disappointed it isn't the Lon Chaney Phantom. Nothing wrong with Claude Rains, of course, but Chaney's Opera Ghost is, to my mind, the only real and valid adaptation of the book. Every movie since Webber masturbated all over the story is a travesty. The Phantom is the BAD GUY you philistines!
Dark Shadows is a horrible, awful piece of shit. Avoid it at all costs.
Words can't describe how excited I am for the Universal Classic Monsters Box Set. Here's hoping this does well enough for the studio to give high-def releases to the rest of the films that were previously made available in their Legacy sets.
@mrm1138 I keep wondering if anyone's told Depp what a failure it was on every conceivable level. I feel sorry for him. He finally gets his dream gig and it comes out awful. Oh well, I'm sure he'll feel better after a swim in all the money he made from the Pirate movies.
well, in their defense, rob - it was called star wreck. not star greatest-indie-spoof/parody-of-all-times. ahem.
also - that's just so adorable how they're actually going to release the heman movie on blu ray. because we so need to see that in hi def. yeah. hm... actually, all that naked man flesh in hi def ... it could, just could give the naked blue flesh a run for its money. IMPOSSIBLE! nothing beats naked blue flesh! nothing! not even FISTO!
NOTHING!!!!
well there's always david bowie's codpiece in labyrinth...but did that come with a dockable pony tail thing. no. therefore, nothing will ever beat naked blue flesh.
Look for these things to be the 25th Anniversary would mean I'm a hell of a lot older then 25, and judging by my looks /*as turning towards mirror*/ I'm not a day ʘʘ .......under 102........
