Redline [Blu-ray]

Even if you don't like or watch anime...WATCH THIS MOVIE.
Look. I understand. "Anime" isn't a cool thing to most people, not even most self-described "geeks." These days, "anime" is commonly used as shorthand for a particular type of storytelling, characterization, or visualization...and the people who do so NEVER mean it as a compliment. Maybe you're one of these people yourself.

Or maybe you used to watch anime and no longer really do because you've got music, videogames, and regular movies/TV to watch instead. Maybe you used to watch stuff like Cowboy Bebop or FLCL on the Cartoon Network, but never really saw anything else that you liked as much. Maybe you end up spotting some anime that is on Netflix or Hulu, but you don't feel like watching them all the way through.

Does any of that sound like you or someone you know? Then watch this movie.

There's no TV show or...
A must buy for anime or sci-fi fans...
This is one of the most important anime to come along in years. Not only is it visually stunning, but the music and sounds make it truly brilliant. The styling of it makes it so appealing to watch that you won't want it to end. Combine that with an amazing soundtrack, and you will be glad you own it. If you have a home theater system, it will shake your walls.

This is one of those movies that even if you aren't an anime fan, you will love it. All I can say is if you are uncertain about buying it, don't be. Here is the official story synopsis since Amazon doesn't have anything up yet.

REDLINE is about the biggest and most deadly racing tournament in the universe. Only held once every five years, everyone wants to stake their claim to fame, including JP, a reckless dare-devil driver oblivious to speed limits with his ultra-customized car - all the while, organized crime and militaristic governments want to leverage the race to their own ends. Amongst the other...
You haven't seen animation until you've seen this movie.
I watched this when they were showing it as a part of a limited theater release, and I've been aching for it's blu-ray release since! There are few words that can describe how awesome this movie is. The animation is beyond top-notch, with an art style that pops with every frame and keeps your eyes watering from not blinking.

The best way I can describe this film is that its like taking the visual flourish and high-adrenaline action of the live action Speed Racer film, smashing it against the entirety of what made Gurren Lagann one of the most beloved Japanese anime series of the past decade, mixing the two together and cranking all of that up to 11, and then condensing it into an hour and a half experience of visual and aural orgasmica with all of the goodness, none of the filler.

Plus, there's a cute love story in it for...
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Spartacus: War of the Damned - The Complete Third Season [Blu-ray]

The final season, and possibly the best
(Updated 4/12/13, 9/4/13)

The Spartacus saga on Starz has given us some of the most powerful and dramatic television of the past decade, and this final season may just be the best of the lot. Spartacus: War of the Damned picks up maybe a year after the stunning finale of Spartacus: Vengeance. Having taken his revenge against the Roman patricians that enslaved him and killed his wife and friends, Spartacus leads what is now an army of liberated slaves in all-out war against the Republic. He struggles with both the cunning Imperator leading the Romans against him and the growing tensions within his own army, mowing down legions and cities while gathering strength for what may become an epic battle for Rome itself.

With this conclusion of the Spartacus series, Stephen DeKnight and company have achieved something quite rare in television, or anywhere else for that matter: an epic story simultaneously offering compelling plot, characters, action and drama, while...
Wonderful Tribute to Spartacus and human freedom
Along with the Walking Dead, this was my favorite series. As much as I loved Andy Whitfield (God bless him and his family), I must say Liam McIntyre was equally outstanding and perhaps even more. It is a bit like comparing your favorite James Bond -- Sean Connery or Roger Moore. All are outstanding and render their own interpretations. I am a PhD in European Military History and approve of this series in the way that they rendered history. We all could have small quibbles about this and that, that the Romans always threw pila (special spears) before closing, that Onamaeus was really a Gaul, not a black man...but what a character he was anyway. The cause of liberty should embrace all human kind and the scriptwriters were courageous and inclusive in making this point. Crixus and Gannicus did exist, the former as a Gaul and the latter as a Celt. Since nothing more is known about them, the scriptwriters were open to their interpretations. Of the three primary accounts about Spartacus, two...
I Am SPARTACUS!
First, for those that may not have ever seen Spartacus on Starz and are looking to get into the series via DVD or Instant Video based on its popularity, Spartacus: War of the Damned is season 3 of the show but technically the fourth season. After the excellent 2010 5-star season premier under the title Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Andy Whitfield who played the lead role of Spartacus tragically died of cancer. Whitfield embodied Spartacus; he was a believable, imposing, rough, tough character that made viewers feel like they were watching the real guy from circa 70 BC. His untimely illness left the studio scrambling to decide how to or if the series would continue. Ultimately the studio decided to produce a prequel that ideally would give Whitfield time to recover after treatment, but sadly Whitfield relapsed and passed shortly after production of the prequel.

The prequel was called Gods of the Arena and it was excellent. But there was something missing from Gods that made...
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Halloween (35th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray]

A Comparison Between Halloween's Two Most Popular DVD Versions
Halloween. What a perfect title for a Horror movie. It's hard to believe back in 1977 that there had never been any movie, let alone a Horror film, that incorporated that title. And what good usage it got. Written, directed, and even musically scored by John Carpenter (with great assistance by then girlfriend Debra Hill), this was truly a film that brought Horror to it's roots, leaving an impact that only George Romero's Night Of The Living Dead did ten years earlier. Showcasing a deranged killer by the name of Michael Myers who in childhood murdered his sister in cold blood on Halloween night, only to escape his asylum to return to his Illinois home to hunt down babysitter (and eventually known little sister) Jamie Lee Curtis 15 years later, was truly an amazing film that never exploited the genre, keeping the imagination and terror flowing within the viewers mind rather than blatantly on the screen. For it's time it was the number one profitable independent film ever made, and after...
A Great, Scary, Classic Made Even Better!
This new, Extended version of Halloween is something no fan should be without! 12 minutes of additional footage (4 scenes) has been put into the original version, and the result is awesome. These scenes were not deleted. They were really shot in 1980, when the film was released on cut TV. The scenes were shot using the cast and crew of Halloween II (another must see!) and directed by John Carpenter, himself. These scenes include:

#1 A very well made scene where Dr. Loomis (Doneld Pleasance) has an intense conversation with two sanitarium officials. He begs that they move Myers to a maximum security ward, saying that the boy is dangerous and has an instinctive forsce within him. The officials are unimpressed by what Loomis says, and simply keep Myers in the minimum security ward.

#2 A scene directly following the previous added scene. Loomis walks into young Michael's cell. For about 1 minute he simply stares at the boy, who stares out the window...
This review pertains to the 35th anniversary blu-ray.
Anchor Bay has re-released John Carpenter's 1978 masterpiece "Halloween" about as many times as they have the Evil Dead trilogy. It's been almost impossible to know which one to pick up over the years there are so many versions. Halloween was originally released on DVD by Anchor Bay featuring a bad transfer that didn't do the film any justice at all. They then re-released it again on DVD with a transfer approved by the original director of photography Dean Cundey. The transfer was greatly improved but it was lacking in extras for a film of such great importance. Then they released another cut of the film in which the extra scenes filmed for the TV airings of the film (filmed during the making of the sequel oddly enough) were cut into the film. A 4th DVD release then occured as part of their "divimax" line which was a 2 disc set with plentiful extras and a brand new remastered transfer.

That 4th DVD release proved to be the most problematic. While the quality of detail was...
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