Roland Emmerich

Godzilla (Monster Edition)
$14.94
THE MOVIE

I will admit, THIS Godzilla is one of my favorite 'thoughtless entertainment' movies. The kind I watch when I'm exhausted and all I want is to relax with a cocktail or a cup of cappuccino and not worry about world peace or possible cosmic disasters for a while. Sure, it's not the Japanese Godzilla - it's an American movie after all - but I can't see why we shouldn't have our own Godzilla the same way the Japanese can have their own baseball and rock and roll.

I will not do a full critique of the movie - there are hundreds of excellent reviews published already so I am going to be brief. I will only state that I love Godzilla because:

- it has Matthew Broderick (Bueller?)
- it has Jean Reno (The Specialist, The DaVinci Code)
- it has (a lot of) humor
- it has most excellent visual effects, quite impressive even by 2009 standards
- it has one of the better sound tracks in a monster movie

Sure, it's not the Japanese Godzilla but, come to think of it, the Japanese Godzilla has none of the above.


THE BLU-RAY RELEASE

Of course, it's 1080p and it's an easy to notice improvement over the DVD release - I've bought both the VHS and the DVD releases prior to this one. More impressive than the picture is the sound track. The DTS-HD Master Audio it's literally a blast. It will rock your house with the proper sub-woofer.

The extras are mostly those found on the DVD edition but there are a couple of Blu-specific additions.

The Godzilla trivia game is actually fun - multiple-choice where the time it takes to pick the answer is factored into the score. A multi-player option is available for players with an Internet connection. To my surprise, this actually worked and I could play Godzilla trivia online with someone who was trying out this exotic feature at the same time I was.

The Movie-IQ option is another BD-Live powered option. It checks some online database and provides up-to-date information about the movie while watching the movie. I immediately learned, while watching the movie, that Godzilla grossed $350 million and it was released in 1998 and that, since its release in 1954 there have been 28 Godzilla/GOJIRA movies.

BD-Live also facilitated the printing of a ticket for the '2012' movie (up to $10). Be VERY careful and do NOT throw away the wrapping. The back of the sticker has a code that, when typed in in a BD-Live session will have Sony email you a PDF that can be printed and becomes a 'ticket' that's valid until Dec. 31 2009.

Finally, the disk - not a second disk - includes a digital copy for the PSP. You first copy it to your PS3 hard drive and then you download it from there to the PSP - it comes with full instructions on how to proceed.


MY RATING

5 stars as a movie and 5 stars as a Blu-ray release. If you happen to own a PS3 and a PSP and you happen to want to watch '2012' before the end of 2009 this is an incredible bargain.

Stargate (Ultimate Edition)
$9.98
Stargate released in 1994,was a film that was underappreciated by most critics at the time garnering mixed to poor reviews.But the general public liked what they saw and gave out,much to the delight of its' producers,at the box office.The movie went on to influence other subsequent films(such as the opening of the Fifth Element) and spawned video games(direct and indirecty),along with the ever popular TV series franchise.
The film opens with the discovery of a circular device and the fossilized skeleton of a being of some sort,buried in the Egyptian desert in 1928.Fast forward to modern day and a Dr.Jackson(James Spader) who is giving an ill-received lecture on who exactly built the great pyramid in Egypt.Afterwards an elderly woman arrives and invites him to join her at a research facility run by the military in Colorado.
There they have in their hands the device found in the sand and want Jackson to decipher the writing.He does and inadvertantly gives the military brass the code to start up a working replica of the device.The project is headed by Col.O'Neil(Kurt Russell) and he leads a military team along with Dr Jackson through,what is now referred to as,the Stargate.The "other side" is light years from earth and is a planet much like the Egyptian desert,complete with their emergence point in a similarly structered building,dwarfed from behind by a huge pyramid.
In due time they find a colony of human slaves who are mining the material that composes the Stargate.Dr Jackson slowly but surely learns the language and eventually finds the key that will enable the team to return to Earth.But in the meantime the beings who oversee all this,return and wreak havoc with Col.O'Neil and company.It is learned that the aliens have taken humans as hosts and actually are the ones responsible for creating civilization on Earth thousands of years before.But the alien leader informs them they should never have opened the Stargate and plans to send back a bomb to destroy the Earth.In a race against time,an uprising by the slaves and a ticking bomb that can't be turned off,O'Neil and Jackson narrowly manage to turn the tables on the aliens as they try to escape and thus destroy them.Dr Jackson stays behind while the remaining team members return to earth.The movie ends as O'Neil says to Jackson that he will "see him around".
This left the movie up for an obvious sequel but,much to my disappointment,none has ever been forthcoming despite numerous rumours to the contrary.The latest rumour is that once the TV series has finally finished then we will see a sequel;but that remains to be seen.
Russells' career at the time had been a mixed one up Stargate having had more hits in the 80s(The Thing,Escape from New York,Used Cars,Big Trouble in Little China)with little of substance/success after,other than a notable supporting role in the hit Backdraft in/91.Spader on the other hand had been a pretty hot property at this time(his most popular time in fact) having had a more consistent string of recent successes(Mannequin,Pretty in Pink,Wall Street,Sex,Lies and Videotapes)than the more established Russell.That is why both share top lead.However while Spader had the lions share of screen time,Russell manages to dominate every scene he is in which says much about his acting chops.
The story generally flows well but the action gets bogged down on sideplots concerning the slaves working for the aliens.All concerned do a wonderful job but it is the (then)unique concept and angle this film gives us that really manages to fascinate and ultimately sell it.It must have made an impression,for while we have yet to see any sequels at the theatres,there has been a wildly successful little screen franchise going on for years.
This so called "Directors Cut" is clocked in,on the sleeve at least,as 119 minutes.Well the ACTUAL screen time is just over 123 minutes,with the credits extending it to around 130 minutes!Underselling their product.
The sleeve also tells us that this film has been remastered.Well I think someone needs to do some more work on this.The picture can get slightly washed out and grainy at times;not what a "remastered" print should look like.The sound however is very good,available in Dolby 2,5.1 and 6.1 DTS.The "ultimate" features are just an audio commentary by the director and producer and a small 10 minute film on the concept of alien vistors in ancient times and its'conceptual "father" Erich Von Daniken.Not much for an"ultimate edition",so it loses marks there also.The film is in its' original widescreen format.The copy I received of this film is a bit different than the one shown here for sale.The DVD I got is in a case with the same artwork as depicted(brown colour with the ring over the pyramid).However THAT case,in turn,has a nice looking sleeve over IT;a colourful holographic version of the case cover.I hope yours comes this way also.
In the end this film still holds up quite nicely after 15 years,both in the acting and concept departments.And while the film does needs a proper tweaking on the remastering,overall I think you will still enjoy what you see.

Universal Soldier (Special Edition)
$9.98
Roland Emerich built his most reminded cult movie from the early nineties. The innovative proposal of interspersing two unthinkable genres: sci-fi and Vietnam. In this time two of the biggest gladiators by then: Van Damme and Ludgreen are together for the first time in this explosive adventure. Van Damme is Luc Devreaux and Dolph Lundgreen is Sgt. Scott who killed each other in Vietnam in 1969. They are brought back to life 25 years after due a well kept scientific project. Genetically enhanced, the work out as unstoppable killing machines (the resemblance with Terminator) with no memory. But when Devreaux on a terrorist mission, his memory experiences some previous memories and so, he will run off from the program becoming an outlaw. This fact will trigger a blood pursuit in which Sgt. Scott will have to face him again.

Explosive sequences(in the first part of the movie) filled of adrenaline and humor will overflow the screen until the great last unforgettable mortal sequence.

Escape 2 Earth
$12.95
Escape 2 Earth is a book that resonates as we approach 2012, and, as many fear, the realization of an apocalyptic vision--the destruction of Earth. What if saving humanity was not in the hands of God, but of Man? Or, Men? Matt, Will, and Art are drawn into a cosmic battle for the survival of humans and the Earth that draws on the predictions of history and the technology of the future. Will they succeed in saving their own lives--and those of us all? Read this thrilling page-turner and find out! Highly recommended!