Naked Island ( Hadaka no shima ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ]

Naked Island ( Hadaka no shima ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ] Review

There are some good reviews of this film over the Net, and I don't think I can add more to this wonderful experience. Because that is the word: watching "Naked Island" (without breaks, and in a big screen if you can) is an experience. The repetitive and hard life of a family of agricultural peasants adquires greater significance when located in a small island (a big rock is maybe a more appropiate description) inside a bay. The superb music and visuals become one, explaining perfectly how the pre-capitalist leg of a mid-20th century economy worked in some places of the world. You simply can sense human effort when watching this. I cannot give an opinion on the quality of this copy, the one in film I saw was without scratches but blurred.

Naked Island ( Hadaka no shima ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ] Feature

• THIS DVD WILL NOT WORK ON STANDARD US DVD PLAYER

Great Britain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD:it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: Japanese ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ),English ( Subtitles ),ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Booklet, Commentary, Interactive Menu, Photo Gallery, Remastered, Scene Access,SYNOPSIS: The titular island in this Japanese domestic drama is an agrarian flyspeck, almost completely cut off from contact with the mainland. Here the island's residents mechanically go through their everyday farming tasks. The film concentrates on a family of five, content with their existence despite its hardships. When the oldest son dies, it is the first of many devastating blows that nearly rip the family asunder. Originally titled Hadaka No Shima, the film was also released as Naked Island. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: BAFTA Awards, Moscow International Film Festival,

Mystic River (Widescreen Edition)

Mystic River (Widescreen Edition) Review

I'll admit it's been a while since I've seen Mystic River in the movie theater. While initially my impression of the film was disgust(especially with the ending) I've recently picked up the DVD and watched it again with a new perspective. Mystic River is pretentious with it's self-importance and some will still argue whether or not the hype (and subsequent Academy Awards) is justified, however the honesty and emotions running through the film make it one of the more memorable films of it's time.

Mystic River is basically a melodramatic tragedy about three friends and how their actions effect the people around them. Sean's a cop, Jimmy's an ex-con, and Dave's their friend who was sexually molested when they were all kids. The movie centers around the murder of Jimmy's daughter and the actions the three friends take to deal with it. There's alot more to the story of these damaged characters and the film mostly focuses on their personal lives rather than the murder investigation itself. The movie's very raw and there is no happy ending for any of these characters. It's a very cynical story, but Clint Eastwood films Mystic River like an overbearing melodrama with over-the-top acting, camera work and music which at times is really unnecessary and gives the movie an accelerated sense of self-importance (which in my opinion is VERY annoying). I think Mystic River would've benefited with a more documentary approach and better shots of Boston (the movie's called 'Mystic River', why not show more of it?).

The acting, while sometimes over-the-top is very solid and believeable. Sean Penn is well cast as Jimmy and while the scene of him finding out his daughter's dead is waaaaaay over-blown his quiet intensity rings true through the rest of the film. Tim Robbins is perfectly simpathetic as the tortured Dave and you really feel terrible about what happens to him at the end of the movie. Kevin Bacon is a great actor but I felt Sean was a bit underused as a character though I can understand since most of his actions in the novel focused on him investigating Jimmy's daughter's murder and again the film is more about the character's personal lives.

The one bit of this movie that feels like a giant misfire is in how the ending is handled. SPOILER ALERT!----------

As I said in my opening I was disgusted and quite outraged with the ending of the film because in a lot of ways it seems to try and justify Jimmy's actions. Jimmy isn't supposed to be likeable despite the fact he really feels he's doing the right thing. I also hated how it de-humanized Dave and made his murder at Jimmy's hands seem "all for the best" with Sean's dismissiveness (in the novel Sean's much more progressive about the situation). It sort of gives the feeling that Dave deserved to die simply for being a child-rape victim. It certainly didn't help when Laurence Fishburne's character claiming Dave should be locked away simply for being a victim of sexual abuse. Sort of spreads the message that sexual abuse victims are less than human.

I like to think this was just a misstep on the filmmakers part thanks to Clint Eastwoods more sensationalist direction. I like to think what happens to Dave in the end is just part of the human tragedy of the story and NOT trying to justify Jimmy's actions as a concerned parent. I don't think Jimmy and Sean's actions in the end are unbelieveable though. Jimmy's already murdered someone before so obviously what he did isn't going to haunt him for too long. Sean's too caught up with his wife and kid and despite knowing what Jimmy did feels no matter what he does now can only make a bad situation worse by going after Jimmy(or maybe he does? The ending's a bit ambiguous). It's not a satisfying ending nor do I think it's meant to be. It is however very believeable and I think that's what the filmmakers were trying for.

So while Mystic River is far from the flawless masterpiece it claims to be it is a very powerful film. I can't say everyone will enjoy it, but it's a movie that no one will forget.



Drama. Mystic River tells the story of three men whose dark, interwoven history forces them to come to terms with a brutal murder on the mean streets of Boston.

Zombies of Eureka

Zombies of Eureka Review

Taking advantage of Humboldt County's dynamic local music scene, filmmaker Jon Olsen spent two and a half years shooting music videos for rock bands in the remote northern town of Eureka, California. The fifteen completed videos have one thing in common: zombies!

With a thin narrative premise loosely based on actual events (the unaccountable disappearance of uranium fuel rods from Humboldt County's deactivated nuclear power plant) the videos in Zombies of Eureka combine, Voltron-style, into an epically low-fi apocalyptic musical motion-picture event. In fact, Zombies of Eureka may just be THE ultimate underground musical motion-picture event.

Featured bands include The Ian Fays, The Invasions, The Buffy Swayze, The Monster Women, Dynamite Sweater, The Ravens, The Professional Superheroes, and Von Richter.

This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Une Femme Mariee (Masters Of Cinema) (Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

Une Femme Mariee (Masters Of Cinema) (Special Edition) [Blu-ray] Review

1964. Jean-Luc Godard has had another success with his fifth film "Bande a part" (Band of Outsiders) and began his sixth feature film "Une femme mariée: Fragments D'un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc" (A Married Woman: Fragments from a film from 1964 in Black and White). The film which he began in June 1964 was shot in a four weeks, edited within five weeks and shown at the Venice Film Festival in early September.

Among the few early '60s Godard titles that have not been released in the U.S., fortunately EUREKA!'s Masters of Cinema (based in the UK) have heeded the call of cinema fans worldwide and have decided to release most of their Blu-ray's ala non-region (with the exception of a title or two that were released in the US by the Criterion Collection).

"Une femme mariée: Fragments D'un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc" is rather an interesting, entertaining and profound film by Jean-Luc Godard. Quite different than "Band of Outsiders" which preceded it and "Alphaville" which came after, this film is a film that can be seen as a sign of the times but still as relevant today.

Although I have not seen every Godard film made let alone any films he released after 1970 but I have seen a good number of his '60s films and I have to say that ""Une femme mariée" is his most erotic film. We see many shots of a naked back, a stomach, thighs as hands are seen caressing a woman's body. Visually poetic, Godard's film uses fade outs instead of his familar jump cuts. We see the negative utilized in Godard's video (which would be explored in "Alphaville") and more.

"Une femme mariée: Fragments D'un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc" revolves around a woman named Charlotte (played by Macha Méril, "Belle de Jour") who is a married but having an affair with theatre actor Robert (played by Bernard Noël, "La Ronde", "Trois Femmes"). She enjoys her time with Robert and loves him.

But she is married to Pierre (played by Philippe Leroy, "Le Trou", "La vita di Leonardo Da Vinci"), a pilot who provides her with what she needs financially, and she also raises her step son with him. Pierre is truly in love with his wife Charlotte, even though he discovered her affair three months earlier to Robert via a private investigator.

For Charlotte, she has balanced her days with Pierre and Robert and for her, she obsesses with what is shown in the women's magazines. Enhancing her breast size, wearing the best panties and bras, she is a very shallow woman.

But she starts to see life differently. When she meets her husband's philosopher friend Roger Leehardt, then seeing how young women discuss their attraction to men and losing their virginity, seeing how women do things to attract men and then trying to find out if she is a pregnant woman. She knows that both men would love to have a baby with her or they say that. But she is undecided on who she wants to be with and thus she interviews her husband and her lover.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"Une femme mariée: Fragments D'un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc" is featured in 1080p AVC encode with the original aspect ratio of 1:37:1 and looks absolutely wonderful in HD. Picture quality for this film is absolutely beautiful. Detail from Méril's eyes and her hair, to the beauty of her skin, this is seen quite beautifully on Blu-ray. No trace of DNR and just an overall magnificent transfer on HD.

Audio is in Dolby Digital 1.0 (LPCM) and presented in French with English subtitles. Audio is clear and understandable, as with the music but for those with a modern home theater receiver, for a more immersive soundtrack, one may want to select stereo on all channels or stay with the monaural soundtrack.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Une femme mariée: Fragments D'un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc" contains the following special features in 1080i:

* Original Theatrical Trailer - (3:25) The original theatrical trailer in 1080p created and edited by Jean-Luc Godard.
* 80-Page Booklet - A new "overture" by legendary French critic and filmmaker Luc Moullet (Les Contrebandières, A Girl Is a Gun, Les Sièges de l'Alcazar, Le Prestige de la mort). A lengthy roundtable discussion between Luc Moullet; writer/critic and American correspondent for Cahiers du cinéma, Bill Krohn; and MoC's Craig Keller -- on the film, and its relationship to Godard's oeuvre from the 1950s through the 2000s. A concentrated investigation into the film by Bill Krohn. A new statement about the film by star Macha Méril. A transcript of Godard's late-'70s lecture on Une femme mariée, originally presented in Introduction à une véritable histoire du cinéma, translated here into English for the first time. Relevant excerpts from Jean Racine's Bérénice, in the original French, accompanied by a new parallel English translation. And many notes on the film, Godard, and modern DVD production.

JUDGMENT CALL:

"Une femme mariée: Fragments D'un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc" is an interesting film. As mentioned, this is his most erotic film as we see hands caressing Macha Méril's body. Her back, her arms, her thighs, her waist... it's a very creative way of how it was filmed. Focusing on the body parts and showcasing sexuality without having to show its participants full bodies taking part in sex.

Of course, the film is seen differently by many people. For some, this is Godard's life with Anna Karina and his marriage going downhill. Is this why Godard exploring marriage and the obsession of what his hot in pop culture and women's fashion courtesy of advertising and how it corrupts women. While men are not as easily pulled into it but yet they are hooked on the women that do so. Shallowness has been explored in Godard's "2 or 3 Things I Know About Her" and also in "Masculin Feminin". In this case, Charlotte is being told about why they were in Auschwitz, but what happened during WWII is not important as it's passe to her, while a magazine article about breast enlargement is more intriguing. She is not an intellectual, she is a woman of faults and is not afraid to admit it. She is a product of mindless consumerism, a woman who lives for the now and wants to experience for the thrill of what happens "now".

But I enjoyed this film because it was so visually creative. The erotic shots were well-done. Improvisational use of questions being asked a question by Charlotte (which I'm guessing similar to "Masculin Feminin", questions are being told to Macha Méril by Godard) to actor Bernard Noel who is answering as himself but also in character as Robert about if his love for Charlotte is real or is he acting. Even certain mistakes as Charlotte is running and falls flat on the road is kept in the film. This is Godard using spontaneous moments and using it for his film.

As for the Blu-ray release, the fact that EUREKA! ala The Masters of Cinema are releasing the majority of their Blu-rays ala non-region is very important. For one, the main way for people to watch Godard releases were primarily from The Criterion Collection. But here we have The Masters of Cinema releasing a quality product on Blu-ray but also making sure that those who enjoyed those Criterion releases, get the same quality with MoC releases and it's not just for those living in Europe, now all of us all over the world can enjoy this Blu-ray release.

This release of "Une femme mariée: Fragments D'un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc" is simply the best looking version out there and I don't know if we'll get anything that will look this magnificent of the film for a long while. Although, the film does not have any featurettes, for cinemaphiles, the 80-page booklet is just full of content and information about the film. This is a film that many people have wanted released in the US and now it's available. Now hopefully, a company releases Godard's 1967 film "Week End" remastered on Blu-ray or DVD as many have waited years for a release of the film.

Overall, I know I keep saying that nearly every Godard film is a masterpiece. But I do feel that "Une femme mariée: Fragments D'un Film Tourne En 1964 en Noir et Blanc" is indeed a masterpiece and shows that an auteur such as Godard can craft something so quickly and yet making sure the film is witty, humorous and also tragic in some way.

Highly recommended! Import Blu-Ray/Region All pressing.

Long out-of-circulation and unavailable on home-video, Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 masterpiece Une femme mariée, fragments d'un film tourné en 1964 en noir et blanc [A Married Woman: Fragments of a Film Shot in 1964 in Black and White] has, until now, represented the ostensibly 'missing' key work from the first, zeitgeist-defining phase of JLG's filmography. The feature which bridges the gap between Bande à part and Alphaville, Une femme mariée is, nevertheless, a galaxy, or gallery, unto itself - a lucid, complex, profoundly funny series of portraits, etched with Godardian acids, of the wife that represents either a singular case, or a universal example, of "a"/"the" married woman, and the men in her orbit.

Macha Méril (later of Pialat's Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble, and Varda's Sans toit ni loi) plays Charlotte - the title character. She's married to aviator Pierre (Philippe Leroy, of Becker's Le Trou). She sleeps with thespian Robert (Bernard Noël). She talks "intelligence" with renowned critic-filmmaker Roger Leenhardt, and takes part in a fashion-shoot at a public pool. The "fragments" of the film's subtitle are chapters, episodes, vignettes, tableaux; Une femme mariée is a pile of magazines made into a film, and a film turned into a magazine - the table of contents reading: Alfred Hitchcock. Jean Racine. La Peau douce. A Peruvian serum. Nuit et brouillard. The "Eloquence" bra. The quartets of Beethoven. Madame Céline. Fantômas. Robert Bresson. A Volkswagen making a right turn. - A film shot in 1964, and in black and white.

Designed with Raoul Coutard's breathtaking cinematography, Godard's picture captures a moment in time - but all its mysteries, its truths, its beauty, comedy and grace, serve to resolve into a work of art for the ages. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Jean-Luc Godard's classic, Une femme mariée, in a magnificent new Gaumont restoration for the first time on blu-ray

Eureka Seven, Volume 3 (Episodes 11-14)

Eureka Seven, Volume 3 (Episodes 11-14) Review

You know how it is when you find a book, movie or TV show almost by accident and it like turns out to be one of your favorite forever more.

Well Eureka is one such gem. Since I don't watch TV per say(don't have cable or even the basic channels) the only way I find shows is online. And I almost missed one the best shows on Sci-Fi channel or on TV in general.

Eureka, plain and simple a fun show with great acting and great writing. It is the fish out of water story but done in a refreshing way.

Basic premise is While Federal Marshall Jack Carter is taking his runaway daughter back home, they get run off the road and end up in small town Eureka. While there Jack finds out that Eureka is home to the worlds brightest minds and who work at a secret scientific facility Global Dynamics. The Sheriff gets hurt when a experiment goes wrong and the town needs Jack to save them. So with the Sheriff unable to continue his duties Carter gets promoted to Sheriff.

So each week Jack has to solve the problems that these ultra secret experiments can cause with only his common sense.

But he isn't alone, there is Henry Deacon mechanic and all around fixer and Jacks' best friend. There is Allison Blake who is the go between for the government and GD and possible love interest for Jack. Nathan Stark head of GD and ex-husband of Allison(so we get a love triangle there). Douglas Fargo, assistant to Stark and kind of a clumsy guy who gets into all sorts of trouble. And Deputy Jo Lupo gungho ex military who at first doesn't trust Jack but later becomes to respect what he does.

Is Eureka a TV show that will change the way you look at the world? No. It is a fun sci-fi show that never fails to entertain. The interaction with the character is what drives this show each week(and what should drive every show but sadly it doesn't). Though it is fun to see each week what scientific gizmo or theory that gets the town in trouble but it is the character that drive the show.

Season 3 is well off to a great run. So great that Universal has asked for 21 episodes this season instead of the usual 13.

So if you want just a good, fun show to watch. Eureka is the one. Since Renton's arrival, Eureka's relationship with the Nirvash has been changing. More mysteries await, however, as the Gekko has discovered a mysterious phenomenon called a Coralian. Although she's not really up to the task Eureka goes out in the Nirvash and flies inside. Once inside, she is attacked by a new LFO. Renton, meanwhile, has fallen unconscious, and has a dream about Eureka and the girl she's fighting. But is it really just a dream, or is he somehow connected to Eureka and the Nirvash in this state? Meanwhile, the Gekko has come under fire by the Federation warship Izumok, and the members of Gekkostate will have their hands full escaping from both the warship and the Coralian, especially without the Nirvash to assist them. Winner of Top Honors at the 2006 Tokyo International Anime Fair. From Studio BONES! Mecha designs by Shoji Kawamori, script by Dai Sato. Genre: Action/Sci-Fi/Mecha.

Graduate First ( Passe ton bac d'abord ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ]

Graduate First ( Passe ton bac d'abord ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ] Review

Graduate First ( Passe ton bac d'abord ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ] Feature

• THIS DVD WILL NOT WORK ON STANDARD US DVD PLAYER

United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.66:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Booklet, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Documentary, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: The world sometimes seems divided into two camps: those who recall their teenage years as having been an exhilarating dream, and those who remember them as having been an infernal, nightmarish hell. With all this in mind, it might do to describe Passe Ton Bac D'Abord as Maurice Pialat's "The Best Years Of Our Lives", while bearing in mind all that such a description might suggest. It's an elastic, unsparing portrait of teenage life in the suburbs of France from an era when the phrase "sixteen candles" still might have conjured the image of flames. A group of young actors including several local unknowns - Philippe Marlaud, Bernard Tronczyk, Patrick Lepczynski and Sabine Haudepin (once the little girl of Truffaut's Jules et Jim), among others - make up the cluster of friends adrift beneath the twilight of their school years. There's drama, violence, and pot-induced laughs - group holidays, indiscriminate sex, advances from teachers twenty-five years their seniors, attempted moves to Paris, and few prospects of passing the bac, the final set of exams French students take before embarking into the world to... do what? Marking the last work of Pialat's turbulent cycle of films made in the 1970s, Passe Ton Bac D'abord... is the brilliant spiritual sequel to the great filmmaker's feature-debut L'Enfance-nue - picked up again from a vantage ten years on from the lives of the earlier film's protagonists.

Yurîka

Yurîka Review

After three and a half slow paced, sepia toned hours experiencing emotional pain and anguish I still watched the credits roll. This film starts off with a man hijacking a bus and killing most everyone on it for no apparent reason. The driver and two middle school kids survive, and we spend the rest of the film watching them live with it. We watch them fall asleep watching television and other mundane matters but there is not a wasted frame in this film. There are a remarkable number of plot points to keep things moving forward but it still feels like suspended animation, like time is moving inward instead of along. Koji Yakusho is sublime and Aoi Miyazaki, at like twelve years old--and without saying a word for nearly the entire runtime--is mesmerizing. This film is a masterpiece, a journey exploring the myriad layers of trauma, of metaphorical death, and what three people endure on a path to renewal and emergence from a world of silent suffering. It will take your breath away. As the mecha-fantasy Eureka Seven begins building to its finale, the story grows increasingly metaphysical. Norb, the laconic monk, is calling the shots aboard the Gekkostate: even Holland listens to him. After pausing for an incongruous soccer game, the crew heads for the Vodarac temple where Eureka and Renton meet Sakuya, a Coralian who dwells within a giant lotus blossom. After conferring with Eureka, Sakuya decides the duo will be allowed to pass through the barrier of the Great Wall to the Zone and beyond: "the genuine promised land." No one seems to know what Renton and Eureka will find there, but everyone believes the fate of the planet depends on their journey. Preparations for the trip are complicated by Colonel Dewey's maniacal attempts to destroy the Coralians: he sends Dominic and Anemone in a desperate race to overtake Eureka and Renton. The Special Edition comes with a T-shirt and the first volume of Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys & Lifting Girls, a manga by Miki Kizuki and Dai Sato that serves as a prequel to the series, the original PS2 game, and the manga by Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Konduo. (Rated 13 and older: violence, risqué humor, alcohol and drug use) --Charles Solomon