The Nightmare Before Christmas [Blu-ray] + Digital Copy

Product Description

Now digitally restored and remastered with state-of-the-art technology, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS is deeper, darker and more brilliant than ever just as Tim Burton originally envisioned it on Blu-ray Disc Bored with the same old scare-and-scream routine, Pumpkin King Jack Skellington longs to spread the joy of Christmas. But his merry mission puts Santa in jeopardy and creates a nightmare for good little boys and girls everywhere! Hear the genius of Danny Elfman's sensational music in 7.1 Surround Sound as the fantastic talents and imaginations of Tim Burton and Henry Selick come to life in stunning Hi-Def. THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS now even more eerie and extraordinary on Blu-ray High Definition!
Bonus Features
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS is the first full-length stop-motion animated film ever created.
The movie contains more than 227 animated characters.
Santa Claus' head has more than 50 different working parts, and Jack has more than 400 separate interchangeable heads, each handcrafted with a different facial expression.
The smallest working puppet in the movie is a doll from the "real world" Jack visits that is only one inch long.
Sally is wearing a real miniature dress laid on top of foam latex so that the fabric doesn't move too much on screen.
At the height of production, the animators produced only 70 seconds of finished film per week.
To create Halloweentown's twisted look, the design artists often made their sketches using their nondrawing hand.
All-New Blu-ray Exclusive Tim Burton Movie Introduction
Storyboard To Film Comparison
Original Theatrical Trailers And Posters
What's This? Jack's Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour
FRANKENWEENIE (Uncut Version) With New Introduction By Tim Burton
VINCENT Short Film
Tim Burton's Original Poem Narrated By Christopher Lee
All-New Audio Commentary By Tim Burton, Director Henry Selick And Musical Designer Danny Elfman
Behind The Scenes Making Of Tim Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
The Worlds Of Tim Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS Halloween Town; Christmas Town, The Real World
Deleted Scenes

Product Details

• Released on: 2008-08-26
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: AC-3, Anamorphic, Animated, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, HiFi Sound, Original recording remastered, Surround Sound, THX, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 76 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
For those who never thought Disney would release a film in which Santa Claus is kidnapped and tortured, well, here it is! The full title is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, which should give you an idea of the tone of this stop-action animated musical/fantasy/horror/comedy. It is based on characters created by Burton, the former Disney animator best known as the director of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and the first two Batman movies. His benignly scary-funny sensibility dominates the story of Halloweentown resident Jack Skellington (voice by Danny Elfman, who also wrote the songs), who stumbles on a bizarre and fascinating alternative universe called ... Christmastown! Directed by Henry Selick (who later made the delightful James and the Giant Peach), this PG-rated picture has a reassuringly light touch. As Roger Ebert noted in his review, "some of the Halloween creatures might be a tad scary for smaller children, but this is the kind of movie older kids will eat up; it has the kind of offbeat, subversive energy that tells them wonderful things are likely to happen." --Jim Emerson

From The New Yorker
This full-length animated movie was shot in stop motion, with all the febrile, twittery fascination that the medium exerts; it has a magic-toy shop feeling, with unexpected objects stuttering into life. Directed by Henry Selick, it was devised and co-produced by Tim Burton, who leaves a trail of his familiar obsessions: graveyard humor, whirling snow, a velvety darkness. But the atmosphere is too rich for the pallid plot: Jack Skellington, the bony master of ceremonies in Halloweentown, discovers the spirit of Christmas and tries to import it into his ghoulish world. The clash of styles-demonic vs. cute-pays off only toward the end; for all the witty, festering details (look out for the cat that howls like a siren when you crank its tail), the film is strangely static. Danny Elfman's score is lush and shocking but much too good for his lyrics (or for what you can hear of them). Children may find it too black and baffling; adults with nervous dispositions should be nicely freaked out. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

One of the best
Nightmare before Christmas is sooo fantastic. It should have one so many awards. Elfman is amazing. He wrote the score and does Jack's voice. The story is creative, visually it is stunning , and the score is timeless.
We love this movie in our house. I don't think Elfman has received his due recognition for this film.

Phenomenal, simply phenomenal
The picture is stunning, definitely one of the best Blu Ray titles i've ever seen. This is something you buy if you're looking to show off your HDTV. You can't go wrong with this, plus you get your bonus copy to put onto your iPod/iPhone to take around with you for those long trips.

Final Verdict: 5 Stars, for being an amazing movie and for it being magnificently restored.

A Big F for shoddy packaging
Just received this in the mail today. For a so called Collector's edition, the box was torn and not even the seal was broken, so it was put together already damaged. Cheap shoddy packaging that can barely hold together. Come on!!! Can you at least design a package that holds together. Great Movie. The low rating is for the very poor packaging this release received.

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Cars [Blu-ray]

Product Description

Disney Cars (Blu-ray)
Disney/PIXAR's "Cars," the high-octane adventure comedy from the creators of "ToyStory," "The Incredibles" and "Finding Nemo" now looks and sounds better than ever in this Blu-ray(R) disc created from the original source file. Hotshot race car Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is living life in the fast lane - until he hits a detour and gets stranded in Radiator Springs, a forgotten town on Route 66. There he meets Sally, Mater,Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) and a heap of hilarious characters who help him discover there's more to life than trophies and fame. Go deeper into the world of "Cars" than you ever dreamed possible in eye-popping visual clarity. Feel the sound of roaringengines and rock to the rhythm of some smokin' roadhouse riffs with audio enhancement that puts thepedal to the metal! Experience "Cars" for the first time on Disney Blu-ray - Magic in High Definition.

Product Details

• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 2007-11-06
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Animated, Color, Dolby
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 2.00 pounds
• Running time: 116 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
There's an extra coat of hot wax on Pixar's vibrant, NASCAR-influenced comedy about a world populated entirely by cars. Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is the slick rookie taking the Piston Cup series by storm when the last race of the season (the film's high-octane opening) ends in a three-way tie. On the way to the tie-breaker race in California, Lightning loses his way off Route 66 in the Southwest desert and is taught to stop and smell the roses by the forgotten citizens of Radiator Springs. It's odd to have such a slim story from the whizzes of Pixar, and the film pales a bit from their other films (though can that be a fair comparison?). Nonetheless, Cars is another gleaming ride with Pixar founder John Lasseter, who's directing for the first time since Toy Story 2. There's the usual spectrum of excellent characters teamed with appropriate voice talent, loads of smooth humor for kids and parents alike, knockout visuals, and a colorful array of sidekicks, including a scene-stealing baby blue forklift named Guido. Lightning's plight is changed with the help of former big-city lawyer Sally Carrera (Pixar veteran Bonnie Hunt), the town's patriarch Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), and kooky tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). The Incredibles was the first Pixar film to break the 100-minute barrier, but had enough story not to suffer; Cars, at 116 minutes (including some must-see end credit footage), is not as fortunate, plus it never pierces the heart. Trivia fans should have bonanza with the frame-by-frame DVD function; the movie is stuffed with in-jokes, some appearing only for an instant. Ages 5 and up. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

Cars video
Video -Cars
I had quick service .
When we played the CD it had a number of pauses -perhaps it was dust.
Otherwise I was satisfied with the product and speed of delivery.

Cars on Blu-Ray : A True Blu-Ray Demonstration Disc!
This is a must have for your collection. I don't even like this movie that much. I think it's one of Pixar's weaker films. Of course Pixar is always good quality entertainment, so even a weaker film by their standards is better than all that unwatchable CGI nonsense from other companies. We can talk about the cliched storyline of the arrogant city slicker driving into an old, beat up town populated with goofy characters all day. It wouldn't matter. The movie is a total cliche, he learns his lessons about life and not being selfish, he wins the affection of the "girl car", he inspires the old champion racer to reconnect with the world again, his goofy sidekicks rebuild their town and get back to grooving, whatever... It's not a great story.

The story and characters are second rate but the visual quality of this movie on Blu-Ray will make your jaw drop! I watched Ratatouille on Blu-Ray first and was mightily impressed but I knew Cars would take the cake as a demonstration disc on account of Cars being very colorful. It exceeded my expectations.

Watch the scene when the main character "Lighting McQueen" gets into that transport truck and they drive out of the stadium and across the freeway of the city at night and then across the highways of the Southwest in the day. "Life is a Highway" is the musical cue during this scene. The visual scheme is gorgeous, lifelike, 3-Dimensional with an extreme sense of depth perception. It looks like real life even though it's a CGI animated film!

I watched Cars using a PS3 connected via a standard HDMI cable to a 42 inch, 1080p LCD TV by LG. Every person who has seen this kind of quality has been very delighted as the reviews here demonstrate and so will you!
WALL-E is going to look drop dead gorgeous when it comes out. I saw WALL-E at the movie theater, on a massive screen with digital projection. It looked great. It will be eye poppingly awesome on Blu-Ray too. Until then, you've got Cars and Ratatouille. Enjoy!

Excellent kids movie!
This is a really good kids movie but adults will like it too. The animation is great and the soundtrack is also really good. There is a good storyline that can actually be used as a teaching tool also (don't be too full of yourself and/or think you are better than others, better to give than receive, etc.) I don't think anyone would be disappointed owning this movie.

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21 [Blu-ray]

Product Description

Inspired by the true story of MIT students who mastered the art of card counting and took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings. Looking for a way to pay for tuition Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) finds himself quietly recruited by MIT's most gifted students in a daring plot to break Vegas. With the help of a brilliant statistics professor (Kevin Spacey) and armed with fake IDs intelligence and a complicated system of counting cards Ben and his friends succeed in breaking the impenetrable casinos. Now his challenge is keeping the numbers straight and staying one step ahead of the casinos before it all spirals out of control.System Requirements:Running Time: 123 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: DRAMA/BUDDIES Rating: PG-13

Product Details

• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2008-07-22
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 123 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
An unconvincing exercise in moral complexity, 21 is based on Ben Mezrich's book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) plays brilliant, blue-collar scholar Ben Campbell, whose doubts that he'll win a scholarship to Harvard Medical School compel him to join a secret, M.I.T. gang of math whiz kids. Under the silky but chilling command of a math professor (Kevin Spacey), Jim and the others master card counting, i.e., the statistical analysis of cards dealt in blackjack games. The team lives a humdrum existence during the week, but on weekends in Sin City, the students are rolling in cash, going to exclusive clubs, and feeling on top of the world. (Ben even gets the girl: a comely, fellow counter played by Kate Bosworth.) Despite all that success, Ben feels ethically compromised, and indeed director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde), in the old tradition of American movies, plays it both ways where fun vices are concerned. On the one hand, it feels so good; on the other, ahem, we know it's wrong. That studied ambivalence proves wearing after a while, making the most interesting character in the film a casino watchdog played by Laurence Fishburne. A master at reading the emotions of gamblers beating the house with a scam, he's admirable for being good at his job, but repellent for wrecking the faces of counters in casino dungeons. He's all about moral complexity in the tradition of anti-heroes, and a truly provocative element in an otherwise superficial movie. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Totally Enjoyable
I found the story enjoyable, the acting good and the filming beautiful and creative. It isn't an in-depth character study or a tortured drama, but a can-you-imagine of good students and an avaricious teacher getting in over their heads in the world of Vegas gambling. I particularly liked Jim Sturgess in his role and find it hard to believe he is English and not American. The only things that would have made it more enjoyable for me would have been a longer love scene and more details about their shopping and other indulgences. I saw it twice in theaters, bought the DVD, have watched it 5 or 6 times and will watch it again. I can't understand all the mediocre reviews.

gambling glamor made boring film
This film is "inspired by" a true story told in the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions (2003). In real life, the MIT Blackjack Team devised a complex scheme of card-counting, disguises, and hand signals to win four million dollars in Vegas before the heavy hand of casino security gave them the boot. This film follows that outline, but it's a pale imitation of a genuinely interesting tale of greed, intellect, and emotion. Kevin Spacey stars as the MIT professor Micky Rosa who bullies, badgers, and betrays his six students in venial Vegas. The dialogue is horrible and at points entirely predictable. There's no character development. The sub-plots about friendship and parents hold little interest. The plot does take some unexpected twists, but even this resolves in a cheesy ending. It's quite a feat to make a boring movie about the glitz and glamor of Vegas gambling. Skip the film, and read the book.

It's a MOVIE!!!
Movies are for entertainment purposes, and this was entertaining. This is the first movie I've seen with Jim Sturgess and he was perfect for the part. And, I did not realize he is English...even after the forth or fifth time watching the movie. I liked him so much in this movie, I plan to rent the other movies he is in. The thing that bothered me the most was Jill's hair! Why did they give this attractive character such a bad hairdo? Not only was the color bad, the cut was not flattering at all. Putting the bad hair aside, the movie was great. Every actor was perfect for thier role. This is not a "Gambling" movie, but entertaining movie.

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Shine a Light [Blu-ray]

Product Description

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese and the world s greatest rock n roll band The Rolling Stones unite to bring audiences the year s most extraordinary film event Shine A Light. With special appearances by Christina Aguilera Jack White and Buddy Guy and four Rolling Stones performances not seen in theaters Shine A Light is a must-own for rock n roll fans across generations.System Requirements:Running Time: 121 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: MUSIC DVD/LIVE PERFORMANCES Rating: PG-13 UPC: 097361385945

Product Details

• Brand: SHINE A LIGHT (BLURAY) (BLU-RAY DISC)
• Released on: 2008-07-29
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 121 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Martin Scorsese leaps into the madness of the Rolling Stones' organization in Shine a Light, barely controlling (in a most entertaining way) a documentary that culminates in the Stones' best concert on film. The movie's highly entertaining, pre-performance prologue finds a frazzled Scorsese trying to get a clue about the band's plans for a very special New York City date in 2006, a benefit hosted by Bill and Hillary Clinton. While Mick Jagger quibbles over concepts for the stage's set and peruses lists of possible songs to include in the show, Scorsese tries to figure out how to shoot something for which he has few production details. Everything falls into place eventually, and after an extraordinary meet-and-greet scene in which Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, and Charlie Watts catch up with the Clintons and sweetly introduce themselves to Hillary's mom, the Stones launch into a set that leans less heavily than usual on their greatest hits canon. Longtime fans are sure to appreciate the wealth of generally-untapped material from Let It Bleed ("You Got the Silver," "Live With Me"), Exile On Main Street ("All Down the Line," "Loving Cup"), and Some Girls ("Faraway Eyes," "Just My Imagination"). Jack White, Christina Aguilera, and Buddy Guy are on hand for memorable collaborations, but the Stones all alone are truly on fire in the relatively intimate setting of a small theater. Among the highlights is a sexy and even thrilling call-and-response between Jagger and ace backup singer Lisa Fischer on "She Was Hot," Richards' gracious and expansive solo on "Connection," and Jagger's witty take on "Some Girls" (which manages to skip over the controversial verse about "black girls"). Throughout the show, Scorsese and an army of camera operators cover the action from every conceivable angle, which results not so much in another hyperkinetic concert film but rather in the kind of graceful, flattering portrayal of a great band that the director mastered with The Last Waltz. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

You Might Be Dissapointed
I love the Stones and have since before I first saw them in concert (day 2 at Anaheim Stadium in the late '70's during the Some Girls tour). Although I look forward to each album...even the many many many lives ones, and concert performances, I was expecting more from the Scorsese film.
Let me say first...the Stones are great - they do their thing, they perform good (Jagger's voice is a bit strained, but not horribly so), and they look great.
Now the problem. If there were not so many live performance dvd/cds out there this would be great, instead it comes out like just another. What muddles this is the expectation that comes from this being a Scorsese film. Those of us who remember/love The Last Waltz, realize what a special film that was...beyond just a concert, it got into the heart of a band, and was a snapshot of the period, as well as a celebration. Shine a Light though is none of this...mostly concert film, enough hodge podge back stage stuff to call it a documentary, it just sits there. Again, its strongest point is the concert, and this would have been stronger if not "just another one from the Stones."
Well worth a renting...glad I did.

THE RAVAGES OF ACCOMPLISHMENT
Just a quick note of hearty agreement with Simon Collier's review ("Nothing Wrong with Nostalgia," 3 Aug 2008).

However, I'd also point out that to the extent that the Rolling Stones can finally and firmly place their music in the rock tradition inspired by the great Delta, Chicago, and Electric Bluesmen, as they do by including Buddy Guy in this concert, for example, they can perform indefinitely without regard to their age. Certainly, their work has had a basis in the Blues greats (Robert Johnson and Mississippi Fred McDowell, among others) from the very beginning with excursions into everything from psychedelia to reggae. But it's especially important for them to reinforce the Blues connection at this late point--nothing short of their final musical legacy is at issue. There's no such thing as a 60 year-old pop star, at least not without snickering in the aisles, but many of the old Bluesmen played marvelously at well past that age, in some cases dying while still musically active or quitting only when health substantially intervened. Among others, I'm thinking of Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Mississippi John Hurt, McDowell, Son House, R.L. Burnside, and Willie Dixon, all of whom worked to the very end without appearing remarkably well-preserved. It's an almost ageless musical form, since you can't "retire" from something that's a part of your soul, as it was for these musicians, and as it seems to be for the Stones. Indeed, this music wears especially well with the performers' age when the material deals with hard times, as so much of it does, of course. Watts, Richards, and Wood playing "You've Got the Silver" certainly fit in this category for me, for example.

For the Stones to take a place as rock descendants of the Blues greats, it's important that artists like Guy, the "reigning king of Chicago Blues" and a significant Blues stylist in his own right, take their work seriously. This can't be in doubt, judging from the sheer joy that's apparent when he jams with them on Waters' "Champagne and Reefer." For me this cut is the high-point of the show, since the Stones' claim on true musical longevity, as opposed to mere celebrity, proceeds from the admiration of Guy and his musical cohort, as well as from their relation to Waters and the beginnings of Electric Blues in Chicago, and thence ultimately to Johnson and the foundations of the music in the Mississippi Delta. Fantastic though it might have been for insolent interviewers of those smooth-faced boys in the '60s to contemplate, at some point in their journey, the Rolling Stones finally did make the transition from rock stars to musicians of considerable talent--not at all necessarily the same thing--as any serious look at their body of work suggests. It can be easy to underestimate the level of that talent, given its sometimes outrageous packaging, but it is a foolish error to do so. Richards, in particular, has always made the difficult look all-too-easy. (I love his acoustic interpretation of Grieg in the bonus footage.) Wood likewise does so with, if anything, greater elegance and understatement. It's only fairly recently that I've been able to get beyond being distracted by their details to appreciate Wood and especially Richards as musicians, and in that sense the passage of time has been unambiguously to the good.

The Rolling Stones define the very concept of superb concert rock. "Shine a Light" is what all those other bands would try to do, if only they had the Stones' talent, compositions, and energy to draw upon, and, of course, if they could get a Scorsese to give them so much as a glance. Another thing that becomes abundantly clear from the film is the staggering professionalism of the band, but especially of Jagger, in putting together a concert. Details are planned with a level of care that might go into a military operation, and great thought is given to audience perceptions and to what they might find most appealing. At a stage in their career when indifference would be understandable, if not excusable, the Stones work mightily, both offstage and on, to put on a great show.

Thanks to the wonders of technology, I was able to review over the last weekend all of the Stones' live recordings both "vertically" (i.e., chronologically by concert date) and "horizontally" (i.e., grouped by song) I can now say that to my mind this is the Stones' best performance by a wide margin, based on its coherence, consistency, and maturity. It easily merits five stars; six would not be unreasonable. There are neither duds nor fillers here. Every cut shows complex and sophisticated musical evolution, and the price of that successful evolution is gray hair on performers, literally and otherwise, which can therefore be acknowledged without apology.

If my comments seem a bit clinical, I'll close by noting that I can't watch more than a few minutes of the DVD without my face hurting afterwards from smiling. The show is that magnificent and, what's most important, great fun for both band and audience, as Collier so rightly notes.

Like vintage wine!
They are getting older and they are still perform like they are kids! Another gem!

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The Secret [Blu-ray]

Product Description

In the spirit of Ghost and Birth, Hannah and Benjamin (Lili Taylor, Six Feet Under and David Duchovny, The X-Files) are a happily married couple whose love is tested in ways they never could have imagined in this touching supernatural drama. But when Hannah is killed in a car accident, the couple's strong bond may be responsible for an unusual twist of fate that keeps their love alive -- at the expense of their daughter (Olivia Thirlby, Juno).

Product Details

• Released on: 2008-08-26
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minute

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Compared to pallid supernatural romances like Ghost, The Secret is a fireball of Freudian pathos about a love triangle between parents Benjamin (David Duchovny) and Hannah Marris (Lili Taylor), and their teenage daughter, Samantha (Olivia Thirlby). Directed by Swiss actor Vincent Perez, The Secret succeeds where other cheesy ghost films fail because there is always the possibility that after Benjamin's wife, Hannah, dies in a car accident and comes back to inhabit her daughter's body, Benjamin will be lured into his daughter's arms by sheer grief commingled with desire. The film's operates with increasing tension throughout, starting when Benjamin decides to believe that Sam is temporarily not Sam, but his wife. There are sappy scenes, such as when Sam, as mother Hannah, returns to high school following the accident and flails terribly in teenage situations. But the notion of a mother spying on her daughter through possession recalls Mommie Dearest, in a great way. The real credit in this film goes to Thirlby, who in essence plays two characters well, switching identities throughout. The sexual innuendo she brings to the part adds the zest The Secret needs to elevate it from a suburban nightmare to real horror. Viewers who enjoy The Secret might also look to Argento's mother trilogy, or the recently released French horror film, Inside. That said. The Secret contains no gore and relies on psychological suspense rather than violence to construct its mother/daughter tale. --Trinie Dalton

Customer Reviews

neat story idea
Got to see a trailer for this on NETFLIX and it looks like it will really be an interesting film to watch. Gave it four(4)stars just based on the trailer.

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Top Gun [Blu-ray]

Product Description

Top Gun takes a look at the danger and excitement that awaits every pilot at the Navy's prestigious fighter weapons school. Tom Cruise is superb as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell a daring young flyer who's out to become the best of the best. And Kelly McGillis sizzles as the civilian instructor who teaches Maverick a few things you can't learn in a classroom.System Requirements:Running Time: 109 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC

Product Details

• Brand: TOP GUN (BLU-RAY DISC)
• Released on: 2008-07-29
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 109 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
Jingoism, beefcake, military hardware, and a Giorgio Moroder rock score reign supreme over taste and logic in this Tony Scott film about a maverick trainee pilot (Tom Cruise) who can't follow the rules at a Navy aviation training facility. The dogfight sequences between American and Soviet jets at the end are absolutely mechanical, though audiences loved it at the time. The love story between Cruise's character and that of Kelly McGillis is like flipping through pages of advertising in a glossy magazine. This designer action movie from 1986 would be all the more appalling were it not for the canny casting of good actors in dumb parts. Standouts include Anthony Edwards--who makes a nice impression as Cruise's average-Joe pal--and the relatively unknown Meg Ryan in a small but memorable appearance. --Tom Keogh

Amazon.com Essential
Jingoism, beefcake, military hardware, and a Giorgio Moroder rock score reign supreme over taste and logic in this Tony Scott film about a maverick trainee pilot (Tom Cruise) who can't follow the rules at a Navy aviation training facility. The dogfight sequences between American and Soviet jets at the end are absolutely mechanical, though audiences loved it at the time. The love story between Cruise's character and that of Kelly McGillis is like flipping through pages of advertising in a glossy magazine. This designer action movie from 1986 would be all the more appalling were it not for the canny casting of good actors in dumb parts. Standouts include Anthony Edwards--who makes a nice impression as Cruise's average-Joe pal--and the relatively unknown Meg Ryan in a small but memorable appearance. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Aerial Antics With Cheese
Recently released on Region A Blu-Ray, I watched this film again for the first time in several years.

Top Gun is not a movie that has aged well - particularly since release the novelty of seeing F14's in close combat and training exercises has been overtaken by flight sim games that let you do it yourself and the CNN/Discovery Channel imagery of real warfare in Desert Storm etc. Despite the premise that "Top Gun" teaches close air warfare, the real military doctrine is to avoid closing within gun range in the first place and rely on "Beyond Visual Range" methods to engage the enemy. If that fails, evade or retreat to save the plane (and pilot) to fight another day.

The plot and dialogue seems even more camp, cliched and dated than even just a few years ago, not surprising as they have been lampooned to death. Stand out cliche has got to be "Goose" - who really has disposable-comic-relief written on his forehead from the first scene.

I seriously doubt that any pilot with the attitude problem and disregard for orders that Maverick displays, would in reality be allowed anywhere near a Navy jet.

Focus on the flying scenes and make the tea when the cringeworthy romance interludes or oiled bare 'pecs are on. It's more camp than Priscilla, Queen of the Desert...

Three stars really for the cult classic status and the crystal clear Blu-Ray picture and sound but it's not hard to see why they never made a sequel. If you want a more realistic, down to earth story about naval aviation watch "Flight of the Intruder" - a much better movie.

Top Gun HD is #1
I am personally rating Top Gun HD as a must have. If you watched it many years ago like I did then you were watching it in a state that gave it no just dues.

The sound track in HD is wonderful, and the details in the picture gave me chills! I recommend this classic to anyone who in joys this film, but have not gotten to the point of true HD.

It is worth you money!

Get the older version
I bought both DVD's, the new Widescreen Special Collector's
Edition (which contains two discs), and the older 1998 DVD,
on a single disc. The newer version seems to have altered
the movie. In the newer version, when they are in the flight
school and Jester is giving a lecture, one of the pilots says,
He is giving me a "headache", whereupon Slider says, Don't
tempt me. But in the 1998 DVD, the line is, THIS is giving me
a "headache".

These days, with media content in digital format, old movies
can be altered. Profanity can be inserted, entire scenes added
or deleted. Which is the one true version? I don't like seeing
great art tampered with. As another example, how many versions
of Mona Lisa, or the Last Supper, are there? How can you determine
which is the original?

So, if you want to watch 'Top Gun', get the 1998 DVD, which I think
contains the movie audiences saw in the theatres. The new DVD
version does not seem to have the exact same movie as found on the
1998 DVD. The original movie appears to have been tampered with,
and altered.

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Dark City (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]

Product Description

The critically-acclaimed triumph from visionary director Alex Proyas (I Robot The Crow) is back with a brand new directors cut featuring enhanced picture and sound never-before-seen footage and three commentary tracks that take you deeper than ever before into the world of one of sci-fis most exciting and revered tales. When John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes with no memory at the scene of a grisly murder he soon finds himself hunted by the police a woman claiming to be his wife and a mysterious group of pale men who seem to control everything and everyone in the city.Starring Rufus Sewell (The Illusionist) Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) William Hurt (A History of Violence) and Kiefer Sutherland (TVs 24).System Requirements:Running Time: 111 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC

Product Details

• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2008-07-29
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, Director's Cut, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 111 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
If you're a fan of brooding comic-book antiheroes, got a nihilistic jolt from The Crow (1994), and share director Alex Proyas's highly developed preoccupation for style over substance, you might be tempted to call Dark City an instant classic of visual imagination. It's one of those films that exists in a world purely of its own making, setting its own rules and playing by them fairly, so that even its derivative elements (and there are quite a few) acquire their own specific uniqueness. Before long, however, the film becomes interesting only as a triumph of production design. And while that's certainly enough to grab your attention (Blade Runner is considered a classic, after all), it's painfully clear that Dark City has precious little heart and soul. One-dimensional characters are no match for the film's abundance of retro-futuristic style, so it's best to admire the latter on its own splendidly cinematic terms. Trivia buffs will be interested to know that the film's 50-plus sets (partially inspired by German expressionism) were built at the Fox Film Studios in Sydney, Australia, home base of director Alex Proyas and producer Andrew Mason. The underground world depicted in the film required the largest indoor set ever built in Australia. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Brighter visual, better audio... sleepier edit.
I first saw Dark City the night it opened in 1998 and loved it. It was a fast paced, confusing rollercoaster, literally a dirty little secret gem of a film. I never minded the flaws of previous transfer, as the aural and visual grit seemed to fit the tone.

This new remastered version sounds great and looks better, more beautiful on my big screen than it was in the theater. Unfortunately, the expanded edit drags along, all the additions wreck the pacing! I watched this new cut, and all its bonus features, only to hear more of the pompous prattling that, as a fellow "creative professional," I've heard way too much of in my own career. The creative pro here, Alex Proyas, another wannabe fine artist working in a the commercial medium of feature filmmaking, is saying "It's nice of you guys to like my movie the way it was released... but look at the movie I really wanted to create. Isn't it so much cooler?" No, Alex, it's not. Commercial art is most successful when it's made with it's client in mind, in a collaborative process. You want the resources of the studios without submitting your precious work to the process. Over and over, it's insisted that the goal was not to make a "user-friendly film" ... but the extended cut is far MORE "user-friendly, giving up all its secrets like a cheap hooker on freebie night. When you show an audience too much, you force their imaginations to shut down, when you should be stimulating them with unknowns. No wonder that test audience was bored!

So.... anyway we can get the new digital treatment applied to the superior theatrical release? Unlike has been stated by other reviewers, both cuts are NOT on this disc, only the slower, less interesting--but prettier!--new cut.

Much better than the already good movie
I saw the movie twice at the theatre when it was released back in the 20th century ;)

I enjoyed the film very much at that time but I must say I've always been very frustrated about the editind... It seemed the first 25 minutes where just a juxtaposition of sequences with no real link together, no explanation, to fast and even the music was not really synchronised...

I was expecting a Director's cut for a long time and I can say that IT IS MUCH MUCH BETTER!! The plot line is now smoother, the intrigue ellaborates with good rythm, the quality of the image is sharp and the music is less a background noise this time and more efficient. Plus the commentaries are instructives and the interviews very informative.

IN A WORD: Buy the Director's cut and throw the old dvd away...

My only complaint: for a dvd made in Canada (mine was) there is no french subtitles (only a third of Canada speaks French after all! -ironic laugh-)

A masterpiece made better
Has it really been ten years since writer/director Alex Proyas (The Crow, I Robot) first unleashed the highly influential, groundbreaking, and underrated Dark City? Yes it has, and to celebrate being a decade old, Dark City has finally been re-released as a Director's Cut that preserves Proyas' original vision. Upon first viewing this director's cut of Dark City, you will notice some subtle differences, all of which help make Dark City even better than it was before. Gone is Kiefer Sutherland's opening narration, leaving the viewer to attempt to figure things out for themselves before the plot exposes itself. The special features carry over the commentaries from the previous release (including the one with film critic Roger Ebert, who called Dark City the best film of 1998), as well as some new featurettes that find Proyas and co. retrospecting about making the film. As for the film itself, I won't go into story details since you can find them on this page, but let it be said that Dark City is a film you will not forget. Innvoative for it's time and pre-dating anything The Matrix would do by a year plus, Dark City is a spectacular science fiction feast for the senses. If you've never seen the film, you are indeed doing yourself a disservice.

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