Bought new BluRay BD-P1400 player 2 weeks ago.
- Spiderman-3 was quite good (great PictureQuality & sound, OK story)
- Fantastic-4 was good
- tired DieHard&LiveFree, but cannot get it to play (even after firmware upgrades, posted details in BR forum under BD-P1400 thread).

Mr. Brooks - Earl Brooks is a well-respected businessman, a devoted husband, a loving father...and, with the help of his alter-ego, Marshall, a very meticulous killer. Unfortunately, one small oversight results in his getting photographed by "Mr. Smith", a local voyeur who, in exchange for keeping Earl's identity a secret, demands to be allowed to participate in his next killing. Earl (Marshall) suddenly finds himself very busy planning another murder, trying to resolve the problem of "Mr. Smith", evading the determined cop trying to catch him and dealing with his daughter and her unexpected pregnancy. Life can sometimes get complicated for even the most mild-mannered of businessmen!

This is an excellent sleeper film, with a slick story, good pacing, a few nifty twists and great performances by both Kevin Costner and William Hurt. The only weaknesses were Demi Moore's tepid performance and her character's mediocre-but-necessary plot-line.

I just watched Rocky Balboa...great movie!


I bought it at Rogers Video used box. It was $5.99 less 25% discount. They are giving 25% discount on all pre-viewed dvd's 9.99 and under. So I got it for less than rental and the picture was perfect!

Mean Creek - After George, the school bully, beats up Sam, a plan is hatched by Sam's older brother and a couple of his friends to teach George a lesson. Doubts arise when it seems that George is really more misunderstood than mean, but this revelation fails to stop the plan which, as they often do, goes very wrong...

Despite its earnest intentions and some good performances from the young cast, the film falters due to the amateurish execution that includes a number of irrelevant and/or poorly-developed plot threads.

Mr Brooks -- watched this one last night -- totally concur with eljay's comments above. We much-enjoyed this movie.

Watched "The Prestige" last night and found the double twist ending somewhat confusing. Without spoiling it for someone, who hasn't yet seen it, I can't really go into detail what to me didn't make too much sense.
However, the twist ending to "The Illusionist" was quite plausible and I quite enjoyed it!

Once - Romance blossoms between a Dublin street busker and a flower girl/pianist, kickstarting both their lives from the ruts they seem stuck in. A small, scruffy, intimate movie that's light on plot, but warm of heart.

Godzilla (1998) - Godzilla surfaces in the South Pacific and, before you know it, he's stomping through the streets and tunnels of New York City, fighting off the military and looking for somewhere to lay eggs. The race is on to destroy Gozilla and to find his lair and eradicate his offspring. Will our cast of bumbling protagonists succeed against this mighty threat? Stay tuned...

...or, better yet, don't. I thought I had set my expectations low enough but, evidently, I hadn't because this movie was an even more inane piece of cr*p than I imagined it would be.

Eljay:
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ottawa, ON
Posts: 3,729

Thumbs down
Godzilla (1998) - Godzilla surfaces in the South Pacific and, before you know it, he's stomping through the streets and tunnels of New York City, fighting off the military and looking for somewhere to lay eggs.

You mean Godzilla is looking for a place for his mate to lay eggs or is the movie so screwed up that they indicate that Godzilla, a male, is going to lay the eggs?
It sounds like a real dud!

Godzilla is a reptile (albeit a mutated one) and, like some reptiles, can reproduce asexually (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptile#Reproductive).

With or without this...ahem..."interesting" twist, the movie was definitely a dud.

Eastern Promises

I liked it well enough, as I do most Cronenberg flicks, but the violence is so gratuitous and over the top that it seems almost childish on the director's part. At one point a man is about to get his throat cut and we can see the knife coming up to his neck. Most viewers at this point can kinda infer where things are going. But Cronenberg needs to immediately tighten the establishing shot so we can see the knife sawing through the flesh and the blood gushing out.

I'm assuming this is so we can experience the "horror" of the moment, the cold viciousness of the world we are entering. Gee, thanks for the hint. :rolleyes: This is repeated later in the film as well, as if they had a prosthetic and make-up effect that gave them such a thrill they wanted to use it again.

Viggo Mortenson is excellent, disappearing into the character and never hitting a false note. The rest of the cast is great, too, though Naomi Watts really isn't given too much to do. The bath house fight scene was...er...intense to say the least. Let's hope it wasn't too cold in there.

All in all, I didnt like it quite as much as A History of Violence, but it's worth a rental.

Shadows in the Sun (2005) - A delightful romantic comedy set in the stunning Tuscany countryside. No hard violence, shoot em up, or porny sex, but a mature theme.

Ambitious agent Jeremy Taylor (Joshua Jackson - Dawson Creek) is sent by his London publishing company on a mission to achieve what many have failed to do: sign reclusive, wildly eccentric author Weldon Parrish (Harvey Keitel - Bugsy). Once in Tuscany, however, Jeremy instead falls heads over heels for Weldon's beautiful daughter (Claire Forlani - The Medallion, Antitrust) and develops a friendship with the literary master.

National Treasure - Benjamin Gates is hot on the trail of the elusive treasure of the Knights Templar. Having stolen the Declaration of Independence, one of the keys to the puzzle, Ben now has to elude the FBI and a rival treasure hunter. Will he find what looking for before his rival does? Will the FBI get to him first? Is there even a treasure at all, or it is just a myth?

Lightweight but mildly entertaining "Indiana Jones"-esque fare, with plenty of requisite twists, turns and chases.

Battlestar Galatica: Razor - pretty good movie that fills in between Season 2 and 3. But it seemed more like a highlight reel than an actual story.

Once - musical romance story that is getting a lot of buzz. Enjoyed it but was not blown away by it as many others seem to be.

Ratatouille - Remy is a rat but, much to the dismay of his family, he has the soul of a chef and a profound belief in the words of his late hero, Chef Auguste Gusteau: "Anyone can cook!" A twist of fate separates him from his family and delivers him not only to Paris but to Gusteau's restaurant, where he inadverently helps the hapless Linguini become a rising culinary star. Remy and Linguini struggle to keep their secret from their colleagues - and especially from meddlesome Chef Skinner - but a visit by powerful food critic Anton Ego threatens not only to expose them but to destroy the reputation of Gusteau's. Remy and Linguini have each other, but will that be enough to avert disaster?

Pixar creates another winner, with a fun, well-paced story, wonderful animation and a climax with Anton Ego so poignant it moved me almost to tears. Well done, Pixar!

The Polar Express - A young boy on the verge of losing his faith in Christmas finds himself a passenger on the Polar Express, a magical train that takes doubting children on an adventure-filled ride to the North Pole on Christmas Eve so that they can meet Santa Claus and find their faith in him and in the wonders of Christmas restored.

Comments: The movie has slick CGI and visuals but the story, while intriguing, is bizarre and even a little dark. It works as a curiosity, but it certainly isn't your average Christmas movie!

We watched Bad(der) Santa last night -- good grief, not sure why!! We watched it last year, so knew what to expect - yuck!! Tend to usually enjoy Billy Bob Thornton, but this is one non-award winner for sure!!
To use your last words eljay - "it certainly isn't your average Christmas movie!" either!!

We watched it last year, so knew what to expect - yuck!!May I ask why, given your expectations, you chose to watch it again?

Probably a combination of some memory loss, and some expectation that maybe it wasn't as bad as we had remembered?!!
And lots of coercion from my other half to watch it again!! Now she wants me to file it in the circular file so we'll never make that mistake again!! :D

Thanks for the explanation. I'm sure, in time, you'll find the opportunity to get back at your partner with a suggestion to watch a movie she probably doesn't really want to watch but "C'mon, honey, it's not that bad!" ;)