Death Race Blu ray
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/19/2008
User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars Cars with ‘Tude
What is modern filmmakers’ penchant for bleached-out sepia-tinted color that looks like moldy black and white? It does not seduce me. To be frank, it looks just plain ugly. I suppose, in the case of this movie, it signifies the ugliness of the future that awaits us.
Despite its ugly-duckling appearance, “Death Race” is a serviceable action flick starring the charismatic and appealingly imperturbable Jason Statham (of “The Bank Job” fame). Short on plot, “Death Race” is long on action, the explosive action of racing between souped-up, armor-plated, rocket-mounted, grotesque-looking vehicles.
There’s one catch to these races: They’re not about winning, they’re about killing the other competitors. The more racers that are killed, the higher the ratings of the televised matches. It’s an interesting theme, but it seems to lack the necessary acerbic wit to pull it off to complete satisfaction.
–Bryan Cassiday, author of “Fete of Death”
3 Stars Good Entertainment
The movie is certainly entertaining but it doesn’t have the political overtones of the original
5 Stars The Best Whatever This Year
A lot of fun and I was attentive to the ’story’ in a slick, gritty, sexy, racing, action film that was a lot better than the lynch-mob attitude towards Anderson. I mean, like he’s so Carpenter, what’s bad?, except your sorry expectations. Well, mine were lifted! Better than I hoped for! Stephen King said it was the best movie of ‘08. BD A/V quality; full marks, sound, off the charts; this will test your speakers and LFE will test your windows.
4 Stars A good time at the movies, nothing more
I’ll say it up front that some of my favorite movies are the long, dense and actor-driven films that have come out over the past 40 or so years but you know what? Occasionally I just want to have fun, tear loose and pop in a movie that gets you pumped. Is it badly written? Naturally and in addition to being not particularly depthful or well-characterized people, it’s a film that says “you know what? Grab some buddies, nachos and drinks and just have fun” with a between-the-lines requirement that you shut off your brain first. Paul W.S. Anderson has in certain respects stopped being the poster child for bad filmmaking since now that the inexplicable “directing” by one Uwe Boll has been set loose, we now look at Anderson as the good bad-movie maker and so we have Death Race, a remake of the old Roger Corman film and looking at it you can level all the complaints you want at it but you’d still have a blast anyway.
Set in 2012, the prison system has become home to one of the most popular forms of entertainment on the web, that of the Death Race, a 3 part race where drivers literally fight to the death in hopes that they’ll make it to 5 wins and earn their freedom out of prison. Headed by the devious Hennessey and her cronie guard/bodyguard Ulrich, the prison also houses the famous racer, Frankenstein who dons a mask since his face is so disfigured from previous races. But when he dies after a race, in comes Jensen Ames who’s been wrongly imprisoned for murdering his wife so Hennessey and Ames cut a deal: with 4 races won by the original Frankenstein, if Ames wins that next race and dons his mask for ratings purposes, Ames goes free but surviving the race is one thing, surviving a warden who isn’t exactly going to let her golden goose disappear is another.
Returning to the director’s chair 4 years after he made the slightly-average-but-still-disappointing Alien vs. Predator, Anderson returns with Death Race and quite simply if you’ve ever seen any of his previous movies you know what to expect here and one can say that strangely, it’s his best film in awhile. Resident Evil was a fine movie to me however it was not a horror movie and considering its source material, that’s a disappointment while AvP was just too tame for the battle royale that it was supposed to be. Death Race is along the lines of say Event Horizon or Mortal Kombat where yeah, it does have issues but honestly, when the film’s this fun, I could care less.
That doesn’t mean he can’t improve and disregarding the usual suggestions of “make better movies”, he’s gotta learn how to properly make an action sequence work since he still does that hyper editing where he tries to out-do Michael Bay in that instead of showing an exciting sequence, they gotta cut it up and make it so frantic and chaotic that it looks exciting, like being on a rollercoaster with your eyes darting all over the place. Then of course there’s the writing which is filled with cliche lines or just bad one-liners but look at the movie uncritically and it passes, fixate on minor details and you’re practically checking off all the goofy parts.
But enough about that, let’s talk about the sexy violence since let’s face it, we’re dealing with cars outfitted with napalm, smoke, machine guns and when damaged a lot, they explode really nice. The hyperkinetic action is really the highlight for those into this kind of thing and in this area, this makes Anderson’s new movie arguably the better one he’s made in years. In fact to its detriment strangely since the races are so visually exciting and filled with balls-to-the-wall stunts and action that when they stop to tell stories and have character moments,the film deflates a bit too much. Nice to have a breather sure but here it becomes a bit too slow and doesn’t quite have the downtime it needed. Plus this downtime doesn’t include Natalie Martinez playing Case, Ames’ side driver who fulfills that sexy role very nicely but since she only shows up in the prison the day of the race, you kind of miss looking at her. But we do have Robin Shou from Mortal Kombat in a very small cameo and Ian McShane of Deadwood fame is always awesome so there’s that too.
In the end, Death Race is for adrenaline junkies, the kind of people who can watch action movies for the sake of getting your kicks out and Death Race does this. Might not be a lasting movie in the home, but it’s a fun one when it’s on.
4 Stars You will be surprised!
I remember seeing the previews of this movie thinking “meh”. I was wrong. I watched this movie and couldn’t believe that it was the movie from the previews. It is no oscar winner for sure, but I doubt anyone reading this thought it would be. It is a very solid action movie. There are some surprisingly great actors in the movie. The cars are cool, the action is great, and the movie delivers.
If you like action movies with a plot that is decent enough to accompany the action then you should add this to your cart or at least to you netflix queue. You won’t be disappointed.
If you ever thought that Twisted Metal would be cool to see as a movie then this is it.
Bangkok Dangerous Blu ray
Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 01/06/2009 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star Worst Bluray quality ever
Worst Bluray quality ever. I did not watched the whole movie because the image quality was horrible.
4 Stars a better recent cage movie.
This movie is a good action flick with a taste of psychological subtext to it. Nicolas Cage who did a good job in Next returns with a even better performance in this movie. With age many a person has had to look over there choices and perhaps develop a conscience. That happens here in this story and the movie must be applauded for not going for the typical happy ending that destroyed movies like the American version of “The Vanishing”. Here the Americanized version isn’t too bad, and while not a great flick it is a good movie in which the lead character is not a indestructible video game being. Not that movies like ‘Wanted” are terrible for featuring that type of unrealistic hero though. This is just more realistic and it is well worth seeing on blu ray. If you aren’t looking for over the top action movies with superquick editing then you might enjoy this action drama flick. Nicolas Cage lands a solid performance here and the supporting cast is good too. That being said the movie is easy to follow and well edited so it’s a decent way to spend your time.
3 Stars A Dumb Story, But It Is Stylish On Blu-Ray
Is it my imagination or has Nicholas Cage been involved in a lot of B-type films the past decade? I pretty much enjoyed this movie, don’t get me wrong – but it’s still not what you’d call a classy movie, not the kind of film he’d be involved with years ago. Now, he seems to prefer playing total wackos in stories that don’t have a lot of credibility.
Here, he’s a Joe The Hitman in Thailand, who falls for Miss Wholesome, and then turns “Rambo” by killing 50 people while en route to saving his prot
DVD reviews: ‘Milk’; ‘Role Models’; ‘Striped Pajamas’; ‘Transporter 3′ (Reno Gazette-Journal)
It's an exceptionally busy week on the home video front, with film lovers gaining access to a 2008 best picture nominee, a crude-but-funny Hollywood comedy, a Jason Statham action flick and a handful of notable indies.Bangkok Dangerous Blu ray
Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 01/06/2009 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Fun Blu-Ray disc, so so movie!!!
I absolutely enjoyed watching this movie on a ps3 attached to a Denon AVR-4308 and a Samsung 52″ 120hz LCD. It was a 7.1 channel movie that made use of every channel including the LFE (bass). Amazing sound effects and sounds quality.
Picture quality was 5/5 by me…so I dont know what other reviewers are comparing it to.
The movie was so so…it was a quick and easy action flick. A typical story about a dangerous dude that falls in love and wants to change his ways….
I would check it out just for the 7.1 sound and blu-ray experience.
4 Stars a better recent cage movie.
This movie is a good action flick with a taste of psychological subtext to it. Nicolas Cage who did a good job in Next returns with a even better performance in this movie. With age many a person has had to look over there choices and perhaps develop a conscience. That happens here in this story and the movie must be applauded for not going for the typical happy ending that destroyed movies like the American version of “The Vanishing”. Here the Americanized version isn’t too bad, and while not a great flick it is a good movie in which the lead character is not a indestructible video game being. Not that movies like ‘Wanted” are terrible for featuring that type of unrealistic hero though. This is just more realistic and it is well worth seeing on blu ray. If you aren’t looking for over the top action movies with superquick editing then you might enjoy this action drama flick. Nicolas Cage lands a solid performance here and the supporting cast is good too. That being said the movie is easy to follow and well edited so it’s a decent way to spend your time.
3 Stars A Dumb Story, But It Is Stylish On Blu-Ray
Is it my imagination or has Nicholas Cage been involved in a lot of B-type films the past decade? I pretty much enjoyed this movie, don’t get me wrong – but it’s still not what you’d call a classy movie, not the kind of film he’d be involved with years ago. Now, he seems to prefer playing total wackos in stories that don’t have a lot of credibility.
Here, he’s a Joe The Hitman in Thailand, who falls for Miss Wholesome, and then turns “Rambo” by killing 50 people while en route to saving his prot
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