DVD Udate: January 2013

JANUARY 2013

Just wanted to get this out of my post queue. I think I'll just leave it as is. Trying to keep up with this junk is just too much of an effort. I might on occasion mention some special interest DVDs I get not every bloody single one. Besides I have about a dozen or so I have gotten since this list and kept putting this update off. Ditto with my books updates. UGH.

It has been a very long time since I've done one of these, mostly because I was preoccupied with 19-19-1985,  actually I was preoccupied with other things like the Washington Nationals super 2012 Season and Playoffs Berth. I'm not sure when my last update was or which discs I had gotten that month. Anyway I'm going to try to improve on that this year (to reach my minimum yearly self appointed posting quota).

The first disc I got came from Columbia House and since I used my remaining Bonus Points I only had to pay for the shipping which was $2.99. I got it mostly for the star Milla Jovovich but also because I like the series. Resident Evil: Retribution. I really need to catch up with these films and have myself a marathon of them.

Resident Evil: Retribution

I went on a Batman Bonanza since I had gotten The Dark Knight Rises in December 2012. So I got the other two Batmovies in the most recent trilogy of films from Columbia House. They are calling these the Dark Knight Trilogy. Since I had gotten the last film of the series with Catwoman I figured I should get the other batmovies (I also need to get the earlier movies most of which I have on VHS but never got round to getting the DVDs)

The first BatMovie is Batman Begins. I don't know why I decided to get this "gift set" version of the movie actually I think it was because I wanted the special edition and I think this was the only non-Blu-Ray version they had. I must have been nuts. I got it for $39.95 that is close to my top price for movies on DVD.

Batman Begins

Next was the BatMovie that many think of as the best of the bunch due to Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker - The Dark Knight. I got it for FREE since I had bought the other BatMovie (Buy One Get One Free deal).

The Dark Knight

Next I started to catch up on something I should have done ages ago. The Stargate SG-1 series. I currently have Seasons One through Five in the original bulky versions (that I liked at the time) but they changed them to digipacks a few years back around the time Season Ten was released. I was expecting to get the digipack versions or maybe even the original versions that they were showing on the website, but Columbia House sent the newest versions which look nothing like the originals (even the digipack versions were different) so my collection will be mismatched for all eternity. I guess I'll have to hunt and pay a fortune for the ones I need off of Ebay. So I picked up the next two seasons I needed Season Six and Season Seven I got them for $29.95 each. I will show the version that I ended up getting and am a bit disappointed with.

Stargate: SG-1: Season 6

Stargate: SG-1: Season 7

Next I got another TV Series DVD this one came from Ebay for $19.44 with FREE Shipping. The animated series Dilbert: The Complete Series based on the comic strip by Scott Adams.

Dilbert: The Complete Series

DVDs Mentioned this post:
Resident Evil: Retribution
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
Stargate SG-1: Season 6
Stargate SG-1: Season 7
Adventures of Brisco County Jr.: The Complete Series
Dilbert: The Complete Series
.45
Ted
Total Recall (2012)
Looper
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: The Complete Epic Series

DVD Review: 45

.45 (2006) R

***

WARNING: This review might contain SPOILERS!

LIZ: "You are a woman, You have POWER and you need to use it. Lips, Tits, Hips. All Woman"

I was pleasantly surprised by this film. I bought it sight unseen used from Ebay for only .50¢ (+ $3.00 postage). I didn't realize at the time of purchase that I was going to receive a previously RENTED copy (the Ebay listing said it was used but didn't mention it was a previous rental which is risky) from Wally World video (the disc hub has printing that was marked out with a sharpie/magic marker that had a phone number and "WALLY WORLD Video" on it) So at first I thought I might have a crappy copy with the extras deleted but fortunately the Disc plays fine and all the extras are still there not blocked or deleted.

As for the plot of the film judging from the cover I thought for sure it was going to be a La Femme Nikita/ Point of No Return spy-espionage action film, but it is not like that at all. It is an urban drama with mild violence, some gun play a bit of sex and tons of the F-Bomb.

Milla Jovovich plays Kat a young woman who lives in a bad neighborhood of New York with bad boy Big Al (Angus Macfadyen) who is the gun running/black market crime king of the neighborhood. Kat stays with Al because of their shared love of guns and the fantastic sex due in part to his massive manhood. At first things are OK even though Al is a tough alpha male and short tempered, but Kat soon realizes that she needs to get out of the abusive relationship. Part of the tension comes from her best friend Vic (Sarah Strange) a lesbian and the most sensible of the circle of friends that Kat has, but Al can't stand her. Vic also happens to be in love with Kat but knows she can't have her. Also in love with Kat is Reilly (Stephen Dorff) an associate/friend of Al who is starting to turn over a new leaf and trying to avoid the dark path that Al is on. Reilly is also attracted to Vic and tries his charms on her but fails a few times.

After a huge round of abuse from Al that gets him arrested and the attention of social service counselor Liz (Aisha Tyler) Kat starts to realize the only way she can make her dreams of getting out of the neighborhood is to get away from Al. At one point Vic tells Reilly that if he kills Al she'll sleep with him, he tells her that he couldn't  kill Al he couldn't "do" a friend. He does start to take it into serious consideration though. Kat eventually gets her revenge on Al by setting him up for the murder of one of his associates.

As I said I was pleasantly surprised by this film, however, the use of some straight to the camera "interview" type monologues I didn't like. They were useful in moving the plot along and by giving some exposition and needed background info on the main characters, but I didn't like them. The story could have been told without them but the director chose that style to tell the tale. The entire film has bookend monologues by Kat to show the audience that she made her dreams a reality. During the commentary the director/writer said for some scenes he only had one camera available, and would have preferred to have two to capture more of the action.

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Angus Macfadyen, Stephen Dorff, Sarah Strange, Aisha Tyler

Directed by: Gary Lennon

TH!NKFilm

DVD Release Date: 24 April 2007

Region 1

1 Disc - 97 Minutes

I give the film itself 3 stars *** and the DVD for it's quality 3.5 stars ***.5 I would have liked the DVD to have had English subtitles, the disc itself only has Spanish, fortunately my TVs closed caption subtitles worked for this disc.