As Good as It Gets (1997)

Another movie I have watched over and OVER again.

This time on BD format...

Frankly, I'm a little underwhelmed by the video transfer.

It is "spotty" at times. Helen Hunt/Jack Nicholson's face is a little overly pink at some scenes. Some other scenes are a little soft...

Having said that, it is still better then the DVD copy I have...

This is a Drama/Comedy.

There are NO, Car/Boat/Train Chase, Planes shooting each others down, Space Ship, Time Travel, Evil Super Computers, Aliens, Robots, Lazer Beams, Cool Weapon/Gadgets, Monsters, people with special powers etc...

All the characters do, are to talk to each other!!

And you know what. This movie is mesmerizing!!!!

A GOOD script people, you have to work on your script!!!!

Don't believe me?



Unbelievable dialogue!!

Jack Nicholson taking OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) to the nth degree... BRILLIANT.

I do believe that both Greg Kinnear and Cuba Gooding Jr. are both very good and overlook actors in Hollywood. A shame really...

The interaction between Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson and Greg Kinnear (as the title suggest) do not get better then this!

Give this a try, if you have not already.

My Two Sen

The Draughtsman's Contract (1982)

This movie has a script that is praise by critics!!

It is suppose to be brilliant, witty and well crafted.

Full of symbolism, intrigues, innuendos and suspense...

I watched in the first time on Australian TV...

It was... way above my pay grade.

Now, it is still... WAY ABOVE MY PAY GRADE!!!!

It is about a murder and at the end... I think I solve the murder, but am not sure, and also witness... wait I better not give that away...

This is one of the weirdest movie I have every seen.

To prove a point, have you even seen Eyes Wide Shut (1999)??

It is WAY stranger then THAT!!

It is English and it talks about... from what I can gather, the decadence of the upper class!!

Let's leave it as THAT!!

My Two Sen

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

Now for something completely different.

Li Ang's Eat Drink Man Woman.

Great script. Great acting. Great direction.

Drama and it is mesmerizing!!

I cannot take my eyes of it.

About a 5 stars restaurant chef and his relationship with his daughter.

Li Ang successfully portray the communication or lack there of in a Chinese family.

The way this family is abole to talk to each other is through food!!

Just the way the food is prepared here!!

If you like a well crafted drama, look no farther.

Video transfer is on/off. I suspect the source material was NEVER fantastic. And have to add, it is much better then the DVD.

My Two Sen

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

Now for something completely different.

Li Ang's Eat Drink Man Woman.

Great script. Great acting. Great direction.

Drama and it is mesmerizing!!

I cannot take my eyes of it.

About a 5 stars restaurant chef and his relationship with his daughter.

Li Ang successfully portray the communication or lack there of in a Chinese family.

The way this family is abole to talk to each other is through food!!

Just the way the food is prepared here!!

If you like a well crafted drama, look no farther.

Video transfer is on/off. I suspect the source material was NEVER fantastic. And have to add, it is much better then the DVD.

My Two Sen

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)

Of all the life action Tarzan movie, I have to say this is my favorite.

Even today it is actually... relevant.

Christopher Lambert is spot on as Tarzan. Not a muscle bound man that grunts. I agree with the director Hugh Hudson. They had alot of trouble casting Tarzan and was actually in a hotel lobby in Paris at wits end... An in walks in Christopher Lambert. A lanky man...

What attracted the director to Christopher Lambert was... his eyes... There are "beast-like" quality to them!!!

They spent 3 month training this lanky lad into what you see on screen!!!

Ian Holm is also here!!

Interestingly, when Disney made an animated feature, there are scenes from this movie that are "transferred" over (shall we say).

What this movie did very successfully for me is, if Tarzan exist, what realistically can happen!!

Good stuff.

Please do not compare this to Tarzan and the Lost City (1998 *Groan*)

There is a CGI version of Tarzan being release this year. I understand they are also trying to revive a live action movie of Tarzan with Alexander Skarsgård (of true Blood fame)...

... All I can say is, let me enjoy this for now...

My Two Sen.

Godzilla 4K Remaster Edition (1998)

Roland Emmerich & Dean Devlin!!

They rock the 90s.

What they did for the 90s in Hollywood, was what Paul Verhoeven did for Hollywood in the 80s!!!

Stargate, Independence Day etc!!

Back to Godzilla.

King Kong (1933) was a big deal. It was at the height of the Depression, and as poor as people was, they paid the nickel at the cinema to watch The Eighth Wonder of the World, if anything to escape their real lives...

And they actually rooted for King Kong when he rampage through New York city, because they feel his is destroying society that had trodden on them...

So when King Kong was on the Empire States building (the tallest building in the world at the time) and was shot down by the bi-plane, the people actually felt for the big ape...

Like King Kong, Godzilla is a monster movie. The irony is that the original King Kong inspired Toho to make Godzilla. And Toho did actually make a Godzilla vs King Kong movie after their owner of the King Kong rights keep failing to make another sequel to King Kong after The Son Of Kong!!

And in 1998, Toho license Godzilla to TriStar Pictures (a subsidiary of Sony) to make a big budget movie.

And the result is... mixed...

The critics were not particularly kind to it. I believe it made $136,023,813 (USA) although it cost TriStar $130,000,000 (USA) to make. Worldwide it made $221,600,000 (USD) and apparently that is still a disappointment to TriStar (if it is NOT a hit in the States... It is NOT A HIT!!!)

And like King Kong, we are suppose to feel for Godzilla and I do!!

Personally I enjoy this movie.

It is camp, but I like it.

It did spawn a Animated Series, and there was suppose to be a sequel but that never materialise...

Now they are planning a remake for 2014...

The Picture and Sound quality on the 4K Remaster is abundantly better then it's original Bluray release.

My Two Sen

RoboCop (1987)

Ah Paul Verhoeven...

Why did he decide to stop making movies in Hollywood...

Peter Weller got "the robot" down peg!!

Also very interesting what Kurtwood Smith (he is Clarence J. Boddicker the cop killer in this). Because when even I see him now, I keep imagining him as Red from That 70s Show!!! (My foot up your ass)

From a picture quality point of view, this movie is not pretty.Q

With Orion's bankruptcy, and then being sold to MGM and now MGM is mainly owned by Sony... I really wonder how well the masters for the film is being kept, let alone digitally remaster/restored (this looks more like a remaster rather then a restore)...

Having gotten that out of the way, the movie itself (story line) is good and still stands the test of time!!

Like all Paul Verhoeven movie's this is very violent!!

So viewers beware.

My Two Sen.

Dante's Peak (1997)

When this movie was release, it was a big deal.

The visual feast and sound was spectacular!!

Now, re-visited on Bluray, visually and sonically... it is still GOOD!!

There are some inconsistencies though...

1) There are Vulcanologist who looks like Peirce Brosnan!!
2) The volcano at Dante Peak has multiple personalities.... There are three types of volcanoes. Composite, Cinder Cone and Shield Volcano. A volcano can either be one or the other and each have different characteristics!! At different point in time, Dante Peak display different types of characteristics relating to different type of volcano!?! Very puzzling. Apart from that, from a scientific point of view, when ever something happens to the volcano (apart from the multi personality), it is actually accurate.

But if you can get pass the above, it is an enjoyable disaster movie!!

My Two Sen

Independence Day (1996)

This movie made careers!

Roland Emmerich a sort after director.

Dean Devlin & Roland Emmerich a sort after script writing team.

And Will Smith a sort after leading man!!

After the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, lost his fortunes...

Apparently, he squandered it ALL!!

Then this movie came along, and he showed the world that he has leading man quality!!

This movie was one of the first big budget movie which uses alot of CGI for special effects!!

Most of the F16 on screens were computer generated!!

There is a novel of this just before the movie was launch. I was in the period where I had to get my grubby little hands on everything about a movie before it was launch. I actually like the novel compared to the movie.

Some portions of the novel works alot better!!



If you like Scifi and Alien invasion and had not watched this (don't laugh, many a people on here is born after 1996) give this a try

Oh, some people like this, the transfer to BD for this movie is decent.

My Two Sen

RoboCop 2 (1990)

Irvin Kershner ( of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back fame) director & Frank Miller (he wrote The Dark Knight Return, and Dark Knight) on story!!

What a combo!!

Sequels do not get better then this!!

And being rated R, there are ALL KINDS OF violence in this one as well. WAY more then Robocop!!

Anything that is good about the 1st movie is augmented here!!

And it is great.

I believe this this trilogy is probably the last few big budget movie using the Stop Motion (Made famous by King Kong and Ray Harryhausen).

Also the video transfer for this movie is much much stronger compared to the 1st one.

If you like Scifi and violence, go for this.

(Again don't laugh many a people here are born after 1990)

My Two Sen

RoboCop 3 (1993)

Here is a movie on how-to.

How to NOT make a sequel!!

First, they made it more appealing to kids (more like appealing to kids parents) by making it PG13...

Then they hired a TV director to direct this movie!!

Do not get me wrong, alot of TV directors when on and made good movies (eg. Joss Whedon anyone?) and have to add, this movie is SO BAD and basically killed the Robocop franchise, that the director, Fred Dekker had to stop directing... On that note, this feels alot more like a TV movie rather then a feature film...

Then when Peter Weller did not comeback as Robocop, they hired Robert John Burke as Robocop, and I can tell you, he does not know "the robot" as well as Peter...

Even with Frank Miller behind the script...

I have watched this before, and I knew it is a bad movie.

I forgot how bad it is until now... It is gonna take me a good decade before I can forgot how bad this movie is...

Hopefully with it recorded here, I do not have to make this mistake every again...

For the love of everything that is good, AVOID THIS LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!

Even if you have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do, AVOID THIS!!

I have watched this CRAP so you don't have to...

My Two Sen...

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

This is Alfred Hitchcock's favorite movie.

He has a formula. His leading man is always brunette and his leading lady is blond. If you watch his movie, you will notice is is always true, there are exceptions... Namely Rope (1948) and this!!

This movie is one of the movies that Hitchcock film on location. He is not happy with going on location, because he has no control over lighting...

Interestingly, I believe I've only watched this once before, on Australia TV...

The story is unique, in a sense that the leading man plays the uncle to the leading lady...



Interesting movie and the ending...

Unusual even for a Hitchcock movie

Lover of Hitchcock movie, you know what you should do.

My Two Sen

ZU Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983) (not the be confused with [Zu Warriors (2001)]

This is a blast from the past!!

Probably Tsui Hark BIGGEST project after film school (he supposedly went to the same film school as Lucas, and they know each other).

They are some practical shots here that I still wonder how they did it!!

They also hired the special effects guy from Star Wars to help out with effect (later part of the movie)

And Frankly I like what the did in the first half rather then the second half

This is a far cry from the 60s Black and White Buddha's Palm serials!!

Flying sword and cymbals (I kid you not). Laser beams, flying beings!! FUN!!

(ZU period in Chinese history supposedly occurred a couple of thousand years before Qin Dynasty)

The video transfer is not up to par with what Shaw Brothers did for their library...

Frankly I have not seen anything outside of Shaw Library that impresses me and alot of it boils down to how well the masters have been kept, and I don't think they are WELL kept at ALL.

Still a hoot to watch after all these years...

Warning many of you will laugh at the production value.

It is more of a nostalgia for me!!

My Two Sen

Dark Angel (1990)

Ah... Dolph Lundgren. After playing the bad guy in Rocky IV (1985), everyone expected him to be a BIG star!!

He was first pick for the role of He-Man in Masters of the Universe (1987) and were in several high profile projects namely The Punisher (1989) and Universal Soldier (1992), with equally unlucky Jean-Claude Van Damme) and have to add, true movie star status had always alluded him.

Which is an enigma, he is tall, good looking, athletic and smart (he has a master's degree in chemical engineering, which he got through a scholarship)

Looking at this movie, from a script point of view, it is actually decent. Almost at par with the original Terminator (1984). Even the production value is almost that of Terminator!!?!

The difference is Craig R. Baxley (the director) with an estimated budget of $7,000,000 is a much better Stunt Coordinator (although he had since done TV Series which I like, like Human Target) could not do what James Cameron achieved with an estimated budget of $6,400,000 in Terminator. The difference, the passion for making movie. I believe James Cameron poured body and soul into the making of Terminator, while Craig R. Baxley wanted good stunts in this movie, and it shows...

Dolph Lundgren is actually decent here and spoke with a convincing American accent!!

The Good Alien and Bad Alien (I kid you not, that is how they are referred to in the end credits) could have been much MUCH better...

The premised for the whole movie is also quite decent, and when you are watching the movie, you just feel that it is... lacking...

Shame, this was suppose to be the movie which would launch Dolph Lundgren into stardom... Now, he is designated to plays the "Hey I Know That Face" thug roles in movies...

Video and Audio is decent and are nothing to shout about...

My Two Sen

The Jungle Book (1967)

This is suppose to be Walt Disney second last project before his passing...

And have to add, my favorite hand drawn animation...

I believe most people would be familiar with the movie, what I would like to highlight here are

1) The animation supposedly had a second ending story boarded... And they showed it here... A VERY different movie indeed. Each ending has it's own merit, and I believe the ending that made it, is the better.

2) If you are a Disney animation fan, you would have probably heard of the term The Nine Old Man, there is a special documentary here where Olie's son, goes around to most of the children of The Nine Old Man to find out from them first hand, how it was like grown up with one of the Nine Old Man as dad... Very informative...

If they are pulling all these stuff out for Bluray releases... I'm really at lost as to what additional information can they present in the 4K (which I don't think will take off)/8K releases!!!

My added two sen.

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

Okay, lets address the elephant in the room here...

This is by no means a material to use as HD reference material.

PQ and SQ is just okay.

Even the color of this movie is... dull!!

In 1994, this movie was... the bomb!!! From a comedy movie perspective.

This movie made Jim Carrey into a household name. With his "in your face" brand of humor.

With comedies that we are exposed to nowadays, this movie is almost... tame!!

Try this out on a lazy Sunday afternoon if you have nothing better to do/have not watch it before.

My Two Sen

Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)


Now for something completely different.

This is probably one of Fritz Lang best known work (the other being Metropolis (1927))

They are silent movies... (for you young'un, the first movies were silent. They have not really figured out how to record sound, or more specifically, how to synchronize sound with moving picture.)

This is a fantasy movie, with Dragons (the highlight of the movie. A 60 feet mechanical dragon was made for this movie), people with special powers (Siegfried is super strong, invincible and can turn invisible and shape shift).

This is a full restoration.

Note that this movie is 89 years old.

There is no way the picture quality of this would compare to what we have now...

Having said that, as a 89 year old movie, It actually looks... good. Not as impressive as Metropolis (1927), but good.

What impress me most is the soundtrack. Let me explain, Silent movie we almost always accompanied by an orchestra. They would play music and product "sound effects" in synch with the movie.

What the restores did (and this is impressive) as to go back into the archive and look for the original score, and did a modern recording of the said score for the restored movie. Now THAT is dedication!!

Many works from the silent era is fast disappearing.

They are either bio degrading in storage somewhere or is lost completely (even Willis H. O'Brien stuff. He is Ray Harryheusen teacher/mentor).

There isn't much funding to restore them and I suppose, there really is not much demand for said movies (with some exception, like Charlie Chaplin)

This movie is NOT for everyone, but if you are into black & white and silent movie, you cannot go wrong with this!

Bring on Nosferatu (1922)!!!

My Two Sen.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Best of Both Worlds (1990)



Supposedly, when Season 3 of Star Trek the Next Generation ended with a cliffhanger, many an American were unhappy.

So much so, that when Patrick Steward was driving down a highway during the summer of 1990, a station wagon drove up next to his car, winded down their window and shouted at him, "You've RUINED our summer!!!!"

This year, Paramount in an attempt to to squeeze out more money from the general public, had NOT ONLY re-released the whole of Star Trek The Next Generation Season 3 & 4, they also release a "Special Edition" bluray that has the last episode of Season 3 and the first episode of Season 4, with a supposed additional extended scene, and for the life of me, I cannot tell what is extended!

Viewing something that is 23 years old (and state of the art when it was first release) it is still good story telling. And with the upgraded special effects, a good view indeed.

Paramount is spending a pretty penny to update this series to Hi Def and it shows.

Even compared to the newer Star Trek Enterprise which is also released in bluray, the PQ for Star Trek and Next Generation is a tad... sharper!

For those who are not in the know, this is the episodes where the Borg, who is originally from the Delta Quadrant of space, has actually traveled to the Alpha Quadrant of space to assimilate the Federation!!

Very nail biting indeed!!!

I like it. The question you have to ask yourself now is, will you??

My Two Sen

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (1972)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (1972)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (1973)
Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell (1974)

Now for something, REALLY different.

Director Kenji Misumi will always be know for this series.

A samurai turned ronin (a samurai without a master) wonders the country of Japan, helping the simple folks while pursuing his arch enemy, the Yagyu Clan!!

The hook? His absolutely cute and adorable young son, whom his pushes all over Japan in a wooden cart.

They do not talk to each other, but rather communicate with each other with knowing glances...

I have you know, I would have KILLED for a wooden cart like the one in the movies when I was a baby, way WAY cool.

Again, please note that this is a VERY violent series, limbs and heads go a flying.... Oh and blood a spluttering...

For movies that is 41 years old, the transfer is impressive...

They must have kept the masters in a pristine environment!!

My Two Sen

The Usual Suspects (1995)

How do you get your hands on an amazing script, a whole stable of great actors and also have a reasonable budget in 1995 for your directorial debut?

The answer is, you have to be Bryan Singer.

For the life of me, I don't know why I have only watch this movie NOW!!!

Everything is delivered!

There is absolutely, positively not wrong with this movie (well there are some goofs, but as far as story, acting and editing is concern), NOTHING. This movie is categorise as a mystery and boy is it ever!!!

Bryan Singer, is still showing alot of directors, how it is done, with this little gem!!

I cannot recommend this movie enough!!

Like always, My Two Sen.