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DVD Review:‭ <‬em>Journey to the Center of the Earth‭<‬/em‭>

November 9, 2008 @ 3:23 am

Filed under: Movies, Sci-Fi Films

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Journey to the Center of the Earth DVD Box ArtMovie Info:
Writer:‭ ‬Michael Weiss,‭ ‬Jennifer Flackett,‭ ‬Mark Levin
Director:‭ ‬Eric Brevig
Cast:‭ ‬Brendan Fraser,‭ ‬Josh Hutcherson,‭ ‬Anita Briem,‭ ‬Seth Myers,‭ ‬Jean Michel Pare,‭ ‬Jane Wheeler,‭ ‬Frank Frontaine
Rating:‭ ‬PG
Studio:‭ ‬New Line Cinema

Release Info:
Theatrical Release:‭ ‬July‭ ‬11,‭ ‬2008
DVD Release Date:‭ ‬October‭ ‬28,‭ ‬2008
Online Availability:‭ ‬Amazon

I remember back in the day when New Line Cinema was synonymous with horror titles.‭ ‬Over‭ ‬the years they have branched out considerably,‭ ‬putting out everything from blockbusters to chick flicks.‭ Journey to the Center of the Earth‭ ‬leans closer to the first option and much further from the second.‭ ‬People that are old enough to watch this should have an idea that it is based on the classic of the same name by Jules Verne.‭ ‬While some people shy away from literary based movies,‭ ‬this one contains at least a couple of notable celebrities and a fantasy based storyline that is sure to please fans of the genre.‭ ‬Finish things up with the option to watch in‭ ‬2D or‭ ‬3D and the basic specs are looking pretty good.

The key to enjoying this movie beyond a shadow of a doubt is to understand that this movie is far from perfect.‭ ‬I scratched my head trying to come up with a reason why they would put this movie out when they did.‭ ‬During a summer of blockbusters that were bigger and better,‭ ‬there was no way this film,‭ ‬with this plot,‭ ‬could ever compete.‭ ‬It didn‭’‬t compete.‭ ‬Many people passed it aside in order to‭ ‬watch the better options.‭ ‬Movie tickets aren‭’‬t cheap, after all.‭ ‬You go see the very best options and leave the rest to video.‭ ‬Now the question becomes, ‬whether or not this would even be worth watching or buying on DVD‭. ‬The answer all depends on how you rate your movies and the things that you get entertainment from.‭

If you prefer better acting than you do special effects and you require a decent,‭ ‬fairly worthy plot over the visually appealing aspects of film then you may be in trouble with this.‭ ‬I am not‭ ‬going to lie.‭ Journey‭ ‬looks amazing.‭ ‬I watched it with the glasses and without and it looked great both ways.‭ ‬However,‭ ‬if I go off of the story alone then there isn‭’‬t much here to even bother watching.‭ ‬I couldn‭’‬t shake the feeling that this movie was made just to make money without much real thought to making the movie shine.‭ ‬It‭’‬s possible they realized that the plot wasn‭’‬t all that, so they had to do everything they could in the special effects department.‭ ‬Whatever it was,‭ ‬the film requires you to be giving to enjoy it enough to watch it frequently.

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Written by Shayne - Visit Website
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am the proud Papa of a son, Dylan Michael Keller. Other than spending time with my son, I have two main obsessions in life; video games & movies. Often, the two accompany time spent with Dylan. I’ve been married to Andrea for 13 years this December. One thing I’ve learned about married life is to always expect the unexpected. After nearly eleven years with just the three of us, and our Golden Retriever, Braeden, I’ve just found out I’m going to be a dad again. In my professional life, I’m a bit of a cyber geek. I enjoy D&D, writing stories, role-playing, computer games, working on websites, and just hanging out. I work for a computer firm doing computer-tech type work and that’s all I can really say about my job. In my fantasy life, I escape to the world of film. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve seen The Return of the King at least 37 times. I signed up to review movies, and you can guarantee I’ll do the job right. I hope you enjoy my reviews and always remember kids…Make Love, Not Warcraft.

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Starship Troopers 3 DVDMovie Info:
Writer: Edward Neumeier
Director: Edward Neumeier
Cast: Casper Van Dien, Jolene Blalock, Stephen Hogan, Boris Kodjoe, Amanada Donohoe, Marnette Patterson
Rating: R
Studio: Sony Home Entertainment

Release Info:
Theatrical Release: N/a
DVD Release Date: August 5, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon: $16.99

Watching a direct to video movie when you haven’t seen the first two movies that came before it in the franchise can be interesting to say the least. Starship Troopers 3: Marauder is one of those movies that I would have never thought to pick up without the coercion of being a movie reviewer. How much you like this version of Starship Troopers 3 will depend largely on how much you like the franchise as a whole.

In most cases, the direct to DVD movie that is part of a franchise is a quick buck film. People that liked the first film are likely to watch it, which is ready made money for the studio that doesn’t have to spend a lot of time or money making the film. Generally, this means that the film is of a lesser quality, but if the first film was well made, this could lead to people watching the others regardless of the quality in hopes that they will live up to the first movie. Unfortunately, I cannot say how this Starship Troopers rates in comparison with the others that came before it, though I can say that in most cases the sequels are a poor representation of the first film.

The Starship Troopers 3: Marauder Plot
Colonel John Rico (Casper Van Dien) supervises the planetary outpost that holds the large bugs off with automatic fences. Soon Lola Beck (Jolene Blalock) and Dix Hauser (Boris Kodjoe) join him along with Sky Marshall Anoke who is somewhat like the celebrity of the group. Once everyone has met up the power goes out and things get a little crazy. In the midst of everything going out of whack, Lola, Anoke, and some others manage to escape, but when all is not well they have to perform a crash landing on a planet that is anything but friendly.

Holly Little (Marnette Patterson) and her tribe manage to get on Lola’s nerves a bit. Holly has a tendency to pray and sing too loud. Anoke knows how to play the game though and proclaims that this is the place of the one true God. Lola doesn’t care about God either way at this point, though she does notice that the bug attackers aren’t where they normally are and there is an unusually large, unspecified breed of insect in the desert area

After Dix saves Rico from the trouble he is in back where everything started. It is left up to them and a few others to go on what could be an impossible rescue mission. Using the Marauder weapons technology may be the only thing that will work against new and old races of giant bugs.

I don’t know what the first two movies were like, but this one didn’t impress me much. The acting was basic, if not annoyingly stale. The effects were borderline kindergarten, the director couldn’t direct his way out of a Happy Meal box. If that wasn’t enough, I’d have to say he couldn’t write (he wrote all three movies) a well received greeting on a card. This was an all around sad production and it leaves me scratching my head as to why Sony would even put their name on such loathsome garbage.

Storyline/Plot: ½☆☆☆☆
Replayability: ☆☆☆☆☆
Acting: ½☆☆☆☆
Directing: ☆☆☆☆☆

Audio/Visual:
Let’s ignore for a minute that the special effects were cookie cutter and that hurt the visual enjoyment significantly. All in all, the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen looked just fine. As a newer movie, there should be little compression errors, a color palette that pleases the eye, and no grain. All of these things were present or not as should have been the case. Like I said, it was the special effects that would have hurt the visual quality because the CGI was just downright pathetic and there is no nice way to put that.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 comes in both English and French languages. I have to admit, the visual quality worked out a lot better than the audio. Many of the special sound effects transferred ridiculously and you were unable to hear various sounds and dialogue as effectively as you should have. I heard people speaking, but I couldn’t tell what words were coming out of their mouths. In addition to the two basic languages, viewers can also take advantage of Closed Captioning and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.

Visual: ★★★½☆
Audio: ★☆☆☆☆

Bonus Features:
There are a few special features here, though in most cases they are nothing that I would bother writing home about. You can take your pick of commentaries from the filmmaker’s commentary and the commentary with Ed Neumeier and actors, Jolene Blalock and Casper Van Dien. The commentaries tell you some about the motivation for the movie though these are not incredibly informative for the most part. In some spots, the commentaries were actually better than the movie.


Starship Troopers 3 also offers two featurettes, “Evolution: The Bugs of Starship Troopers 3: Marauder” and “Enlist: Marauder’s Mobile Infantry.” Finally there is an extended version of the music video “It’s a Good Day to Die.” I am only thankful that there were so few considering the bad quality of this film. I honestly don’t think I could have sat through any more of them.

Bonus Features: ★★☆☆☆

Bottom Line:
I did not see the first two Starship Troopers movies and now I can say, if they were anything like this I never will. Only the hugest fan of this series is going to find this worth watching. I like Sci-Fi, but this was just a lower budget waste of film. The writing was poor, the effects were useless, and nothing came together like it should have. You’d be best to skip this one altogether.

Overall Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

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Written by Shayne - Visit Website
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am the proud Papa of a son, Dylan Michael Keller. Other than spending time with my son, I have two main obsessions in life; video games & movies. Often, the two accompany time spent with Dylan. I’ve been married to Andrea for 13 years this December. One thing I’ve learned about married life is to always expect the unexpected. After nearly eleven years with just the three of us, and our Golden Retriever, Braeden, I’ve just found out I’m going to be a dad again. In my professional life, I’m a bit of a cyber geek. I enjoy D&D, writing stories, role-playing, computer games, working on websites, and just hanging out. I work for a computer firm doing computer-tech type work and that’s all I can really say about my job. In my fantasy life, I escape to the world of film. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve seen The Return of the King at least 37 times. I signed up to review movies, and you can guarantee I’ll do the job right. I hope you enjoy my reviews and always remember kids…Make Love, Not Warcraft.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Dark City DVDMovie Info:
Writer: Alex Proyas
Director: Alex Proyas
Cast: Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, Richard O’Brien, Ian Richardson, Bruce Spence
Rating: Unrated
Studio: New Line Home Entertainment

Release Info:
Theatrical Release: February 27, 1998
DVD Release Date: July 29, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon, Wal-Mart

Back when Dark City came out in 1998 the film received a large amount of mixed reviews. The reason for this is mainly that the film is on the more obscure side. It’s one of those movies that you need to watch closely and that gets better each time you watch it. There is also the possibility that the people watching it just didn’t get the point of the film beyond the entertainment that they felt it lacked. Critics either loved it or hated it and many movie fans followed suit. One critic felt that it was the best movie of the year. That critic, Roger Ebert, would eventually go on to record a DVD commentary for the film.

At the theater, Dark City did not get much attention. In fact, I don’t ever recall hearing about it before a few years ago. It was late and night and I caught part of it on television. The immediate thing that I noticed was Rufus Sewell. The fact that he was the lead character and is in one of my favorite movies (Dangerous Beauty) made me stop and watch. As I continued watching, I noticed Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt, and Jennifer Connelly also were in the movie. The movie itself was hard to pick up on at that point because I walked into it from the middle. This is one of those movies that you just need to see from beginning to end.

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Written by Ashtyn - Visit Website
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Ashtyn Evans is a writer, advocate, free thinker, and all around cynical person. Always quick to find the negative in anything pop culture, she loves being a part of that which she despises. Ashtyn and Dominick own numerous blogs together, as well as a full-time writing business. In her spare time she is a full-time college student studying History and Psychology. She plans to one day give up her freelance career and be a full-time blogger, novelist, and domestic goddess. She can be contacted for writing projects, fan mail, or just to say hi. She really is friendlier than we make her look.

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