Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection (Lifeboat / Spellbound / Notorious / The Paradine Case / Sabotage / Young and Innocent / Rebecca / The Lodger) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a fantasic set, featuring some of the best transfers I've seen and some great new extras... however, it's becoming clear that MGM needs to recall this set a.s.a.p. In the set I bought, three of the discs refuse to play completely in my standalone DVD player, and the other jitter and jump occasionally.
I run the Alfred Hitchcock Wiki site and I've received dozens of emails and messages from people who've bought the set and are unable to play one or more of the discs. Clearly whoever handled the physical manufacturing of the DVDs has foobar'd big time.
Ideally I'd have given this set 5 stars but, under the cirmcustances, I've got to say "buyer beware" and that you should wait for MGM to recall the set.

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Bonus Features: Disc 1: The LifeboatDisc 2: Young and Innocent **Commentary with film historians Stephen Rebello and Bill Krohn **Isolated Music and Effects Track **Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock **Francois Truffant Interviews Hitchcock **Restoration Comparison **Trailers **Still GalleriesDisc 3: The Lodger **Commentary with film Historian Patrick McGilligan **Featurette The Sound of Silence: The making of The Lodger, Hitchcock 101 **1940 Radio Play Directed by Alfred Hitchcock **Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock **Francois Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock **Restoration Comparison **Trailers **Still Gallery Disc 4: Notorious Disc 5: Rebecca CEDisc 6: Sabatoge **Commentary with film Historian Leonard Leff **Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock **Restoration Comparison **Still Gallery **Trailer FarmDisc 7: SpellboundDisc 8: The Paradine Case **Commentary with film Historians Stephen Rebello and Bill Krohn **Isolated Music and Effects Track **1949 Radio Play starring Joseph Cotton **Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock **Restoration Comparison **Theatrical Trailer **Still Gallery **Trailer FarmEpisode Description: Disc 1: The Lifeboat Disc 2: Young and Innocent Disc 3: The Lodger Disc 4: Notorious Disc 5: Rebecca CE Disc 6: Sabatoge Disc 7: Spellbound Disc 8: The Paradine Case

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Harry Potter Years 1-4 (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Chamber of Secrets / Prisoner of Azkaban / Goblet of Fire) (Widescreen Edition) (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)I went out to buy the newest Harry Potter DVD (Movie 4) on it's release day, even though I don't already own the first two (I do own Movie 3, however). I knew I'd get the two I didn't own eventually, so why not get Movie 4 upon it's release? I arrived at the store and noted the price for the 2-disc Widescreen Special Edition of Movie 4 was about $23 USD. I looked around a bit and found this boxset with all four of the movies in it for $49 USD. That makes them about $12.50 USD each, and even though I'm buying one movie I own already, I'm getting three that I don't for less than I would pay buying them all seperately (Movie 4 was half the price of the boxset alone!).
The boxset contains Movies 1-4 in the 2-disc Widescreen Special Edition format. That is 8 discs total. Each one is packaged the same as it's original release, though Movies 3 and 4 don't have the cardboard slip covers that came with them originally, but they still display just as nicely. The box that the movies come in is rather weak and poorly constructed and I doubt I'll be keeping it, however I bought the set to get the movies at a bargin price and not to get a nice box to put them in.
I strongly recommend this set for anyone who wants to get the whole set for one low price, it's a great way to catch you collection up for cheap!

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The Harry Potter Years 1-4 includes each of the four 2-disc sets of Harry Potter 1, Harry Potter 2, Harry Potter 3 and Harry Potter 4 (all widescreen versions).

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The Machinist Review

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(More customer reviews)The Machinist would probably have to be one of the creepiest and psychologically complex movies of the year. The film is also a standout because of Christian Bale's withering, and soul-destroying performance as a man wracked by insomnia, and tortured by guilt. Much has been made of Bale's dramatic weight loss and his astonishing transformation into the main character - he purportedly wanted to undergo a complete physical and mental metamorphosis - but nothing will prepare the viewer for the reality of Christian's starving, skeletal-like body. Bale is nothing short of amazing in this movie - he's an actor of astounding capacities; and it's not just the feat of his physical transformation, but the fact that he totally inhabits and becomes so totally immersed in his character.
With a beautifully moody musical score and a dark, somber, yet visually stunning look, The Machinist is riveting jigsaw puzzle, an astute intellectual exercise where the viewer is left to put the pieces together, and decide which world is actually fantasy or reality. Trevor Reznick (Bale) has terrible insomnia and hasn't slept in a year. He's decimated physically and mentally and has become irrevocably trapped in a prison that is his own guilt-ridden, paranoid, and disillusioned mind - every time he tries to close his eyes something interrupts him. As the story opens, Trevor is busy trying to dispose of a dead body; the story then jumps to the events leading up to this incident.
By day Trevor works in a factory as a machinist, and at night he zealously writes messages on post-it notes, and fanatically washes his hands with bleach. He seeks solace in his favorite hooker (played with tender resolve by Jennifer Jason Leigh), and also the company of Marie (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), a waitress at an airport coffee shop. He enjoys her company and likes to leave her extra large tips. One afternoon while at work, Reznick - distracted for a moment - contributes to a terrible accident involving a colleague. At the same time, Ivan (John Sharian), a bald-headed figure with a horribly malformed thumb and two fingers missing and whom no one else can see, constantly follows Trevor. Increasingly paranoid, Trevor becomes convinced that Ivan and Miller, his co-worker, (Michael Ironside) have trumped up some kind of conspiracy against him and are trying to drive him mad.
The Machinist is weird and difficult. As Trevor embarks on a journey of self-awareness, the viewer is left wondering whether fatigue has robbed him of reason, or whether there is some grand scheme to drive him nutty. Brave and visually sumptuous, one of the movie's many memorable visuals occurs when Trevor takes Marie's son on a horror ride called Route 666, with terrible results for both Trevor and for the boy. Guilt, loss of self, repression and odd mother fixations are all themes that are astutely and cleverly woven into the fabric of the story. For most of the film, Reznik is just a literal bag of bones, desperately floating through empty, dark apartments, and grey, storm-ridden industrial landscapes -a kind of postmodern anti-hero, a ghost who is desperately looking to make his peace. Mike Leonard October 04.

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THE MACHINIST is the story of Trevor Reznik, a machinist who hasn’t slept in over a year. Working in a machine shop, Trevor faces the usual occupational hazards, yet his extreme fatigue only makes them worse, causing him to accidentally cut off a co-worker’s hand.What Trevor suffers from clearly isn’t a typical case of insomnia…

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Rear Window (Collector's Edition) (1954) Review

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(More customer reviews)The last few years have seen some classic films that have been given back their old lustre via restoration, including such films as, My Fair Lady, Vertigo, Lawrence Of Arabia to name just a few. These films as well as this film have been restored by the restoration mavericks Robert A. Harris, and James Katz.
I must say after seeing an advance copy of this film that Rear Window looks incredible, especially compared to the Laser Disc copy I have as well as the poor copies that have been showing up on television and VHS over the years.
The colors are vibrant, in particular the reds which don't give a hint of bleeding into the frame, and the image looks I imagine as close to the original as possible given the fact that this film is almost fifty years old now.
The aspect ratio is 1.66:1 which is the proper framing for this film, the sound is the original mono soundtrack and has been scrubbed up to remove any audio imperfections that have built up over the years.
Also included on this disc is a 55 minute documentary titled, Rear Window Ethics:Remembering a Hitchock Classic which is quite enjoyable.
There is a still frame gallery, a shorter documentary with the screenwriter John Michael Hayes, as well as the standard fare of biographies, filomgraphies etc.
All in all a quite impressive package and should be of interest to any Hitchcock fan as well as Cinema fans in general.

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None of Hitchcock's films has ever given a clearer view of his genius for suspense than Rear Window.When professional photographer J.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined to a wheelchair with a broken leg, he becomes obsessed with watching the private dramas of his neighbors play out across the courtyard.When he suspects a salesman may have murdered his nagging wife, Jeffries enlists the help of his glamorous socialite girlfriend (Grace Kelly) to investigate the highly suspicious chain of events… Events that ultimately lead to one of the most memorable and gripping endings in all of film history.

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