I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the 60's (2008) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)May I respectfully say, "James Brown Live At Chastain Park", take a rest.
Here we have two transcendant excursions into Soul Music history, 1968 concerts made within about two weeks of each other, one at the Apollo, the other at the Boston Gardens, and whether or not the proverbial floodgates will be opened, at this point it doesn't matter. The concerts are amazing: Soul Brother Number One at the very top of his form, a singing, dancing, band-directing, audience mesmerizing phenomenon. His renditions of the ballads "Try Me", "Bewildered", the gospel-jazz expositions like "Get It Together", "There Was A Time", and "Cold Sweat" are of course the best out now on DVD.
The earlier TV Special called "Man To Man" appears to be the final TV cut, no extras. The video quality is not what it should be for an artist of his stature, though let's remember that it was done on videotape by Metromedia in New York, not by a network. The viewer should not be upset with some of the trendy kaleidoscope effects, and some hard edits.
We have the much-discussed, much-requested concert from Boston, telecast one day after the assassination of Doctor Martin Luther King. The atmosphere is naturally tense, involves Mayor Kevin White, who delivers a powerful speech.
As ticketholders were offered a refund so as to stay at home and watch the taping, the audience is comparatively sparse. Yet the consummate showman is still able to elicit audible screams on his passionate, intense, sometimes whispered, sometimes belted "It's Man's, Man's, Man's World". He's also able to excite those patrons...the initiated already know the story of those who rushed the stage on a night that all were asked to remember Doctor King and enjoy James Brown in Peace. It was on outpouring of Love but the camera lens can distort. And Brown knew it.
There are two songs live from the Olympia, 1966 and 1967, though the jacket says 1968 and 1967. The latter was totally unexpected by this Brownologist: the Live At The Apollo, Volume Two arrangemet of "It's A Man's....World"! Not gonna give it all up at this juncture - suffice to say, it's way better on this DVD than on the recent, expanded CD reissue.
The Documentary on Disc Three is surely worth an Oscar.
The bits and pieces of that 1968 concert now form into an amazing whole, which the Documentary Producer duly notes was long, long overdue for commercial release. To support his backstory, is the sensuous Marva Whitney, his 1967-1970 Diva (Disc Two should have included some of her performance); and Charles Bobbitt, his Manager, who tells the story of how he became James Brown's Manager - and how he had to watch the turnstiles that night...and the safety of his friend and client.

Click Here to see more reviews about: I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the 60's (2008)

I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the '60s is the definitive look at JB's on-stage prowess, including an acclaimed documentary, two previously unreleased concerts, and more. With full-length versions of many classics, including"I Feel Good," "Out Of Sight," "Cold Sweat," "Try Me," "I Got The Feelin'," "It's A Man's Man's Man's World," "Bewildered," and "Please, Please, Please," I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the '60s is an essential part of any music lover's collection. DISC 1: THE NIGHT JAMES BROWN SAVED BOSTON Features the director's cut of the acclaimed VH1 film The Night James Brown Saved Boston, which tells the story of a 1968 concert that not only averted riots in Boston in the aftermath of MLK's assassination, but also set James Brown on a revolutionary new path.Includes additional interviews with members of James Brown's band, friends and colleagues, plus a panel discussion from the film's premiere in Boston. DISC 2: LIVE AT THE BOSTON GARDEN Features the historic 1968 Boston Garden concert as originally broadcast by WGBH. Contains additional audio from the radio simulcast of the concert. DISC 3: LIVE AT THE APOLLO '68 Features Man to Man: James Brown Live at The Apollo Theater 1968, a TV special taped the week before the Boston show and unseen for 40 years! Plus bonus performances from 1967 and 1968 shows at L'Olympia in Paris, AND the legendary version of "Out of Sight" from The T.A.M.I. Show (1964).

Get 20% OFF

Click here for more information about I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the 60's (2008)

James Bond Blu-ray Collection Three-Pack, Vol. 3 (Moonraker/ The World is Not Enough / Goldfinger) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I hope that everyone who had problems playing the first 2 Bond collections had them addressed by now because Volume 3's layout and features is consistent with the previous two. All players that received firmware upgrades after October 2008 should be able to play this set.
Here is my evaluation of the current Bond Blu-ray collection (a work in progress as I'm not fully done with the viewing) - and it's not unlike my impression of the first 2.
_____________________________________________
THE GOOD:
- Incredible video quality, most likely better than what the audience saw on release date on some of the older movies.
- Lots of extras, most of them worth watching or listening to.
- Beautiful, innovative packaging.
THE NOT SO GOOD:
- The sound restoration not as good as the video on the early Bonds.
- Some of the 'extras' sections would benefit from a 'play all' option.
- The boxes could be a bit slimmer.
- May require upgrades on certain players if they haven't been upgraded since September-October 2008.
_____________________________________________
The overall impression is of quality, inside and out. The box could be a little smaller but the packaging is exquisite. There's a transparent plastic slide cover over a solid cardboard box holding a small binder on which the individual movie disks are attached to pages. Each movie comes on one disc holding the movie itself and in incredible amount of extras.
The menu interface is well organized and there's even some humor in labeling. For example, the option that plays the movie is labeled 'The Mission' while the historic promotional material is found under 'The Propaganda'. Depending on which section you may be, menu options branch into further sub-menus.
The extras are numerous and, for the most part interesting. There are features on the restoration process and we get to learn who did what, why and how. Then, we see contemporary documentaries on the making of the movie and so on. The Goldfinger disc, for example, includes actual radio interviews with Sean Connery, 2 major documentaries on 'the making of' and 'the world of' Goldfinger, about 30 minutes each, original trailers, screen tests, an interview with Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore), even a feature on Bond's Aston Martin. And, amazingly, it all fits on one disc.
The area where some of the older installments show their age is the sound. The audio options include the original sound track which, in the older releases is 'mono' but all movies come with DTS-HD Master Audio 24-bit 5.1 surround as the default. The sound wasn't upgraded and improved to the degree that the picture was but, it's understandable. Going from mono to 5.1 surround is the equivalent of upgrading from black and white to full-color 3-D in the world of images. Commentary sound tracks featuring the director and the cast and crew are also included.
When it comes to the video quality, the best that I can say is that you've got to see it to believe it. The restoration of the older movies started with the actual original negative, which is the one reference copy that's almost never touched. Once the copy was digitized as a 4000 lines resolution digital copy (Bluray is 1080) every frame was reprocessed to eliminate any possible defects from 'dirty optics', such as the proverbial hair that we sometimes see on the older movies to scratches, bad exposure, color brilliance. The restorers' goal for the end result, and this concerns the video only, not the sound quality, was to deliver what would appear to be a contemporary movie with a 60's or 70's theme rather than a 60's or 70's movies. In my view, they succeeded and, surprisingly, the 1964 Goldfinger looks as good as the 1979 Moonraker.
My overall rating is a solid five-stars. Just about everything in this release is superlative: the physical packaging, the interface design, the extras, the video quality. The sound is not so good on the older movies but, given the state of sound restoration technologies, I did not feel compelled to remove a star because the old movies sounded more or less like they did on release date or better.

Click Here to see more reviews about: James Bond Blu-ray Collection Three-Pack, Vol. 3 (Moonraker/ The World is Not Enough / Goldfinger)


Disc 1: Goldfinger Ultimate Edition Blu-ray Widescreen Feature Film
Disc 2: Moonraker Ultimate Edition Blu-ray Widescreen Feature Film
Disc 3: The World Is Not Enough Ultimate Edition Blu-ray Widescreen Feature Film

Get 34% OFF

Click here for more information about James Bond Blu-ray Collection Three-Pack, Vol. 3 (Moonraker/ The World is Not Enough / Goldfinger)

Big Time Rush (2010) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This dvd is about 4 best friends from minnesota. They are great singers . When Kendal, Logan, James and carlos here that Gustavo rock is looking for a new huge hit. Gustavo hires kendal but not James, carlos and logan. Kendal makes a deal for his friends to sing with him. I wathed big time rush Its the best show ever! Buy it

Click Here to see more reviews about: Big Time Rush (2010)

Get 30% OFF

Click here for more information about Big Time Rush (2010)