DVD Voice

Well, today I looked at my Netflix queue and noticed that it was over 200 movies. Ouch. This was just an experiment and now I’m looking at a boatload of movies and tv shows to watch! My problem now is the queue.

Bascially it works like this, I’ve found a movie I want to watch — say Indiana Jones. When I do I’m presented with all sorts of great movie choices that are similar. (We’ll get into the poor recommendation system later - but for now especially for a new user, at times it can be ok). So I’m given Star Wars, Die Hard, Back to the Future, Jaws, etc. And they all sound like great movies, so I add them to my queue.

Later I add a classic movie, Casablanca, and get another great round of selections: North by Northwest, Citizen Kane, All About Eve, The Maltese Falcon, etc.

This goes on for several movie genres - comedy, drama, etc. And when you look at the list, there is big clumps of action movies, followed by big clusters of comedy, etc. When one movie type starts, I’ll be watching action for weeks, and then Disney movies for another month. What’d be nice would be to mix these up, and have them in a more random fashion.

Netflix Queue management is easy. If you want to move a movie, just change the # in the queue listing and press “update” or “drag” the movie to the spot where you’d like it to be. Works great, if you have 10, 20 movies or so. I’d just like a nice big reshuffling! I’d like all the movies jumbled up for me, and the tv shows to stay at the bottom.

I searched the Internet looking around for NetFlix Hacks, and other ways to do this. The one that seems to work the best is this little “bookmarklet” that you add to your favorites or bookmarks, and while you are on your queue, click on the bookmark. You don’t go to a new webpage, your queue #s are all randomly jumbled. Yeah, tv shows and sequential movies (for instance the Indiana Jones series will be jumbled as well, but they are fairly easy to straighten out yourself. (I’d rather do it this way than not have the help!)

How To Do It
Ok, here’s the scoop, this is the bookmark: Netflix Queue Reshuffling

Take the above link, and right-click on it, and add it to your bookmarks. That’s it. Now, bring up the page with your netflix queue and click on your bookmark. Presto! It’s done.

Thanks to marius.org for the great tip - he refers to another blog, badsegue.org, which unfortunately isn’t opening for me today so I can’t see the details behind this great little bookmark! Enjoy!

I know there are a few holes in my Disney movie list - some classics that I’ve never seen before. For instance, I’ve never managed to watch Cinderella, Peter Pan, or … . And some of the newer ones I’ve missed (Pocahontas, Aladain). Well, The Aristocats was one that I’ve missed and I had a down day from NetFlix and went and pulled this one from the collection and take a look.

I like it! At first glance, I thought it was just a Johnny-Come-Lately version of the 101 Dalmatians for cat lovers. But it was a very simple, elegantly told, and touching tale about a family of cats (Eva Gabor - Green Acres, The Rescuers) who are “catnapped” by the butler so that he could inherit the family fortune. Never mind the logic holes that the estate would probably not be left to him if there were no cats in the picture, or that the lady wasn’t even sick and that she’d just replace the cats (probably — yeah, yeah, I know not all cats are the same).

But regardless of all that, it was a very fun, safe, little movie that was entertaining and fascinatingly human. It isn’t too long and I recommend this to just about anyone.

If you haven’t seen, then do take some time to watch it!

Before The Devil Knows Your Dead [bluray] is interesting film by Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon [bluray]) held my attention pretty well through it. Normally not liking non-linear films, the kind that bounce around forwards and backwards in time, however I do like that approach when it goes back to reveal motivations of characters. This film though, baffles me — and not because it isn’t good but rather for some of the “issues” it brings up.

Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson’s War), and Ethan Hawke (Lord of War [bluray]), star along with Albert Finney (Miller’s Crossing) and Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny). The movie was well acted, the characters went about their life trying to solve their various problems in what I thought was a very realistic manner. All-in-all I enjoyed watching the movie.

Without giving anything away, Andy and his brother Hank plan a robbery to get some cash to solve their immediate needs. The robbery goes badly and, well, Rosemary Harris’ (Spider-Man [bluray]) character is killed during the robbery.

Her character is the brother’s mother. They are robbing their father’s jewelry store! This is where I am disturbed. How can someone be so evil as to even plan something like this in the first place - let alone of their parents, their own family. Why is it that people find it so easy to hurt, and far too often very deeply, or in this case, fatally the people they are supposed to love, care for, and hopefully protect the most?

So that’s what the film is about. There’s your essence. There are better heist movies out there. But for one that plumbs the depths of depravity of some human souls, and the way they go about systematically hurting, ignoring, saying things, and most importantly not saying the things they need to, well this is it. So many times you see characters reach out or exhibit emotional needs and the ones who should meet it are too preoccupied or too drugged, stressed out, or whatever to notice or even care.

It’s a sad state.

Oh, and by the way, this movie is rated R, so definitely not for the little kiddies. Sure we all want to see Marisa Tomei topless, but know its rated R for a reason.

One of the films on my “to see” list is No Country For Old Men [bluray], by Joel & Ethan Coen, which won the 2007 Oscar for Best Picture. I have to say it was an impressive movie, kind of a cross between a western and a crime thriller. But, honestly, I really would defy anyone to define what type of movie this is in a word or two. I mean at times it seems film noir, sometimes westernish, sometimes semi-horror, or police drama, or crime tale, or revenge, or etc. You see the problem.

And that is part of the way that Coen’s have done most all of their movies. For instance, Fargo and O Brother Where Art Thou? What kind of movies were those? Enjoyable, fun, good, entertaining, but they challenge a mold. This film was the same way.

And it is also hard to tell about this moving without giving it away. Let’s just say that there was a drug deal in the desert and it went bad (you only see the afterwards). Josh Brolin (American Gangster, Hollow Man) stumbles upon it. He ends up with $2 million and walks off with it. The bad guys (mostly Javier Bardem) follow him and the movie chase ensues with Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive, Men In Black) following along.

So essentially you have a chase film, some running, some following, tracking, etc, and a little philosophizing. All the while you have the great storytelling and film making done by the Coen Brothers (Joel & Ethan) and wonderful performances by the actors. The realism is great and there are tons of little things to pick up on. It is well worth watching, and I will re-watch this one again sometime in the near future.

This film reminded me a good deal of Blood Simple, the Coen’s first film, and I now want to go back and watch that one again!

Tommy Lee Jones is asking someone about how many cats they own (we’ve seen several in the house) and he’s answered: “Cats? Several. Well, depends what you mean by got. Some are half-wild, and some are just outlaws.”

P.S. - for students of film or art, take a look at this video of one of the storyboards.

I must say - I’ve never yet seen a Pixar film that I have not enjoyed! And when the synopsis of Ratatouille [bluray] came out a I admit it kind of turned my stomach. Rats in the kitchen? A rat cooking? I mean, gross!

But I started watching this one and I was surprised at just how good this movie was. As it progressed towards the end I really did stop seeing Remy (Patton Oswalt) as a rat and just thought of him as a character. Its when his deal starts to turn sour and he admits to himself the reality that he’s a rat that it comes back home, and pretty hard. The animation is great - at times its hard to believe it is all computer generated. But, Disney/Pixar have done it again. The guys from Cars [bluray], The Incredibles, Toy Story, and Monsters, Inc. have done it again!

As far as messages go, I really like the fact that they drive home the “great” chef’s message that “Anyone can cook”. Its good for kids to hear that anyone can do anything they set out to try and do. It is a strong message - almost as well done as Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness telling his son (both real and in the movie) “Hey. Don’t ever let somebody tell you… You can’t do something. Not even me. All right? You got a dream… You gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period.”

How they manage to make a picture that works on so many levels. It tells a good story (sometimes far fetched but if you will buy into it you are in for a great ride). It looks spectacular (the vistas of Paris are so incredible you think its a photograph). It has a wonderful human feel (sorry, had to say that!). It plays well for entertaining the kids. The jokes are there for the unwilling adults to enjoy - as are a few extra treats such as the shapely silhouette.

You will be entertained if you let yourself go along with the film. You will probably be wondering when it is over why it is ending so soon!

I tried to look through the credits for names that rang a bell. Aside from John Ratzenberger (Cheers)

P.S. I got this one through NetFlix (which so far I have loved! It’s great!) But when I finished watching the movie and it was late, I put it back in the sleeve and next morning saw it and sealed it up and mailed it back. And after I dropped it in the mailbox I realized that I’d forgotten to watch the Pixar short movie that is always included. I’m upset at myself! I wanted to see Lifted!

And I love this blog post about Ratatouille! blogrdoc capsulizes some of the great themes underlined for those who watch this and want to learn and be better people afterwards.

The Bourne Ultimatum is the conclusion to the Jason Bourne story by Robert Ludlum. It ends The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy. It stars Matt Damon (Saving Private Ryan, Ocean’s 11) as Jason Bourne as well as Julia Stiles and Scott Glenn. Directed by Paul Greengrass (United 93) who I’ve never seen anything by — and I must say I was impressed by his work.

The movie is essentially about Jason Bourne. And it assumes that you’ve seen the other two or know the basis of the story or of read the books. But really if you just sit back for the ride you’ll do fine. And what a ride. If you want action, this movie is essentially non-stop action. The car chases, the foot chases, the motorcycle chases, etc. And bundle that with political intrigue and lots of nifty technology and you’ve got one heavily testosterone fueled movie!

I sadly found myself in the position of coming to this movie with high expectations. And whenever I do that I seem to be let down. I need to get back to detaching myself from what I’ve heard and just enjoying the movie for what it is. I guess I was a little disappointed that I thought it needed more fascinating and wowing rock-em-sock-em explosions, etc. And from my vantage point now, I think it delivered, its just that when I was turning things off from this one last night that I felt it was a little bit under delivered. But what can you do. I’ll give it a higher review now that I’ve had a little time to digest it. Which is why I wait a little while before I write these things! Lesson learned.

The car chases in this were unbelievable! I loved how the cars were falling to bits after being dinged just a little. Bumpers hanging off, etc. That was so realistically cool! The grand finale car scene was just so open-mouth awe inspiring. I had to go back afterwards and replay that New York City chase scene several times! Too cool! The motorcycle chase was also amazing. How can they do those things on a bike! Wow!

And the foot chases too. After Daniel Craig and Sebastien Foucan (founder of free running) in Casino Royale I thought it’d be hard to top a foot chase, but aside from the three person chase (Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, and the assassin) being a little too hard to follow inside buildings, it was still utterly impressive! wow!

The story was intriguing, and the power struggle / political issues were plausible. I really loved how Bourne seems to be able to go where he wants to at will, including the directors office! Too classy!

In short, if you love action/adventure/thrillers/cars then you’ll want to see this movie! I recommend it!

As an aside, if you notice the beginning of the DVD has a promo for HD-DVD as being the future of High Definition. It’s amazing what a few short months do to the world of technology isn’t it? As Toshiba has officially declared HD-DVD dead and bluray is now the defacto standard for High Def. Its a good thing that we do have the one standard. I hope to be getting into hidef via a PlayStation 3 soon!

Not knowing how to fully get the most out NetFlix (yet) I have ended up without a movie to watch. Fortunately for me I was loaned “Snatch” by a friend. Frankly, I hadn’t heard anything about the movie except that I noticed that it stars Dennis Farina, Jason Statham, and Brad Pitt, and is directed by Guy Ritchie (better known to me before this as the guy who married Madonna).

Guy Ritchie’s previous movie, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels is on my list to see … someday soon. Jason Statham of The Transporter [Transporter bluray], Benicio Del Toro (of The Usual Suspects [bluray] and Sin City), and Dennis Farina (of Get Shorty and Saving Private Ryan) and of course Brad Pitt (the Brad) were the only actors I knew.

For us Americans, some of us may have trouble with the British speech. There are some phrases that they like that may not make sense, and the accents are a little hard to hear, until you hear Brad Pitt open up with his mix of Gypsy and Irish! But this is a gem of a movie, essentially about a diamond hiest where Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) steals an 86-karat diamond and is trying to transport it via London to eventually get it to Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina). Troubles ensue, of course, and Cousin Avi ends up flying to London to help sort the situation out.

At this point you begin to wonder whether this is a crime caper or a comedy, but it is so ridiculous of a movie (and I say that in a good way) that it literally defies definition. Just enjoy the ride.

Yes, language may be an issue for some, as would the violence, but it is an R-rated movie, so view it accordingly. As far as some of the eye-candy, for the ladies out there, Brad Pitt does this movie with several boxing and bare-knuckle fight sequences and as such is without his shirt a good deal of the time. I must say that seeing him makes me feel a little bit bad about myself because my abs look NOTHING like his. I have to work on that. And, the guys aren’t left out because there is a scene about Bullet-Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) where when he is being introduced there is 2 or 3 topless babes in the scene with very nice chests on display. Very perky and well-built. They aren’t on the screen long, but hey, you have a pause button. Ok, whew, I’m getting off subject.

The movie is hilarious if you’ll follow the story line which jumps about and is comically silly at times. For instance, three bungling burglars have gotten a dog from the gypsies and are keeping it. To quieten the dog they give it a chew toy which the dog proceeds to eat and in subsequent scenes the dog squeaks as it is petted or breathes!

There is equal opportunity offending going on all around, and you should take the derogatory remarks for the humor or ironicly at the unenlightened characters - just enjoy it. For instance the gypsies are run through the mud and talked about and shown in poor lights at times, but it is hilarious the way these characters on the screen react to what happens around them, how they deal with the other characters and conduct business, and in the end is neat to see how they get back at everyone.

I really loved the part where Vinnie Jones noticed that the robbers attempting to stick him up with their “replica” firearms had the word replica plainly visible on their guns. And when Tommy threw Turkish’s (Jason Statham) milk out of the car window it sets off a chain reaction of events is really cool, especially when you weren’t fully aware at the time what happened.

All in all, if you aren’t easily offended, I’d recommend that you see this one. It is a fun ride, good for some popcorn and an evening of silliness. I will watch again sometime soon.

It’s time! 3:10 …!

Actually, I decided last week to subscribe to NetFlix and this is my first choice of a movie. I’ll fill you in shortly on my opinion of NetFlix, how it works and how to make the most of your membership there. But in the meantime, let me tell you a little about this movie: 3:10 To Yuma! (Also on Bluray)

Russell Crowe, of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, is Ben Wade, an outlaw who has been captured after robbing a stagecoach. Christian Bale (better known as the new Batman) is the rancher who has agreed to help the Pinkerton’s detective take Ben to the 3:10 train to Yuma. That’s the basis of the story, without giving away too much (I hate it when people do that, don’t you?).

As movies go, this one is great. I rank it in the definitely watch again category. The props, costumes, and environments looked so authentic. At times it looked like I was looking at some pictures out of the old west. Amazing. The way the actors handled the horses and the guns made me believe that this was stuff they’d done their entire life. Very satisfying.

I put out of my mind that this was a remake (generally I don’t care much for remakes) but as I watched the movie it didn’t make any difference … I enjoyed it. All of it.

Even if you don’t enjoy westerns I would recommend that you watch this film. You’ll see the heart of this movie about someone trying to do the right and decent thing, when everyone else around him has persuasive arguments why he should take the easy way out.

One of the gems of the movie I felt was the character who played Charlie Prince - Ben Parker. (Yeah, sounds like Spider Man doesn’t it?). He’s a Six Feet Under guy. He made me feel that he was pure evil. I know he’s probably not, but the cold-heartedness that oozed out of his screen presence was amazing. And the one character who didn’t really seem to fit, at least for me, was Alan Tudyk as Doc Potter. Don’t know why, but I keep seeing him as the zany pilot from Firefly. A different actor would of probably been better. Otherwise, no complaints! Great flick!

“And you just remember that your old man walked Ben Wade to that station when nobody else would.”

Welcome to this blog about all things DVD.

I’m sure you probably know what a DVD is, but in case you don’t we’ll cover that for you shortly. Most likely your confused about the Bluray or HD-DVD formats. Along with the technical information that you may find here, you’ll also get some reviews of DVDs and suggestions on movies you should see.

Feedback is welcomed. Want to have a good blog for you to read!