"I'm your Huckleberry"

The best western by far, in my eyes, is Tombstone. Not one western has more gripping scenes, amazing lines and some of the best acting I've ever seen. The cast list is so great it makes me feel like crying, sometimes. Starring Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp, Val Kilmer(in his best performance ever) as Doc Holiday, Sam Elliot as Virgil Earp, Bill Paxton as Morgan Earp, Powers Boothe as Curly Bill, Michael Biehn as Ringo, Stephen Lang as Ike Clanton, Thomas Haden Church as Billy Clanton, Michael Rooker as Sherman McMasters, Billy Zane as Mr.Fabian, and a small cameo by Charlton Heston. The tale of former law men that move to a new city to start a new life, which is interrupted by the "Cowboys. They take law into their own hands, with the help of a friend, but not without casualties. This movie barely slows, haven't seen many westerns come close to its greatness. All of this makes it number 2 on my top movies list. The Dvd is a Vista Series Directors Cut and is full to the brim with goodies. The front slide-in cover features the famous pic of the 4 heroes and has a cool gunshot hole on the right side. Then it opens up into an awesome looking 2 disc set, with a book and a map of "tombstone", mapping out the shootout at the O.K. Corral. The book is full of everything from the scene listing, a director's note and a page showing how to "Faro" at the Oriental, which can be played on the Dvd. The Dvd has a view great reviews on the back of the cover. "One of the 5 greatest westerns ever made," says True West Magazine. Then Sneak Previews says, "Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer are terrific." This Dvd is definitely in my Top 10 best of my whole collection. Tombstone was released in 1993 and was directed by George P. Cosmatos and released by Hollywood Pictures.

Collection #:
Tombstone: #07

"The tramp can't talk. The minute he talks, he's dead."

In my opinion, at the 1993 Academy Awards, Robert Downey Jr. got robbed. He should've won the award for Best Actor, instead of Al Pacino(Pacino should've won for Scarface). Downey's portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin was amazing. To me it's his second best performance, right next to his character Kirk Lazarus/Sgt.Osiris in Tropic Thunder. The story of one of the film industries most incredible icons is presented beautifully in this movie. There isn't many biopics that come close to how touching and grandly directed, this movie is. With an inspiring performance by Downey and amazing supporting roles from Kevin Kline, Dan Aykroyd, Anthony Hopkins, Kevin Dunn, Diane Lane and James Woods. This film brings you right in and makes you feel for Chaplin. Also makes you wish to be alive when Chaplin was at his peak, in films. Chaplin makes you laugh and makes you cry, not doubts why it's in my collection. I've had the 15th Anniversary Edition Dvd for a few years now and I'll always find myself coming back to it, for a good watch. The Dvd is definitely one of the best looking ones in my collection. With a see-through sleeve with Chaplin's (Downey) face on the front and then a plain white background with Chaplin standing in his famous pose, on the cover. The description is full of great accolades for the movie and Downey Jr., but without any say of who said them. Still this Dvd is the best edition of Chaplin that anyone could find. Chaplin was released in 1992 and was directed by Richard Attenborough. Released by Studio Canal, Lionsgate and Maple.

Collection#:
Chaplin: #261

"I've come here to chew bubble gum and kickass, and I'm all out of bubble gum."

John Carpenter is one of the greatest directors in the horror/sci-fi genre. He has given us so many classics. The biggest ones to me being: The Fog, Escape from New York, The Thing, Christine, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live and Vampires(Even though I still need to see Dark Star and In the Mouth of Madness). A movie that is in his top 3, for me, is "They Live". I'm sure everyone knows that Hulk Hogan was in movies, which were funny and alright at best. And Jessie Ventura made some movies, most memorable being Predator, of course. One wrestler that many people wouldn't guess to be an actor, but who is actually pretty good, was Rowdy Roddy Piper. He's the star of John Carpenter's They Live, named Nada. A drifter who gets a job a construction site and then lives in and around a hobo camp. When he finds a special pair of sunglasses,which show him that most of the people around him are really aliens, all hell breaks lose. The movie is very well done and is also original in a certain sense. Filled with plenty of hilarious lines, good effects(for the 80's) and an amazingly done fight scene between Piper and Keith David. This movie is perfect for any sci-fi lover or just a film lover in general. My Dvd, which I bought pretty recently, is a widescreen edition, that came out in 2003. It has the iconic picture of Piper taking off the sunglasses and one of the aliens can be seen in the lens. Unfortunately there are no reviews on the front or back, there definitely should be. Hopefully soon they come out with a They Live special edition or limited or whatever they wanna name it. Nonetheless, I was still really glad when I found this Dvd (at HMV) because I've been waiting to add it to my collection. They Live was released in 1988 and was Directed by John Carpenter. Released by Universal Pictures and Alive Films.

Collection#:
They Live: #539

(p.s figured out how to take the picture right, so it comes out straight up and down when I upload it.....lol)

"You got a guy called Vodka?"......"Vodka?"......"Tequila!, he's a heavy-duty cop."

One of the best action movies I've ever seen in my life is John Woo's "Hard Boiled". Starring Chow Yun-Fat as Tequila, a hardened cop, who's on a mission to take down the gun smugglers that killed his partner. This movie doesn't let up with the action and eye-popping scenes. From the very start you can tell that Woo knows how to do action. When watching this movie be sure to look out for the "one-shot" hospital scene and probably the best stunt in the film, which I call "The Staircase". By far John Woo's best film, but not his only great one( more in upcoming blogs). I've only had this Dvd for a year at most and I've probably watched it 5 times already. It's always a blast to watch and still makes me say "wicked", many times. The Dvd is part of one of my favourite collectors series, called "Dragon Dynasty". A collection of amazing Asian action and martial art films, one day I wish to have the whole collection. Hard Boiled is #15 in the Dragon Dynasty series. The Dvd is a two-disc ultimate edition and has a great black and white photo of "Tequila" on the front, with his famous matchstick in his mouth. Many great reviews scatter the Dvd's front and back, including: " 4 stars" from Empire; "The Action Sequences Are Among the Greatest Ever Filmed" says Andy Klein, Asian Film Expert; "Hold On to Your Seats!", says Premiere and "More Exciting Than a Dozen Die Hards.", says Empire.(I don't know if I agree with that last one, but it's close.) Hard Boiled was Released in 1992 and Directed by John Woo. Released by Alliance Atlantis, Golden Princess, Milestone Pictures, The Weinstein Company and Dragon Dynasty.

Collection #:
Hard Boiled: #423

What has happened to the Oscars?

If your a movie freak/buff/lover/maniac and so on, like me, there is one day you wait for every year. This day is the Academy Awards, and also the day they reveal the nominations to the world. This year is a sad year for the Oscars. It's like they slept this whole year and woke up in November and were like "so ya, these movies that were just released are good enough." This year's best picture has some potentially great films and some that make you go why? Films that I think deserve to be in the running are: The Artist, The Descendants(which are the 2 that I think are most likely to win),Hugo and Moneyball. There are some that are good, but definitely won't win; Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Help. To me there are 3 that don't deserve to be in the running, which are: The Tree of Life, Midnight in Paris and War Horse( if this movie wins any awards, I think I might stab someone). Me and some other movie fiends believe the academy missed out on a few films that are far better choices then most of these. Movies such as The Ides of March, Drive, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and 50/50. I am really surprised that 50/50 didn't get nominated for any awards. Also how does Michael Fassbender not get nominated for Best Actor in Shame, but yet Jonah Hill gets nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Moneyball? It baffles my mind. To me it seems like the Artist and the Descendants will take home a lot of awards, the most going to the Artists and rightfully so. I was surprised to see that The Adventures of Tin Tin wasn't nominated for Best Animated......even though I think Rango would've had it beat, got the win surely now. Then we come to Best Original Score, which saw Trent Reznor win last year for is amazingly done score in The Social Network. He did just as good if not better in The Girl with the Dragon tattoo and some how his is not nominated? Tell me how this is possible? And how is it possible that only to Original Songs were worthy enough to be nominated? Looks like The Muppets have it this year. Lastly, How on earth did Sucker Punch not get one nomination for Art Direction or Costume Design or even Cinematography. If it were up to me Zack Synder's crew would win that almost every year. Even though its a lackluster year for the Oscars, I will still be picking my picks and will hopefully beat my girlfriend this time.  

             

"Have you ever seen a portal?"

My favourite movie of all time is Donnie Darko. If your in my family, a friend or close to me, you should know this and it will most likely never change. Staring Jake Gyllenhaal, Holmes Osborne, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone and Patrick Swayze. With cast like that, a imaginary giant rabbit named frank(who talks) and time travel, how can you go wrong? The movie may be confusing at first, it took me 2 times to watch it and fully get it. It became my all time fav, very quickly. Me being a movie/dvd freak I had to have the Director's Cut when it was released. The Director's Cut was the first copy of Donnie D. that I owned, then the Dvd freak in me struck again. I saw the original movie on Dvd for cheap, and I had to get it. Some people might say, "why would you want to own 2 copies of the same movie? Aren't they the exact same?." Well if you knew anything about Director's cuts, then you would know this to be untrue. There are many differences about the original and director's cut. For one, the DC is longer, 2hrs and 12 mins. When the original is only 1hr and 53 mins. This adds more scenes and more to the story, what the director originally intended. Also usually when you buy DC's they are different and have a more special look to them, when talking about the case itself. The one thing that I didn't like about the DC is that the director changed around and few of the songs in the new version, the feel of the songs in the original is a lot better. Both Dvd's come with high praise from film critics. On the orginal Dvd, Jan Stuart from Newsday, says "It'll Knock You Flat!" and also gives the movie 4 stars. And Compuserve, says "An All-Star Cast In A "Classic Psychological Thriller!" The Director's Cut has it's share of good reviews too. Kevin Thomas from the Los Angeles Times, says "One of the Key American Films of the Decade." Also, Ebert & Roeper, give it "Two Thumbs Up!" Donnie Darko was released in 2001 and Directed by Richard Kelly. Released by Fox Studios, Pandora and NewMarketFilms. Original Dvd pictured with Original front cover and Director's Cut pictured with second poster on case and a cover sleeve.

Collection #:
Donnie Darko: Original #131
Donnie Darko: Director's Cut #1

New Blog, New Theme

This blog will be dedicated for my love of film and movies, but more to my collection of Dvd's. There is pretty much nothing that obsess about in my life then buying more and more Dvd's. I have 549 Dvd's and my collection is always growing. Also I number every movie I own and write down in a booklet all the movies in my collection. In this Blog I will be talking about the current Dvd's I own and also when I buy or acquire new Dvd's. I will add images of my Dvd's when I post Blogs and will give details as well. This Blog is more for my enjoyment of my movies, but also for anyone else who is a "movie freak" like me. Next Blog to come soon!