Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - (Page 22) REVIEWS BLU-RAY SPOTLIGHT I TOP GUN Paramount, Action, $29.99 Blu-ray, ‘PG.’ Stars Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis, Tom Skerritt, Michael Ironside. www.homemediamagazine.com I FORFEIT Street 10/21 MTI, Thriller, $24.95 DVD, ‘R’ for language. Stars Billy Burke, Sherry Stringfield, Gregory Itzin, Wayne Knight. B ack in the summer of 1986, Top Gun ruled the box office and catapulted Tom Cruise to superstardom. The Tony Scott-directed film also paved the way for style-over-substance blockbuster filmmaking, which relied on loud licensed soundtracks, plenty of surround sound and MTV-style editing to propel the action forward. Paramount released Top Gun on HD DVD last year without any extras, so this Blu-ray Disc is the first high-def version of the movie that’s worth adding to your library. As far as presentation is concerned, the film has held up well after 22 years. This 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer brings the film’s 2.35:1 aspect ratio to almost 3-D life. Aside from some dirt and graininess from the original print, this HD picture is sharp and detailed. Anyone who purchased the HD DVD version is getting the same transfer here, though. Where Paramount did upgrade this disc was in the sound department and with the extras. In addition to the Dolby TruHD 5.1 Surround from the HD DVD version, there’s a far superior DTS Lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround option exclusive to this disc. With the film’s reliance on music and sound effects to propel the action forward, Top Gun has never sounded better. The disc comes packed with extras from the 20th anniversary DVD edition, which are presented in standard-definition. Top Gun on Blu-ray Disc is a great ticket down memory lane. This is the kind of movie experience that’s best enjoyed in high-definition. – John Gaudiosi I t’s easy to dismiss Forfeit as a convoluted, low-budget heist film. But if you stick with it, what unfolds is a diabolical psychological thriller about one man’s obsession with avenging all those he believes have wronged him, especially his ex-girlfriend. Having disappeared for many years after the accidental murder of his abusive father, Frank (Burke) returns to the seedy side of Los Angeles, where he finds a job working for a corrupt armored car company while desperately trying to reunite with his long-lost love, Karen (Stringfield). On the outside, it looks like Frank has transformed from a thug into a wellmannered, God-fearing man seeking a fresh start on life. But in reality, Frank is a hate-filled, greedy psycho- path whose paranoia is being fueled by an imaginary relationship he has developed with a TV evangelist (Itzin) who he watches obsessively. Following cues from the preacher, Frank quickly loses touch with reality and decides to concoct a deadly, elaborate plan to rob the armored-car company, fake his own death and pin it all on Karen — all in an effort to punish her for taking away their unplanned child. Forfeit is the third feature-length film from award-winning director Andrew Shea (Santa Fe, The Corndog Man), and proves to be his most profound, as the film delves into the dangers of religious zealotry. The film features an exceptional cast led by Burke (Fracture) and Stringfield (“ER”), with other recognizable faces such as Wayne Knight (”Seinfeld”) and veteran TV star John Aylward (“ER,” “The West Wing”). But it’s really Burke’s intensity that makes the film such a dark, riveting thriller. Forfeit has been shown at film festivals around the country, but the nature of the film actually lends itself better to watching it in a more intimate setting like home. – Matt Miller I STREET REVENGE Prebook 10/17; Street 11/18 Maverick, Action, $16.98 DVD, NR. Stars Jaime Velez, Joe Wissler, C. L. Rivera, Nick Borgia. W atching Street Revenge it is not hard to recall the saying “revenge is a dish best served cold.” In this film a cold heart comes in really handy. When criminals are willing to cross the line to get what they want, the risk of failure is usually far greater than the potential rewards of success. The price of achieving one’s goals frequently comes with enormous hidden costs, and values such as honor and respect are worth almost as much as cold hard cash. Such is the case with Street Justice, a film in which the protagonist, the supposedly good guy, is, undeniably, a bad guy who comes into conflict with antagonists who are far worse than he is. Freddy (Velez) is a low-level, quicktempered thug who works as a sort of street-level mercenary, carrying out missions for a local crime figure. After Freddy and his crew (made up of young ex-cons still committing petty crimes until they can earn enough to go straight) come across a dead body and a briefcase full of stolen money, they find themselves on the run from a brutal local mob that not only wants to recover its belongings, but also wants to make those who made off with it pay for their actions. In a classic eye-for-an-eye scenario, the two gangs begin a lethal game of cat and mouse. But when the stakes are raised and things get personal, Freddy is stretched past the breaking point and the game soon becomes one man’s war. Unmistakably produced on a meager budget, director Conrad Glover does not aim high here, but he clearly knows what attracts audiences to this type of film and delivers the goods. – David Greenberg I ORANGE WINTER Street 10/14 Passion River, Documentary, $29.95 DVD, NR. W e Americans love to bask in our smug feeling of superiority over the former Soviet Bloc countries, their culture and their government. That makes Orange Winter doubly relevant, as the United States lurches toward socializing insurance companies and bank losses. Could tent cities be far behind? The film is thought-provoking, if not as stylish as Americans are used to. No high-concept stunts, no special effects. Just political theater. Director Andrei Zagdansky uses slow narration ranging from simple to poetic to guide viewers over news footage, Russian opera and cinema clips to illustrate the march of history and how little has changed in Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. What American viewers will find galling is how the film shows the similarities to our own situation as we approach the 2008 presidential election: anointed heirs apparent to leadership, pandering press, corrupt politicians and disgruntled voters — hey, we can all see Russia from our houses! Descriptions and footage of the 2004 Ukrainian elections should strike a chord with anyone who remembers impossibly close election results, hanging chads, and lost and disqualified ballots. While none of our candidates have turned up poisoned yet, the other similarities will have us watching for that next. American citizens should take note of those similarities, and American politicians would be wise to consider that high unemployment means a lot of people with time to take to the streets. It’s a genuine shame that the American electoral system seems to be getting more like the Russian one, instead of the other way around. The big differences: a stolen election sent Ukrainians into the streets in what became the Orange Revolution, while Americans just went to the mall. In the Ukraine the Supreme Court ultimately declared the election invalid. – Holly J. Wagner 22 Home Media Magazine October 12–18, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 Contents News TV DVD Cine Mercado Reviews Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Contents (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Contents (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Contents (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - News (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - News (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Cine Mercado (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Cine Mercado (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Cine Mercado (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Cine Mercado (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Reviews (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Reviews (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Reviews (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Reviews (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 25) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 26) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 27) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 28) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover3) Home Media Magazine - October 12-18, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover4)
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