Ghost in the Shell 2.0 Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm going to break this review down into two parts.
The movie itself:
This is Ghost In The Shell in HD. It's beautiful, but for a smoother translation into the look of Innocence the greenish colors of the original film have been touched up and made to be more of an amber color like that seen in second film. This isn't really a change that I mind, and it's pulled off fairly well. I assume that several scenes were cleaned up digitally because the line art looks amazingly clean.
Sadly, someone felt it would be appropriate to replace some of the most iconic and stunning animation from the original with CG. A few scenes are done well like those where the CG is only helicopters or buildings, but whenever it replaces characters with crappy looking CG models it becomes stunningly bad. If you watch the making of the original movie you can see that their limited use of computer assisted animation was carefully planned and fit in with the other artwork and improved the film. The CG in 2.0 sticks out like a sore thumb in most cases. The only CG part that I liked was the pan over the cityscape at the end of the film.
If you have a bluray player and haven't seen GitS yet 2.0 isn't a bad way to see it, but fans of the original will probably be disappointed with the lack of any significant changes and the quality of what was changed.
The bluray by Manga:
Somehow Manga Entertainment never ceases to screw something pretty major up on their releases. The box lists a commentary with Oshii, an interview with Oshii and a making of GitS 2.0. None of these features are present on the bluray. You get throw away character profiles, glossary, and the old english trailer. The original making of GitS is here in VHS quality along with the unlisted bonus feature of the original cut of the movie. When I heard that I was pretty excited because in all honesty it's the only version I truly care about, but it looks to be taken from non-HD masters and only includes 2.0 audio tracks. If memory serves me correctly I believe that my GitS DVD looks better upscaled than this version does.
It would have been nice to do a re-dub of the film with the SAC cast, but I guess most of them were in the original anyway and it's a nice dub in it's own right.
This whole release just makes me want the original film untouched in HD. I can't give this less than three stars if only because seeing this movie this way is better than not seeing it at all because it's a one of my favorite films ever, but be aware of the problems with this release before deciding to buy it.

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A film that has spawned a thousand imitations but never been bettered – Mamoru Oshii\'s legendary anime film GHOST IN THE SHELL returns in a stunning new edition remastered by Oshii himself. For this definitive Version 2.0 release, all the original animations are re-produced with latest digital film and animation technologies, including 3D-CGI. Set in a re-imagined Hong Kong at a time when cyberspace is expanding into human reality, the story follows top cyberwarrior Major Motoko Kusanagi as she hovers on the border of total immersion in the digital world.

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Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector's Edition) (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Due for re-release in December, this motion picture is one of the finest science fiction films of the 20th century. Part of this is because it projects a future that could be - the earth as a place with a ruined environment populated by people that couldn't or wouldn't make the jump to one of the more habitable off-world colonies. The other part is because the film questions what it means to be human, and explores the possibly unsatisfactory answers you might get if you could, like the replicants, hunt down your maker and ask him Why am I here? Why must my life end? I'll pretty much let Warner's press release do the talking from this point forward. Basically you have your choice of three different sets - 2-disc, 4-disc, and 5-disc. The discs are described as follows:
Disc 1 - Ridley Scott's All-New "Final Cut" Version of the film - Restored and remastered with added & extended scenes, added lines, new and cleaner special effects and all new 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio. Also included is commentary by Ridley Scott and a host of others that worked behind the camera.
Disc 2 - Documentary - Dangerous Days: Making of Blade Runner - A feature-length documentary revealing all the elements that shaped this cinema landmark. Cast, crew, critics and colleagues give a behind-the-scenes, in-depth look at the film from its literary roots and inception through casting, production, visuals and special effects to its legacy.
Disc 3 - 1982 Theatrical Version - The original that contains Deckard's narration and has Deckard and Rachel's (Sean Young) "happy ending" escape scene.
1982 International Version - Also used on U.S. home video, laserdisc and cable releases up to 1992. This version is not rated, and contains some extended action scenes in contrast to the Theatrical Version.
1992 Director's Cut - Omits Deckard's voiceover narration and removes the "happy ending" finale. It adds the famous "unicorn" sequence, a vision that Deckard has which suggests that he, too, may be a replicant.
Disc 4 - BONUS Disc "Enhancement Archive" - Eight featurettes, image galleries, radio interview with the author, and screen tests for the part of Rachel.
Disc 5 - Workprint Version - This rare version of the film is considered by some to be the most radically different of all the Blade Runner cuts. It includes an altered opening scene, no Deckard narration until the final scenes, no "unicorn" sequence, no Deckard/Rachel "happy ending," altered lines between Rutger Hauer and his creator Tyrell (Joe Turkell), alternate music and much more.
Also included is commentary by Paul M. Sammon, author of Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner and a featurette - "All Our Variant Futures: From Workprint to Final Cut".
2 Disc Edition : Discs 1-2
4 Disc Edition : Discs 1-4
5 Disc Edition : Discs 1-5
The downside of this 2-disc version is that you are only getting the Final Cut version of the film and the documentary disc. You won't get the bonus disc of featurettes, the disc of past releases, and the workprint version of the film. The upside is that the 5-disc version of the film has some expensive packaging and promotional material included that seems to really raise the price of the entire package.

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In celebration of Blade Runner's 25th anniversary, director Ridley Scott has gone back into post production to create the long-awaited definitive new version. Blade Runner: The Final Cut, spectacularly restored and remastered from original elements and scanned at 4K resolution, will contain never-before-seen added/extended scenes, added lines, new and improved special effects, director and filmmaker commentary, an all-new 5.1 Dolby® Digital audio track and more. Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Edward James Olmos, Joanna Cassidy, Sean Young, and Daryl Hannah are among some 80 stars, filmmakers and others who participate in the extensive bonus features. Among the bonus material highlights is Dangerous Days, a brand new, three-and-a-half-hour documentary by award-winning DVD producer Charles de Lauzirika, with an extensive look into every aspect of the film: its literary genesis, its challenging production and its controversial legacy. The definitive documentary to accompany the definitive film version.



Stills from Blade Runner (click for larger image)

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Star Trek Fan Collective - Borg (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)Designed for "Trek" fans who don't want to purchase (or like myself can't afford) to buy all the of the boxed sets for all the Trek series, "Star Trek: Fan Collective Borg" Assembles 14 of the finest episodes produced by the "Trek" franchise. This set features episodes voted on at the Startrek.com website by fans. Running chronologically the set begins with the "Enterprise" episode "Regeneration" where the survivors of the Borg sphere destroyed in the film "Star Trek: First Contact" are discovered buried in the ice by a group of Federation scientists. Captain Archer (Scott Bakula) must deal with this unknown menace as the Borg proceed to try take a Federation vessel and assimilate his doctor. Next we get "Q Who?" the episode that introduced the Borg. The all powerful Q challenges Captain Picard's assertive statement that they don't need his help to get out of jams by flinging them across the galaxy to their first encounter with the Borg. Unprepared, outgunned and with the Enterprise being carved apart by the Borg Picard must decide whether or not he wants to swallow his pride and call on Q to help them escape. "The Best of Both Worlds" is a two part episode and, perhaps, Next Gen's finest hour. Written by the late Michael Piller, the Borg finally arrive and begin assimiliating entire worlds as they move towards Earth. Picard and his crew must stop the Borg but not before a key member of the Enterprise crew is kidnapped and turned into a Borg against his will threatening the Federation and all of humanity!
"I Borg" humanizes the Borg a bit. The Enterprise receives a distress call and when they arrive to help they discover the lone survivor of a crashed ship is a Borg Drone. As he spends time with the crew he wants to explore his individuality. Picard is torn because Star Fleet wants to use "Hugh" as a weapon to destroy the collective. "Descent" is another two part episode in which Lore Data's "brother" trains Borg cut off from the collective to serve him. It seems that Picard's plan to reintroduce Hugh the young Borg they saved in "I Borg" has worked all too well introducing the concept of individuality but at a terrible cost.
The Voyager episodes featuring the Borg were among the finest the show produced. Starting with "Scorpion" we're introduced to 7 of 9 (Jeri Ryan)and a war brewing between Species 8472 creatures from fluidic space (from another dimension)as alien as the crew has ever encountered. Janeway agrees to help the Borg develop a weapon against the creatures in return for safe passage through the quadrant. When the crew terminate their agreement with the Borg 7 of 9 is trapped aboard Voyager. She slowly begins to rediscover her humanity. In "Drone" A transporter accident causes the advanced circutry of the doctor's mobile emitter to combine with Borg technology creating an advanced drone who calls himself One. In the two part "Dark Frontier" Captain Janeway decides to steal a transwarp coil from a Borg ship that would allow them to get home faster. 7 of 9 volunteers for the mission but elects to stay with the Borg. In "Unimatrix Zero" 7 of 9 discovers there's a collective "dream" where Borg meet to explore their individuality. Her involvement with these people threatens Voyager. In the final two hour grand finale for Voyager "Endgame" Admiral Janeway travels back to the past to offer Captain Janeway technology from the future that will allow Voyager to get home quicker. While her reasons for doing so are somewhat mysterious Captain Janeway accepts her offer. Unfortunately the Borg detect the technology and want it for themselves.
This set has text commentary tracks on "The Best of Both Worlds Parts 1 & 2" by Michael and Denise Okuda as well as on "Unimatrix Zero Part 2". There's also the original commentary track by writers Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong on "Regeneration". There aren't any featurettes or documentaries on this set. A pity that there aren't any audio commentary tracks for the other "Next Generation" episodes. You'll notice that there aren't any "Deep Space: Nine" episodes here because the Borg didn't really appear on the show.
This is a great place to get your "Star Trek" fix with the show's most memorable villans. Image quality varies quite a bit as these feature the exact same transfers as the original boxed sets but overall they look pretty good. Only "Enterprise" is presented in widescreen and actually looks the best of all the series here simply because it's the most recent.

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The Borg Fan Collection has the top ten most popular Borg episodes as picked by the fans! Witness all the characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Enterprise and Voyager as they defend their ships, galaxies, and their own kind. For thousands of years the Borg have been spreading throughout the galaxy, conquering, assimilating and thus destroying countless civilizations. Following every encounter, the Borg catalogue each new species with a numerical designation instead of a proper name. The goal of the Borg, in most cases, is to completely assimilate each species by incorporating their knowledge and technology into the unified Borg Collective. One by one, each living being is converted into Borg Drones. In many cases, all that remains of an assimilated civilization is the memory of its unique contributions that now resides only within the accumulated knowledge of the Borg. That and the numerical species designation. Often even the name is lost, forgotten or deleted as irrelevant. Conversely, the species designations give a sense of the long and terrible history of the Borg and the thousands of species they have encountered and absorbed.

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