Arts Movie Reviews

Family movie reviews for "Arts" sorted by average review score:

Blood Of The Dragon

Released in DVD by Platinum Disc (01 December, 2000)

MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Average review score:

A Classic in Every Way

This movie offers a great sense of character and storyline realism in the way it was filmed. Everything: the casting, the fight scenes, the plot, the original musical score--even the dubbing--comes together quite well in this movie.

Wang Yu portrays a lone fighter, "the White Dragon," who expertly wields a silver spear and gives allegience to no one. However, his fateful involvement with a young boy and pretty inn keeper place him on a true hero's path of interior change and even transcendence, through the situations he finds himself in while helping these two.

In addition to the merits of the film itself, for the price,... it is easily one of the best bargains among the many martial arts films I have purchased. The video transfer on my Platinum Video version of the DVD is a bit soft, but still acceptable.

Top shelf all the way! Blood of the Dragon rightfully deserves to be on the "top ten" list of many a serious subscriber to this movie genre.

A Classic Martial Arts Movie !

This is a great movie. With an easy story line to follow. Great martial arts action. (Wang Yu)is truly the master of the silver spear.The fighting scenes are unbelievable, you too will enjoy this movie. The only disappointing thing to me about this DVD. Not in (WIDESCREEN)...

Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie

Released in DVD by Warner Home Video (03 June, 2003)

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Director: C.B. Harding

Starring: Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Larry The Cable Guy

It had to happen: A national tour of redneck comedians culminating in this frequently funny concert film, shot in Phoenix. Ron White's scotch-and-tobacco-fueled, fatalistic world view gets things off to a good start. ("That last engine had just enough power to get us to our crash site.") Larry the Cable Guy's creepy-silly persona helps deliver a set long on gross-out humor. ("I've been seein' a good-lookin' girl. But now I lost my binoculars.") Bill Engvall balances the tone with his family-man shtick. ("There needs to be a teenage driver's lane lined with tires and mattresses.") Main event champ Jeff Foxworthy offers fresh material about the act of ice-fishing as an out-of-body experience for fish, describes the bizarre sight of a leaf blower among items confiscated by airport security and, of course, renders his trademark re-re-re-definitions of what constitutes a redneck ("a glorious absence of sophistication"). Lots to enjoy here. --Tom Keogh

Average review score:

Everyone can find this filled with laughs

The Blue Collar Comedy Tour isn't just for rednecks or blue collar workers- this is fun and laughter for everyone. There are no cusswords or adult content to cut out so even teenagers can watch this. Funny comedian Ron White is like a 21st century country-style Dean Martin. The other 3 comedians ( Ron White included ) along with Jeff Foxworthy also serve up their fair share of comic lines and laughs. Most people have only heard of Jeff Foxworthy due to his name & longetivity( including me until this ) but once you've seen & heard this you will want to enjoy it over & over.Great that these four comedians decided to tour together,film it & release it on video & dvd for us to enjoy.
Even you are alone you may be laughing out loud.The Blue Collar Comedy Tour was recommended to me by an African-American so it wasn't offensive to him either as he thought it funny-This is definitely not just for rednecks but for everyone.This is not just southern humor-the comedy is universally appealing. Buy it,rent it,don't miss out.You don't have to have a job with a nametag on it to enjoy this one.It doesn't matter who you are- this one's funny.It't not covered in moles.No one will literally throw you out of a place.There's your sign-You might be a redneck but you don't have to be one to laugh at this comedy.

Kings of Country Comedy!!!

I just watched this DVD, and I still can't stop laughing! I too was unfamiliar with Larry the Cable Guy and Ron White, but I had no idea what I was missing! These four have great on-stage chemistry! The ending of the DVD is the best, where they are all onstage together tellng their stories. You can see how well they get along, and how much of a riot they must be to hang out with! Larry's backwoods, none-too-bright act is a side-splitter, and Ron White defenitely fullfills his role as the "bad boy" of the bunch. Bill Engvall delivers with some of his hilarious trademark "Here's Your Sign" jokes, and the others get in on the act too. Though we all love Jeff Foxworthy, I think we are all getting a little tired of the Redneck jokes, but Jeff comes through with some absolutely terrific new material that will leave you wiping tears of laughter for hours! Absolutely the best comedy DVD I have seen to date. There are plenty of laughs for the adults, but not so much that the kids can't get in on the fun too. Defenitely worth the time and money.

Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie

This is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen.

Blast!

Released in DVD by PBS Home Video (08 May, 2001)

MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)

Starring: Blast

If your favorite part of a football game is when the marching band takes the field, then you're going to love Blast. Think of the most rousing, in-sync band that you ever saw, turn them way up, add cool costumes and a black-and-white checkered stage with colored spotlights, throw in a good helping of the Stomp vibe, and you've got Blast.

Color is the theme that threads the different musical pieces together. Beginning with Ravel's Bolero, the audience is pulled into this new music/dance/theatre experience as the band takes the stage marching, twirling, and weaving. The performers aren't simply musicians--they dance, sing, act, and play their brass and drums. "Loss," in the Blue section of the color wheel, is particularly touching. Even the flag team--a very sexy and talented flag team--is represented. The Green section melds into a sober and lovely rendition of "Simple Gifts," then concludes quietly with Copland's Appalachian Spring. In the black light of "Battery Battle," you're pulled into the rhythm of the lone drummer, then dueling snare drums, and finally a row of energetic, blindfolded drummers who never miss a beat. "Medea" combines movement and music in a dramatic interpretation of Samuel Barber's piece, and, set to a dance-club beat, "Lemon Techno" is a flurry of yellow flags, poles, and sensuous movement. A spectacularly sultry "Malaguena" drenched in red ends the program.

It's easy to see why Blast is a PBS favorite. It's an amazing new type of performance--one that every high school marching band member will want to emulate. Included here is a 25-minute documentary, Music in Motion: The Making of Blast, which takes you behind the scenes to the conception of the show and into the ensemble's homes and lives as they perform in London's West End. --Dana Van Nest

Average review score:

BUY THIS VIDEO NOW!

I saw Blast! live on stage, and was thoroughly impressed by the whole thing. The performers (musicians and dancers alike) have an energy and spirit which is hard to capture fully on television or video. Although the VHS is nothing like the show, it is the very next best thing (still better than ANYTHING you will ever see again) and well worth buying. Sadly, as I live in the UK, I cannot watch this version of the show on my VCR. My only hope would be a DVD release, as I have a multi-region DVD player. People of America- You have no idea how lucky you are to be able to buy and watch this musical and performing arts phenomenon! I loved it, so will you!

Watch this DVD and be blown away

Can you throw a 10 foot pole high in the air and catch it at the exact same time as a dozen other people catch theirs? Can you play a drumset blindfolded? Or can you perform masterpieces by Ravel and Copland while holding up a 20 pound instrument, running backwards as fast as you can and all the while staying in perfect formation with the 50 other people on stage?

The performers in Blast! can. For anyone who has ever mildly enjoyed a marching band's halftime show, this performance will be incredible. Their repertoire includes favorites that can be easily recognized by almost anybody, such as West Side Story's "Gee, Officer Krupke" and masterpieces many bands don't dare to attempt, such as Ravel's "Bolero." But even the lesser known songs are entertaining, such as "Split Complementaries" where several performers with mellophones (marching french horns) twist and contort their bodies around eachother to form pure musical art.

Many people can play instruments, but few can march with them, and even fewer at this level. Throw in some dancing, incredible acting, and even some singing (the cast performs a joyful yet subdued rendition of Copland's "Simple Gifts") and you have some truly talented performers. I have seen this show twice on stage. How many shows have you seen get a standing ovation at the end of the performance? How about at the end of the first act before intermission?? Or how about in the middle of the first act???

Buy this DVD and be prepared to be blown away by the sheer talen of these performers. It is what "band nerds" (like myself) everywhere dream of becoming, but even those with little or no musical talent will find this show simply amazing.

No Contest

For those of you who do not appreciate this fine piece of work it takes some pure steel balls, I mean come on, marching band meets ballet meets anything else you could possibly want. Coming from my own experiences with Blast (seeing them preform live [Raleigh, NC 2003]) nothing can top this except seeing them live like i have..... you must enjoy the craftsmanship and talent it takes to do all the complicated manuevers that they do and while playing all that MEMORIZED music. Keep this DVD on your shelfs at all times

Blade Runner - Limited Edition Collector's Set

Released in DVD by CREATIVE DESIGN ARTS (06 June, 2000)

MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young

When Ridley Scott's cut of Blade Runner was finally released in 1993, one had to wonder why the studio hadn't done it right the first time--11 years earlier. This version is so much better, mostly because of what's been eliminated (the ludicrous and redundant voice-over narration and the phony happy ending) rather than what's been added (a bit more character development and a brief unicorn dream). Star Harrison Ford originally recorded the narration under duress at the insistence of Warner Bros. executives who thought the story needed further "explanation"; he later confessed that he thought if he did it badly they wouldn't use it. (Moral: Never overestimate the taste of movie executives.) The movie's spectacular futuristic vision of Los Angeles--a perpetually dark and rainy metropolis that's the nightmare antithesis of "Sunny Southern California"--is still its most seductive feature, an otherworldly atmosphere in which you can immerse yourself. The movie's shadowy visual style, along with its classic private-detective/murder-mystery plot line (with Ford on the trail of a murderous android, or "replicant"), makes Blade Runner one of the few science fiction pictures to legitimately claim a place in the film noir tradition. And, as in the best noir, the sleuth discovers a whole lot more (about himself and the people he encounters) than he anticipates.... With Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, and M. Emmet Walsh. --Jim Emerson

Average review score:

The facts regarding Blade Runner on DVD

There is a 3 disc Special Edition DVD of this all time classic film on the horizon. This Special Edition will have 3 different versions of the film: the original theatrical version, the directors' cut, and a new Ridley Scott updated version of the film. It will also have numerous special features. It will be very similar to Scott's Black Hawk Down 3-Disc Special Edition DVD.

The person in charge of the design of this disc is Charlie DeLuzika (sp?) who is responsible for some of the best special edition DVD's made.

Ridley Scott himself stated that the actual completion/restoration of the versions that will appear on these discs was finished in 2002 (see Sound & Vision Magazine-"15 Minutes with Ridley Scott" published in 2002.)

What's holding up the discs are legal problems. Apparently the production company that owned the rights to the movie went out of business, and there is fighting over who now owns those assets. That is also why there is a lack of other Blade Runner related items such as action figures. The only ones of those available are Japanese bootlegs.

The reason that this Director's Cut is so dreadful is that it, along with "Twister", was one of the first DVD's ever released. That's why there is just a blue screen with a WB logo for the menu!

There is no known release date for the 3 disc special edition. It was suppose to be released for the 20th Anniversary of the film in 2002. My guess is that the earliest it will appear is fourth quarter 2004.

Hope this info was helpful. I just can't wait for a DVD release that finally does Blade Runner justice!

Blade Runner, but not enough

Please don't let my rating fool you. This is an awesome specticle of a movie - and probably my most favorite of all time. The potential of this boxed set is missed by a fair margin though. It does include a lot of hard copy material (folded poster, lobby cards, film cell), but it misses out by simply dropping in the Director's Cut version of the movie and not including the original theatrical release, or the the color storyboard info from Syd Mead's production design (found in the Criterion LD). These additions would make it more the difinitive release for true movie buffs. There's also several minutes of reconstructed footage (Holden's hospital scenes) that could be included - or even still shots that I know are out there, screen tests for the actors and SFX test shots. This should have been better put together. It does inlcude the screenplay - although its missing some pages that were apparantly missing from the original copy (there really isn't a complete copy, but it could've been reconstructed better than this). Some of the missing material still exists in the "Illustrated Blade Runner, '82" sketchbook. Whoever put this package together should have done their homework or called Ridley Scott, or Paul Sammon (Future Noir). I hope Criterion will put out their version on DVD someday .

A bona fide sci-fi landmark

The true test of a classic, as everyone knows, is how it survives the passage of time. Blade Runner is a classic. It is as stunning a film today as it was when released more than twenty years ago. Those who think the plot is too slow and the acting subpar are those raised on a diet of explosions and mayhems every two point five minutes in any given movie in order to sustain their interest. Ridley Scott is a master of the mise-en-scene. The "slow pace" serves to heighten the suspense just as it did in the first "Alien," and the theme of the modern man losing his humanity is as appropos today as ever. There has been enough written about the set design and the music that I don't need to repeat the obvious. The only disappointment with this DVD is the picture quality and the lack of bonus materials, both of which, rumor has it, will be remedied in a three disc set to be released some time next year.
Let's hope it will do this film full justice.