Home Video Reviews – Page 2

DVD Review – The Best Of WWE Raw (15th Anniversary Set)

15 years ago, Monday Night RAW debuted. 10 years ago, RAW featured Mike Tyson and Steve Austin almost going at it. 5 years ago, RAW celebrated its tenth anniversary with a piss-poor awards show that was generally disliked by anyone who watched it (and the DVD they released was no better). Now it’s the fifteenth anniversary of WWE’s flagship Monday night show and the company has decided to celebrate with a three-hour reunion episode (which was actually pretty good), a quick music CD featuring entrance themes of more popular RAW superstars, and a 3-disc set which shows the best moments of RAW, throughout its 15 year run.

For the most part, this is a pretty sweet deal. As someone who only got into this stuff during the Attitude era, it was pretty neat to see stuff I hadn’t been able to witness back in the day. Even revisiting some of the more memorable moments like BANG 3:16 and McMahon’s Stooges coming out to Real American (back when making fun of Hulk Hogan was perfectly acceptable behavior) was a treat. There are also a couple matches here and there, although they are outweighed by the amount of vignettes included.

Most of the footage is pretty solid, although there does seem to be some “recycling” of past edited footage for the sake of filling the disc (the ECW chapter seems to be ripped right from the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD they put out a couple years back), but it doesn’t really kill the product. Just about the only other flaw is that everything on this 3-disc set really serves as a reminder of how great and predictable RAW used to be in its glory days in comparison to what’s being shown now.

If you want to revisit the days of RAW back when it was actually unpredictable and daring, you should pick this set up. It’s a nice companion piece to the RAW show that aired a couple weeks back.

DVD Review – History Of The WWE Championship (3-Disc Set)

Recently picked up the 3-Disc History set. For those who don’t know, this set contains a bunch of title matches stemming from the WWWF days to the WWF days to the current WWE days. Thankfully, we only get one John Cena match, which means plenty of room for true champions to show their stuff. I’m going to do you folks a favor and give you a quick little review of this thing;

THE GOOD
I dig the presentation on the DVD. There’s even a nice little montage showing off (almost) every (W)WWF/E title change up to the current day, which is a nice touch. Each of the three discs cover specific eras; the first disc cover everything up to the 80s, the second disc 1990s, and the third disc is everything up to today-ish. A good selection of championship matches, with some important stuff featured here.

THE BAD
If there is any real criticism to be had, it’s that there’s no footage of the earliest title change from Sammartino’s first win to anywhere before Billy Graham. Instead, you get a little text blurb describing the event. It’s entirely possible such footage is lost to the annals of time and that’s why they’re not included. Still, it’s something whose omission is felt immensely, even if it might not appeal to the more modern fan.

IS IT WORTH IT?
Overall, it’s a good collection of title matches and it was nice to be able to see Andre the Giant’s only world title win. If you haven’t picked this up, go ahead and do so. In any case, it’s way better than the crap calling itself sports entertainment that on TV these days.

DVD Review – McMahon (2006 DVD)

In memory of Vince McMahon’s hair, I present a quick review of the McMahon DVD. This’ll be the first DVD review I’m doing (goodie) and also the first review that works under a different format than I usually do, so we’ll see how this works.

For some reason, people at World Wrestling Entertainment felt the need to compile a DVD retrospect on Vincent Kennedy McMahon. I don’t know why, but the DVD was made and I picked it up, just for a few laughs on how they would explain some of Vince’s mishaps.

THE GOOD: For the most part, the DVD is pretty extensive, as they talk about Vince’s uprising and the expansion of the WWF, as well as discussing a few “questionable” angles of recent years. Nothing flaky there, but then they bring up the WTBS deal with Ted Turner, spinning it as though they were getting great ratings to a point where Ted wanted to buy a piece of the company (many other written accounts tell a different – more accurate – story). There are just many things that are given a different spin here that it’s absolutely nuts (the XFL didn’t cost a lot to do, but lack of support from UPN forced the project to be canned… QUE?), but it makes for an entertaining romp. For those interested, the DVD includes Vince’s Slammy dance number in its entirety.

THE BAD: They skimp over the early-90s for some reason; it would have been nice to heard Vince’s thoughts on the WBF (his short-lived bodybuilding company) and the steroid scandals. The extras aren’t anything to write home about; just some more interviews and a select few of McMahon’s matches. None of them are great, although I did enjoy watching the first Austin/McMahon non-match from 98, as I hadn’t seen it the first time around. Other than that, nothing special.

OVERALL: If you want a good retrospect on the history of WWE, McMahon isn’t what you’re looking for. Revisionist history aside, this offers a good look behind the scenes as well as brief snippets of what goes on in Vince’s head. Worth a look if you’re remotely a fan of McMahons.

RATING: 6 / 10

DVD Review – Star Wars Limited Edition DVD Release (2006)

2004 saw the release of the “original” Star Wars Trilogy onto DVD for the first time ever… and with a new format comes further changes and “updates” to the films, such as minor graphical edits and the swapping of Force ghosts. While people were thrilled with having these films on DVD, there were those who would rather have the original, unaltered versions of these classic films on DVD instead; a point of contention that still exists to this very day.

Fortunately, Lucasfilm threw the fans a bone with this 2006 Limited Edition DVD release and the results were… well, it’s something.

THE GOOD: Each movie includes 2 discs; the first disc being the then-latest 2004 DVD release with further changes added to the film (in fact, these are exactly the same discs you’d get from that initial release.) And the second disc includes the original theatrical version of the film; which means Star Wars is just Star Wars and not Episode IV, Ewok music ends the Trilogy, and the Emperor is depicted by an old lady in monkey make-up in Empire. Doing it this way provides a nice compare-and-contrast for those into details and minutae while making two camps (updates vs. original) mildly satisfied for the short term.

THE BAD: While the original theatrical releases are indeed included as a bonus feature, the same care that went into the DVD restorations of the “updated” versions obviously didn’t apply to the original versions, which are apparently ripped from the Laserdisc releases. Now if you don’t care about the visual quality, then this is no biggie since it’s not completely terrible… but it’s also not on par with the restored version. Also, since the movies were released separately, you don’t get the bonus DVD of bonus material that came with the original DVD release.

IS IT WORTH IT? I got the 2004 DVD release, but then eventually got the 2006 re-releases because I wanted the original versions of these films on DVD, even if the transfer quality isn’t fantastic. I don’t know if it’d be worth it today since Blu-Ray is a thing, these things are harder to come by, and most would prefer the Unspecial Special Edition that’s been on the bootleg circuit for years on end, but if you find one in the wild for cheap, sure why not?

DVD Review – WWE: The Best Of Intercontinental Championship (2004)

WWE’s Best Of Intercontinental Championship is not a new DVD release, but rather it’s a re-issue of an old Colosseum Video compilation from 1993, featuring five matches from 1992-93. Beyond that, it’s a very barebones, very basic release with no additional features or bonuses of note. For what it’s worth, you’re getting the following matches.

– IC Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Crush from a ’93 show in England.

– IC Champion Bret Hart vs. Skinner from a 1992 episode of Prime Time Wrestling and pretty much the oldest match on the tape/disc by virtue of featuring Bret Hart as the champion.

– IC Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Janetty from a July ’93 episode of RAW.

– IC Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Mr. Perfect from Summerslam ’93.

– IC Champion Shawn Michaels vs. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan from a May ’93 episode of RAW.

THE GOOD: Well, it was a relatively cheap DVD. I think I only payed about ten bucks for this thing. Also, if you’re an HBK fan, you have a nice collection of matches from his first two IC title reigns. The matches against Janetty and Perfect are the highlights.

THE BAD: It’s a straight-up re-release of an old Colosseum Video release with no extra bits and very basic menus to navigate. Not only that, but there’s only five matches and other than the two I mentioned in the “good” segment, the rest of the matches aren’t exactly worthy of being dubbed the best of anything.

OVERALL: For a cheap re-release, it’s something for old-timers. But anyone who wants a collection of good Intercontinental championship matches should probably get the History Of The IC Championship DVD set that was released years later, where there’s not only more (better) matches, but there’s also variety, which this re-release lacks.

DVD Review – Destroy All Monsters (50th Anniversary Release)

I’ll sum up this release in a single sentence; Destroy All Monsters is a fun movie, but the DVD release is pure trash.

Touted as a 50th Anniversary special edition, this is a two-disc set; one disc contains the movie, while the other disc is a CD containing the entire score of the movie by Akira Ifujkube. And for what it’s worth, I like the soundtrack. Even if the tracks are mostly variations of the same themes over and over.

The DVD, on the other hand, is lazily put together. Basically, someone took the movie, digitized it, slapped it onto a disc, and punched out. Never mind the lack of subtitles, alternate audio tracks, or even a menu for navigation; there are NO CHAPTERS on this disc. This means that if you want to skip to a later portion of the film, you’re going to have to fast-forward that sucker like you would an old VHS tape.

The movie itself is great fun; the ninth film in the Godzilla film franchise brings about ELEVEN monsters wrecking havoc all over the world and while the action is limited, it’s never boring. There’s also a basic tale with the storytelling and such. Maybe someday I’ll touch on the movie in greater detail, but considering how rarely I get to watch a Godzilla film from this era, I had a blast with this old film, even if the video quality isn’t the greatest.

It’s just unfortunate that there wasn’t enough care put into the surrounding package to make it special or even manageable. A milestone of this ilk for a fondly remembered movie deserves better treatment than what it ultimately got.

But I dig the CD.

DVD Review – The Best Of Power Rangers: The Ultimate Rangers (2003 DVD Release)

So we’re looking at the 2003 DVD compilation called The Best Of Power Rangers: The Ultimate Rangers, which collects some of the series’ best episodes or at the very least, the highlights. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first time that the Power Rangers franchise has seen a DVD release; unless the movie 2-pack had already been released around this time. In any event, let’s see how this DVD release stacks up.

THE GOOD: The disc collects five Power Rangers television stories; the two-part MMPR episode “White Light”, the two-part Power Rangers In Space finale “Countdown to Destruction”, the Lost Galaxy/In Space team-up episode “To The Tenth Power”, the Lightspeed Rescue/Lost Galaxy team-up episode “Trakeena’s Revenge”, and finally, the Wild Force episode “Forever Red.” In terms of the three two-part episodes, they have been edited to form a single, longer episode rather than two parts. For what it’s worth, you have some of the better Power Rangers stories presented here and while one could argue of more episodes being included, what they have here is fine… somewhat.

THE BAD: Not much in terms of bonus features; just a couple promos for other products and that’s about it. The set includes only one episode of the In Space/Lost Galaxy team-up and not the second episode. Also, there isn’t any sort of chapter selection where you can skip to a particular scene; instead, you skip episodes, so you’ll need to fast forward to reach a particular scene of an episode. The episode selection, while solid, also seems a bit random, as “White Light” seems tacked on for the sake of having an MMPR episode on there while the rest of the package were team-up episodes (though Countdown isn’t technically a team-up per se, it does feature characters outside the usual PRiS sphere of influence). Video quality also isn’t fantastic, as some noticeable grain and noise effects can be seen during sequences that feature lots of dark colors.

OVERALL: For a cheap-o DVD release, the Ultimate Rangers isn’t the worst thing out there as it collects five of the better Power Rangers stories up to that point. Arguments could be made as to which episodes should or shouldn’t have made the cut, but as a nice primer of the franchise’s high points and a collection of its best stories, it’s more than adequate. Fairly cheap, not bad, it gets the job done well enough.

RATING: 7/10

DVD Review – Power Rangers Fox Double Feature Set (2001)

One of my first DVD purchases was this Power Rangers Fox Double Feature, which collects the two movies; Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie from 1995 and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie from 1997. Released as a double-sided DVD, both films include subtitles, a theatrical trailer, and a short behind the scenes video originally seen on older Fox VHS tapes. This DVD was released in 2001 and was the only semblance of Power Rangers on DVD until that Best Of compilation that was released a couple years after.

THE GOOD: You’re getting the two Power Rangers movies for the price of one, which is a pretty sweet deal from the get-go. And depending on your point of view, the films either held up extremely well or they were never good to begin with. The picture quality, for the most part, is pretty good and are presented in widescreen, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your point of view.

THE BAD: It’s a single, double-sided disc, which means you need to flip the disc in order to watch the desired film. I’ve always hated this idea because while it is cheap, it just means both sides are susceptible to scratching and easy damage. Not surprisingly, both movies skimp on extras, with only one theatrical trailer and a short making of vignette for each film. Quite disappointing since both had longer BTS specials that would’ve been a cool bonus. There’s also some weird cropping issues where there’s significantly less picture than the VHS releases, which seems odd. Oh, and the first movie is missing “Mighty Morphin” from its title, implying a UK cut or something to that extent.

OVERALL: It doesn’t take much to see that this is a pretty lazy package that’s assembled here with little care put to the final product. Still, both movies on DVD is still a pretty sweet deal, but here’s hoping that somewhere down the line, these films will either get individual releases or possibly released as a two-disc set, which would be preferable.

MOVIE REVIEW – Highlander: Endgame (2000)

Highlander: Endgame is the fourth Highlander film in the series and also serves as a continuation of the Highlander television series that concluded its run after six seasons. The film sees the film series’ Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) and the television show’s Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul) teaming up to face off against a dangerous new Immortal enemy in Jacob Kell (Bruce Payne) in what the trailers showed to be a completely different film from what ultimately hit theatres… and then would take yet another different form when Endgame eventually hit home video.

Endgame is an interesting beast of sorts. You show trailers for a film featuring a villain capable of splitting in half and performance cheap-end special effects of sorts… none of that stuff made it to the “final” cut that hit theaters. And apparently, the film was poorly received to such a degree that they did a new edit for home video. The DVD version, which is what I’ve watched, even includes an earlier cut to see how things went from there to here. Clearly, the people behind the film wanted to make a version that would appease most people, if not the most ardent of Highlander fans.

The thing is that Endgame ALMOST works… and to be fair, there are some bits that I like about the film. Once again, the fight scenes are top-notch; probably some of the best seen on film and it also helps that Adrian Paul holds his own quite nicely – six years of swordfighting on television will do that to you. The flashback sequences highlighting the relationship between the MacLeod clansmen are refreshing pieces compared to the present day’s modern drab circumstances, which makes the duo’s final confrontation all the more depressing.

Endgame was meant to be the swan song for Christopher Lambert’s Connor MacLeod as he passes the cinematic katana (so to speak) to his television counterpart. And it’s a bit of a sad end – seeing his adopted daughter die in a bomb explosion (nice that they brought back the actress from the first film to reprise her role here for the explicit purpose of getting killed off – good job, guys!) and resigning himself in a metal box for years… so clearly there’s no Mario Van Peebles or General Katana in this guy’s future anytime soon… only to be forced out as the only survivor of said sanctuary… and honestly, when the end does come – I won’t say how but it’s not hard to figure out – the whole thing comes across as depressing. Whether that fits the character as a whole is a debate for another time, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Other than that, the overall plot leaves much to be desired. There’s Duncan’s fawning over an immortal ex-wife, the villain’s (Kell) continued pursuit and psychological torture of the elder MacLeod over… something or other, the limited use of Duncan’s allies Methos and Joe Lawson (who, amazingly enough, do NOT get killed off – that’s progress, I suppose), and… man, I don’t know. There are ideas here and there that I can see almost working, but for some reason, it doesn’t click and makes me wonder if they really needed to make this movie in the first place. The dialogue here is pretty bad and not necessarily in a cheese sort of way. This is the sort of dialogue that feels like it was written by crack writers of a wrestling show who have no clue how to write dialogue.

Speaking of which, Endgame features a bit role played by WWE Superstar and multi-time champion Edge (or as those behind the scenes call him, THE EDGE – which is honestly a better name for him anyway). He’s fine in it and not quite in as big a role as some adverts would have you believe.

Highlander: Endgame is a sad, sad movie no matter how hard they try to revamp it. It is a sad end to the story of Connor MacLeod, it is a drab continuation of the Highlander television series and a generally poor passing of the torch story in terms of handing the movie reigns over to Duncan, and… honestly, it’s another example of how there probably should have been only one.

If there is only one positive that could be levied out of this, however, it’s that I like Adrian Paul’s Duncan enough to give the TV show a shot one of these days. And that would probably all the Highlander fix I’d need going forward because I shudder to think how bad the next film would be.