Troy - Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Description

Brad Pitt picks up a sword and brings a muscular, brooding presence to the role of Greek warrior Achilles in this spectacular retelling of The Iliad. Orlando Bloom and Diane Kruger play the legendary lovers who plunge the world into war, Eric Bana portrays the prince who dares to confront Achilles, and Peter O'Toole rules Troy as King Priam. Director Wolfgang Petersen recreates a long-ago world of bireme warships, clashing armies, the massive fortress city and the towering Trojan Horse.

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A dramatic improvement over Season One
continuing the same great Xenariffic stuff
Xena Warrior Princess -Season 2
Warrior Princess
discs won't play

Xena Warrior Princess - Season Two
Director: T.J. Scott , John Fawcett , Karen Dior , Robert Ginty , and Patrick R. Norris
Manufacturer: Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00009UW0U
Release Date: 2003-09-02

Customer Reviews:

A dramatic improvement over Season One.......2007-07-20

Many shows improve dramatically in their second season, but XENA was so different as to be almost a different show. It isn't hard to locate precisely why XENA was so much better in its second season. Season One of XENA saw the show treating each of its action plots with complete seriousness. It completely lacked ironical distance from its plotlines. The stories in both Season One and Season Two were absurd, but while in Season One the show acted as if it imagined they weren't, while Season Two proceeded with a frank acknowledge of how much of the show was ridiculous. In other words, in Season Two XENA in part became a comedy. In large part this was helped by the discovery that Lucy Lawless was a good comic actress.

There were other reasons for the improvement in Season Two. The overall writing improved markedly. Though still not a big budget show, they clearly had a larger operating budget in Season Two. Most striking was the addition, despite the preponderance of comic episodes, of several very dark and surprisingly effect serious episodes. Although the show had trouble "selling" the serious episodes in the debut season, several in Season Two were very compelling.

Another change in Season Two was the increasingly moving relationship between Xena and Gabrielle. XENA started off as a female buddy picture, but as fans identified (or perhaps more accurately, created) a lesbian subtext the show did more and more to feed the fans. XENA was, in fact, one of the first shows to respond in a strong way to the way that fans were responding to the show. Although both Xena and Gabrielle are portrayed throughout the series as heterosexual, the show from Season Two until the end of the series continued to foster the idea that the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle was deeper and more profound than any that either would have with any man.

Nonetheless, the show both in Season Two and until the end of the series, managed to be alienating to many viewers. I've never enjoyed Asian martial arts films because of the extraordinary reliance on wirework. I even find such masters of filmmaking as Yimou Zhang difficult to appreciate because of the physical impossibility of the things the characters do. So for me the outrageous jumps and leaps that Xena routinely makes serve to distance me and alienate me from the overall story. BUFFY would very occasionally use wirework, but only rarely. XENA is addicted to it. To the show's credit, it intentionally made many of these elements sillier and sillier, as if conceding that it is all in fun. Xena's use of her chakram gets increasingly impossible. In one scene she is waiting for the arrival of a giant in a village and, bored, she tries to pass time by bouncing her chakram off several surfaces. It is all done so routinely that it reminded me of Steve McQueen bouncing his baseball off the wall in the prison camp in THE GREAT ESCAPE.

The second source of continuing alienation is the continued abuse and misuse of history. There is a scene in BABE: PIG IN THE CITY in which Babe looks out over the skyline of the city and sees the Eifel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House, and several other famous structures adorning the city. It is absurd in the same way that the world of Xena is. Basically every famous person from the ancient period from the Homeric Age to the late Roman Empire is alive. Xena meets and romances both Ulysses and Julius Caesar. Goliath turns out to be a good friend and Gabrielle nurses a crush on David. For perspective, I found it difficult to enjoy the series ROME because of historical liberties. But ROME strives to be historically respectable; XENA uses historical and mythological figures any way that it wishes.

The bad news is that XENA would persist in its defiance of both physics and history. The good news is that the stories would continue to improve. Its third season would represent an improvement over the first two. In fact, it is only in Season Three that the central story of the series actually begins.

continuing the same great Xenariffic stuff.......2007-07-11

The first 2 seasons were wonderful. This one has everything you liked from the first season, but more of it. Old favorites are back, such as Joxer, Autolycus, Ares, Hades, Callisto, Ephiny, and some new ones, like Aphrodite, Cupid, and Poseidon. I highly recommend season 2. You get to know the supporting characters a lot more in this season, mainly because Lucy Lawless was injured and unable to do a few episodes.

Xena Warrior Princess -Season 2.......2007-05-23

If you love girl power, good v evil, historical fiction & greek mythology; you will love Xena Warrior Princess - Season 2. Yes, it can be corny, but that is the beauty of the character & the series.

Warrior Princess.......2006-12-22

This season was a continuation of the 1st season. I was hooked on this season as well. I really disliked the way the series ended. I can relive those days when Xena was the 'in' show to watch.

discs won't play.......2006-09-06

This is a review of the DVDs, not the show. Both this season and season 1 have been very inferior playing quality. My compters and laptop usually give the "unsupported media" error when I insert these discs. Avoid this set. I'll not be buying any more of these inferior DVDs.

Average customer rating:

Excellent Wing Chun movie.
Ode to Wing Chun
This is so good !
Perfect Picture Quality !!
AHHHHHHHHHHHh that was good stuff

Warriors Two
Starring: Billy Chan , Lung Chan , Fat Chung , Hark-On Fung , and Ching-Ying Lam
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007IO6ZA
Release Date: 2005-04-05

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Wing Chun movie........2007-09-06

I am a Wing Chun student and also a fan of martial arts films, especially Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li. I have seen various styles of kung fu/wu shu in film, but rarely Wing Chun. This is a great review of techniques in action.

We learn the Cantonese words and numbers in class, and it is cool to see them right in the movie. I like the intro segment and of course the training sections at the school with Siu Lim Tau, Chum Kiu, and a bit of Biu Gee, as well as the pole (Lok Dim Boon Gwan) and even some Bak Jom Dao (butterfly knives). There is also wooden dummy work and a room with 2 wooden dummies that come out at cashier Hua to help train his skills.

It is great to see techniques like tan sau, pak sau, fook sau, gan sau, kwon sau, fak sau, blindfolded chi sau, pole forms, inch punch, rooting energy, etc. Sammo Hong is also entertaining and incredible. He is joking around and yet kicking butt (like Jackie Chan is known for). Later in the movie he fights an opponent in the dark in a bamboo forest. Cool.

Overall I am very pleased with this movie and is the best wing chun movie I have seen apart from the training videos my sifu has made. This is entertaining and educational. (and it also is a bit funny to hear the sound of horseshoes on cobblestones when the horses are running on dirt or through the water! ha.)

Ode to Wing Chun.......2007-08-06

Already an established actor and action director, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo's plethora of talents would be in full display when he helmed the director's chair for his third directorial film (after Iron Fisted Monk and Enter the Fat Dragon) during the golden age of Golden Harvest. Warriors Two is the first of two excellent Sammo Hung films, with Prodigal Son being the second, involving Leung Jan, a herbalist, doctor and teacher/practitioner of the martial art Wing Chun (a true renaissance man) in Foshan. This cinematic treatise on Wing Chun is a pleasure to watch because of the reverence that Sammo has for this discipline.

Warriors Two starts with Leung Kar-Yan (forever known as Beardy) in one of his greatest stoic performances as Leung Jan and his best known pupil Chan Wah Shan aka Cashier Wah, who would go on to teach Yip Man (sifu of Bruce Lee), fighting each other in the outdoors to introduce the movie. Korean martial artist Casanova Wong plays the student in a rare robust role that showcases his athletic ability (though not always in the Wing Chun mode, but making up for with an awesome kicking ability). It is amazing that Leung Kar-Yan with no martial art background before he started acting can adapt so well in these precise roles. I have read that is why Sammo has worked with him many times because of his adaptability and the fact that since he is not "prejudiced" to a specific style of Kung Fu so he can imitate most forms very effectively.

Sammo Hung does well in his supporting role as Fat Chun a student of Leung Jan and is the effective comic relief in this movie (Dean Shek is quasi-comedic). He is also the catalyst for the crux of the film. After the credits role past, Sammo (rotund but actually looking in good shape) starts off as a rice dumpling salesperson that eats too much of his supplies and eventually gets tricked out of the rest. Because of this he becomes a manure mover where he cannot eat (I hope) the supplies.

Cashier Wah works for Boss Mo (Fung Hak-On who surprisingly looks like an anachronistic Next Generation Klingon; though there is a reason for that strange appearance) a wealthy merchant who has plans to become mayor. Wah overhears the devious plan for Mo to accomplish this and goes and tells a clerk named Chiu (Dean Shek) who is actually working for Mo. Chiu tells Wah to go to the Temple of Light to tell the mayor there, but that (of course) is a set-up. Wah escapes from this and is eventually is saved by Sammo. Wah's mother is killed and this leads him to become a student of Leung with Chun's trickery. And like every movie that showcases a martial art there are the training sequences and philosophy behind the fighting.

There are not too many faults with the film. It could have had more emotional content like Prodigal Son, but the sagacious action scenes do make up for a lot. It could have made better use of Phoenix (Cheung Man Ting) whose martial arts should not have been so bad being a niece of Leung; luckily this film is no where near as misogynistic as Sammo's first film Iron Fisted Monk. Dean Shek's character as Clerk Chiu was overused, not always funny and hurt the pacing of the final act. Also what happens to Leung Jan is not historically accurate (not much of a spoiler but you can ignore the rest of the parentheses if you like; he retired and moved to his ancestral village of Gu Lao) But these are just quibbles.

There is so much to like. The action scenes by Hak-On and Billy Chan Wui-Ngai are awesome. There are constant martial art fighting throughout the film including a good fight between Lau Kar-Wing and Lee Hoi-Sang and the excellent finale between Mo's Ground (She) Praying Mantis which is supernatural but does not seem out of place and Wah's hybrid Wing Chun. Cassanova Wong does this absolutely beautiful spinning kick across a table that is highlight in this film. There are many more good fight scenes that showcase Wing Chun with sticky hands, six-and-a-half point staff, Eight Chop Swords (Butterfly Swords), one-inch punch power, Wing Chun dummy, wooden men and many other aspects of this great martial art. One of Sammo's best attributes as a director/actor is that he showcases people's abilities without putting himself first and this really shows in this film. Leung Kar-Yan is perfectly cast. There are great small roles with Lam Ching-Ying, Eric Tsang, and (try to spot) Yuen Biao. Also, this movie has the best use of a metaphorical fruit (or is it a squash) and the staff that destroys it.

I have the Fortune Star/Fox R1 release that has a great picture but has some annoying sounds. There is no official mono (downmix of the 5.1) and many sound effects sound exaggerated especially the punches and kicks. There is also the case of a Cantonese version of Elvis's "Don't Be Cruel" that has supposedly replaced the original song in an early teahouse scene (I haven't been able to confirm this since I haven't heard the original Cantonese and have only read second-hand accounts like the loveandbullets site). Luckily since this was a later wave of Fortune Star releases the subtitles are not dubtitles though they seem to have Mandarin translations of names (Liang Tsan instead of Leung Jan and Yung Chun instead of Wing Chun). Even though this has no extras (The HKL R2 release has a lot of desirable extras) it is an inexpensive treat for a must have martial art film.

This is so good ! .......2007-04-30

I am always looking for great kung fu movies, and of course the really unique ones are the older ones. I was not let down with this great film. I have seen it twice and will watch it again sometime, wish i had a kung fu buddy to watch these films with . The story was great and easy to follow. The fight scenes have to be some of the best except for the fight between sammo and that idiot with the bowl on his head , i mean seriously sammo should have just killed him right away! The fights are better than stuff i see today , sometimes they are so well done that i cant help from smiling cause its so cool. The only bad parts of the movie are when the teacher gets killed and the woman gets stabbed with two swords, i was very sad when they died. The pray mantis style you have to see in this movie! If you love this stuff you need to get this movie !

Perfect Picture Quality !!.......2007-03-19

This movie had great picture quality! I was truly impressed with fight scenes! The movie highlights were the training in Winchun...from master to the student,the end fight scene which was about a good 20min. 2 bad the old wingchun master got killed....but in all, he's damn lethal! Hell i can even use some of his techniques in my Jeet Kune Do class! Pick this one up, it's a collectors item hands down!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHh that was good stuff.......2006-06-10

I just took a shot to the arm and it was, well, wow, let me catch my breath. This good priced shlt is called Warriors two, the movie I would have to consider sammo's masterpiece. I am partial to prodigal son, but I would put this ahead of "the victim" for sure. Nto as brutal of a final scene but it does haev one that tops the finale from the victim. Yeah, I"m serious.

Now I would giv this a 4.5 but I HAD to go with the 5. This is one that NO movie fan of any genre would be dissapinted with. Even that idiot who said he hated prodigal son, get this one sonny cause it has some mindblowing mindlessly good action for you. The openinig sewuence between Leugn Kar Yan(aka beardy) and cassanovas wong is spectacualr and then with sammo and like 10 other dudes that show up that can fight, you have yourself one of the best klung fu movies ever. Teh reson I say this is sammo's overall best work is because he made a pretty good story with very colorful characters. The make up on everybody is not your average independent production where everyone rememebers the white wig that silver fox had on, these guys look AWESOME. The guy with the huge scar on his face is great to look at and I would put him as my # 6 favorite fighter in this movie. IN MOST MOVIES HE WOULD BE 1 OR 2. But add in Lee Hoi San, Billy Chan, Hark-on Fung, ching-ying Lam as a swordsman, and a cameo with Lau Kar Wing putting on a beautiful display of a dance of death, and I think only hwang Jang Lee hiself as another one of the bad guys could have made this movie any better. But making Beardy the old wing chun master was truly masterful. Not a martial artist by trade, btu you will certainly be liek me the first time you see him and say damn, that is one the baddest ass dudes of all time right there.

Good comedy, good final fight and good fights all the way around. But I haev to say to anyone who practices the MA's, wing chun is being given the spotlight here, just like in prodigal son, the emphasis is on technique early on, then the end just does the best it can movie wise and says screw everything else.

The picture is BEAUTIFUL, not all the way widescreened, but presented in an awesome 16:9 format, you need to go get this today if you love kung fu or if you want to find out if you like this special genre. I would put this in my personal top 20 or 30.

ALSO LOOK OUT FOR THE SICK ASS SCISSOR KICK THAT SAMMO LANDS AND TAKES A GUY DOWN WITH. AND THERE IS A KICK THAT CASSANOVA WONG DOES WHEN HE JUMPS OVER A TABLE AT THE END THAT I HAD TO REWIND FOR 20 MINUTES. When I continued the movie I was lost and I swear to god I just pressed the play button again seconds after finishing the whole thing, and if I ahd time, I would have watched it a third time in a row. Kung fu fans have never had a better reason to rejoice then this dvd.

Xena Warrior Princess Season Two: Deluxe Collectors Edition

Average customer rating:

Xena Warrior Princess Season Two: Deluxe Collectors Edition

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

ASIN: B000Q013P0

Product Description

Season Two Deluxe Collector's Edition with Exclusive Bonus Content. Disgitally mastered 5.1 surround sound. 7 Disc Set. Includes interviews with Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor and Rob Tapert, trivia, bios, photo gallery and more.

Average customer rating:

Old Skool Kung Fu!1

Kung Fu Classic - Warriors Two

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000EDPSDC

Product Description

When a young bank teller, Chen Hua (Casanova Wong), uncovers a plot by the bank's owner, Boss Mo (Fung Hak On), to murder the town chief; he soon learns that the would-be evildoers will stop at nothing to get what they want. After learning that he knows exactly what they're up to, Boss Mo's gang kills his mother, in an attempt to flush him out of hiding and eliminate him. His friend, Fei Chun (Sammo Hung), urges him not to act rashly, not to fall into Boss Mo's trap. Fei Chun suggests that he instead train with his master to learn the Yung Chun (Wing Chun) martial art form. He maintains that this is the only way Chen Hua would be able to stand up to his foes and emerge victorious. What follows is some serious Wing Chun training, and a final battle that will leave you breathless.

Customer Reviews:

Old Skool Kung Fu!1.......2006-07-13

I saw this flick approximately 25 years ago, and it always stuck in my mind as an amazing kung fu movie!! I was not able to find/ locate this flick,,,cuz I never could remember then name of it but I always remembered Sammo Hung as one of the main characters. I watched almost every Sammo flick just to track this movies,,,,I only succeeded in finding this movies May 02,2006,,,based on the reviews here on amazon. Even-though it's 25 years later,,,I am still impressed by this movies,,,,therefore I cannot give it nothing less than a 5 star!!

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The Eulogy Tour DVD, Volume Two

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

60 minutes of live footage, interviews & more
Free inside! Label sampler CD with new tracks from The Warriors & Casey Jones
Also included on this DVD: Evergreen Terrace-"New Friend Request" music video (director's cut)/Donnybrook-"Check Your Chest" music video/The Burning Season live performance feature

ASIN: B000RYRFHA

Product Description

Over 3 hot, humid nights in Florida, 5 bands came together for some of the mos intense performances the state had ever seen. Evergreen Terrace, Donnybrook, Casey Jones, Kids Like Us, and Until The End played to packed rooms each night, stirring up some sick pits, stage dives, and sing-a-longs. Now you can relive those nights on this sweet DVD. 3 cameras captured all of the action along with interviews, backstage footage, as well as antics from the crowd. Free label sampler CD with new tracks from The Warriors & Casey Jones included.

America's Black Warriors: Two Wars to Win

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America's Black Warriors: Two Wars to Win

Manufacturer: A & E
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

World War II | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video
Product Features:

World War II

ASIN: B000H86RHA

Product Description

Join Colin Powell and other decorated soldiers as they tell one of the most important stories of World War II. Throughout American history, from the Revolution to San Juan Hill, black soldiers had fought under the Stars and Stripes. But creeping racism during the beginning of the 20th century saw them in second-class roles, and America's generals and commanders widely believed that they were unfit for combat duty. When the reality of war forced America to deploy black soldiers in battle, they quickly proved their worth and showed the ignorance and shortsightedness of those who had conspired to keep them out of the fight. AMERICA'S BLACK WARRIORS: TWO WARS TO WIN features numerous African-American WWII veterans, who speak with brutal honesty about the prejudice they encountered and the battles they fought. Learn of the remarkable achievements of units like the Tuskegee Airmen, who earned the respect of their German adversaries in the skies over Italy and Sicily, and discover how the advances made in World War II paved the way for the armed forces to become a model of successful integration for the rest of America.

The Prodigal Son (Digitally Remastered Edition) DVD

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The Prodigal Son (Digitally Remastered Edition) DVD
Director: Sammo Hung
Manufacturer: Joy Sales
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

DTS | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

1 disc package (region 3 NTSC)
Interviews
Photo Gallery

ASIN: B000QEYB9G

Product Description

A rich man's son (Yuen Biao) believes himself to be the best kung fu fighter in Canton. Unfortunately, his father, anxious for his son's safety, bribes all his opponents to lose. After a humiliating defeat at the hands of an actor in a traveling theatre company, the son resolves to find a better teacher. Furious kung fu battles and slapstick comedy.

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Charlie Rose

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

As the digital revolution ushers in a new era of technology, the nation races to realize its possibilities. Author Daniel Burstein has written a new book on the topic, Road Warriors, which examines the social and economic implications of America's new technological frontier. Then, actress Lauren Bacall is on the show. She talks about her new movie with Barbara Streisand, The Mirror Has Two Faces, and her latest memoir, Now. Now follows Bacall's last memoir, By Myself, which won The National Book Award for Autobiography in 1980. Next, for the first time in Richard Avedon's career as a celebrated fashion photographer cum controversial portrait artist, he has given exclusive and intimate access to his life and work. Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light is the new documentary film by the Emmy and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Helen Whitney. Whitney and Avedon are both on to discuss the film. Finally, Pete Hamill talks to Charlie about his latest collection of essays, Piecework: Writings on men and women, fools and heroes, lost cities, vanished friends, small pleasures, large calamities and how the weather was. It brings together Hamill's work from the last 25 years.

DVD:

DVD

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