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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
X-Men Origins DVD, Movie, and Premiere Review, September 16, 2009
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy) ~ Hugh Jackman (DVD - Sep 15, 2009) Review
Introduction
This is an actual review of the Two-Disk Special Edition Digital Copy DVD and not just the movie. Also at the end I include a brief review of the World Premiere event of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
First the DVD, then the Movie, and then the Premiere
The DVD:
Let me start out by saying I love movies on DVD, but when you pay this much for a DVD it shouldn't start out by playing 5 trailers in a row. In addition you can't rewind any of the trailers, but at least you can fast-forward or skip them.
The menu is easy to navigate and pretty much the usual fare of movie clips playing in the background pleasant to look at and without giving too much away.
Pros:
Fantastic digital transfer visually fantastic!
Dolby 5.1 Surround sound is pretty good on here
Lot's of commentaries including Stan Lee!
3 different languages
Cons:
5 Trailers play before the menu displays
Cannot rewind trailers only pause and fast forward
Included Digital Copy disk I had initial learning problems and you only get 5 copies (see below)
Could be more special features for a two-disk set
Audio menu:
Opening the Audio menu I see lots of choices including:
English 5.1 Dolby Surround (sounds pretty good)
Spanish Dolby Surround
French Dolby Surround
Commentary by director Gavin Hood
Commentary by Shulla Donner and Ralph Winter
Extras:
1. Roots of Wolverine an Conversation with Stan Lee and Len Wein: To me a Comic and X-Men fan this one 16 minute short is worth the purchase price alone. Stan Lee and Len Wein talking about the birth of X-Men and Wolverine and a lot of little know background in the whole genre. Your player will say 2 chapters but there is only one.
2. Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins well worth it this has a lot of on set interview like planning and setup and behind the scenes footage.
3. Deleted and alternate scenes: You can play all or each individually and with or without commentary by director Gavin Hood. It's worth a look, just note that there are only four of these a. Young Storm, b. Victor at the boxing ring, c. Alternate Memory Erase and d. Japanese Bar scene.
4. Anti-Smoking PSA, Ok, what the heck is this? My curiosity got the best of me and I just had to click on this little gem! It's just a 30 second bubble blowing short against smoking. Everyone is going around blowing bubbles and you can see where the bubbles go that's were smoke would probably go too.
The Digital Copy
I put the Digital Copy disk in my new 13-inch 2.13GHz MacBook running Snow Leopard. And just like the directions say double-click on the transfer to iTunes. iTunes 9 boots. I'm anticipating something and... nothing much happens. I look around for more instructions and click on movies and nothing. I can't get the disk to copy download or play. Ok so I think it must be something to do with Snow Leopard. So I take the Digital Copy disk over to my 24inch iMac running good old reliable Leopard 10.5.8 and same thing! I really don't see how to continue.
So I try calling Apple Technical support maybe they have some tips and they are telling me it should ask for a serial number right away but it never does that I can tell.
Then I contacted Fox Digital Transfer tech support at foxdigitalcopy@orderassistance.com as ask for assistance.
Then I go to the help web page for Mac users at [...] and find out I needed to look for the DVD icon on the left side of the iTunes window under Devices then select then it you enter the code inside the DVD case on the Digital Transfer disk instructions and click on Redeem. Guess I'm just an old and out of touch but once I knew where to look it was so obvious!
After that the transfer begin and only took about 5 minutes and it was ready to play. The image looks just Ok on my 24inch iMac but I'm sure will look much better on a iPod Touch and it does look better on the 13inch MacBook. When I get a iPod Touch or iPhone I will post an update.
I also have a Blackberry Storm and hope to get it up and running with the movie but no luck so far.
So then I downloaded it to my 13inch MacBook with Snow Leopard and all went well now that I knew where to look. When you play it first time it asks for authorization from iTunes then tells you how many computers you have left you can download it to. You get up to 5 different ones.
The Movie Review:
Wolverine (Logan) is without doubt my favorite X-Men character. And so it was with great anticipation I started watching X-Men Origins Wolverine.
Warning spoilers ahead
And now the movie, I love the start the childhood even if a little cheesy it fills things in. And then we have the stop motion battle scenes as they fight wars through time which are just plain fantastic with each scene stopped at a perfect visual moment.
The visuals throughout the movie are stunning and a lot of work must have gone into being on location.
However with that said it's a shame some of the lame lines and bad script writing get in the way of how awesome Hugh is at playing Wolverine! The man just can do no wrong! He's awesome and if you have already seen the other X-Men movies you know what I mean if not you are in for a treat.
Most of the other main cast members do a great job as well: Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Kitsch all do a great job with what they have to work with and especially Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth who is just awesome! Will.i.am seems a little new to acting but I think he may get better and better. The real problem for me is some of the side bit actors are so horrifically bad they almost sound like they are just reading their lines.
But now we get into a confusing story line and just when the interaction between Hugh and Lynn Collins heats up we kill her off. What the heck? She's fantastic for the short time her original character is in the movie but come ON! Fill in the characters give them some depth. It's almost like Lynn is just there long enough so we become attached before she dies.
After Lynn's brief part we head into the making of the indestructible Wolverine and the visuals are one again awesome!
The action however is sometimes way over the top like the helicopter blade cutting scene with parts at time speeding up. But at times some funny items such as Wolverine learning to control his blades and cutting the old farmers sink work well. But parts like the fight with the fat guy in the ring are just too much and bring the movie down just as it seems to be on its feet.
Some parts in the middle of the movie almost feels like it's either trying to become a B movie it certainly doesn't take its self seriously.
But then Wolverine cuts loose the prisoner mutants loose and the final battle begins which is actually pretty cool and more then makes up for the middle.
Plus a surprise guest at the very end.
Be sure to keep the movie going at the end as there is a second funny ending in the middle of the credits involving Col. Stryker.
World Premiere Event:
Last but not least I had the fantastic experience of attending and photographing the cast at the red carpet event X-Men Origins World Premiere. If I could rate this separately it would have been 5 stars!
Seeing Hugh Jackman ride up to the event on the same Harley he rode in the movie was well worth the hours of waiting in and of itself. I could have reached out and touched him as he rode by.
All the main stars were there including: Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, Liev Schreiber, Lynn Collins and Will.i.am. Even director Gavin Hood attended.
And speaking of sexy Lynn Collins, she is out of this world looking even prettier in the flesh then on the DVD. Too bad she had so little time in the movie.
In fact trying to describe what the Premiere was like I find words just can't do it justice so click on the link below to see photos I took during the X-Men Wolverine Premiere at [...]
In the coming days I will be adding more as I watch through all the voice over commentaries.
Verdict:
In the end I am glad I bought the movie it does fill in some missing areas of Logan's life and Wolverine's creation and if you are a die hard fan of the series its well worth the price.
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25 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My Review: Ladies Take Note..., August 10, 2009
As a female fan I thoroughly enjoy the actions parts. You could tell that's where the money, and attention by the part of writers, director and producers (yes you, Jackman) went. I'll definitely get the DVD as many female fans are--for the Eye Candy! I love that Jackman is not so full of himself and that his first solo X-men flick--he spread the hottness around. I don't know if he did this because, he feels more comfortable in a group ensemble; or because he just rather give another actor a hand up. Nevertheless, in this movie you get to see more characters and a lot, A LOT of Fine Men.
LADIES TAKE NOTE:
Ryan Reynolds stands out as Deadpool--so much that a spin-off is in the works. His typical smarta$$ mouth comedy makes his one liners really zing. And the man can swing a pair of swords, and look bada$$ doing so.
Also, a lesser known Korean American actor/model Daniel Henney as weapons expert Agent Zero, makes his first appearance on a US movie. He's mostly known for Korean TV, Cinema and modeling. Yet in this flick, his supermodel looks work in his favor as he brings an icey sharp demeanor that make him one to take note of--and makes fans like me pray for a Agent Zero spin-off. His action sequence at the beginning of the film left me wanting more.
Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch as Gambit was a big crowd pleaser in Comic Con, and he delivers on the big screen. This one might also have a spin-off in the future. The ladies sure love him and the guys seemed pleased with his deliver of the gambler as well.
Howevery I agree completely with other reviews. The plot was weak, and they didn't explain much about Logan's past (which was the purpose of the movie). We kind get a glimpse and quick run through and the rest is all BOOM! BAM! POW! All in all the movie was worth my money. I got a great night out with friends and a lot to drool over for. Thank you Jackman for all that nakedness! *shivers* I am totally still hoping this movie does well on DVD release. Cuz Jackman's such a good guy that he deserves it.
I hope in the upcoming spin-offs they do focus a bit more on the plot. Just a wee more than they did on this one. Cuz altho they might have felt the male comic geeks would love all the BOOM! BAM! POW! actions stuff, and female geeks would love all the nakedness and sexy...Sexy Men, we'd also would like a better story line to bring it all together. I think that's what made the X-men flicks work and do so well, so I hope they go back to that blueprint in future installments.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just when you think they've done it..., October 26, 2009
Ok, while it may not be the best in high drama, for what it was, this was a pretty decent movie. Then the other shoe hits...
"Deadpool" aka Baraka was wrong on virtually every level for the character. Now don't get me wrong, Ryan Reynolds did a
FANTASTIC job when he was just plain old Wade. Fantastic to the point that I was really looking forward to the Deadpool
movie, right up till they turned him into Baraka from Mortal Kombat... with laser eyes... and teleportation...
Yeah. That part really sucks. But that's like the last 15 mins of the movie. Up till then, it's filled with performances
that range from decent to pure win (did I mention how spot-on Ryan Reynolds was as pre-Deadpool Wade Wilson? Yeah, he's
just that good to need mentioning again...)
Now x-men/wolverine "purists" aren't going to like this movie any more than they did the last ones. They do change things,
some of them for no readily discernable reason. So to those people, I say rent/PPV it.
Wolverine & Deadpool (comic version) fans definately need to buy it though. Hugh Jackman literally becomes Wolvie for the movie,
just like he did for all the others. And yes, more mad props for Ryan Reynolds! "Ok... People are dead..." Priceless.
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