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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Keepsake for Patriots Fans, March 11, 2005
This New England Patriots Super Bowl XXXIX video is simply a must have for New England Patriots fans, despite some of its drawbacks.
This video is essentially an hour-long highlights reel of the New England Patriot's 2004 season. It has highlights of each and every regular season and playoff game, and of course a more detailed highlights package of the Super Bowl itself. The video is interspersed with sound bites from player and coach interviews and the sidelines throughout the season.
The video does not do a great job of building drama throughout the regular season and the playoffs. But of course, there wasn't all that much drama given New England only lost two games and went 14-2. It does, however, do a decent job spotlighting the impact of the regular season loss to Pittsburgh and the mounting injuries to the team's defensive backs. It also does a good job of profiling Cory Dillon's impact on the Patriot's running game during the regular season and playoffs and gives Troy Brown's defensive back play some much deserved airtime. Like last year, I wish the video had more highlights, more commentary, and more inside information. But overall, it was a mostly complete package.
The best part of the DVD was it has the entire international game broadcast on it. It is awesome to have the entire game on DVD as a keepsake, even though I also taped it on VHS. This year the announcers for that broadcast were Dick Stockton and Darryl Johnston, who I thought were excellent. It is without commercials, of course, and includes key statistics during the game and shots of fans and replays. It's a surprising well-edited film of the game given the speed with which the DVD was produced.
The other special features included a number of pre and post game interviews with New England players and coaches, which were interesting but short. It also included the entire halftime show with Paul McCartney, which for me I could have cared less about but it will no doubt appeal to many others. I wonder why last year's DVD didn't include the halftime show? (Ha! Ha!)
I was very disappointed that the DVD did not include the ESPN NFL Match-Up analyzing the Super Bowl, which is really a fabulous breakdown of the game. That was a really big plus for last year's Super Bowl XXXVIII DVD. But of course, this year's Super Bowl was on Fox so they aren't going to allow promotion of another network's program.
Despite my quibbles with some aspects of the DVD, if you are a New England Patriots fan you will no doubt enjoy this more than once. I don't think non-New England Patriots fans would like the DVD that much because it is essentially a highlights reel of the Patriot's season and does not do any in-depth breakdown of the game or season that an avid football fan would be looking for.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Oh no, not... the "D" word!, March 8, 2005
Although I'm a Niners fan first and foremost (do not pity me, please), I've taken a likin' to the Pats over the last few seasons. This is mainly due to their shocking win over the hated Rams in Supe XXXVI, a game in which I figured New England hadn't a snowflake's chance in a blast furnace of winning. So much for my aspiration to be an oddsmaker at some Las Vegas sports bettin' joint, hmmm?
Much like the last three Super Bowl champ season highlights DVDs, this one features alla the amazing highs and the very rare lows of a team that was pretty much destined to win it all once again. Only thing is, I didn't find this particular presentation as interesting to watch as the Pats' 2001 Super Season DVD (www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005T7G1), or the Tampa Bay Bucs' 2002 platter (www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000087F7V). This is likely due to the fact that the 2001 Pats and 2002 Bucs weren't exactly teams of destiny when they won the big dance. Meanwhile, most pigskin prognosticators had Supe XXXIX's combatants (The Pats & the Philadelphia Eagles) pretty much figured out before the 2004 campaign even began. Another disappointment was the background music, which is half the reason I watch (and listen to) NFL Films highlights shows. I was hopin' to hear a few new and/or exciting tunes, but found myself disappointed by how few new tunes there were. And the ones that WERE new didn't really grab me all that much, save for some of the pieces that went along with the Pats-Colts divisional playoff segment. Finally, I found it kinda strange that a few snippets of highlights were broadcast TV footage, rather than NFL Films footage (the most notable broadcast snippet on this DVD is kicker Adam Vinatieri's fake FG TD pass against the St. Louis Rams in Week 9). Maybe the NFL Film footage they had of theses moments didn't develop well?
On the upside, I kinda liked the show's opening, where they show brief bits from the NFL's previous Super Bowl dynasties like the Packers of the 60s, the Steelers of the 70s, the Niners of the 80s, and the Cowboys of the 90s. Which of course segues into the first dynasty of the new millennium... guess who?
Anyhoo, a few choice bits on this platter include:
- Week 1 vs. the Indianapolis Colts: More time was dedicated to this game on the DVD than any other regular season contest. And what a contest it was: Indy had a few chances to pull it out at the end, but a fumble near the goal line and a missed FG attempt (Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt's first miss since the 2003 season!) at the final gun ended any hope of an upset. Patriots 27, Colts 24.
- Week 5 versus the Miami Dolphins: The Pats set a new NFL record by grabbing their 19th consecutive win, the longest combined regular-season/post-season winning streak in league history. Patriots 24, Dolphins 10.
- Week 7 vs. the New York Jets: I remember hearin' this one on the radio, and boy was it a tough, tough game! And now that I've seen the visuals that went with it, it was an even tougher game than I imagined! It was kinda frustratin' that neither team was able to score in the second half, though. Patriots 13, Jets 7.
- Week 8 at the Pittsburgh Steelers: The Pats' record winning streak ended in spectacular fashion as the Steelers, led by rookie QB phenom Ben Roethlisberger (sp?), jumped to a 21-3 lead and never looked back. This game eventually cost the Pats home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs... although this little "speed bump" on the road to the Super Bowl would prove to be an insignificant hindrance to attaining their third championship in four years. Steelers 34, Patriots 20.
- Week 9 at the St. Louis Rams: Nothin' like watchin' the Flim-Flams get taken down a peg or two by a REAL football team. This one involved a whole buncha interesting plays & substitutions, including:
- Pats kicker Adam Vinatieri tossing a TD pass on a fake FG,
- LB Mike Vrabel grabbing a TD pass,
- and WR Troy Brown ably filling in for the injured Ty Law... something Brown would be doing for the rest of the season.
Patriots 40, Rams 22.
- Week 15 at the Miami Dolphins: A two-score lead in the final couple of minutes morphs into a shocking defeat for New England as QB Tom Brady tosses one of the worst passes I've ever seen. He's falling backwards and his back's almost touching the ground when he makes the throw straight up in the air, which is intercepted, setting up the lowly Dolphins' winning score. Now I'm not tryin' to be mean or anything, but after seein' that lame toss, the Patriots deserved to lose this one. And lose it they did, to the tune of 29 to 28.
- Week 17 at the San Francisco 49ers: While this might be a rousing highlight segment to Pats fans, it's an ugly ulcer-inducer to me. `Scuse me while I go pop a few Prozacs... Patriots 21, 49ers 7.
- AFC Divisional Playoff vs. the Indianapolis Colts: For the second straight postseason the Pats effectively shut down the league's most explosive offense, yielding nary a TD to Manning & Company. This segment is complemented by the best background music in the entire show. Patriots 20, Colts 3.
- AFC Championship at Pittsburgh Steelers: This time `round it's the Patriots who jump to a big lead against their hosts, and don't look back, making Pittsburgh only the second team to win 15 regular season games, and not make it to the Super Bowl (trivia: can you name the first?). The only bit I didn't much care for was DB Marvin Harrison's 89-yard interception return for a score; the little slow-walk steppin' he did for the last ten yards was kinduva jerky thing to do. What can I say, I'm not a big fan of over-the-top showboating. Patriots 41, Steelers 27.
- Super Bowl XXXIX vs. the Philadelphia Eagles: This one was shapin' up to be one of the all-time greatest Super Bowls... until the middle of the final quarter when New England extended their lead to 10 points with a Vinatieri field goal. After this score, Philly went into a bit of a daze; they started playing like the game wasn't all that important. Eagles QB Donovan McNabb's face and body language seemed to give off an air of indifference, like he didn't care if his team won or not (resurgent WR Terrell Owens was the only Eagle who appeared to still have some fire in the belly). At this point I knew that not only would the Patriots win, but, thanks to the who-gives-a-cr@p attitude they displayed in the final minutes, that the Eagles deserved to lose. If that's how you're gonna be, guys, then to #ell with you; better luck next year. Patriots 24, Eagles 21.
Also thrown in for fun are a few extra features, the most significant extra being the world broadcast of Supe XXXIX in its entirety, including all of the kickoffs, punts, and extra point attempts, and just about all of the "dead time" (mostly huddles, time-outs, and replay challenges) taken out. The game clocks in at just over an hour, and includes play-by-play & commentary from Dick Stockton and Daryl "Moose" Johnston. Also included is the halftime show featuring Paul McCartney, which I thought was gonna be totally lame (as most Super Bowl halftime shows are)... but I was surprised to find out that it wasn't half-bad. It wasn't nearly as... provocative... as last year's halftime show. But then, what IS?
Finally, there's the Super Bowl media day & postgame interviews with various Pats players... QB Tom Brady, mostly. I was able to stand the first minute of each interview segment before I found myself bored by all the clichés the players were spouting about "giving 100% percent", "playing with heart", and other gag-inducing drivel. Aaah, just shut up and play the d@mn game already! Sheesh...
`Late
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nice Way To Remember the 2004 Season, June 9, 2005
It's funny, this DVD feels just like the 2004 season -- "Yawn, just another Super Bowl for the Patriots!!"
Well, I am a HUGE Patriots fan, but even the recap on the disc and the whole DVD has that feel where it's kind of just run of the mill now that the Patriots win all the time. If you are a Patriots fan you will enjoy watching the good guys run to their 3rd title, but you won't get the goosebumps that you do when you pop the Super Bowl XXXVI DVD in (albeit it's much shorter). The special features get better every year, but I didn't enjoy this DVD as much as the 2001 and 2003 editions, but it's still worth the price of admission.
*** RECOMMENDED
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