Bosco685 Posted September 29, 2023 Author Share Posted September 29, 2023 Ultimate Avengers Collection Blu-ray (Ultimate Avengers: The Movie, Ultimate Avengers 2) Lionsgate Films | 2006 | 2 Movies | 144 min I had no idea this even existed. Upgraded now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted October 8, 2023 Author Share Posted October 8, 2023 (edited) Been going back and collecting physical media again with multi-film collections. And then with films like The Punisher tracking down imports that play on Region A systems (The Punisher 1989 Australian Import and The Punisher 2004/Punisher: War Zone Canadian Import). Cool thing with the 1989 version is it comes with the Theatrical Cut and Unrated Cut (the latter including the story of Castle's family). Here is a good review between the R-Rated Theatrical Cut and the Unrated Cut. The Punisher 1989 Uncut (Arrow Recommends) Quote As an aside, fans of the film should really snag the Region Free (works on most players) Australian Blu-Ray by Umbrella ASAP. It contain three different cuts (Theatrical, Goldbaltt’s Work Print, Unrated cut), a Goldblatt audio commentary, a gag reel, an interview with Dolph… the works! A MUST OWN for fans of the film. All right, am done pimping it! At ease soldiers. Now, although I’ve always enjoyed the theatrical cut; this unrated version was slightly superior and resulted in a more fulfilling chow down. Before I get into the “how”; allow me to address the film on its own. THE PUNISHER 1989 came out before superheroes movies were a dime a dozen (this was actually the FIRST Marvel super hero feature flick ever released). And although it deviated from the source material in places (no skull emblem, Castle is an ex cop instead of a war veteran, he lives in the sewers instead of a warehouse), on other levels it was the most faithful. The Frank Castle we meet here has been at the killing game for a while (5 years to be exact) and he is at his most jaded and un-repenteful when it comes to bringing the pain to the scum of the earth. Dolph Lundgren’s imposing physical presence echoed the beast from the comics ideally and his low-key portrayal of a man who is completely dead inside and only has "kill" on the fritz was perfect. Lundgren went the less is more route in terms of his performance and I for one loved the raw and intense outcome. The liberties they took with the character (like him riding a Harley or living in the sewers, balls on the floor, having convos with a God that won’t answer him) brought further edge to the character, capturing the pitch-black soul of Castle from the comics. Action wise; the flick was a f*cking treat and a half! The amount of artillery Frank went through to clean up crime was beyond excessive while the actions scenes were shot/cut beautifully and carried lots of impact. Director Mark Goldblatt comes from an action editing background. The man has worked on The Terminator, Rambo II, Commando, T2, so he’s an expert in the field and it showed! Personally, my life was bettered by witnessing Dolph Lundgren shoot an arrow tied to a rope into a baddie leaning against a truck and then see him zip-line down that same rope while mowing down countless other baddies with a machine gun. Yeehaw! The same genius was applied to the hand-to-hand fights on hand. Intense, well choreographed and executed realistically. The stunt guys and Dolph actually went full contact on this shoot. So yeah, the fights were TOPS! With a body count of about 100, The Punisher 1989 was a product of its time (when one man-army-movies ruled the screens) and thankfully them times went hand in hand with Frank Castle’s killing machine M.O. No fire hydrant sneaking, earring under pillow-planting here (a la Punisher 2004). All problems were solved by a fist, a foot or by the end of a gun. The way The Punisher should be. And this where this unrated version delivered the goods. Although unlike the work-print of the film (which sports a 15 minutes prologue before Frank became The Punisher), this cut didn’t contain substancial snipped out footage, it did expand on the length of the violence though and the result was a STRONGER period at the end of lots of ra-ta-tat or stab-stab sentences. With the violence taken further and the kills being more vicious – the flick worked better for me. Just a f*ckload of cherries on top! Edited October 8, 2023 by Bosco685 Namtak, Ken Aldred and Larryw7 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted October 12, 2023 Author Share Posted October 12, 2023 BEST BUY IS EXITING THE PHYSICAL MEDIA BUSINESS FOR GOOD IN 2024 Quote All right, folks... we’ve got a little bit of a whopper for you today. And so as not to bury the lede, let’s get right to it... The Digital Bits has learned from industry sources—and we’ve confirmed it with multiple sources now—that Best Buy plans to exit the physical media business for good next year, possibly as soon as the end of Q1 2024. This includes not just their in-store Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD sales, which the retailer has been gradually phasing out for a couple of years now in their many store locations nationwide, but online sales as well. This means no more Best Buy-exclusive Steelbook titles, and no more titles from Best Buy period. The fact that Best Buy is discontinuing physical media sales in their retail locations should come as no surprise; anyone who’s visited a Best Buy store location on a Tuesday recently will be all too aware that the retailer’s disc sections keep getting moved around and have gotten smaller and smaller. Our own experience here at The Bits is that some store locations don’t even bother to stock new-release titles on the sales floor anymore—even their exclusive ones. More than once, in their Southern California locations, I’ve had to ask for the titles and wait while a clerk checks the storeroom. But the idea that Best Buy would discontinue online sales too comes as a bit of a surprise... though perhaps it shouldn’t. We’ve noted in recent months that Paramount has quietly shifted their Blu-ray and 4K Steelbook exclusive titles—titles that would normally have been released at Best Buy—to Amazon instead. And it seems very likely that other studios will follow Paramount’s lead in the months ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted November 22, 2023 Author Share Posted November 22, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted December 8, 2023 Author Share Posted December 8, 2023 Still looking to track this one down for my personal collection Larryw7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted December 8, 2023 Author Share Posted December 8, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted December 14, 2023 Author Share Posted December 14, 2023 Pitboss and Larryw7 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted December 29, 2023 Author Share Posted December 29, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted January 2 Author Share Posted January 2 Finally! Ken Aldred, atrocitus and Namtak 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 Final movie I wanted for my Ralph Bakshi mini collection Namtak 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted January 12 Author Share Posted January 12 Physical media you say? Hmmmm ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted January 13 Author Share Posted January 13 It's nice when you can go out for an antiquing trip and still find great movies brand new - in the wrapper. It's not in the wrapper now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrocitus Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 On 1/2/2024 at 4:18 PM, Bosco685 said: Finally! I still enjoy watching all of those movies! Bosco685 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 Movie reviewer/critic Chris Stuckmann on why physical media matters to him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted January 20 Author Share Posted January 20 Roger Corman raiding the Criterion Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Namtak Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 On 1/2/2024 at 5:18 PM, Bosco685 said: Finally! Dogma is tough to find,nice catch Bosco685 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco685 Posted January 20 Author Share Posted January 20 (edited) Went to visit an antique store I haven't frequented in months to see what movies they got it. The owner called me over when he saw me to show me 15 steelbooks he had gotten in (not a normal inventory for him). All looking brand new. Even better when he said, "I can't go lower than $5 each as these are tougher to find!" 4:5 are 4K UHD and Reservoir Dogs has a 4K digital code on iTunes. Edited January 21 by Bosco685 Pitboss 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
