DVD: National Treasure (SE)

When a young Benjamin Gate first learns about the history of his family dating way back in 1832. That one of the last signers of the Declaration of Independence told told Gates about a treasure that has been around for a long time. Before that signer died he told the Gates family member the last secrets about that treasure to him. Since then the Gates family has been in search for that treasure only to find more clues. Years later as Benjamin Gates grows up (Nicolas Cage) he too is on the hunt to find that treasure. It has lead them to the Antarctic where Gates, his financial partner Ian (Sean Bean) and Ben's sidekick Riley (Justin Bartha) are there they find a lost ship called the Charlotte where they find another clue telling them that there's a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Ian and Ben have two didn't ideas what to do next and the two have a falling out.

While back in the States Ben and Riley try to figure out how to stop Ian from getting the Declaration, there guess is by stealing it themselves. Once they get the Declaration they are joined by Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) and soon after that Patrick Gate (Jon Voight) who is Ben's father.

Even more clues take them to Philadelphia to Washington in search for this treasure, on this wonderful thrill ride.

I've always been a huge History buff and any movie that containing anything about our nations past or anything about history I'm all for. National Treasure for me was a huge surprise. I was think that this movie is going to do really bad because I really don't like Nicolas Cage, just have never like the way he acts in movies, but I must say I was surprised I thought he was really good and funny at times. The one person I really like was The sidekick Riley (played by Justin Bartha) he I thought was great all his remark are hilarious and great.

The story is fun and good, my favorite part in the movie would have to be the stealing of the Declaration, it was really intense, especially in the car chase. The rest of the acting does a solid job with a good acting by Jon Voight and Harvey Keitel. The whole movie had for me the feel of a Indiana Jones movie great action, good story and in the end it all fun. Overall I really liked this movie and I Recommend National Treasure.

DVD

National Treasure Special Edition comes with two disc loaded with features and is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen, with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and French and Spanish subtitles. The features include:

• Alternate Ending with Optional Director's Commentary.
• Deleted Scenes With Optional Director's Commentary.
• Opening Scene Animatic With Optional Director's Commentary.
• Four Featurette Gem:
  "National Treasure On Location"
  "The Knights Templar"
  "Treasure Hunters Revealed"
  "Riley's Decode This!" - Plus 3 Puzzle Challenges
• Additional Deleted Scenes With Intros by Director John Turteltaub.
• A Treasure Trove of Featurettes:
  "Ciphers, Codes & Codebreakers"
  "On The Set Of American History"
  "To Steal A National Treasure"
  "Exploding Charlotte"

Since I really liked this movie, I was really interested with everything that was on the DVD. The one thing that really caught my eye was the featurette of "Ciphers, Codes & Codebreakers" I was really interested with everything they had to say about the different types of different types of Codes. The one problem I thought it was too short I was really want to learn more after the feature was done. Overall this is a great DVD packed with features. I would recommend this as a Buy.

DVD: Flightplan

Flightplan, starring Jodie Foster. While I was watching Flight plan this film reminded me of an old Hitchcock thriller.

The film Flightplan is about a mom, Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) who is flying from Berlin to America on a new double deck jumbo Jet with her young daughter played by Marlene Lawston who is new to the big screen. While 40,000 feet up in the air something as happened Kyle as lost her daughter, and the flight crew as no recognition of the daughter ever been on board.

With so many twists and turns this film takes you through you would will think your on a roller-coaster. I always love a film that really make you think and then second guess your self, which this film does nicely. Which makes this a great film that puts you on the edge of your seats trying to figure out what has been going on through the sort, sort of catching up on the facts you know and trying to put the puzzle together.

What is a great plus for this film is the remarkable cast it as come great talent of actors ranging from Sean Bean who as been in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Peter Sarsgaard who I thought did an amazing job on his role in Shattered Glass, their is also Erika Christensen, Kate Beahan. That right their shows that this film is packed with incredible talent. The one who i thought did the best in Flightplan I must say it had to have been Peter Sarsgaard he played Carson who was a air marshal who is just trying to calm Jodie Foster's character and stop scaring tall the passengers, and of course Sean Bean and Jodie Foster gives great performance.

The feel of the film is really gives a great sense of claustrophobia which really makes the suspense feel real as clues show themselves. Plus you can't make it feel larger than it is because of the whole movie is base in a plane so its very limited to what you can do. Which leads to the plane, the sets were amazingly done everything in the film looks real and authentic which can give a good vibe to the film.

Overall this film has a great deal of suspense that we rarely see in the theaters these days in the world of cinema. With all the twists and turns you will really enjoy this film and feel like your a part of the story as you watch it. So I recommend this film that you should See.

DVD

Specs.

Flightplan is present in both Full Screen and Widescreen Formats. I picked to to the Widescreen edition of Flightplan, and it comes in 2.35:1 Widescreen enhanced for 16x9 Televisions. with French, Spanish and English both 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS Surround Sound. Their are French, English, and Spanish subtitles to the DVD also. The film runs around 98 minutes, and is digitally remastered. The Special Features Include:

• The "In-Flight Making of Flightplan" Featurette.
• "Cabin Pressure: Designing the Aalto E-474" featurette.
• Filmmaker Commentary.
• A Couple of Easter Eggs.

The DVD aspect of the film, Flightplan was some what good. Its nothing that should make you go out and buy the DVD right away. In the DVD there is several section to the Making Of featurette, from Pre-Production all the way to Post Production with the Special Effects. Each one is about five minutes long. The Designing feature to me was really interesting. I liked how for the film they went to the roots of the great special effects of film making, miniatures. That to me was the best part of the DVD.

Overall the DVD aspect isn't anything like I said to go out and buy for. That's the negative about thriller and suspense film on DVD that once you watch it once its really not fun on any of the other times after the first showing, so the real thing that your buying on DVD is one showing of the film, and about four different types of features. So if you to you how you interpret the film, but for me i have to say that this DVD is only a rent.

DVD: Silent Hill

Based on the popular Playstation Video game, in the thriller/horror gaming genre. I played the Silent hill video game long ago and forgot all about it. The one thing I remember about it was a flash light, used to search around the environment. This film has that included. As I looked over the list of the cast I was very happy to see some great names, for one. Radha Mitchell I loved her acting in Man on Fire, directed by Tony Scott, and she brought that acting to Silent Hill. She really brought great emotion into the film. Another known actor, Sean Bean who is known for his role Boromir in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and many more.

The visual style of the film is outstanding, with the ash rain, to the sets the mark of detail was so great that The building, exterior and interior are both decaying, rotting, and just breaking apart. Another part that really was a great part in the film was the lighting. Lighting is a big part in both horror and thriller genres and the parts where the main character Rose was indoors and the only lighting you can see is the flash-light, which makes the scenes more intense.

The creature's in Silent Hill are some of the best I've seen in a horror, I liked how they pick to make the creatures more contorted rather that gory. Another thing I remembered from the Game was the Red Pyramid, who was one of my favorites. I liked the way the made him, from the costumes up to the way he walks which gave a sort of creepy vibe to the character.

Story wise, the writer and director decided to change the main character from a male to a female. I thought it was a good idea especially when I saw who was playing her and I knew she was going to do great. Overall the story was excellent in both to a fan of the Video game would understand what is going on and also to someone who might be seeing this but never played the game would be able to follow the story and know what's going on.

I give this film two thumbs way up. It as to be one of the greatest Video game to film adaptation I've ever seen. I recommend that you should see this film.

DVD

The Silent Hill Dvd is presented in English 5.1 (Dolby Digital) Sound, English Subtitles, Mastered in High Definition, Comes both in Fullscreen and Widescreen (2.35:1) Anamorphic and is Approx. 125 minutes. The Special Features include a set of Previews, and a 6-part Behind the Scenes Featurette: Path of Darkness: "Making of Silent Hill"

• Origins
• Casting
• Set design
• Stars and Stunts
• Creatures Unleashed
• Creature choreography

When I finished watching the Dvd, I went to the Special Features section of the disc and just by looking at what was there it didn't look like a whole lot of Features, only two features where on the disc. I was like What? But as I clicked to see the first one it expanded in to an all most hour long feature from start to finish of the making of the film. After all of that I liked the special features of this one, but I was sad not to see and deleted scenes if there where some, Maybe in a Special collector version? Overall I was satisfied by the Dvd material. I've give this DVD two thumbs up also, and its definitely a buy.