Showing posts with label Empire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Empire. Show all posts

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (Episode IV: A New Hope / Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back / Episode VI: Return of the Jedi) [Blu-ray]







Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (Episode IV: A New Hope / Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back / Episode VI: Return of the Jedi) [Blu-ray] Overview


Star Wars: The Original Trilogy on Blu-ray will feature Star Wars Episodes IV-VI utilizing the highest possible picture and audio presentation.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Nineteen years after the formation of the Empire, Luke Skywalker is thrust into the struggle of the Rebel Alliance when he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has lived for years in seclusion on the desert planet of Tatooine. Obi-Wan begins Luke's Jedi training as Luke joins him on a daring mission to rescue the beautiful Rebel leader Princess Leia from the clutches of the evil Empire.

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
In this installment, Luke Skywalker and his friends have set up a new base on the ice planet of Hoth, but it is not long before their secret location is discovered by the evil Empire. After narrowly escaping, Luke splits off from his friends to seek out a Jedi Master called Yoda. Meanwhile, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, and C-3PO seek sanctuary at a city in the Clouds run by Lando Calrissian, an old friend of Han’s. But little do they realize that Darth Vader already awaits them.

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
(4 years after Episode IV) In the epic conclusion of the saga, the Empire prepares to crush the Rebellion with a more powerful Death Star while the Rebel fleet mounts a massive attack on the space station. Luke Skywalker confronts Darth Vader in a final climactic duel before the evil Emperor.

Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (Episode IV: A New Hope / Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back / Episode VI: Return of the Jedi) [Blu-ray] Specifications


The Star Wars trilogy had the rare distinction of becoming more than just a series of movies, but a cultural phenomenon, a life-defining event for its generation. On its surface, George Lucas's original 1977 film is a rollicking and humorous space fantasy that owes debts to more influences than one can count on two hands, but filmgoers became entranced by its basic struggle of good vs. evil "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," its dazzling special effects, and a mythology of Jedi Knights, the Force, and droids.

In the first film, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) gets to live out every boy's dream: ditch the farm and rescue a princess (Carrie Fisher). Accompanied by the roguish Han Solo (Harrison Ford, the only principal who was able to cross over into stardom) and trained by Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), Luke finds himself involved in a galactic war against the Empire and the menacing Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones). The following film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), takes a darker turn as the tiny rebellion faces an overwhelming onslaught. Directed by Irvin Kershner instead of Lucas, Empire is on the short list of Best Sequels Ever, marked by fantastic settings (the ice planet, the cloud city), the teachings of Yoda, a dash of grown-up romance, and a now-classic "revelation" ending. The final film of the trilogy, Return of the Jedi (1983, directed by Richard Marquand), is the most uneven. While the visual effects had taken quantum leaps over the years, resulting in thrilling speeder chases and space dogfights, the story is an uneasy mix of serious themes (Luke's maturation as a Jedi, the end of the Empire-rebellion showdown) and the cuddly teddy bears known as the Ewoks.

Years later, George Lucas transformed his films into "special editions" by adding new scenes and special effects, which were greeted mostly by shrugs from fans. They were perfectly happy with the films they had grown up with (who cares if Greedo shot first?), and thus disappointed by Lucas's decision to make the special editions the only versions available. --David Horiuchi



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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray)







Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray) Overview


One of HBO’s signature shows, this one-hour drama chronicles the life and times of Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Golden Globe winner Steve Buscemi), Atlantic City’s undisputed czar at a time when Prohibition proved to be a major catalyst in the rise of organized crime in America. Picking up 16 months after Season 2 ended, Season 3 begins on New Year’s Eve 1922-23. The Roaring ‘20s are about to start; though the economy is booming, alcohol has become scarce, competition is fierce, and gangster violence is heating up. Amidst this backdrop, Nucky, whose marriage to Margaret (Kelly Macdonald) has become a sham after she signed away his highway windfall to the church, faces new competition in the person of Gyp Rosetti (new cast member Bobby Cannavale), who builds a new strategic bulkhead between New York and Atlantic City in an effort to siphon off Nucky’s alcohol business. The conflict brings out the best and worst in Nucky, who proves his brutal mettle in a series of violent encounters – including a climatic facedown with Gyp in the Season 3 finale. New and familiar faces also undergo compelling metamorphoses as the 12 new episodes of Boardwalk Empire unfold.

Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray) Specifications


After the shocking events that concluded season two, HBO's handsome and brooding Boardwalk Empire ushers in 1924 with the introduction of Bobby Cannavale's sadistic, easily offended gangster Giuseppe "Gyp" Rosetti. Though increasingly ruthless Atlantic City impresario Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) has streamlined his bootlegging operations, Gyp's rebuffed attempts to muscle in on the action leads to all-out war when he takes over the Taber Heights route to New York. Despite the complications, the money continues to roll in, though Nucky would rather live in squalor with his showgirl mistress, Billie (Meg Steedle). His wife, Margaret (Kelly Macdonald), supports him in public, but prefers personal time with his assistant, Slater (Charlie Cox), while Nucky's brother, Eli (Shea Whigham), returns from prison gaunt and desperate, leading him to move bottles of hooch for cackling, bowler-sporting Mickey (Paul Sparks).

With the death of his parents, young Tommy Darmody now lives with his opportunistic grandmother, Gillian (Gretchen Mol), who runs a gentleman's club, where Richard Harrow (Jack Huston) looks after him when he isn't putting his sharpshooting skills to use--thanks to Huston's fine work, Harrow remains surprisingly sympathetic for a man who claims to have killed 63 people (the same could be said of Stephen Graham's Al Capone, who dotes on his son). As ever, Boardwalk Empire is bursting with even more plot, but not everything works, like the Chicago misadventures of Michael Shannon's former Fed Van Alden, who segues from salesman to alcohol distiller. Shannon holds up his end of the bargain, including a spectacular office freak-out, but his storyline remains stranded from the central activity for too long, though he does finally connect with Capone toward the end, while the massacre of the finale sorts out the not-completely-bad guys from the totally irredeemable ones. --Kathleen C. Fennessy



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Sunday, September 2, 2012

Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)







Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) Overview


Atlantic City, 1921. In a city whose fortunes have soared in the wake of Prohibition, Nucky Thompson is paying a steep price for wielding ultimate power in “the world’s playground.” Though the 1920 election is over, Nucky finds himself the target of a federal investigation for vote tampering – and an insurrection by those he counted among his closest allies. Steve Buscemi stars in the hit drama series that charts the continued rise of organized crime at the dawn of the Prohibition.

Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) Specifications


With every character on HBO's Boardwalk Empire leading a double life, season two is about making changes or facing the consequences. The stylish series also digs deeper into the futility of Prohibition, much as The Wire tackled the War on Drugs. The central figure, Atlantic City treasurer Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), aims to please all of his constituents, but loses several powerful supporters after bootlegger Chalky White (Michael Kenneth Williams) kills a Klansman. Estranged from his brother, Eli (Shea Whigham), and former assistant, Jimmy (Michael Pitt), Nucky and his common-law wife (Kelly Macdonald) become more of a team. If domesticity suits Nucky, FBI agent Van Alden (Michael Shannon) looks askance at drinkers and nonbelievers, even as he holes up with Nucky's pregnant ex-girlfriend (Paz de la Huerta, the weakest link in an otherwise strong cast), while his wife remains in the Midwest. With enemies like the Commodore (Dabney Coleman) trying to remove him from office, Nucky hires Irish Lothario Slater (Charlie Cox), who helps to keep the booze flowing, meting out the occasional head-butt as necessary. Other new arrivals include a brutal butcher (William Forsythe) and a persistent federal prosecutor (Julianne Nicholson), who wields more power than the other wives and girlfriends combined, though Jimmy's mother (Gretchen Mol) becomes more Machiavellian by the minute. Nucky also joins forces with Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg), while Jimmy aligns with Al Capone (Stephen Graham) and Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza). Of course, it wouldn't be a gangster epic without casualties, and several men give in to their darker impulses, resulting in some spectacularly bloody business--including the murder of a major character. Also, heroin enters the picture towards the end of the 12-episode arc and seems likely to play a bigger, more destructive role in the next season. --Kathleen C. Fennessy



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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Boardwalk Empire: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray]







Boardwalk Empire: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] Overview


From Terence Winter (Emmy®-winning writer on HBO's The Sopranos) and Oscar®-winning director Martin Scorsese, Boardwalk Empire is set in Atlantic City in 1920 at the dawn of Prohibition. The series chronicles the life and times of Enoch Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), the city treasurer whose double role as politician and bootlegger makes him the city's undisputed czar at a time when illegal alcohol has opened up highly lucrative opportunities for rumrunners and distributors. In a city defined by notorious backroom politics and vicious power struggles, Nucky must contend with ambitious underlings, relentless Feds, rival gangsters -- including Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano and Al Capone -- and his own appetite for women, profits, and power.




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