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- Review count13
- Helpfulness votes59
- First reviewNovember 25, 2014
- Last reviewFebruary 9, 2015
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating4.2
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![Phat Girlz [DVD] [2006]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/7883/7883294_sa.jpg)
Posted by: MysteryShopper
I'm all for movies about overweight people being made, but this is not a good one.
My Best Buy number: 2714078795
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
![The 10th Kingdom [3 Discs] [DVD] [2000]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/2097/20970107_sa.jpg)
Posted by: MysteryShopper
This is a fun mini-series from the SciFi channel that I can recommend to pretty. Much anyone.
My Best Buy number: 2714078795
I would recommend this to a friend!
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
![Howl's Moving Castle [2 Discs] [Blu-ray/DVD] [2004]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/8863/8863074_sa.jpg)
Posted by: MysteryShopper
Not one of Hayao Miyazaki's better works. Drags a little near the end.
My Best Buy number: 2714078795
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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-1point
0of 1voted this as helpful.
![The Imitation Game [DVD] [2014]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/2039/2039082_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
5
You Only Think You're In Control
on January 20, 2015
Posted by: MysteryShopper
When “The Imitation Game” begins we hear the narrator set the mood for a dire story. He informs us to pay attention, he will not repeat himself, and to make no mistake about the current situation; just because he's in jail does NOT mean he isn't the one holding the cards! This is, in a way, director Morten Tyldum making a statement that he is going to give us a challenging movie. It won't gift wrap itself for an audience and it will force you to use your brain, so you better pay attention or you will regret it. Such a claim early on is risky because the product needs to deliver on that promise, and the audience will not forgive you if you can't do that. So confident is this statement though, that “The Imitation Game” is more than able to back up this initial promise, and in many ways goes beyond that initial promise by delivering not only a complicated story, but a very human story about a forgotten man.
That man is Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch#, a math genius who is applying for a position with the British government that is, shall we say, not a matter of public record. It is World War II, and the German's are winning the war with much efficiency and ease. A large part of this is because they have developed a complicated communication tool known as Enigma, which delivers messages over the radio airwaves in a special code that appears to be unbreakable. The code is so fool proof that the British Army actually have an Enigma communication machine on hand and they STILL can't crack it! Alan is an anti-social man who is brilliant in statistics, but seems unable to comprehend basic human interaction #for all we know he may have Asperger's#. Hated though he is, he might be the only one who can actually figure out how the Enigma code actually works and design a machine that can combat it.
Despite his superiors not liking the man very much, he does have lots of radical ideas and manages to bring on several people who can at least bounce theories off of him. The most notable team member is the sole female of the group, Joan Clarke #Kiera Knightley#, who has difficulty getting through the front door by Alan's superiors on the basis that she is female, but who proves to be the only one who seems to match his intellect #as well as crossword puzzle skills#. Their relationship is an interesting one. Alan does everything he can to keep Clarke staffed, as she is the only one he seems to relate to, but their relationship always seems a little off. He visits her house at night and even performs the mating ritual of tossing stones at her window to alert her of his presence, but once he is let inside her room they spend the night discussing radio frequencies and numbers as opposed to human anatomy.
Later we learn that Alan is gay, and keeps this secret as it is illegal for people to be gay at this point in time. The movie states this as a matter-of-fact but doesn't seem that interested in his sexuality for the most part. The screenplay is far more interested in the process of Alan making his Enigma cracking machine #code named Christopher), his utter devotion to this object, and how, in a very sad way, this is the most intimate relationship he has in his life. Heck, Alan himself doesn't seem that interested in his own sexuality. You'd think the movie would have a solid opinion on this state of mind, yet it wisely keeps this revelation at arm's length and lets us come to our own conclusion on how we feel about these events. All of this is held together by Cumberbatch's performance, which isn't really that different from his character on “Sherlock,” but fits this movie perfectly none-the-less.
What makes the movie so interesting from beginning to end is that the promise of having to pay attention is on full display. The movie never visualizes Alan's inner thought process, nor does it give us an “in” to his world. We are simply watching a process. There is a man behind it, but he is so reclusive and stand offish that it's hard for us to relate to him. What “The Imitation Game” does do is make us emphasize with a troubled human being and bad situation. For all the great things this man did to help win the war, he died a lonely and broken man, never thanked for his contributions and forced to live a hellish final few years because of his sexuality. What may be up for debate is whether “The Imitation Game” is a war thriller or a character drama. In some ways it's neither, and in some ways it's both. Which makes it a fascinating conundrum of a film.
Kevin T. Rodríguez
The Movie Wizard.com
The Movie Wizard.com
My Best Buy number: 2714078795
I would recommend this to a friend!
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+6points
6of 6voted this as helpful.
![The Imitation Game [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [2014]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/2035/2035013_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
5
You Only Think You're In Control
on January 20, 2015
Posted by: MysteryShopper
When “The Imitation Game” begins we hear the narrator set the mood for a dire story. He informs us to pay attention, he will not repeat himself, and to make no mistake about the current situation; just because he's in jail does NOT mean he isn't the one holding the cards! This is, in a way, director Morten Tyldum making a statement that he is going to give us a challenging movie. It won't gift wrap itself for an audience and it will force you to use your brain, so you better pay attention or you will regret it. Such a claim early on is risky because the product needs to deliver on that promise, and the audience will not forgive you if you can't do that. So confident is this statement though, that “The Imitation Game” is more than able to back up this initial promise, and in many ways goes beyond that initial promise by delivering not only a complicated story, but a very human story about a forgotten man.
That man is Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch#, a math genius who is applying for a position with the British government that is, shall we say, not a matter of public record. It is World War II, and the German's are winning the war with much efficiency and ease. A large part of this is because they have developed a complicated communication tool known as Enigma, which delivers messages over the radio airwaves in a special code that appears to be unbreakable. The code is so fool proof that the British Army actually have an Enigma communication machine on hand and they STILL can't crack it! Alan is an anti-social man who is brilliant in statistics, but seems unable to comprehend basic human interaction #for all we know he may have Asperger's#. Hated though he is, he might be the only one who can actually figure out how the Enigma code actually works and design a machine that can combat it.
Despite his superiors not liking the man very much, he does have lots of radical ideas and manages to bring on several people who can at least bounce theories off of him. The most notable team member is the sole female of the group, Joan Clarke #Kiera Knightley#, who has difficulty getting through the front door by Alan's superiors on the basis that she is female, but who proves to be the only one who seems to match his intellect #as well as crossword puzzle skills#. Their relationship is an interesting one. Alan does everything he can to keep Clarke staffed, as she is the only one he seems to relate to, but their relationship always seems a little off. He visits her house at night and even performs the mating ritual of tossing stones at her window to alert her of his presence, but once he is let inside her room they spend the night discussing radio frequencies and numbers as opposed to human anatomy.
Later we learn that Alan is gay, and keeps this secret as it is illegal for people to be gay at this point in time. The movie states this as a matter-of-fact but doesn't seem that interested in his sexuality for the most part. The screenplay is far more interested in the process of Alan making his Enigma cracking machine #code named Christopher), his utter devotion to this object, and how, in a very sad way, this is the most intimate relationship he has in his life. Heck, Alan himself doesn't seem that interested in his own sexuality. You'd think the movie would have a solid opinion on this state of mind, yet it wisely keeps this revelation at arm's length and lets us come to our own conclusion on how we feel about these events. All of this is held together by Cumberbatch's performance, which isn't really that different from his character on “Sherlock,” but fits this movie perfectly none-the-less.
What makes the movie so interesting from beginning to end is that the promise of having to pay attention is on full display. The movie never visualizes Alan's inner thought process, nor does it give us an “in” to his world. We are simply watching a process. There is a man behind it, but he is so reclusive and stand offish that it's hard for us to relate to him. What “The Imitation Game” does do is make us emphasize with a troubled human being and bad situation. For all the great things this man did to help win the war, he died a lonely and broken man, never thanked for his contributions and forced to live a hellish final few years because of his sexuality. What may be up for debate is whether “The Imitation Game” is a war thriller or a character drama. In some ways it's neither, and in some ways it's both. Which makes it a fascinating conundrum of a film.
Kevin T. Rodríguez
The Movie Wizard.com
The Movie Wizard.com
My Best Buy number: 2714078795
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share this review:
+8points
8of 8voted this as helpful.
![Naruto Uncut Box Set: Season 4, Vol. 2 [6 Discs] [DVD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/1506/1506051_sa.jpg)
This six disc set includes the original, uncut versions of episodes 192-220 of the martial arts adventure series Naruto, following the hero as he and his co-Leaf Ninja set out on the trail of a set of stolen blueprints, only to find a series of bombs planted around the village.
Posted by: MysteryShopper
After I don't know how many test exam episodes, the story finally moves forward in this batch of episodes, including the set up for the epic fight with Gaara!
My Best Buy number: 2714078795
I would recommend this to a friend!
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-3points
0of 3voted this as helpful.
![Watership Down [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray] [1978]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/prescaled/500/500/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/6d1ed747-889d-4d18-8183-9c5e04b1655d.jpg)
Posted by: MysteryShopper
It's nice to see Criterion Collection has been embraced more animation these days. "Watership Down" is a great addition to the collection and it's nice to finally be getting the film on BluRay.
My Best Buy number: 2714078795
I would recommend this to a friend!
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
![American Sniper [DVD] [2014]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/1564/1564008_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
5
Can a Man Who Kills This Much Still Be Human?
on January 18, 2015
Posted by: MysteryShopper
Chris Kyle is on record as being the most leathal sniper in US Military history, with 160 confirmed kills out of a suspected 255. When word got out that Clint Eastwood would be adapting Kyle's book into a major motion picture, “American Sniper,” there were protests and complaints, as there usually are when such subject matter such as this is turned into a film. Many critics of war have claimed that this man can not possibly be considered a hero. Who can kill so many people, with such ease (and glee, if his logs are to be believed#, be considered anything but evil? Eastwood is old though, and with age usually comes wisdom. He see's clearly how Kyle is a hero. That is why “American Sniper” feels so patriotic in the face of such horrible death that surrounds it.
When we first meet Kyle #Bradley Cooper# he is in position, covering his men during his first tour in Iraq. He witnesses a woman hand a boy a grenade and instructs the kid to attact the American soldiers with it. In that moment Kyle is in a situation where no one can truly relate. There is a kid with a weapon, no other soldier can confirm this, and thus the call to kill him is in Kyles hands. At this point who that kid might be, what life he might live, none of it matters. All he sees is someone with a weapon is going to kill his men. So what does he do? He takes the shot. I mean, what else was he going to do? Given the choice between saving a dozen of his fellow soldiers and this kid, he'll easily shoot the kid. This is just one decision though. He has to deal with dozens of situations like this on a daily basis.
There are times he's on the ground with the men who covers, and now his life might be in the hands of others as well. This is the life he lives. He is there to save lives. Some of the men he protects #including his own brother# are starting to look at what they are doing, the reasons for them being at war, with distain and doubt. Kyle has no time to think like that. He's got a job to do, and whether these men believe in the war anymore or not, that job is to keep them alive during it. So too, are we now part of the war, as Eastwood pits us tightly in every situation Kyle finds himself in. Most war movies we watch we are witnesses to the grand horror that is on display. Here we are almost always by Kyles side, putting us into the horror itself as if we were there.
The film was recently remastered for an IMAX release, which is where I saw it, and the extra size just brought the intimacy of the film that much closer. This is important because the most intense moments do come from the distance, where Kyle is forced to make the kind of decisions we could only imagine making. The movie also takes time to show us his home life with his wife #Sienna Miller), who spends most of the time worried about her husband and begging him to come home. Though many might say the whole point of her character is to be a nagging wife, the reality is that she just can't understand what life is like over in Iraq, and because of that she may be the only dose of reality her husband gets in his life.
I'm not sure how much of Kyles story was changed for the movie. Some say he enjoyed killing more than what portrayed in the movie. I don't know what people were expecting him to be portrayed as, but I think Kyles dedication to the war, while certainly motivated in part because of his need to protect his men, shows that there is a huge part of him that does enjoy the killing, and does get a high out of the hunt. At one point he is in a situation where he might need to kill a potentially innocent bystander. In his mind he begs the person to stop what they are doing, but when the person does drop the weapon Kyle breaths a breath of disappointment.
We can tell that, deep down, he wanted to kill that person, and was upset because he didn't get to. Yet Eastwood understands that it is the nature of the beast that can cause men to feel this way. So too, does Bradley Cooper, who gives the sort of nuanced performance that can make or break a movie, and thankfully he understands this situation and character in a way that brings the movie so close to home. That Kyle was a natural killer did not make him a bad guy, and both Copper and Eastwood know this. He was a hero, just one who happened to have the most kills on US Military record. Some people might not be able to understand this. I think “American Sniper” is an attempt to bring this reality to the movie going public.
Knowing how stubborn people are, I doubt this will take. But if you take away just one thing, take away the final image of Chris Kyle's funeral. Navy Seals have a tradition of honoring men they respect with personal emblems punched onto the caskets. Chris Kyle had more of these emblems on his coffin than any coffin I have ever seen before. If this image doesn't make it clear the difference Chris Kyle made in the lives of the men he was hired to protect, then I can only assume you are as heartless a human being as you claim Chris Kyle is.
Kevin T. Rodríguez
The Movie Wizard.com
The Movie Wizard.com
My Best Buy number: 2714078795
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share this review:
+10points
11of 12voted this as helpful.
![American Sniper [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray/DVD] [Only @ Best Buy] [2014]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/2110/2110025_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
5
Can a Man Who Kills This Much Still Be Human?
on January 18, 2015
Posted by: MysteryShopper
Chris Kyle is on record as being the most leathal sniper in US Military history, with 160 confirmed kills out of a suspected 255. When word got out that Clint Eastwood would be adapting Kyle's book into a major motion picture, “American Sniper,” there were protests and complaints, as there usually are when such subject matter such as this is turned into a film. Many critics of war have claimed that this man can not possibly be considered a hero. Who can kill so many people, with such ease (and glee, if his logs are to be believed#, be considered anything but evil? Eastwood is old though, and with age usually comes wisdom. He see's clearly how Kyle is a hero. That is why “American Sniper” feels so patriotic in the face of such horrible death that surrounds it.
When we first meet Kyle #Bradley Cooper# he is in position, covering his men during his first tour in Iraq. He witnesses a woman hand a boy a grenade and instructs the kid to attact the American soldiers with it. In that moment Kyle is in a situation where no one can truly relate. There is a kid with a weapon, no other soldier can confirm this, and thus the call to kill him is in Kyles hands. At this point who that kid might be, what life he might live, none of it matters. All he sees is someone with a weapon is going to kill his men. So what does he do? He takes the shot. I mean, what else was he going to do? Given the choice between saving a dozen of his fellow soldiers and this kid, he'll easily shoot the kid. This is just one decision though. He has to deal with dozens of situations like this on a daily basis.
There are times he's on the ground with the men who covers, and now his life might be in the hands of others as well. This is the life he lives. He is there to save lives. Some of the men he protects #including his own brother# are starting to look at what they are doing, the reasons for them being at war, with distain and doubt. Kyle has no time to think like that. He's got a job to do, and whether these men believe in the war anymore or not, that job is to keep them alive during it. So too, are we now part of the war, as Eastwood pits us tightly in every situation Kyle finds himself in. Most war movies we watch we are witnesses to the grand horror that is on display. Here we are almost always by Kyles side, putting us into the horror itself as if we were there.
The film was recently remastered for an IMAX release, which is where I saw it, and the extra size just brought the intimacy of the film that much closer. This is important because the most intense moments do come from the distance, where Kyle is forced to make the kind of decisions we could only imagine making. The movie also takes time to show us his home life with his wife #Sienna Miller), who spends most of the time worried about her husband and begging him to come home. Though many might say the whole point of her character is to be a nagging wife, the reality is that she just can't understand what life is like over in Iraq, and because of that she may be the only dose of reality her husband gets in his life.
I'm not sure how much of Kyles story was changed for the movie. Some say he enjoyed killing more than what portrayed in the movie. I don't know what people were expecting him to be portrayed as, but I think Kyles dedication to the war, while certainly motivated in part because of his need to protect his men, shows that there is a huge part of him that does enjoy the killing, and does get a high out of the hunt. At one point he is in a situation where he might need to kill a potentially innocent bystander. In his mind he begs the person to stop what they are doing, but when the person does drop the weapon Kyle breaths a breath of disappointment.
We can tell that, deep down, he wanted to kill that person, and was upset because he didn't get to. Yet Eastwood understands that it is the nature of the beast that can cause men to feel this way. So too, does Bradley Cooper, who gives the sort of nuanced performance that can make or break a movie, and thankfully he understands this situation and character in a way that brings the movie so close to home. That Kyle was a natural killer did not make him a bad guy, and both Copper and Eastwood know this. He was a hero, just one who happened to have the most kills on US Military record. Some people might not be able to understand this. I think “American Sniper” is an attempt to bring this reality to the movie going public.
Knowing how stubborn people are, I doubt this will take. But if you take away just one thing, take away the final image of Chris Kyle's funeral. Navy Seals have a tradition of honoring men they respect with personal emblems punched onto the caskets. Chris Kyle had more of these emblems on his coffin than any coffin I have ever seen before. If this image doesn't make it clear the difference Chris Kyle made in the lives of the men he was hired to protect, then I can only assume you are as heartless a human being as you claim Chris Kyle is.
My Best Buy number: 2714078795
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share this review:
+26points
34of 42voted this as helpful.
![Ida [Blu-ray] [2013]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/2537/25375867_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
4
Great Movie!
on January 18, 2015
Posted by: MysteryShopper
Certainly worthy of the Academy Award nomination!!!
I would recommend this to a friend!
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
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