Puppet Master Boxset Review

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(More customer reviews)The Puppet Master movies have never been considered high art by any means but they can be very entertaining in the nice B-Movie vein. What makes the series so likeable is the unique puppet characters and nifty effects. Sure the series starts to take a nose dive towards the end (with "Curse of the.." and "Retro...") but again what franchise doesn't? Charles Band's (a well known name in the world of low budget horror and science fiction) Full Moon Entertainment always releases their films with eye catching cover art and plenty of behind-the-scenes footage. Full Moon always seemed to be taking the consumers and fans in the highest regard when it came to VHS. Now let see how they treated the fans for the now ultra rare box set of the Puppet Master series.
The Box set at first glance seems like a well done job. We get all 7 Puppet Master movies housed in a nice box with a bonus disc called "45 Trailer Reel". All the movies contain their original box art (Except the box to Puppet Master has the title changed to "Puppet Master I" making me wonder if Full Moon thought their fans were morons) but the printing on the inserts isn't the highest quality. This is easily forgiven. All the DVDs contain amazing menu designs that are all animated and are like little cartoons themselves. Every DVD also contains the original behind the scenes "Videozone" as well as cast and crew bios so the extras were good.
The picture quality for the most part is on par with other Full Moon releases. Overall the digital transfer isn't great and is sub-par to other big name film companies such as MGM and Warner Bros. Still the films are far from unwatchable. The only film that didn't make the grade when it came to picture quality was Puppet Master II. The picture quality on this DVD is pathetic and worse than its VHS counterpart. The film has moments when the picture even goes digital. It hits its ultimate low when towards the end of the film the picture gets an annoying wavy effect traveling down the screen. I can't believe Full Moon released this movie with such a terrible transfer. It's a shame because every box set that was made has this terrible version of Puppet Master II with the wavy picture. (whats even more strange is the "stock footage" from Puppet Master II that was edited into Curse of the Puppet Master also contains the wavy effect).
Other than the Puppet Master II DVD, this box set is a great way to get all the Puppet Master movies in one place. There's not much for new for extras as the Videozone's were previously released on the VHS tapes but its still great to have them. The box set would garner a 4 rating if it weren't for the sub-par treatment of the Puppet Master II DVD. Hopefully if Full Moon ever gets the rights issues resolved with Paramount Pictures they will re-release the box set and fix the problem with the Puppet Master II transfer.

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Blade Trinity (Unrated Version) (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)When I first heard that "Trinity" was on the way, I had my reservations about it. I was worried that the film would become cluttered with heroes, what with Blade and Whistler fighting necksuckers, and now Hannibal King and Abigail Whistler thrown into the fray. Somehow, a balance is found between the heroes that keeps all of them out of each others way.
The plot is reflective of the other films in that once again the vampires are looking for a way to become daywalkers. Instead of calling up a vampire god or creating a mutant race though, they decide to go to the source of their "virus"--Dracula. Hoping to use his blood to make them perfect immortal beings and eventually herd humans like livestock to feed them, a group of vampires seeks out and revive the dark prince. He looks like something from a GWAR concert, then morphs into this medieval looking guy. Dominic Purcell portrays him, and does a better-than-average job. Parker Posey plays a vamp who is very over-the-top. At first, I didn't think she'd work in this picture, but she does a really good job. WWE fans were happy to see Triple H get his chance to flesh out a vampire with silver caps on his teeth. His character is like the schoolyard bully of the bunch. He's big and bad, but has a soft spot for Pomeranian dogs. The rest of the vampires are pretty stock as far as modern vampires go. They somehow all know martial arts, are unusually good at science, and enjoy techno music.
Wesley Snipes looks very comfortable in his role as Blade. His character has lightened up a bit as far as humor goes, but he's still one bad mama-jama. Kris Kristofferson looks comfortable as the tough old fart/father-figure Whistler. Jessica Biel was very good as Whistler's daughter, Abigail. Of all the characters, she seems to be the one person you'd least expect to play a butt-kicker, but she pulls it off in grand style. Ryan Reynolds plays Hannibal King, a smarty pants vampire hunter who was once one of them. His one-liners are hilarious most of the time, but he gets pretty annoying during parts of the film. His humor was probably highlighted a little more than the average "Blade" audience member goes for, but I think he did a pretty decent job. The rest of Abigail and Hannibal's group, the Nightstalkers, features a pretty stock bunch of characters who are really only here to provide weapons and victims for the film.
The action is much better than in the second film. There is very little evidence of CGI tampering in the fight sequences this time around. The majority of the action is shot up-close and personal. Blade, as usual, has that strike-a-pose mentality about him and has some very good-looking moves in this film. Hannibal is mainly a gunslinger. Abigail favors a bow and her boots when it comes to killing vampires.
Of course, no "Blade" film would be proper without some techno music. This time around the music has a little nu metal flavor to it and more of a gangsta feel than the other two films. The music should be considered a major character, since it moves the entire movie at a swift pace. Of all of the films, I believe that "Trinity" has the best soundtrack.
I've heard that this film would be the final installment in the "Blade" series. That's probably a good idea since it looks like the vampires are starting to run out of options to become daywalkers. I've also heard that this movie is going to be used as a springboard for the characters of Hannibal King and Abigail Whistler. Much like the Elektra character in "Daredevil," I'm sure that this duo can pull off a film on their own. I don't think they will have the drawing power of "Blade," but there is an audience out there for them.
One other note, this is the first "Blade" film to feature the easily recognized Marvel tagline at the beginning of the film. It's nice to see that Avi Arad and Stan Lee are finally giving a little more respect to this series, since it seems to have done pretty well without them the first two times around.
Well, I recommend this flick to fans of the first two films and folks who liked "Daredevil" and "Punisher." Also, if you like brooding heroes or action flicks like "Resident Evil: Apocalypse," I'm sure you'll enjoy this film. Children should not see this movie. It isn't so much that it is scary, but f-bombs drop left and right in this flick. The signature burn-up of vampires is also here, so that might be a little disturbing for some kiddies. The R-rating is well deserved due to the excessive foul language(more than the first two films) and the obvious vioent aspect of the film. That's just something to keep in mind if you're turned off by cursing. I get pretty tired of it in a film if it seems to be put in just to have the character come across as tougher or meaner.
Hope you enjoy this movie, it's a fine addition to the "Blade" saga.


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The final battle begins and the trinity comes to an end! Blade is back and his enemies have grown in number since they resurrected their king, Dracula. Together with a new group of vampire hunters, called the Nightstalkers, led by Whistler's strong but beautiful daughter Abigail and the wise-cracking Hannibal, they must finally defeat the vampires or face inevitable extinction.

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