Independence Day (1996) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have to say that I'm a big fan of this film, and I already own the DVD. Most of those wanting to buy this film on Bluray are those who have already seen it and liked it, so I won't comment on the movie content itself, but rather the technical and supplemental aspects of this release.
I borrowed a friend's copy of the BD version of ID4 just a few weeks ago, as I was contemplating whether to add this to my small but growing blu-ray collection. The picture and audio are superb, and watching this on my new LCD at 1080p with the lossless DTS-MA audio track really transported me back to the July of '96, when I watched this on the big screen. This movie has certainly aged well these thirteen years, and the special effects are still terrific even today. While watching, I was pretty much set on adding this to my collection.
That is, until after I finished watching the movie and wanted to see the extras in HD.
The DVD version I have contains two discs and a lot of extras, including an alternate ending, making-of feature, trailers, and cast/crew interviews. Sadly, in this BD release there are none, not even in standard definition. The only "extra" is a commentary track, which, as an another reviewer already pointed out, is laughably outdated. At $25, I would expect more than just a movie and nothing else.
The Dark Knight BD had two discs plus a digital copy for the same price- that was justifiable, even in this economy. This... isn't.
FOX is notorious for double-dipping their DVD and Blu-ray releases. I would imagine that a two-disc or dual-layered "special edition" version will come out over the next year or so.
Needless to say, this BD release is quite a disappointment.

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One of the biggest box office hits of all time delivers the ultimate encounter when mysterious and powerful aliens launch an all-out invasion against the human race. The spectacle begins when massive spaceships appear in Earth's skies. But wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. Now the world's only hope lies with a determinded band of survivors, uniting for one last strike against the invaders - before it's the end of all mankind.

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Threshold - The Complete Series (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Threshold" reminded me of something Norm from Cheers said in an episode; "It's a dog-eat-dog world and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear". The networks put Milkbone underwear on a lot of their TV shows metaphorically speaking and if they can't get a large audience they get thrown to the dogs. CBS cancelled the show far too soon as the show only aired 8 of its 12 episodes (the pilot was a double length episode). The good news for fans is that when the producers found out the show was being cancelled they were in the middle of shooting the last episode ("Alienville")and this allowed them to rewrite the ending to provide a conclusion (of sorts)to the series.
**Caution some minor spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen the show*** Skip the next three short paragraphs.For those that haven't seen the show the premise is very powerful allowing for suspense and very effective; an alien probe with 4 or 5 dimensional properties shows up. It's signal effects the crew altering their DNA from our normal double helix rewriting the DNA of the crew into a triple helix. It's an alien invasion done by making US the aliens.
Dr. Molly Caffrey (Carla Gugino best known from "Spy Kids" and "Sin City")created a protocol for first contact including hostile first contact. She assembles a team of top notch scientists in their field including Dr. Nigel Fenwya (Brent Spiner of "Star Trek:The Next Generation"); Lucas Pegg (Robert Patrick Benedict from "Felicity") a brilliant physicists and designer for NASA; Arthur Ramsey (Peter Dinklage "Elf" and from the film "Find Me Guilty")a brilliant mathematician and linguist and covert ops agent Sean Vavennaugh (Brian Van Holt from "S.W.A.T." and "Black Hawk Down"). They form the basis with Assistant Secretary of Defense J.T. Baylock (Charles S. Dutton)of "Red Team" whose job is to identify the threat, find out the aliens agenda and neutralize them.
The USS Big Horn's crew is infected with many of them dying while others develop superhuman strength, rapid healing abilities and all share a dream of the alien world and race that wants to "Bioform" humanity and terraform our planet for their own purposes. Suddenly Red Team has an outbreak on their hands and they must capture the sailors before they can infect others. The fact that the sailors choose multiple paths of infection make their job that much more difficult. When various members of their team accidently experience some level of infection it gives them a link to the aliens but also could potential pose a danger to the team.
**End of potential spoilers***
Well written, with top notch acting, writing and direction the show may have suffered from an inconsistent tone as the show was looking to establish its identity but towards the end of the run the show truly did find its voice. Unfortunately the best episodes of the series (the last four) never aired at all and fans of the series are in for a real treat. It's a pity this show wasn't given a chance (the producers had a three year story arc planned out)but what we do get provides for a marvelous and entertaining "mini-series".
The DVD comes with some very nice extras for such a short lived series. We get a four part documentary on the making of the show from the origin of the concept, through casting, the planned story arc and other elements. We also get a good featurette on the visual effects of the show. There's also an Easter Egg. Finally we get a very good featurette with science advisor/producer/writer Andre Bormanis ("Star Trek: The Next Generation") discussing the fractal geometry of the alien "message" that coverted people over and its real scientifici basis. He also discusses real efforts to work on adding a third strand of DNA to the double-helix in labs to modify food, etc. We also get a commentary track on the pilot by producer/director/writer David Goyer ("Blade")and Brannon Braga ("Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Enterprise"). The fact that the show was able to attract some top notch film directors/TV directors (Peter Hyams, Bill L. Norton, David S. Goyer among others) and writers is a pretty good sign of the high quality of the show.
An excellent series "Threshold" was the best of the science fiction shows that appeared in 2005 and one of the best (by its end) of the new crop of shows on the air. It's a pity it was cut short. The show is spread out over four discs and housed in individual slimline cases with two discs in each set.
I'd highly recommend this underrated show that was cancelled far too soon.

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