Crusade: A March Through Time (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)From http://celsiusentertainment.wordpress.com/current-projects/crusade-march-through-time/
"About the new U.S. Release Version:
The film is currently 30 minutes shorter than the previous Dutch version and the story has been streamlined and sharpened bringing the characters and the conflict into greater relief. This new version has a new ending, some new scoring and a couple of new original songs written for the film."
Let me tell you, they really chopped up that ending.
Imagine taking 30 minutes worth of awesome storyline wrap up and squeezing it into 2 minutes. All that information and character wrap up and explanations for why these new characters are in the story and why they are doing what they are doing....gone. Replaced by some haphazard BS. Almost like it had been written by someone completely new who'd never written more than a junior high story for mediated english class.
Aside from the ending, the rest of the story line is totally awesome. Great character development, actions of the characters made sense and fit with the story line and character motivations. Had me, my bf, and my daughter laughing, in tears, tense, and relief. Led up to the climax smoothly, had us wondering if the main character was going to succeed, etc....and then fell flat, worse than flat, with the chopped up ending that made no sense and didn't fit in.
The dutch version seems to have gotten awards, but I don't see how the USA version can even be considered for one with that ending.
I would have given the movie 5 stars, except for that ending (can you tell I hated it??). I give it 2 stars because the movie was actually awesome, but in the end..the USA ending ruined it all.

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Young soccer player Dolf fails to score in the European junior championships, causing his team to be eliminated. Returning home, he visits his mother's lab as she tests a revolutionary time-travel machine. Dolf decides to travel back 12 hours to replay the match, but accidently ends up in the year 1212. Saved from bandits by the beautiful Jenne, his first attempt to transport home fails. Dolf joins Jenne and thousands of children on a pilgrimage known as the childrens crusade, led by a young religous visionary, Nicolas. Finding his modern perspectives both a help and a hidrance to his thirteenth century counterparts, Dolf is alternaely viewed as a miracle worker and the Devils disciple. Back in the present his mother frantically studies historical documents to arrange a rendezvous to bring Dolf home. While the journey is fraught with hardships, battles, treachary, and sacrifice, it is also a place where friendships are forged and a romance is born. His last chance to return home, Dolf rushes to make the rendezvous with Jenne in hand. Will Dolf return home safely with Jenne by his side?

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Star Trek: Motion Picture Trilogy Review

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(More customer reviews)PLEASE NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE BLU-RAY EDITION OF THE TRILOGY. AMAZON HAS A BAD HABIT OF COMBINING THESE REVIEWS UNDER THE DVD ONES AS WELL.
The "Star Trek" films with the original cast get a Blu-ray release with mixed results. I sprung for the trilogy because, frankly, outside of "Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country" these are the best films from the series of films produced with the original cast.
"The Wrath of Khan", "The Search for Spock" and "The Voyage Home" are ALL in high definition contrary to a misinformed review here. They also all use too much Digital Noise Reduction to eliminate film grain which "softens" the image and eliminates much of the detail that Blu-ray is famous for. The result is that skin textures look waxy lacking detail. Edge enchancement has been used to "refocus" the image a bit (DNR is a technique used to manage film grain and video "noise" but when over used it robs the image of the very qualities that make Blu-ray outstanding. This is often done by digitally throwing the image out of foucs if I recall correctly and then using edge enhancement to refocus the image). "Wrath" looks better simply because it was restored while the other two aren't).
You probably won't notice the difference unless you're watching this on a monitor above 40 inches (and if you watch it with a projection system it will be REALLY noticeable). That said, all three films could look better but they still look better than the DVDs. Audio sounds terrific.
We get a lot of new extras as well as all the original stuff from the 2 disc DVDs except the text commentaries. "The Wrath of Khan" features a new commentary track with director Nicholas Meyer and Manny Coto ("Odyssey 5", "Star Trek: Enterprise", "24"). We also get "James Horner: Composing Genesis", "Collecting Star Trek's Movie Relics", A Tribute to Richardo Montalban", "Star Fleet Academy: The Mystery Behind Ceti Alpha VI" all in HD. We also get on all three films "Libary Computer" which is an interactive dictionary replacing in many respects the text commentary. Be aware that the pop up menu cannot be accessed when watching the film in "Libary Computer" mode.
"The Search for Spock" includes a new commentary track by long time "Next Generation" writer and "Battlestar Galatica" producer/writer Ronald D. Moore joined by "Trek" writer Michael Taylor. While they had nothing to do wih the film Moore an entertaining speaker discusses the differences between the films, the original series and "The Next Generation" with insight. "Spock: The Early Years", "Star Trek and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame", "Starfleet Academy: The Vulcan Katrar Transfer" are all presented in high def. Something I never noticed before while watching "Khan" or "Spock" is that one of the shots of the Genesis Planet is less than a perfect matte--you can see the stars behind the planet if you look carefully.
"The Voyage Home" features "Star Trek" writers Roberto orci and Alex Kurtzman in a brand new commentary track. "Pavel Scheko's Screen Moments", The Three Picture Saga", "Star Trek for a Cause", "Starfleet Academy: The Whale Probe" are all in HD. Also included is the "Libary Computer" again while all three films have "Star Trek I.Q." available only via the Blu-ray Live option.
The packaging leaves something to be desired--I would have preferred each in its own slimline Blu-ray container. This is presented in a fold out style holder. The artwork is attractive enough but the slip case and fold out holder may not stand up well to wear and tear.
As far as the quality of the films themselves even with the small budgets for the films all three are well written with strong performances and direction. Unfortuntely we don't get the "Director's Special Edition" of "The Wrath of Khan" which has been digitally restored (the film was in fairly bad shape) and remastered. Grain is quite noticable throughout and it appears that DNR wasn't used quite as heavily here as on the other two films (which were remastered first).
The script by Nicholas Meyer and Harve Bennett (although Jack Sowards is credited his script was one of five that was the basis of the final script along with writer/producer Harve Bennett) for "Khan", by Bennett for "Spock" and with Nicholas Meyer for "Voyage Home" are all strong and feature the humor/action that was characteristic of some of the best episodes of the original series. Bennett never really got the credit (or the thank you from Roddenberry)for reviving the show and giving it a production that captured the best of Trek.
I'm looking forward to "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" receiving a deluxe Blu-ray transfer with the "Director's Cut" included since it features the many visual effects that Wise wanted added as well as added him the luxury fine tuning the edit of the film (something he never had a chance to do because of the time constraints due to visual effects snafus and a drop dead premiere date).
So a mixed review--all three films look better than they did in their DVD incarnation but the transfers could be better. Audio sounds terrific and the extras are all good and welcome. The packaging though could be better but the price for this three disc set is pretty good. Hopefully "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "Star Trek: The Undiscovered" country will be available separately with the former including BOTH versions of the film and the latter including the "Director's Extended Cut".

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