List Price: $ 26.95
Price: $ 24.49
Feature
Overview
In the salad days of nuclear-weapons testing, the United States detonated 331 atomic, hydrogen, and thermonuclear bombs. Many of those explosions appear in Trinity and Beyond, which utilizes a lot of declassified footage, most of it in color. Standouts inIn the salad days of nuclear-weapons testing, the United States detonated 331聽atomic, hydrogen, and thermonuclear bombs. Many of those explosions appear in Trinity and Beyond, which utilizes a lot of declassified footage, most of it in color. Standouts include the United States’ South Pacific detonation of an atom bomb 90 feet below the water to study the effects on a fleet of ships. Surprise, surprise, they sink! If that wasn’t enough, the navy also loaded the decks with sheep to study the effects of the blast on life forms. Surprise, surprise, they die! Glowing leg of lamb anyone? This film will alternately amuse and horrify you at the rampant irresponsibility of the Soviets and Americans in their quest for nuclear domination. The Russians have the honor of having detonated the largest nuclear bomb ever at a whopping 58 megatons. The Hiroshima bomb was barely a kiloton. Of course, after the U.S.聽and Russia ceased their activities, the Chinese decided to get in on the act. But that’s a different story for a different documentary. –Kristian St. Clair
List Price: $ 19.99
Price: $ 10.01
Feature
Overview
Martin Scorsese narrates an overview of American film history, beginning with D.W. Griffith and ending in 1969.”I can only talk about what has moved me or intrigued me,” says filmmaker Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull) at the beginning of this four-hour documentary about his passion for U.S. cinema. “I can’t really be objective here.” Hallelujah! A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies is the perfect antidote to the forced and artificial doctrine of the American Film Institute’s so-called 100 best films. The AFI’s English cousin, the British Film Institute, did a brilliant thing in enlisting Scorsese–probably the most famous student of cinema in the U.S.–to open up and speak at length for this project about the history of artistic survival among Hollywood directors. Working with cowriter and codirector Michael Henry Wilson, Scorsese takes a highly intuitive and heartfelt approach in describing how a number of filmmakers–some famous and some forgotten–carefully layered their visions into their work, often against the great resistance or eccentric whims of powerful producers. Film clips are plentiful, but they are also more than window dressing for nostalgia buffs. For instance, it’s not unusual for Scorsese to return repeatedly to the same film (such as Vincente Minnelli’s The Bad and the Beautiful) in order to make a series of connecting, deepening points. In the end, this work is truly one of Scorsese’s most direct bridges to his imagination and personality, and it has the sort of restorative properties that can make a cinephile wearied by today’s junk culture fall in love with movies again. A companion book is also available. –Tom Keogh
More Movies Products
April 18th, 2011 on 8:52 pm
Trinity…Beyond all Expectations.,
If you are a Cold War history buff, or if you can still remember the days when you participated in those drop and cover bomb drills while going to school, then you must see “Trinity and Beyond” on DVD. Filmmaker Peter Kuran has meticulously weaved together previously classified government footage of the numerous atomic bomb tests which were conducted at the height of the Cold War. Many of these secret films were painstakingly restored to level fully compatable with the DVD format. The images of the bomb blasts exhibit a stark and shocking beauty as superheated gases and fallout expand into the atmosphere. Another unsettling segment shows a mannikin “Ozzie and Harriet” family in their home. They are completely decimated during a bomb test to determine the effects of nuclear warfare on the civilian population.
This documentary has a magnificent score performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and is perfectly in-sync with the awe, beauty and destructive power of the atomic bomb blasts. The DVD version boasts a wealth of extra features for even the most die-hard DVD connoiseur. These extras include a fully interactive menu, a photo slide show, a separate CD track of the orchestral score, and even a 3D segment of an atomic explosion with 3D glasses included. After viewing the 3D segment, you may feel like taking a de-con shower!
The narration by William Shatner is both informational and unbiased. Despite the interviews with Dr. Edward Teller (Father of the H-bomb) and others, “Trinity and Beyond” leaves it to the viewers to decide the ingenius foresight or the foolish arrogance of the scientists and soldiers who have harnessed the energy of the atom. This movie is also a powerful reminder of our past history. How ironic it would be to repeat this chapter again, especially in light of recent allegations that China has stolen America’s most secret nuclear weapon designs.
“Trinity and Beyond” is not just another dry documentary. If you have invested a small fortune into your home theater system and DVD player, then rest assured. This DVD version of “Trinity and Beyond” will make your investment pay-off handsomely. Get this DVD now…and prepare to RUN, DUCK and COVER!
Was this review helpful to you?聽
|April 18th, 2011 on 9:39 pm
Truly Horrifying,
Forget hollywood special effects, This movie has the most powerful images that i’ve ever seen. I never realized the full extent of the horrific testing that was done by the U.S. and other nations. This really is a historical documentary of the development of nuclear weapons, so don’t expect much scientific analysis or explanation. But it is a very well-made documentary with comprehensive footage of the various military nuclear projects, interviews with the nuclear scientists, historical newsreels, and of course tons of footage of A-Bombs and H-Bombs being detonated all over the place (in the upper atmosphere, underground, underwater, shot out of a canon, etc.) I really can’t say enough about this interesting and visually striking movie. The images are enough to put anyone in awe and fear. The soundtrack is also great, and it accompanies the horrific images very nicely.
Also, this DVD has some other nice features. The best is the short 3D movie, which explores one specific Nevada test site. I really liked this feature, It has some really cool footage which is even more striking in 3D. The photo slide show was also cool. The unedited bomb explosion wasn’t that great, but it was alright. The total presentation of the DVD is certainly very nice, and the movie itself is simply amazing. I would highly recommend this product. 5 STARS!
Was this review helpful to you?聽
|April 18th, 2011 on 9:42 pm
Heck yes!!!!,
聽聽
I would just like to start off by saying that this is BY FAR the best documentary I have ever seen and probably ever will see. I ordered the DVD (You should too!!) right after I saw it. One thing to remember…no matter how much of an A-bomb maniac you might be, no matter the dozens of documentaries you’ve seen, YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS FOOTAGE. One and only declassified images and videos from dozens of nuclear research and detonations. The score mixes seemlessly with the images to take your breath away at the sight of the huge, towering, yet beautiful behemoth of the mushroom cloud. Includes surface, underground, low atmospheric, undersea, and high altitude detonations, including the one that disrupted radio communications for 8 hours and damaged electrical circuits with it’s Electromagnetic Pulse. This film is not too scientific for ANYONE!! Buy it, watch it, and memorize it, but for heavens sake, learn from it too!! Don’t ever forget it!! But then again, you won’t want to!!!
Was this review helpful to you?聽
|April 18th, 2011 on 10:10 pm
A Love for Cinema,
This may be the single-best tool you could ever study to understand how one great cinematic mind realized its vision. Scorsese is selfless; he shows us how his vision came to be. Most directors would rather us not see how their illusions are created; Scorsese’s purpose is the complete opposite.
This set includes three video cassettes (75 minutes apiece). He begins by focusing on the American Western, an understandable starting place as the American Western is arguably the most indigenous genre Americans can lay claim to. The most enlightening section from this section was his analysis of three John Ford movies, starring John Wayne. Scorsese’s purpose was to show how the Western, along with Ford, grew more complex in three decades. As he says, “Same Director, Ford. Same star, John Wayne. Same setting, Monument Valley.” However the image of the black-and-white cowboy-and-Indian hero of “Stagecoach” is a contrast between Ford’s later “The Searchers,” where Wayne’s character Ethan Allen is “richer, more complex,” Scorsese says. He IS richer and more complex — a frightening hero. Scorsese’s point is made: that cinema is ever expanding, the pallete becoming ever more complex, that filmmakers grow themselves. The second half of tape-1 focuses on gangster films; Scorsese was in territory he loved here. His study of the gangster film’s development from “The Musketeers of Pig Alley” through Howard Hawkes’s “Scarface,” to Francis Ford Coppola’s “Godfather” epic is an education in the development of American cinema itself.
The second tape is my favorite. Scorsese focuses on films you might not have heard of, but films that are achievements in American cinema: films that touched him. Jacque’s Tourneau’s “Cat People” (I think that’s the title) and “I Walked With A Zombie,” movies that are truly rich films but that have sadly been forgotten or dubbed ‘B’-class films, Scorsese says. And it’s true. These films created techniques and philosophies that changed American cinema — they enhanced and developed the techniques that are the “illusions” that we too often take for granted as being the modern movie. From watching this section I realized how a film like “Blair Witch” (whether you liked it or hated it) was influenced by guys working on shoe-string budgets (Tourneau) but with the love of cinema; in the case of Tourneau, of scaring the pants off an audience with a minimal budget. Likewise, it becomes clear to see how Film Noir was “a mood,” Scorsese says. And it was a mood. It was cool. It was indifferent. It was Pulp Fiction. There are comments by the legendary Billy Wilder on film noir, his “Double Indemnity” epitomizing the style. Wilder’s comments were insightful, and Wilder is a pleasure to see on camera. I love this guy. He’s like a blend of Yoda and Robin Williams.
The second half focuses on the “Director as Smuggler” and this blends into the third tape’s “Director as Smuggler II.” Comments by Douglas Sirk, Nicholas Ray — eye-patch and all, insightful, insightful stuff. Ray says something that was kind a revelation to me. If you’re hero isn’t neurotic, or as neurotic as the audience, if he isn’t as [messed] up then how can an audience identify with him, you know? Paint the hero flawed — or at least as flawed as you and I — and that way when they do something great, when they do something heroic, we can identify and say, “Man, I could have done that.”
The behind-the-scenes footage of Samuel Fuller was hilarious — tragic, in its own way — and yet funny. “Don’t wave the GD flag at me!” And Hoover objected, Fuller said. I loved this!
There are comments by more contemporary “smugglers” George Lucas, Francis Coppola — on the digital age of American cinema. Coppola’s advice is to embrace the new technology. Lucas’s was less convincing, but not-without-point. “Why spend the money,” Lucas says, “To transport hundreds of extras, to feed them, to clothe them, when they can be reproduced digitally.” I listened to this skeptically — thinking of film’s like “Braveheart,” where the director (Gibson) did haul all those extras out there and shoot those scenes. And then I thought of “Gladiator” — Academy Awards or no — it was easy to see that many of the epic shots were digitally reproduced. And I realized movies such as “Braveheart,” “The Fall of the Roman Empire” (which Scorsese discusses) are sadly part of bygone era. It’s simply too expensive to make those kinds of movies without digital “smuggling.” So, I suppose Coppola’s words ring true — it’s wise to embrace the new technology.
The final part of the third tape focuses on “The Iconoclast” — filmmaker’s who went at the system head-on. Here you’ll find more recognizable names and Scorsese’s…
Read more
Was this review helpful to you?聽
|April 18th, 2011 on 10:24 pm
A Brilliant, Unpretentious Film Teacher,
聽聽
聽聽
聽聽
I don’t know if Marty Scorsese teaches at New York University’s Film School anymore. If he doesn’t, it is a huge loss to the school. Here is a man, who if he weren’t one of the world’s top film directors, could have had an equally eminent career as one of the great film teachers of all time. Scorsese tells us that this is his highly personal collection of American film which had a profound influence upon him as a filmmaker. With this one qualifying statement, he then shows us film clip after film clip with his accompanying commentary about exactly what was so important to filmmakers about each film and how it influenced him. His delivery is casual, unpretentious, friendly and approachable. Hubby and I have watched this series several times and learned a great deal from it even though we thought we already knew a great deal. Since these are Scorsese’s personal choices, naturally some films that we would have liked to have seen discussed aren’t here. He’s made it clear from the start though that you are sharing his journey; he is not sharing yours. Hard to see how you can go wrong with this series even if you disagree with every one of his choices since there is so much for the inquiring mind to discover from him.
Was this review helpful to you?聽
|April 18th, 2011 on 10:52 pm
Masterful Movie Commentary by The Master,
Equally fascinating for the film novice and scholar alike, Martin Scorsese provides us with an uniquely personal view of American cinema. This thoroughly fascinating video series will intrigue all those who are open-minded enough to learn from the broad vartiety of films which Scorsese has selected. This is a far cry from pretentious film school fare. Scorsese is equally comfortable discussing B-films as well as the more established classics. If you love American movies, you positively MUST own this boxed set. If you’re new to film study, these tapes will help you to fall in love with film. An extraordinary delight.
Was this review helpful to you?聽
|