INDEPENDENCE DAY NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE HERE IS THE SUMMARY FOR THE MOVIE INDEPENDENCE DAY FROM IMDB
On July 2nd, communications systems worldwide are sent into chaos by a strange atmospheric interference. It is soon learned by the military that a number of enormous objects are on a collision course with Earth. At first thought to be meteors, they are later revealed to be gigantic spacecraft, piloted by a mysterious alien species. After attempts to communicate with the aliens go nowhere, David Levinson, an ex-scientist turned cable technician, discovers that the aliens are going to attack major points around the globe in less than a day. On July 3rd, the aliens all but obliterate New York, Los Angeles, and Washington. The survivors set out in convoys towards Area 51, a strange government testing ground where it is rumored the military has a captured alien spacecraft of their own. The survivors devise a plan to fight back against the enslaving aliens, and July 4th becomes the day humanity will fight for its freedom. July 4th is their Independence Day... Written by Gustaf Molin {gumo@hem2.passagen.se}
In the beginning of July, a strange spaceship is heading towards Earth. Humans received a strange signal, and this has turned into a global phenomenon. It was aliens. smaller spaceships began to cover entire cities around the world. Suddenly, the wonder turns into horror as the spaceships destroy the cities. Then, when the world counterattacked, the alien ships are invincible to normal weapon systems, then The President of the United States, decides to head to area 51, to formulate a plan to defeat the aliens. Now, the fate of the world rests on a handful of surviving humans. Written by John Wiggins
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 determined band of survivors, uniting for one last strike against the invaders - before it's the end of mankind. Written by Robert Lynch {docrlynch@yahoo.com}
HERE IS A REVIEW FOR THE MOVIE INDEPENDENCE DAY FROM DVDTALKIndependence Day is a guilty pleasure of mine. It would be really hard to defend this summer blockbuster from 1996. The music is overproduced, there are plenty of plot holes and amazing coincidences that advance the plot, none of the characters are really developed and the story is overshadowed by the special effects. In spite of all that, I really enjoy watching this film, even though I know I shouldn't. That's why I was excited when the Blu-ray disc of this film was announced; another excuse to watch this fun, silly film. It looks better than it ever has on this disc, with a beautiful picture and an amazing audio track. Fans, like me, who've been waiting for this disc will be pleased with the presentation although the bonus items are lacking.
On July 2nd a gigantic alien space ship (it has ¼ the mass of the Moon) enters Earth orbit and releases a series of huge discs, 15 miles in diameter each, that take position above various large cities around the globe. They sit there, silently, for hours, until at the appointed moment they each open a portal at the bottom and release a death ray that totally destroys the city that they are stationed above. They then move on to their secondary target, slowly but methodically annihilating the cities of Earth.
On July 3rd, the nations of the Earth counter attack, launching their jets and missiles against the invaders. It's a futile effort. A force field around the ships prevents the bombs from even touching, and they explode impotently still far from their targets.
Then, on July 4th, Independence Day, a crazy plan is hatched that just may tilt the advantage to the human side.
This is a typical disaster movie, with a large cast of characters that the audience is supposed to identify with. There's Marine pilot Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) who is dating a stripper with a young kid, President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) who everyone turns to as the world is being destroyed, and David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) a brilliant underperforming genius who happens to be the ex-husband of the President's Press Secretary and has decoded a signal that the aliens are using to time their attack. As the devastation mounts, the various characters and their loved ones become endangered. Who will live, and who will die?
With some splashy special effects that still look fine today and a good cast this movie is really enjoyable in spite of the poor script. Will Smith is delightful as the cocky pilot who shoots down a alien fighter, and Pullman does a good job as the President. His rousing speech at the end illustrates that he has the charisma to become elected, but in private he seems like a genuinely nice guy. Just what we all want for a president but never get. Jeff Goldblum is at his nerdy best too. Judd Hirsch steals every scene he's in as Levinson's father who acts as comic relief without ever getting stupid or idiotic.
Unfortunately the same can't be said of the rest of the film. If you think about it, this movie has all of the worst aspects of big budget Hollywood films all wrapped up into one. The music swells every time something good or bad happens, telling the audience how to feel, and against all odds the disparate stars of the film miraculously end up all together by the end. That pales in comparison to the ending of the film which has the most idiotic and nonsensical plot element of any movie ever. In spite of all of these flaws, Independence Day is a great popcorn flick that's really enjoyable to watch.
The Blu-ray Disc:
Video:
This disc comes with an AVC (@27MBPS) encoded 2.35:1 image on a 50 GB Blu-ray disc and it looks really good. I was very impressed with the first scenes of Armstrong's footprints on the moon. The motes of dust were clear and the alien ship passed overhead and vibrated the ground causing the impressions to alter. Likewise the contours and fine lines on both the mother shop and the smaller city destroyers were solid and clear. The special effects stood up well too. When the smaller ships entered the atmosphere, the billowing clouds that were being pushed ahead of them were nicely rendered and didn't look plastic or fake the way some vintage CGI effects do.
The colors were good, and the black levels were nice too. Some of the scenes were a little too dark and details were lost. At one point an American flag is shown at night, and while the 13 stripes are clear, the stars on the blue background aren't visible and it looks more like a solid field of color. There was a bit of grain in some scenes, which was fine, but there was a small bit of digital noise in some areas that was disappointing to see. It was mostly noticeable in large patches of sky. It was a very low level, nothing like some of the first BR discs, but it was there. These defects were very minor however and the things this disc has going in its favor more than make up for it.
Audio:
This movie has always had impressive audio, but the DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless Audio that this disc boasts really raises the bar. From the first shots to the closing credits, all your speakers will get a good workout. The film gives viewers a taste of what they are in for in the opening scenes where the alien ship is accompanied by some deep bass tones that will rattle your windows. The battle scenes and mass destruction parts will really get your sub going. The whole soundstage is filled with sound during these action scenes. It's enough to make Phil Spector envious. The great thing about this track is that the movie doesn't collapse into basically a stereo mix after the battles are over. The rear speakers are used to good effect throughout the film. In the underground bunker beneath Area 51, there are muted warning sirens and the sounds of scientists working coming from the rear that gives viewers the impression that they're in the middle the scene themselves. There were a lot of nice touches like that which made this a great sounding film.
Extras:
This is the only area that really disappointed. The Five Star Collection release of this movie came with three featurettes, an alternate ending, story boards, original artwork, production stills, a DVD-ROM game "Get Off My Planet" and the Special Edition cut with nine minutes of deleted scenes added back in (in addition to the theatrical release.) None of that is included on this Blu-ray disc. Even the deleted scenes which were used to make the Special Edition aren't to be found. That's a big strike against this disc. Remember Fox, Blu may have won the format war with HD DVD, but it still has to compete with SD DVDs. Right or wrong, many consumers will feel that getting bonus content (even if some of it is lame) lessens the value of the HD product and will opt not to upgrade.
What do we have? The two commentary tracks, the first by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin and the second by Special Effects Supervisors Volker Engel and Doug Smith are still here. The first is very informative and fun to listen to, and the second is educational though a bit on the dry side.
There are some new extras but none of them are very exciting. The first is a pop-up trivia track that's a bit of a snoozer. The info, mainly on the special effects, wasn't all that exciting and didn't add to my enjoyment of the film. There's also an idiotic game: Alien Scavenger Hunt. While the movie runs, players look for various items on the screen and collect them with crosshairs that are overlaid on the screen. There's only a dozen items to get over the course of the film, and it quickly became boring. I can't see anyone playing this the whole way through as a game. Maybe if they wanted to watch the movie, but not as a game.
There's also a keyword index, the ability to bookmark your favorite scenes, and the film is D-Box enhanced. This last feature means that if you are one of the very few people who have a costume made theater seat with a D-Box rumbler attacked, your chair will shake along with the movie.
Final Thoughts:
A fun and enjoyable popcorn flick, Independence Day took in over $300 million during its theatrical release in the US alone. It certainly deserves a high grade release. This disc almost does it right. The audio and video quality is superb, but the extras are really lacking. The fact that they don't even include the deleted scenes or alternate ending that were included on earlier released is just plain wrong. That drops my rating some what. Still, it's the film that is the most important thing, and this disc comes through in that respect. A strong Recommendation.
HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR THE MOVIE INDEPENDENCE DAY.
hardly anyone seemed to hold out much hope for Spidey. Admittedly, it doesn't come close to approaching the dizzying heights of Spider-Man 2, and Sam Raimi seems much more interested in squeezing every last cent out of his massive effects budget than bothering with...y'know, characterization or a barely passable story. It's a big, dumb summer blockbuster, but as big, dumb summer blockbusters go, Spider-Man 3 really is an okay flick.
anything more than an outline to the story. The digital effects work was well underway before the script had been fleshed out, and Spider-Man 3 feels as if Sam and Ivan Raimi half-heartedly slapped together outlines from a couple of different sequels into one screenplay to loosely string together a bunch of lavishly budgeted, meticulously choreographed action sequences. Spider-Man 3 ought to be a big movie, but there's so much going on in this overloaded screenplay that it practically collapses under its own weight.
although there's so much going on that familiar faces like Rosemary Harris' Aunt May are only left with a couple of minutes of screentime. J.K. Simmons and Elizabeth Banks land Spider-Man 3's biggest laughs as J. Jonah Jameson and Betty Brant, fumbling with blood pressure medication as it leaps a couple feet off Jameson's desk and suffering through Ted Raimi shemping his way through a marketing pitch. Sam Raimi's partner in crime Bruce Campbell has had bit parts in all three Spider-Man movies, but in the first two flicks, he seemed to just hang around to torture Peter. This time around, The Chin plays a snooty but well-meaning Maître d' in an overpriced French restaurant, playing off Tobey Maguire as if they were part of a goofy Vaudeville act as he continually misreads Pete's cues to deliver his end of a sappy romantic proposal.
tremendous level of detail, depth, and dimensionality that are constantly on display. The encoding is remarkably adept as well, something I'd imagine would have to have been a challenge considering that one of its main characters consists of millions of fine particles that must've been a nightmare to compress. There's no trace of edge enhancement, and although film grain remains tight and unintrusive throughout, I didn't spot any sign that its grain had been digitally smoothened away either. Spider-Man 3 has a consistently film-like appearance to it from start to finish. Black levels are deep and robust, with the image holding up flawlessly even in its most dimly-lit sequences, and its spry, vivid palette frequently pops off the screen. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this high definition presentation of Spider-Man 3; the disc is a showcase release for the Blu-ray format and shatters even my highest expectations.
actor-centric commentary tracks, this is the fun one of the two. It's upbeat and kinda jokey, maybe leaning a little too far towards the everyone-and-everything-was-wonderful end of things, but it's a strong commentary overall. One of the most frequent topics of discussion is how in flux Spider-Man 3 constantly was, with a different villain attached at one point instead of Venom (The Vulture, to have been played by Ben Kingsley), swapping out which of Peter's love interests would be in peril in the climax, describing the very collaborate effort that went into making the film, and noting how the movie had a release date well before it ever had a script. Church's fantastic sense of humor really makes it worth a listen, pointing out how determined he was to punch a dog on-screen and poking fun at a movie he's probably long since slashed off his résumé. Raimi is coaxed into describing his visualization process, delving into his approach to storyboards and animatics, and there are some great stories such as Howard's impromptu reading for the part of Gwen Stacy, the amount of time her immensely famous father spent skulking around the set, and Franco taking lessons to flip omelettes and learn to do The Twist (I'm guessing not at the same time).
action photography. "Covered in Black: Creating Venom" describes the difficulty in coming up with the look and movement of an amorphous alien symbiote. The small army of interviewees also note how the symbiote is a metaphor for substance abuse before running through costume design, Topher Grace's elaborate make-up, the extensive digital effects work, and the several different stages of Venom that are seen throughout Spider-Man 3. Sandman is the most effects-intensive character in the movie, so it follows that "Grains of Sand: Building Sandman" is the most technically oriented of the featurettes. There are some character notes in here as well, but the emphasis is on the startling effects work, from the meticulous research Sony Pictures Imageworks did shooting reams and reams of reference footage of numerous types of sand to the technical challenges behind rendering a character that consists of untold millions of gritty particles the size of a pinhead. Interspersed throughout all of these interviews is a tremendous amount of behind the scenes footage, both on and off the set.
recording of the orchestral score. Mixing is also touched on in detail, setting aside the time to highlight the design of one of the movie's most aurally impressive sequences, with Flint Marko caught in the swirling particle accelerator gates. I'm always fascinated by featurettes that take a look at Foley work, and "The Science of Sound" takes care to show just how much work goes into even an ordinary, undemanding scene, playing footage from one early sequence and listing the many different sounds that had been added in after the fact.
