Conan the Barbarian isn’t a terrible movie by any stretch but it is one plagued with numerous lifeless action scenes, thinly written characters and at best average performances from the cast. The costume design is OK although nothing we haven’t seen on Xena and the like.
I know Bio-Dome has its fans but it’s a weak imitation of Dumb and Dumber just with jokes that don’t land and two leads that are more annoying than funny. So it’s a strange movie to get the HD treatment on Blu-ray and for such a high price, $20 retail at the time of this writing, is a bit (i.e. very) extreme considering the video is just OK and the audio is substandard.
Rosewood Lane might’ve had potential if it had gone through the screenwriting process a couple more times but even so, I wasn’t at all impressed. Rose McGowan gives an adequate performance I suppose and relative newcomer Daniel Ross Owens tries his best but instead of making for a threatening villain, he’s instead a perplexing, even confusing character. The Blu-ray has solid video and audio transfers and though limited, the solo featurette isn’t entirely bad.
Conan the Barbarian isn’t a terrible movie by any stretch but it is one plagued with numerous lifeless action scenes, thinly written characters and at best average performances from the cast. As far as the Blu-ray is concerned, the audio and video transfers are both solid and while we don’t get anything of substance from the featurettes, the commentaries at least provide some insights.
I can’t say it enough that the original Scream is right up there with Halloween and Friday the 13th with an amazing cast ensemble and a production that overcame the odds and made an iconic movie. Although the Blu-ray doesn’t quite measure up to expectations in both the video transfer and features department (would’ve been nice to include some of the material from the bonus disc), it’s still a slight upgrade over the original DVD.
