Jul 272014
 

These five movies released by Mill Creek are merely cheap cash grabs that can be had at most Wal-Marts (apparently) for a mere $2.88 and trust me, you get what you pay for: no features, no real menu and basic audio/video transfers. I suppose if you only want the movies and couldn’t care less about the audio, it might be worth picking up.

 

 

 

MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT BARGAIN TITLES


REVIEW NAVIGATION

The Movie
| Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall

 

Genre(s): Various
Mill Creek | PG13/R – NA min. – $9.96/ea. | July 22, 2014

 

MOVIE INFO (Anaconda):
Directed by:
Luis Llosa
Writer(s): Hans Bauer and Jim Cash & Jack Epps, Jr. (written by)
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, Owen Wilson

MOVIE INFO (Donnie Brasco):
Directed by:
Mike Newell
Writer(s): Joseph D. Pistone and Richard Woodley (novel); Paul Attansio (screenplay)}
Cast: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, Anne Heche

MOVIE INFO (Flatliners):
Directed by:
Joel Schumacher
Writer(s): Peter Filardi (written by)
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt

MOVIE INFO (Gridiron Gang):
Directed by:
Phil Joanou
Writer(s): Jeff Maguire (written by)
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Xzibit, Kevin Dunn, Leon Rippy

MOVIE INFO (Last Action Hero):
Directed by:
John McTiernan
Writer(s): Zak Penn & Adam Leff (story), Shane Black & David Arnott (screenplay)
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O’Brien, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney

DISC INFO:
Features:
None
Number of Discs: 1

Audio (Anaconda, Flatliners): English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Audio (Donnie Brasco, Gridiron Gang, Last Action Hero): English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.35 and 2.40
Subtitles: None
Disc Size: NA
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A

 

THE MOVIES

Anaconda
A documentary film crew, headed by anthropologist Steve Cale (ERIC STOLTZ) and director Terri Flores (JENNIFER LOPEZ), travel down the Amazon River in search of a mysterious Indian tribe. On their journey they save a man, Paul Sarone (JON VOIGHT), from a sinking boat. He offers to help in their search for the tribe, but he is actually a snake-hunter looking for the legendary Anaconda snake. When an accident leaves Cale unconscious, Sarone takes charge of the boat, leaving the rest of the crew in grave danger.

Donnie Brasco
Posing as jewel broker Donnie Brasco, FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone (JOHNNY DEPP), is granted entrance into the violent mob family of aging hitman Lefty Ruggiero (AL PACINO). When his personal and professional lives collide, Pistone jeopardizes his marriage, his job, his life and, ultimately, the gangster mentor he has come to respect and admire. From acclaimed director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and featuring an extraordinary supporting cast including Michael Madsen, Anne Heche, Bruno Kelly and James Russo.

Flatliners
At University Hospital School of Medicine, a group of ambitious medical students are about to die… and live to describe the experience. Embarking on a daring and arrogant experiment, the five students aim to push through the confines of life and touch the face of death. In their search for knowledge, however, the five discover the chilling consequences of daring to tamper with immortality.

Gridiron Gang
Sean Porter (DWAYNE JOHNSON) is a frustrated juvenile probation officer. Most of the kids in his detention camp are either sent back to prison once they leave or meet a violent end when they return to the streets. Desperately looking for a way to make a difference, he and his co-worker Malcolm (XZIBIT) devise a plan to teach discipline and responsibility through the game of football. But with only four weeks before the start of the season, Porter must overcome insurmountable odds to put together a competitive team. It’s a season that will test their minds, spirit and bodies as Porter teaches his players the principles of good character, strength through resiliency and genuine respect for one another.

Last Action Hero
Danny Madigan (AUSTIN O’BRIEN) knows the first three Jack Slater movies by heart and the fourth one is just about to be released. With the aid of a magical ticket, Danny gets to know the latest movie really well, literally speaking. While watching the opening action sequence during an advance screening, Danny is transported right into the movie! While on the other side of the silver screen, Danny becomes the sidekick of Jack Slater (ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER), the tougest cop on the police force. Complications arise while Jack and Danny are working on the case, when one of the bad guys gets ahold of Danny’s magic ticket and escapes out of the movie into the real world. Now Danny and his hero Jack Slater must chase the arch villain in the real world, a world where evil guys can actually win!

SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5

Nope, no features on any of them and only a basic menu with a “Play” option.

VIDEO – 3.5/5

Each of these movies was, from what I could tell, already released from Sony and these transfers are the same from those releases:

Anaconda — 3.25/5 (copied from my original review)
The 1080p high-definition video presentation (2.40 aspect ratio) of Anaconda at times was as murky as the water the snake was swimming in. The picture actually wasn’t awful as I didn’t really notice much in the way of dust or graininess which for a 12 year old film, it’s impressive, but it’s also yet another Blu-ray that does not have the wow factor either. Detail levels aren’t too bad and skin tones looked alright, but overall it’s just not a high-def video that I can get behind.

Donnie Brasco — 3.5/5
The 1080p transfer looks OK with some decent detail levels and colors appear to be bright and cheerful while black levels are stark. It’s not the most visually appealing transfer but it’s acceptable.

Flatliners — 3.0/5
This 1080p transfer isn’t terrible but a bit off with heavy noise in places while colors are mostly muted moving more towards darker elements in line with the subject matter.

Gridiron Gang — 4.0/5
The film has a fine looking, and sharp, 1080p HD transfer where detail levels are fine and colors spread evenly without looking pumped up or overly enhanced. If you’re a fan of the movie, at least the video transfer will be impressive.

Last Action Hero — 3.25/5 (copied from my original review)
All I can say about this transfer is: inconsistent. When the movie began, I was fairly impressed. The picture was nice and clean, free of any dust or scratches; it wasn’t excessively noisy or overly crisp as if it were put through the cleaners. Detail levels were quite good and colors seemed to be well balanced. Yet then there were other scenes that the detail levels weren’t as clear and the noise and grain were very noticeable.

AUDIO – 2.75/5

For this section, I’m not going to go into great detail as, for whatever reason, Mill Creek skimped out on the audio. Each movie received either a 2.0 stereo or 5.1 surround Dolby Digital tracks (top of this page breaks down which movie got what) and despite each of the original releases got lossless tracks (PCM and DTS-HD MA), we get a downgrade in the audio department, however, a few of these are all together bad and work fairly well while others are merely so-so.


OVERALL – 2.5/5

Overall, these five movies released by Mill Creek are merely cheap cash grabs that can be had at most Wal-Marts (apparently) for a mere $2.88 and trust me, you get what you pay for: no features, no real menu and basic audio/video transfers. I suppose if you only want the movies and couldn’t care less about the audio, it might be worth picking up.

 

Published: 07/27/2014

 

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