Once again I am back with a look at three more titles from Buena Vista and as they have promised we have special features on two of these to add to the value of these expensive UMDs. Yup, I said expensive, and cost is going to be my first thought of this edition since I haven’t really broached the subject to date. I have steered clear of the topic primarily because these videos do look phenomenal on the PSP screen, and the sound is excellent through the supplied ear buds, but something has to be said. What they are charging for these things is a bit ridiculous.
The three titles I am looking at this time are Kill Bill: Volume 2, From Dusk Till Dawn and Armageddon. Yeah, three nice titles and perfect for a road trip or an airplane flight, but if you wanted to pick up all three at Amazon.com right now you are going to be spending a minimum of $67.47, and that is before tax. Now, let’s say you wanted to pick up the DVD editions of these three films from Amazon, that is going to run you only $35.25 before tax… CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!?!?
Now, I own a PSP, I love these movies on the PSP and I think they are great when I know I am going to need something to occupy my mind for a few hours of downtime, but I would have a hard time convincing myself, or anyone I know for that matter, that spending and additional $32 on a format that can only play in a handheld videogame system is worthwhile despite the clarity and quality of the presentation.
Yeah, you heard me, these damned things look and sound phenomenal. Also, Buena Vista has one upped the competish by adding special features to From Dusk Till Dawn including a making of featurette, deleted scenes, a look on the set and a couple of music videos. Along with that, Kill Bill: Volume 2 also offers up the deleted scene featuring David Carradine and Michael Jai White, it is a damn cool scene. Armageddon does not offer any additional features, but I am just a sucker for that movie so I enjoyed previewing it as well.
All of that said, if I were to recommend any of these films for purchase I would certainly tell you to buy From Dusk Till Dawn, only because it is one of my guilty pleasure films. Clooney is awesome in the first half of this feature and then Salma Hayek brings you to your knees in the second half. On top of that there are vampires and Cheech Marin, where can you go wrong? Then there is Kill Bill 2, which goes right along with the earlier release of Kill Bill: Volume One on UMD, these are two great features and the way they are chaptered out it makes for a perfect “on the road” viewing schedule as you can just fast forward to your favorite part and check that out alone or the whole feature if you have the time.
Armageddon is a toss-up, I could do with or without it in my collection, I enjoyed the movie but a purchase may be a bit too much of a commitment, especially at these prices. I would probably rather purchase the Criterion Collection DVD first.
I hope my ranting and rambling will help you decide what is the best way to go here. The PSP seems to be the latest and greatest thing, but once something new comes out where are you going to be left with all these movies that only play on one format? That question probably wouldn’t even need to be asked if stores would simply charge reasonable prices for these things, I am sure they would fly off the shelves if they were something like $10 each, but at almost $23 it hardly makes it worth it.
