DVD

This retrospective 2 disc set is certainly an enjoyable romp through Sesame Street history, filled with nice memories.

Disc 1 covers the period 1969-1989, or Seasons 1-20, and Disc 2 contains material bringing us into the more modern era, with songs, sketches and clips from Seasons 21-40, going right up to 2009.

Though Sesame Street repeated lots of its' content over the years (the reason why a high number of earlier sketches are so familiar to me) in actual episodes, my "period" that I watched the show was probably from the late 1980's and into the 90's. On the 1st disc in particular I loved Kermit's famous, poignant song about discrimination "Bein' Green", Bert and Ernie's hilarious skits, and the clip with a little girl colouring in a picture of a butterfly, blending into a film about how crayons are made. I also was pleased to recall the particular song We All Sing With the Same Voice (My Name is You), such a charming piece celebrating diversity that shows how children can come from diverse backgrounds or live differently, and yet still be very similar.

Also the Peanut Butter Factory song (by Joe Raposo) was a real memory jogger and I loved the groovy "Put Down the Duckie" song (the version appearing here features celebrities including Jeremy Irons and Danny Devito, but one was also filmed without them). The amount of famous faces on display in the show is striking with Diana Ross, James Taylor, Robert Deniro, Tony Bennett and Alicia Keys making appearances over the course of the set.

What was special about Sesame Street for me was it seemed to appeal to those older than its intended audience as well as young children, with its' excellent characters, music and humour.

One clip included here that I hadn't seen, before watching this set (perhaps surprisingly), is a famous one where Big Bird is handing out pictures of the cast (these were actually drawn by a cartoonist) for everyone including Mr. Hooper (Will Lee) but Big Bird says of Mr. Hooper's picture, "Well, I'll give it to him when he comes back".

Tearfully, Bob (Bob McGrath) and the gang explain that Mr. Hooper has died and is never coming back. The emotion in this clip is completely genuine, very moving but also hard to watch, as I could see the tears in his eyes and the sadness in his voice. This was an incredibly brave move for a children's show, explaining a dark subject (dealing with the loss of a loved one) in a sensitive way, yet being truthful - in fact the shooting of the scene coincided with the actual death of actor Will Lee.
I also remembered the sweet scene from the 20th season where Maria had her baby very well (this is present on the end of the 1st disc). In fact, around that time, Sonia Manzano had been pregnant with her real life daughter, so that had been written into the programme.
Despite the criticism that the 2nd disc seems to spend too long on the show's recent history in my view (most of the material seems to cover the past 10 years or so, which I don't remember being shown on TV and besides, I was getting older!) there's still some enjoyable segments, like Grover's Monster in the Mirror song early on, and later, fine song parodies by the Spin Doctors (Two Princes), Tony Bennett (a lovely take on Fly Me to The Moon), Feist (a version of 1,2,3,4), and Alicia Keys (she performs a clever spoof of her hit, Fallin' in a skit with Elmo, which is a new one for me).

The DVD transfer is not too bad, considering some of the materials age and varying condition (I guess it was taken from old film or NTSC tape).

I felt the spread of clips could have been improved, perhaps explaining exactly which ones were from which Season if you select the "Play All" option (they are introduced by The Count character, simply as "Seasons 1 through 5", "Seasons 6 through 10", etc with each block of segments following). There is a "select a segment" option in the menus however.

Also, some of the clips on Disc 1 have already been seen before on other Old School sets (Rubber Duckie, Roosevelt Franklin, Bein' Green etc) but I suppose this is inevitable, both given the repetition of the segments in show broadcasts, and not forgetting that the notion of what is considered a "classic clip" among fans is subjective. There is so much material though to draw on, you can't help feeling they could have cast their net a bit wider.

I wish there had been more Ernie and Bert and Grover the Waiter skits, music parodies on the 1st disc, and retrospective matter personally, but you can't have everything.

The extra features on offer include a Trivia track (present on both discs), Behind the Scenes clips and interviews which are fairly interesting (not to mention sobering considering some of the writers or cast featured in vintage footage have now passed away), a clip which was voted "Fan Favourite" in a poll and a "TV montage" (flash clips from each season on the disc playing on a TV screen) which is in actuality a pretty pointless extra, since this can also be seen when you insert the DVD on start-up).

Additionally, a special booklet is included in the set with trivia and behind the scenes information, which is nicely presented.

Overall this is a really nice set for Sesame Street fans even if one can argue til the cows come home that "this or that" should have been included. I hope this leads to more full episodes being released on DVD.

While this season lacks some of the more famous and recognisable sketches in the Two Ronnies canon (for me anyway), in my view this was still an enjoyable watch of old-school comedy.

I'd go as far to say Ronnie Barker was the more talented of the two, especially with the way he messes around with the English language, like in the "Limerick Clinic" sketch, or mixes up sounds into spoonerisms and tongue twisters.

There are some spoof public information films like "How to Get Married" with wonderfully deadpan delivery.
Of course, Ronnie Corbett was a talent too and does work very well with him, often playing the straight man like in a sketch about an Eastern European restaurant (and don't forget his rambling monologues) but Barker also wrote quite a high number of the sketches himself (under the pseudonym Gerald Wiley) and I just think he was funnier.

Its interesting to note that especially in the early seasons like this one, the full Two Ronnies shows were more of a variety show, with the sketches broken up by appearances from music stars of the day (for example in this season, we are treated to The New Seekers in one episode - sadly not the original Seekers), or some other novelty act - and Pan's People do a dance routine.

I felt the parodies of popular shows of the time (Upstairs Downstairs, The Onedin Line etc) outstayed their welcome somewhat. Perhaps this has something to do with not knowing the originals very well as they were before my time and I never saw them. The Star Trek spoof was funny though.

One of my favourite things in the Two Ronnies shows was their finale musical numbers, but they hadn't really become a fixture of the show at this point. There are a couple though, including The Short and Fat Minstrel Show in the final episode - on that note, its perhaps worth mentioning that some of their humour may be a bit un PC for some people, by modern standards but it's still funny, and thank goodness nothing was changed or cut. You have to appreciate the time in which it was made, with differing social attitudes.

I loved the sketch with Ronnie Barker as a last-minute commentator who finds all the different sports clips have got mixed up! Even though he's commentating at speed, somehow it all makes a crazy sort of sense which shows Barker's skill as a comic.

The eight episodes of this series are spread across two discs, but unfortunately there are no extras to speak of.

‘Temple Grandin' is a biographical film which largely focuses on her life and the effect that autism had on her. It does not really cover how it affected her family and significant others. This film captures her personality and belief in humane livestock husbandry. ?The actress, Claire Dane brilliantly captured the nuances of her speech and her determined and dogged spirit. It is a very watchable film and highlights the many obstacles that society places in the way of neuro-atypicals.

After a happy few early years, Temple Grandin endured a childhood of struggle and ridicule which was mercifully interspersed by the occasional person with compassion and insight, able to see beyond her eccentric behaviour. These individuals enabled her to salvage her life and to find meaning and purpose, something which is all too often denied to anyone unable to conform.

Temple Grandin is a visual thinker and has a visual memory and the film shows how this affected her ability to understand everyday language but also how it enhanced her abilities in many other areas. It is these abilities that she used to understand cattle who are also visual thinkers. Grandin observed the different sounds cows made and quickly differentiated between contented and frightened and was able to see the physical world through their eyes. She observed that they were happiest when moving in circles and would calm down when held firmly by a special container. These observations led her to design handling equipment and also a special box which she used to calm herself.

It was her science teacher at her last school who immediately realised that Grandin was something quite special He helped her to gain confidence and develop her area of aptitude and to realise that she could enjoy a career which encompassed the things she loved to do. As a result, she grew in confidence and later earned huge respect from others who, because of her talent, wanted to mix with her and were willing to accommodate her difference

The film documents what a struggle she had to be taken seriously as a woman. Her autism and sometimes rather inept communication style was an additional obstacle. Through persistence and some lucky breaks she eventually got the opportunity to pitch her ideas and once she focused on the financial benefits to the farmer rather than the humanity of her systems, her ideas were taken seriously. The film to me highlights why we must all learn to see beyond the social awkwardness, otherwise society will lose a lot of ingenuity.

The film is also a useful educational tool as it helps to demonstrate and explain the communication problems and sensory problems and what confuses and overwhelms as well as what calms and excites.

This is a feel good movie with many a lesson to take away. Difference in people can be good. It allows problems in the world to be inspected from a different, fresh angle, often seeing something that no one else could see. Temple Grandin because of her autism brought humanity into the world of husbandry and in her own words ‘nature is cruel but we don't have to be'

‘Mary and Max' is a 2009 Australian clay-animated feature film directed and written by Adam Elliot and produced by Melanie Coombs. The film is beautifully narrated by Barry Humphries. He has a soothing, Stephen Fry sort of feel, as though telling a story to a child but for adults.

The film deals with multiple themes including childhood neglect, bullying, loneliness, Asperger's Syndrome, over-eating, depression and anxiety. It is Wallace and Gromit meets Alan Bennett.

‘Mary and Max' is reportedly loosely based on a true story. In an interview given in April 2009, writer-director Elliot clarified that the character of Max was inspired by "a pen-friend in New York who I've been writing to for over twenty years."

It is a simple tale taking place over the course of twenty years and spanning two continents. The film follows the relationship of pen pals Mary, an eight year old child from the outskirts of Melbourne in Australia, and Max, a forty four year old Jewish man with Aspergers who lives alone in New York. Through their pen-friend relationship, Elliot explores the film's central themes of loneliness, mental illness, love and friendship with humour and pathos in equal measure. It is subtly observed - poignant, sweet, innocent, funny and slightly depressing - a film full of home-spun wisdom.

This is visually a film of astonishing naive beauty. Like all animation, much of the joy comes from the unexpected detail. It is evocative of a child's eye looking into a treasured museum piece doll's house, marvelling at the attention to trivia and catching sight of a tiny toilet roll holder.

Aesthetically the film is deceptively child-like; visually and narratively it seems like any children's story but the content is adult, the depth and breadth of the topics covered are for the thinking adult.

I loved this film and felt that it was a philosophical tale that just happened to involve a man with Aspergers rather than being exploitative.

I love this film, I think its one of the best animation shorts ever made and one of my all time Christmas favourites. Based on Raymond Briggs' classic children's book, it tells it's story entirely through animation which looks like coloured pencil/pastel drawings.

I think this animation would definitely lose something if it had any spoken dialogue. The music (which is composed by Howard Blake) compliments the images so well, from the little boy running downstairs to go out to play in the snow, playing a game of dress-up with his new friend in his parents bedroom, to the boy going on a motorbike ride, but one truly memorable sequence is the Walking in the Air song with the boy and snowman flying through the air, which is amazing.

In fact, this song is the only time any words are heard throughout the picture.

Interestingly, though Welsh choirboy Aled Jones scored a UK hit with the song, the version in the film is actually sung by Peter Auty.

Once the film even breaks the fourth wall as the Snowman sees a little figurine on a cake that looks exactly like him, which I thought was a cute touch.

I'm not ashamed to say I cried at the end. It was so sad and beautiful.

It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 1982.

This US DVD contains the original, unedited introduction, featuring author Raymond Briggs' solemn narration that I remember from when I was growing up. Nowadays, the version most available on DVD (and shown on TV since 2002) has a new animated opening, with Mel Smith (as Father Christmas) introducing the film. Having the author introduce it is much more meaningful.

An entertaining festive short, spun off from the popular series of movies. All the main voice cast, including Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy, return and reprise their roles and they all do an excellent job.

Christmas is coming, and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and Donkey are looking forward to Christmas with their family and friends. Unfortunately for Shrek, he just wants to be left alone and won't get things ready for the big day.

Not letting on to Fiona that he doesn't even know what Christmas is and hasn't bothered getting ready - in a great scene set to the epic music of O Fortuna, poor Shrek frantically rushes out into the snow and buys a guide book called Christmas for Village Idiots to help him prepare for the holiday.

The film that preceded this - Shrek the Third, was quite disappointing, but I was pleasantly surprised by this short, which was much better and funnier. I'm a big fan of the Shrek movies and since this was first shown on TV it's become a Christmas favourite of mine that I'll watch on DVD, when the holiday approaches.

There are some funny scenes that made me laugh, and the CGI animation and voice acting is excellent - of the same stellar quality as the main films, and the transfer is very good.

The story is simple, yet also heart warming and touching, and this movie definitely gets me into the Christmas spirit. Shrek may be an ogre, but it's not like he's actually evil. The Shrek babies are adorable.

The characters of Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) in particular steal the show, and are hilarious. Despite the fact Puss in Boots is played as a kind of feline Zorro character, he's still a pussycat at heart!

In Donkey's version of the Christmas story, he tells of a HUGE waffle Santa - the way it was designed in this scene was surely a reference to the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters.

Though the main characters have very modern sensibilities, the humans in Shrek seem to live in a kind of Ye Olde Fairytale world. The theme of the film is universal, Christmas may not always go exactly as planned, but it's a time for love and family.

The extras on the DVD include sing-along songs from other Dreamworks films, and a video game demo. Upon starting up the DVD, there are trailers for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Kung Fu Panda which can be skipped.

This DVD features a Sesame Street TV special that was originally made in 1978. While there have been a few Sesame Street Christmas specials over the years, this was the first.

Sesame Street was a truly groundbreaking programme in many ways, with the unique way educational concepts were presented to children in the style of TV commercials, and the use of Jim Henson's Muppet characters.

On the DVD, there are lots of the classic cast and characters (human and muppet) that I remember (though the Special was made a few years before I was born) - Bert and Ernie, Kermit, a genuinely grouchy and cynical Oscar, (just listen to his song I Hate Christmas for proof), Maria (Sonia Manzano), Bob (Bob McGrath) and Linda (Linda Bove), who was a deaf actress who introduced sign language and issues facing deaf people.

Though it was first shown in America, I'm sure this special was also shown on Channel 4 in the UK for some years every Christmas, and that's when I used to watch it each year when I was young. It's gentle, heartwarming and still entertaining.

I liked the charming sequences with the life size muppets ice skating, and Big Bird interacting with a little girl, and the sketch with Cookie Monster writing a letter to Santa was funny too.

There's also a really poignant scene that brought a lump to my throat, in which Bert and Ernie (the superb partnership of Frank Oz and Jim Henson) sacrifice their prized possessions so they could buy each other presents. This shows the true meaning of friendship and kindness, and that's for life - not just for Christmas.

Ernie and Bert were believed to have been named after the taxi cab driver and cop from the classic film It's a Wonderful Life, however, one of the show writers of the time, Jon Stone claimed it was just a coincidence.
A number of songs really touch my heart, especially the now famous Keep Christmas with You (All Through the Year) and Bert and Ernie's affecting duet of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

This film evokes genuine feelings of warmth, and - dare I say it, nostalgia and wishing I was a kid again.
As a fan of "old school" Sesame Street, this DVD is fun to watch at Christmas, and brought back some great memories for me. It will bring you back to a simpler time and world.

In 1979 this Special won an Emmy award (the television equivalent of an Oscar) for Outstanding Children's Program, and was nominated for 2 more.

If, like me you do not enjoy sport and have never experienced the rewarding buzz that others report getting from exercise, but nonetheless like to keep fit and flexible, then many of Leslie Sansone's DVDs are for you. I have tried numerous exercise DVDs over the years and find them time consuming and miserable experiences. Many are too much like hard work so my initial enthusiasm soon wanes and I feel that yet again I have wasted my money. Many DVDs are focused on being super fit and skinny, when all I want is general fitness and flexibility for health and to ensure that I age as gracefully as possible.

It is better to do less exercise but to keep it up and Leslie Sansone's ‘One and two mile walk Away the Pounds' DVDs are gentle, enjoyable and can easily be fitted into a busy life but most importantly I have found that I keep it up and actually look forward to doing it. I love walking so this DVD suits my temperament and as the steps are easy I was soon able to mute the sound and play my own music to inspire me and keep my tempo up.

Sansone clearly understands exercise and the body as she beautifully grades the steps and movements so that one slowly warms up. After the more energetic movements she always allows a little recovery time so it is easy to last the course. The DVD uses weights part way through but at all times one can adapt the intensity of the exercises and include weights or not, which means if you are unfit or particularly tired you can adjust the movements. Conversely it is easy to increase the intensity if you want to have more of a workout. At the end, when the muscles are warmed and at their most flexible, she concludes with a few stretching exercises which really do increase one's flexibility, balance and poise.

This is my all time favourite exercise DVD and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

In this film, the Wizard of Oz story by L Frank Baum is given a modern (well, 1970's) Motown makeover.

One problem with this, is by attempting to appeal to a new audience (at the time) any updating of the story means the film is rather "of its time" and conversely seems dated, whereas the famous 1939 MGM film was set in the 1900's and seemed timeless.

Adapted from the Tony award winning Broadway musical The Wiz which premiered in 1975, this nonetheless follows the template of the earlier film closely (though some details are closer to the original book than MGM's film was).

The Broadway musical was important because at the time it was one of the few lavish productions created by, and featuring a cast of African Americans.
The peerless 1939 version with Judy Garland is easily the much superior film, but this update is still feel-good fun and I enjoyed it.

Instead of being a young girl, Dorothy is now a grown up Kindergarten teacher (Diana Ross). She is celebrating Thanksgiving with her family. But like Judy Garland's Dorothy, she doesn't seem content with her life, even though she has a happy family. Her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry want her to take a job in a high school but Dorothy is happier teaching younger children.

One night, she is whisked away with her dog, Toto, in a snowstorm to a strange land called Oz and meets an array of peculiar characters, the Scarecrow (Michael Jackson) who wants a brain, Tin Man (Nipsey Russell) who wants a heart, Cowardly Lion (Ted Ross) who wants courage. Dorothy is told that her only way home to New York is to seek help from The Wiz (Richard Pryor).

The performances are very good. Given the fact Michael Jackson is no longer with us, it is very sad and poignant looking at the prejudice and poor treatment he suffers at the hands of the crows, who are so horrible. They belittle him and tell him he won't succeed. It was almost like he had been conditioned to accept their cruel insults and put downs. The crows are unappealing characters.

With this sequence, I think the film introduces social commentary about racism in America and the way black people were seen and treated as inferior. Right up to the 1950's and 60's there were a series of laws in America called Jim Crow laws which oppressed black people and didn't treat them as being equals to white people.

Michael's performance is excellent and energetic, on his film debut, and he's a great dancer too. I could easily sense how lonely and sad he was being alone in the field but Dorothy helps him and sets him free. The Scarecrow comes out on top despite facing barriers and problems and tries to better himself.

Nipsey Russell gives a fine performance as the Tin Man who had been rusting away for so long, and seemed like an aging movie or pop star, when he talks about his creator who gave him "dashing good looks, razor sharp wit and irresistible attraction to the wrong women".

The costumes are very cheesy and camp, often looking like they came out of an old dressing-up box. Then again, maybe that's the point.

While there's nothing that reaches the iconic heights of Somewhere over the Rainbow - I do think that some of the songs in the movie are very catchy and aren't given enough credit - the Scarecrow's song You Can't Win, You Can't Break Even, the show-stopping, memorable bluesy/jazz number Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News, which is performed by the Wicked Witch Evilline (Mabel King) and the other cast members with impressive gusto and energy. And not forgetting the funky Ease on down the Road.

I think that a key to great musical songs is if you can remember or hum them afterwards, and these songs can certainly do that.

There are some interesting scenes and well staged songs, for example the subway that literally comes to life, the Everybody Rejoice/Brand New Day song and the Emerald City sequences are highlights. The subway scene isn't really "fun-scary" but instead seems darker and nightmarish. I felt this way during the confrontation with Evilline too.

The Wizard is played by US comedian Richard Pryor and just like Frank Morgan's Wizard in the earlier movie, there is definitely something strange about him.

I think that there is something satirical about the character in this version, making this film feel a bit more grown up than The Wizard of Oz, in some respects. I think it is a darker film too because of the things that happen to Dorothy.

At times the characters in Oz seem more streetwise rather than childlike, in my view because of their dialogue and actions, and this ties in not only Dorothy being an adult, but also because of when the film was made. Also, it seems to me The Wizard of Oz was about the young Dorothy realising home was where her heart was, with a great contrast between the colourful Oz and Kansas, whereas in The Wiz, Dorothy has to figure out how to move on with her life so she can hope to make a difference.

Interestingly, the screenplay for the film was written by Joel Schumacher (Falling Down) and it was produced by Rob Cohen (the biopic Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story), this is striking, because their later films would be so different in style.

The only extra on the DVD is the theatrical trailer for the film. While it isn't a classic by any means and I prefer the more celebrated MGM musical, I still enjoyed this movie.

I think this is definitely Bruce Lee's best film, actually one of the best martial arts films ever made and I really enjoyed it.

It is a dark film with some amazing fights, and I think Bruce also shows his range as an actor, delivering a really intense performance, evoking both sympathy and anger.

In the film, Bruce plays the fictional character of Chen Zhen, a student of real life martial arts master Ho Yuan Jia at the Jing Wu martial arts school. In Mandarin, the film's title used in Hong Kong "Jing Wu Men" actually means "the gateway to excellence in martial arts".
The real Ho Yuan Jia only lived to 1910, but the action in the film is shifted to Shanghai of the 1930's in order to make the underlying story of the Jing Wu martial arts students facing prejudice from the occupying Japanese work. Also, some things that actually happened to Ho in real life (as an opening voiceover solemnly explains) now happen to Chen over the course of the movie.

Bruce actually choreographed all of his own fight scenes in the film, but out of respect for an elder, Han Ying Chieh rather than Bruce is given full choreography credit. You can tell who did which scenes as Han's scenes have a kind of "swingy-arm/leg" style (for example, in the scene where the students train outside in the yard) and Bruce's scenes are much more powerful and controlled.
Look closely and you'll see a few other familiar faces from Bruce's other films appear as students at the school, Maria Yi, James Tien and - in an un-credited appearance, a young Jackie Chan, who is clearly visible in the training scene.

There are so many brilliant scenes - two especially are significant in a cultural sense - the one in the Japanese dojo when he forces a student to eat the paper from the insulting "Sick Men of Asia" sign, that was given to Bruce's school as a "present" by the slimy interpreter, Wu (Wei Ping Ao) and snaps "We Chinese are not sick men".

Another one which really stands out is the scene where he struck a literal blow against racism by kicking the prohibitive "No Dogs and Chinese Allowed" sign to pieces. When the film played in theatres in Hong Kong, the local audience were said to have stood up and cheered.
In 1972, some people were still old enough to remember the terrible injustice and racism by the Japanese during their occupation of China. Bruce was standing up for the Chinese people and fighting back.

Like many other films of the period, it has a nationalistic slant, and the Japanese in Fist of Fury are portrayed as nasty as possible, but despite this, this film, and indeed Bruce, became extremely popular in Japan. Even some of the music cues use Japanese instruments.

Interestingly, the nunchaku (perhaps Bruce's most famous weapon, which he is seen using for the first time in a film here) is not Chinese but comes from Okinawa (though some say it was originally used as a rice flail in South East Asia).

It's so difficult to choose a stand out scene as my favourite - Bruce desperately scrabbling at the earth that falls on top of his master's coffin, screaming "Master.... master!" refusing to believe he's dead, and the one where he takes on a dojo of Japanese karate students singlehandedly, showing an excellent use of brutal, unarmed combat.

I love the fight with the Japanese master (Riki Hashimoto) at the film's climax.

Jackie Chan actually doubled for him in the part when Bruce kicks him through the window.

Bruce disguises himself a number of times in the film, as an old man and newspaper vendor to fool the Japanese school. This knack for dressing up was referenced in a later film, Game of Death. In a way there is a balancing act going on here - Bruce had to be disguised but at the same time, not disguised so well that the audience didn't recognise him!

I watched the film in Mandarin, which was the original language when the film was released in 1972. Though Bruce spoke Cantonese on set, the rest of the cast spoke Mandarin which was the accepted language for films at that time.

Bruce shows he can really act in this film, as well as showing astonishing power and rage when fighting, he also shows a different side, tenderness and even vulnerability in scenes with a fellow student, whom he is in love with, played by the beautiful Nora Miao. This is the only film in which Bruce ever kissed a girl.

The way those scenes are shot is intriguing, we see tight close ups of their eyes and the pair sitting back to back as they talk, but not looking directly at one another.
Bruce is very focused on his goal of getting revenge for his master's death, almost driven to the end of his rope, and only his girlfriend is able to find a weak point in his armour.

While I said earlier that the nature of good and evil in the film is quite clear with the Japanese being the obvious villains, Bruce has to accept punishment for his deeds too. In the 1970's and 1980's, Hong Kong cinema demanded that if the hero killed anyone, they must be shown being arrested or punished. Even though both sets of characters commit murder, Bruce's character is shown in a much braver and nobler light, as the closing theme song intones.

The music in the film is impressive - particularly the repeated use of the main title theme which really adds to the atmosphere. In different situations, this music can be upright and stirring, yet also touching and romantic when played in its instrumental variation.

This 2 disc Platinum Edition of Fist of Fury has some excellent extras, including an entertaining commentary track by Bey Logan, featurettes (in one, Bey revisits one of the film's locations), interviews with some of the cast, and Hong Kong and UK trailers. The DVD transfer (at the time of release) was made from a new HD master, which has much better colours than the previous Collector's Edition release and looks much sharper.

This is a very important film in the martial arts genre which I love, and essential viewing for fans of Hong Kong cinema in my opinion.