HTF EARLY REVIEW: "Driven" - The next demo disc! (1 Viewer)

[Jeremy Anderson]

But the bigger question is: How does pork figure into the movie? I mean, does Stallone slide his car to a halt and then say "Hey, that was a good race... I sure could use some bacon." Or maybe "Hey, when we were racing through the city and sewer covers were flying, I sure did get a hankering for a porkchop." Does the lovely Ms. Gershon make Stallone a pork loin and then make sexual innuendo like "I love it when you eat the other white meat..."?
Because if there are no pork products in DRIVEN, then fuck it. Fuck it right in the neck! I'll just watch BABE again...

 

[NickSo]

Many people are ignoring the point that Ron's saying this is the next DEMO disc... keyword: DEMO. Normally, when you DEMO a system at an HT store, you DON'T watch the whole movie right?
The point of DEMOing a system is to see how well the TV/Speakers/Reciever etc. preforms, you can't tell how the system performs by the movie's story right? I mean would you buy a Bose Acoustimass system plainly on the fact that you loved the movie that the store demoed to you? Do you really have to watch all the parts when its just talking to decide if you really like how the sub preforms?
The main point of DEMO DVDs is to show off a system in a store, or to show off your system to your friends/family/acquaintances, not to show them how good the storyline and plot of the movie is.
Say you have your friend over who's never seen your system, and you wanna show it off to him, to see what it can REALLY do. Do you play a chapter from THE GREEN MILE, or do you play the loudest floorshaking, bowel wrenching, window rattling chapter in say, BRING IT ON you can find?
The point is, its the next DEMO DISC, not the next Academy Award winner for best movie.
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[John_McKittrick]

How many friekin DEMO disks does one need?? I'd rather DEMO a disk like Saving Private Ryan. As for this movie, it is a rental at best, regardless of DEMO quality. I'm sure there are better movies coming out before christmas that can be DEMO'd. The Mummy Returns is one of them.
John

 

[PerryD]

I'll rent Driven to see what all the commotion is about, but I just wanted to add that I own another Stallone flick, Daylight, for the sole purpose of demoing the tunnel explosion at the beginning of the movie. Most people haven't seen the movie, so it's a great 10 minute sequence to knock them over with.

 

[NickSo]

Well, its all a matter of what you think...
If you're a MOVIE buff, or HARDWARE guy... Me, im HARDWARE, so i DONT know who directed this and what he did earlier and stuff, but i do know that i want my system to impress people as much as it can, so i don't mind buying a couple demo DVDs to wow my friends, and also to wow me once in awhile.
I mean, when im kind of bored, i whip out The Matrix, The Eagles:HFO, SPR, and just play the chapters that sound real good. If im bored, i ususally dont have the patience or time to watch the whole movie, so i just watch, or rather listen to the best sounding parts of the film on my system just for the hell of it.
But then again, i'd buy a film if theres a cute girl that did a mediocre performance (Mena Suvari: Loser, Sugar and Spice. Rachel leigh cook: Josie and the Pussycats, and she's all that are planned purchases once i get some extra $).
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[Matthew_S]

Wow! I was away and now i see that i'm being offered to get kicked off the forum? Damn, I was totally kidding!! Did you see the smiley face in my reply? I don't think you get kickbacks, Ron. I apologize if I offended you.

 

[David Watters]

As the first person to jump on "Driven" after Ron's questionably long praise of anything related to "Driven"
let me clear some things up.
1) As someone that has been an openwheel racing fan for nearly all my life and an actual part of CART the last 5 years I realize that I have a somewhat unique perspective on this film. You should note that I didn't post anything about Ron's Momma and merely expressed my utter disappointment and downright anger with the piece of crap Stallone put together. It was aggravated by reading about the making of this film for almost a year before it came out. In most of their interviews it was clear that Harlin and Stallone didn't give a crap about staying true to the sport.
If I made a DVD about how all the members of the HTF were a bunch of "Donkey raping sh*t eaters!" then I wouldn't expect members and admins of this forum to run around talking about how it is a reference DVD because of its technical merits.
2) You can't post a message saying this DVD is "so great (for whatever reasons) that you should all buy it" without expecting someone like me coming back and saying "No, don't do it, this moving sucks bad!"
Again, if you review my post you will see (I hope) that I
jumped on the film, not any fellow members. Certainly my
right and hopefully important to someone that would have bought this dud and regretted it.
3) While it was clear the poster was joking, I am stunned by the idea of people being threatened of losing their account. There comes a point when a portal like this gets large enough that you can't keep playing like it is your own sandbox and if someone says something you don't like then they are out of here. I am also stunned to read things suggesting that DVDs are only reviewed if they are liked or for for only positive reasons. This seems absurd and aggravates the idea of kickbacks.
I have NO IDEA if Ron gets perks from Hollywood including money or DVDs. He says he doesn't but I don't know him at all and he could be lying. I will assume he doesn't but I have to admit that the question popped in my mind when I read his long, glowing review of someone else's (for profit) product. I chose not to publicly smear someone but I don't think it is wrong to want clarification of what someone gets out of keeping a forum like this up every day. If the answer is "I would rather do this than spend time with people or making money for myself." then that is fine. There is enough "Thank you for the great review" perks in Hollywood that it should be expected to have to explain why someone would spend so much effort pushing someone else's product for no personal gain. "Because I love this industry so much" is a great, noble answer and I hope you will accept the same in my efforts to defend Champ Car racing from Stallone.
Instead of buying and watching "Driven" please spend your money, time, and effort trying to get Grand Prix (1966) and Le Mans (1971) out on DVD!!!
ps. Now "Stroker Ace" is a totally different story. What a great flick!

 

[Frank L]

Instead of buying and watching "Driven" please spend your money, time, and effort trying to get Grand Prix (1966) and Le Mans (1971) out on DVD!!!

But why the preaching? This is what I don't understand of people here. You didn't like it, fine, other found it entertaining enough and would be more than happy to get it on DVD, not only to have fun watching it but to demo their HT.
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Frank

DVD Collection | Website

 

[Rob Gillespie]

There is enough "Thank you for the great review" perks in Hollywood that it should be expected to have to explain why someone would spend so much effort pushing someone else's product for no personal gain.

Perhaps Ron just liked the disc. But I suppose that's too simple an answer, isn't it? I mean, you hate the movie so anyone who likes it is either 1. Wrong or 2. Getting paid to say it. What a surprise.
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[Tony Stark]

I am sure a person can get a better DEMO DVD for a cheaper price that have better quality.
Isnt that the issue here?
I'd buypass this Hollywood trash and instead pick up:

Saving Private Ryan
Apollo 13
Ronin
A Clear and Present Danger

 

[Jeremy Anderson]

Personally, I'm offended at the thought of someone taking kickbacks. I like pork... but I assure you all that I am not receiving any money to advocate pork products to the members of this forum, and I resent the accusation. Nor am I receiving any free pork products... products such as Conecuh sausage, porkchops, pork loin, Bryan bacon, or Snak-ens pork rinds. Nor have I received a free SUV with "EAT MORE PORK" painted on the side. They simply let me drive it... uhm... I mean, I've never seen any such SUV.
Now can we all just agree that those of us who choose to watch DRIVEN on DVD, regardless of our opinions of the movie, will be enjoying some sort of pork product in their home theater? If we can agree on that, then we can all unite as one glorious pork-eating home theater forum, and that'd be BEAUTIFUL, man!
(But seriously... you people who are wasting time quibbling might as well be pissing into the wind. Nobody who buys a Stallone movie is expecting an Oscar contender -- just shit blowing up in a really loud fashion.)

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Tony, the issue is - Ron reviewed a disc he liked. Some people just can't handle the fact that other people like what they detest, and so trash the movie and make it clear (indirectly) that the review is wrong for promoting such a piece of garbage.. The review made it very clear that he didn't think much of the film, so some of the atittudes here are bewildering in the extreme.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

David,
Your post was totally uncalled for, and I
would have deleted it if not for the fact
that I feel people will read it and see it
for what it is.
Obviously you haven't been on this forum long
enough to know how things work.
Nobody associated with this forum receives
kickbacks for good reviews -- whether it be
equipment reviews or movie reviews.
I get screener product no matter what I write.
It would certainly be a sad situation if studios
cut off supplying DVDs to a reviewer who
constantly panned their product.
I don't know how the hell a simple review
thread like this ended up with a highly offensive
post like YOURS in it.
I never came here touting DRIVEN like it was
the Oscar movie of the year. I wrote the review
because I had a thrilling 2 hours watching it.
What happened as a result? You have members coming
in here and fighting to defend their OWN opinions
and getting nasty about it in the process.
AND LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR SO YOU TRULY
UNDERSTAND HOW THIS FORUM WORKS....
We don't censor people or kick people off this
forum because of WHAT they say. It is HOW they
say it.
Your post was totally uncalled for and I think
you owe an apology.
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Ronald Epstein (pronounced like the English "Ronald Epstein")
Circa 2000
Home Theater Forum Administrator
All forum questions & to get on our private forum mailing list (new members)... Email: [email protected]
Problems with the webpage or site? Contact WEBMASTER
Email Packy [email protected]

 

[AVspec]

Wow! All this over a DVD that is not even out on the shelf's yet?!?
I am going to have to check this out just to see what all the fuss is about!
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-Mark
**** Digital Vortex ****
The Digital Electronic Site
www.digitalvortex.com

 

[David Watters]

Rob: you hate the movie so anyone who likes it is either 1. Wrong or 2. Getting paid to say it.

Almost. I would change those to 1. Uneducated about Champ Car racing or 2. Getting paid to say it or 3. a suck-up or 4. Gets DVDs for free so has lost some perspective on having to chose a limited number of titles to own.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Almost. I would change those to 1. Uneducated about Champ Car racing or 2. Getting paid to say it or 3. a suck-up or 4. Gets DVDs for free so has lost some perspective on having to chose a limited number of titles to own.

And wouldn't you just love it to be 2, 3 or 4.
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[JohnS]

What I want to know is, Why is somebody offending and disrespecting the owner and it's administators???
Can't somebody show curtousy to the owners of a great site??
Look at all the nice things and the things in the future that Ron has/will be doing for us.(ex. TRIPS, CHATS WITH MOVIE EXEC., INSTANT REVIEWS OF PRODUCT NOT YET AVAILBLE-WITH HONEST OPINIONS!)
It just surprises me how somebody can be SO RUDE to the nicest people operating this site. Especially when it's something so pitaly like a DVD review.
Be nice to Ron and it's administators, you never know what they might do for you in the future.
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[Rob Gillespie]

John, it's called chain-yanking and some people (i.e. ex-members) get a great deal of amusement out of it. Part of the job.
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[Elbert Lee]

Wow- Somebody hates this movie enough to insuate that that anyone who enjoyed it is profiting by it.
I can respect any racing enthusiast's stance that "Driven" is completely inaccurate and is a poor depiction of the sport. But, hey, it's not a religion and a simple post of that fact should do well enough to voice this point of view.
I, for one, did not enjoy this movie. Certain segments of it was exciting (different locals and a CGI racing scene through the city) were standouts, but did not add up to a solid film. Stallone was trying to go with a "master/student" theme using the sport as a backdrop. It defnitely could have been done with much more respect and realism to the sport. Not having much knowlege about racing, I personally would have appreciated a much more accurate depiction of it. It defnitely could have been pulled off, but Harlin and Stallone copped out and made it what it was - completely unengaging and unrealistic.
But, for those few segments, I can understand, from an HT Enthusiast's point of view, why Ron enjoyed this on his HT Setup. - That's all I took from his review. It's a title I may consider picking up later when the price drops, but I think that most people will be wise about what they spend their $$$ on. If not, they'll trade or return it. Either way, I wouldn't start a crusade for or against it because, clearly, we are dealing with film enthusiasts as well as HT Equipment enthusiasts on this forum.
Here's a bad one: "The Avengers" starring Uma Thurman and Ray Fiennes - not even a single decent CGI or action segment that will wake you up...
Elbert
[Edited last by Elbert Lee on September 04, 2001 at 04:05 AM]

 

[JohnS]

DVDfile just put up their review and gives it GLOWING REMARKS!!
DAMN, even tho the movie sucks IMPO, the picture does look pretty flawless.
MUST NOT BUY.....UGH!
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