Review: The Outsiders Bluray & DVD

The Outsiders

For many people, when they here the words ‘Brat Pack’, they think of those great 80′s John Hughes movies such as ‘The Breakfast Club’ & ‘St. Elmo’s Fire.’ Although Hughes ran with the ‘Brat Pack’ baton, he wasn’t biological father of the group. That honor goes to Francis Ford Coppola and his lesser know, but equally classic 80′s film – The Outsiders.

The movie brought together an incredible cast of young stars, including C. Thomas Howell (probably best know now for TV’s Southland), Matt Dillon (There’s Something About Mary, Wild Things), Ralph Macchio (the original Karate Kid), Rob Lowe (St. Elmo’s Fire, The West Wing), Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club, Young Guns, Bobby), Tom Cruise, and the late great Patrick Swayze.

The Outsiders is a coming-of-age drama set in the 1960′s American Midwest, following a rivalry between 2 gangs – ‘The Greasers’, who are, as you would expect, a denim and leather clad street kids, and the opposing ‘preppy’ ‘Socials’ (Socs). When Ponyboy Curtis (Howell) and Johnny Cade (Macchio) have a chance encounter with one of the Soc’s girlfriends (Diane Lane), the violence escalates, leading to Johnny stabbing one of the Socs in self-defense. Scared for their lives, the Greaser boys go on the run, until an unexpected a act of heroism leads to the Johnny getting arrested for murder, and the rivalry between the 2 groups coming to a violent conclusion.

This version of The Outsiders includes a number of additional scenes which weren’t in the 1983 release, helping to bring it closer in line with the original S. E. Hinton novel. Couple that with the stunning transfer of the original widescreen print, the movie has never looked better. The sound is equally well presented, with a classic hits from Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis setting a great tone for the film.

The disc comes jam-packed with extras, including a short intro and introspective commentary from director Francis Ford Coppola. Many of the cast also give an entertaining commentary track including C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Diane Lane, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe and the late Patrick Swayze. Additional goodies include Staying Gold: A Look Back at The Outsiders Retrospective Documentary, a featurette on the casting, cast members reading extracts from the original novel, archival news footage, and of course the traditional deleted/extended scenes and theatrical trailer usually found on these releases.

This really is the definitive release of The Outsiders, and with hours of extras is worthy addition to any movie collection, or as a great Christmas gift.

The Outsiders is available on Blu-ray and DVD now!

9/10 – The definitive release of a classic 80′s movie.

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Win Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 with Simply Tap!

Simply Tap – Shopping in an Instant Competition

Simply Tap would like to offer all of you lucky GeekTowners the chance to win a copy of the new Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 game!

About Simply Tap – Shopping in an Instant Competition

Simply Tap is the new, instant mobile checkout that allows you to buy in seconds when you see something you like in magazines, out and about, on-line and in store. Download the app for your smartphone, register your details once, tap in the unique Simply Tap code to buy, and your delivery will be on its way. You’ll find tap codes in magazines, on posters or on the websites of Simply Tap retailers like Carphone Warehouse, Thorntons, Pretty Green, Best Buy.

Essentially, you see what you want, simply enter the Tap Code into the app, and you’ve paid in an instant.  You can find out more information here: http://www.facebook.com/SimplyTap

Simply Tap have some amazing offers during their launch including Apple TV’s, Ipod speakers, Optimus Prime transformers and of course COD MW3 for £24.99 (with £10 cash back on first purchase).

You can check out all their latest offers on their Facebook page.

Download the app by searching in your App Store for “Simply Tap” or by clicking here on your phone: http://bit.ly/TapBlog

How to Win Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 on XBox 360 or PS3

Win a copy of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 with Simply Tap!

Competition is now closed, and the winners have been emailed and DMed on twitter.

The competition closes on 30th November 2011 and is open to UK residents aged 18 or over. NOTE: XBox 360 or PS3 versions only… sorry PC gamers! There will be 5 winners picked from entries on geektown.co.uk and Twitter. By entering this competition, you are agreeing to the rules of this competition. Full rules can be read here.

Tim Vine : The Joke-amotive DVD

Many of you will know of Tim Vine from BBC1 ‘Not Going Out’ with fellow stand up Lee Mack, but on the 21st of November, Tim releases his critically acclaimed, sell-out UK tour and run at the Edinburgh Festival – THE JOKE-AMOTIVE on DVD.

Tim Vine is the prince of puns, and after the first barrage of puns, Tim does actually say “imagine if my whole act was like this… it is”. Watching Tim is rather like been punned into submission. You can try not to laugh, but the jokes come out at such a rate one of them is bound to catch you off guard and cause a chuckle.

Each puntastic assault is interspersed with some silly and surreal songs (often ending in a pun themselves). It’s fairly gentle but entertaining comedy, and something I could see the whole family settling down to watch post Christmas lunch.

Tim is a regular on Countdown’s dictionary corner (C4) and he is currently working on the fifth series of the hit BBC One series Not Going Out.  His best-selling book,  The Biggest Ever Tim Vine Joke Book, was released last year (Random House).

Tim Vine is a headliner in the new series of Dave’s One Night Stand and he starred in Live At the Apollo (BBC1) last year.  In 2010 he released his third stand-up DVD Punslinger (Spirit Entertainment).

THE JOKE-AMOTIVE will be released on DVD on 21 November 2011 (Spirit Entertainment).

8/10 – A barrage of puntastic goodness.

Saints Row: The Third – Pimps and Gimps

You know, the more I see of Saints Row: The Third, the more I think they looked at GTA V going all out for it’s realism, and character driven plot, and thought “screw that, what we need is Burt f**king Reynolds and giant dildo bats!”

It’s rather like there 2 were siblings. Both started off at the same place. A little ‘out there’, a little mischievous… But as they grew up and went to college, the older brother settled down, whilst the younger brother runs the wildest frat house on campus.

This new trailer not only has the aforementioned Mr. Reynolds and the erm… ‘phallic hitting implement’, but also Spacemen, Zombies, and of course – Pimps & Gimps!

Saints Row: The Third is due out on November 18th in Europe for Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360.

This is a sponsored post.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – New Ad

So many superb Adventure/RPG games are coming out over the next few months. Batman: Arkham City out last month, Star Wars: The Old Republic out next month, and this month top offering – Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

I’ve been a massive fan of the Elder Scrolls games since 2002′s Morrowind, so I’ve really been looking forward to this latest iteration. The action starts 200 years after 2006′s Oblivion, and this time your job is to defeat a dragon god who (it has been prophesied) will destroy the world!

The developers Bethesda Softworks seem to have taken some cues from their other smash hit ‘Fallout’ and ditched the rather cumbersome class setup for Fallout’s more flexible ‘perk’ system. Health, Magicka and Fatigue meters all stay, but the interface has had a major redesign, and the PC has also had some separate thought put into it, rather than just being a port of the console interface. There’s also a modkit coming out for the massive Elder Scrolls modding community.

New story, new graphics engine, hours of gameplay… and Dragons! Roll on 11/11/11!

For more info visit www.elderscrolls.com

Jameson Cult Film Club: The Birds

Jameson Cult Film Club - The Birds

This was a night of firsts for me. Not only was it the first time going to a Jameson Cult Film Club night (or any type of organised film showing night) it was also the first time seeing Hitchcock’s, “The Birds” – shocking I know, however this meant I went with no preconceptions about what to expect.

The location for showing was St Paul’s Church, set in a wet St Paul’s Square in the heart of Birmingham. This was the first time the Jameson Cult Film Club had been to Birmingham, adding to the night of firsts. We approached the church to find an eerie green glow through the stained glass windows, which set the scene perfectly. The rain obviously hadn’t deterred people away because when we made our way in through the big church doors most of the pews, which would be our seats for the duration of the showing, were already full. Candles were lit, the church organ present at the front was being played and fake birds were perched in the rafters and projected on the ceiling which all helped with creating the atmosphere.

Armed with the free cocktail tokens, my date for the night, Samantha Lyster formally of The Times, and I made our way to the bar upstairs. It was here that I started to spot the actors walking around, dressed and narrating in character to those in the film. I of course could not relate however upon reflection they were pretty spot on with the characterisation. The Jameson cocktails on offer were lovely, not a whiskey drinker myself I was pleasantly surprised how it could be made into something fruity, light and easy on the palette.

We spotted in the far corner a photo opportunity to pretend to have been attacked by birds in front of a specially created backdrop by local graffiti artist ‘Victor TX’. Whilst in the queue to be snapped a member of staff added the finishing touches to our face by applying a long streak of blood from our eyes to look as if we had been pecked. We stepped in front of the backdrop, posed in a dramatic style, as if the birds were just above and Christine Tellier, the photographer, snapped us. This was very fun to participate in and a nice touch.

We grabbed a hotdog and popcorn (a little pricy) and made our way to the pews to find seats. Here an actor helped us into our seats as if the birds were attacking and every now and again a woman screaming, “The birds are coming” would run down the aisle. Little touches that added to the overall mood in the dramatic setting. The film itself I found to be actually rather funny as oppose to scary, but this is for me made it charming to watch and at these moments the whole congregation laughed together. Samantha however was ducking and diving all over the place through out the film whenever the birds were relentless in their attacks. The sound of the birds and their wings was certainly chilling.

All in all I would say the night a success. I enjoyed the complete production Jameson put on as well as the film itself. I would thoroughly recommend others to attend one of their Cult Film Club nights if the opportunity arises.

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