[Rob Babcock]

Today is the big day; think I'll pick up XXX and RESIDENT EVIL, Superbit.  Didn't catch XXX in the theater, looked like a lot of fun though.  I haven't been buying a lot of discs lately, but the last season of TNG is also due out today.

[JohnR]

I really enjoyed XXX in the theater. A wild ride!!! Turn it up a few notches

[Rob Babcock]

XXX is the bomb!  Much better than I expected.  Man, Asia is a morsel!  I kinda expected it'd just be a "star vehicle" to cash in on Vin's newfound popularity, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It was part Fast & the Furious, part James Bond and part Austin Powers!

I was a little nonplused by the sound though.  While it was pretty clean sounding it seemed to be mastered at a pretty low level and lacked punch.  Is this what everyone else hears?  At my standard listening level the movie sounded a little flat, a tad quiet.  Dialog was very audible, however.  Maybe it's just me.

Did I mention that Asia Argento is really hot?

Hope this is the beginning of a franchise.

[bubba966]

I highly enjoyed xXx in the theater. Lucky for me they had it cranked when I saw it.

Back then I couldn't wait for it to hit 5". But now that it has I can't pick it up. Haven't watched it at home yet, so I can't say how the 5" mix is. I'm a bit worried though, it had plenty o punch in the theater. Will be disappointed if it's not even close at home.

And just so you know xXx 2

[BOK]

I too thought the mix was somewhat flat.  Didn't have the dynamics and "punch" I was expecting.  
I did not see it in the theater, but I was expecting more from the soundtrack. Flabby and dull at times during quite a few "blow 'em up" scenes. It was not flat out bad, just not up to par as relates to some recent action flicks.  
And yes, Asia is very sultry.  

BOK

[bubba966]

Just picked it up today.

So far my impression of the presentation is  

The audio is about 5dB too low. Listening to it at my normal level (-15dB on my Elite VSX-39TX) it was immediately noticeable that it was too quiet. So cranking it up to -10dB got it right to where it should be.

Now for my bigger complaint. Why'd they have to cram all of that crap on one disc? Between the 2 5.1 tracks, the commentary tracks, and all of the extras they had to compress it so much that it was driving me crazy. It's exactly the same shit Sony pulled on Spider-Man. Fortunately S-M wasn't compressed so bad as they at least put most of the extras on a second disc. But xXx was compressed even more than S-M was, resulting in a horrid looking disc. Once again it appears that due to Sony's greed, we're treated to a nasty presentation. So that sometime in the near future when all of the mass-market stores have sold off most all of their huge backstock they can go ahead & release a Superbit version.

If they're going to pull this Superbit crap all of the time they could at least do it like they did RE. Or better yet, what they did with Fifth Element & Hollow Man. Resident Evil looked & sounded great to begin with. Unfortunately the SB edition isn't an SB Deluxe, so no extras on RE Superbit. Fifthe Element had no real extras to begin with so you don't really lose anything in the SB edition, it's just a bit less compressed. Hollow Man looked extremely nice to begin with. The SB edition was made a Deluxe version so you don't lose any of the extras. I don't mind the Superbit editions so much. I just really don't care for serving up the first offering as a steaming heap so the SB version looks much better later on down the road.

At least the LC was put in a great spot on xXx. It's got one thing going for it...

[Rob Babcock]

Sucker that I am, I'll be buying xXx again if it's ever reissued as a SuperBit set.

[bubba966]

Sucker that I am, I'll be buying xXx again if it's ever reissued as a SuperBit set.

I knew it looked like ass & sounded like shit for a reason. And on 5/13/03 we'll get the version we shoulda had in the first place. They're releasing 4 new Superbit discs that day. Men In Black, Men In Black II, Bad Boys, & xXx.

Start savin'...

[bubba966]

Hope this is the beginning of a franchise.

Well, as I mentioned some time back they're doing a sequel.

Unfortunately it'll be a sequel w/out Vin or Asia.

Instead we'll get Ice Cube & Nona Gaye.

Don't know what I think of that yet...

[Rob Babcock]

I say why bother?  Vin & Asia were the only good things about the flick.  Sounds like a straight-to-video piece of crap.

[Marbles]

I knew it looked like ass & sounded like shit ...

Haven't seen it yet, but ummm, thanks for selling it to me      

[bubba966]

I knew it looked like ass & sounded like shit ...

Haven't seen it yet, but ummm, thanks for selling it to me      

Uhhh, you're welcome?

Just be sure to crank it up 5 or 6 db higher than the level you normally listen to your movies at.

Maybe you won't be bothered by the video at all. Might be like Spider-Man where I was severely pissed at the video, and no one else seemed to notice.

At least you got a really good deal on it...  

[Marbles]

BTW, I took my wife out this past Saturday night and my 12 and 13 year old boys stayed home and watched Tomb Raider.  They wanted to see Angilina.  The 13 year old thought it was so boring he walked out after about half way...  

Got anymore winners  

Actually I did get a good deal..THANKS!!