|
 Movie
B |
Video A | Audio A+
| Extras A-
Mike Myers, Beyoncé Knowles, Seth Green, Michael
York, Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling, Verne Troyer, Michael Gaine, and
special cameo appearances from Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey,
Danny DeVito, Quincy Jones, and Britney Spears
director Rod Lurie | New Line Home Entertainment
2001 | Action - Comedy | PG-13 | 133 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
|
anamorphic
widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio
Dolby Digital EX | DTS-ES
Summary: Mike Myers returns as the
unstoppable Austin Powers in this third installment of this popular
blockbuster action-comedy franchise. The film opens with an irresistible spoof of
an Austin Powers film production where Tom Cruise stars in the lead
role. The lovely Gwyneth Paltrow plays his opposite "Dixie
Normous". Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito play Dr. Evil and
Mini-Me, respectively (of course). I particularly like the cameo
appearance by director Steven Spielburg, who shamelessly points to his
Oscar trophy and says "see my friend here, he thinks it's just fine
as is" in response to Austin Powers when he offers some constructive
criticism to Steven's directing approach.
The opening scenes and credits does a good job of getting many
Austin Powers fans worked up. The rest of the movie draws
from the tried and trued Austin Powers formula, though it can get slow and old at
times, even for even a fan of Austin Powers movies. There's enough
British humor to tickle most fans' delight, but the audience can get
jaded with the material. For me, the novelty of Austin Powers style
and Mojo begins to wear off with this
third episode. As with most of the movie, and the franchise for that
matter, the ending is another big spoof when Austin Powers realizes his
true identity. That's all fine, but the poor acting from some cast
members failed to
deliver a satisfying ending. After this film, I don't have high hopes
for an interesting forth episode. But I'll bet my Mojo that it's coming.
The video quality is very good, and the audio
quality is even better since the soundtrack is encoded in both Dolby
Digital and DTS extended
surround sound formats, Dolby
Digital EX and DTS-ES,
respectively. Fans of the film will be pleased to find this New Line
infinifilm™ DVD release loaded with extra features. That's to be
expected, since we're talking about New Line's finest DVD series.
Special Features: This Contents
include: audio commentary by filmmaker Jay Roach and Mike Myers;
Documentaries: "MI-6: International Men of Mystery",
"Fashion vs. Fiction", "Disco Fever", "English,
English", "Fact Track - Trivia Subtitle track"; The World
of Austin Powers featurettes: "Jay Roach & Mike Myers: Creative
Convergence", "Confluence of Characters: Goldmember, Foxxy
Cleopatra, Nigel Powers, Masters Powers & Evil", "Opening
Stunts", "The Cars of Austin Powers in Goldmember",
"Anatomy of Three Scenes: Dancing at the Gates, Roller Disco, Sumo
Battle"; visual special effects segment; deleted and alternate scenes
with optional director's commentary; music videos: Beyoncé Knowles
"Work It Out", Britney Spears "Boys", Ming Tea
"Daddy Wasn't There", Dr. Evil & Mini-Me "Hard Knock
Life"; and theatrical and teaser trailers
DVD-ROM features: "Revoice Studio"
(record your own voice for 12 selected scenes from the movie), and
exclusive access to online features
DVD released on 12/3/2002 | Reviewed 12/15/2002
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Staff@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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