It has been a little while since I last brought up Sony PSP movies and I am now back with a look at six more
titles as well as mention of a whole slew of new UMDs added to the database.
First off let’s chat about a few of the UMDs that hit shelves recently starting with King Arthur (The Director’s Cut).
Buena Vista Entertainment didn’t even waste their time releasing the theatrical version of King Arthur
on UMD, and I am still unsure why they opted to go for the watered down version in theaters when it was
obviously far inferior to the Antoine Fuqua’s original bloody vision.
I for one am a huge fan of epic war tales and Fuqua as well, which left me disappointed at the
theaters with the tame version Touchstone released but highly satisfied with the much bloodier and vicious
version found on unrated DVD, the version you will see here on the PSP and it loses none of its flare or gusto in
the mini format transition. Blood still flies and Arthur still reigns, this is certainly a title I would recommend to
your PSP collection.
On top of blood and medieval action you also get Keira Knightley scantily clad in leather straps, an excellent
performance by Clive Owen and a very cool look at Lancelot turned in by Ioan Gruffudd who will be featured in
the Fantastic Four later this week.
As for features this one has none, which is not commonplace with Buena Vista’s releases, but it is previews
only for this title.
King Arthur was released on UMD format on June 21st, click here
to buy it now from Amazon.com.
If you couldn’t tell from the above images, we are now moving into the first batch of UMDs released by Lions
Gate Films and what an array they give us with Terminator 2, Saw, Van Wilder, Open Water and The Punisher.
These titles were obviously carefully chosen to ensure they hit home with a specific audience, and while I
applaud Lions Gate for their selections, I think the selective movie watcher will be turned off by most of these
choices, but I did enjoy a couple of them.
First off Lions Gate has not yet added special features to their PSP movies. All of these releases come with
previews of their soon to come UMD releases, but as for bonus goodies there are none to be found. It is a small
detail, but a detail nonetheless.
Next up, the movies themselves. Personally I enjoyed all five of these films the first time I saw them, and some
the second, but only a couple of them anything beyond that. I can watch Terminator 2 any time, day or
night, and even The Punisher is a satisfying flick in my opinion and Van Wilder I can watch
when my funny bone needs a jolt, but Open Water and Saw have pretty much run their course
with me.
As I was previewing both of these movies I slid them into the player and after about 10-15 minutes found
myself fast-forwarding through the features trying to find something good… Funny thing was… I couldn’t. The
shock and intrigue Saw had on me the first couple of times was gone, and as for Open Water,
it just didn’t have any kind of lasting impression as it barely did the first time.
As for video and audio quality these all reign supreme as did King Arthur, and as I have said in past
Round Ups PSP movies are always best watched with the ear bud headphones in place as the onboard
speakers just don’t do the sound quality justice.
Overall, out of these five titles a definite purchase is Terminator 2, and secondary choices would be
Van Wilder and The Punisher, but I would steer clear of Saw and Open Water,
they just don’t have the multiple viewing mojo you would like in this type of a format. Click on any of the cover
art above to order yourself a copy of any of these titles.
At the beginning of this segment I told you there was a whole slew of new PSP movies added to the database,
and I wasn’t lying, check out the list of new flicks coming your way in July and August below and click on each
one for additional info, a look at the artwork and Buy Now links.
