JCVD (Jean-Claude Van Damme)

[pro-bassoonist]

UK-based distribs Revolver Entertainment are set to release Jean-Claude Van Damme's JCVD on February 2.

Variety:

Van Damme is back! Combined with recent news that the Muscles from Brussels will soon turn auteur with "Full Love," Gaumont's "JCVD," a French-language meta-movie parody par excellence, constitutes the headiest stretch of the beefy star's career since, well, ever. Playing "himself," i.e., an international action stud whose bruising child custody battle has him literally going postal , exec-producing Jean-Claude Van Damme reveals heretofore hidden third dimension to his monosyllabic persona. Ho-hum hostage crisis mayhem serves to buttress co-scripting helmer Mabrouk El Mechri's more experimental stunts, including a tonally opposite pair of longish takes -- one a wonderfully absurd ode to star's martial-arts moves, the other a tear- and prayer-filled Van Damme monologue that must be seen to be believed. An adventurous U.S. minimajor could reap modest B.O. following a June 4 French release.

Playful from its first moments of a balloon-toting cartoon tot kickboxing in Gaumont logo, "JCVD" pumps up "I'm too-old-for-this-crap" cliches via shrewdly deployed in-jokes. Title character is revered for having "brought" John Woo to Hollywood with "Hard Target" in '93 ("He'd still be shooting pigeons in Hong Kong," an industry player opines), but on-set colleagues find fault with 47-year-old's mark-hitting skills. Worse, prosecuting attorney in hero's L.A. custody case dissects icon's eye-gouging oeuvre by DVD to assert dad's history of violence.

Freshly spurned by preteen daughter, jetlagged from trip back to Belgium, and electronically dissed at the hometown ATM, JCVD loses his cool while seeking a post-office wire transfer of euros, only to find he has stumbled into in-progress heist for which he'll be blamed by cops -- and credited, oddly or not, by hordes of placard-waving fans (e.g., "Free Jean-Claude!").

As before, bulky thesp's acting is as flat as his pecs are sculpted, but here said limitations are more clearly part of joke within hollow mirror world, where JCVD loses key role to Steven Seagal because latter negotiated to topline sans ponytail.

Script's sharpest running gag has the concept of celebrity trumping human life in media coverage if not public estimation; even JCVD's sweet old Maman hints at worries of son's marquee rep while mistakenly urging him to release "his" hostages.

Incalculably superior in tone, attitude, intent, and intellect to bulk of bodybuilder vehicles, shrewdly produced pic limits limber star's acrobatics to first and last scenes without great detriment to whole. Gast Waltzing's horn-heavy score is pleasingly old-school and subtly parodic; Philippe Kohn's sound mix is crisply immersive; Pierre-Yves Bastard's widescreen lensing does the job despite de rigueur color-bleaching and scant closeups with which to flaunt Van Damme's near-Buster Keatonesque deadpan. Exception to that to is aforementioned long take wherein weeping JCVD flexes existential about his status as global-screen limb-snapper with backend points.

No kidding.

Pro-B

[GGX]

lol at the DVD logo on the cover.

[BluStar88]

Thanks for the info pro-b

I actually really want to see this. any news on whether this will be region coded or is going ot get a US release??????

[Giyomu]

JCVD blu-ray Review link

France release date : 17 feb 09

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by BluStar88

Thanks for the info pro-b

I actually really want to see this. any news on whether this will be region coded or is going ot get a US release??????

Revolver's releases have been region-free thus far

Pro-B

[BluStar88]

Thanks I just put my order in man I am importing way more than I should I am up around 30 tittles now 5 deliveries and 3 pre-orders this week alone.

[Crim122]

I will blind buy it, seeing how its his ONLY positive rated movie lol.

[Kynch]

Originally Posted by BluStar88

Thanks I just put my order in man I am importing way more than I should I am up around 30 tittles now 5 deliveries and 3 pre-orders this week alone.

I knooooow. Damn you Blu-ray for being so sexy!

[Mobe1969]

YEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:ro ck:

[lnh_boy]

According to the Blu-Ray.com review for Kidulthood, Revolver uses a PAL logo screen when the disc loads. Will this (if used on JCVD) cause problems for the US version of the PS3?

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by lnh_boy

According to the Blu-Ray.com review for Kidulthood, Revolver uses a PAL logo screen when the disc loads. Will this (if used on JCVD) cause problems for the US version of the PS3?

Actually, from the review:

Note: This is a region-free disc which you will be able to play in your Region-A machine. However, please note that it takes approximately 10 second for the player to access the main menu as there is a PAL-logo that precedes it.

So, there is a short company logo that is in PAL but the actual menu is not (your Region-A PS3, and SA, will simply skip it and display the HD menu). Therefore, there won't be any issues with playback. Things get complicated when the actual menu is in PAL. Your Region-A PS3 (and most SA) will not be able to access it and therefore you won't be able to get to the main feature (this is the case with Artificial Eye's Zatoichi).

Pro-B

[Mobe1969]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Actually, from the review:



So, there is a short company logo that is in PAL but the actual menu is not (your Region-A PS3, and SA, will simply skip it and display the HD menu). Therefore, there won't be any issues with playback. Things get complicated when the actual menu is in PAL. Your Region-A PS3 (and most SA) will not be able to access it and therefore you won't be able to get to the main feature (this is the case with Artificial Eye's Zatoichi).

Pro-B

So you can't even bring up the PS3 control menu and jump to a chapter or title or something?

[blooded predator]

hell yeah keep em coming to blu another badass van damme flick

[Red Hood]

Just pre-ordered it. Thanks for the info.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Mobe1969

So you can't even bring up the PS3 control menu and jump to a chapter or title or something?

On this specific disc - Artificial Eye's Zatoichi - I have not been able to bypass it.

Pro-B

[Sky_Captain]

WTF have they done to the artwork?

[Red Hood]

oh wow, def need some custom artwork.

[Hugh K. David]

That's what happens when the sales team decide what the cover needs to look like.

Not that we marketing folk are reputed to be much better...

[snoman_99]

yeah i don't care for this new updated cover at all...... I actually like the original poster for the cover, like the one at the beginning of this thread. Thats exactly how the poster looked when i saw the film, and it would have been nice if the blu-ray cover was the same.

J :-)

[Kynch]

Ouuuch that's ugly. THey make it look like an action film. Pff...