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Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
Country Life: the Sheepdog [DVD]
Adam Henson presents this look at the working life of the sheepdog.
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Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Planet Earth & Life Box Set [DVD]
Review for Planet Earth [Blu-ray]
Not only is Planet Earth one of the most jaw-dropping, ambitious, nature documentaries the BBC has ever produced, it’s now taken on another role: as a superb demonstration disc for the strength of and Blu-ray.
Spread over a good ten hours, the series charts life and nature in dozens upon dozens of differing locations around the earth. Diligently and warmly narrated by Sir David Attenborough, Planet Earth calmly goes close in on its subject matter when required, and then pulls out some stunning perspective shots that are simply breathtaking. It’s hard to come up with the right superlatives to do the photography on the programme any kind of justice, and that it’s married to such fascinating subject matter is all the better.
And if you think the original broadcast of Planet Earth was something special, or you were gobsmacked by the picture quality on DVD, just wait until you see it in 1080i HD glory. Particularly some of the broader shots here are all but without parallel, and it’s a real reward for those who have invested ahead of the crowd in high definition technology.
Presented over five discs, and matching wonderful content to spot-on visual presentation, Planet Earth is now not just a landmark in nature documentary film making. It’s also a chartermark of quality for just what HD DVD and Blu-ray can offer. A stunning release, in more than one sense. --Jon Foster
Review for Life [Blu-ray]
This enthralling BBC series examines "the lengths living beings go to to stay alive," in the words of Sir David Attenborough. Aided by breathtaking high-definition cinematography, the makers of Planet Earth explore the more colourful strategies the world's creatures employ to procreate, evade predators, and obtain nourishment. Cameras travel though the air, under the water, and right into the faces of insects, like the alien visage of the stalk-eyed fly. Except for "Challenges of Life" and "Hunters and Hunted," each episode covers a different category, such as mammals and birds. Among the more memorable images: three cheetahs move with the relentless rhythm of mobsters, a school of flying fish glides through the air with the grace of ballerinas, and a Jesus Christ lizard skips across the water, like, well, you know. The strangest sights range from a pebble toad bouncing away from a spider like a rubber ball and brown-tufted capuchin monkeys pounding palm nuts with stone tools like the apes in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Witty writing and skilful editing, which distils thousands of hours of footage, make the learning go down easy (at one point, Sir David references Jurassic Park, which featured his brother, Richard). If the sound effects seem overamped, George Fenton's score is always on the money, adding humour and suspense at crucial moments (martial drums for the mud skippers, woozy brass for the Darwin's beetle). Nonetheless, delicate sensibilities may find some sequences disturbing, as when Komodo dragons feed on a water buffalo or when a leopard seal dines on a penguin (according to Attenborough, the Komodo siege caused the camera operators "emotional turmoil"). More often, the filmmakers capture the moment of impact before moving on. --Kathleen C. Fennessy, Amazon.com
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Sunday, December 9, 2012
David Attenborough - Trials of Life [DVD]
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2.4 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital Stereo ), English ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Box Set, Interactive Menu, Making Of, Multi-DVD Set, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Originally broadcast in 1990, Trials of Life is still one of the most comprehensive wildlife documentaries ever made. It examines animal behaviour in all its infinite variety and in doing so we are allowed to witness some of the most enchanting animal personalities, as well as the most fearsome. Leaving parents, searching for food, building a home, finding a mate; each day brings a new test, a challenge for even the fittest and best adapted animal. Taking some three and a half years to make ,David Attenborough travelled almost a quarter of a million miles to complete this fascinating and insightful documentary. A four-disc set. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: BAFTA Awards, ...The Trials of Life - 4-DVD Set
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Friday, December 7, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Journey of Life [DVD]
In a journey from sea, to land, to sky, life has evolved remarkable solutions to the challenge of survival. This series visits the crucial moments in life's journey to dominate the earth. 'Seas of Life' reveals that the basic blueprint of a brain, backbone, two legs and two arms was created in the ocean. 'Land Grab' follows life as it changes from a fish to a human; and 'Airborne' illustrates the four evolutions of flight. In 'Living Together', relationships - predatory, competitive and co-operative - are revealed. And in 'Human Life', the differences between us and chimps, phenomenally similar creatures, are examined. The latest graphic techniques recreate evolution before your very eyes, providing viewers with a spectacular representation of how life came to be
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Saturday, October 13, 2012
The Life of Birds [DVD] [1998]
Like the albatross glimpsed in the beginning of this 10-part series The Life of Birds quickly takes flight. Sir David Attenborough hosts this unprecedented and extraordinary global look at the magnificent and often curious winged species with which we share our planet. Like the best wildlife shows, The Life of Birds offers a fresh and accessible view of creatures we may take for granted (didn't Alfred Hitchcock warn us about that?). The focus of this series is not on the different bird species, but on bird behaviour. Remarkable and awe-inspiring footage preserves the wide range of tools and techniques with which birds fly, hunt for food, attract a mate, hatch their chicks and defend themselves against predators. Attenborough pops up in the most remote, most exotic locales, with occasional comic effect: at one point, night-vision cameras capture the rare sight of the nocturnal kiwi as it forages for food on a New Zealand beach; the camera pans to reveal scant paces away our guide shining a flashlight on the nonplussed bird. --Donald Liebenson
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Tuesday, October 9, 2012
David Attenborough - Life on Earth [DVD] [1979]
Life on Earth (1979) is an epic 13-programme series, presented by David Attenborough, offering a chronological account of the flora and fauna of planet Earth over a period of 3,500 million years. Whether recounting the first journey from the sea to the land, the development of insects and flowers, or "The First Forests" and "The Lords of the Air", Attenborough's enthusiasm is infectious. He guides us through "The Infinite Variety" of life from microbes to marsupials, via an unforgettable meeting with mountain gorillas, to conclude with "The Compulsive Communicators", mankind itself.
Three years in the making, involving 1.5 million miles of travel and featuring some of the most beautiful, breathtaking and ambitious photography then seen on television, Life on Earth was the first natural history blockbuster. It redefined TV by showing that an epic, serious wildlife documentary could be a massive success. As such, it remains a true television landmark and paved the way for Attenborough's The Living Planet and further entries in what became known as his "Life" series.
On the DVD: Life on Earth is presented complete in this DVD box set, with a total running time of 715 minutes (13 x 55 minutes). --Gary S Dalkin
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Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Life of Mammals [DVD] [2002]
David Attenborough and the BBC have a well-earned reputation for producing some of the greatest nature programmes, but The Life of Mammals could well be Attenborough's magnum opus. Much of the footage shot for this series had never been seen before, and is presented with the respect and reverence for the natural world that Attenborough has made his trademark. It never ceases to surprise: the sight of a lion taking down a wildebeest on the African savannah has almost become a cliché of nature programmes, yet in The Life of Mammals the cameras keep rolling and the viewer witnesses the fallen animal's herd coming to its rescue and driving off the lion. It's a moving sight and just one of many remarkable scenes.
A thorough and entertaining overview of one of evolution's greatest success stories, the series is loosely structured to follow the development of mammals, beginning with the basics in "A Winning Design", which clarifies what makes a mammal different from reptiles and birds--no, it isn't egg-laying: both the platypus and the echidna are egg-laying mammals; it's their ability to adapt. And it's this adaptability that becomes the crux of the remainder of the series. "Insect Hunters" focuses on mammals who have specifically adapted to eating insects, from the giant anteater and the armoured armadillo to bats, which have evolved into complex and effective hunters. "Plant Predators" demonstrates the particular (and often peculiar) adaptations of herbivores, while "Chisellers" is about those mammals who feed primarily on roots and seeds, ranging from tree-dwelling squirrels to opportunistic mice and rats. "Meat Eaters" talks about the evolutionary arms race that exists between predators and prey, and the unique adaptations of both individual and pack hunters. Omnivores are explored in "Opportunists"--mammals like bears and raccoons, whose varied diet allows them to occupy nearly any environment. "Return to the Water" discusses those mammals such as whales, seals and dolphins that have left behind life on dry land and adapted completely to life in the sea, existing at the top of the food chain. The last three episodes--"Life in the Trees", "Social Climbers" and "Food for Thought"--take the viewer through the development of primates, eventually culminating in that most successful mammal: man. --Robert Burrow
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The Life Collection : David Attenborough (24 Disc BBC Box Set) [DVD] [1990]
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Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Life [DVD]
Discover the glorious variety of life on Earth and the spectacular and extraordinary tactics animals and plants have developed to stay alive. Packed with excitement, revelation and entertainment - and stunning screen firsts' - this breathtaking ten-part blockbuster brings you 130 incredible stories from the frontiers of the natural world.
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