Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Showing posts with label Eddie Kaye Thomas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eddie Kaye Thomas. Show all posts

Saturday, April 12, 2025

4k-UHD/Movie Review: American Pie [UK Import]

 



American Pie is the iconic 1999 coming-of-age teen comedy written by Adam Herz, directed by Paul Weitz, and starring Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Seann William Scott, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Alyson Hannigan, Shannon Elizabeth, Natasha Lyonne, Tara Reid, Mena Suvari, Eugene Levy, and Jennifer Coolidge. Chris Owen, Christina Milan, Casey Affleck, and Eli Marienthal have more minor supporting roles, and the members of the band Blink 182 have cameo appearances. 

The movie is set in the fictional town of East Great Falls, Michigan, and centers around a pact made by a group of friends in their senior year of high school (Biggs, Klein, Nicholas, and Thomas) to lose their virginity by prom. The film launched the careers of the younger actors (most of whom were in their early to mid-twenties when the movie was filmed, except for Thomas) and helped revive the careers of Eugene Levy and Jennifer Coolidge. It is primarily a raunchy comedy with more serious moments between various comedic moments. While all the cast members do a great job in their roles, Hannigan and Levy steal most of the scenes they are in. 

The 4k set is a two-disc set from the UK containing a UHD disc and a regular blu-ray disc. The UHD disc includes both versions of the movie, the theatrical and unrated versions. The UHD disc is region-free and will play on US (Region A) players. The regular blu-ray is region-locked to Region B and appears to be coded so it will not play on region-free players. When I put it in my Region 2 player, the blu-ray disc loaded to the menu, and although the menu page had sound, when I tried to play the movie or the bonus feature, no sound came out. The only extra on the UHD disc is the original DVD commentary track featuring Herz, Weiz, Biggs, Scott, and Thomas. All the other extras are on the regular blu-ray. Most of them are carried over from the original DVD release (such as the outtakes, music videos, trailer, etc.). However, not all of the bonus content from the original release is included. There are a couple of new featurettes included specifically for this release, but as I said, none of those played with sound. The A/V quality of the movie on the UHD disc is outstanding and is a significant upgrade from the DVD.

The movie is good and holds up relatively well even after twenty-six years (as of this writing). There are certainly things in the film that probably would not be included or significantly changed (like the scrambled porn scene, the webcam scene, etc.) if the movie were made today. Some of the themes in the film are timeless to growing up and will remain true forever. The movie is definitely raunchy (it really revived the raunchy teen comedy genre) and has a lot of sexual content and dialog, although only one real nude scene (in which Shannon Elizabeth is topless). The unrated version of the movie is nearly identical, with the only real change being to the pie scene to make it raunchier than in the theatrical version. Ultimately, the movie is good, even if it is a bit dated. This release could have been better if all the extras had been put on the UHD disc. If you are in the US and don't care about watching the bonus content, it is worth the pickup since the UHD disc will play on your player. If you want the bonus content, you may want to wait and see if the movie gets a US release.