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106 of 112 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Blues Brothers Collection, 28 Jan 2006
Firstly, a quick overview of what you get in this 4-disc set.Disc 1 - The Blues Brothers (as previously released). Disc 2 - Blues Brothers 2000 (as previously released). Disc 3 - The Best of the Blues Brothers (as previously released). Disc 4 - The Blues Brothers: Anniversary Edition (previously unreleased). I'll be honest, I bought this set simply for the films. The first one is excellent in my opinion, with great comedy, wit, writing, and amazing music. The second is more of a guilty pleasure. Not being as well-made as the first, the songs and comedy are all of the same excellent standard, the songs in particular being very enjoyable, as all the musicians from the original (and then some!!!) are back. The musical talent on display in these first two discs is incredible for those who appreciate music. Discs 3 and 4, I didn't really know what I was getting here. I was pleasantly surprised with both though, especially disc 3. This features original live concert footage of the band performing when it was just an act on 'Saturday Night Live' back in the late '70s. Soul Man in particular is brilliant, and I'm told it went on to become a number 1. You can see why the Hollywood execs gave them backing for a film off the strength of the performances here! Disc 4 is just a special edition of The Blues Brothers, but has a nice set of extra features unavailable on the original release (disc 1). Among these are an informative tribute to John Belushi, which really help appreciate more what kind of man he was and the close off-screen relationship he developed with Aykroyd. Also included is a fantastic song-selection feature, which I use a lot! Highly recommended package, and the price is a bargain for what you get!
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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"They wont catch us, we're on a misson from God", 16 Sep 2006
Disc 1: The Blues Brothers (1980)
The film begins with Jake Blues (John Belushi) being released from federal prison, waiting for him is his brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd.) Their first stop is the orphanage they grew up in run by a group of nuns. They are informed that the church has stopped donating funds to run the orphanage, and unless they can pay up $5000 in 11 days it will be closed down. Jake comes up with an idea to raise the money - put the band together. As the band didn't split up on the best of terms and all went their separate ways its up to Jake and Elwood to find and reunite the greatest rhythm and blues band of all time: The Blues Brothers.
This is possibly one of the funniest movies of all time and almost certainly the greatest and most original musical of all time. The comedy is hilarious and rarely do any of the jokes miss their target, this is mainly down to the comedy duo of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, two of the most likeable characters you could possibly watch. The highlight of this movie has to be the songs themselves, coupled with some fantastic choreography and the charisma of the brothers themselves I guarantee each song will have you jumping up and down, singing and dancing along. The list of guest stars is an amazing feat in itself: Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Frank Oz, Steven Spielberg and James Brown to name a few. This movie also managed to break the world record for total number of cars crashed in one of the most over-the-top comedy scenes in the history of cinema only beaten by its sequel Blues Brothers 2000.
It's fair to say this could be the best feel-good movie of all time. It will have you laughing out loud as well as singing along to each and every song. Of course this being a DVD you can simply skip to the next musical number, but why would you want to do that? It's an almost impossible thing to do, one look at those legendary black suits and hats will make watch this movie from start to finish: the comedy moments are fantastic and the car chases superb and stunning musical numbers. If it wasn't for the language I'd recommend this movie to every one of all ages.
Disc 2: The Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
The sequel begins very similarly to the first one (which to honest can be said for most aspects of this movie) but this time it's Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) who is released from prison, but this time no one is waiting. He is informed that his brother Jake died while in prison. Just like in the first, Sister Mary needs his help, but this time to raise money for a children's hospital. And yes, you guessed it, to raise the money he attempts to put the band together, but this time he has his sight set on the big prize at a battle of the bands contest. To help him on his quest he enlists the help of soulful bartender, Mighty Mac (John Goodman) who is more than willing to come along for the ride.
To say "all the elements of the first film are here" is a bit of understatement, this movie is almost exactly the same as the first, with about seven scenes being exact copies but with a far less compelling storyline and unfunny comedy. This movie feels empty without the charisma and comedy talent of John Belushi: John Goodman is little consolation with only a fraction of Belushi's wit and charm. The only real redeeming feature of this movie is the songs, still not as good as the original, but the songs themselves do give relief from the otherwise dire screenplay.
Fans of the original will most likely hate this movie, but it is still worth a watch. The sequel is definitely more family-orientated with a PG certificate, but if you honestly had to choose one of the films to watch the first would win every time.
Disc 3: The Best of the Blues Brothers (1993)
A documentary on how a Saturday Night Live sketch leads to the creation of possibly the greatest blues band of all time, presented by Dan Aykroyd. It includes the rare footage of John Belushi performing his sketch on SNL that inspired the whole idea of the band as well as some of their many fantastic on-stage performances. Sadly the death of John Belushi is pushed aside in the documentary, it would have been nice to hear more about his life and give you something to remember him by. The documentary itself is quite dull, the musical numbers being the main redeeming feature, but it's worth a watch nevertheless.
If you're looking for any music by the band I recommend purchasing The Definitive Blues Brothers Collection, a fantastic CD with all the songs from the first movie plus many more. If you are ever in bad mood, stick this CD on and I guarantee you'll cheer up as you sing along to the many blues classics.
I'd recommend this set to any lovers of comedy, blues music, John Belushi or Dan Aykroyd, its certainly great value for money with the quality (of the first movie mainly) and the rare documentary on the third disc.
Sam
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
not all there, 25 July 2006
I agree with what the other reviewer said about this. However I feel I should point out that I ordered this edition and turned out it was 3 discs- the blues brothers films and the best of. The anniversary edition disc was not included.
It doesn't matter that much but I think that probably comes in the set released in june 2006.
But as movies go the blues brothers is a classic film and had the four disc version not been released you would probably not miss it. I don't think it's worth chasing up the four disc set with the amount of things on the 3 discs
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