Braveheart / Gladiator (DBFE)

The item arrived very quickly, only days after I ordered it. I was very pleasantly surprised by how quick it was. I reccomend Amazon anytime you want something. Item was also brand new as described. Why these two movies were packaged together I don't know, because there's not much similarity about them at all, that I can see. Both movies involve tyrant leaders and politics, but that's about the only similarity I can see. Joaquin Phoenix is the best thing about Gladiator. To watch him play such a dark and evil character and make him interesting as well as whimpy, and the incestuous love he has for his sister...I don't know why it's fun to watch, but it's kind of an unusual character. Now that I've seen Gladiator and listened to the commentary by Russel Crowe and Ridley Scott, I know a lot more about the way things worked in the ancient Roman times and the kind of brutality that was acceptable. It's a shame to think that people used to actually pay people to cut each other up and that people considered that entertaining. That's very sad. Gladiator is a pretty educational movie if you're interested in history, though most of what you'll learn won't be pleasant things. Braveheart is about the Scottish trying to prevent the English from destroying them, and there's a subplot about a homosexual prince who is forcefully married to a heterosexual princess and there's a lot of drama about why their arranged marriage can't work. I don't understand why the princess has so much hatred and contempt for her homosexual husband--illustrated in a line, after she's said his father the king is "incapable of mercy", she says to her husband "And you. To you that word is as unfamiliar as love."--as if she should have expected him to love her when she knew the marriage was forced on him. I can understand not wanting to be friendly with someone whom you were forced to be with. I don't know why she thinks she has a right to resent him for that. Just because he didn't love *her* doesn't mean that he was unfamiliar with love or incapable of love or didn't know what love means. That's the only thing in Braveheart that I don't understand.

In this twin-pack you get the same 2-disc, BD cases of the Sapphire Series-version of these movies sold separately at a higher price - no slim cases or anything of the sort. The Braveheart part of this twin-pack is the same old, reference quality version - no point discussing that one - so my review will focus mainly on the confusion of Remastered vs Old (DNR-laden) version of the Gladiator BD.First of all, you can confirm which version you have with Paramount at 888-889-9456, as opposed to trusting rumours being spread by guessing folks :).The first thing they ask you is if the UPC label is all yellow (remastered, new version) or white (old version). This seems now also the only necessary "proof" of having the new version - I suppose they don't ship new versions with white UPC anymore.Also, regarding the alphanumerical sequence on the inside of the back of Disc 1, it can be a number of combos that indicate the new version - not only the B1R2 (remastered) vs B1R1 (old version) - so you are better off just giving them what you have and they will cross check it for you. I have the Remastered version and my disc has "BVDL-103860B1" on it, which is also a CONFIRMED way to tell the remastered version apart from the old one.Furthermore, there was a mention of the new version having the title "Gladiator" on black letters vs gold letters for the old version - NOT TRUE, as I have a gold-titled BD and it is a remastered copy.The new version also NO LONGER has the white security sticker at the top of the case. And then there is the "2-Disc Set" above the Paramount Logo at the back (right bottom corner) on the new, remastered version.And the final test, of course, would be to check if you can see the arrows and catapult ammunition in flight without them disappearing into thin air during the first battle scene of the movie.Bottom line is, if you are still in doubt, just call Paramount :)

This review deals with the issue of the delivery of remastered copy of the Gladiator BD with this bundle. I got my copy of the BD bundle from Amazon about Sept. 14 2011 and are as follows:1. "Gladiator" in the opening credits is in BLACK wording, so it should be the re-mastered one, as the reviewer Aaron suggested.2. Both DVDs of Gladiator in the set are light grey,3. There is a Yellow UPC,4. There is also '2-DISC SET' above the Paramount logo on the back of casing, as some reviewers suggest.5. Interestingly the year on the BD-DVD itself is 2009 but the year on the case is 2010.6. In the underside of the Gladiator Disk 1, the string of characters are: BVDL- then a six-digit number and 'B1'; this is in the inner circle; in the outer circle is BVDL- then the same six-digit number and 'A1'. That is, there is no more letters after 'B1' and certainly no 'R2'. This seems to be the new string of characters the distributors use.So the new copies Amazon sends with the bundle appear to be the re-mastered ones.

Although these two movies are older, they both did win Movie of the Year Oscars. I have both on DVD so I was waiting for a good price to buy each one separately. To my surprise here they were bundled together.... two movies that I have wanted in Blu Ray for sometime and I also wanted to get a good price and there they were at an unbelievable price for both.... I have watched both movies now in Blu Ray and in both content video clarity (of course) and sound quality are much more enjoyable than the DVD format. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with the original DVD format, but when you can watch these two classics in Blu Ray quality Hi-Def..... considering each movie has breath taking wide angle screen shots.... How could you go wrong with this purchase? Especially at this amazing price. I would highly recommend this set for any movie lover; the value and the fact that they are classic deserving Oscar winners and fabulous price is all the justification you need.

Come on! Who doesn't know this two modern classics! They are staples in any guy's video library! I've waited a long time to get them, but surprise surprise! They came together at less than 10$ per movie! You simply can't beat that!

2 great movies, one low price.

Great movies

Perfect, thank you.