DVD Collectors Online

High Spirits, a review by Danae Cassandra

High Spirits
Year of Release: 1988
Directed By: Neil Jordan
Starring: Peter O'Toole, Steve Guttenberg, Beverly D'Angelo, Daryl Hannah, Liam Neeson
Genre: Comedy

Overview:
Daryl Hannah, Peter O'Toole and Steve Guttenberg star in this gleefully ghoulish comedy sparkling with romance and rollicking with supernatural special effects. Written and directed by Neil Jordan (Interview with the Vampire) and co-starring Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Tilly, Peter Gallagher and Liam Neeson, High Spirits is the most fun you'll have in this world...or the next!

Impoverished Peter Plunkett (O'Toole) hatches the perfect plan to save his debt-ridden Irish castle: lure American tourists by advertising his place as haunted. But when Peter and his staff don sheets and chains to go a-haunting, they scare up more than paying guests...they arouse the real ghosts of Castle Plunkett! And when American tourist Jack (Guttenberg) spies a gorgeous ghost named Mary (Hannah), it's love at first sighting. Now all Jack has to worry about is Mary's murderous spook of a husband...and their 200-year ages difference!

My Thoughts:
This is a fun movie.  Yes, it's goofy and it's silly and the plot is thin and pretty unrealistic.  And it's genuinely funny.  Peter O'Toole is a delight to watch at any time, and Liz Smith is great.  The rest of the cast are decent, if not exactly spectacular.  Maybe goes back to when I first saw this film, but I have a soft spot for it in my heart, and I still enjoy it every time I watch it.

Bechdel Test: Pass

Overall: 3/5

(From Within My (Mom's) Lifetime Marathon on November 16th, 2015)

Critters, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Critters: 4 Film Favorites Year: 1986 Director: Stephen Herek Rating: PG-13 Length: 86 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1, Pan & Scan 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround Subtitles: English

Stars:
Dee Wallace Stone
M. Emmet Walsh
Billy Green Bush
Scott Grimes
Nadine Van Der Velde
Don Opper

Plot:
It's no picnic for the Brown family when a lethal litter of carnivorous aliens arrives unannounced at their Kansas farm. Trapped in a deadly nightmare, the terrified Browns fight for their lives against the attacking bloodthirsty monsters. But it's a losing battle until two intergalactic bounty hunters arrive, determined to blow the hellish creatures off the planet! It's an alien adventure, full of action and just crawling with CRITTERS!

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Bonus Trailers
DVD-ROM Content
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
Well... this one is a real blast from the past for me.I used to watch the Critter movies all the time when they first came out. But this is the first time I seen them in a good 15 to 20 years! I still found this to be a fun and  entertaining movie. The Critters is just a blast to watch... and you can't help but to chuckle at some of the subtitles of what the Critters are saying. After all these years this movie held up rather well for me. I just hope now the next 3 did as well. Though I really can't remember them at all.




Count:
Movie Count: 24
TV Ep. Count: 12
Other Count: 2
Time Started: 10:00am

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2010 on October 8th, 2010)

Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon, a review by Tom

6.01 Bargaining: Part 1
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Marti Noxon (Writer), Joss Whedon (Writer)
Director: David Grossman
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers), James Marsters (Spike), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Franc Ross (Razor), Amber Benson (Tara Maclay), Paul Greenberg (Shempy Vampire), Mike Grief (Klyed), Harry Johnson (Parent #1), Hila Levy (Pretty Girl), Geoff Meed (Mag), Joy DeMichelle Moore (Ms. Lefcourt), Robert D. Vito (Cute Boy), Kelly Lynn Warren (Parent #2)

An okay beginning to the new series. Nothing really special.

Rating:



6.02 Bargaining: Part 2
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), David Fury (Writer), Joss Whedon (Writer)
Director: David Grossman
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers), James Marsters (Spike), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Franc Ross (Razor), Amber Benson (Tara Maclay), Mike Grief (Klyed), Geoff Meed (Mag), Richard Wharton (Homeowner)

Better than the first half. I like the reactions when they realise what they have done to Buffy. They really weren't thinking this through.

Rating:



6.03 After Life
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Jane Espenson (Writer), Joss Whedon (Writer)
Director: David Solomon
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers), James Marsters (Spike), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Amber Benson (Tara Maclay), Lisa Hoyle (Demon)

A good episode. Buffy confides in Spike about where she really was. This was nicely handled.

Rating:



6.04 Flooded
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Douglas Petrie (Writer), Jane Espenson (Writer), Joss Whedon (Writer)
Director: Douglas Petrie
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers), James Marsters (Spike), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Danny Strong (Jonathan Levinson), Adam Busch (Warren Meers), Tom Lenk (Andrew Wells), Todd Stashwick (M'Fashnik Demon), Amber Benson (Tara Maclay), John Jabaley (Tito), Brian Kolb (Bank Guard), Michael Merton (Mr. Savitsky)

An average episode. I like the three geeks, though they haven't much to do here.

Rating:

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on September 19th, 2010)