DVD Collectors Online

Pal Joey, a review by Antares

Pal Joey (1957) 55/100 - Everything that you could possibly hate in a portrayal by Frank Sinatra is in abundance in this quasi-musical. Sinatra is stuck in his Maggio character from his Oscar winning performance in From Here to Eternity, but whereas that performance was fitting to the screenplay, his turn as lounge lizard Joey Evans is one non-stop, grating bit of fantasy. Whenever I see Sinatra play one of these somewhat cocky, tough guys, I always think of those Hollywood parodies that Looney Tunes would do, caricaturing him as a stick thin weakling. Throughout this film, I was waiting for someone, even Rita Hayworth, to cold-cock him and make him fold like a cheap suit. The rest of the cast seem to be sleepwalking through their performances also, as Rita Hayworth looks old beyond her years at the time, and the ever somnabular Kim Novak looks like a deer in the head lights. The only redeeming part of this film is the soundtrack, which features a few of Sinatra's best songs, including The Lady is a Tramp. The rest is garbage.

What the color coding means...

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on October 12th, 2013)

Millennium Actress, a review by Tom

Title: Sennen Joyu (Millennium Actress)
Year: 2001
Director: Satoshi Kon
Rating: PG
Length: 83 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese: DTS 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Stereo, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Japanese Voices
Miyoko Shoji
Mami Koyama
Fumiko Orikasa
Shozo Izuka
Syouko Tsuda

Plot:
Millennium Actress has the stylistic sophistication of Perfect Blue with the empathy, warmth and truth of Spirited Away.

A gorgeous, theatrical animation from the maker of anime classic Perfect Blue and last year's adorable Tokyo Godfathers. MILLENNIUM ACTRESS begins as a TV crew track down 70-something screen goddess Chiyoko Fujiwara. Chiyoko begins to tell her life story, at which point she literally steps into the past, dragging the confused crew into her memories - one moment they're discussing dramatic art, the next dodging bullets in the midst of a movie as the boundaries between film, memory, fact and fiction become a breathless blur. Chiyoko's history is depicted as a series of screen roles in which she appears as a feudal princess one moment, a lonely astronaut the next, endlessly chasing a lost love across the millennium. This stunning plunge through the centuries is testament not just to the pleasures but also the great strengths of animation: the many ages of screen goddess Chiyoko are achieved not with dubious CGI but artfully drawn. Playing with subjective and objective realities and richly textured with swooningly beautiful imagery, the film is a mental and visual anime feast.

Extras:
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

I bought this, because I stumbled across this when browsing amazon.co.uk. It sounded interesting and it was cheap.
The animation is beautiful, the story is an interesting blend of reality and fiction. While the title-giving actress tells about her past, the interviewers are sucked into her world by having her movie roles and her real life search for a lost love mixed together into the surreal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpGrD5wUzKE

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on May 1st, 2009)

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

21. Primeval (2000-05-16)
Writer: David Fury (Writer)
Director: James A. Contner
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Seth Green (Oz), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Marc Blucas (Riley Finn), James Marsters (Spike), Leonard Roberts (Forrest Gates), Amber Benson (Tara), Bailey Chase (Graham Miller), Jack Stehlin (Dr. Angelman), Conor O'Farrell (Colonel McNamara), George Hertzberg (Adam), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Lindsay Crouse (Maggie Walsh), Bob Fimiani (Mr. Ward), Jordi Vilasuso (Dixon)

A good episode, but I am a little disappointed with this showdown. I never really liked the Adam arc.

Rating:



22. Restless (2000-05-23)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Writer)
Director: Joss Whedon
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Seth Green (Oz), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Marc Blucas (Riley Finn), James Marsters (Spike), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Amber Benson (Tara), Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall), David Wells (Cheese Man), Michael Harney (Xander's Father), George Hertzberg (Adam), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Seth Green (Oz), Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder), Sharon Ferguson (Primitive), Phina Oruche (Olivia), Rob Boltin (Soldier)

In the past I never really liked this episode all that much. I was always disappointed, that instead of a good two-part series finale we got this coda episode.
But taken as a stand-alone episode, this one is really great and this time around I really enjoyed it. This is one of Joss's experimental episodes. In my opinion he captured the dream sequences great. They did feel like real dreams with all the constantly changing circumstances. Also nice that we got to see some old faces like Oz, Olivia and Snyder. And nice that we got to see the actor who was playing Adam without the makeup.

Rating:

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on September 26th, 2009)