DVD Collectors Online

The Squid and the Whale, a review by Silence_of_Lambs

Summary:
Based on true childhood experiences The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys (Owen Kline and Jesse Eisenberg) dealing with their parents' (Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels) divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.

My Thoughts:
Got this film as part of a boxset that was less expensive than the other movie would have been if bought seperately.

It is, as I learned a highly praised movie and the winner of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
It too is a film that tries to capture life as it is and it turns out that "life" is mostly dull, boring and banal.
The acting of all participants is great, sadly the plot cannot compete with the capabilities of the cast. It took all my mental powers to get through this movie and I was extremely annoyed in the end.
But Jeff Daniels is giving us a pseudo-intellectual college teacher that would rescue the whole film if this role wouldn't be so dislikeable that you'd wish for brass-knuckles should you ever meet this guy in real life.
Two very annoying plausibility-leaks (out of many more):
1) The younger brother (about 10 years old!) gets caught twice with a beer can in his hands (once by his older brother, once by his father) and this results in ... nothing.
2) In 1986 the attempt to say that the Pink Floyd song "Hey You" (from the quite unknown album "The Wall") was written by yourself, is so obviously doomed to fail that no one with a working brain would have tried this. Walt (the older brother) does this, and even wins a poetry contest (until he gets caught some time later)

So my rating is 5 stars for the acting 0 stars for the plot. In total this is

My Rating: (out of possible 5)

(From Michael's random reviews on January 10th, 2011)

Night of the Living Dead (2006), a review by addicted2dvd

Night of the Living Dead (2006)
In this all new 3-D remake of the popular 1968 horror classic, Barb and her brother Johnny arrive late for the burial of their aunt and walk straight into a nightmare!

My Thoughts:
While not terrible... this has to be my least favorite version of Night of the Living Dead. I found I really didn't care for any of the characters. And I just couldn't get into the storyline they put to this version. I also think they could have went heavier on the blood and gore. It was pretty minimal considering it is a zombie movie. Really... the more I sit here thinking about it as I type this... the less I enjoyed it. As I am having a hard time trying to think of what I did enjoy about it. This is one that I don't think I would bother getting on DVD.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: On Demand on May 21st, 2010)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Planetes: Complete Collection (2003/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia (United States) Length: 650 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Commentary, English

---

Plot:
In 2075 AD, regular commercials flights can take you to cities on the moon or space stations orbiting the Earth but there exists a threat that may seem trivial but left unchecked can prove fatal: space debris.

This is the story of the Debris Section of the space station ISPV-7 who diligently collects orbital debris to keep space travel safe. Hachirota "Hachimaki" Hoshino, an Experienced EVA (extra-vehicular activity) worker, toils away at his thankless job, hoping to one day own his own spaceship.


Planetes
1.01 Outside the Atmosphere
Writer: Makoto Yukimura (Created By), Ichiro Ohkouchi (Screenwriter)
Director: Goro Taniguchi
Cast: Original Japanese Main Cast), Kazunari Tanaka (Hachirota "Hachimaki" Hoshino (voice)), Satsuki Yukino (Ai Tanabe (voice)), Ai Orikasa (Fee Carmichael (voice)), Takehito Koyasu (Yuri Mihairokoh (voice)), Aikou Ogata (Philippe Myers (voice)), Tetsuo Goto (Arvind Lavie (voice)), Ryou Kamon (Dolf Azaria (voice)), Kumiko Watanabe (Claire Rondo (voice)), Maiko Ito (Edelgard Rivera (voice)), Masayo Kurata (Lucie Ascham (voice)), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Kho Cheng-Shin (voice)), Norio Wakamoto (Gigalt Gangaragash (voice)), Kyoji Kobayashi (Narrator (voice)), Original Japanese Guest Cast), Nana Yamaguchi (Fadlan's Daughter (voice)), Atsushi Kisaichi (Colin (voice)), Mika Kanai (Sia (voice)), Hiroyuki Shibamoto (Father (voice)), Megumi Urawa (Mother (voice)), Takeshi Kusao (Pickpocket (voice)), English Voice Cast), Kirk Thornton (Hachirota "Hachimaki" Hoshino (voice)), Julie Ann Taylor (Ai Tanabe (voice)), Wendee Lee (Fee Carmichael (voice)), Jamieson Price (Yuri Mihairokoh (voice)), Doug Stone (Philippe Myers (voice)), Steve Schatzberg (Arvind Lavie (voice)), Michael McConnohie (Dolf Azaria (voice)), Lia Sargent (Claire Rondo (voice)), Kate Higgins (Edelgard Rivera (voice)), Michelle Ruff (Lucie Ascham/Sia (voice)), Steve Jay Blum (Kho Cheng-Shin (voice)), Dave Mallow (Narrator (voice)), Dorothy Fahn (Noppo (voice)), Jessica Gee (Kone (voice)), Tony Oliver (Yankees (voice)), Barbara Goodson (Fadlan's Daughter (voice)), Crispin Freeman (Colin (voice)), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Female Solicitor (voice)), Lex Lang (Father (voice)), Karen Strassman (Mother (voice)), Christopher Smith (Pickpocket (voice)), Bob Papenbrook (Director (voice)), Steve Kramer (Additional Voices (voice)), Dave Wittenberg (Additional Voices (voice)), Mari Devon (Additional Voices (voice))

A series I enjoyed but not necessarily something I will revisit. This episode has good animation and is a good introduction, but nothing really special.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 24th, 2012)