DVD Collectors Online

The Hard Way, a review by Tom

Title: The Hard Way
Year: 1991
Director: John Badham
Rating: FSK-16
Length: 106 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo, German: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
Michael J. Fox
James Woods
Stephen Lang
Annabella Sciorra
John Capodice

Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers

I nice watch, but nothing really exciting. Michael J. Fox is fun to watch, but I think the movie could have been more.
For some reason I had remembered it being a Bruce Willis vehicle, so I was a little disappointed when pulling the DVD from the shelves. I think this movie could have really been interesting, if it starred Michael J. Fox with Bruce Willis' McClane type of character.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 25th, 2009)

Mahiha ashegh mishavand, a review by Danae Cassandra

Mahiha ashegh mishavand  (The Fish Fall in Love)  
2005, Iran

Aziz returns to his hometown after 22 years away.  He finds that the house he owns has been turned into a restaurant by his former fiance, Atieh.  She and her friends believe he has returned to sell the house.  To convince him to stay, she prepares his favorite dishes and serves them to him each day.  However, their inability to communicate may stand in the way of the love they are rediscovering in each other.

This is the third Iranian film I've seen, the others being Baran and Tam'e guilass (Taste of Cherry), and all of them have had a few things in common:  a slow pace, character driven story, ambiguous ending.  Oh, and all the people look like real people, not like they've all had plastic surgery and the latest Photoshop tricks.  

They're also all ... I guess you'd say "clean" .... they lack the gratuitous sex and violence of Hollywood films.  Yes, I know a lot of people would cry censorship, because I know Iran has codes about what can and can't be made, but I miss the kinds of films where you had a real love story, not just a story about unnaturally pretty people in lust with each other.  Sex and violence have their place in things, but sometimes I want a story without them too.

In case you couldn't tell, I enjoyed this film quite a bit.  It's very low budget, it's slow paced, there's no quick cut camera work or anything fancy.  It's just a nice little slice-of-life story about two middle aged people reconnecting with each other and finding love in their hearts again.  Not for everyone though - the ending is one that you decide for yourself.  I have a friend I could never show this to, because the ending (or lack thereof) would upset her too much.

Oh, and finally ... Atieh's food looks absolutely delicious.  I would eat at her restaurant any time.

Overall: 3/5

(From Danae's reviews on March 24th, 2011)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Lex gets shot while he was diiging up dirt on Jonathan Kent. While he's hanging between life and death he sees a possible future where he has left the old ways behind, he has married Lana and has two children with her. Wouldn't that be nice? But what if something would happen in that future that he only could have prevented with the powers he's had in his former life?

My Opinion: It was an interesting insight into Lex's mind. I don't assume that it was really his mother showing him anything, I believe it was his mind showing him his deepest wishes - and fears. But I also liked the "Santa Clark" part of the story even with the mysterious Santa - but hey, it's christmas!

Synopsis: Jonathan hires Lois as campaign manager to help him running for senate. But Lex is a formidable opponent and he has faithful followers. Even so faithful that they would stop at nothing to make sure Lex becomes Senator. Thus they try to threaten Jonathan and even kill them.
Meanwhile Lana and Clark have an argument again because both are keeping secrets and their relationship is getting nowhere.

My Opinion: That was an OK episode. I wasn't much interested in the assassination plot and it hurts me to see Lana and Clark breaking apart.

Synopsis: A former deputy takes Lex hostage - sort of. Lex can get into his panic room but he's stuck there. The deputy wants to know the location of the spaceship but Lex isn't giving up. But then he also captures Lana. He knows that she was there at the landing, because he was there, too. And now Lex has to make a choice.

My Opinion: I thought it was sad that the sheriff died, she was an interesting character. The actions in this episode will have great ramifications and they weren't even revealed here - I found that very interesting.

Synopsis: Clark decides that he can no longer lie to Lana. He reveals his secret. Everything, from his origins to the "Fortress of Solitude" and he asks her to marry him. Later that day she says yes and Jonathan wins the election. It's a great day, isn't it?

My Opinion: This is a very good and emotional episode. It's also another turning point for the show. Superman mythology demanded that sacrifice and from now on Clark has to make the decisions without his father's advice. It was sad to see John Schneider leave the show but at one point it had to come to this.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on June 14th, 2008)