DVD Collectors Online

Bab el hadid, a review by Danae Cassandra

Where We Are:  Egypt
wikipedia

What We Watched:


Bab el hadid (Cairo Station)
Year of Release:  1958
Starring:  Youssef Chahine, Hind Rostom, Farid Shawqi, Hassan el Baroudi
Directed By: Youssef Chahine
Genre:  Drama, Suspense/Thriller, Film Noir

Overview:
As shocking today as it was in 1958, Cairo StationCairo Station was unlike anything anyone had seen on movie screens before.

My Thoughts:
What a great film!  It has everything - great cinematography and lighting, a gritty realistic look, and solid acting from its players, most especially Chahine himself.  In fact, Chahine's performance as Qinawi is stunning.  You have a great sympathy for him while still being repulsed by his sexual obsessions and fearful of his instability.  Other stories weave themselves into the main one (the workers unionizing, Qinawi's boss following a murder story in the paper, a young couple in love forced to part) adding to the tapestry of Cairo Station.  Yet we never lose sight of Qinawi and the tragedy that is his life.  Brilliant, vivid, and dark, I would recommend this to any fans of film noir or Hitchcock. 

Bechdel Test:  Pass, barely

Overall:  4.5/5

(From Around the World in 86 Movies on February 16th, 2013)

Category 6: Day of Destruction, a review by addicted2dvd

Category 6: Day of Destruction (2004/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Lions Gate Home Entertainment (United States) Director: Dick Lowry Writing: Matt Dorff (Writer) Length: 173 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles:

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Stars:
Thomas Gibson as Mitch Benson
Nancy McKeon as Amy Harkin
Chandra West as Rebecca Kerns
Brian Markinson as Chris Haywood
Nancy Sakovich as Jane Benson

Plot:
Nature strikes out with unfathomable fury as the unimaginable becomes a terrifying reality. Three twisters descend upon Las Vegas leaving a neon wasteland in their wake. Hurricanes tear through the Gulf Coast without warning. Record-high temperatures scorch the northeast. One-hundred-mile-an-hour winds tear across the south. Lightning storms ignite the sky. Wildfires blaze out of control. For Amy Harkin, a budding Chicago anchorwoman looking for her big break, the fear of these weather anomalies is second only to the dread of the inevitable repercussions: rolling coast-to-coast blackouts and the dwindling sources needed to revive them. With the worst power breakdown on record looming, an overload could cripple the nation and leave the entire population in the dark, without communication and vulnerable to unthinkable dangers.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Bonus Trailers
• Closed Captioned

This is a TV miniseries... and as it is with most tv movies and miniseries there is some familiar faces from other Television shows in it. In this case we have Thomas Gibson (Dharma & Greg) and Nancy McKdon (The Facts of Life). It is a good story and I definitely enjoyed it. But that being said it could definitely been better. I found that while some of the storm effects were cool... others was really lacking. I also found I just didn't care about some of the characters. But over all it is worth the watch. This one did get a sequel miniseries (Category 7: End of the World) which I enjoyed even more then this one.



(From Within My Lifetime: 2016 Edition on February 14th, 2016)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

The Muppet Show: Season One (1976/United Kingdom) IMDb | Wikipedia Buena Vista Home Entertainment (United States) Length: 604 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 1 Subtitles: English, Trivia

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Plot:
It's time to raise the curtain on The Muppet Show! Join Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, the Swedish Chef and more, in the first season of this groundbreaking twist on the classic variety show. Contains all 24 episodes, which have been completely restored and remastered. The Bonus features also include something you were never meant to see: Jim Henson's original "pitch reel" that propelled the Muppets' blend of original songs, sketch comedy and guest stars into a primetime hit for all ages! Come discover for yourself the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational pleasures of The Muppet Show: Season One!


The Muppet Show
1.01 Episode 1.1
Writer: Jack Burns (Writer), Jim Henson (Writer), Jerry Juhl (Writer)
Director: Peter Harris
Cast: Juliet Prowse (Special Guest Star (uncredited)), Frank Oz (Muppet Performer (voice)), Richard Hunt (Muppet Performer (voice)), Dave Goelz (Muppet Performer (voice)), Eren Ozker (Muppet Performer (voice)), John Lovelady (Muppet Performer (voice)), Jim Henson (Muppet Performer (voice))

I always enjoyed the Muppet Show. Early episodes have the problem, that there still had no so famous guest stars. But enjoyable nonetheless.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 10th, 2012)