DVD Collectors Online

The Last Samurai, a review by DJ Doena

Ken Watanabe    ...    Katsumoto
Tom Cruise   ...    Nathan Algren
Tony Goldwyn   ...    Colonel Bagley
Masato Harada   ...    Omura
Timothy Spall   ...    Simon Graham
Shichinosuke Nakamura   ...    Emperor Meiji
Shin Koyamada   ...    Nobutada
Hiroyuki Sanada   ...    Ujio
Shun Sugata   ...    Nakao
Koyuki   ...    Taka

Synopsis: Captain Algren is a war veteran and a drunk. But then the japanese offer him 3 years of Captain's pay for 6 month of work. His job is to train the new japanese army in the use of firearms. But although it isn't ready this new army has to fight against the acient protectors of Japan: the Samurai. Many die in that battle and Algren gets captured by the leader of teh Samurai: Katsumoto. During the winter he stays with them and learns about them. When he returns the next spring he has become a Samurai.

My Opinion: Another great movie about honour. I admire strong yet honourable warriors, that's why I love the Klingons in Star Trek (from The Next Generation onwards) and the Jaffa like Teal'c in Stargate SG-1. The movie was a bit unrealistic in regards to wounds (especially Algren's) but the battles were great. I adore the Samurai Katana. When I learned that Ken Watanabe would play the general in Letters from Iwo Jima I was excited.

(From The "What I watch when I don't watch TV shows" thread on June 20th, 2008)

Die Another Day, a review by Tom

Title: Die Another Day
Year: 2002
Director: Lee Tamahori
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 127 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital Surround EX, English: Dolby Digital Surround EX, German: DTS ES (Matrixed), Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Commentary, English, German, Trivia, Turkish

Stars:
Pierce Brosnan
Halle Berry
Toby Stephens
Rosamund Pike
Rick Yune


Extras:
Commentary
Featurettes
Multi Angle
Music Videos
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Storyboard Comparisons
Trailers

This Bond movie seems to take a lot of heat. But I tought it was a good entry. Great car chase, Halle Berry as Jinx and a lot of nice references to previous Bonds ("Here a new watch. When I am correct the twentieth" - Q paraphrased).

Of course there are some points, which are bad and probably are the main reasons, why this movie is not liked that well:
1) An invisible car: The fact that it can turn invisible is totally ridiculous and not needed for the story at all.
2) Probably the worst theme song of the franchise.
3) Holo-goggles: Plays no part in the story at all and are too Star Trek for Bond. And the ridiculous Moneypenny scene at the end. Too bad that it was this scene, Moneypenny was last seen (so far).
4) Too much bad and obvious CGI. Bond is known for having great real-live stunts. In the past we often got bad blue-screen inserts. But to have so obviously bad green-screen effects in this day and age is sad.

Rating:

(From James Bond Marathon on June 12th, 2009)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

EPISODE 9: LISTENING TO FEAR
A spider-like Queller demon arrives in Sunnydale and begins killing mental patients at the hospital just as Joyce is admitted for her surgery.

My Thoughts:
This was a decent episode... though I do not know where whoever wrote the above overview for the episode got that it was a spider-like demon. Other then the fact that it could crawl on walls/ceilings... it looked more like a giant beetle then a spider. And it's head kinda reminded me of the X-Files episode The Host... the leech creature they discovered.

EPISODE 10: INTO THE WOODS
Certain that Buffy doesn't love him the same way he loves her, Riley finally decides to confront her and offer her one last opportunity to give their relationship a chance.

My Thoughts:
And this is the last we see of Riley for a while. If I remember right he does come back for 1 single episode. This one... to me... was not a bad episode... but really wasn't anything special either.

EPISODE 11: TRIANGLE
While Giles is in England trying to uncover information about Glory, Willow and Tara accidentally summon up an angry troll who used to go out with Anya.

My Thoughts:
This one is another of those fun episodes... played more for laughs then anything else... or just as much for laughs at least. It is a pretty cool episode... I liked how Anya and Willow kept at it throughout the episode... trying to pull Xander in the middle of it all.

(From Buffy the Vampire Slayer Marathon on November 24th, 2007)