Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews

[dfmorgan]

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Year: 2006
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Cast: Riisa Naka, Takuya Ishida, Mitsutaka Itakura
Overview: What would you do if you could "leap" backward through time? When tomboyish 17 year old Makoto Konno gains this ability after an accident in her high school chemistry lab, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. Before long, however, she realizes that even innocuous changes can have terrible consequences. Changing the past is not as simple as it seems, and eventually Makoto will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future for herself and her friends.

Featuring brilliant character design by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and stunning visuals by long time Studio Ghibli Art Director, Nizo Yamamoto, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a feast for the eyes as well as the heart.

Watched: 27th Feb 2010
My Thoughts: A wonderful film, one that I will have to watch again soon as I am sure that I missed some details due to my watching it late evening. I initially wondered what was going on as one logo after another came up at the start, in fact I think there were 10 logos including 3 for different parts of Kadokawa, but then the film began and that was it. It took a little time to get going just to set characters and scenes for future events and developments but this was necessary. The animation was bright and colourful with attention to detail where required. The voice acting matching, in general, the charaters as represented on-screen although the maniacal laughter and crying did grate a bit but not enough to upset the viewing.
I don't think I've said this before but foreign language films I will always try to watch in their original language with English subtitles and this was no different. I may update this review after I view the film again as I don't intend to leave it too long before doing so.

My Rating: Wonderful film so 5

Dave

[dfmorgan]

Gunbuster: The Movie

Year: 2006
Director: Hideaki Anno
Cast:
Overview: As humanity sets out for distant space, a squadron of Machine Weapons is created to combat the onrushing opposition of the Space Monsters! To avenge her father's death and to win victory for all mankind, Noriko Takaya, scouted for her potential, joins her "Oné-sama," Kazumi Amano, aiming to become an elite pilot—a "Top"!
Presented for the first time in HD, the theatrical release version of the classic OAV created by Hideaki Anno & Studio GAINAX (Neon Genesis Evangelion), is the first half of a diptych that concludes in DIEBUSTER The Movie!

Watched: 28th Feb 2010
My Thoughts: After "The Girl who Leapt Through Time" I decided to watch a classic anime with time as one of its major themes.

Some background notes: I have previously seen Gubuster, in its original 6 episode series, on both VHS and the poor DVD produced by Kiseki in the UK and toyed with the idea of getting the remastered DVDs but eventually put that idea on the back-burner and it propmtly went out. My taste for anime has recently been reactivated so I have been looking around for titles, even though I have missed many original releases and now have to look on amazon marketplace or play traders for them. When I saw that there was a limited edition BD box-set of Gunbuster: The Movie, its sequel Diebuster: The Movie and a bonus disc I decided that I would get it, amazingly at what I consider a reaonable price on amazon marketplace.

Now to the film itself: This feature length film is an abridgement of the original series using the original animations but with an improved Dobly Digital 5.1 sound. The use of original animations does show in places with dust and grain apparent in many areas but somehow, probably because the subject is so good, it doesn't detract from the film and the 5.1 sound adds to the overall effect. My memory didn't let me down this was as good as I remembered and still managed to bring a tear to the eye. In reducing the 180mins of the series down to a 95mins film the producers have managed to cut out much of one of the items this series became famous for The Gainax Bounce although they couldn't do much with the leotards that the girls were wearing.

My Rating: 

Dave

[dfmorgan]

Diebuster: The Movie

Year: 2006
Director: Kazuya Tsurumaki
Cast:
Overview: In a future where the Space Monsters resume their invasion of the Sol System, the abilities of young men and women known as the Topless, and their Buster Machines, are mankind's final line of defense! One day, runaway girl Nono sets out for the capital to become a space pilot, and meets the fighter ace Lal'C...neither realizing that the future of humanity rests on the both of them!
Presented for the first time in full HD, the theatrical release version of the long-awaited GUNBUSTER sequel OVA (aka GUNBUSTER 2) from the director of FLCL is the second half of a diptych that started with GUNBUSTER The Movie!

Watched: 1st Mar 2010
My Thoughts: Like Gunbuster: The Movie this film is an abridgement of the original 6 episode series Diebuster (aka Gunbuster 2). This is the first time I've seen this, in either form. The setting for this film is within the time-frame covered by Gunbuster. An excellent film which has made me place an order for the original 6 episode series as well as going for the R1 remastered Gunbuster series.

My Rating: 

Dave

[dfmorgan]

The Good the Bad the Weird

Year: 2008
Director: Kim Jee-woon
Cast:
Overview: Set in the 1930's Manchurian desert where lawlessness rules, three Korean men fatefully meet each other on a train. Do-Won (Jung Woo-sung - The Warrior) is a bounty hunter who tracks down dangerous criminals. Chang- yi (Lee Byung-hun - GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra) is the leader of a group of tough-as-nails bandits. Tae-goo (Song Kang-ho - The Host) is a train robber with nine lives. The three strangers engage in a chase across Manchuria to take possession of a map Tae-goo discovers while robbing the train. Also on the hunt for the mysterious map are the Japanese army and a horde of marauding bandits. In this unpredictable, escalating battle for the map, who will stand as the winner in the end? Forget Indiana Jones and The Man With No Name and experience the incredible, the original, the outrageously unpredictable The Good The Bad The Weird!

Watched: 3rd Mar 2010
My Thoughts: And now for something completely different. After half a dozen animated films thought that I ought to do a live-action one again. Can't get much different than a Korean Western I enjoyed this film very much with its nodding references to Spaghetti Westerns. In some areas I was reminded of films that I used to enjoy going to see like Terence Hill and Bud Spencer films. The chase/shoot-up sequence set to Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood. a remix I think of the Santa Esmerelda version, was glorious. In fact I'm sure I've heard that music in another film but can't place it at the moment, was it a Tarantino film   ?

I loved the final sequence

Spoiler (hover to show)

with its The Good, The Bad and The Ugly shootout.

My Rating: A glorious 4

Dave

editied to answer own question above

Spoiler (hover to show)

Yes it was Tarantino - Kill Bill Vol 1

[Jon]

I love that version of Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood!

[Achim]

I don't think I've said this before but foreign language films I will always try to watch in their original language with English subtitles and this was no different. I may update this review after I view the film again as I don't intend to leave it too long before doing so.

I do the same and there are almost no exceptions to the rule. I once bought the Artisan release of Black Mask and due to lalc of an original soundtrack have never watched it. In one occasion I even double-dipped because the subtitles on trhe original release were sub-par (Let the Right One In).



I forgot about the The Good, The Bad and The Weird and should try to find it before long.

[dfmorgan]

Outlander

Year: 2006
Director: Howard McCain
Cast: Jim Caviezel, Sophia Myles, Jack Huston, John Hurt
Overview: As an age old battle rages amongst the stars, Kainan's ship burns brightly as it crash-lands into the Nordic coast. His space ship comes to rest in the fjords of ancient Norway and it's with dismay that Kainan (JIM CAVIEZEL) realises that he is not the only survivor, as a second passenger, the Moorwen, also emerges from the wreckage.
A hellish, fire-breathing monster, the Moorwen is intent on causing havoc and destruction to those it has perceived to have wronged it. As the Moorwen kills everything in its path, Kainan must work together with a tribe of fierce warring vikings to destroy the blood thirsty beast before it kills them all.

Watched: 4th Mar 2010
My Thoughts: Thought I'd watch a less cerebral film this time. A good old action science fiction fantasy. This did not disappoint me, it was nothing more than expected with no real shocks in the story line. One question I asked myself, not that I will ever get an answer, was why did such an advanced race have such a hurtful method of transferring data?

My Rating: A watchable 3

Dave

[Achim]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS (just being safe...)


When I heard a podcast review of this they pointed out one interesting point. While Jim Caveziel's characters seems hunted by the monster on earth and gets our sympathies, when we see a flashback it's revealed that in fact he had been about to make that monster race extinct without obvious purpose.

Would you confirm that or do I remember this entirely wrong?

[dfmorgan]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS (just being safe...)


When I heard a podcast review of this they pointed out one interesting point. While Jim Caveziel's characters seems hunted by the monster on earth and gets our sympathies, when we see a flashback it's revealed that in fact he had been about to make that monster race extinct without obvious purpose.

Would you confirm that or do I remember this entirely wrong?

Yep Achim, your memory is good. There was a purpose though, which does come out in the film, and Jim Cavaziel's character does apparently regret his earlier actions but by then it is too late.

Dave

[dfmorgan]

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Year: 1951
Director: Robert Wise
Cast: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe
Overview: A spaceship lands in Washington, D.C., capturing the attention of the world. But the peaceful alien emissary (Michael Rennie) it brings fails to earn the public's trust. When a young woman and her son befriend him, they soon realise they may be all that stands between the human race and total destruction.

Watched: 5th Mar 2010
My Thoughts: Time for a classic. Still wonderful to watch and to see the way that simple actions generated fear in the people and how hysteria spreads. This was mainly due to the way the film was made and due to the immediate post-war and beginnings of the cold-war era when the film was made. Klaatu, Barada, Nikto.

My Rating: Magnificent 5

Dave

[Antares]

Klaatu, Barada, Nikto.

That strange sound you just heard was Gort blasting you with his laser! By not giving him all the words in correct sequence, he sees you as an enemy and potential threat and you are disintegrated.  

It's Gort, Klaatu barada nikto  

Good review. Glad to see someone else here besides Jon and I delving into films pre-1980's.  

[dfmorgan]

Klaatu, Barada, Nikto.

That strange sound you just heard was Gort blasting you with his laser! By not giving him all the words in correct sequence, he sees you as an enemy and potential threat and you are disintegrated.  

It's Gort, Klaatu barada nikto  

Good review. Glad to see someone else here besides Jon and I delving into films pre-1980's.  

 

Ever so sorry Gort. Please forgive me.

  Antares, I need to obtain more classic '50's like When Worlds Collide, This Planet Island Earth etc.

Dave

Edited to correct film title

[Antares]

Forbidden Planet, Them!, The Thing from Another World, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and This Island Earth are great DVD's to pick up.


You might want to check out this website...

Brian's Drive-In Theater

This site has a treasure trove of info from that time period. 

[Jimmy]

Glad to see someone else here besides Jon and I delving into films pre-1980's.  

I watch mostly pre eighties films, I just don't review most of them here

[dfmorgan]

Forbidden Planet, Them!, The Thing from Another World, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and This Island Earth are great DVD's to pick up.


You might want to check out this website...

Brian's Drive-In Theater

This site has a treasure trove of info from that time period. 

  Thanks gain Antares, looks like a very interesting site.

Dave