DVD Collectors Online

Lisa and the Devil, a review by Jimmy

Title: Lisa and the Devil (1973)

Genre: Horror
Director: Mario Bava
Rating: Unrated
Length: 1h35
Video: Widescreen
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Telly Savalas
Elke Sommer
Silva Koscina
Alessio Orano
Eduardo Fajardo

Plot:
Telly Savalas and Elke Sommer star in this surreal tale that unfolds as both waking dream and elliptical nightmare, a lush and disturbing meditation on love, death, identity and the machinations of evil. Now recognized as Il Maestro's final masterpiece, LISA AND THE DEVIL has been fully restored and remastered from the original camera negatives recently discovered in a Rome lab vault.

This is one of those movies that get better after each viewing and to be honest this movie is a visual masterpiece. There are so many beautifull image in it like the mannequin, the image of Leandro in the broken wine bottle, the Sophia's dress movement when she's killed or the sleeping beauty awakening in the forest. The score is so wonderfull and romantic that I would like to get it one day, it fits perfectly in the dream like mood of this film. The acting is quite good also, some of it looks weak but you understand the reason why at the end. Talking of the end, this is certainly a good and surprising one... Without selling it I can say that the meaning of it (at least for me) is that you can't change the past whatever you try to do. This film was a box office failure and this is probably because it was badly marketed as an horror movie since this isn't really one, but more a romantic film with a supernatural approach.

Rating :

(From Mario Bava marathon on July 24th, 2009)

Holiday in Handcuffs, a review by addicted2dvd

Holiday in Handcuffs (2007/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Gaiam (United States) Director: Ron Underwood Writing: Sara Endsley (Writer) Length: 90 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles:

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Stars:
Melissa Joan Hart as Trudie Chandler
Mario Lopez as David Martin
Tim Bottoms as Dad Chandler
Markie Post as Mom Chandler
June Lockhart as Grandma

Plot:
A ne'er-do-well thirty-something (Melissa Joan Hart) attempts to appease her family by kidnapping an attractive boyfriend (Mario Lopez) for the holidays. Despite unlikely oddsand dysfunctional family moments, the two fall in love and share a magical Christmas.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Bonus Trailers
• Interviews

This is one I wanted to check out as I am familiar with both the main stars. I found it to be a fun, entertaining film. One I found to be worth the time put in to watch it. It is an unusual idea... but I like the way it works. Recommended.
 


(From Christmas 2016 on December 16th, 2016)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Kira is being abducted from Bajor and brought to Cardassia. When she awakes there she looks like a Cardassian. She is told that the real Kira died during the occupation and that she is an operative of the Obsidian Order who has replaced the real Kira. But why would the Cardassians go to such great lengths to convince her of that ridiculous story?

My Opinion: This was a very good story. I liked it how she became friends with "her father" despite him being a Cardassian. Kira has certainly grown since her early days on the station. And it's again fascinating to watch "the simple tailor" Garak and how simply orders two cardassian warships to stand down and "forget" their encounter with the Defiant.

Synopsis: Quark buys some salvaged wreck parts. But then he finds a stasis chamber which contains an infant of an unknown species. Dr. Bashir finds soon out that there's something wrong with that (extremely fast growing) child. He seems to be genetically engineered yet there is an obvious flaw that makes him dependent of a non-replicatable drug.

My Opinion: The concealing of the true identity of the alien was well done, I liked that. Too bad that the Jem'Hadar has been portrayed very one-dimensional in this episode. But since I know that we'll see more deeper characterizations in the future I will argue that he was to young and has seen too few of the world to oppose his genetical programming.

Synopsis: When O'Brien and Jake Sisko try to purge a program from the ore processing centre computers they accidentally activate a security program. It was designed to prevent bajoran workers from taking over DS9. And every time they can break through another barrier more parts of the station get locked down until the program initiates the self-destruct.

My Opinion: This episode I enjoyed. Every time "Gul Dukat" announced another containment level I was like "Oh no, what now?" And it became even more interesting when the real Dukat entrapped himself on the station, too. The drawback of such episodes is that main characters rarely die on most shows. Thus you aren't really worried about them. It's no coincidence that Star Trek coined the term "redshirt".

Synopsis: Despite the threat that the Dominion represents the Defiant is on a survey mission in the GQ. There they discover a planet that shifts into our dimension every sixty years. But the time it remains here grows shorter with every cycle. Jadzia falls in love with one of the citizens there and thinks about staying.

My Opinion: I really like Jadzia. But this is the second episode in this season centered on her and the second I didn't find that interesting. The side-plot of Quark trying to get a holographic image of Kira was much more interesting. And especially what Kira and Odo were doing about Quark's attempts.

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on October 18th, 2008)