DVD Collectors Online

5 Against the House, a review by Antares

5 Against the House (1955) 59/100 - Has there ever been an actress more vacuous than Kim Novak? To me, when she's on screen, she has the appearance of a deer in the headlights. Yeah, she's beautiful, but man, she has no screen presence whatsoever. The film itself is rather lackluster until the last twenty minutes or so. I found the whole pre-heist build up to be grating, especially the bits with the college freshman. I'm only giving this a passing grade for those last twenty minutes, when the actual heist is taking place. It's a shame that the intensity of that time frame couldn't be spread out a bit more across the whole breadth of the film. But I will say that it was fun to see a pre-Hank Kimball, Alvy Moore. He has some of the best lines in the early part of the movie.

What the color coding means...

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on November 15th, 2012)

Walled In, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Walled In Year: 2008 Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner Rating: R Length: 91 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: English

Stars:
Timothy Allen
Mischa Barton
Darla Biccum
Cameron Bright
Eugene Clark
Mark Claxton

Plot:
In 1993, sixteen bodies were found entombed within the Malestrazza Building, a mysterious apartment complex built by one of the world's most renowned, yet eccentric, architects. The killer was never caught. Fifteen years later, newly graduated structural engineer Sam Walczak (Mischa Barton of THE O.C.) arrives to prepare the site for demolition. But this massive concrete crypt is not entirely empty. Its halls are lined with secrets. Its rooms are filled with fear. And behind its walls, the ultimate horror has lay waiting...until now. Cameron Bright (X-MEN: THE LAST STAND), Deborah Kara Unger (SILENT HILL) and Noam Jenkins (SAW IV) co-star in this saga of terror, torment and shocking twists based on the best-selling novel.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Bonus Trailers
Featurettes

My Thoughts:
This is one I didn't know what to expect from it. Before I bought it in a pile of used DVDs last month I never even heard of it. I watched the trailer first and it looked like it would be a decent movie. And I guess I would say it is a decent movie... but far from a great movie. It starts out as one type of movie... but turns out to be another type... which in of itself is a little disappointing. I did like Mischa Barton in this one. You wouldn't have thought she would have made a convincing demolitions expert but she pulls it off quite well. The rest of the cast felt a bit wooden and forced. Also in my opinion the story needed a bit of polishing bringing it from a best selling book to a movie. It definitely had potential... it just didn't quite pull it off.





Count:
Movie Count: 105 I Made It! (10/28)
TV Ep. Count: 55 I Made It! (10/20)
Other Count: 8 I Made It! (10/15)

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2010 on October 31st, 2010)

Tom's TV Finales marathon, a review by Tom

Azumanga Daioh (2002/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia ADV Films (United States) Length: 650 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:
In Miss Yukari's English class, every day is an adventure.

First off, there's the airhead teacher herself. She may have graduated from high school, but she sure hasn't left. And with the arrival of two transfer students - a ten-year-old prodigy and a space cadet - it's going to be an intersting class! Between handling enormous assignments, dodging murderous volleyballs, and eduring endless rivalries, summer vacation should serve as a welcome break for the weary student - unless your teachers come with you! Getting through three years alive with this motley crew is going to be an adventure!


Azumanga Daioh
Season 1.26 Graduation Ceremony 20.09.2002
Writer: Kiyohiko Azuma (Original Material By), Ichiro Okouchi (Screenwriter)
Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori, Toru Takahashi
Cast: Jessica Boone (Chiyo Mihama), Kira Vincent Davis (Ayumu Kasuga), Mandy Clark (Tomo Takino), Nancy Novotny (Koyomi Mizuhara), Christine Auten (Sakaki), Allison L. Sumrall (Kagura), Luci Christian (Yukari Tanizaki), Monica Rial (Minamo Kurosawa), Tiffany Grant (Kaorin), Hilary Haag (Chihiro), Andy McAvin (Kimura), John Swasey (Principal), Shelley Calene-Black (Announcer), Shelley Calene-Black (Additional Voice), Jessica Boone (Additional Voice), Luci Christian (Additional Voice), Mandy Clark (Additional Voice), Kira Vincent Davis (Additional Voice), donaldo (Additional Voice), Jason Douglas (Additional Voice), Hilary Haag (Additional Voice), Allison L. Sumrall (Additional Voice), John Swasey (Additional Voice), , Tomoko Kaneda (Chiyo Mihama), Yuki Matsuoka (Ayumu Kasuga), Chieko Higuchi (Tomo Takino), Rie Tanaka (Koyomi Mizuhara), Yuu Asakawa (Sakaki), Houko Kuwashima (Kagura), Akiko Hiramatsu (Yukari Tanizaki), Aya Hisakawa (Minamo Kurosawa), Sakura Nogawa (Kaorin), Akane Omae (Chihiro), Koji Ishii (Mr. Kimura), Mamoru Fujimoto (Principal), Naoki Yanagi (Male Student A), Hiroyuki Yoshino (Male Student B), Ryoko Nagata (Female Student A)

A great conclusion to the series. Throughout the 24 episodes we saw the girls going through their three years of Japanese high school. And in this episode they are graduating and it is fairly emotional. This episode suggests that the friendships they have built throughout this series will last even after everyone will go their separate ways.

And I really liked how true to the manga they stayed with this series, even though the manga was a four-panel comic strip and you wouldn't think it would be fitting for such a series.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Finales marathon on January 26th, 2013)