DVD Collectors Online

The Watcher, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: The Watcher
Year: 2000
Director: Joe Charbanic
Rating: R
Length: 97 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
James Spader as Campbell
Marisa Tomei as Polly
Keanu Reeves as Griffin
Ernie Hudson as Ibby
Chris Ellis as Hollis

Plot:
Keanu Reeves ignites this action-packed, "superbly crafted thriller that zooms along like a sinister video game of hunter and prey!" (Richard Roeper, EBERT & ROEPER AND THE MOVIES)

After years of pursuing psychotic killers in Los Angeles, FBI agent Joel Campbell (James Spader) wants out. And now his nemesis, serial killer David Allen Griffin (Reeves), has tracked him all the way to Chicago just to torment him. Before each murder, Griffin sends Campbell a photograph of his intended victim and dares him to find her before he strikes again. Now, with every tick of the clock, and amidst pulse-pounding action, this stone-cold killer turns up the heat. Co-starring Oscar®-winner * Marisa Tomei, this game of cat and mouse will have you gasping for breath from its first terrifying frame until its final explosive conclusion!

* 1992 Best Supporting Actress, My Cousin Vinny.

Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers
Production Notes
DVD-ROM Content

My Thoughts:
This is a movie I bought blind (Never even heard of the movie before) when I found it in the Walmart bargain bin. It is definitely not the best serial killer movie I ever seen. But it is an entertaining movie. I liked most the cast in this movie... even if it didn't seem to be their best work. I also liked the storyline... but was expecting a little more from it. While it is worth watching... there is just something I can't put my finger on that is missing from the movie.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Anything Goes on February 28th, 2010)

City of the Living Dead, a review by Jimmy

Title : City of the Living Dead (1980)

Overview
The Seven Gates of Hell have been torn open, and in 3 days the dead shall rise and walk the earth. As a reporter (Christopher George) and a psychic (Catriona MacColl) race to close the portals of the damned, they encounter a seething nightmare of unspeakable evil. The city is alive - with the horrors of the living dead!

My Impression
Now this is more what I expect from a Lucio Fulci's movie... This one is his best horror film after The Beyond and The New York Ripper (of course this is my oppinion). The story can be complicated to understand in the first viewing, so it's necessary to watch it 2 or 3 times to really appreciated it. The Living Deads are more frightening in this film, as in The Beyond, than in their American counterpart. They doesn't beat you by their number, they aren't dumb (for a dead person of course), they don't care about eating you (they just want to rip off your brain) and they can teleport themselves (it certainly look like that). The special effects are top-notch and really effective (the death scenes of Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Daniela Doria are two classic). You will see many familliar visages in the cast : Catriona MacColl (The Beyond), Christopher George (Day of the Animals), Venantino Venantini (Cannibal Ferox), Michele Soavi (director of Dellamorte Dellamore), Janet Agren (Eaten Alive), Perry Pirkanen (Cannibal Holocaust), Michael Gaunt (at least for me since he appeared in 15 adult movies that I own) and, of course, Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Daniela Doria. The score from Fabio Frizzi is effective (particullary the theme used when the living dead appear). The only critic as usual is the dubbing of the italian actors who sound too forced and unnatural.

Rating :



(From Jimmy's 2009 Horror Marathon on October 13th, 2009)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: The Gokusen: The Complete Collection
Year: 2003
Length: 325 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo , Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Plot:
Kumiko Yamaguchi is the heir to the Oedo Yakuza family, but it's her dream to teach the youth of Japan. Putting aside her Yakuza cunning, she takes up the role of a normal bubbly graduate, landing a high-school teaching job. Now Kumiko is determined to understand the teenage mind, teach higher math and maybe carry on a little romance... yet she lives with the fact that her loyal army of brutal hitmen capable of murdering disobedient students are only one step away.

Extras:
Outtakes
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

Yesterday, after having received this series, I wrote, that I only bought it, because it was cheap. It seemed like a series, which could be interesting but had a high chance to totally miss my taste (after watching the opener below before buying it seemed to make this impression to me). I was wrong! It was 12 bucks very well spent! Now only one day later I have already watched all 13 episodes almost in one sitting.
This series is about a young female rookie teacher who starts in a school full of rowdy high schoolers. What nobody knows, she is actually part of a feared Yakuza (Japanese mafia) family and she is one of the best fighters there is. But she has to hide this side of herself at school to not get fired as a teacher, which is her life's dream. The problem is, her students always seem to get in some kind of trouble.
Now I am sorry that there are only 13 episodes

Rating:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2s7TAuASCJ8

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 22nd, 2008)