DVD Collectors Online

Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival, a review by Antares

Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival (1970) 74/100, who seems to be in the story, just to give Ichi a final showdown at the end. He kind of sleepwalks his way through the role, and I felt his presence halted the screenplay when he appeared. There's also a weird action scene in a bathhouse where Ichi defends himself against a dozen naked yakuza. And while the use of water buckets is quite well placed, the scene seems to be just there for shock and giggles. It's definitely a middle of the road offering in the series, but Toho is starting to get it right. Hopefully, the last four films will progress more towards the better Daiei renderings.

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 8th, 2014)

Goosebumps: It Came From Beneath the Sink, a review by addicted2dvd

Goosebumps: It Came From Beneath the Sink
IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SINK
Kat finds a strange sponge under the kitchen sink at her new house, a sponge that has eyes and fangs, that makes bad, unlucky things happen whenever it's around. When Kat, Daniel, and Daniel's friend Carlos get rid of the sponge, they learn from research that whoever finds the sponge and gets rid of it, will die...

STRAINED PEAS
Nicholas has a new baby sister, Grace. But one day she makes a message that says "only me" with her blocks and Nicholas realizes that Grace is no normal baby. She wants to be an only child and she'll do anything to get rid of him...

Brittany's Thoughts:
I personally got a kick out of both episodes. In "It Came From Beneath the Sink", all of the bad luck and stuff was cool, and I liked the ending with the vampire potato, but I really got a kick out of the little bedroom she made for it. "Strained Peas"  was cool too with the killer baby, only it lost me at the end when both babies were that weird, especially showing the first baby's parents. It just lost me.

My Thoughts:
This disc contained 2 fun episodes... I enjoyed them both... but I have to admit I personally enjoyed "Strained Peas" a bit more... it was fun seeing the baby doing all that weird stuff and try to get rid of her older brother. The first episode was good too... but I thought that the look of the sponge was a bit over the top. I did get a kick out of the vampire potato though.

(From Father/Daughter Marathon Review: R.L. Stein on March 23rd, 2008)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: A corrupt cop who witnessed Clark's powers is now blackmailing him. When Clark refuses he frames Jonathan for a murder. Meanwhile principle Kwan fires Chloe as editor of the school paper "Torch" and installs Lana as her successor.

My Opinion: The frame was so obviously fake I don't believe anyone could have really fallen for it. They get an anonymous tip and then they find a body in the middle of the barn, on the ground, unhidden?!? But apart from that I liked the stunts Clark pulled to get back at the dirty cop.

Synopsis: Lex' castle is haunted. A ghost lives there that can move without being seen. But there's also Amy, the daughter of an employee in the mansion. She has a crush on Lex and dislikes his new girlfriend. When the new girlfriend is attacked by the "ghost", Clark and Chloe put one and one together and get three.

My Opinion: The cool thing about this episode is that I always forget that it is the brother and not Amy herself. It was an ok episode.

Synopsis: A very persuasive business man comes to Smallville and plans to open a new plant. But for that he would have to buy the Kent farm. There's also a hermit in the woods who wants to be left alone but also doesn't want to have this business man in his town. But Clark's alliance with Kyle the hermit causes a riff between Clark and Lana who suspects to have been attacked by Kyle.

My Opinion: That episode I really liked because I liked Kyle. I like grumpy people because in the end they always have their heart in the right place. While the fight between Lana and Clark felt a bit constructed I really liked the end scene again when Clark (or was it Lex?) claims that the story their friendship will be the stuff for legends. One regrets that it won't end so well.
They also used the "forgetfulness plot device" for the first time to make Lex forget that he saw Clark's powers.

Synopsis: When Clark tries to rescue to a fellow student both are struck by lightning and through the meteor rocks his powers are transfered to Eric. From now on, Clark is normal and Eric becomes "Superboy". But then he begins to abuse his abilities and Clark has to stop him.

My Opinion: "With great powers comes great responsibility" (Ben Parker, Spider-Man) I really liked it that Clark's nature didn't change just because he had no powers anymore. He still tried to help even when that caused him a few broken rips. Episodes where Clark is incapacitated or otherwise limited are always interesting, yet it conveniently happens always when Lex doubts Clark. I also liked Shawn Ashmore (Iceman, X-Men trilogy) in the role of Eric.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on May 23rd, 2008)