DVD Collectors Online

Jingle All the Way, a review by Tom

Title: Jingle All the Way
Year: 1996
Director: Brian Levant
Rating: PG
Length: 89 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85, Pan & Scan 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Sinbad
Phil Hartman
Rita Wilson
Robert Conrad

Plot:
Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in this hilarious holiday comedy as a father desperate to buy that must-have Christmas toy during a frantic last-minute shopping spree on Christmas Eve.

Howard Langston (Schwarzenegger) has promised his young son a Turbo Man action figure for Christmas, unaware that it's the season's hottest-selling toy. And so begins a frenzied quest that pits Howard against a stressed-out mailman (Sinbad), a sleazy Santa impersonator (James Belushi) and every other harried parent in town, in "the best holiday family film in years." (Don Stotter, Entertainment Time-Out)

Extras:
Closed Captioned
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

A very unfunny comedy. The only highlight is Phil Hartman as the creepy neighbor.
In the first scene, I thought: "Hey, this kid reminds me of this kid in Star Wars: Episode 1. He is just as bad in acting". And then the opening credits came up and it said "Jake Llyod"

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on January 18th, 2009)

Hotel Transylvania, a review by Danae Cassandra

Hotel Transylvania
Year of Release:  2012
Starring:  Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James
Directed By:  Genndy Tartakovsky
Genre:  Comedy, Horror

Overview:
Welcome to Hotel Transylvania, Dracula's lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up and no humans are allowed. One special weekend, Dracula (Adam Sandler) has invited all his best friends - Frankenstein and his wife, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, the Werewolf family, and more - to celebrate his beloved daughter Mavis's (Selena Gomez) 118th birthday. For Dracula catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem but the party really starts when one ordinary guy stumbles into the hotel and changes everything!

My Thoughts:
Another really fun film.  I'm standing by my statement in my review of Paranorman that one of the things Hollywood is doing right these days is animated movies.  The animation is good, the jokes were funny (and only one was a fart joke too!), there was something for kids and adults, and there were several good messages as well (those we fear also fear us, you have to let your children grow up, and you have to have fun to really live).  Sure, there was a lot that was predictable, and it did fall into a trope that I see a lot these days and really don't like (shlub dude gets hot chick*), but overall the faults are unimportant - I laughed a lot and had a good time, and that's what's important in films like this.  Glad to have it in the collection, and I'd recommend it for everyone.

Bechdel Test:  Fail

Overall:  3.5/5

*the reason this annoys me is that I never see the reverse

(From Hotel Transylvania on June 18th, 2013)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Fraggle Rock: Season One (1983/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia HIT Entertainment (United States) Length: 715 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles:

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Plot:
From a fun-loving group of furry subterranean creatures cam: millions of fans, 100 original songs, 96 total episodes, 5 seasons, but only one First Season Boxed Set.

Dance your cares away with the complete first season of Fraggle Rock. Featuring all 24 episodes - never before available on DVD! Filled with all the Fraggley fun you've been waiting for. Share in the music and memories that have kept fans rockin' for more than twenty years!

So save your worries for another day and experience 715 minutes of frag-tastic fun in the ultimate Fraggle Rock collection.


Fraggle Rock
1.01 Beginnings
I enjoyed the Fraggles growing up. I always liked the Builders. Interestingly, Fraggles was localized by having the old man be portrayed by different people and even slightly different characters.
This first episode does a good job introducing us to the setting and the characters.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 19th, 2011)