DVD Collectors Online

Quantum of Solace, a review by Achim

Title: Quantum of Solace

Year: 2008
Director: Marc Forster
Rating: PG-13
Length: 107 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio: English: DTS HD Master Audio, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Other

Stars:
Daniel Craig
Olga Kurylenko
Mathieu Amalric
Judi Dench
Giancarlo Giannini

Plot:
On a nonstop quest for justice that crisscrosses the globe, Bond meets the beautiful but feisty Camille (Olge Kurylenko), who leads him to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a ruthless businessman and major force within the mysterious Quantum organisation. When Bond uncovers a conspiracy to take control of one of the world's most important natural resources, he must navigate a minefield of treachery, deception and murder to neutralise Quantum before it's too late!

Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers
Featurettes
Music Videos

The bad news is that this doesn't quite feel like a real Bond film (yes, I know they say it's supposed to build up to the third one, but I thought the first one felt more like Bond than this...). However, The good news is that it's a solid action film with a decent plot to go with it. The villain is not very strong in this one (part of what makes it less Bond-like, I guess) but it's more about Bond getting closure with the things that occured in Casino Royale.

Many people complained about the action scenes. While I agree that they could have used a wide angle shot here and there to clarify a little better what and who was where, I could follow the proceedings sufficiently and had no bigger problems with them. Also the music, or better the lack of the theme, gets a lot of flak. Here, I'll go with the group that says that Bond is not "worthy of the theme" in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace just yet, which they will therefore (hopefully) correct in the next one. We do get the theme with the end credits in both films...

I really liked M in this one, how she could see the "Bond-to-be" behind the rampaging idiot (for lack of words the word filter won't catch). Bond's switch from vigilant to professional field agent was nicely compressed into one short moment within the big fight towards the end. Also Felix Leiter develops very nicely. The reference to Goldfinger feels rather odd.

The ending was very good, that final exchange between Bond and M is very enjoyable.

Now, I keep hearing that this is building up to be a trilogy. But how...? What's missing? I don't see it ; I didn't really find any big loose ends when the credits rolled. What am I missing.


seems I enjoyed it more than I should have...

(From James Bond Marathon on June 22nd, 2009)

The Evil Dead, a review by addicted2dvd

Evil Dead
In the summer of 1979, a group of Detroit friends with $375,000 raised from local investors headed for a cabin outside of Morristown, Tennessee to make a film about five college students possessed by an ancient 'Book of the Dead.' The filmmakers' goal was to create 'The Ultimate Experience in Grueling Terror,' a movie so relentless that it would stand forever as a landmark in modern horror history. When it was released in 1982, it was immediately recognized worldwide as one of the most ferociously original horror films ever made. Twenty years later, this is THE EVIL DEAD like you've never seen or heard it before.
THE EVIL DEAD is now more grueling than ever, featuring newly restored state-of-the-art digitally remastered picture and sound, and loaded with incredible new extras, all personally supervised by director Sam Raimi.

This edition comes packaged in a replica of the original Book Of The Dead designed by Tom Sullivan. It features a sculpted 'fleshy' cover and pages of artwork produced exclusively for this edition. Also includes a special 24-Page "Bringing The Dead Home For Dinner" collector's booklet.

My Thoughts:
This is another movie I always liked. It is good for both it's gory horror and to a lesser extent it's comedic presence (Comedy much more prevalent in the sequels). While I did like all three of the Evil Dead movies... this first one remains my favorite of the bunch. The majority of the gore on this movie is more in an unrealistic fun way then anything else. But for what it is... it makes for an enjoyable viewing experience. Until watching this movie today... I completely forgot it wasn't until part 2 that Ash lost his hand. For some strange reason I was thinking that happened in this movie.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Gore-Fest on June 12th, 2009)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Caused by Nirrti's experiments a tumor is growing in Jonas's brain and it's growing fast. But this tumor has a side effect: Jonas has flashes of future events that come true. But the tumor also endangers his life.

My Opinion: I stand corrected, they pick up the story of Jonas's DNA again. But the episode was average. Went to a planet, helped a people, killed a Goa'uld, departured.

Synopsis: Daniel appears to both Skaara and Jack to warn them that Anubis will come to Abydos to find the "Eye of Ra". This would allow him to build a powerful weapon. SG-1 wants to forstall him.

My Opinion: A good conclusion to the Abydos storyline, I especially liked the reunion of Jack and Daniel. What amazes me with these stories is where these super-weapons always come from. It's highly unlikely that none of the other System Lords tried to find it, especially when two of the "Eyes" belonged to Ra and Osiris. Ra has been dead for a while and Osiris was out of the game for more than a millennia. Apophis who also possessed one should have been more than interested to get these, yet his former First Prime Teal'c didn't even know they existed.
Anyway, the episode was good, particularly because they didn't defeat Anubis in some surprising way.

The Season - My Opinion: The season was mixed. Jonas brought new life into the team and I liked him end-to-end. But there were a number of episodes I didn't like that much and I even liked the clip show Disclosure more than (for example) Shadow Play. But they still managed to create a good enemy, after the "abdication" of Apophis.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on April 13th, 2008)