DVD Collectors Online

L'avventura, a review by Antares

L'avventura (1960) 60/100 - Lot's of pretty people, lots of pretty shots and lots of time wasted on lots of nothing. It's very rare that I can't wait for a film to end, but this definitely was one of them. Too bad, because I felt that the first 40 minutes showed potential for a very good film. But once they gave up looking for Anna, it becomes meandering and meaningless. I think what bothered me most was how abruptly things would shift from one scene to another. First they're looking for Anna, then when they can't find her, Sandro fixates on Claudia. Claudia, doesn't want to have anything to do with Sandro, but in a blink of an eye, she's madly in love with him. My rating is only for Monica Vitti and for the wonderful cinematography, the film's only saving graces.

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 February 1st, 2013)

WALL•E, a review by Dragonfire

WALL-E My Thoughts I thought I had posted about this one here before, but I can't find it if I did. So my Pixar marathon continues with WALL-E.  I loved the movie when I first saw it and I still love it.  Presto is the animated short that played before the movie.  This one features a magician having some problems with his rabbit.  It is a bit more silly than some of the other Pixar shorts, but I really like it.  I think the silliness works perfectly for it.  WALL-E is probably the most different movie Pixar has made.  The main character is a run down robot who can only say a few words.  For most of the movie, there isn't any dialog.  I wasn't bothered or bored by that aspect of the movie and think it works perfectly for the story.  WALL-E is one of the most expressive characters I've ever seen.  He displays more emotion than many human characters in other movies. The relationship that develops between him and EVE is really sweet.  I love when they are basically dancing through space around the ship.  That scene is beautiful.  The story for the movie isn't that complicated, but it ends up working very well.  Time is taken to set up the situation and make it clear that WALL-E is alone except for cockroach friend.  He's been doing his job for hundreds of years and is the only robot left still working.  Things start to get a bit more complicated once EVE shows up and starts running tests.  The story does have a bit of a message, but I think it is delivered without getting preachy.  Some of what happens is more serious, but there are a lot of funny moments.  Many of the things that made me laugh are tied to WALL-E trying to figure out what things are when he finds different things, like a fire extinguisher.  He is fascinated by items he finds and hauls some of it back to the trailer that is his home.  It is so cute when he starts showing EVE different things from his collection.  Robots - at least those two - find bubble wrap irresistible too. The animation is amazing.  All the piles of trash look very realistic.  There is this...haze hanging over the city that impacts the look of things.  Everything on Earth has a sort of dirty, worn out look.  EVE and the ship have a more streamlined and sleek look, which emphasizes the contrast.  The images of space look amazing.  After picking up some of the other Pixar movies on Blu-ray, I decided to get the Blu-ray of WALL-E too.  The picture quality is absolutely amazing.  More details in the background are visible.  The different textures for some things really stands out.  I never noticed how reflective EVE was before.  The movie looks gorgeous on Blu.  I didn't watch the extras, though it looks like they are the same ones that were on the DVD version I have, including The Pixar Story.  The animated short BURN-E is really cute and it ties in with the movie. This is a wonderful movie that definitely deserves to be seen. I did post a review on Epinions back after I saw the movie in the theater. WALL-E

(From Dragonfire88's Alphabet Marathon on July 4th, 2010)

Caroline in the City Marathon, a review by Tom

Caroline and the Married Man (1996-01-11)
Writer: Wil Calhoun
Director: Tom Cherones
Cast: Lea Thompson (Caroline), Eric Lutes (Del), Malcolm Gets (Richard), Amy Pietz (Annie), Andy Lauer (Charlie), Beau Gravitte (Tom Barna), Tom La Grua (Remo), Jessie Jones (Receptionist)

Average episode. Beginning of the unrequited love of Richard.



Caroline and the 28 lb. Walleye (1996-01-25)
Writer: Ian Praiser, Carol Gary
Director: Tom Cherones
Cast: Lea Thompson (Caroline), Eric Lutes (Del), Malcolm Gets (Richard), Amy Pietz (Annie), Andy Lauer (Charlie), Paul Castree (Chris Duffy), James Callahan (Mayor Paisley), Patrick T. O'Brien (Councilman Hardy), Beth Wishnie (Lindsay), Patricia Gaul (Mrs. Baerwald), Earl Holliman (Fred Duffy), Mariette Hartley (Margaret Duffy)

A good episode. Caroline gets a park in her hometown named after her, but her brother steals her thunder as usual.



Caroline and the Watch (1996-02-01)
Writer: Mark Wilding
Director: James Burrows
Cast: Lea Thompson (Caroline), Eric Lutes (Del), Malcolm Gets (Richard), Amy Pietz (Annie), Andy Lauer (Charlie), Rose Marie (Stella Dawson), Morey Amsterdam (Vic Stansky), Robert Cesario (Mr. Dunn), Beans Morocco (Minister)

The opening titles change with this episode. Sadly they have done away with the little animated comic strips which they did for opening each episode.
Also new is that in this episode Caroline got the new work desk. Which means that finally Richard and Caroline can work at the same time

(From Caroline in the City Marathon on September 16th, 2008)