DVD Collectors Online

Rudderless, a review by Antares

Rudderless (2014) 82/100 - A couple of weeks ago, before we watched Boyhood, my wife and I watched some of the obligatory preview trailers that come with every disc. One of the trailers was for William H. Macy's directorial debut film, Rudderless. I happened to blurt out that it looked interesting and my wife agreed. Tonight, she came home with a copy and to be honest, I couldn't remember the film or the trailer. I instantly went to the web to refresh my memory and was surprised at what I found. On both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic it had received paltry scores, so I was a bit reluctant to sit through it. As I was watching it, I was reminded of the Coen Brothers film, Inside Llewyn Davis, another film which had music play an important part of the narrative. While I had high expectations for that film, it left me somewhat cold in its delivery and in the end, I found it underwhelming at best. This film, which I had gone into with a substantial amount of trepidation, completely grabbed me... go figure. I think the difference can be attributed to having a main character that you can actually enjoying being with, as opposed to an annoying pain in the ass. Another feature of this film that really shines are the songs written for the band. They are well constructed, soul searching songs that would do any songwriter of merit proud. I honestly believe that the soundtrack will eventually be more popular than the film.

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 13th, 2015)

Rocky IV, a review by Tom

Title: Rocky IV
Year: 1985
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Rating: PG
Length: 98 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English, Hindi

Stars:
Stu Nathan
Sylvester Stallone
Talia Shire
Burt Young
Carl Weathers

Plot:
East meets West when Rocky takes on a vicious Soviet fighter who literally killed his last opponent! Sylvester Stallone writes, directs and stars in this war between nations in which the only battle is fought in a boxing ring. Rocky (Stallone) proudly holds the world heavyweight championship, but a new challenger has stepped forward: Drago (Dolph Lundgren), a six-foot six-inch, 240-pound fighter who has the backing of the Soviet Union. This time, Rocky's training regimen takes him to icy Siberia, where he prepares for a globally-televised match in the heart of Moscow. But nothing can truly prepare him for what he's about to face - a powerfully charged fight to the finish in which he must defend not only himself, but also the honour of his country!

Extras:
Scene Access

Now it's getting ridiculous. It begins with this stupid robot Rocky has bought. And the first fight with Drago, I felt like Drago did: "WTF is going on? Are the Americans crazy? Stupid Las Vegas "America is great" show".
And of course in American sports, world equal US. See the newspaper article they were showing "Russians invade US sports". Is the heavy-weight champion of the world restricted to the US?
And the end: Rocky wins over the all-Russion crowd? Huh?! And morale hitten over our heads with the hammer: "When I can change and you can change, everybody can change!"
Even the fight was not exciting. In the other movies, I was never 100% sure, if Rocky was actually going to win. But in this one I knew from the beginning, that they would not let Rocky loose against the Russian.

I must admit, I was on He-Mans side

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on March 8th, 2009)

"Big Bang Theory" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: The two theoretical physicists Leonard and Sheldon get a new Neighbour: Penny, a waitress in The Cheesecake Factory. And suddenly two galaxies begin to crash into each other.

My Opinion: I liked the series from the beginning, all these cultural references gave me a happy. But I also liked the small details like Howards' belt buckle (this time a Nintendo gamepad --> look out for it, it changes from episode to episode!) and the "table of elements" shower curtain.

Synopsis: After he's seen the chaos that is Penny's appartment, Sheldon cleans it (and Leonard helps him) during the night while Penny's sleeping. Naturally she freaks out when she realizes what they've done.

My Opinion: I think every episode of the first season is funny as hell, so no point repeating it over and over again. The  best scenes of this episode were the discussion about Lois Lane's fall and the re-design of the IKEA media center.

Synopsis: After having no luck with Leslie, Leonard tries to ask Penny out to a date. But she totally misinterprets the invitation, thus not considering it a date.

My Opinion: I recognized Sarah Gilbert (Leslie; Darlene in Roseanne) at once but I needed a friend to really open my eyes. I didn't think I knew Johnny Galecki (Leonard) from anywhere until my friend pointed out that he played Darlene's friend David on Roseanne.

Synopsis: Sheldon gets canned after he's insulted his new boss in his very own - and typical - way. But he uses his time off to invent new things the world was waiting for, e.g. a luminous fish as a night light.

My Opinion: First Sarah and now Laurie Metcalf (Jackie in Roseanne). It's like family reunion. I am wondering where the authors get all these ideas, e.g. to make a physicists weaving his own poncho. It's hilarious. I also find it terribly funny when Sheldons asks things or answers to questions with no regard to the appropriateness.

Synopsis: After they been practicing with their classical instruments, Leonard sleeps with Leslie and is now torn between his fantasy about Penny and the prospect of having a real relatuonship with Leslie.

My Opinion: And again it's Sheldon and his not having a clue about social conventions that makes me laugh the most ("Message received!"). But the entire banana scene was also really great.

Synopsis: Penny invites the four - Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Raj - over to a Halloween party and Leonard hopes that he can present himself in another light during that party.

My Opinion: Nerds. All the costumes were great and also the commentaries about them (Flashs walk in row; hobbit vs. elf; Robin Hood vs. Peter Pan) and I also really liked the closing scene.

(From "Big Bang Theory" Marathon on September 23rd, 2008)