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The Cosmic Man, a review by GSyren

Title	The Cosmic Man (Disc ID: 772F-262A-76FD-BFEE)
Director	Herbert Greene
Actors	John Carradine, Bruce Bennett, Angela Greene, Paul Langton, Scotty Morrow
Produced	1959 in United States
Runtime	73 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles	None
Overview	Look up to the stars... for we are not alone! First THE COSMIC MAN arrives in a strange spherical spaceship. Is he here to destroy the world or bring it peace? Humanity stands in the balance in this powerful and engaging sci-fi saga with John Carradine, inspired by The Day the Earth Stood Still.
My thoughts	As I may have mentioned before, I have a great affection for 50's genre films. I blame Forrest J Ackerman for this. And shame on you if you don't know who that is. Anyway, The Cosmic Man is one of these films, and one that I had never seen before. People have compared it to The Day the Earth Stood Still
My rating

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on February 20th, 2014)

The Inglorious Bastards, a review by Achim

Original Title: Quel maledetto treno blindato
Title: Inglorious Bastards
Year: 1978
Director: Enzo G. Castellari
Rating: NR
Length: 99 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles:

Stars:
Bo Svenson
Peter Hooten
Fred Williamson
Michael Pergolani
Jackie Basehart

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Trailers
Featurettes
Interviews

This movie surprised me quite a bit. I expected a mindless 70s war film with heaps of action. What I got was, still heaps of action, but not quite that mindlessly presented! Top of the list is the fact that in this one everybody speaks their tongue; the Germans speak German, the French speak French (sure, it's a bit of a stretch that Bo Svenson's character's German is supposed to fool the Germans, but hey, at least they try!); and that without subtitles

I also enjoyed a lot the honesty with which the mistakes they made were presented, which would get them into trouble time and again. The crown jewels if this is the mistake that gets them into the suicide mission.

Another part I thought was different to other films was the (admittedly: small) attempt to through in some drama elements, such as the German soldier who is tired of the killing and wants to get out himself.

Unfortunately the reviews I had previously read turned out to be quite true. Severin did a great job with the visual elements of the films; considering it's source it looks surprisingly good. However, the audio really stinks and could have used some better authoring.

While it may have been original inspiration (Jimmy will find other words for this) for Tarantino (among other war films, I am sure), they merely share the title (minus one letter difference) and the premise for the plot.



(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 9th, 2009)

Charmed Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

Disc 1:

1. Still Charmed & Kicking
Presumed dead, the Charmed sisters start a demon-free existence with new identities, but Paige can't escape her Whitelighter instincts and answers the call of a young witch named Billie.

My Thoughts:
A decent season opener. Even though I know why they had to do it the way the did... I didn't care much for the whole "disguise" phase at the beginning of this season. We get our first look at the new witch in town, Billie. Even though she is left as a mystery in this episode. Finally we get extras on a season of Charmed. And this particular episode has a commentary track with Kaley Cuoco who plays Billie... the newest addition to the Charmed family.

2. Malice in Wonderland
The Charmed Ones come to Billie's rescue when she tries to stop Haas, a young demon who wants to lure the sisters out of hiding and take over the Underworld.

My Thoughts:
Another decent episode. In this one Billie joins up with the Charmed Ones.

3. Run, Piper, Run
When Piper's adopted appearance as a woman wanted for murder gets her arrested, the sisters and Billie set out to clear the woman's name.

My Thoughts:
This was a good episode. First time in my memory that the main storyline didn't involve demons. They are actually trying to right a human wrong.

4. Desperate Housewitches
Piper's son, Wyatt, is kidnapped by Mandi, a demon in disguise who wants to use the boy's powers to bring back The Source and create the perfect demon family.

My Thoughts:
This was a good episode. Probably my favorite episode on this disc. In this episode The Charmed Ones finds out that Magic School has been taken over by demons. And they need to once again deal with The Source. At least this time it was settled in only one episode.

(From Charmed Marathon on July 15th, 2008)