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Finding Nemo, a review by Rogmeister

Finding Nemo  2-Disc Collector's Edition

Marlin (a clown fish) is a widower who only has his son Nemo left of his family after a predator attack. Years later, on Nemo's first day of school, he's captured by a scuba diver and taken to live in a dentist office's fish tank. Marlin and his new friend Dory set off across the ocean to find Nemo, while Nemo and his tankmates scheme on how to get out of the tank before he becomes the dentist's niece's new pet.

This is one of those movies that you hear so much about that you find yourself surprised at how long it's taken you to get around to watching it. This movie got glowing reviews when it came out and I always meant to watch it but never did...until now.

The first thing I noticed about the movie was the stunning visuals. This movie looks absolutely gorgeous with unbelievably vibrant colors. The story moves along quickly (as most animated films are wont to do as they're usually 90 minutes or shorter as this one is). Sometimes you rack your brain for most of these animated movies trying to figure out who did the voices but I luckily didn't have to do that. I already knew that Ellen Degeneres did the voice of Dory (and she has the funniest dialogue in the movie) and I recognized right away the voice of Albert Brooks who provided Marlin's voice.

Nemo meets a lot of different kinds of sea creatures in this movie...I had to laugh at the very thought of a shark intervention. The shark's name is Bruce which I found funny since most people remember that that's what the tech people called the shark when they were making the movie Jaws. I found the jellyfish sequence rather exciting and it reached quite an exciting conclusion. I absolutely loved this movie and I'll probably find myself watching it again before too long. Maybe I'll watch it with the commentary sometime. They have a special visual commentary where, if you use that option, they'll actually interrupt the movie to take you on the scenes to see how some sequences came to be.

As with many Disney special editions, this is a 2-disc set. One disc has the widescreen version and the other has the full-frame version and they divide the extras between the two discs. It's a movie I would heartily recommend.

(From Roger's Random Reviews on July 6th, 2009)

Rope, a review by Achim

Title: Rope
Year: 1948
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: PG
Length: 81 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Mono, Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono, French: Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Dick Hogan
His Friends
John Dall
Farley Granger
Their housekeeper

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers
Featurettes
Gallery
Production Notes

I remember watching this many years ago but I didn't remember that is was this awesome. Great direction by the master (the reveal of the dinner table, the swinging kitchen door partly concealing the view, the reveal of the books Mr. Kentley wants to take home), good acting and sharp dialog make this a pleasure to watch. And that despite the fact that it all looks a bit fake, just like theater, due to the fact it plays out in real time and the few cuts that are there are made invisible by smart camera movement (Hitchcock wanted the film to be entirely without cuts but was restricted by the length of a camera magazine being approx. 10min).

Nice touch how they kept changing the painted background slightly each time it became visible to make it's static nature less obvious.



(From Alfred Hitchcock Marathon on July 2nd, 2009)

"Friends" Marathon, a review by Rogmeister

Friends, Season Two continues...

The One With Russ--While being on the outs with Ross, Rachel starts dating Russ, someone who looks and acts amazingly like him (both played by David Schwimmer). 

This is a funny episode, especially when Ross and Russ are together.  And in the end, while Russ is at the coffee shop, Ross's former girlfriend Julie shows up...and is quickly smitten with Russ!

The One With The Lesbian Wedding--Ross's ex-wife Carol and Susan decide to get married. 

Phoebe is even wackier than usual in this episode where she is apparently possessed by the spirit of an elderly Jewish woman.  Marlo Thomas makes her first appearance on the show as Rachel's m other in this episode.

The One After The Super Bowl--This one aired after the annual Super Bowl l(d'uh) so it's an extra long episode and lots of storylines...Joey being stalked by someone who thinks he is really his soap opera character, Ross is reunited with his onetime pet monkey Marcel, an old schoolchum of Chandler's gets revenge on him and Monica and Rachel fight over actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.

This could also be called The One With All The Guest-Stars as, besides Van Damme, we also have Brooke Shields, Chris Isaak, Fred Willard, Dan Castellneta, and Julia Roberts.  It drags a bit, in my opinion (due to its length) but also has some very funny moments.

(From "Friends" Marathon on July 25th, 2009)