DVD Collectors Online

Silent Hill, a review by RossRoy

Original Title: Silent Hill Year: 2006 Country: Canada Director: Christophe Gans Rating: 18 Length: 125 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Stereo, French: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English

What they say
Unable to accept the diagnosis that her daughter should be permanently institutionalized for psychiatric care, Rose (Radha Mitchell: 'Man on Fire') flees with her child to the deserted town of Silent Hill in search for answers. It's soon clear this place is unlike anywhere she's ever been. It's smothered in fog, inhabited by strange beings and periodically overcome by a living 'Darkness' that literally transforms everything it touches. Rose begins to learn the history of the eerie town and realizes that her daughter is just a pawn in a larger, terrifying game.

My Thoughts
That was weird, but then, the game is weird too, so, nothing surprising. I haven't played any Silent Hill games much, not exactly the type of game I like. But, I did buy Silent Hill 2 on Xbox and played almost all the way through (according to a friend). And I must say, the movie is very faithful to what I remember from Silent Hill 2. The atmosphere, the monsters, the oddness of the city itself, it's all there. The director did a good job capturing the mood of the game.

As for the movie itself being good, I'd say yes. I enjoyed it. There are a few things that feel forced, but isn't it the case with most, if not all horror movies? The monster designs are good, and I like the fact that they went the people-in-suits road, with some CGI enhancement, instead of going all CGI. It gives a little something extra that has yet to be captured with CGI creatures.

All in all, a well executed haunted city story, albeit a bit on the weird side. As far as video games to movie adaptation, I believe it's one of the good ones.

Rating:

(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on May 31st, 2008)

Changeling, a review by KinkyCyborg

Changeling



Title:Changeling
Year: 2008
Director: Clint Eastwood
Rating: R
Length: 142 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Angelina Jolie
Gattlin Griffith
Michelle Gunn
Jan Devereaux
Erica Grant

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Featurettes


I was rather harsh on old Clint with my last review of one of his movies (Flags Of Our Fathers) but I think he'd like this one.

Stunning look at the corruption of the LAPD in the 20's-50's era entwined with the disappearance of a young boy. These true events not only uncovered a gruesome massacre of 20 young boys but also revealed truly despicable acts by a dirty, intimidating Los Angeles Police Department.

Great work by Angelina Jolie who forces you to concentrate on her performance as her sexuality is virtually stripped away in the fashion of a prim and proper lady of the 1920's. She's relatively quiet and reserved but fiercely determined to find her son, adamantly refusing to acknowledge the boy they brought back to her as her own child. Jolie embodies this woman, Christine Collins, perfectly.

The cinematography and finely detailed production designs are a marvel to look at, giving you the feel of life back in the roaring 20's. Eastwood tells this story in such a compelling way that despite the slow pace you are still on the edge of your seat. Nicely rounded cast to compliment Jolie including John Malkovich, Colm Feore, and Geoff Pierson from Dexter fame as attorney S.S. Hahn. His courtroom interrogations were masterful.

Something that I think is ofter overlooked when looking at Clint's resume is his composing skills. The entire musical score for Changeling was composed by Eastwood and it is great albeit somewhat similar in nature to some of his other films. It has an even flow to it and at times can be very haunting.

This one is highly recommended!

KC


Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on December 16th, 2010)

Smallville: The Complete Seventh Season, a review by addicted2dvd

Smallville: The Complete Seventh Season (2007/United States) There are two CLARK KENTs. One is the young man whose life in a tiny Kansas town sets him on destiny's path. The other is a BIZARRO show shares Clark's DNA but not his values. Only one of them can survive. SUPERMAN mythology grows deeper and more powerful in an event-packed season that includes the arrival of Clark's cousin KARA/SUPERGIRL. Keep a low profile and master your powers, Clark says. Kara has other ideas. Plus: LANA LANG might prefer Bizarro to the real deal. LOIS LANE makes a career leap. CHLOE SULLIVAN finds that balancing a meteor power with a personal life isn't easy. And LEX LUTHOR's power-lust has a new fixation - Kara. New characters and complications. New secrets and lore. New thrills and special effects. Power up to Season 7! Episodes: 1. Bizarro 2. Kara 3. Fierce 4. Cure 5. Action 6. Lara 7. Wrath 8. Blue 9. Gemini 10. Persona 11. Siren 12. Fracture 13. Hero 14. Traveler 15. Veritas 16. Descent 17. Sleeper 18. Apocalypse 19. Quest 20. Arctic

---

Stars:
Tom Welling as Clark Kent
Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang
Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
Erica Durance as Lois Lane
Aaron Ashmore as Jimmy Olsen
Laura Vandervoort as Kara
John Glover as Lionel Luthor

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes

While I still enjoyed this season very much over-all... it has my least favorite storyline of the entire series. That being the Veritas storyline. The episodes dealing with Veritas just didn't hold my interest as much as any of the other episodes. This season does introduce Kara/Supergirl. As for guest stars I am familiar with for this season. There was Dean Cain who played Clark Kent/Superman himself in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.  James Marsters returns in several episodes as Brainiac. This season we also see the long gone  Sam Jones III (Pete Ross) back for a single episode. Gina Holden (Blood Ties) shows up for a single episode as well.

The seventh season aired in 2007. Which is the year of the writer's strike. But we seemed to get lucky for this series... and didn't lose out on too many episodes this time. As this season still has 20 episodes. So I am thankful for that.




(From Addicted2dvd's Random TV Series Watched on August 30th, 2011)