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The Nightmare Before Christmas, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: The Nightmare Before Christmas: Special Edition
Year: 1993
Director: Henry Selick
Rating: PG
Length: 76 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.66:1
Audio: English: DTS: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: Spanish

Stars:
Danny Elfman
Chris Sarandon
Catherine O'Hara
William Hickey
Glenn Shadix
Paul Reubens

Plot:
Enter an extraordinary world filled with magic and wonder. This Special Edition of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas celebrates the groundbreaking accomplishments of the first full-length stop-motion animated feature with Bonus Materials never before available on DVD!

Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King Of Halloween Town, decides to spread Christmas joy to the world. But his well-meaning mission unwittingly puts Santa Claus in jeopardy and creates a nightmare for all good little boys and girls everywhere! Who will save Christmas?

The visionary genius of Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow) and the ten original songs by Danny Elfman (Oingo Boingo) make this critically acclaimed movie milestone a uniquely engaging fantasy for the whole family!

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Bonus Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Gallery
Closed Captioned
Tim Burton's shorts "Vincent" and "Frankenweenie"

My Thoughts:
OK... while I liked the storyline on this one quite a bit... there really is way too much music in it for my taste. So much so that it took away quite a bit of the enjoyment from me. But I still liked the story... and liked the way it was animated and such. So I pretty much have mixed feelings on this one. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it wasn't for all the music.



(From Addicted2DVD's 25 Days of Christmas Marathon: 2010 on December 20th, 2010)

Baron Blood, a review by Jimmy

Title: Baron Blood (1972)

Genre: Horror
Director: Mario Bava
Rating: Unrated
Length: 1h38
Video: Widescreen
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Joseph Cotten
Elke Sommer
Antonio Cantafora
Massimo Girotti
Rada Rassimov

Plot:
An American student's family curse, an ancient Austrian castle of torture and a demonic incantation that resurrects the infamous 16th Century sadist known as 'Baron Blood'. Director Mario Bava returns to his gothic roots -- albeit with a modern day Technicolor twist -- in this indelibly atmospheric thriller that pays tribute to the sumptuous horror classics of the '30s and '40s while delivering the black humor and grisly shocks of the drive-in '70s. Joseph Cotton, Elke Sommer and Massimo Girotti star in one of the most visually haunting films of Bava's later career, now presented in its uncut European Version featuring footage not seen in the original American release.

First thing to say is that this film is a festival of accent and a subtitle track would have been much appreciated. Like the precedent gothic horror film directed by Mario Bava this one is well done. The cinematography is very good (the night scenes are a perfect exemple of it), but it isn't a surprise since the cinematographer is the maestro himself. The story is interesting, but I've found the two protoganists (Elke Sommer & Antonio Cantafora) incredibly stupid to go on with the ceremony two times. We can say congratulation to our two heros for the dead of many innocent because they are two idiots... I agree that Elke Sommer is really annoying (to be generous) when she act frightened. The rest of the cast is ok and even if Joseph Cotten is first billed don't expect to see him on screen a long time (maybe 15 minutes), but he plays quite an important role. Another surprise for me the doctor little girl is played by an uncredited Nicoletta Elmi who is probably one of the best child actor I've seen (I recommand Deep Red if you really want to see her in a much important role).

Another good film even if the end looks a little bit rushed...

Rating :

(From Mario Bava marathon on July 19th, 2009)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Dinotopia: the Series


Marooned
A family is marooned in Dinotopia as the lost paradise becomes threatened by unimagined dangers.

My Thoughts:
I blind bought this series back in April of 2005 when I saw it cheap and remembered that I did enjoy the miniseries. But for some reason I never bothered to watch a single episode till now. The pilot episode clocked in at 43 minutes. And I found myself getting a bit drowsy during the episode. As I found it a bit slow and... I don't want to say boring... but it did take an effort to get through it. I think it may have been better if it was only a half hour show. Hopefully the rest of the series will be a bit more entertaining then this episode.

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on December 28th, 2009)