DVD Collectors Online

The Thing Called Love, a review by Tom

Title: The Thing Called Love: Director's Cut
Year: 1993
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Rating: 12
Length: 114 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
River Phoenix
Samantha Mathis
Dermot Mulroney
Sandra Bullock
K. T. Oslin

Plot:
In Nashville, there are 10,000 singer-songwriters chasing success... with one chance in a million of getting it. For Miranda "no relation to Elvis" Presley (Samantha Mathis), that's one chance worth taking.

Fresh from New York City, Miranda befriends three fellow hopefuls: shy Connecticut cowboy Kyle Davidson (Dermot Mulroney); Southern belle Linda Lue Linden (Sandra Bullock); and James Wright (River Phoenix), a cocky Texan with brooding good looks and a honeyed voice.

Together they begin a rocky ride down Music City's well-worn highway, finding hope, heartbreak, hapiness... and The Thing Called Love. Acclaimed director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon) presents a dynamic, music-filled film that features Phoenix in one of his final roles (and his only singing one), as well as a showy part for Bullock, who would rocket to stardom the following year in Speed.

Awards:
Extras:
Commentary
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

It started out like it could be a fun movie. Sadly it good boring after the first 15 minutes or so. It got better again towards the end.
Sandra Bullock appears in a supporting role and she stole the scene each time appeared. Samantha Mathis was good. But I didn't like River Phoenix's performance. He always looked like he was on drugs on not completely there. He probably was, as this was the last movie he finished before he died on drug overdose. Interesting tidbit: Samantha Mathis and River Phoenix started dating during production of this movie and were still together when he died.
There is a fair share of country music in this film. I liked it. Even though country music is not music I have actively sought out (I have one or two Faith Hill CDs, if this counts for country music), I always enjoyed listening to it when it appeared in a film or TV show.

Rating:

(From Tom's Unwatched Movies Marathon on June 5th, 2010)

The Orphanage, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: The Orphanage
Year: 2007
Director: J. A. Bayona
Rating: R
Length: 106 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: Spanish: Dolby Digital Surround EX, Spanish: DTS ES (Discrete), Spanish: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers
Featurettes
Gallery
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
This is a really good story that I enjoyed a lot. Though I must admit that I did have problems keeping up with the subtitles. People were just talking too fast and being a slow reader I had to keep pausing or rewinding through-out the whole movie. And that did take some of the enjoyment away for me. Which is the reason I mostly stick with movie made in English. But even so this is an enjoyable movie. I liked the whole idea of the orphanage for a setting and also liked the link to the Peter Pan story for the kids. Definitely worth checking out if you never did. And if you don't mind subtitles (if you don't speak Spanish).



(From Addicted2DVD's November Alphabet Marathon on November 10th, 2009)

Beverly Hills 90210: The Pilot Episode, a review by addicted2dvd

Beverly Hills 90210: The Pilot Episode (1990/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia The Walsh Family moves from Minnesota to Beverly Hills where twins Brandon (Jason Priestley) and Brenda (Shannon Doherty) enroll in West Beverly Hills High. Each member of this solid, all-American Midwest family is challenged by the excitement, romance and glamour of Beverly Hills.

---

Stars:
Jason Priestley as Brandon Walsh
Shannen Doherty as Brenda Walsh
Jennie Garth as Kelly Taylor
Ian Ziering as Steve Sanders
Gabrielle Carteris as Andrea Zuckerman
Brian Austin Green as David Silver

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Closed Captioned

This is a series I never watched before. But figured it lasted 10 years... there must be something good about it. I went into this one curious but with low expectations. Plus I was looking forward to seeing Shannen Doherty in an early role. Who I became a fan of from watching her in Charmed. I was kinda surprised... I could barely recognize her... took me a few minutes to realize it was her. The show is better then I was expecting and I can see myself collecting the series. But it isn't one I would be super-anxious to complete. Just a good, solid series. Of course this is going only by the pilot episode... my opinion could easily change... either way... with a few more episodes.




(From Addicted2dvd's Random TV Series Watched on May 26th, 2011)