DVD Collectors Online

Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, a review by Tom

Title: Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Year: 1980
Director: Irvin Kershner
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 122 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround EX , German: Dolby Digital Surround EX , Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: Commentary, English, German, Turkish

Stars:
Mark Hamill
Harrison Ford
Carrie Fisher
Billy Dee Williams
Anthony Daniels

Extras:
Commentary
DVD-ROM Content
Scene Access
THX certified

This is the best one of the bunch. The performance of the Yoda puppet is particularly great. It holds up better than any CGI creature ever did.
What I forgot to mention in my Episode 4 review: John William's score is such a big part of these movies. I think they would only be half as good if it weren't for his great score.

Rating:

My comments on the Special Edition changes:

Changes I like:
- the clean up of the Hoth battle sequences. I always found it a little annoying that we could see through the cockpit of the fighters.
- the scene were we get to see the ice creature in full
- the exterior shots of the cload city (outside and from the inside looking out). Especially that they fixed the blooper, that the room they were staying in had obviouly a glass ceiling. With the old exterior model shot this didn't match.
- the re-shot emperor scene. Although I do not like additions which are done to better suit the prequels, this one is an exception, as the actor also played the emperor in Return of the Jedi. But I could have done without the additional dialog which has been added.


Changes I can tolerate:
- the additional digital hatch in the Falcon, which glosses over the blooper with the bright looking hatch in the exterior shot, when Lando is picking up Luke
- replacment of Boba Fetts voice with the actor of the prequels. As I saw the original trilogy in English on DVD first, I don't miss the original voice. Though I have heard a soundbite of the original version on the internet once, and I agree with the once defending the original voice, that it was better.

Changes I hate:
none. This one is the movie they didn't quite mess up as the others.

(From Tom's Star Wars marathon on December 7th, 2008)

Soul Surfer, a review by Dragonfire

Soul Surfer tells the story of teenage surfer Bethany Hamilton.  She survived a shark attack that took her arm and she returned to competitive surfing.  I hadn't realized a movie was being made about what happened before seeing the trailers.  I do remember hearing the news reports about it when it happened.

The movie starts off introducing Bethany, her family, and best friend.  It is clear how much surfing is a part of her life and a competition is shown.  The shark attack is shown, though not in a lot of detail.  I think the way it was shown worked well.  It is clear that she has been attacked and seriously injured without being gory.  The fact that she survived is amazing.  She has an incredibly good attitude about what has happened to her overall, though she does have moments when she struggles with it.  She is still in the hospital when she talks about wanting to go surfing again.  I can't imagine setting one toe in the ocean again after seeing a shark, let alone after being attacked.  I should probably mention that I have...issues about sharks.  I do have a fear of sharks even though I don't live near the ocean - I saw one of the Jaws movies too many times when I was younger.  In some ways, the shark attack in this movie freaks me out more than the more graphic shark attacks in other movies I've seen.  Bethany and the people she were with weren't doing anything.  There was no sign of the shark.  It just lunged up out of the water and attacked her with no warning.  That is scary.  I read some stuff about the movie and evidently some scenes were filmed in the same spot where the attack happened.

The movie does deal with things tied to Bethany's recovery and how she and her family dealt with some things.  It took time for Bethany to be able to surf again.  The movie is very entertaining and interesting, though there is some bad dialogue every so often.  The cast does well with their parts, especially AnnaSophia Robb as Bethany, though she is several years older than Bethany was when she was attacked.  Bethany was only 13 when that happened.  She is professional surfer now.

The movie has a beautiful look in many scenes.  Bethany lives in Hawaii and that is where the movie was filmed.  The beaches look gorgeous.  The scenes showing the surfing are well done.  There are some amazing shots that I don't have a clue how they were filmed. 

The movie has a few issues, but overall it is really good and definitely worth seeing.  Bethany's survival and recovery is amazing.  When the movie is over, there is footage of the real Bethany surfing, before and after the accident.  One of her brothers filmed a lot of home movies, and that is where a lot of the footage came from.  The movie is definitely worth watching.



I did get a review posted after seeing the movie.

Soul Surfer


(From Soul Surfer on May 8th, 2011)

Smallville: The Complete Second Season, a review by addicted2dvd

Smallville: The Complete Second Season (2002/United States) Superman's roots grow deeper in Season Two of Smallville. This 6-disc collection includes all 23 episodes plus bonus materials worthy of a superhero. This year finds Clark Kent grappling with his calling as he explores his true origins: was he sent to Earth to save humanity or destroy it? Lana and Clark grow closer than ever before. Lex gets married. Lionel lures Chloe toward the dark side. Martha and Jonathan Kent receive miraculous news. And Pete becomes a keeper of Clark's secret. One thing we can't keep secret: the legend grows stronger in Smallville! Episodes 1. Vortex 2. Heat 3. Duplicity 4. Red 5. Nocturne 6. Redux 7. Lineage 8. Ryan 9. Dichotic 10. Skinwalker 11. Visage 12. Insurgence 13. Suspect 14. Rush 15. Prodigal 16. Fever 17. Rosetta 18. Visitor 19. Precipice 20. Witness 21. Accelerate 22. Calling 23. Exodus

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Stars:
Tom Welling as Clark Kent
Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang
Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
Sam Jones III as Pete Ross
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
John Glover as Lionel Luthor
Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent
John Schneider as Jonathan Kent

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Outtakes/Bloopers
• DVD-ROM Content
• Closed Captioned
• The Chloe Chronicles

Can you believe it? I actually finished off the entire second season of Smallville in only a day and a half! This season starts the season long story arcs... where season 1 was really nothing more then "freak of the week" type episodes. I enjoy it both... but I am glad to get into the season long storylines now. I really enjoyed every minute of watching the season again... especially seeing Christopher Reeve in one of the episodes. In the early seasons we get to see Clark develop his powers. In season 1 we got to see him get his X-Ray Vision. In season 2 we got to see him get his Heat Vision. So I guess that leaves Super Hearing for season 3.

I am still very much into watching more of the series. So looks like I am about to pop in the first disc of the 3rd season.




(From Addicted2dvd's Random TV Series Watched on August 20th, 2011)