DVD Collectors Online

Anzio, a review by KinkyCyborg

Title:Anzio
Year: 1968
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Rating: PG
Length: 117 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1, Pan & Scan 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Mono, French: Dolby Digital: Mono
Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai

Stars:
Robert Mitchum
Peter Falk
Earl Holliman
Mark Damon
Reni Santoni

Plot:
Screen greats Robert Mitchum, Peter Falk and Arthur Kennedy star in the riveting war drama ANZIO, a vivid portrait of one of the bloodiest WWII battles ever fought. After landing with Allied troops at Anzio, Italy, in 1944, war correspondent Dick Ennis (Mitchum) and buddy Corporal Rabinoff (Falk) tell Anzio commander General Lesley (Kennedy) that the road to Rome is wide open. But instead of heading to Rome, Lesley attempts to build a coastal stronghold, only to discover that the Germans have outflanked them by enclosing the Anzio beachhead. Four months and over 30,000 casualties later, the Allied forces smash through the German lines and victoriously march to Rome. Directed by highly-acclaimed action director Edward Dmytryk ('The Caine Mutiny', 'Back To Bataan'), ANZIO is a powerful film and a symbol of heroic tenacity.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Closed Captioned


WWII movie about the costly blunder and the thousands of lives lost during the reclaiming of Italy by Allied forces.

This started off a bit slow and the song/score during the opening credits was extremely sappy and inappropriate for a war movie but overall I thought this was a decent film. Robert Mitchum was solid as a war correspondent covering the hostilities while lamenting and trying to make sense of the inhumanity of it all. I've always found Peter Falk kind of annoying but I rather liked him in this one, portraying a solider who craves the action because it beats his plain existence back home.

While this was a good historic depiction of events that took place in the end the message is the same as with most war movies... a condemnation of conflict that turns ordinary men into killers.

KC



Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on September 29th, 2010)

Hands of the Ripper, a review by Jimmy

Title: Hands of the Ripper (1971)

Genre: Horror
Director: Peter Sasdy
Rating: NR
Length: 1h25
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.66:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Eric Porter
Angharad Rees
Jane Merrow
Keith Bell
Derek Godfrey

Plot:The Hammer Studio was pretty much at the end of its run of success at that time due to the more graphics movies produced by the other studios. So it was in need of a new direction away from the vampire what he did that year with Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Twins of Evil and this one. I've already reviewed Twins of Evil last year and I've never seen Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (too bad it is OOP and way too costly as it sounds like a cool movie), but this year it's Hands of the Ripper.

This film is certainly the most violent and bloody Hammer's film I've seen, but too be honest Hammer isn't that extreme unless you compare them to the Hollywood studio productions of the time. The Jack the Ripper story is treated with an interesting angle since it's not about him but his daughter. The story countains a good balance between psychology and horror, even if it isn't scary per se. Strangely even if it deals with "demonic possesion" this is almost credible and you feel like it could be real. Evidently like most of the Hammer films you got a very good historical recreation. Angharad Rees in her first principal role give a very good performance in a role who requires a lot of subtility and Eric Porter isn't bad either. Also, and this is something I always like, there is no Hollywood ending for that story.

Strongly recommanded, even more considering the quality of this HD release.


 
Rating :

(From Jimmy's - 2013 Ooctober Horror Marathon on October 2nd, 2013)

Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon, a review by Tom

11. Out of Mind, Out of Sight (1997-05-19)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Ashley Gable (Screenwriter), Thomas A. Swyden (Screenwriter), Joss Whedon (Story By)
Director: Reza Badiyi
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), David Boreanaz (Angel), Clea DuVall (Marcie Ross), Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder), Ryan Bittle (Mitch), Denise Dowse (Ms. Miller), John Knight (Bud #1), Mercedes McNab (Harmony), Mark Phelan (Agent Doyle), Skip Stellrecht (Agent Manetti), Julie Fulton (FBI Teacher)

An average episode. Nothing really special. But this episode start to get Cordelia more involved with our group.



12. Prophecy Girl (1997-06-02)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Joss Whedon (Writer)
Director: Joss Whedon
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Mark Metcalf (The Master), David Boreanaz (Angel), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Robia LaMorte (Jenny Calendar), Andrew J. Ferchland (Colin), Scott Gurney (Kevin)

Joss Whedon always had a good hand with writing season finales (with maybe the controversial exception of season 4). This episode has in my opinion one of the most memorable scenes of the entire series in it. The scene were Buffy learns, that she is prophecied to die and she is quitting therefore.

"The way you've been eating we can affort it". Even her mother notices it, that she's getting thinner



Now I am forced to take a (hopefully) short break from this marathon. Currently a colleague has my season 2 Buffy set. I will continue as soon as I have it back.

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on November 29th, 2008)