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Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope, a review by Tom

Title: Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope
Year: 1977
Director: George Lucas
Rating: FSK-6
Length: 120 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
Peter Cushing
Alec Guinness


Extras:
Commentary
DVD-ROM Content
Scene Access
THX certified

The original trilogy is always a pleasure to watch. This first movie has had great impact on popular culture and that deservingly so. It still holds up even 30 years later.
By the way: I have been to the Mos Eisley set in Tunisia

Rating:

Now some remarks to the changes done for the 1997 and 2004 re-releases. Although I am opposed in general to changes done many years later to old movies, I can still enjoy them sometimes. I have mixed feelings about the Star Wars changes. On one hand I enjoy some, on the other hand I loath some of them. Especially those which are done only to match better with the inferior prequel trilogy.

Changes I enjoy:
- Replaced static dewbacks in the background with moving CGI dewbacks.
- blur under the landspeeder removed
- Improved take-off of the Falcon in the Mos Eisley docks
- improved Death Star docking bay
- changed writing on the Death Star tractor beam control
- added sound effect when the stormtrooper hits his head. I like it, that they did not try to get rid of this blooper
- Improved corridor depth perception over the original matte paintings
- improved take off of the Rebel fighters


Changes I can tolarate:
- New exterior of Ben's hut
- CGI Jabba scene. Although not quite the Jaba we know from Return of the Jedi, it is interesting to see, how they integrated a previously deleted scene, which was shot with a human Jabba at the time. Also the 2004 version improves the texture of Jabba.
- Greedo and Han shoot simultanously. Although I like it better, when Han shots first, we have now a compromise between what George Lucas wants and what the fans want.
- Han Solo chasing stormtroopers does not result in a dead-end with few stormtroopers

Changes I hate:
- Additional dewbacks in the scene where the storm troopers search for the droids
- additional joke characters added in the Mos Eisley arrival scene
- Not as much as hate, but I enjoyed the original explosions of Alderaan and the Death Star more, than the new ones with the "Praxis" effect.
- Unnecessary change of the sound Ben Kenobi makes to chase the sand people away

Overall, the changes for the first movie do not offend as much as the ones for the other movies (especially the third).

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

Rubinrot, a review by Tom

Rubinrot (2013/Germany) IMDb | Wikipedia Concorde Home Entertainment (Germany) Director: Felix Fuchssteiner Writing: Length: 122 min. Video: Widescreen 2.40 Audio: German: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Audio Descriptive: DTS 2.0 Stereo, English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Subtitles: English, German

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Stars:Plot:
Gwendolyn Shepherd is actually a very normal 16-year-old teen. What's annoying is that her family definitely has a tad too many secrets. They all have to do with the time-travel gene that is passed down in the family. Everyone is certain that Gwen's cousin Charlotte has the gene, and so everything is all Charlotte, all the time. Until the day Gwen, out of the clear blue sky, suddenly finds herself in London at the end of the 19th century. She knows right away that she, and not Charlotte, was born to be a time traveler - even if she could certainly do without it. Just as she could do without Charlotte's arrogant boyfriend Gideon de Villiers, with whom she now has to forge an alliance in order to clear up the biggest secret of her family history. One thing is clear: she will do everything possible to solve the ancient mysteries. What isn't clear is that one should not fall in love between the times. For that really makes things complicated!

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Featurettes
• Production Notes
• Interviews
• Bonus Trailers
• Wendecover

I haven't read the books. I didn't know anything about it before going in. I just stumbled across it, because it is a time-travel movie. I enjoyed the first half of the movie, but I got bored with the second half. As it is the first part of a trilogy, there are also still a lot of questions left open.

(From Tom's Time-Travel Movie Reviews on December 17th, 2013)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

How I Met Your Mother
A love story in reverse: How I Met Your Mother is a fresh new comedy about Ted (Josh Radnor) and how he fell in love. When Ted's best friends Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lilly (Alyson Hannigan) decide to tie the knot, it sparks the search for his own Miss Right. Helping him in his quest is his bar-hopping "wing-man" Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), a confirmed bachelor with plenty of wild schemes for picking up women. Ted's sights are set on the charming and independent Robin (Cobie Smulders), but destiny may have something different in mind. Told through a series of flashbacks, Ted recalls his single days, the highs and lows of dating and the search for true love.

Pilot
In 2029, Ted tells his children the story of how he met their mother, beginning back in 2005 with Marshall and Lily's engagement. Ted, eager to find his soul mate, meets Robin, and sets his sights on marrying her.

My Thoughts:
A fun series. It has a lot of laughs... and I liked seeing Allyson Hannigan in another series. Unfortunately so far I only have the first season of this show.

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on February 10th, 2010)