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Ice Age : The Meltdown, a review by KinkyCyborg

Ice Age : The Meltdown



Title:Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
Year: 2006
Director: Carlos Saldanha
Rating: PG
Length: 91 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Spanish: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Ray Romano
John Leguizamo
Denis Leary
Seann William Scott
Josh Peck

Plot:
'Your favorite sub-zero heroes are back' for another incredible adventure in the super-cool sequel to the global hit 'Ice Age!' The action heats up - and so does the temperature - for 'Manny, Sid, Diego and Scrat'. Trying to escape the valley to avoid a flood of trouble, the comical creatures embark on a hilarious journey across the thawing landscape and meet Ellie, a female woolly mammoth who melts Manny's heart. With its all-star voice cast, including Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Queen Latifah, 'Ice Age The Meltdown' is laugh-out-loud fun for the whole family!

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Interactive Games
Multi-angle
Outtakes/Bloopers
DVD-ROM Content
Closed Captioned


I continue to marvel at how entertaining full length animated features are these days. Part of it is the cutting edge technology that goes into animation but it's mostly because the writers for these so called 'kids movies' are comic genius.

This movie is one of those cases where the visuals are meant to entertain the young ones while the dialogue is largely targeting the adult audience. Knowing the stars behind the voices, in this case Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Dennis Leary & Queen Latifah, add to the humor as you can picture them getting into their roles.

Scrat, and his never ending quest to acquire the holiest of holy grails, an elusive acorn, is by far the star of the show despite his quest being irrelevant the the central story. Loved the scene where he does battle with the prehistoric piranhas.  The part with all the mini-sloths worshiping Sid before they throw him into a volcano was a knee slapper too.

I watched this today while home sick from work so my daughter missed out but I will gladly sit and watch it again with her as this kind of well done family movie never gets boring.

KC

Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2011 on July 8th, 2011)

Trouble Every Day, a review by goodguy

Trouble Every Day (FR 2001)

Cover blurb:

The best horror movies are made by filmmakers who are only loosely interested in the genre. "Trouble Every Day" by Claire Denis is such a movie. It is a descendant of Ferrara's "The Addiction" and a more elusive and adult sister to Alfredson's "Let the Right One In". It is unmistakably an arthouse movie, but in the best sense of the word. It is slow and moody, but it also is bloody and gory, and more importantly, it is deeply unsettling and disturbing.

Vampirism or cannibalism as a metaphor for the darker side of sexuality is certainly nothing new. But Denis' is not only unflinching in exploring these primal instincts, she does so by imbuing a shocking tenderness into the most visceral scenes.

The movie is masterfully structured and paced, although fans of more traditional horror fare probably will find it too slow. It is devoid of any exposition and the characters remain somewhat enigmatic. Dialogue is sparse, the story is told visually with an assured sensual style that ranges from subtle to breathtaking. An effective score by the Tindersticks is essential to the movie's atmosphere.

Vincent Gallo and Beatrice Dalle play the two "monsters". Gallo gives a restrained performance, desperately fighting for control, but the danger always boiling underneath. Dalle is magnificent as the more primal character that is already beyond hope. In the movie's most terrifying and disturbing scene, she is so raw and animalistic and yet innocent and almost child-like, it is beyond description.

DVD Notes

While the cover lists partial English subtitles for the French dialogue, there are actually none. Doesn't matter much though, because there is little dialogue anyway and most of it is in English. The only extra on the DVD is the trailer. If you are fluent in French, the R2-FR would be the better choice, because it includes an audio commentary.


(From goodguy's Watch Log on November 8th, 2009)

Smallville Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

1. Zod


My Thoughts:
This was a really good episode. Of course... the season premieres usually are... what with having to tie up all the last season's cliff-hangers. I personally don't care much for the addition of Jimmy Olsen. I don't know what it is about that character.. whether it is the way he is written... or if it is the actor playing him... or what... but for some reason this incarnation of Jimmy just bugs me.

2. Sneeze


My Thoughts:
Wow!... new power comes early this season! Of course I always have loved when Clark develops a new power. And this one is no exception. I got a kick out of him blowing the barn door across town... almost hitting Lois while she is on her jog. I did miss one thing in this episode... this time Clark had little problems controlling his new power.. and showed no real consequences if he didn't get the power under control. I do realize it is harder with this power... but think something should have been said other then ohh... gonna sneeze better cover my face. And of course this is the first time we see Lois truly in reporter mode... and say she thinks she found her calling in life.

3. Wither


My Thoughts:
This one is a decent episode... nothing I would call great. I did like the effects used to show how the guys are trapped in the woods by the Phantom Zone escapee. at this point I can still say I don't care for this incarnation of the Jimmy Olsen character. Even to the point that I was like who cares when he was in trouble. Oliver Queen... on the other hand... him I liked. I do think the Smallville writers is doing him right... Though I do admit to not knowing much about the Green Arrow character at all. Though one of the extras on this disc did help me here.


Green Arrow: The Legend of the Emerald Archer
This is a 25 minute featurette on the character of Green Archer going from the early comic book days to the Smallville character. This featurette helped me to appreciate the character much more since I knew very little of the character before him showing up on Smallville. Was an interesting look... definitely enjoyed it.

Smallville: Big Fans
This is a 30 minute featurette on the actual fans of Smallville... they literally went to the homes and workplaces of some extreme Smallville fanatics. I had a lot of fun watching this featurette! I think it is a cool idea to somehow bring the fans in to talk about their favorite show some on the DVDs. This is something I would love to see become a trend in TV Shows on DVD. This is actually the second time of late that I have seen an extra like this... the first being on the final season of Charmed. Other then clips of fanatics in their homes... they also had clips from comic-con and in the main offices of Smallville to see some of the fan letters and such that fans send in. Definitely was a fun extra!

Deleted Scenes:
This disc has deleted scenes from episodes Sneeze and Wither. The scene deleted from Sneezewas definitely good scenes... but nothing pivotal to the plot. But the scene from Wither on the other hand... this one would have supported the episode more by keeping it in. I wish this one was left in the episode.

(From Smallville Marathon on September 22nd, 2007)