DVD Collectors Online

Topsy - Turvy, a review by Antares

Topsy-Turvy (1999) 81/100 - I was watching Siskel & Ebert back in 1999, when they were doing their yearly countdowns and both highly recommended this film. A few months later, I grabbed it at Blockbuster on a Saturday night and my wife and I watched it... and we both hated it. About a year went by, and I was channel surfing and caught it in midstream on the Independent Film Channel (back when IFC was a good channel  ). But IFC was showing it in its original aspect ratio as opposed to the pan and scan VHS tape I had rented from Blockbuster, and this time it sucked me in. I bought it on DVD and every time I watch it, my wife groans. This time around, I decided to pay more attention to the actual Gilbert & Sullivan theatrical pieces that are performed during the film, as I usually fast forward through those segments. Now I can understand the line of dialog from Arthur Sullivan where he states that ''I have been continually keeping down the music in order that not one syllable should be lost." Gilbert's penchant for rhyming triplets becomes extremely tiresome after a while and makes one wonder why English audiences didn't sour on them even sooner than they did. I guess if you're a fan of their music, these theatrical interludes are pleasant little diversions to the main story, but for me, a bit more editing would have made the story breeze by. The strength of this film lies in viewing the creative process which showcases all the difficulties associated with theatrical enterprises.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on April 30th, 2014)

Big, a review by addicted2dvd

Big: Full Screen Edition (1988) Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Director: Penny Marshall Writing: Gary Ross (Original Material By), Anne Spielberg (Original Material By) Length: 104 min. Rating: PG Video: Pan & Scan 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, French: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Spanish: Dolby Digital: Mono Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Stars:
Tom Hanks as Josh
Elizabeth Perkins as Susan
Robert Loggia as MacMillan
John Heard as Paul
Jared Rushton as Billy
David Moscow as Young Josh

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• DVD-ROM Content
• Closed Captioned

I have seen this movie several times on cable... but this is the first time I am seeing it since a good friend gave me the DVD. This is a movie I have always enjoyed quite a bit. It is just a fun movie to watch. I think Tom Hanks did a wonderful job playing an innocent kid inside a grown up body. Though that shouldn't be surprising... he is good in pretty much all he does. Whether it is comedy or serious roles. Unfortunately my friend only had the full screen edition to give me... but I hope to upgrade it to the widescreen if I get the chance. Something with better extras would be nice too.




(From What Movies I Been Watching on January 24th, 2012)

Doctor Who Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Spearhead from Space. Even back then the NC used window dummies, the Autons.

My Opinion: I don't really remember what I thought about all this when I first watched it but I am a fan of Farscape as well, so wacky sci-fi doesn't bother me.
Upon rewatch I still like the episode, it's a good (re)pilot. The characters are very well introduced (except maybe for Mickey) and can portray both the seriousness as well as the humour ("There's a strange man in my bed").

My guess is that Mickey was supposed to be a one-off character who was supposed to show why it was easy for Rose to leave it all behind and start travelling with the Doctor. Well, he grew out of it.

While I was slightly familiar with Eccleston (he played the invisible man on Heroes' first season) the only person I truly knew was Rose's mum (Camille Coduri) because she played John Goodman's love interest in a guilty pleasure favourite of mine: King Ralph (also starring: Peter O'Toole, John Hurt and Richard Griffiths).

In hindsight and through knowing more about Doctor Who as a show I love how they mix modern CGI special effects with their classic foes like the ridiculously looking Autons.

(From Doctor Who Marathon on January 4th, 2014)