DVD Collectors Online

Happily N'Ever After, a review by KinkyCyborg

Title:Happily N'Ever After
Year: 2007
Director: Paul J. Bolger, Yvette Kaplan
Rating: PG
Length: 87 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
George Carlin
John di Maggio
Andy Dick
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Lisa Kaplan

Plot:
Once upon a time will n'ever be the same again. Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and Jack from the Beanstalk are all about to live happily ever after when the balance between good and evil gets thrown out of whack. It's up to Cinderella - aka Ella (Sarah Michelle Gellar) - to save the day by taking on her power-hungry stepmother, Frieda (Sigourney Weaver). But this time, Ella will have to do it without her Prince Charming (Patrick Warburton) as she joins forces with an unlikely army of dwarves, fairies, and the Wizard's bumbling assistants, Mambo (Andy Dick) and Munk (Wallace Shawn). Your favorite fairy tales are turned upside down in this funny, fast-paced adventure that teaches the lesson that - no matter who you are - you have the power to affect how your story turns out!

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Interactive Games
Storyboard Comparisons
Closed Captioned


My daughter sat down to watch this with me but she lost interest and wandered off after about 15 minutes. It wasn't hard to see why as the dialogue was comprised almost entirely of inside jokes meant for the adult viewers, all of which was completely lost on a 4 year old. Still, I thought it was quite comical particularly the Rumpelstiltskin character. Fredia, voiced by Sigourney Weaver was masterfully done as well.

Better than I was expecting but a little too much geared towards an older audience.

KC

Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on July 24th, 2010)

A Cinderella Story , a review by Tom

A Cinderella Story (2004/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia (United Kingdom) Director: Mark Rosman Writing: Leigh Dunlap (Writer) Length: 91 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Arabic, English, Hebrew

---

Stars:
Hilary Duff as Sam
Jennifer Coolidge as Fiona
Chad Michael Murray as Austin
Dan Byrd as Carter
Regina King as Rhonda

Plot:
Meet high school student Sam (Hilary Duff), who scrubs floors at a diner, copes with her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, and all the while dreams of Princeton (the perfect spot for a would-be princess to find a prince). But maybe she has a Prince Charming already: her anonymous e-mail buddy (Chad Michael Murray), who arranges to meet her at the Halloween dance. Sam panics when Mr. Anonymous turns out to be the coolest guy on campus. Can he love a girl who isn't part of the in crowd? Can fairy tales come true? Sure - but only if Sam stands up for herself and turns her dreams into reality.

Awards:
Won:

Teen Choice Awards (2004)		Choice Breakout Movie Star - Male (Chad Michael Murray)
Teen Choice Awards (2005)		Choice Movie Blush Scene (Hilary Duff)
Teen Choice Awards (2005)		Choice Movie Sleazebag (Jennifer Coolidge)

Nominated:

Golden Raspberry Awards (2004)		Worst Actress (Hilary Duff)
Teen Choice Awards (2005)		Choice Date Movie
Teen Choice Awards (2005)		Choice Movie Actress: Comedy (Hilary Duff)
Teen Choice Awards (2005)		Choice Movie Chemistry (Hilary Duff, Chad Michael Murray)
Teen Choice Awards (2005)		Choice Movie Liplock (Hilary Duff, Chad Michael Murray)
Teen Choice Awards (2005)		Choice Movie Love Scene (Chad Michael Murray, Hilary Duff)
Teen Choice Awards (2004)		Choice Movie of the Summer

Extras:

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Music Videos
• Scene Access
• Trailers

Because of mediocre reviews and a horrible DVD cover, I never bothered to pick this one up in the past. But now I was in the mood for a Cinderella story and I saw this movie cheap in a two-movie set.
I have to admit I enjoyed this movie. There aren't any surprises but I never actually expected them anyway. I expected a Cinderella story and that I got. Including the girl being orphaned and being left with a evil stepmother and stepsisters. A midnight deadline, a ball and a happy ending.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on July 3rd, 2011)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Smallville Marathon #1

I've never read a DC comic (or Marvel for that matter) and I've only watched the four "Reeve" Supermans and Superman Returns. Thus I have no idea what does or doesn't contradict Superman mythology when I watch Smallville, which is an advantage I think.





Synopsis: A meteor shower hits a small town in Kansas: Smallville. But with that shower a spaceship arrives and it contains a small boy that is adopted by the Kents. 12 years later. Clark Kent, Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross are freshemens on the Smallville Highschool. And Lex Luthor, son of Lionel Luthor takes over the management of the Smallville fertilizer plant. But then an accident happens where Lex nearly gets killed - if it weren't for Clark. And a man awakes from a coma in which he had laid for twelve years.

My Opinion: I really liked the homage to the first Superman movie, when Clark missed his school bus and ran across the fields again. I also liked most of the cast from the start. I also thought it to be interesting that Clark didn't already possess all of his abilities. But the pilot plot also introduces the scheme of the show for at least the first season: Freak-of-the-Week. But they also have some minor arcs from the beginning.

Synopsis: The story continues on the day after the Homecoming. Lex still possesses Lana's meteor rock necklace and intends to help Clark with it. But not only Clark and Whitney are interested in Lana but also Greg. He's stalking her until he's stung by a swarm of meteor-infected bugs. Then he becomes dangerous and only Clark is strong enough to stop him.

My Opinion: An ordinary FotW episode. But also the first where Clark has to accept his fate: He may be the rescuer but often he won't be able to take the credit for it. He has to conceil who he is and that will bring him in as much trouble as facing his opponents will do.

Synopsis: The football coach uses a sauna with meteor rocks which gives him the ability to burn things at will. He is also very ambitious and wants his team to win no matter the costs. And Clark wants to join the team even against the will of his father. Meanwhile Lex's father wants his son to fire 20% of the employees in the fertilizer plant.

My Opinion: A good father-and-son-confrontation episode but both confrontations where totally different of course. If I were to imagine Jonathan Kent's early years I can't help but to think of a certain Bo Duke (The Dukes of Hazzard). To watch Lex over the course of the years is also interesting bceause they choose to portray him as "not so bad" guy in the beginning. If he were bad from the start I don't think it would have been that interesting. There's one problem though: Lex is supposed to be 6 or 7 years older than the others (IIRC he was 10 when the meteors hit Smallville) and although Michael Rosenbaum (29 in 2001) is actually 5 years older than Tom Welling (24 in 2001) it doesn't feel that way. When they both face each other they both seem very adult, but Clark is only a 16-year-old Highschool student.

Synopsis: After sudden flashes of headaches, Clark is able to see through things though he can't really control it. But this new ability helps him to uncover a plot to blame Lex for a bank robbery he didn't commit. A girl who has become a bad copy of Lana has the ability to shape-shift and she can fool everybody but Clark. Meanwhile a reporter tries to blackmail Lex with knowledge about his past in Metropolis.

My Opinion: This episode starts several things. Firstly, the tradition to introduce one new ability in every season, in this case his X-Ray vision. Secondly, Lex's obsession with Clark that will presumably never end. And thirdly we see that he has both a past that is at least greyish and that he becomes ruthless when he's threatened.
I doubt I would have noticed it before Buffy but that was the second time in only four episodes that had at least one scene in a cemetery.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on May 22nd, 2008)