DVD Collectors Online

Get Smart, a review by Tom

Title: Get Smart
Year: 2008
Director: Peter Segal
Rating: 12
Length: 110 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital Stereo, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

Stars:
Steve Carell
Anne Hathaway
Dwayne Johnson
Alan Arkin
Terence Stamp

Plot:
Steve Carell is in CONTROL as Maxwell Smart, the novice agent often out of his depth but never out of options in this action comedy, pitting him against the nuclear scheme of the evil spy group KAOS. Anne Hathaway partners with Max as ever-capable Agent 99. And director Peter Segal (The Longest Yard) guides his stars (including Dwayne Johnson and Alan Arkin) through the dangerous realm of molar radios, multifunction pocketknives, exploding dental floss and more.

Extras:
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Outtakes
Scene Access

Mostly full of tired and rather unfunny spy movie parody jokes. Only executed slower than in other run-of-the-mill spy parody movies. There were a few fun scenes, but they were far between. I liked Anne Hathaway though. It's a different kind of role for her and she did a good job.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on July 15th, 2009)

Hancock, a review by Tom

Title: Hancock
Year: 2008
Director: Peter Berg
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 102 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.40
Audio: English: Dolby Digital TrueHD, Other: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital TrueHD, Russian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Other: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Hindi, Norwegian, Other, Swedish, Turkish

Stars:
Will Smith
Charlize Theron
Jason Bateman
Jae Head
Eddie Marsan

Extras:
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

Luckily, when I first went to watch this movie, I already heard, that this movie goes in a different direction than the trailer promises. And I enjoyed this movie. The only thing which really bothers me a little (the first time around and now) is the ending. I like the ending, but I thought the camera stayed too long on Will Smith and Charlize Theron (alternating) and combined with the use of slow motion, it was a little over-dramatic. I think the scene would have been much better, if it were faster cut. But other than this, I thought it is a fun take on the superheroes genre. I like the "origin story" of Hancock. A little different than most of the recent Superhero movies.
I just remembered another thing, which I do not like. It has been added to this extended version (luckily there is also the regular version on the Blu-ray disc). It's the scene, where Hancock has sex with the woman in the beginning and is having some "super sperm". This is a scene which belongs into movies like "Scary Movie" and not here.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on January 17th, 2009)

My PILOT Marathon, a review by Rich

Monarch Of The Glen

Episode 1
Young restaurant owner Archie MacDonald is called urgently from London back to his ailing fathers bedside in the ancestral home in Scotland, Glenbogle. He soon discovers that Hector has nothing worse than a cold and his sweet but dotty mother Molly has called him home on a pretext and has worked events so he can't easily escape back to London.



Inspired by the highland novels of Compton Mackenzie, this show follows Archie MacDonald as he finds himself thrown into the role of the new Laird of Glenbogle, his family's financially failing Scottish estate. With the help, and sometimes hinderance, of his family and faithful retainers he works to get the noble estate back on its feet.

Dull, charmless and twee melodrama/comedy that sparked no interest through it's pilot episode.
Clearly not every great series is preceded by a wonderful 1st/pilot offering, but there was nothing here in terms of characters, storyline, actors or direction that generated any level of enthusiasm to rush back and watch further offerings. I am sure it must improve as it had such a long run, but for me it is a dead duck from the get-go.
 

(From My PILOT Marathon on September 5th, 2009)