DVD Collectors Online

The Tommyknockers, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: The Tommyknockers
Year: 1993
Director: John Power
Rating: NR
Length: 180 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: French, Spanish

Stars:
Jimmy Smits
Marg Helgenberger
John Ashton
Allyce Beasley
Robert Carradine

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
This morning I felt like watching one of Stephen King's miniseries... but also knew I had to finish off this alphabet Marathon this weekend as well... so I picked this one. It is a pretty good miniseries... but far from my favorite. It is a decent story... but I have come to expect more from a Stephen King story. Maybe this is one of the cases where they didn't do too good of a job going from the book to the screen? I wouldn't know since I never read the book. I did get a kick out of seeing Marg Helgenberger in this... now that I have gotten to know her from the series C.S.I.



(From Addicted2DVD's November Alphabet Marathon on November 27th, 2009)

Rocky Balboa, a review by Tom

Title: Rocky Balboa
Year: 2006
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Rating: 12
Length: 98 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: DTS 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Sylvester Stallone
Burt Young
Antonio Tarver
Geraldine Hughes
Milo Ventimiglia

Plot:
'30 years after the clang of the first bell, Rocky Balboa dons his gloves for his final fight...'
Armed with a highly credible, heart-wrenching story, Sylvester Stallone leaps back in to the ring in this knockout final chapter as one of the most iconic characters in the history of motion pictures!
Since retiring, Rocky reminisces about his glory days for the locals at his Philly diner, Adrian's. But his quiet world is shattered when the current reigning champion (Antonio Tarver) loses to a virtual, in-his prime Balboa in a computer-simulated match and challenges the retired Italian Stallion to the real thing! Never one to back down, Rocky does the unthinkable and agrees to the fight of his life... pushing himself to the breaking point to go the distance one last time.

Extras:
Alternate Ending
Commentary
Featurettes
Outtakes
Scene Access
Trailers

As I said, I felt that Rocky V was a great conclusion to the series. It wouldn't have needed a sixth part.
I am glad that this sixth movie works great as a well-done reunion kind of movie.
And I am surprised that the fight works reasonably well, which is surprising what with 60 year old Rocky fighting against the current undefeated world champion.
Rocky's son is played by Milo Ventimiglia (Peter from Heroes), which I never got quite used to. I am connecting him too much with his role in Heroes.
What surprised me is, that Rocky's wife died a few years ago. I really expected her in the movie as the actress is listed in the cast credits.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on March 10th, 2009)

My PILOT Marathon, a review by Rich

Torchwood - Series 1

Everything Changes
WPC Gwen Cooper is at the scene of a brutal murder, when the "special ops", known only as Torchwood, arrive. After witnessing the group bring the dead man back to life, Gwen goes in pursuit of this mysterious organisation, only to see weirder things than she could ever imagine existed. Soon after, she begins to regret giving in to her curiosity, when she meets Captain Jack Harkness.



This exciting and leftfield DOCTOR WHO spin-off finds philanderer of the future, Jack Harness arriving in contemporary Cardiff and being inducted into Torchwood – a covert extra terrestrial and paranormal investigation agency

For the first half an hour or so I enjoyed this fresh series, the mix of sci-fi, special powers, aliens etc blended well with some light hearted banter and a few interesting characters. But towards the end when the lovely Indira Darma (Rome) was killed off in ridiculous fashion, and the constant horrendous Welsh accents started grating, I was glad it finished.
The budget is noticably small, production feels a bit cheap and nasty, the main character is too comical to be taken seriously, and the insertion of swear words made me feel this programme may lose it's identity in terms of intended audience.
A promising idea spoilt.
 

(From My PILOT Marathon on September 18th, 2009)