DVD Collectors Online

The Transformers: The Movie, a review by Danae Cassandra

Film #1 of Scavenger Hunt #22
Task #2: Watch any film that has a sequel or remake/reboot scheduled for release during 2017



The Transformers: The Movie
Year of Release: 1986
Directed By: Nelson Shin
Starring: Judd Nelson, Lionel Stander, Orson Welles, Leonard Nimoy, Susan Blu, Eric Idle
Genre: Action, Science-Fiction, Animation

Overview:Citizen KaneThe Breakfast Club), Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), Eric Idle (the Monty Python films) and Robert Stack (The Untouchables), brings this inimitable, explosively entertaining Autobot adventure to life.

My Thoughts:
Michael Bay has a 5th film in the live action Transformers franchise coming out in 2017, so I think this fits the bill well enough.

Transformers came out at the perfect time for me. I was 11, and it was the best film that came out that year. Oh, sure, Platoon won the Oscar, but if middle-schoolers could have voted, it would have been Transformers all the way. I must have seen it three or four times in the theatre. I remember getting my mom to drop me off there one day while she was in class and watching two showings of Transformers and one of Flight of the Navigator.

If you haven't figured this out by now, there is certainly quite a bit of nostalgia appeal here for me. It's a very 80's film, from the animation style, the color palette, down to the hair metal soundtrack. It's all the best parts of my post-Edmonson childhood, and these characters (and the cohorts on the Joe team and in TOS Star Trek) certainly gave me something to look forward to and hold on to in dark times, so I have a lot of very fond memories attached here.

It isn't just nostalgia though. This film holds up surprisingly well. There's a lot of darkness here that you don't expect in a kids film. Disney laid the blueprint for the animated kids film, and this isn't it. This is a war film, and a lot of beloved characters die here. Don't be fooled by them being robots - they're people, and kids know it. Starscream was my favorite as a kid, and his death just gutted me then. Yes, I know he's a villain, and it's okay to kill off villains in kids films, but the good guys die here too. Lots of them, and in merciless, cold-blooded fashion.

The animation looks tons better than a lot of 90's stuff, but that could be my child of the 80's glasses looking. There's a great cast here - Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Idle, Orson Welles - and they give it their all. Yes, it is light on plot and heavy on action, and if you know the tropes you can predict how things will end, but it's a great ride along the way.

I haven't seen any of the Michael Bay films. I won't comment on this being better - only that I don't know how they could ever be as good. Unlike other things from my childhood, this still holds up as being a wonderful film, an immensely fun film, and one that still delights me every time I watch it.

Bechdel Test: Fail
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From Scavenger Hunt #22 on December 31st, 2016)

Nosferatu, a review by addicted2comics

Title: Nosferatu: The First Vampire: Arrow Special Collector's Series
Year: 1998
Director: F. W. Murnau [F.W. Murnau]
Rating: NR
Length: 67 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles:

Stars:
Max Schreck
Alexander Granach
Gustav von Wagenheim
G. H. Schell
Ruth Landshoff
John Gottowt

Plot:
F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu is an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. It recounts the eternal battle between good and evil, love and hate, innocence and death. A young man must combat the devil incarnate in the form of the sinister Count Orlock, better known as Nosferatu - The Undead, in order to save his soul and the woman he loves.

Nosferatu represents one of the first treatments of the Vampire on film and remains a classic in cinematic history. This updated version will both thrill and horrify new generations for years to come with an original soundtrack by Type O Negative. Murnau's Nosferatu can truly be called The First Vampire.

Extras:
Feature Trailers
Music Videos

My Thoughts:

Yes, I'm watching horror when my father can't! I had to do it!!

I've seen Nosferatu before. The movie was good, you're basic (and first, after the Dracula book) vampire story. Since it was shot silenmtly, I always had to rush when it came to reading, or paused it time after time, which got a little annoying. The background music was awesome in my opinion. (Keep on rockin', Type O Negative!!! ) The black and white and no sound didn't bother me, except for one thing - - - it seemed so peaceful with that nice horror-like music that I near fell asleep while it was going, and, keep in mind that opening intro included, the movie moved to end credits about an hour in.



(From Doing the ABC's Movie Style!! on July 23rd, 2010)

2016 TV Pilot Reviews, a review by DJ Doena

Speechless Website
Speechless @ Wikipedia
Speechless @ IMDb

The Dimeo family has once again moved to give their eldest son J.J. a chance at a new school. J.J. has cerebral palsy*, an illness that binds him to a wheelchair and makes him unable to speak (but not to express himself).

J.J.'s mom Maya is the driving factor behind this move because her entire life now revolves around J.J., to give him the best care and education possible.

But her other two kids are slowly getting fed up with getting uprooted all the time for some perceived (though sometimes not even actual) improvement of J.J.'s life.

J.J.'s new school is very tolerant and open-minded but no one can meet Maya's standards and expectations which becomes obvious when the new school can only offer the garbage ramp for J.J. instead of a proper wheelchair access at the front door.

J.J.'s dad is a laid-back guy who doesn't really care what other think about him and he manages to counter-balance his wife and not lose focus on the fact that there are two more children to be raised.

I've already seen a few more episodes and this show manages to have an interesting balancing act.

On the one hand they actually show the problems people with disabilities have to face and oftentimes the mom comes out as a textbook Social Justice Warrior who fights the fight just for the sake of fighting the fight.

But they do it so over the top (for example, the entire school wants to make J.J. class president just because he's disabled and not based on any merits) and interlaced with good humour that they manage to get their point across without appearing preachy.

It absolutely helps that J.J. himself is a very balanced kid who overcomes his disabilities with the tools he has at hand.

While Minnie Driver's (Maya) character reminds me of her role in About a Boy (the series), John Ross Bowie's dad on the other hand is nothing like The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon's foil Barry Kripke.



*Both the actor as well the character have cerebral palsy, an illness that also afflicts Breaking Bad's actor RJ Mitte.

(From 2016 TV Pilot Reviews on October 21st, 2016)