DVD Collectors Online

Avengers: Age of Ultron, a review by addicted2dvd

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Buena Vista Home Entertainment (United States) Director: Joss Whedon Writing: Joss Whedon (Writer), Stan Lee (Original Material By), Jack Kirby (Original Material By) Length: 141 min. Video: Widescreen 2.40:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 7.1, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

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Stars:
Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man
Chris Hemsworth as Thor
Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Bonus Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Outtakes/Bloopers

This is a very good continuation for The Avengers. I thought all the characters was used well. The film is filled with fun and action. The Ultron storyline keeps your attention with ease. I was never familiar with Ultron before this film...And I thought that Vision came out well. Makes me look forward to the next chapter. This is one I can easily highly recommend.



(From March Marathon: Superhero Films on March 25th, 2016)

The Life of Oharu, a review by Antares

The Life of Oharu (1952) 89/100 - There's a moment in Kurosawa's Shichinin no samurai, when a coolie who's sharing the barn with the farmers proclaims..."I'd rather be dead than live a farmer's life". Well, after watching The Life of Oharu, I can say that I'd rather be dead than live the life of a woman in feudal Japan. Objectified, subservient and without any rights of property, a woman's life in medieval Japan was no better than a dog's. Kinuyo Tanaka gives a memorable performance, but probably should have shared the leading role with a younger, teenage actress for the early scenes in Kyoto and Edo. As great an actress as she was, she really can't pull off 15 - 18 years old, when she herself, just passed 40 years of age. As with other Mizoguchi films, the cinematography is gorgeous and his use of a 'floating camera' style, gives the film a haunting sadness and beauty at the same time. I would have loved to give it a higher rating, but the transitions between certain parts in Oharu's life are not smooth, making the film seem a bit episodic. I was also a bit unmoved by the ending of the film. Through the breadth of this film, Oharu goes from lady-in-waiting, to courtesan, to concubine, to prostitute and finally beggar nun. In a society where disgrace and losing face are treated just as horrifically as murder or treason, Oharu accepts these injustices as fate. I would have loved to have seen her race past her son's retainers and proclaim to him that she was the woman who gave him life, and in keeping with the film's theme, having him disavow himself of her. Thus, finally broken by this last indignity, she takes her life in the garden of her son's palace. The last thought in her mind being that she is now free to join Katsunosuke in eternal love in the afterlife.

What the color coding means...

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 February 28th, 2014)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon, a review by Achim

15. Desert Cantos
The Connors investigate the company town connected to the destroyed factory and find something startling. Weaver searches for a survivor of the explosion.

My comments:
The fist half of the show had me bored to tears; too much funeral, too little plot. Around mid-point however the story picks up pace (Cameron finds that the girl John's been talking to is lying, Sarah finds an "evil underground lair"). At the end our party of four realizes that Skynet is way ahead of what they could have possibly imagined, leaving me the viewer quite amazed about that as well. I'll agree with Matthias' review that there is a (relatively) a lot of plot covered and some questions answered, but all that got ultimately in the way of the character development (in an unhealthily unbalanced fashion, I mean).

There is however two lovely bits in there regarding Weaver. The first one when she is having a conversation with Ellison and she gets a little upset because he uncovers her lack of sensibility on the anniversary of "her husband's" death (since it shows her she is is not maintaining a good cover). The even better one is when she interacts with "her daughter", trying to bond and creating an emotional connection. This is something she obviously lacks ability and is therefore an important issue to her. I found the exchange regarding her daughter sitting on her lap a very nice touch!


(because boring us for half of the show)

(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on February 21st, 2010)