DVD Collectors Online

5 Centimeters per Second, a review by Antares

5 Centimeters per Second (2007) 88/100 - This film sucker punched me...deeply. I wasn't expecting this kind of story and after it was finished, I was emotionally drained. So drained, that I've been trying to write my thoughts for the last half hour and I can't get anything down that's coherent enough to make sense. The first two segments are outstanding, with characters and story lines that I could relate to in my past. The only fault I can find in the film, has to lie with the final segment. It starts off just as the first two, but then veers off to a musical diversion that doesn't work and kind of spoils what was becoming a masterpiece in my eyes. I'd like to write more, but I can't. This film depressed the hell out of me, and it's cold, grey and rainy outside. Damn...I hate when a movie does this to me!

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 March 12th, 2013)

Rambo: First Blood Part II, a review by Jon

Rambo: First Blood Part II
3 out of 5

This is a fairly decent sequel, though it does lose much of the power and point of the first. On one hand it's a thin excuse for Rambo to go a bit more killing machine than in the first part, but at the same time, the screenplay (co-written by action maestro James Cameron) does balance very well. The story needs a silly contrivance to get Rambo out of the prison term he's been serving, and Trautman is still talking bollocks, but the heart of the story (American POWs left behind in Vietnam) is a good progression of the first and another indictment of how the US handled their part of that war.

The action itself is fantastic, if dumb, iconic stuff. Rambo without a leash, happily killing faceless enemy soldiers, is great to watch and the cathartic last act (helicopters, and dealing with the suits!) is just a perfect ending.

According to the interview on the disc, Stallone seems to be trying to distance himself from both this and part 3, which is typical of him. He's got a point about the next one, but this is the best sort of sequel, especially for the time it was released.

(From Jon's Random Reviews on July 12th, 2009)

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: "I wished Buffy had never come to Sunnydale!" - After being humiliated by Mercedes and her gang about her break-up with Xander, Cordelia tracks down the source of her misery: Buffy's arrival. Unfortunately she makes that wish in front of the vengeance demon Anyanka. And she grants her wish. Suddenly Cordy finds herself in a Sunnydale that has never seen the Slayer and is ruled by the Master and his two most vicious Vampires: Willow and Xander.

My Opinion: Alternate timelines, universes, realities. I always like them on my plate. This was no exception, especially with Vamp-Xander and Vamp-Willow who were really great and I can't wait to see Vamp-Willow again in a few episodes. I also liked that Larry had become a member of the "White Hats", a role he will reprise in the season finale.

Synopsis: It's nearly Christmas in Sunnydale and it's unbearable hot. Angel is getting nightmares from victims that he has killed (among them: Jenny Calendar) and somehow Buffy is sucked into these nightmares. The First (Evil) reveals to him that it brought him back into this dimension for a reason and that Angel will become again who he was born to be: Angelus.

My Opinion: With the exception of Whistler's cryptic statements there haven't been much hints towards the fact that Angel might play a bigger role in the ultimate fight good vs. evil. But now it has become evident. The First Evil has released him from the hell dimension and The Powers That Be have saved him from becoming a pile of ash. I really liked that. I also really liked that Xander offered his help to help Angel.

Synopsis: Joyce accompanies her daughter on one of her nightly patrols to bond with her but it is she who finds two small children that were slaughtered on a playground. Enraged my this merciless murder that was most likely done by a cult and not a demon she forms a group: MOO - Mothers Opposed to the Occult. They fight against those who have taken over the town: monsters, witches and Slayers.

My Opinion:

(From "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Marathon on July 18th, 2009)