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The Good German, a review by Eric

The Good German


What they say:Who knows what American journalist Jake Geismer (George Clooney) expected to find in postwar Berlin? Peace, maybe. Or at least a story. But certainly not Lena (Cate Blanchett), his beautiful, embittered one-time love. And not the trail of secrecy and deception that leads from Lena to the scheming young corporal (Tobey Maguire) who's her new lover... and to a murder no one seems interested in solving. Except Jake. Steven Soderbergh directs three of today's top talents in this zigzag thriller that's both an atmospheric homage to 1940s filmmaking and a deft modern film noir. 'The Good German' is "haunting and hypnotic, it's pure moviegoing bliss" (Peter Travers, 'Rolling Stone').

What I think: So you take a few good actors, a good director and a good story, you throw in a few million dollars and that gives you a good movie right ?   Well......not always, making a good movie also requires that little something that is missing here.  "The Good German" is an attempt at making a film noir as in the 1940's and at that it is very successful.  The atmosphere is there, the actors performances are right on the spot.  Unfortunately the good stuff ends there and the story is told in a boring way.  My feeling at the end of the movie was that they've put too much effort into the style and not enough on the story.



(From Eric's DVD watching. on December 27th, 2009)

Fantasia, a review by Danae Cassandra

Fantasia
Year of Release: 1940
Directed By: Samuel Armstrong, James Algar, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Hamilton Luske, Jim Handley, Ford Beebe, T. Hee, Norm Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson
Starring: Leopold Stokowski, The Philadelphia Orchestra
Genre: Fantasy, Animation, Musical

Overview:FantasiaFantasia 2000DestinoFantasia over and over again.

My Thoughts:
Fabulous music, groundbreaking animation, and one of Disney's bravest and riskiest films.  If all the sequences aren't evenly fabulous, there are ones that stand up as absolute classics 77 years after this first came out.  My personal favorite is "Night on Bald Mountain," but there is something to be said for all of them.  I just wish the introductions weren't there, or just announced the piece of music.  They're completely unnecessary.

Boy is that overview misleading though!  If by "the way Walt envisioned" you mean sanitized for your enjoyment, then yes, yes it is.  Sunflower & Otika are still missing, and they were in the original Walt made.  Gad I really hate censorship.

Bechdel Test: Fail
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From July Movie Marathon: Musicals (Yes... You read right!) on July 18th, 2016)

Charmed Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

8. Little Monsters
The Charmed Ones believe that they can raise a half-demon infant to not be evil when they become foster parents after vanquishing the demon's parent.

My Thoughts:
This is a good but standard episode. Basically all I really can say about it.

9. Chris-Crossed
When a witch from an elite assassin family arrives to take Chris back to the future, The Charmed Ones must pull together to save him.

My Thoughts:
This one is a really good episode. In this one we find out the reason Chris came from the future... what he is trying to save Wyatt from.

10. Witchstock
Paige is transported back in time via a pair of Gram's magical go-go boots. Piper and Phoebe must prevent Paige from changing the past and disrupting the lineage of The Charmed Ones.

My Thoughts:
This is an episode that is just done for fun. Making Grams a '60s flower child. But what I think was the funniest was how they portrayed the '60s Leo.

11. Prince Charmed
Piper's overprotective tendency toward her son causes her to swear off men for the rest of her life. Paige and Phoebe conjure up a Mr. Right to remind Piper of the importance of love.

My Thoughts:
This is a good episode... but not what I would consider a great one. In this one the sisters finally find out what it is that Chris is trying to save Wyatt from... which we (the viewers) found out a couple episodes ago.

(From Charmed Marathon on July 7th, 2008)