DVD Collectors Online

The Squid and the Whale, a review by Silence_of_Lambs

Summary:
Based on true childhood experiences The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys (Owen Kline and Jesse Eisenberg) dealing with their parents' (Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels) divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.

My Thoughts:
Got this film as part of a boxset that was less expensive than the other movie would have been if bought seperately.

It is, as I learned a highly praised movie and the winner of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
It too is a film that tries to capture life as it is and it turns out that "life" is mostly dull, boring and banal.
The acting of all participants is great, sadly the plot cannot compete with the capabilities of the cast. It took all my mental powers to get through this movie and I was extremely annoyed in the end.
But Jeff Daniels is giving us a pseudo-intellectual college teacher that would rescue the whole film if this role wouldn't be so dislikeable that you'd wish for brass-knuckles should you ever meet this guy in real life.
Two very annoying plausibility-leaks (out of many more):
1) The younger brother (about 10 years old!) gets caught twice with a beer can in his hands (once by his older brother, once by his father) and this results in ... nothing.
2) In 1986 the attempt to say that the Pink Floyd song "Hey You" (from the quite unknown album "The Wall") was written by yourself, is so obviously doomed to fail that no one with a working brain would have tried this. Walt (the older brother) does this, and even wins a poetry contest (until he gets caught some time later)

So my rating is 5 stars for the acting 0 stars for the plot. In total this is

My Rating: (out of possible 5)

(From Michael's random reviews on January 10th, 2011)

Club Dread, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Amityville: A New Generation
Movie Count: 26
TV Ep Count: 9
Time Started: 11:30am
Plot:My Thoughts:
After a boring, somewhat depressing morning at the doctor's office with my mother I felt the need for something light-hearted. So I figured it was a good time to check out a Comedy-Horror. So figured if I was going to do that may as well knock "Club Dread" off my unwatched list. Wasn't too bad... some pretty good laughs... some decent kills... lots of pretty girls in bikinis (and less)... you know a good time to be had by all. Though I have to admit... I was expecting it to be a little better then what it actually was... but that could just be because I went into this one with fairly high expectations. I had heard it was an awesome movie.... and I personally would not go quite that far.

(From Month-Long Horror/Halloween Marathon on October 9th, 2007)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Lana sees a former friend of hers. But that's impossible, Emily died six years ago. She isn't a ghost, but she isn't totally real either. Clark tries to help Lana and finds a secret lab - and there's more than one Emily. They are copies of a failed experiment and that experiment now endangers Lana's life.

My Opinion: Although I found it interesting that Lionel Luthor is conducting experiments on human beings, I wasn't much into that episode because I am not much into the horror genre.

Synopsis: Lana and Clark get closer and closer but then Dr. Walden is awaking from his coma and he claims that "the day is coming". He tries to kill Clark because he has read the same text as Clark, that "the last son will rule the third planet". Meanwhile someone has stolen Clark's blood from Dr. Bryce's office and there are supsects: Lex and his father Lionel.

My Opinion: This was the great begin of a season finale. As I said I've never read Superman comics but I don't like the idea that Jor-El really had the intention that his son should rule mankind and I am glad that he is opposed to that thought as well.

Synopsis: Clark and Lana have their very first date but then the ship calls out for Clark again. His biological father demands that he leaves everyone behind and that he has to leave Smallville. But he doesn't intend to follow his father's rule but instead he plans to destroy the ship. Meanwhile Lex walks down the aisle and marries Dr. Bryce. But from there everything changes for both Clark and Lex.

My Opinion: Great finale and an evil cliffhanger. I feel so sorry for both Martha who has lost her baby and Clark who feels responsible for that (ok, he actually is). But personally I also think that Clark made a bad choice when he ran away. This guy saves lifes on a nearly daily basis but he doesn't want to face the consequences of his actions. But then again I am forgetting that he is only 17 years old.
I believe that was the last episode I ever watched on television on a regular basis. I missed the beginning of the third season the next fall and then kind of dropped out. I only regained interest in the show after I bought the first seasons on DVD.

The Season - My Opinion: That was a very good season, exploring Clark's origins. We will learn more with every season. This season also had a lot of good stories that came together to several arcs and these will also continue. Of course there were also FotW episodes - and there will always be some in every season - but not so many than in the first season. And more importantly they weren't always bad guys.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on May 25th, 2008)