DVD Collectors Online

The Whole Town's Talking, a review by Antares

The Whole Town's Talking (1935) 3.5/5 - I caught this on TCM last night after about 25 years since I first watched it. It was fun to see Edward G. Robinson spoofing his tough guy, gangster persona. But the real surprise here is that it was directed by John Ford, a director you don't think of off hand when it comes to comedy. Ford does a great job at keeping the pace moving along and never once does it lag or falter in its delivery of laughs. Jean Arthur plays the wise cracking love interest Miss Clark so well, it probably got her the part of Babe Bennett in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town the following year. The story centers itself on a mousy accountant named Arthur Ferguson Jones (Edward G. Robinson) who's a dead ringer for one of the country's most feared outlaws, Killer Mannion. Mannion has just escaped from state prison and is heading for the big city to rub out a stoolie who was responsible for sending him up the river. The cops are frantically searching for him and mistakenly arrest Jones and Miss Clark, who they think is the gunman's moll. This leads to my favorite scene in the film as Jones tries to explain the mix up and Miss Clark is in a separate room being interrogated by over zealous boob detectives. They grill her as to recent heists all around the country and in deadpan seriousness, replies that it was Mannion. My description doesn't do justice as to how well and how funny this scene plays out, as Jean Arthur's delivery of that one word answer is absolutely priceless, especially when almost every crime of the previous five years is mentioned. If you ever get a chance to see this film, make time for it. I'm not as big a fan as most people are for John Ford films, but this one is definitely a forgotten gem.

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 16th, 2012)

Diary of the Dead, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Diary of the Dead
Movie Count: 34
TV Ep Count: 8
Time Started: 8am
Plot:
From legendary frightmaster George A. Romero comes "one of the most daring, hypnotic and absolutely vital horror films of the past decade" ('fangoria.com'). Romero continues his influential "Dead" series, this time focusing on a terrified group of college film students who record the pandemic rise of flesh-eating zombies while struggling for their own survival. Intensely gruesome and relentlessly grisly - fueled by the director's signature realistic special effects - 'Diary of the Dead' is must-see horror that "is Romero at his finest" ('bloody-disgusting.com').

My Thoughts:
I probably shouldn't have... but I went into this one with high expectations. I mean come on... a Zombie movie with Romero's name on it? Right there tells you to expect a great movie... at least in my eyes. And this was a really enjoyable movie. I liked most of what was done here. But I was just expecting more. Maybe I was expecting a little too much I don't know... but I got left with just a slight case of "that's it?" feeling afterwards. I mean I am happy with it... but I think it could have been better.



(From My Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2008 on October 10th, 2008)

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

21. Peace Out
Original Air Date: 4/30/2003


Guest Stars:
Gina Torres
Stephanie Romanov
Robert Towers

My Thoughts:
Another good episode. Though not quite as good as the previous one. This is the final episode of Jasmine. Kind of weird seeing the "big bad" being taken care of an episode before the season finale. But if I remember right Buffy the Vampire Slayer did this same thing one season also.

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on March 22nd, 2010)