DVD Collectors Online

Kokuriko-zaka Kara, a review by Danae Cassandra

Kokuriko-zaka Kara (From Up On Poppy Hill)
Year of Release: 2011
Directed By: Goro Miyazaki
Starring: Masami Nagasawa, Jun'ichi Okada or Sarah Bolger, Anton Yelchin
Genre: Drama, Romance

Overview:
From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and The Secret World of ArriettyMy Thoughts:
This was a beautiful film, with a lovely, sweet feeling to it, combining a bit of nostalgia with a hopeful spirit and thought of the future.  I thought the characters were particularly good - Umi and Shun are pretty well-developed, but even the minor characters have little quirks that make them memorable.

Unlike most of the other films from Studio Ghibli, this is set squarely in the real world - no touches of fantasy here.  It's a sort of everyday life kind of film.  Umi does her chores, goes to school, and misses her father, who was lost at sea.  Shun helps his dad on his boat, goes to school, and works on the school newspaper.  Together with the many of the rest of the student body, they set out to save a beloved old building on their campus.  In their relationship with each other, they discover things about themselves.  It's really a simple little film, sweet, calm and romantic.  The animation and character design are what you expect from Ghibli:  clean and beautiful, with that characteristic Ghibli look.  Nobody does it like they do.

While there's nothing offensive, I'd wait for children to be a bit older to show it to them - little ones wouldn't appreciate it.  Think 9 to 10 and up.  It's also a lovely film for adults - our audience of five included three in the mid 20's, one late 30's and one late 60's.  The dub wasn't bad either, though I'm looking forward to watching it again with subtitles.  Easily recommended for just about anyone.

Bechdel Test:  Pass

Overall:  3.75/5

(From Kokuriko-zaka Kara (From Up On Poppy Hill) on September 27th, 2013)

Lethal Weapon 4, a review by Tom

Title: Lethal Weapon 4
Year: 1998
Director: Richard Donner
Rating: R
Length: 127 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English, French

Stars:
Mel Gibson
Danny Glover
Joe Pesci
Rene Russo
Chris Rock

Plot:
Pure dynamite! The LETHAL WEAPON team has done it again, putting the match to the fuse and putting the WOW! back on screen for LETHAL WEAPON 4.

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover return as buddy cops Riggs and Murtaugh, with Joe Pesci riding comedy shotgun as chatterbox Leo. Murtaugh is still the family man. Riggs is still the gonzo loose cannon and – what's this? – family man. His will he/won't he marriage to Cole (Rene Russo) is one of the new wrinkles in this powerhouse crowd-pleaser that also stars comedy favorite Chris Rock and international action star Jet Li. Wedding bells, ammo shells, explosive laughter – this one's fully loaded!

Extras:
Closed Captioned
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Interviews
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

A good and fun closure to the series. Not as good as the previous three, but still funny to watch those two in action. It is nice to see that Riggs is still in a good relationship with Lorna. I also liked Leo this time around.
Only Chris Rock was miscast. Not because of his acting, but I thought it did not fit, that they had him do Chris Rock like tirades. We already have Leo doing this and he is better at it.

Rating:

(From Lethal Weapon Marathon on June 12th, 2009)

The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon, a review by Tom

03. Tramps Like Us (2008-12-05)
Writer: Graham Linehan (Writer)
Director: Graham Linehan
Cast: Chris O'Dowd (Roy), Richard Ayoade (Moss), Katherine Parkinson (Jen), Matt Berry (Douglas), Lucy Robinson (June), Tom Binns (Nolan), Janet Whiteside (Olive), Adam De Ville (Greg), Tom Meeten (Tramp), Laura Patch (Tour Guide), Darren Strange (Lawyer), Lewis Macleod (Narrator (voice))

This episode wasn't so good. The storylines were all done thousand times before and except for a few lines, it wasn't really funny.

Rating:

(From The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon on July 31st, 2009)