DVD Collectors Online

Lethal Weapon 4, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Lethal Weapon 4
Year: 1998
Director: Richard Donner
Rating: R
Length: 127 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English, French

Stars:
Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs
Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh
Joe Pesci as Leo Getz
Rene Russo as Lorna Cole
Chris Rock as Lee Butters

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

My Thoughts:
Well... what did you expect to see next? Come on... there is no way I could watch the first 3 and not watch the final one! This time they added Chris Rock to the gang. Which is a good thing... I like him. But I do wish they would have made his character a little different I don't know... but he seemed a little too similar to Joe Pesci's character. I did however really liked the running gag where Murtaugh didn't know why he was always being extra nice to him and all. That one got more then one laugh out of me. We also get to see Jet Li in this one. This is the first thing I ever seen him in. And I enjoyed him in it. He is definitely a bad-ass! But I am embarrassed to say they only things in my collection with him in it is this and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. This was a good strong finish to the franchise. And one I am actually sorry to see come. I could watch another one or two Lethal Weapon movies!



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: 2/19 - 2/21 on February 21st, 2010)

The Expedition, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: The Expedition
Year: 2006
Director: Nigel Hartwell
Rating: NR
Length: 108 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: N/A

Stars:
Anthony Cortese
Jessica Brant
Bill Lucas
Nigel Hartwell
Tom Kring

Plot:
Five Canadian filmmakers set out on a supernatural expedition to film a documentary on the Saratoga Homestead Asylum. Unfortunately only four of the crew members exited the building the next morning.

Extras:
Scene Access

My Thoughts:
Taking a little break from Val Lewton... I thought I would see if I could find another winner in the Mortuary of Madness set. Going by the plot on this one I went into this movie expecting something like The Blair Witch Project or better yet... St. Francisville Experiment. This fake horror documentary thing is pretty good entertainment. And it is good for a change of pace (the 3 mentioned here is all I have). This one is entertaining... over all I did enjoy it. But it definitely could have been better. Not all... but some scenes the acting needed help. Especially the scenes that take place in the police station.



(From Addicted2DVD's November Alphabet Marathon on November 12th, 2009)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka
Year: 1999
Rating: NR
Length: 625 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo , Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Plot:
Meet Eikichi Onizuka, a 22-year-old virgin and ex-biker. He's crude, foul-mouthed, and has a hair-trigger temper. His goal: to be the Greatest High School Teacher in the World! Wait, what?!? GTO is the fan-favorite story of Onizuka, a former motorcycle gang member whose goal is to become a teacher to make a difference. Once he's got his foot in the school door...can he squeeze his big head through it?

Watch in awe as Onizuka pummels through his teacher training only to be faced with the mammoth task of actually landing a teaching position. With unusual circumstances on his side, he just might pull it off. Using his street smarts to deal with colleagues, students, and troublemakers, Onizuka finds that he has too many lessons to learn!

Extras:
Interviews
Scene Access
Trailers

This anime series is an adaption of the first 14 volumes of the manga. It follows fairly close the manga, only changing some story elements to soften it a little (AFAIK they allowed to be more crass in mangas than in animes in Japan) and extending others. Also some ideas were taken from the live-action version which came one year earlier.
It had its high and lows for me but overall the anime is good. Sometimes the animation style bothered me a little and I think they had dumbed down the character Onizuka too much on some occations. He was too gullable in some cases compared to the manga version.
Too bad that they made this anime while the manga was still running and therefore it does not cover the full manga story, but the new ending they devised is fitting (I haven't read the ending of the manga yet, so I am curious how that one will end).
I can understand that they make anime series based on mangas while the manga is still current and popular, but it is always sad that the anime is cut short or differentiate from the manga because of this.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on October 5th, 2008)