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)

How Sarah Got Her Wings, a review by addicted2dvd

How Sarah Got Her Wings (2015/United States) IMDb |Trailer | Marvista Entertainment, House Lights Media (United States) Director: Gary Entin, Edmund Entin Writing: Damon Hill (Writer) Length: 87 min. Video: Widescreen :1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles:

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Stars:
Lindsey Gort as Sarah
Derek Theler as Jordan
Melanie Liburd as Amanda
Jeremy Luke as Stuart
Caleel Harris as Mason

Plot:
Good Samaritan Sarah Fitzpatrick (Lindsey Gort - The Carrie Diaries, Impastor) has a fatal accident just before Christmas and finds herself in the lobby before the gates of Heaven. Certain that she will be let in, she is shocked to find that her name of not on the reservation list.
However, she is granted the chance to return to Earth as an "angel in training" with the requirement tto help a soul in need. Sarah has the 12 days before Christmas to secure her place on the list leaving her in the race for her after-life.

Extras:

• Closed Captioned

This is a TV movie I found on Netflix. It is one I enjoyed quite a bit. I enjoyed most the characters and the story held my attention with ease. I found it to be worth the time put in to watch it.



(From Christmas 2016 on December 21st, 2016)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: An asteroid closes in on Earth from a strange direction and it will hit Earth. SG-1 tries to repair a crashed Tel'tak (cargo ship) and then to land on the asteroid and to blow it up with the help of a Naqahdah-enhanced nuclear bomb.

My Opinion: Great moment, when Jack comments "I've seen that movie!" in the beginning, obviously referring to Armageddon. They nonetheless found a good, typical Stargate solution to the problem.

Synopsis: On a planet that isn't ruled by a Goa'uld is a base of Jaffa. Some of their "gods" have been killed, some Jaffa simply deserted. Their leader is K'tano, former First Prime of Imhotep, who killed his "god". But the ways of the Jaffa and the Tau'ri are different and Jack cannot recommend an alliance as long as K'tano is in charge.

My Opinion: This episode shows, how convincing charismatic leaders can be. It also shows that they haven't necessarily the best for their followers in mind. I also liked the Matrix-like fight sequence.

Synopsis: On a planet whose population has been wiped out, SG-1 finds a disabled android in the forum of a young woman. After she's been reactivated they find out that she doesn't know about her artificiality and her state of mind is that of a child. But then she builds a present and toy for Daniel that is terribly familiar to SG-1.

My Opinion: Another episode where Jack and Daniel crash into each other about the way they should handle a very dangerous situation. But I honestly didn't know whith whom I should've agreed.

Synopsis: A planet that is supposed to have a protection mechanism is attacked by the Goa'uld. Obviously the inofficial NID commando broke it when they visited the planet 2 years ago. Now they have to accompany SG-1 to fix it.

My Opinion: What I didn't like about this episode was that they were killed in the end. That was to forseeable. And the fact that the Colonel sacrificed himself to save Jack didn't match with the facts we learned about him in this very episode.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on April 6th, 2008)