DVD Collectors Online

Three Outlaw Samurai, a review by Antares

Three Outlaw Samurai (1964) 64/100 - I'm picturing the board members of Shochiku Studios sitting around a big table sometime back in 1963 and discussing the fact that Toho and Akira Kurosawa were raking in boatloads of money with their tandem hits Yojimbo and Sanjuro and how could they get in on the gravy train too. The answer would become Three Outlaw Samurai. I can hear someone throwing the idea of taking elements of the two films mentioned and adding a pinch of story from Toho's other blockbuster Seven Samurai and you're bound to have a sure fire hit. But when all is said and done, it is only a moderately interesting chanbara film, entertaining, but lacking the fun or punch of any of those other three films. So let's go through the check list...first, you have peasant farmers who need to be defended. Seven Samurai...check. Then you have an evil, corrupt magistrate who is squeezing the poor peasants dry...Sanjuro... check. A ronin with masterful swordsmanship who comes to the aid of the peasants...YojimboSword of Doom. Finally, Isamu Nagato plays the humble samurai who closely resembles Shichiroji from Seven Samurai, not only in looks, but also in demeanor.

What the color coding means...

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 7th, 2013)

Collateral, a review by KinkyCyborg

Collateral



Title:Collateral
Year: 2004
Director: Michael Mann
Rating: R
Length: 120 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: DTS: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Tom Cruise
Jamie Foxx
Jada Pinkett [Jada Pinkett Smith]
Mark Ruffalo
Peter Berg

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


Even though I had seen this before I put it on late in the evening and ended up watching the whole thing keeping me up until past 1 am.  

Great movie and I think one of Cruise's better performances. As thrilling as the action was, just as fascinating were the discussions in the cab between Vincent and Max as they psychoanalyzed each other while passing the time, traveling from one hit to the next. The third kill, was totally unexpected the first time I watched it and a very memorable scene for me.

Michael Mann is masterful at telling stories of men who have been pushed to their limits and finally push back which Jamie Foxx's character does here and like James Caan did in Thief.

Loved how it ended, with Vincent which was the very event he spoke about with such derision not long after getting into Max's cab.

KC

Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2011 on February 28th, 2011)

Valentine's Day Episode Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Season 2 Episode 17: The Equalizer
Roland the Troll returns on Valentine's Day. And this time, he's gotten Harvey out of the picture and stolen Sabrina's heart.

My Thoughts:
While still enjoyable... I didn't care for this one quite as much as the Valentine's Day episode from season 1. For some reason I never cared too much for the character of Roland.

My Rating:

(From Valentine's Day Episode Marathon on February 13th, 2010)