DVD Collectors Online

The Beast of Hollow Mountain, a review by GSyren

Title	The Beast of Hollow Mountain (8-427328-750219)
Director	Edward Nassour, Ismael Rodriguez
Actors	Guy Madison, Patricia Medina, Carlos Rivas, Edward Noriega, Julio Villarreal
Produced	1956 in United States
Runtime	79 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles	French, Spanish
Overview	An American cowboy living in Mexico discovers his cattle is being eaten by a giant prehistoric dinosaur.
My thoughts	Willis O'Brien, the man behind the animation and effects in King Kong, had an idea for a film with cowboys and dinosaurs. He never got to make that film, but his idea spawned two films; The Beast of Hollow Mountain and The Valley of Gwangi. Beast was first out, and is definitely the lesser of the two. And it's the one with the least dinosaur footage. Aside from a very short sequence, we're almost at the one hour mark of the 1:19 runtime before any real dinosaur action takes place. Before that it's a pretty routine cowboy movie. The animation isn't very good. It would be a compliment to even call it second rate. The only exception is a few walking and running sequences that - according to Neil Pettigrew in his book "The Stop Motion Fimography" - is made with replacement animation. That entails making a set of fixed models that represent a walking/running cycle and using them one at a time over and over. This makes for a smooth animation, but looks a bit fake since there is no variation at all, every steep looks the same. The Beast of Hollow Mountain was supposedly the first stop motion film to be shot in CinemaScope and color. Using back projection in color adds a level of problems, and several scenes show problems with color matching and fuzzy backgrounds. When Ray Harryhausen was asked to do 7th Voyage of Sinbad in color two years later, he hesitated and only gave in after much experimentation. Possibly he had seen the trouble they had in Beast. If you have the chance, you should watch The Beast of Hollow Mountain followed directly by watching The Valley of Gwangi, and you will appreciate the greatness of Ray Harryhausen's animation. While Gwangi is certainly not a perfect movie, it's definitely better than Beast. The Beast of Hollow Mountain is not easy to find on DVD, and if you're not a stop motion fan, it's hardly worth the trouble. The DVD I found is a Spanish region free PAL release. It's not anamorphic. The picture quality is just acceptable, and with one exception the print used is free from damage. It's certainly better than watching it online, though.
My rating	2.5 out of 5

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on July 31st, 2013)

ParaNorman, a review by addicted2dvd

ParaNorman (2012/United States) Trailer |IMDb |Wikipedia | Universal Studios Home Entertainment Director: Sam Fell, Chris Butler Writing: Chris Butler (Writer) Length: 92 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: English

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Stars:
Kodi Smit-McPhee as Norman Babcock (Voice)
Tucker Albrizzi as Neil (Voice)
Anna Kendrick as Courtney Babcock (Voice)
Casey Affleck as Mitch (Voice)
Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Alvin (Voice)
Leslie Mann as Sandra Babcock (Voice)

Plot:
From the makers of Coraline comes the story of Norman, a boy who must use his ability to see and speak with the dead to save his town from a centuries-old curse.
In addition to spooky zombies, he'll also have to take on mysterious ghosts, wily witches and, worst of all, clueless grown-ups. But this young ghoul whisperer will soon find his paranormal abilities pushed to their otherwordly limits. Featuring the voice talents of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anne Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin and John Goodman, it's a frightfully funny and magically thrilling adventure for the whole family in eye-popping stop-motion.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Bonus Trailers
• Featurettes

Brittany and I just finished watching this one. And I must say we both enjoyed this one very much. I think I liked this one a little  more then I did Frankenweenie! This one has a good storyline... it is just plain fun! I am so glad a friend gave me these films. I can definitely see myself watching it again! If you haven't had the chance to see this one yet... I highly recommend checking it out as soon as possible. I don't think you would be sorry!



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Animated Movies on May 24th, 2013)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

4.12 Call of the Wild - Part 1 (1999-03-14)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Paul Gross (Writer), R.B. Carney (Writer)
Director: Steve DiMarco
Cast

(From "Due South" marathon on January 5th, 2011)