DVD Collectors Online

Ran, a review by Antares

Ran





Year: 1985
Film Studio: Herald Ace, Nippon Herald Films, Greenwich Film Production
Genre: Drama, Action
Length: 163 Min.

Director
Akira Kurosawa (1910)

Writing
Akira Kurosawa (1910)...Screenwriter
Hideo Oguni (1904)...Screenwriter
Masato Ide (1922)...Screenwriter

Producer
Katsumi Furukawa
Masato Hara
Serge Silberman (1917)

CinematographerMusicStarsReview
       Most directors in the twilight of their film careers tend to fall back on the tried and trued formulas that had been successful to them in their youth. John Ford, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock, names synonymous with the pinnacle of cinematic achievement, had virtually nothing left in the tank in terms of creativity in their later years. Such was not the case in the career of acclaimed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. His career would rise as a Phoenix from the ashes of exiled obscurity in the late sixties and seventies at the hands of Toho studio executives who did not share in his artistic vision. This hiatus kept buried in his heart, the fire to create in the medium which he had been shutout for so long during those fifteen years.

       At the beginning of the eighties, with a little help from Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, he returned to the silver screen with the ambitious jidai-geki Kagemusha. And although it was an international and critical success, Kurosawa still could not get funding for any future films from Toho executives. Finally in 1984, with the backing of a French production company, he secured the funds needed to complete his last great masterpiece, RanKing LearRanRatings Criterion
5 Stars - The pinnacle of film perfection and excellence.

(From Ran (Chaos) (1985) on February 18th, 2010)

A League of Their Own, a review by addicted2dvd

A League of Their Own (1992/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (United States) Director: Penny Marshall Writing: Kim Wilson (Original Material By), Kelly Candaele (Original Material By), Lowell Ganz (Screenwriter), Babaloo Mandel (Screenwriter) Length: 128 min. Video: Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, German: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Japanese: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Spanish: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish

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Stars:
Tom Hanks as Jimmy Dugan
Geena Davis as C Dottie Hinson
Lori Petty as P Kit Keller
Madonna as CF Mae Mordabito
Rosie O'Donnell as 3B Doris Murphy

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Music Videos

This is one I have seen several times before. It is one of my favorites. A good, fun story filled with a lot of big names. If you haven't seen this one yet... I definitely recommend it.



(From July Movie Marathon: Based on a True Story on July 29th, 2017)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: To Heart: Complete Collection
Year: 2008
Rating: NR
Length: 325 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo , Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Plot:
For as long as Akari can remember, she and Hiroyuki have always been friends. But with time, everything changes, and her feelings have turned into something more. As a new semester of high school begins, will the two childhood friends come closer together or drift further apart? Join Hiroyuki, Akari and all their friends - the bubbly Shiho, the quiet Serika, the lovely Kotone, and more - in this heartwarming tale of love, relationships and friendship!

Extras:
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

This is a nice slow-paced high school slice of live anime series about a girl and a boy who have known each other since kindergarten and are now entering high school together. Maybe a little too nice in terms of character interaction. Almost no conflict there.
But it provides some fun guest character appearances. For example the girl who talks to low that almost nobody understands her. Or the girl who can the tragic future events of people close to her. And of course the human-like robot maid, who is enrolled as a regular student as a test by her creators

Rating:


And now short reviews about the last two episodes of the series. Both are set during christmas time and thus qualify for the christmas marathon

12. The Season of Emotions (1999-06-17)
Writer: AQUAPLUS (Original Material By), Shinzo Hujita (Screenwriter)
Director: Naohito Takahashi
Cast: Ayako Kawasumi (Akari Kamigishi (voice)), Kazuya Ichijo (Hiroyuki Fujita (voice)), Chieko Higuchi (Shiho Nagaoka (voice)), Souichiro Hoshi (Masashi Sato (voice)), Rumi Kasahara (Lemmy Miyauchi (voice)), Eriko Fujimaki (Sayuri (voice)), Takayuki Arai (Imai (voice)), Masaya Takatsuka (Clerk (voice)), Akiko Kimura (Student (voice)), Yui Horie (Student (voice)), Mie Sonozaki (Student (voice)), Harunori Miyata (Student (voice))

This episode is on the same level as the rest of this series. Here the main characters start to organize a christmas party.
This episode takes focus on Shiho's interest in Hiroyuki. Probably to build up to a love triangle to resolve for the next episode which is the series finale. But I have the feeling, that not much will get resolved, as it would not match the slow pace of the rest of the series. Also there already exists a follow-up series, which probably needs the same starting ground. But I will see soon, if that is the case.


13. On a Day of Snow (1999-06-24)
Writer: AQUAPLUS (Original Material By), Hiroshi Yamaguchi (Screenwriter)
Director: Naohito Takahashi
Cast: Ayako Kawasumi (Akari Kamigishi (voice)), Kazuya Ichijo (Hiroyuki Fujita (voice)), Chieko Higuchi (Shiho Nagaoka (voice)), Souichiro Hoshi (Masashi Sato (voice)), Aya Hisakawa (Tomoko Hoshina (voice)), Mayumi Iizuka (Aoi Matsubara (voice)), Rumi Kasahara (Lemmy Miyauchi (voice)), Kyoko Hikami (Kotone Himekawa (voice)), Ikue Oya (Rio Hinayama (voice)), Yui Horie (Multi (voice)), Hironori Miyata (Principal (voice)), Chizuko Hoshino (Akari's Mom (voice)), Masaya Takatsuka (Clerk (voice)), Eriko Fujimaki (PE Teacher (voice)), Mie Sonozaki (Announcer (voice)), Harunori Miyata (Student (voice)), Takayuki Arai (Student (voice))

Nothing really gets resolved. Shiho takes a step back to let Akari have a go at Hiroyuki. Akari even gave Hiro a scarf which is almost bold in this series
But beside enjoying a snow fall together at the end of the series, it is not really clear if they end up together or not. But I expected this outcome already.

(From Tom's Random Reviews on December 2nd, 2008)