DVD Collectors Online

The New Guy, a review by Tom

Title: The New Guy
Year: 2002
Director: Ed Decter
Rating: PG-13
Length: 88 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85, Pan & Scan 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Subtitles: English, French

Stars:
DJ Qualls
Eliza Dushku
Zooey Deschanel
Jerod Mixon

Plot:
THE NEW GUY is a fresh and wildly hilarious comedy starring DJ Qualls (Road Trip), Eliza Dushku (Bring It On), Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous), Lyle Lovett (The Opposite of Sex) and Eddie Griffin (Undercover Brother). Ed Decter, co-writer of the comedy hit There's Something About Mary, makes his directorial debut in the laugh-out-loud funniest comedy of the year!

Terminally nerdy Dizzy Harrison (Qualls) is routinely laughed at, ridiculed and picked on. His senior year is nothing but an exercise in pain and torture. So Dizzy decides to change his luck. After purposely getting expelled from school, he enrolls in a rival high school with a new look, a new story and a completely new attitude. Now, the former dud becomes a major stud and finds himself the big man on campus - complete with girls, popularity and more girls! But when his past resurfaces and threatens to expose the real Dizzy, he must rise to the occasion to show the world exactly what he's all about!

Awards:

Anatomy Awards

2003

Won

Best Bikini Scene

Eliza Dushku

Extras:
Music Videos
Scene Access
Trailers

I haven't watched this one in a long while. It is in my collection because of Eliza Dushku. Even though it somewhat fun movie and has a nice premise, I remembered it being a little better. Eliza Dushku's role is rather small. I would preferred to have seen a little more of her. Though we saw her in various Bikini models in one montage scene which is totally unrelated to the plot.
But it was very nice to see Zooey Deschanel here.

Rating:

(From Tom's Alphabet Marathon Reviews on July 3rd, 2010)

The Dunwich Horror, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Dunwitch Horror
Year of Release: 1970
Directed By: Daniel Haller
Starring: Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner, Sam Jaffe
Genre: Horror

Overview:
Single white warlock seeks beautiful blond babe to join him at the altar...the sacrificial altar! When the son of Satan (Dean Stockwell) seduces a wide-eyed college student (Sandra Dee), it's a match made in hell in this "exceptional, truly engrossing film of the supernatural" (Los Angeles Times) where the romance is hot...and the terror bone-chilling! Young Wilbur Whateley (Stockwell) has haunting eyes and an impish grin. No wonder, since his father was the devil and his mother was insane! So when Wilbur decides to start a family, he lures a cute coed (Dee) to the mountains for a weekend of demonic rites and wrongs! Now all hell is about to break loose, as their passion awakes an ancient evil determined to destroy all humanity in this sinister scare-fest of satanic seduction!

My Thoughts:
This is a handsome production, with enough deviations from Lovecraft's story to make a good movie while still keeping to its spirit. If Dean Stockwell's Wilbur is more charismatic and good-looking than his literary counterpart, it works for what the film is trying to do. I personally love film inverts what we expect our hero and villain to look like - the villain is a charming young man, the hero a suspicious old professor. It's also not hard to have a lot of sympathy for this version of Wilbur. The film portrays small-minded townsfolk as unrelenting bullies (most especially funeral scene!), so the idea that Wilbur may wish to summon extraplanar beings to wipe out humanity isn't so farfetched. Recommended if you're a fan of Lovecraft, or enjoy 60's era horror (such as AIP's films starring Vincent Price). For fans of either of those, you won't go wrong here.

Watched For:  Hoop-tober 3.0, Horror/Halloween Challenge 2016

Bechdel Test: Fail
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 2.5/5

Horror/Halloween Challenge Films: 22/52 (17 reviewed)

(From Horror/Halloween 2016 Challenge on October 10th, 2016)

Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon, a review by Tom

08. Lover's Walk (1998-11-24)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Dan Vebber (Writer)
Director: David Semel
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Seth Green (Oz), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Harry Groener (Mayor Richard Wilkins), James Marsters (Spike), Jack Plotnick (Deputy Mayor), Marc Burnham (Lenny), Suzanne Krull (Clerk)

I always loved this episode. Spike's return to Sunnydale mirroring his first appearence only this time at a low point of this life. Spike's crying on Willow's shoulder
Making us believe Cordelia died when showing a funeral but then when the camera gets to Buffy and Willow we find out, that Cordelia is okay.
And then concluding with Spike in high spirit again (singing the Sid Vicious version of "My Way"), but with anyone else arriving at a low point.

Rating:

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on March 2nd, 2009)