DVD Collectors Online

My Neighbor Totoro, a review by Danae Cassandra

Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
Year of Release: 1988
Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Lisa Michaelson, Cheryl Chase, Gregory Snegoff, Kenneth Hartman
Genre: Fantasy

Overview:
Enter a whimsical "garden of earthly delights" (The New York Times), in this enchanting fantasy adventure that has become an international favorite of children around the world.

Deep inside a tree trunk, two children discover a fascinating new world inhabited by Totoros - amazing, charming creatures who become their friends. Some are big, some are small, but all of them are furry, lovable and ready to do wondrous, magical things...like fly over mountains and make giant trees grow in the middle of the night! Best of all, Totoros can't be seen by adults, only the children who love them.

With its imaginative characters, heartwarming story and striking animation by the award-winning Hayao Miyazaki, MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO is "certain to delight" (Los Angeles Times) again and again.

My Thoughts:
Totoro is a perfect film; charming, magical, nostalgic. Totoro is a movie of simple beauty, of the enchantment of childhood and the magic of nature. It's a film of patience and the unfolding of life around us. It's a film with a simple story and superb animation. It's a film about wonder, about growing up, about responsibility, about children who act like children, and the profound reality of being human. A perfect film. Sit back and enjoy.

Bechdel Test: Pass

Overall: 5/5

(From My Neighbor Totoro on March 24th, 2014)

The Driver, a review by Jon

THE DRIVER (1971)
3 out of 5



Ryan O'Neal is a getaway driver for hire. Bruce Dern is the cop willing to bend the rules to catch this "cowboy" red-handed.

No existential soul-searching here, just bruising action served ice-cool. O'Neal's driver (no names again) is the best money can buy and he covers his tracks very carefully. But Dern's detective is hot on his tail and even sets up a job for the driver to take. There are several car chases, usually featuring several police cars. They're good fun and plenty of vehicles are involved. Walter Hill's set-ups are solid no nonsense action, which he is known for. One fantastic scene features him driving a Merc around a garage, smashing the bodywork to pieces to prove a point to the criminals who dared question whether he was good enough. He refused the job after leaving them with no doors.

The story is straightforward too. Bruce Dern is great fun as the cop working both sides to his own end. It has something of a western feel with the outlaw driver (Dern calls him "cowboy" a couple of times) and perhaps continues the genres idea of the last free hero, or last frontier. It's only let down by being a bit too cool and a bit too laidback in the lead couple of O'Neal and Isabelle Adjani. O'Neal is trying to channel Steve McQueen but often has an expression like he's just farted and hopes no-one noticed! I'm being a bit unfair; it's more a case he didn't do anything wrong and the script gave him nothing to say. It's just actors like McQueen sets the rules with Bullitt amongst others for this kind of thing, while Ryan was in Love Story. It just proves there is more to acting the cool anti-hero than standing still and not saying anything.

I thoroughly recommend the film overall. The inspiration for the classic game of the same title, it's an old fashioned noir played out in fast cars. I read in another review that people have drawn comparisons with Le Samourai and although it's hero shares the empty room and he seems only to exist when working, I wouldn't push it any further.

The Car's not really the star...
There are various cars; he starts in a Cadillac, then moves to a Ford, wrecks the before mentioned Merc and finishes the movie in a pick-up. Really, this isn't a film about the cars, just The Driver. The idea being, put him in a Flintstones car he'll still pull off the job. This goes someway to demonstrating Hill's direction as he doesn't waste time on too many bodywork angles, just the stunts.

Can't find a decent trailer, so here is the "Job Interview"...
Trailer

(From Car Movie Marathon on August 26th, 2008)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Marathon , a review by Critter

1.04
Teacher's Pet

Plot:My Thoughts: To me this is a fairly average episode. The plot seems a little weak, and the thought of a giant bug killing off it's male students just seems a little tame compared to some of the issues that come up in this world. One thing I can say though is that I thought the design of the teacher, while in her prayingmantis form was done well. It looked quite creepy but didn't look overly fake due to the time period and budget of the show.

Rating:

(From Buffy The Vampire Slayer Marathon on May 23rd, 2010)