DVD Collectors Online

Blade, a review by Jon

Blade
4 out of 5



Blade (Wesley Snipes) is a half-human, half-vampire, the "Daywalker", waging war on a secret society of vampires with help from Whistler (Kris Kristofferson). He rescues a doctor from a vampire attack and her skills with blood may help find Blade a new serum against the thirst that tortures him. Meanwhile Frost (Stephen Dorff) is trying to bring about a vampire apocalypse...

When great comic book based movies are discussed, somehow Blade always gets forgotten. And it really isn't fair because it still holds up as one of the best. The story format of a martial artist vigilante with cool weapons and a faithful (if foul-mouthed!) assistant could be seen as a Batman clone and the style is very much like Nolan's two films. In fact, Christian Bale could do worse than throw in a couple of Blade's lines, because the tone is no less serious, but the dialogue certainly lightens it. And interesting that it came out a year before The Matrix. It matches that film for coolness and bares comparison with the plot (chosen one, prophecy). They certainly go to the same tailor, all black leather and sunglasses, and buy similar CDs, but surely a year is too tight to accuse the Wachowski's of ripping it off? But the likeness is uncanny, especially when Blade tells Karen the world she knows is a "sugar-coated topping" hiding the "real world". Actually, no, if they did copy it, The Matrix would have been far more entertaining with less po-faced exposition...

Because Blade is coldly lit, sombre and dark, but very entertaining with solid action throughout. The ending is silly and stretches the CGi past breaking point, but up to that point the plot produces some wonderful set-pieces and Norrington has a great eye for imagery; the "Blood Bath" opening, the freaky oracle vampire, the library, etc. You can see why it would attract Guillermo Del Toro to the sequel. Some criticise the villain, but I though Stephen Dorff did a good enough job and he is at least supported by a gang straight out of an 80s action thriller (and that's no bad thing). All the characters are memorable, especially Kristofferson's cranky old Whistler. The fights and lightly used gore also make this one of the last properly successful comic book films for adults.

Stephen Norrington really couldn't have done much better and I find it odd that he would go on to direct the pathetic League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which doesn't have any subtlety at all, and was such a bad experience he exiled himself. He is apparently working on a new version of The Crow and on this evidence it's an excellent idea. I look forward to smacking people in the face with my Blade DVD when they make the inevitable accusations that he's ripping off The Dark Knight!

(From Jon's Marathon of Horror! 2009 on October 4th, 2009)

Juno, a review by addicted2dvd

Juno (2007/United States) Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Director: Jason Reitman Writing: Diablo Cody (Writer) Length: 96 min. Rating: Rated PG-13 : Mature Thematic Material, Sexual Content and Language Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, French: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Stars:
Ellen Page as Juno MacGuff
Michael Cera as Paulie Bleeker
Jennifer Garner as Vanessa Loring
Jason Bateman as Mark Loring
Allison Janney as Bren MacGuff
J.K. Simmons as Mac MacGuff

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Bonus Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Music Videos
• Outtakes/Bloopers
• Closed Captioned
• Inside Look
• Screen Tests

After reading several favorable reviews I was happy to see this one in one of the boxes of free DVDs I recently got. While I did enjoy it... I was hoping for a little more then what was delivered. The movie is listed in DVD Profiler as a comedy. And while I wouldn't say this is wrong... it just wasn't the type of comedy I was expecting. It definitely isn't the laugh out loud type of comedy. More... actually I don't know what I would call it. I did however think that Ellen Page was great in this movie. While I have liked Jennifer Garner since first seeing her in Alias... I wasn't all that impressed with her in this movie. I don't know... maybe it was just the character she had to work with... but I was a bit disappointed in her this time. Over-all it is a good story that kept my interest through-out.




(From The Movies from Within My Lifetime: 2012 Edition on February 23rd, 2012)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Bottle Fairy: Volume 1: Spring and Summer (2003/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia (United States) Length: 77 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:
"To make a wish come true, send your letter of wishes off in a bottle." So began the education of four young fairies wishing to become human. Join them in learning all about "Golden Week", school, love, and much more as they eagerly learn about humans in their quest to become human.

Binzume Yosei
1.01 April (2003-10-03)
Writer: Yuiko Tokumi (Original Material By), Hideki Shirane (Screenwriter)
Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki
Cast: Japanese Cast), Nana Mizuki (Kururu (voice)), Kaori Nazuka (Chiriri (voice)), Yui Horie (Sarara (voice)), Ai Nonaka (Hororo (voice)), Kisyo Taniyama (Sensei San (voice)), Haruko Momoi (Tama Chan (voice)), English Cast), Mia Bradly (Chiriri (voice)), Jennifer Sekiguchi (Hororo (voice)), Mari Daniel (Kururu (voice)), Vicky Green (Sarara (voice)), Yuri Lowenthal (Sensei-san (voice)), Riva West (Tama-chan (voice))

For some reason I really enjoyed this strange series. The first episode is a weaker one though. Each episode is only about ten minutes long. There are thirteen episodes, one for each months plus an extra one. Each episode tells how the fairies learn about a Japanese custom associated with that months. Most of the episode is about the fairies imagining how they think the custom goes after first hearing about it.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on March 30th, 2011)