DVD Collectors Online

Labyrinth, a review by Danae Cassandra

Labyrinth
Year of Release: 1986
Directed By: Jim Henson
Starring: David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, Toby Froud, Brian Henson, Ron Mueck, David Shaughnessy
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Overview:
Journey into the fantastical world of Labyrinth, starring David Bowie and a cast of incredible creatures created by Jim Henson. Frustrated with babysitting on yet another weekend night, Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), a teenager with an active imagination, summons the Goblins from her favorite book, "Labyrinth", to take her baby stepbrother away. When little Toby actually disappears, Sarah must follow him into the world of the fairy tale to rescue him from the wicked Goblin King (Bowie)! Guarding his castle is the labyrinth itself, a twisted maze of deception, populated with outrageous characters and unknown dangers. To get through it in time to save Toby, Sarah will have to outwit the King by befriending the very Goblins who protect him, in hopes that their loyalty isn't just another illusion in a place where nothing is as it seems!

My Thoughts:
This is an old childhood favorite.  Of course, unlike some friends of mine, I was never rooting for Sarah.  I am Jareth's fan all the way.

I had such a massive crush on him when I was younger.

There's a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in this film for me.  It was such a favorite of mine as a child, and it takes me back to the good parts of my childhood.  And nostalgia always lets you view things through glasses tinted rose.

I don't know that I would love it so much if I came to it first today.  It's a lot of fun, sure, and the puppetry is fantastic.  David Bowie is a sexy and elegant as ever.  But I've never liked Sarah's character, and I still don't.  I also didn't particularly like Connelly's portrayal, which is something I wouldn't have consciously thought about back then.  

At the same time, I still think it's a lovely fantasy story, a lovely adventure, and a fun film ... even if I would like to see more of Jareth and less of Sarah.  A good time, recommended for kids 6 and up (there are a few parts that could be a bit dark for the wee set), or anyone with a taste for fantasy or 80's nostalgia.  

With regard to medium, while the colors are very clear on the blu, a couple of scenes were super obvious for being effects based and green-screened - most especially and most glaringly the scene with the red creatures that take off their heads.  Whatever process they did to clean this up for blu made that scene look very artificial in a way that I don't remember it looking before.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From Within My (Mom's) Lifetime Marathon on January 29th, 2015)

The Horror of Party Beach, a review by Jimmy

                       
              Dvd cover                                                    Theatrical poster

Title: The Horror of Party Beach
Year: 1964
Genre: Monster Movie
Director: Del Tenney (Zombies)           
Rating: Unrated
Length: 1h18
Video:  Widescreen 
Audio:  English(Mono)
Subtitles: English

Stars:
John Scott (No other credit)   
Alice Lyon (No other credit)
Allan Laurel (No other credit)
Eulabelle Moore ()
Marilyn Clarke ()

Plot:
A drag race between hot rodders and bikers winds up at a swinging rock-and-roll beach party where the Del-Aires perform some rockin' tunes. Nearby, a barrel containing radioactive waste is unloaded from a passing ship, and plunged to the bottom of the sea, splitting against a jagged rock. When a peculiar black liquid oozes out covering a human skull, a vicious monster slowly twitches into life, and "The Horror Beach Party" is born!


The teens beach movie (Beach Blanket Bingo, Beach Party,...) were successfull in the sixties and the monster movie was always popular (and they continue to be). Del Tenney has decided with this movie to mix this two genres together. Before that he has directed 2 serious horror movie : Zombies (64) and The Curse of the Living Corpse (64).

The best things in this films (everyone who have seen it will agree with me) is the music and the party at the beach. The band in the movie was called the Del-Aires and they were a local New Jersey club band. They did release some single and they were popular in the club scene untill 1964 when the group split after a seven years career. The beach party got all the good ingredients : teenagers (older looking, but that's usual), good looking girl, a biker gang and a fight between the hero & the biker leader. Everyone in the cast perform corectly, no one is really bad and it's surprising since they are not really professional actors (many of them are just local habitants of Stamford, Connecticut). The story is not really original (toxic waste are dump in the sea and create a monster who will go on a rampage), but the script goes on a straight line and doesn't add any useless sub-plot.

On the less good side. The monster is a member of the silly and awfull monster club and since I can find a good way to describe it, I give you a picture. The first time you see it you could do nothing but laugh.


(From The little known movie review depot on January 31st, 2008)

"Battlestar Galactica" Marathon (1978-2009), a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: When Starbuck tries a new gaming system that "can't lose" an older man starts a conversation explaining to him why it won't work. As it turns out this man, Chameleon, may very well be Starbucks long lost father and both men get really exited about the idea. But Apollo is a bit more sceptical, especially since a group of Borellian Nomen warriors also seem to have an interest in that old man. Is this for real or just a con to get protected by colonial warriors?

My Opinion: I really liked Fred Astaire's appearance in this episode. Even with the Borellians this was a nice change from the constant fight for survival. And it's fitting that Starbuck's father is a card player and a con man.

Synopsis: Starbuck and Ortega have a long history of mutual dislike and every time they "meet" each other in a Triad ball game there's bad blood between them. And when Ortega is found shot to death by a laser pistol Starbuck becomes the main suspect, especially since he was seen leaving the crime scene and his pistol isn't fully charged anymore. But none of his friends would believe that Starbuck would kill someone and Apollo is going to be his defense attorney.

My Opinion: Huh. Couldn't even remember that episode. Apollo defends Starbuck in a court of law. Yet another detail they will re-use in the new series (though it won't be Starbuck who needs defending). And I liked it how Apollo used Baltar as bait who in turn wasn't too happy about that.

Synopsis: The Galactica intercepts a vessel in which six passengers are in stasis. And the ship uses technologies unlike any used in the colonies. But when these people awake they can't breathe the dense atmosphere aboard the Galactica. Starbuck and Apollo are escorting them to their original destination in order to find out where they came from and if they know anything about Earth. But there's a third party involved: The Eastern Alliance, the military force that rules this part of the galaxy.

My Opinion: An episode of it's era. The good west against the bad Eastern Alliance with typical uniforms and bad accents. I also didn't really like these two androids, they were too cartoon-like for my taste. And the acting was again below average. It didn't feel natural.

(From "Battlestar Galactica" Marathon (1978-2009) on March 29th, 2009)