DVD Collectors Online

Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan, a review by GSyren

Title	Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan
Year	2011
Director	Gilles Penso
Stars	Ray Harryhausen, Randy Cook, Peter Jackson, Nick Park, Phil Tippett and many others
Overview
My thoughts	If you don't know who Ray Harryhausen is, you need to buy this title. If you do know who Ray Harryhausen is you need to buy this title. Ok, maybe that's a bit extreme, but the fact is that Ray Harryhausen is an extraordinary person who has had a HUGE impact on visual effects. If you are the least bit interested in visual effects you should learn about Ray Harryhausen. Today most effects are created with computer imagery, and there are often hundreds of people involved. Ray did it all himself. He was a one man visual effects studio. He was mainly a stop motion animator, and truly a great stop motion animator. His films inspired generations of stop motion animators. Without Ray we may never have seen Wallace and Gromit, Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline and ParaNorman. But he also inspired lots of other visual effects people. You can hear them tell how Ray's work was the thing that inspired them to go into the business. Ray Harryhausen is one of the very few technicians who has been elevated to a position above the directors of the films they worked on. If you ask people who made The 7th Voyage of Sinbad or Jason and the Argonauts, they'll most likely say Ray Harryhausen, not Nathan Juran or Don Chaffey. Me, I'm a long standing Harryhausen fan. I've got all his films on DVD (and some now on BD), almost all books published about him, and still I learned new stuff from this film. Unfortunately, this title seems to be region locked to region B. Sorry Achim! ;-) It's available from Amazon UK on DVD as well, but the DVD is actually more expensive than the BD.
Rating

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on March 28th, 2013)

Silent Hill, a review by RossRoy

Original Title: Silent Hill Year: 2006 Country: Canada Director: Christophe Gans Rating: 18 Length: 125 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Stereo, French: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English

What they say
Unable to accept the diagnosis that her daughter should be permanently institutionalized for psychiatric care, Rose (Radha Mitchell: 'Man on Fire') flees with her child to the deserted town of Silent Hill in search for answers. It's soon clear this place is unlike anywhere she's ever been. It's smothered in fog, inhabited by strange beings and periodically overcome by a living 'Darkness' that literally transforms everything it touches. Rose begins to learn the history of the eerie town and realizes that her daughter is just a pawn in a larger, terrifying game.

My Thoughts
That was weird, but then, the game is weird too, so, nothing surprising. I haven't played any Silent Hill games much, not exactly the type of game I like. But, I did buy Silent Hill 2 on Xbox and played almost all the way through (according to a friend). And I must say, the movie is very faithful to what I remember from Silent Hill 2. The atmosphere, the monsters, the oddness of the city itself, it's all there. The director did a good job capturing the mood of the game.

As for the movie itself being good, I'd say yes. I enjoyed it. There are a few things that feel forced, but isn't it the case with most, if not all horror movies? The monster designs are good, and I like the fact that they went the people-in-suits road, with some CGI enhancement, instead of going all CGI. It gives a little something extra that has yet to be captured with CGI creatures.

All in all, a well executed haunted city story, albeit a bit on the weird side. As far as video games to movie adaptation, I believe it's one of the good ones.

Rating:

(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on May 31st, 2008)

Smallville Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

EPISODE 13: VENGEANCE
Clark is in emotional lockdown, but he finds an understanding spirit in the person of a super-powered female vigilante. She, too, has lost a parent. However, something divides them: their attitudes about how to fight crime.

My Thoughts:
This was a great episode! They showed Clark close to the point of killing before he came to his senses. I loved the look of the Angel of Vengeance! Was an awesome look!

EPISODE 14: TOMB
Chloe hasn't been herself lately. The ghost of a murder victim possesses the 'Daily Planet' reporter's body in an attempt to find the killer and avenge her death. But that quest puts both Chloe and Lois in grave peril.

My Thoughts:
Another really good episode. Nothing like a good ghost/possession story for someone that is as big of a horror fan as I am!

EPISODE 15: CYBORG
Part man. Part machine. Victor Stone, the subject of secret bionic experiments at LuthorCorp, escapes and finds an ally in someone who knows what it's like to be different: CLARK KENT. Also: Lionel comes into possession of a certain secret.

My Thoughts:
This disc is 3 for 3! Another episode I liked a lot! This one brings Cyborg  in. Another of the Justice League comes to Smallville.

(From Smallville Marathon on August 12th, 2007)