DVD Collectors Online

Fantastic Mr. Fox, a review by Danae Cassandra

Fantastic Mr. Fox
2009, USA

Mr. Fox, an newspaper columnist and reformed thief, plans one last heist ... and puts himself, his family, and friends in danger he hadn't planned on.

A clever, imaginative piece of animation.  One of the most original I've seen in a very long time.  Certainly the choice of stop-motion, which is rarely used, helps with this, as do the ingenious character designs, but it's also - and most importantly - the story that makes it so very clever and original.  I haven't read the Roald Dahl book this is based on, so I have no idea how close, or how far, it hews from the story.  What I do know is this was good, very very good.

There's so many layers to this film, to its story and its struggle.  On one level it's about a fox's (man's) relationship with his vixen and cub (wife and son), and his understanding of who he is and what his place is in the world.  On another level it's about the struggle of the little man against the big man, the individual versus the corporation, and the survival of individuals in the face of rampant corporate greed and power.  It touches on the choices one can make in the face of bullying, both individually and communally.  It touches on the choice of going along with the flow, doing nothing to disturb or anger outside events - or of living life, of being who you are and doing what you believe you were meant to do.  I expect when I watch it again I'll get something different out of it.   

All in all, a great film.  See it if you like stop-motion, or animation in general, or see it if you want something to think about later.  Awesome little flick.

Overall: 4/5

(From Danae's reviews on April 14th, 2011)

Haunts, a review by Jimmy

Title : Haunts (1977)

Overview
A small town is stalked by a deranged killer who uses scissors as his weapon and a very religious young woman begins to suspect that her uncle may be the killer. As more murders take place, the young woman fears that she too will become a victim of the killer. Shocking twists and turns bring you to a surprise ending as well as the identity of the killer.

My Impression
The synopsis (I don't write them) and the general marketing for this film is the biggest problem with it. This film is sold as a serial killer movie and this fact hurts the movie a lot. Knowing absolutly nothing about it I was waiting for something to happen, the film start with a murder and this the only one that happen (unless I've fallen asleep). The end explain a lot of thing and the title become clearer. So don't expect a SK movie and this movie will be a much pleasant experience. On the positive side Aldo Ray is too good to be in this genre of movie, if you don't know the end of his career was quite sad because of the Screen Actor Guild. His card was revoken because he had used his real name in a non-SAG production (Sweet Savage) and without a SAG card it's impossible to work in Hollywood. That's why he was only in C-movies untill his death in 1991. Cameron Mitchell give an honest performance, but he is really underuse.

I've not really like this film because I was hoping something else, but if you know that it's not a SK film I think that you could appreciate it.

Rating :

(From Chilling Classics (50 Movie Pack) - films review on October 21st, 2008)

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

17. Underneath
Original Air Date: 4/14/2004
Angel takes Gunn and Spike with his on a mission to rescue Lindsay from the hell dimension created by the Senior Partners, totally unaware that Gunn has his own hidden agenda.

Guest Stars:
Christian Kane
Sarah Thompson
Adam Baldwin

My Thoughts:
And here I was thinking we saw the last of Lindsey. It is a good episode. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I liked how they did the hell dimension that the Senior Partners sent Lindsey to.

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on March 24th, 2010)