DVD Collectors Online

Nathalie, a review by dfmorgan

Nathalie

Year: 2003
Director: Anne Fontaine
CastOverviewWatched: 1st. Jan 2011
My Thoughts: I decided to watch this after viewing Chloe the US remake of this film. The premise is the same with a professional woman employing a call-girl to try and trap her husband, whom she thinks is having affairs. The family dynamics though are different and the ending an anti-climax compared to the US version.

My Rating: A mildly enjoyable 3



(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on January 2nd, 2011)

House of Wax (2005), a review by RossRoy

Original Title: House of Wax Year: 2005 Country: United States Director: Jaume Collet-Serra Rating: R Length: 113 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Stereo Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

What they say
Thrills and chills ooze all over you in 'House of Wax', from Dark Castle Entertainment and legendary horror producers Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis ('Gothika', 'House on Haunted Hill').

When their car breaks down on a road trip, six college friends are sidetracked into an eerie backwoods town. Curiosity gets the better of them when they are intrigured by its macabre House of Wax. They soon find out that the town is not what it seems and they must find their way out before they fall victim to its ghoulishly inventive killers.

My Thoughts
I must say, I have a love/hate relationship with horror movies. On the one hand, I love them. I love how the music works together with the cinematography to create tension and a spooky atmosphere. But then, I'm also squeamish. Not so much about the gore itself, but too much is too much, but also because I'm jumpy. I get so tense expecting to be scared, that when something actually happens, my heart skips a few beats. There's also the whole side of movies lingering with me a few days after watching. Not so much on stuff like Nightmare on Elm Street, Saw, Hostel or House of Wax, but more stuff like The Ring (Ringu), The Grudge, etc. For example, I lost a lot of sleep over The Ring. I'm like that.

So, of course, going into House of Wax, I didn't know what to really expect, except I was happy to know that Paris' character would meet her demise. As is usually the case when I watch a horror movie, I again got very tense expecting the scares at every corner. But surprisingly, I'm either become desensitized, or there weren't any real jump-scare scene, but the gore made up for it. Not that there's all that much of it, but what's there is effective. It is gratuitous gore though, but I found it was good gore. I also liked the whole wax angle to it. Without giving too much away, let's just say I hope real life wax museums aren't built and populated that way

The story? What story? The whole thing is set up as an excuse for melting wax and killing people. There's one thing though, that I can't stand, and sorry, I'll spoilerize it, though I don't think it's all that big of a spoiler.
As a whole though? The movie was entertaining. It kept my interest throughout, though it takes too long to take off. The introduction of the main characters gives so little, that we don't really attach to anyone. They shoud've cut most of it, and made a 90-minute movie, instead of a 120-minute one. It would've been tighter, more focused. I still enjoyed it, even though reading all that might lead some to believe otherwise!



(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on April 13th, 2008)

My PILOT Marathon, a review by Rich

Criminal Minds: The First Season

Extreme Aggressor
After a fourth woman goes missing in Seattle in a period of four months, the BAU is brought in to track down the abductor before he kidnaps again. Meanwhile, SSA Aaron Hotchner is asked to evaluate SSA Jason Gideon secretly to determine if he is really ready to work full-time again after returning from a six-month leave of absence.




Criminal Minds revolves around an elite team of FBI profilers who analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again.

Disappointing pilot episode, the coincidentalness of the plot and its solving was just too much to swallow, if it were really that easy the FBI would be catching serial killers every 5 minutes.
Similar in an inferior way to CSI, the 1st episode lacks the disturbing punch I have read follows in later episodes, where of course a different story is told each time. I didn't warm to the actor who plays the lead Gideon, and the remainder of the cast I felt were banal and wooden.
Will persevere with the series in due course based on so many highly praising reviews, but if based solely on the pilot it would have gathered dust.
If you want a more credible series in this vain, definately invest in my previously reviewed Cracker.
 

(From My PILOT Marathon on September 13th, 2009)