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Bottle Shock, a review by Rich

Bottle Shock



In 1976, a small American winery bested the exalted French wines of the time and sent the wine industry into a tizzy--putting California wines on the map for good. Based on a true story, "Bottle Shock" chronicles the events leading up to the famous "Judgment of Paris" tastings, told through the lives of father and son, Jim and Bo Barrett. A former real estate attorney, Jim has sacrificed everything to realize his dream of creating the perfect hand-crafted chardonnay. His business, however, is struggling, and he's not only trying to overcome differences with his slacker son, but is also fighting off the creditors. Meanwhile in Paris, unwitting British wine shop owner Steven Spurrier hopes to revive his own failing business by sponsoring a competition which will pit the traditional French powerhouse against the California upstarts. Little did Steven and Jim realize that they were both on course to change the history of wine forever.

Enjoyable tale based on a true story, this was a pleasant yarn with a 'feel-good' after-view factor.
The storyline meanders on a comfortable path, the acting is solid from all the cast besides a disappointing Bill Pullman, who looks like he would rather be somewhere else. I wasn't aware of the history of Californian wine, and how it became so well renowned in Europe, but the movie clearly explains the history from the 70's in a very entertaining way.
This is not an 'amazing' or 'groundbreaking' film, it is however a goold old fashioned story-telling that educates and entertains all in one.
 

(From Riches Random Reviews on February 17th, 2009)

Main Hoon Na, a review by Tom

Title: Main Hoon Na
Year: 2004
Director: Farah Khan
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 179 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital Stereo, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Shah Rukh Khan
Suniel Shetty
Sushmita Sen
Amrita Rao
Zayed Khan

Plot:
To your very surprise, the film is based on the current-favorite Bollywood theme of Indo-Pak relations and formulated as a mission film. Of course it's loaded with dollops of fun, humor, romance, action and emotions as well. In Bollywood slang - a complete masala film! Major Ram Prasad Sharma (Shahrukh Khan) yearns to see the ambitious project Mission Milaap become a reality. A mission that will prove to be the dawn of a new tomorrow! Where long standing enmity between two countries will begin to see its end. But some forces do not want that dawn to come. One of them is Raghavan (Sunil Shetty) who will do anything to prevent the strategic move. For this reason his devious shadow looms large over General Amarjeet Bakshi's daughter Sanjana (Amrita Rao) , whose life is in danger. Every drop of Ram Prasad's blood glistens with the shine of pride for his country and he will not allow dark actions to create an eclipse in its bright future. To protect Sanjana, he goes to her school as a student - indeed 'Back to School'! Here fun and frolic conceal his real intent. Will anyone here guess that he has just lit funeral pyre of his martyr father Brigadier Shekhar Sharma (Naseeruddin Shah) . The ashes have emerged but the fire has not subsided. For he has to fulfill his fathers last wish. Strangely, the fulfillment of his wish also lies in this very school - completing this mission will be no easy task. For it involves intense emotions and long - standing misunderstandings. These two missions are now his life-blood. The weapon of one mission is Gun and that of the other is Love. But the road to both is that of Truth. The only option is victory. The only man is Ram Prasad Sharma. And the only mantra is Main Hoon Na!

Awards:

Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Actor Award	Shahrukh Khan
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Director Award	Farah Khan
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Movie Award
Filmfare Awards	2005	Won	Best Music Director Award	Anu Malik
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor Award	Zayed Khan
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Supporting Actress Award	Amrita Rao
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Villain Award	Sunil Shetty

Extras:
Music Videos
Scene Access
Trailers

I had the urge to watch another Bollywood movie, but because of the late hour, I didn't have time to watch a complete one. But the great thing about these movies is, that they have an intermission exactly half-way through, so it is easy, to start watching one nonetheless.
So here my thoughts on the first half:
I was really surprised how much I enjoy this one. I did expect a little different movie. Going by the cover I expected something more serious. But this is a really great action comedy so far. I even enjoyed the Matrix parodies. Usually I am tired of those because everybody is doing it, but here I had to laugh out loud on it.
I also the feared it to be completely ridiculous because the German cover text states that the main character goes undercover as a senior in high school. But luckily this is not correct. He goes undercover as a student at a college and his cover story is, that he is just finishing his studies after having token a break from college for ten years for family reasons.
Also we have a familiar face here: The character's father is played by the same actor, who played the villain in Krrish.

My thoughts on the second half:
Though not as good as the first half, I still enjoyed it. Although I think it went too fast getting both couples together. But this is probably because they wanted to focus on the action part of the story here.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on July 17th, 2009)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Dracula: The Series


Children of the Night
When Eileen Townsend gets transferred to Europe, she takes her sons (teen-age Chris and 10-year-old Max) to stay with her uncle, Gustav Helsing - descendant of the famous vampire hunter

My Thoughts:
This is a Saturday morning series geared towards kids that originally aired in (I believe) 1990 for just the one season. I never seen this show when it originally aired. But when I saw the DVDs for sale cheap I thought it would be a good show Britt and I could watch together. And Britt does enjoy this one. Though she does say it has one of the most annoying opening themes ever!  It is a cute show... I am glad I added it to my collection. One of the characters in this series is played by a very young Mia Kirshner.

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on December 29th, 2009)