DVD Collectors Online

Up, a review by Tom

Title: Up
Year: 2009
Director: Pete Docter
Rating: U
Length: 96 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Dutch: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Flemish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: Dutch, English, French, Hungarian

Stars:
Ed Asner
Christopher Plummer
Jordan Nagai
Bob Peterson
Delroy Lindo

Plot:
From the revolutionary minds of Pixar Animation Studios and the acclaimed director of Monsters, Inc.Awards:

Academy Award	2009	Won	Best Animated Feature Film	Peter Docter
Academy Award	2009	Won	Best Music, Original Score	Michael Giacchino
Academy Award	2009	Nominated	Best Picture	Jonas Rivera
Academy Award	2009	Nominated	Best Sound Editing	Michael Silvers, Tom Myers
Academy Award	2009	Nominated	Best Writing, Original Screenplay	Bob Peterson, Pete Docter. Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Thomas McCarthy
American Film Institute Awards	2009	Won	Movies of the Year
Annie Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Animated Effects	Eric Froemling
Annie Awards	2009	Won	Best Animated Feature
Annie Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Character Animation in a Feature Production	Daniel Nguyen
Annie Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Character Design in a Feature Production	Daniel Lopez Munoz
Annie Awards	2009	Won	Best Directing in a Feature Production	Pete Docter
Annie Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Music in a Feature Production	Michael Giacchino
Annie Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Storyboarding in a Feature Production	Peter Sohn
Annie Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Storyboarding in a Feature Production	Ronnie Del Carmen
Annie Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Writing in a Feature Production	Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy
BAFTA	2009	Won	Animated Film
BAFTA	2009	Won	Music	Michael Giacchino
BAFTA	2009	Nominated	Original Screenplay	Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
BAFTA	2009	Nominated	Sound	Tom Myers, Michael Silvers, Michael Semanick, Doc Kane
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	2010	Won	Best Animated Feature
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	2010	Won	Best Composer	Michael Giacchino
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	2010	Nominated	Best Picture
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	2010	Nominated	Best Screenplay, Original	Bob Peterson, Pete Docter
Golden Globe	2009	Nominated	Animated Film
Golden Globe	2010	Won	Animated Film
Golden Globe	2009	Nominated	Original Score - Motion Picture	Michael Giacchino
Golden Globe	2010	Won	Original Score - Motion Picture	Michael Giacchino
Hugo Award	2010	Nominated	Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
National Board of Review Awards, USA	2009	Won	Best Animated Feature
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Director	Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Fantasy Actor	Ed Asner
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Fantasy Movie
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Scream-Play	Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Thomas McCarthy
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	The Ultimate Scream
Teen Choice Awards	2009	Won	Choice Summer Movie - Comedy
World Soundtrack Awards	2009	Nominated	Film Composer of the Year	Michael Giacchino

Extras:
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Interviews
Scene Access

I really like the first half of this movie. Great introductions of the characters. But as with the first time I have watched it in the cinema, I felt it lost something from the moment "Kevin" appears. And then shortly after with all the talking dogs. It's a little too ridiculous even for a movie where a house flies with balloons. But still the second half is worth watching. Some great action scenes, which were even better in 3D.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 26th, 2010)

Unbreakable, a review by DVDsRGreat

Title: Unbreakable

Overview:
Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson star in a mind-shattering, suspense-filled thriller that stays with you long after the end of this riveting supernatural film. After David Dunn (Willis) emerges from a horrific train crash as the sole survivor - and without a single scratch on him - he meets a mysterious stranger (Jackson). An unsettling stranger who believes comic book heroes walk the earth. A haunting stranger whose obsession with David will change David's life forever.

After the Sixth Sense, expectations from M. Night Shyamalan were so high that this one was considered a disappointment by a lot of people. I kind of liked the concept:


Not sure if I'll watch this again anytime soon as once you know the ending you start anticipating the story ahead as you watch it and it spoils the fun.

Rating: 

(From My November alphabet marathon reviews on November 2nd, 2008)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid
Year: 2005
Rating: NR
Length: 325 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo , English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo , Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Commentary, English

Plot:
It's tough to keep your grades up without having to take off at a moment's notice to save the world. But for Sousuke Sagara, undercover high school student and member of the mercenary group Mithril, life in Tokyo seemed the same as always. But underneath the promising exterior spin the wheels of a conspiracy that threaten to destroy the peace. A new threat has arisen: Amalgam.

An unknown element with advanced mech technology, this mysterious organization has been running things from behind the scenes. As dissension spreads throughout the ranks of Mithril, Sousuke faces his own internal struggle. Spread thin between schoolwork and war, the powers that be have decided to lighten his load... beginning with Kaname!

Life and death hang in the balance as the clash between good and evil scale new heights. When the smoke clears, Sousuke's path will be the one that he forges for himself.

Extras:
Bonus Episode 000; Bonus OVA; Textless Songs
Commentary
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

The third installment in the Full Metal Panic series. And what an emotional roller coaster ride!
Whereas the first series mixes a serious story-arc with light fun episodes, this series is mostly drama. Essentially a 180 to the previous (second) series FUMOFFU which was fun-only.

Also the extras on this DVD set a quite fun. A 7-part featurette where the original author and the series director are going location scouting in Hong Kong. Although it gets rather boring with the video footage, the two provide fun commentary to it, which seldomly has anything to do with the video footage.
Then we have audio commentaries for all episodes with the Japanese voice cast. Again, there are mostly talking about everything except about the episodes . But I enjoyed them nonetheless.

The best extra feature of course is the bonus episode centering around the Tessa character. Originally it was released in Japan on DVD-only one year after The Second Raid series. This episode is comedy pure!

Rating:


Here is something rather fun: The audio of the Spider-Man 2 trailer put to video footage from Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mbFngmMz15o

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 7th, 2008)