DVD Collectors Online

Arthur Christmas, a review by Danae Cassandra

Arthur Christmas

Year of Release:  2011
Starring: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jenson
Directed By: Sarah Smith
Genre:  Comedy, Fantasy

Overview:
How CAN Santa deliver billions of presents to the whole world in just one night? With an army of one million combat-style Field Elves and a vast, state-of-the-art control center under the ice of the North Pole! So how could this incredible operation have MISSED one child?! To Santa's young son, Arthur, it threatens to end the magic of Christmas. With retired Grandsanta, a rebellious young elf, an old sleigh and some untrained reindeer, Arthur sets out in a crazy mission to deliver the last present! Deck the halls with excitement, fun and wonder in this new Christmas classic!

My Thoughts:
This was a great, fun movie for the season.  CGI animation keeps getting better every year.  The heart of the film is the relationships between the members of the Santa family, and the characters are pretty well fleshed for an animated film.  It has a good story and lots of humor to keep it going as well.  This will likely make my yearly rotation, and would be a good addition to the collection of any Christmas movie fan or any family with children.

My only complaint is that, like Prep & Landing, I didn't get to watch the blu-ray version because it wants me to update my player.  Which is a pain in the ass.

Bechdel Test:  Fail

Overall:  4/5

(From Danae's Yuletide Marathon on December 26th, 2012)

Pale Flower, a review by Antares

Pale Flower (1964) 3.5/5 - Highly stylized in its presentation, Pale Flower is a hybrid noir/gangster film from the heyday of Japanese cinema. The characters share a detached sense of coolness which leaves them underdeveloped and for the most part, kind of uninteresting. Now don't get me wrong, I liked the film, but then again, I love almost all Japanese films from this time period, but there really isn't much to the story. You have a ronin type Yakuza who has just been released from prison for killing a rival gang member, and he returns to his former life style, but seems to want to go in a different direction. Not knowing anything other than that kind of life, he just melds back into it with a sense of personal destiny. He then meets an attractive young female gambler, who throws caution to the wind in everything she does, and his life gets a jump start. Unfortunately, it is here where the story kind of fizzles out. Maybe the director should have shorn away a few scenes of the couple gambling, and added a little more of them together out in the real world as it is here that the film scores repeatedly. There's a scene of the two racing another car on a highway, and you get a sense of why they both are attracted to each other. They both live for danger, and she doesn't really understand what kind of man she is with, but that's because the director doesn't flesh out either character. This is only my second Yakuza film, and I hope that further adventures into this genre yield riper fruit. It's an interesting film to look at, but atmosphere, cinematography and a great soundtrack aren't a complete package.

(From Antares' Short Summations on February 15th, 2012)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

The Best of BraveStarr (1987/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia (United States) Length: 195 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles:

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Plot:
All legends have a beginning...Having escaped the destruction of his home world by the villain Stampede, Marshall Bravestarr is now one of the toughest lawmen in the universe. On the planet of New Texas, Bravestarr faces his destiny, aided by his famous sidekick Thirty-Thirty, the beautiful Judge J.B., the Shaman, and the Prairie People, in a battle to protect the world and its people from the evil Tex Hex and his gang!

This two-disc deluxe DVD set includes the feature film Bravestarr: The Legend - the theatrical release that led to the popular syndicated action series - and the top five stories from Bravestarr: The Series, as voted by fans of this action-filled 65-episode program! For the first time ever on DVD, you can experience the strenght of a bear, the speed of a puma, and the power of Bravestarrr!

BraveStarr
1.00 BraveStarr: The Legend (1988-03-18)
Writer: Bob Forward (Writer), Steve Hayes (Writer)
Director: Tom Tataranowicz
Cast: Charlie Adler ( (voice)), Susan Blu ( (voice)), Pat Fraley ( (voice)), Ed Gilbert ( (voice)), Alan Oppenheimer ( (voice))

I don't actually have the first episode of this series. I only own the "Best of" boxset, which includes the BraveStarr movie, which was released after the series. But it is a prequel and tells how the characters all came together. So I am counting it as a pilot.
I have watched BraveStarr as a kid. I liked it, but never as much as I did like He-Man. This movie just doesn't bring up the nostalgia as when I watch an episode of He-Man.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on March 30th, 2011)