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Gamera: The Giant Monster, a review by Danae Cassandra

Gamera: The Giant Monster  (Daikaiju Gamera)
Year of Release: 1965
Directed By: Noriaki Yuasa
Starring: Eiji Funakoshi, Harumi Kiritachi, Junichiro Yamashita, Jun Hamamura
Genre: Science-Fiction, Action, Disaster, Tokusatsu, Kaiju

Overview:Fires On The Plain), find a way to stop this invincible supermonster . . . or is mankind doomed?

Directed by Noriaki Yuasa (who would oversee all eight of the original Gamera entries of the 1960s and 1970s) and created by the same studio that brought Zatoichi to the screen, Daiei's titanic terrapin became the only true rival to Toho's King Of The Monsters. Gamera was able to hold its own at the box office and secured a place in the hearts of kaiju eiga (Japanese monster movie) fans around the world.

Now, for the first time on DVD, Shout! Factory presents the original Japanese version of Gamera with new English subtitles and anamorphic widescreen from an all-new HD master created from vault elements!

My Thoughts:
Introducing Gamera! His origin story! See him rudely awakened by the blast of the bomb! See him bring destruction as he goes forth in anger! and hunger! He breathes fire! He flies! Watch mankind tremble as they realize their weapons are ineffective!

In truth, not a bad opening film. More than a bit of a rip-off of Godzilla, but Gamera isn't created by the bomb, he's simply awakened by it. He's a force of nature rather than mutated by man's weapons. The story's very thin, but we have lots of scenes of Gamera rampaging and causing destruction. Fun kaiju film, and if you're going to watch the old Gamera films, I'd definitely start with the first one.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 3/5

(From Gamera! on February 27th, 2016)

Suddenly, a review by addicted2dvd

Suddenly
The tranquility of a small town is marred only by sheriff Tod Shaw's unsuccessful courtship of widow Ellen Benson, a pacifist who can't abide guns and those who use them. But violence descends on Ellen's household willy-nilly when the U.S. President passes through town... and slightly psycho hired assassin John Baron finds the Benson home ideal for an ambush.

My Thoughts:
Next up I decided to go with a classic movie starring Frank Sinatra This is just a cheap public domain movie that I got free in the Classic Movie Boxset I got for subscribing to Total Movie Magazine several years ago. So I obviously wasn't expecting much of anything quality wise... and it is a good thing I didn't because the quality of the video definitely left some to be desired. As for the movie itself... I really enjoyed this movie. It was filled with suspense... and had a nice amount of action to go with it. All the characters was likable and I was completely hooked on this story... so much so that the time flew by in what felt like only a few minutes.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs on September 27th, 2008)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Red Dwarf II
Year: 1988
Director:
Rating: 12
Length: 174 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Plot:
Three million years from Earth, the mining ship Red Dwarf. Its crew: Dave Lister, the last human being alive; Arnold Rimmer, a hologram of his dead bunkmate; and a creature who evolved from the ship's cat.

Extras:
Collectors Booklet
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
DVD-ROM Content
Featurettes
Interviews
Music Cues
Music Videos
Outtakes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Talking Book Chapters
Trailers

I didn't enjoy the second series as much as the first one. But that is not to say, that it was bad. It is still one of the best sci-fi comedies ever.
In this series we first meet Kryten, although played by a different actor than later on. The best episodes are Queeg, where Holly plays an elaborate joke on the crew, and Parallel Universe where the crew meets alternate female versions of themselves.

#	Episode	Rating
01	Kryten
02	Better Than Life
03	Thanks for the Memory
04	Stasis Leak
05	Queeg
06	Parallel Universe

(From Tom's Random Reviews on October 18th, 2009)