DVD Collectors Online

Zatoichi's Revenge, a review by Antares

Zatoichi's Revenge (1965) 74/100 - This is either the third or fourth film in this series, where the theme music could have been written by Ennio Morricone, as it's reminiscent of his style of work. It makes me wonder how much of an influence this series had on Italian directors of Spaghetti Westerns. If you think about it, Ichi is no different than a roving gunslinger, with a conscience, eerily similar to The Man with No Name. For this tenth film in the franchise, Ichi happens upon a village, where the sensei who taught him his masseuse skills, lives. He decides to pay his old master a visit, but is aghast when he finds out the old man has been murdered and his young daughter is being forced into prostitution by the local yakuza boss. Well, you know that Ichi is going to find a way to right the wrongs, all the while dispatching scores of yakuza thugs. What separates this film from the other nine that proceeded it, is that this is the first time that Ichi goes against his code of honor. Up until now, Ichi only killed in self defense, but I guess the anger in his heart at the death of his sensei is too much for him this time around. It shocked me that Daiei allowed this change in his character to happen, because they were taking a chance that audiences would reject this trait in their beloved blind swordsman, and the golden goose would be cooked. But I guess maybe they were right, as another fifteen films would follow this one and it doesn't seem to have besmirched his character or popularity.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on April 9th, 2014)

Watchmen, a review by Tom

Title: Watchmen: Director's Cut
Year: 2009
Director: Zack Snyder
Rating: R
Length: 186 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.40
Audio: English: DTS HD Master Audio, French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Malin Akerman
Billy Crudup
Matthew Goode
Jackie Earle Haley
Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Plot:Awards:

Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Comic Book Movie
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Ensemble
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best F/X
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Fantasy Movie
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Superhero	Billy Crudup
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Superhero	Jackie Earle
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Superhero	Malin Akerman
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Supporting Actress	Carla Gugino
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Fight-to-the-Death Scene of the Year	"Ozymandias vs. The Comedian":
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Most Memorable Mutilation	"Arms Cut Off by Rotary Saw":
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Scream Song of the Year	"Desolation Row": My Chemical Romance
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	The "Holy Sh%t!" Scene of the Year	"The Destruction of Manhattan":
Teen Choice Awards	2009	Nominated	Choice Movie Actress - Action/Adventure	Malin Akerman

Extras:
BD-Live
Featurettes
Maximum Movie Mode
Music Videos
Scene Access

Even though I enjoy this movie, I feel it is much too long. The graphic novel on which this movie is based on, was always said to be unfilmable. They have proven this incorrect. As a matter of fact this is almost a panel-by-panel reenactment (at least it feels like it). And this is in my opinion just playing it too safe. A good film adaption, in my opinion, takes a source material and takes parts which are essential and provide a good and stream-lined story. Here they almost did not take any liberties, which is just too lazy for a film adaption. This approach would have better fit in a mini series.
A good comic book adaption, where they still have the general storyline and ideas in the movie, but have enough changes to better fit the constraints of a movie, are in my opinion the two Death Note movies.
But I have to give it to the movie, that the one big thing they have changed was for the better. And that is the ending. I like the movie version better. Coincidentally I thought the same thing about the Death Note ending.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on October 10th, 2009)

My PILOT Marathon, a review by Rich

Tales of the Unexpected

Man from the South
A young American sailor on shore-leave in the West Indies is tempted by a crazy bet. To win a new Cadillac, all he needs to do is to make his cigarette-lighter light ten times without any failures. In return, he has to stake one of his fingers. But what is the truth about Carlos, the high-rolling old man who has proposed the bet?





Like sleeping with an old girlfriend, it is never as good as you remember and disappointment follows. Similarly, with this series being at the time a 'must-watch' programme, rewatching the pilot made me realise how things have moved on, and this felt extremely dated.
With an uncomortable introduction from a creepy Dahl, what follows is the superb haunting and familiar opening music, but the actual pilot episode is uninspiring and very predictable. Production values are low, and the actors appear like they are reading from cue cards.
Patience with the series will reward a viewer with some true gems, but you must have patience to sift through some aged dross.
 

(From My PILOT Marathon on September 25th, 2009)