DVD Collectors Online

Illuminata, a review by goodguy

Illuminata (1998) Written by: Brandon Cole & John Turturro Directed by: John Turturro Starring: John Turturro, Katherine Borowitz, Susan Sarandon, Christopher Walken DVD: R2-DE Kinowelt/Arthaus (2007) My rating:

John Turturro is mostly known as an actor, but he has also written and directed three movies. I already wrote about his gorgeous Romance & Cigarettes (2005) here. Illuminata is about a theater company in New York at the beginning of the 20th century. The movie disguises itself as comedia del'arte and has probably half a dozen dangling subplots, but its main theme really is the problematic relationship between two creative people. It's a bit like Fellini crossed with Bergman. The big names like Sarandon and Walken all deliver great performances, and so does Turturro himself, but Katherine Borowitz (a stage actress and Turturro's real-life partner) absolutely stands out.

(From goodguy's Watch Log on August 31st, 2008)

Yellow Submarine, a review by Antares

Yellow Submarine





Year: 1968
Film Studio: Apple Films, King Features
Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Musical
Length: 90 Min.

Director
George Dunning (1920)

Writing
Lee Minoff...Story
Lee Minoff...Screenplay
Al Brodax (1926)...Screenplay
Jack Mendelsohn (1926)...Screenplay
Erich Segal (1937)...Screenplay

Producer
Al Brodax (1926)
Alan Kozlowski
Mary Ellen Stewart


Music
John Lennon (1940)...Song Writer
Paul McCartney (1942)...Song Writer
George Harrison (1943)...Song Writer

Stars
Paul Angelis (1943) as Chief Blue Meanie (Voice)
Paul Angelis (1943) as Ringo (Voice)
John Clive (1938) as John (Voice)
Dick Emery (1915) as Jeremy Hilary Boob, Ph.D - Nowhere Man (Voice)
Dick Emery (1915) as Lord Mayor (Voice)
Dick Emery (1915) as Max (Voice)
Geoffrey Hughes (1944) as Paul (Voice)
Lance Percival (1933) as Young (Voice)

ReviewSgt. Pepper album and the emergence of George Martin as the guiding force behind the bands album successes, Epstein started to fade into the background. With his untimely death in 1967, only one project remained in the works, an animation film using the Beatles songs as fabric for the narrative. It had taken much cajoling to get the band members to green light this project. They had all hated the popular cartoon show that was created about them and saw no purpose to this film. Epstein realized that the film would turn children into future fans and eased the bands concerns by explaining that it would also fulfill the last portion of their film contract. John & Paul agreed to write four new songs for the project and the remainder of the soundtrack would be filled with songs culled from the Sgt. Pepper, Revolver & Rubber Soul albums. One song from the Revolver album would be the main theme and title of the film, Yellow Submarine.

       Embracing the emerging drug culture and infusing the animation with the vibrant colors of the trendy London fashion scene, Yellow Submarine would transport the viewer on a psychedelic excursion to a fantasy world of Blue Meanies, Apple Bonkers, Snapping Turtle Turks and a deadly Flying Glove. Each of the band members would be animated and involved in the main plot, to save Pepperland from the attack of the Blue Meanies. Although they would be portrayed as animated characters on screen, none would lend their voice to the project. Only after they had viewed portions of the almost completed film did they agree to make a live action sequence for the final scene of the movie. Time has been very kind to Yellow Submarine in the Fab Fours 4 film output.


Review Criterion

(From Yellow Submarine (1968) on May 21st, 2010)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Cleopatra 2525
Get ready for temperatures to rise as the sexiest sci-fi series ever, Cleopatra 2525, explodes on to DVD for the first time! Action goddess Gina Torres stars in the sizzling series about a cryogenically frozen exotic dancer who, after accidentally being thawed in the year 2525, joins two sexy freedom fighters in their battle against evil robots called Baileys. Led by the mysterious "Voice," this tempestuous trio must out-fight, out-seduce and out-maneuver the forces that threaten to destroy the world. From executive producer Sam Raimi (director of Spider-Man and Evil Dead) comes all 28 action-packed episodes and exclusive bonus features from the series that has the New York Daily News declaring "the sexy factor is way in the red zone."

Quest For Firepower
Hel and Sarge, two warriors in the year 2525, rescue Cleopatra, an aspiring actress who awakens from a cryogenic deep freeze after more than five centuries to find the world literally turned upside down.

My Thoughts:
What to say about this one... It is just plain fun! Sure it is cheesy It is just mindless sci-fi fun... nothing thought provoking in this series! But I will say... the girls look outstanding! While the pilot can leave you thinking "What did I get myself into?" I gotta say... this show is rather addicting. When I first got this set I was a little nervous with the first couple episodes... but in one day I watched all 8 episodes on side A of disc 1... and started Side B. So I ended up watching about 10 episodes the first day! And I never looked back. Just remembering that makes me want to watch some more episodes... but I really would like to try to get the C's in my pilot marathon done today.

Downside... Every time I watch this show I get that damn theme song stuck in my head for a long time after. And that is just pure torture to me!  

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on November 23rd, 2009)