DVD Collectors Online

Let Me In, a review by Achim

Original Title: Let Me In
Year: 2010
Director: Matt Reeves
Rating: R
Length: 115 Min.
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 2.35:1


Stars:
Kodi Smit-McPhee
Chloe Grace Moretz
Richard jenkins
Elias Koteas

Plot:
This is a remake of the Swdish film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.

Twelve year old Oskar Owen is an outsider, struggling to fit in at school and left alone to fend for himself at home whilst his mother works nights. One evening he meets the mysterious Eli Abby. As a sweet romance blossoms between them, Oskar Owen learns to overcome his tormentors and discovers Eli's Abby's dark secret and the connections to the gruesome events occuring across town. Together they must help Eli Abby be gone and live, or stay and die.

Brutal, bloody and tender, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN LET ME IN weaves friendship, rejection and loyalty into a disturbing and darkly atmospheric, yet poetic and unexpectedly tender tableau of adolescence.

The Good
This is a very faithful remake of the original film. They did not turn it into an action horror of some sort and he dark, almost depressing atmosphere is in tact. All important moments of the original are repeated (minus that one shot of Eli/Abby in the bathroom, which wasn't unexpected). Only deviation I noticed was (but I just might remember this wrong) the role of the policeman (Koteas), which is slightly more prominent here; neither improvement nor making it worse though. The acting from all involved is very good. Smit-McPhee and Moretz show good ability to convey the emotions and except a few awkward moments are excellent. Jenkins and Koteas are up to their usual quality.

There is a scene with a car accident that looks great! I may rememeber this wrong, but I felt the swimming pool scene near the end was slightly better executed (mainly technical) here than in the original.

The Bad
This is a very faithful remake of the original film. So, why do it? Well, yes, I know the answer of course. But I was surprised to find myself, knowing the original, hoping they'd do something a little more different just to give the whole excercise a bit of a point.

The biggest disappointment came from my favorite scene of the original, when Eli enters Oskar's appartment without being invited first. It is really poorly executed here, with a crescendo of music leading up to a reveal  The orginal played this so much better...

I felt the music was rather irritating, not mixing well in many scenes, making me become aware of it (not a good thing for a score).

The Ugly
*******MILD SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE ORIGINAL*******

I have no idea why they could have possibly thought it would be a good idea to use CGI when Abby is in rage-mode (which looks obviously fake) or show or face being almost a monster grimasse while feeding. (Did the original do this too?)




It's a "4" because it's based doing a good job of recreating the original. However, if given the choice one should always pick the original over this one. Personally, I am glad I watched this but am not intending to buy this on DVD/Blu-ray (shame, really).

(From Achim's entirely random reviews on October 15th, 2010)

Un homme et une femme, a review by Antares

Un homme et une femme (1966) 72/100 - This is a film that's burgeoning with style. yet rather thin on substance. The plot is so threadbare, it had to be padded out with an abundance of jump cuts and extraneous filler scenes to make it more than just a time travelogue of the mid sixties. But I can't complain, because at least I got to gaze upon Anouk Aimee for ninety plus minutes. She's another actress who can make the argument that today's actresses are just amalgamations of their plastic surgeons and fitness trainers. She's soft, alluring, mysterious and incredibly seductive, and you can believe that a man like Jean-Louis would drive all the way from Monte Carlo to Paris, non-stop, and then back to Deauville just to be with her. I will probably re-visit this film again sometime in the future, but only if it is released with a more substantive set of subtitles. Nothing drives me more nuts than when a media company releases a DVD where bits of dialog or lyrics to songs aren't translated and that happens quite a few times in this film. I would have loved to know what the woman was singing when Jean-Louis and Anne are approaching the train station, or what Anne's husband was singing in those samba lyrics. It may have helped me to understand why she fell in love and why she was still in love with him.

What the color coding means...

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 January 31st, 2013)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
When a brash street kid from Philly moves to a Left Coast zip code even posher than 90210, cultures are sure to clash. But not to worry. The kid is Will Smith, and he'll have Bel-Air bustin' a move in no time! Smith was already a Grammy-winning rap artist when he shot to acting renown as the smart, wisecracking urban teen who's sent to live with wealthy relatives in an area so exclusive a former President drops in to share some Christmas cheer. This 4-disc DVD collection features lively bonus material plus all 24 Season-One Episodes, from Will's first day at the country club (which one is the fish fork?) to his first day at Bel-Air Prep School (sort of homeboy meets Harvard). When it comes to comedy, Fresh Prince rules!

The Fresh Prince Project
Will comes to live with his aunt and uncle in Bel-Air. Philip isn't too impressed by Will's behavior, especially teaching Ashley to rap and ruining his image with the members of the law firm. Vivian tries to remain neutral in all this. Carlton and Hilary look at Will with disdain.

My Thoughts:
I haven't watched this show in quite a while. So today I am reminded how funny this show is. One of these days I will have to get more season sets in my collection. As of now I only have the first season. This pilot episode is a good introduction to the characters. And I found myself laughing more then once.

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on January 25th, 2010)