DVD Collectors Online

Hot Shots!: Part Deux, a review by Tom

Title: Hot Shots!: Part Deux
Year: 1993
Director: Jim Abrahams
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 85 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround, German: Dolby Digital Surround, Spanish: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: Danish, English, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Other, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

Stars:
Charlie Sheen
Lloyd Bridges
Richard Crenna
Valeria Golino
Brenda Bakke


Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers

After having finally watched the Rambo movies, I thought it fitting to watch Hot Shots 2 again.
I think it is a nice touch, that Richard Crenna is parodying his Trautman role from the Rambo movies here.
The Hots Shots movies are still parody movies, which do not beat jokes to death like recent such movies do. They rather concentrate on visual side gags. Also the production value seems much higher.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on April 25th, 2009)

Enthiran, a review by Tom

Enthiran (2010/India) IMDb | Wikipedia Ayngaran International (United Kingdom) Director: Shankar Writing: Shankar (Story By), Shankar (Screenwriter) Length: 177 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35 Audio: Tamil: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English

---

Stars:
Super Star Rajni
Aishwarya Rai Bachan

Plot:
A human who is not born but is created. He can dance, sing, fight, is water and fire resistant. He can do all that a human can and more. He feeds on electricity. He takes instructions literally. Where a human can lie to save himself this andro-humanoid robot Chitti cannot lie.

Where he has a razor sharp memory and can memorize an entire telephone directory by just running through the pages, he cannot understand human emotions. Dr. Vasi upgrades Chitti’s processor and simulates human emotions without realizing the repercussions. Chitti gets transformed. He can now feel, and the first feeling that he discovers is Love.

Will this love come in the way of Dr. Vasi’s purpose of creating Chitti?

Will Dr. Vasi’s own creation destroy him?

Extras:

• Scene Access

This Kollywood movie is currently the most expensive Indian movie. From the cast I only know the female lead which is the Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai.
This movie is fun. Especially the inventive action scenes, even if the CGI used is not yet the same standard as in Hollywood productions. But I have to credit them how they managed to put the same actor with multiple roles in the same scenes without it being noticable. Besides playing the scientist who built the robot, the male lead also plays the robot. And also the hundreds of the replicas of this robot.
The action gets crazy at times. But the craziest (but fun) part was how the robot seeks out a mosquito and talks it into going to apologize for biting the girl. Sounds really crazy, but it is surprisingly well done.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on November 10th, 2011)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon, a review by goodguy

2x03 The Mousetrap
Synopsis: See Achim's post.
My Rating:

Another episode that I enjoyed more upon rewatching. The opening is especially great, with Charlie & Michelle on the desert road, making stop at a gas station. No words exchanged between them for several minutes, just a little country song playing along, but the emotions between them are almost tangible. TSCC has a knack for these moody and minimalist scenes and it is the main reason I like this show. Also notable just how gorgeous it looks most of the time, in an earthy and completely unflashy way. All things that are pretty untypical for an action show about killer robots - no wonder it got cancelled.

From the early kidnapping climax, we get to a single short scene with highly pregnant Kacy, whom I forgot to mention in the last episode. I've never seen Busy Phillips before and initially I thought it was Mercedes McNab (Harmony on Buffy/Angel) playing the character. Anyway, she again is wonderful here. Oh, and Beast Wizard 7 is hilarious.

Do terminators get bored? Cameron finds the center of the house, determines the timeframe for a paint job, and is eager to kill at least a bird (Maybe later?). That sounds like funny robot, but is has such a wry sense of humor that it doesn't feel out of place. Also noteworthy the perfectly timed "I don't swim" exchange with John much later in the episode.

Charlie's phone call to John and Sarah is another one of many excellent scenes. He is so completely and heart-wrenchingly lost. Top performance by Dean Winters.

Sarah gets to do the reluctant hero thing, angry and tired, lashing out at everyone in frustration. That's a fine line to walk, but mostly it works, even when Michelle is the target (Frankly, I thought it'd be easier. I thought you'd be dead).

After Cromartie's setup succeeds the plot gets a bit messy. Taking an injured Michelle with them doesn't make much sense, nor does the designated meeting point for Cromartie and John. As much as the show succeeds in creating atmospheric and dramatic scenes, it often seems that less thinking went into the plot mechanics. I can live with that most of the time, but sometimes it becomes a little distracting.

The funeral scene at the end, while moving, would be a bit generic, if it weren't for the two cuts to the dinner table at the Connor house, once with the VO from the priest and then again, silent. Great stuff.

As for Weaver and Ellison: I like that they take their time and advance that part of the story slowly. And Shirley Manson already seems much better here than in the first episode. Or it could be Richard T. Jones, who can make almost everything work, reflecting positively on her.


(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on February 2nd, 2010)