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Live and Let Die, a review by Rich

Live and Let Die



Roger Moore makes his first appearance as "Bond...James Bond" in 1973's Live and Let Die. Bond is dispatched to the States to stem the activities of Mr. Big (Yaphet Kotto), who plans to take over the Western Hemisphere by converting everyone into heroin addicts. The woman in the case is Solitaire (Jane Seymour in her movie debut), an enigmatic interpreter of tarot cards. The obligatory destructive-chase sequence occurs at the film's midpoint, with Bond being chased in a motorboat by Mr. Big's henchmen, slashing his way through the marshlands and smashing up a wedding party. Clifton James makes the first of several Bond appearances as redneck sheriff Pepper, while Geoffrey Holder is an enthusiastic secondary villain. The title song, written by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, provides the frosting on this 007 confection


Top notch film, a young Roger Moore plays Bond as more of a dirty dog, bedding a multitude of women, suave, sophisticated and full of witty one-liners. His apprenticeship as Simon Templar helped carve his character, and it was a breath of fresh air following the last 2 007 movies.
So many memorable scenes and aspects in one movie, alligator hopping, speedboat chase, voodoo ceremony, Louisiana sherriff who is a riot, a curvy Jane Seymour, the train fight with claw handed man.
Connery would do Moore in a scrap, and that is the only negative I have with the eyebrow aching Moore taking the role - he isn't quite hard enough.
But for a film, it is one of my favourite 007 releases despite its straying from Flemings book in so many ways.
 


(From Riches Random Reviews on March 16th, 2009)

Holiday Wishes, a review by addicted2dvd

Holiday Wishes Danni Hartford, party planner to the King family, wants to find her sister. Britney, the Kings' spoiled 15-year-old daughter, wants a horse. On a nearby horse farm, Rachel is treated like a servant by her foster siblings; all she wants is a real family. When all three girls make wishes at the Christmas dance, Britney and Rachel's souls switch bodies. But the girls soon find their new lives are not exactly what they pictured. When Danni discovers what has happened, she must figure out how to switch the girls back.

My Thoughts:
Another TV Movie I recently recorded of cable. Mainly because I read that Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is in it. But the storyline sounded like fun as well. And this one I really did enjoy. Sure there was one big part of it that was very predictable... but another part of it did surprise me... so it's all good. This is one movie I wouldn't mind getting on DVD and watching each year... but I don't think this one is even on DVD at this time.



(From Addicted2DVD's 25 Days of Christmas Marathon: 2010 on December 10th, 2010)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino (2008/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia FUNimation Entertainment (United States) Length: 315 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:
The girls of the Social Welfare Agency are no ordinary children. They are the grizzly remains of human wreckage pieced back together with cybernetic implants and trained to kill by the government. The oldest, Triela, pursues her targets with a ferocious enthusiasm - unwilling to settle for less than total annihilation. Her mirror in this bloody stalemate is Pinocchio, a shell of a boy raised as an assassin by the FRF - a terrorist faction at war with the SWA. Cold and cruelly efficient, he wields sharpened steel as though it were his own hand. Once human, these shattered souls have become murderous machines with only vague recollections of what it meant to be real - and a brutal compulsion to be the last killer standing.


Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino
1.01 Distance Between Two: Brother and Sister
Writer: Yu Aida (Original Material By), Yu Aida (Screenwriter), Tatsuhiko Urano (Screenwriter)
Director: Akira Mano
Cast: Laura Bailey (Henrietta (voice)), Caitlin Glass (Triela (voice)), Luci Christian (Rico (voice)), Alese Johnson (Claes (voice)), Eric Vale (Jean (voice)), John Burgmeier (Jose (voice)), J. Michael Tatum (Hilshire (voice)), Brittney Karbowski (Enrica (voice)), Troy Baker (Alfonso (voice)), Colleen Clinkenbeard (Priscilla (voice)), Cynthia Cranz (Ferro (voice)), Mark Stoddard (Lorenzo (voice)), Scott Freeman ( (voice)), Nick Trautner ( (voice)), Ian Sinclair ( (voice)), Justin Cook ( (voice)), Joel McDonald ( (voice)), John Swasey ( (voice)), Phil Parsons ( (voice)), Cris George ( (voice)), Charlie Campbell ( (voice)), Barry Yandell ( (voice)), Japanese Cast), Kana Akutsu (Henrietta (voice)), Anri Shiono (Rico (voice)), Atsuko Enomoto (Triela (voice)), Risa Mizuno (Claes (voice)), Kozo Mito (Giuse (voice)), Takehito Koyasu (Jean (voice)), Masaya Matsukaze (Hirscher (voice)), Masaki Terasoma (Lorenzo (voice)), Mayuko Takahashi (Priscilla (voice)), Rie Nakagawa (Ferro (voice)), Hideo Watanabe (Alfonso (voice)), Yoji Ueda (Master of Antique Shop (voice)), Shinobu Matsumoto (Leader of Terrorists (voice)), Hiroshi Shimozaki (Terrorist (voice)), Takahiro Hirano (Terrorist (voice))

When a second Gunslinger Girl series was announced I was excited. BUt when I first saw it I was very disappointed. Another studio produced this one. They changed the character design, the voice acting and animation style. Everything I thought was great in the first series. The author of the manga was heavily involved in the second series and is responsible for the character design change. I have read that he wanted to bring it closer to the character design of later volumes of the manga. But I always preferred the early chapters.
The "handlers" of the Gunslinger Girls look much too young now in my opinion.
The only thing which I liked from the beginning is the new opening theme:


Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on July 4th, 2011)