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Invictus , a review by samuelrichardscott

Invictus (2009) Region B United Kingdom (rental)

Overview:
Clint Eastwood directs this drama based on events that took place during the first term of Nelson Mandela's presidency of South Africa. In an effort to help unite his racially and economically divided country in the wake of the apartheid system, the newly-elected Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joins forces with Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), captain of South Africa's rugby team The Springboks. Convinced that he can use the universal language of sport to help bring his people together, Mandela rallies the team as it makes its historic run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship final against New Zealand.

My Thoughts:
I've been on a bit of an Eastwood kick lately and last week watched Changeling and Gran Torino. This week, I went to my rental queue and added Invictus as high priority and I am glad I did. Despite some dodgy accents (are there no South African actors for these big roles...? same for Blood Diamond) Freeman and Damon impress in the lead roles of what is an unlikely important historical event. Eastwood manages to catch the varying views of people via the way members of the crowd, and the rugby team, initially react whilst at the same time catching Mandela's hope for the future of his country and how he used Rugby to help him change the opinions of many, and the way they acted by bringing people together through a sporting event. Recommended. 4/5

(From Never Ending Movie Marathon (short reviews) on August 9th, 2010)

Fantastic 4, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Fantastic 4
Year: 2005
Director: Tim Story
Rating: PG-13
Length: 106 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: DTS 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards
Jessica Alba as Sue Storm
Chris Evans as Johnny Storm
Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm
Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom

Star(s) of TV Series:

Star:	Movie Character:	TV Series:	Season(s):	Series Character:
Jessica Alba	Sue Storm	Dark Angel	All	Max Guevera
Julian McMahon	Victor Von Doom	Charmed	3-5	Cole Turner

Smaller Parts/Cameos:

Star:	Movie Character:	TV Series:	Season(s):	Series Character:
Gina Holden	LV Receptionist	Blood Ties	All	Coreen Fennel
Peter Bryant	Lame Joke Business Man	Dark Angel	1	Bling

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Bonus Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Music Videos
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
I have been a fan of the Fantastic Four since watching the cartoon series from back in the '60s or '70s when I was a kid. Forgive me for using the obvious word here... but going by my memory of the show... I think they did a Fantastic job bringing the characters to life. I liked everyone in this movie. And that is saying something since this is the first (and so far only) thing I have seen that I actually like Julian McMahon in. But I thought he did a great job here. I think Chris Evans got The Human Torch dead on. Jessica Alba was awesome as Sue Storm (The Invisible Woman). I remember when I first heard they were doing this movie I was concerned how The Thing would look in the movie... but that impressed me as well. I think the origin story is both interesting and fun. And I loved the scene on the bridge where the team first came to be. This is one I would definitely recommend. I enjoyed every minute of it.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: TV Stars in the Movies on March 5th, 2010)

Death Note anime/manga/movies comparison, a review by Tom

07. Overcast

- Light writes down Naomi's name in the death note
- Short scene with L and the detectives. L gets call from Watari
- Naomi doesn't die like Light expects her to, because she didn't tell him her real name
- Watari has shown up and meets the detectives. He has brought new police batches with fake IDs
- Light is trying to think about a way to get Naomi's real name without having to make the trade for the death god's eyes (which would half his life expectancy)
- detectives discuss the fake IDs. Watari gives them belts with tracking devices and emergency pager
- Light tricks Naomi to give him her ID. Light writes down her name for her to commit suicide (in a way that her body won't be found). Light mocks her by telling her that he is Kira


Manga: This episode is covered by chapters 13 and 14

Movies: Detectives also get new fake IDs, but no belt. Light fails to kill Naomi, because she told him a fake name. She then goes on at strongly hinting, that she suspects Light to be Kira. This means, that Light was not able to kill her at this point. Naomi now plays a big part in the first movie's ending, which is completely original to the movie.


(From Death Note anime/manga/movies comparison on June 27th, 2009)