DVD Collectors Online

The King's Speech, a review by Antares

The King's Speech (2010) 4/5 - A very good film with two very outstanding performances by Colin Firth & Geoffrey Rush. The more I see of Rush's work the more appreciation I have for his skills. He's starting to remind me of Claude Rains, one of the greatest character actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and who would always be the scene stealer when he was onscreen. Putting the great performances aside, when the film was finished, I felt that maybe while it was a good film, I didn't feel it was worthy of the Oscar for Best Picture.

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 11th, 2014)

Coraline, a review by Danae Cassandra

Coraline
Year of Release:  2009
Directed By: Henry Selick
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher
Genre: Horror, Adventure

Overview:
From the director of The Nightmare Before ChristmasCoraline, exclusively in this 2-Disc Collector's Edition!

Coraline Jones is bored in her new home until she finds a secret door that leads her into a world that's just like her own...but better! But when this fantastical adventure turns dangerous and her "other" Mother tries to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness and bravery to get home. Coraline  is a "visual marvel" (Claudia Puig, USA Today).

My Thoughts:
I last saw this delightful film four years ago, and I don't know why we waited so long to watch it again. 

Of course, when I saw it last time I was under the mistaken impression that this was a Tim Burton film.  Of course, it is not - but I can be forgiven, I think, for the mistake.  It's from collaborators of Burton's and shares a lot of the same visual and atmospheric style as Burton's films. 

This is a wonderful, creepy film with a delightful Gothic atmosphere, beautifully crafted stop-motion animation and very decent voice acting.  It's strong story has its origin in a book by Neil Gaiman, and the visuals are very striking.  Coraline is a strong, resourceful character, and the Other Mother character is creepy from the beginning and only gets creepier as the film progresses from dream to nightmare.  Some of my friends were really creeped out by the button eyes in the film.  I mean they found it really, really creepy.  Much more than the film deserves.

I like this film a lot and recommend it for anyone old enough to handle its spooky nature (so like 8 and up, could go younger for mature kids).

Bechdel Test:  Pass

Overall: 4/5

(From Danae's 2013 Horror Marathon on October 12th, 2013)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Gokusen I
Year: 2002
Director:
Rating: U
Length: 660 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Chinese, English, Other

Stars:
Nakama Yukie
Matsumoto Jun
Itoh Misaki
Namase Katsuhisa
Kaneko Ken

Plot:
Newly graduated Kumiko Yamaguchi wants to make her mark on the Japanese educational system as a teacher. All well and good until she finds out that the school she'll be teaching at has its fair share of troublemakers and rabble-rousers. The ruffians at the school don't frighten her though for she has a secret of her own-she's a fourth generation crime syndicate member and next in line to head it up. She's gone straight and wants to be a teacher though, but she's one person in whose class you don't want to be caught fooling around!

Extras:
Featurettes

What can I say: I love it!!!
Great Japanese comedy series I can highly recommend. If you remember, I recently watched the anime series of this after a lucky blind buy.
This series is even better than the anime.
The actress who plays the main character is simply perfect in the role. What makes the series so great is the combination of the line delivery by main stars, editing and camera work. I had to laugh out a lot in most scenes thanks to the great direction on these (and that even though I am watching the series for the second time).
This show does not only offer comedy but also a little drama. Which is often on the cheesy side but it really works here.
The only minor critique I have is, that the grandfather of the main character is too much of a nice guy to be the head of a Yakuza clan.

Sadly I did not find any YouTube material which does the show justice.
But I will provide some links nevertheless:
Here is a best of montage, but of which I think that the shown scenes are hardly best of material of this series. There would have so much better stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkvZ7NAuH_Y

Here is a montage of a running gag, but will probably be lost on people who haven't seen this series yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVdMbP3ojuY

If I have even remotely sparked your interest, I recommend that you follow the link provided in the description in both of the above YouTube videos. It will lead you to a site which offers fansubbed versions of the episodes. This is how I come to know this series the first time around.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on August 28th, 2008)