DVD Collectors Online

City of the Living Dead, a review by Jimmy

Title : City of the Living Dead (1980)

Overview
The Seven Gates of Hell have been torn open, and in 3 days the dead shall rise and walk the earth. As a reporter (Christopher George) and a psychic (Catriona MacColl) race to close the portals of the damned, they encounter a seething nightmare of unspeakable evil. The city is alive - with the horrors of the living dead!

My Impression
Now this is more what I expect from a Lucio Fulci's movie... This one is his best horror film after The Beyond and The New York Ripper (of course this is my oppinion). The story can be complicated to understand in the first viewing, so it's necessary to watch it 2 or 3 times to really appreciated it. The Living Deads are more frightening in this film, as in The Beyond, than in their American counterpart. They doesn't beat you by their number, they aren't dumb (for a dead person of course), they don't care about eating you (they just want to rip off your brain) and they can teleport themselves (it certainly look like that). The special effects are top-notch and really effective (the death scenes of Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Daniela Doria are two classic). You will see many familliar visages in the cast : Catriona MacColl (The Beyond), Christopher George (Day of the Animals), Venantino Venantini (Cannibal Ferox), Michele Soavi (director of Dellamorte Dellamore), Janet Agren (Eaten Alive), Perry Pirkanen (Cannibal Holocaust), Michael Gaunt (at least for me since he appeared in 15 adult movies that I own) and, of course, Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Daniela Doria. The score from Fabio Frizzi is effective (particullary the theme used when the living dead appear). The only critic as usual is the dubbing of the italian actors who sound too forced and unnatural.

Rating :



(From Jimmy's 2009 Horror Marathon on October 13th, 2009)

North by Northwest, a review by dfmorgan

North by Northwest

Year: 1959
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
Overview: Dazzling 50th Anniversary Restoration!

Cary Grant is the screen's supreme man-on-the-run in his fourth and final teaming with Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock. He plays a Manhattan adman plunged into a realm of spy (James Mason) and counterspy (Eva Marie Saint) and variously abducted, framed for murder, chased, and in a signature set-piece, crop-dusted. He also hangs for dear life from the facial features of Mount Rushmore's Presidents. Savour one of Hollywood's most enjoyable thrillers ever in this State-of-the-Art Restoration: its Renewed Picture Vitality will leave you just as breathless as the chase itself.

Watched: 6th. Nov. 2010
My Thoughts: OK I guess that Mr. Hitchcock is not to my style. Although I didn't have any high expectations I was still left underwhelmed by this film. I thought the actors came over well but overall the film did nothing for me.

My Rating: Yet another 2 for the master of suspense

Dave

(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on November 7th, 2010)

The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Jen has a builder in her home and Roy is quite sure (99% ... 60/40) that he's seen him on "Builders from Hell". Now Jen can't let him out of her eyesight. Meanwhile Moss is bullied by some guys in the park and Douglas shoots himself in the leg with his father's service revolver.

My Opinion: A great start to the new season. Love to see Jen getting more and more paranoid and Roy re-evaluating his surety. And I loved Moss' role-playing and trying to find a snappy comeback. I never cared much for Douglas though. I liked his father better.

Synopsis: Moss has found a website that allows him to use the right sentences about last night's football game. Roy tries it, too and gets them both to hang out with a bunch of real men. But these new friends are not what they appear to be. Meanwhile Jen is dating a guy that looks like a stage magician.

My Opinion: I am a German and I never cared much for football either. This week a player returned from FC Barcelona to the VfB Stuttgart and a friend of mine couldn't be happier about it - I couldn't care less, the only thing I found interesting was that the player's name is "Hleb" which is a transcription of the russian хлеб* and means "bread". Back to topic. I enjoyed to watch Roy panicking in the car after the robbery and also in their hideout. And I found it hilarious that Moss took the money just to count it.

* Remember when Christopher Plummer said "to be or not to be" in klingon? The "Х" letter sounds pretty much like the "H" in taH pagh taHbe'.

Synopsis: Jen is applying for a new job in a different company but fails to explain what "IT" stands for. Meanwhile Roy crashes a minute of silence for a dead colleague and lands himself on the streets not even having a shirt anymore. And Moss is in his "happy place" while Douglas gets tasered every time he gets aroused.

My Opinion: What I liked about this episode was Roy's "walkabout" in the streets and Jen's attempts at not having to say what "IT" actually stands for . But I didn't really like the entire harassment storyline and Moss' part in it.

Synopsis: Jen was awarded with the "Employee of the Month". But now she has to give a speech to the shareholders. And the speech is about her area of expertise - meaning IT. Roy and Moss are so generous and lend her "the internet", a black box (wireless of course, everything is wireless nowadays) that what demagnetized by Stephen Hawking himself.

My Opinion: One of my favourite episodes of the show. I simply love the entire scene when they let Jen borrow "the internet" (Youtube). And I love it when their prank totally backfires on the shareholder assembly.

Synopsis: Jen has joined Friendface, a social networking site where you find all the people you never wanted to see again. Roy and Moss join also and soon Roy has to face a woman he dumped because she looks like Batman's Joker. And Jen is invited to a class reunion where she can't show up without her husband - Moss.

My Opinion: An obvious pun on Facebook which I really liked, especially the part about persons you'd rather not see again. Especially the "Joker" and Roy's attempts at "winning over" Jen made me laugh so hard.

Synopsis: In order to organize a charity fundraiser the girls of the seventh floor want to make a nude calendar and Roy gets to photograph them. But Jen sabotages it and convinces the girls that it would be a far better idea to photograph their grannies - until she becomes responsible for the success of that calendar.

My Opinion: The Geek Calendar shooting was so funny, how Roy had to convince Moss and the others to get into certain poses was so hilarious.

The Season - My Opinion: Too bad that UK seasons are always this short, I am quite certain that the writers would have no problem to come up with more ideas. But it is as it is.

(From The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon on July 31st, 2009)