DVD Collectors Online

Arthur Christmas, a review by Danae Cassandra

Arthur Christmas
Year of Release: 2011
Directed By: Sarah Smith
Starring: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Animation

Overview:
How CAN Santa deliver billions of presents to the whole world in just one night? With an army of one million combat-style Field Elves and a vast, state-of-the-art control center under the ice of the North Pole! So how could this incredible operation have MISSED one child?! To Santa's young son, Arthur, it threatens to end the magic of Christmas. With retired Grandsanta, a rebellious young elf, an old sleigh and some untrained reindeer, Arthur sets out in a crazy mission to deliver the last present! Deck the halls with excitement, fun and wonder in this new Christmas classic!

My Thoughts:
This was a great, fun movie for the season. For being 5 years old now, the CGI still looks really good. The heart of the film is the relationships between the members of the Santa family, and the characters are pretty well fleshed for an animated film. It has a good story and lots of humor to keep it going as well. This has made it into my yearly rotation, and would be a good addition to the collection of any Christmas movie fan or any family with children.

Bechdel Test: Fail
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 3.75/5

(From Christmas 2016 on December 16th, 2016)

A Page of Madness, a review by Antares

A Page of Madness (1926) 65/100 - This must have been a hell of an experience to view in 1926. Some truly amazing camera work, but without the use of a Benshi narration, it's just a series of rapid fire edits with no narrative. As I was watching I thought of someone with a deck of cards, rifling through them with one finger and they all had pictures of insane people on them.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on September 20th, 2020)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season Two
Year: 2008
Director:
Rating: NR
Length: 964 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
Leny Headey
Thomas Dekker
Summer Glau
Brian Austin Green

Plot:
The hunt is on in a season of powerful revelations, breathless pursuits and bravura effects. A mysterious 3-dot symbol (do UFOs provide a clue?), a girlfriend for John (is Cameron jealous?), a mysterious tech company ZeiraCorp (can it master the renegade software called Turk?) - Season 2's 5-disc action arsenal is locked, loaded, ready to amaze.

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Scene Access

This season started promising. Although not quite as great as the first season, I was enjoying it. But then I had the feeling that all involved were getting worn out making an action series and wanting to slow down. I have no problem with that, but I didn't really enjoy the storylines they were making then. For me it just didn't fit anymore. Added to that I didn't really like the Weaver/John Henry storyline. Her character just did not appeal to me, though the original idea involving her wasn't so bad. Also the Derek/Jessie was not that interesting. For my feeling Cameron had too few scenes. I also missed scenes with the group working together. Everyone had their own agenda.
The series picked up again towards the end, but never to the level of the first season. Contrary to the first season, which I already watched twice and could start watching again anytime, I think the urge to revisit the second season anytime soon will not be that great.
The last episode made me really worried. As it did go on they were opening up new threads one after another with the ending coming closer and closer. I was fearing that I will face a massive cliffhanger. But at the last minute with the last scene, it came all full circle for me and I think it was the perfect way to end the series. I am not sure if I would have liked a third season. I thought the last scene worked really great as a series finale.

#	Episode	Rating
01	Samson and Delilah
02	Automatic for the People
03	The Mousetrap
04	Allison from Palmdale
05	Goodbye to All That
06	The Tower Is Tall But the Fall Is Short
07	Brothers of Nablus
08	Mr. Ferguson Is Ill Today
09	Complications
10	Strange Things Happen at the One-Two Point
11	Self Made Man
12	Alpine Fields
13	Earthlings Welcome Here
14	The Good Wound
15	Desert Cantos
16	Some Must Watch, While Some Must Sleep
17	Ourselves Alone
18	Today Is the Day - Part 1
19	Today Is the Day - Part 2
20	To the Lighthouse
21	Adam Raised a Cain
22	Born to Run

(From Tom's Random Reviews on January 25th, 2010)