DVD Collectors Online

Diamonds Are Forever, a review by Dragonfire

A fortune in stolen diamonds thrusts James Bond into action in this thrilling adventure! Sean Connery returns as Agent 007 and teams up with the beautiful Tiffany Case (Jill St John) to prevent his nemesis Blofeld (Charles Gray) from using the diamonds in a deadly laser satellite.

My Thoughts

I did get this watched last Saturday, so it was still during the week for this movie.  I'm just really behind writing about it.  And I do still need to watch all the extras. 

Anyway, the movie was ok, but not that great.  Connery wasn't as good in the part as he was in the first few movies.  He really wasn't in shape for the part anymore either, which made it less believable that he was still effective as a spy with the fights he got in.  The plot did seem a bit more silly.  I didn't mind that yet another actor played Blofeld.  I just didn't think everything with the character was handled as well as it could have been.  The pace was slower at times and I just wasn't as interested in what was going on.  It also didn't make sense to me that Tracey wasn't even mentioned with how important she became to James in the last movie.  The movie was just ok for me. 

  - I hope that is the right emote.

I am working on a draft of a longer review to post on Epinions.

(From James Bond Marathon on March 20th, 2009)

Lisa and the Devil, a review by Achim

Title: Lisa e il diavolo
Year: 1973
Director: Lisa and the Devil, Mario Bava, The House of Exorcism, Alfredo Leone [Mickey Lion]
Rating: NR
Length: 96 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Mono, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles:

Stars:
Lisa and the Devil
Telly Savalas
Elke Sommer
Silva Koscina
Alessio Orano

Plot:
Following the international success of BARON BLOOD, Bava was given carte blanche to make the film he'd envisioned his entire career. Telly Savalas and Elke Sommer star in this surreal tale that unfolds as both waking dream and elliptical nightmare, a lush and disturbing meditation on love, death, identity and the machinations of evil. Now recognized as Il Maestro's final masterpiece, LISA AND THE DEVIL has been fully restored and remastered from the original camera negatives recently discovered in a Rome lab vault.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Trailers

While the cover hails it as Bava's final masterpiece I really can't see why. After the first 20 minutes build up a creepy atmosphere I almost fell asleep over the course of the next 20 minutes. During the third 20minutes the atmosphere almost recovered (the now sleepy audience has trouble recognizing this) and leads into a bunch of violent murders, waking the audience up again. The next 30 minutes are another snorefest and then comes the ending, which is rather interesting but comes way too late to save the movie.

Looking back at the film with the knowledge of the ending, it appears better than it should. Too little stuff was going on during the experience that kept my interest. Heck, that's not even quite correct, the problem for me is more the presentation, the lack of music and other means to build suspense. This could have been much better; as the intend of Bava becomes clear at the end I could only feel sad at his failed attempt to fulfill his vision.



(From Mario Bava marathon on July 20th, 2009)

My PILOT Marathon, a review by Rich

Tales of the Unexpected

Man from the South
A young American sailor on shore-leave in the West Indies is tempted by a crazy bet. To win a new Cadillac, all he needs to do is to make his cigarette-lighter light ten times without any failures. In return, he has to stake one of his fingers. But what is the truth about Carlos, the high-rolling old man who has proposed the bet?





Like sleeping with an old girlfriend, it is never as good as you remember and disappointment follows. Similarly, with this series being at the time a 'must-watch' programme, rewatching the pilot made me realise how things have moved on, and this felt extremely dated.
With an uncomortable introduction from a creepy Dahl, what follows is the superb haunting and familiar opening music, but the actual pilot episode is uninspiring and very predictable. Production values are low, and the actors appear like they are reading from cue cards.
Patience with the series will reward a viewer with some true gems, but you must have patience to sift through some aged dross.
 

(From My PILOT Marathon on September 25th, 2009)