DVD Collectors Online

Things We Lost in the Fire, a review by Rich

Title: Things We Lost in the Fire

Runtime:118
Certificate:R
Year:2007
Genres:Drama

Plot:My Review:
Not sure why this film attracted me so much, perhaps the mood I am in, or maybe such a great performance from love him or hate him actor Benicio Del Toro. His portrayal of a heroin addict, friendless bar one, hated initially by the wife (halle berry) until his redeeming features and kind heart start showing through, is oscar like in its domination of the screen.
Although the pace is somewhat slow, and the length nearly 2 hours, I enjoyed this moving film and totally got in to all of the emotions, heartbreaks, fears and despairs. I have not a great experience with drugs or addicts, but this film seems to genuinely portray such a life accurately, the usual depressive state a user feels, and maybe hope for anyone either going through rehab or trying to find reasons to attempt to get clean.
But the film offers much more than this, it is uplifting and motivating, the script is exquisite, the acting of an extremely high standard once Duchovny disappears from the set, the direction is superbly and sympathetically handled by Susanne Bier, and the camerawork truly makes you feel part of the unfolding drama.
One of the best movies I have seen this year, highly recommended.


(From December Marathons - DISCUSSION AND REVIEW THREAD on December 22nd, 2009)

GoldenEye, a review by Dragonfire

Goldeneye



The effortlessly suave and sophisticated Pierce Brosnan makes his acclaimed debut as Agent 007 in this rip-roaring espionage thriller featuring the most eye-popping opening sequence yet! When an MI6 agent (Sean Bean) turns rogue and plans world domination with a terrifying satellite-borne weapon, Bond must pursue his former ally to Cuba, Monte Carlo, Switzerland and even Russia, all whilst dodging a sexy, deadly femme fatale (Famke Janssen) who will stop at nothing to put the 'squeeze' on the intrepid spy!

My Thoughts

I did get a longer review posted on Epinions.

Goldeneye

I hadn't realized it had been this long since I last posted about one of the Bond movies.  Sorry about that.

(From James Bond Marathon on March 22nd, 2010)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon, a review by Achim

11. Self Made Man
Cameron never sleeps, so what does she do at night? Chase a T-888 that?s been lost in time.

My comments:
This episode concentrates entirely on Cameron investigating the past. We get a little of John and nothing of anyone else. Cameron has apparently paid regularly visits to the local library, where she bribed the night watch (with donuts) to let her in. She uses her time there to find someone in the past and looks for the connection to the future.

I mostly enjoys crime films where the story slowly unravels to eventually reveal the big picture and on occasion give as a moment. No exception here. There is quite a bit witty dialog (two of Cameron's bon mots made me laugh out loud) and the detective work runs along at a steady pace. But here's the rub, which happens often with this kind of stories: the "timing" is off. By that I mean that the entire investigation (plus Cameron's "problem solving at the end) happens in one single night. Going through records, finding film clips, having conversations, connecting the dots (no pun intended) and all they need is a couple of hours...? Fail (this is where I deduct one notch in the rating). Another problem is that I felt lots of lag, where I thought the story could speed up a bit and move along; luckily those are moments never lasted very long.

John's story is merely a side note and shows him getting closer to Riley. I did not like this section at all and him suddenly bursting put and almost beating the crap out of a guy who is already down felt out of place to me.



(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on February 11th, 2010)