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Les Filles du Botaniste, a review by Tom

Les Filles du Botaniste (2006/France) IMDb | Wikipedia UFA Art Home Entertainment, Universum Film (Germany) Director: Dai Sijie Writing: Dai Sijie (Screenwriter), Nadine Perront (Screenwriter) Length: 94 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Mandarin: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: German

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Stars:Plot:
At the house of a famous Chinese botanist teacher his daughter and a female intern fall in love with each other - a forbidden love that must be kept secret.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Trailers
• Bonus Trailers

A nice romance which is fun to watch. It's a French movie shot in Mandarin. Originally I thought this would be set in the past (19th century or so). I was pleasantly surprised that it is set in the relative present (I read that it is supposed to be set in the 80s or 90s). I enjoyed it, but the ending is stupid, though not unexpected.

Rating:

(From Lesbian Movie Marathon on October 23rd, 2010)

Death Wish, a review by KinkyCyborg

Death Wish



Title:Death Wish
Year: 1974
Director: Michael Winner
Rating: R
Length: 93 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Mono, French: Dolby Digital: Mono
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Olympia Dukakis
Marcia Jean-Kurtz
Charles Bronson
Hope Lange
Vincent Gardenia

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Closed Captioned


The mother of all vigilante movies starring Charles Bronson as the iconic Paul Kersey. This was the movie that I gained my true appreciation for Bronson as an actor. Having now watched this again after so many years I focused more on the character and less on his actions this time around. It was incredible to watch his metamorphosis from a gentle loving husband with liberal views into a fed up terminator of the criminal dregs of New York City. He has a difficult time at first coming to terms with this new dark passenger of his who drives him to lure thugs into arms reach of his bullets but by the end he is quite comfortable with what he has become which of course opened the door for 4 sequels, some good, some not so good.

Some thoughts... the opening beach scene where he frolics with his wife revealed he was in pretty good shape back in 1974 at age 53!

Early role for Christopher Guest and the screen debut of Jeff Goldblum as one of the thugs. He only has a few minutes of screen time and only a couple lines which is just the way I like him!

I'm sure many of people had interesting thoughts running through their heads after watching this movie. The thought of taking matters into your own hands has a lot of appeal and while I don't know if I'd have the gumption to do it myself I certainly don't discourage the idea of ordinary citizens taking out the trash. It would certainly be harder in this day and age to do it without getting caught with so much video surveillance and such these days.

I'll try to take in the sequels in the near future to see how they hold up as I don't remember much about them anymore except for a character in either part 2 or 3 called The Giggler who can outrun anyone all the while laughing while he runs. Turns out he couldn't outrun a bullet! 

KC

Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2011 on September 9th, 2011)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Blood Ties: The Complete Series (2006/Canada) IMDb | Wikipedia Contender Home Entertainment (United Kingdom) Length: 950 min. Video: Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles:

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Plot:
After witnessing a horrific demonic murder at the side of a Toronto roadway, private investigator Vicki Nelson finds herself on a collision course with another citizen investigating the case. He is Henry Fitzroy - former Duke of Richmond, cutting-edge graphic novelist and 470-year-old vampire.

To solve the brutal murder, Vicki finds herself collaborating, against her better judgement, with the suave and seductive Fitzroy. The relationship soon progresses beyond a purely professional arrangement, complicating her long term love affair with ex-partner Detective Mike Celluci... and pretty well everything else in her life.

Blood Ties
1.01 Blood Price
Writer: Tanya Huff (Original Material By), Peter Mohan (Created By), Peter Mohan (Writer)
Director: Allan Kroeker
Cast: Christina Cox (Vicki Nelson), Dylan Neal (Mike Celluci), Kyle Schmid (Henry Fitzroy), Gina Holden (Coreen Fennel), Keith Dallas (Dave Graham), Francoise Yip (Kate Lam), Eileen Pedde (Crowley), Jody Racicot (Greg the Doorman), Michael Eklund (Norman Bridewell), Nimet Kanji (Mohadevan), Mark Oliver (Demon), Ivan Riedinger (Ian Reddick), Derek McIver (Uniformed Cop), Emilie Ullerup (Sandra), Aubrey Tennant (Norman's Friend #1), Edward Fong (Norman's Friend #2), Amber Borycki (Cassie), James Michalopoulos (Goth Waiter), Audra Ricketts (Business Woman), Patricia Isaac (Waitress), Sean Whale (Tough #1), Paul Wu (Tough #2), Phillip Mitchell (Tough #3), Nickolas Baric (Goth Bartender), Daniel Bruce (Dr. O'Mara), Brad Turner (Security #1), Ken Dresen (Security #2), John Mann (Astaroth), Sharon Simms (Worshiper #1), Rob Hayter (Worshiper #2), Leonard Tenisci (Street Vendor), Dan Amos (Student #1), Sarah Sands (Student #2), Kevin Crofton (Police Sgt.), Levi James (Skateboarder), Linda Sorensen (Dr. Sangara), Dawn Chubai (Newscaster)

Not a great series, but I enjoyed watching it. The pilot is an average introduction to an average series.
You can find me review of the series set here.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on March 29th, 2011)