DVD Collectors Online

All About My Mother, a review by Antares

All About My Mother (1999) 85/100 - The film ended about 15 minutes ago, and I've been sitting at my keyboard trying to come up with reasons why I enjoyed so much. But the words just aren't emerging. I could mention some of the great camera shots that Almodovar or whomever the cinematographer was, came up with. I could also mention the subtle, but sublimely beautiful score, which acts as a gentle guiding element to the story. But I think most of the credit for how good this film is, rests with the performance of Cecilia Roth. Every moment she is onscreen, her performance just engulfs you. She's 100% believable as the mother whose son is taken by a tragic accident on his 17th birthday. I would have rated this even higher had a bit more of the screenplay delved into her pain and more of the contents of Esteban's notes. This is only my second Almodovar film, I really need to see more.

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 July 24th, 2020)

Waiting... (2005), a review by samuelrichardscott

Waiting... (2005) R2 United Kingdom

Overview:
Always remember the first rule of eating out: Never mess with the people who handle your food!
Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder), Anna Faris (The Scary Movie Trilogy) and Justin Long (Dodgeball) star as the young employees of Shenanigan's Restaurant and collectively stave off boredom and adulthood with their antics.
Whilst some comedies never quite cross the line, this one steps right over it as the band of mischievous waiters, waitresses and cooks how the guests just how extraordinary the service at this restaurant can be.

My Thoughts:
I recently watched the comedy Just Friends starring Anna Faris and Ryan Reynolds so decided to check this one out which focuses on the pair waiting on tables in a restaurant, the difficult customers in the restaurant and the crazy mix of staff. The strongest cast member here for me was Luis Guzman as a chef. Always funny with his scenes. In fact, most of the cast fit their roles very well apart from Andy Milonakis and Max Kasch as Nick and T-Dog whom I cringed at everytime they were on screen. The comedic parts were funny, and I enjoyed the different array of characters bar the aforementioned Nick and T-Dog and I think I have to ultimately give this film a recommendation. 3.5/5

(From Never Ending Movie Marathon (short reviews) on August 30th, 2011)

Death Note anime/manga/movies comparison, a review by Tom

01. Rebirth

Light, a very bright, but bored, High School student finds a notebook, which promises that for each name written in this notebook will kill that person.
Ryuk, the death god who has dropped this notebook on earth to have some fun, is also introduced. Only Light can see him, because only people, who have touched the Death Note can see and hear him.

Rules introduced in this episode:
- the person written into the death note dies after 40 seconds of a heart attack if no cause of death is written down
- if a cause of death is written down, you have another 6 minutes and 40 seconds to specify the circumstances
- you have to know the face of the person whose name is written down
- touching a death god's death note will enable you to see and hear him

Manga:
This episode covers chapter 1 of the manga. Generally in the manga, Light is very collected. In the anime he is very hot-headed, even in his inner monologues.
In the manga, the order of the scenes is this:
- Ryuk decides to drop the book in the human world
- Light finds it
- jump five days ahead and Ryuk introduces himself to Light and is surprised how many people Light has already killed
- Light tells about his first try-outs of using the book and coming to the realization, that it's the real thing
- he tells Ryuk of this plans of using the notebook to get rid of all evil in the world

In the anime, these happenings are told linear. We see him finding the book, trying it out and then the visit of Ryuk. As far as I remember, this observation in difference can be made a lot. In the manga, we often see Light doing something and then after it is finished, we get to see his preparations. In the anime we first get to see his preparations and then the pay-off.

Movies:
In the movies, Light does not start off as a high school student, but is already a law student, who gets frustrated with the Japanese law system. This is when he finds the notebook. His first tests with the notebook and his first encounter with Ryuk are similar to the manga/anime.


(From Death Note anime/manga/movies comparison on January 30th, 2009)