DVD Collectors Online

Malcolm X, a review by Rich

Trek across Saudi Arabia...



Adapted from the novel, 'The Autobiography of Malcolm X' written by Alex Haley, this is an amazing biopic of one of the most influential African American leaders to date. It follows the life and times of Malcolm Little through his transformation to Malcolm X and his departure from the Nation of Islam. Spike Lee's epic film captures the internal struggles, the spiritual, political and structural changes that Malcolm submitted himself to throughout his life to achieve his changing goals.

Washington displays why he should have won the Oscar by portraying one of the most enigmatic and inspiringing personalities of the civil rights movement. While personally I do not agree with all of Malcom's early philosophies, Spike Lee directs the film perfectly to create a masterpiece and make it a must own film for any biographical epic movie fan. There are inaccuracies in comparison to the book, but one forgives these discrepencies on the understanding that it was poetic license to maintain the pace of the film. 8/10 

(From Around the World in 80 DVD's on January 30th, 2008)

Tremors 4: The Legend Begins, a review by Jon

Tremors 4: The Legend Begins
2 out of 5

Big improvement on number 3, probably down to going back to the second films director, S.S. Wilson (he's a better director than his writing partner Maddock who did part 3), but unfortunately falls flat. It's set in the old West where Burt's great-grandfather owns a silver mine close to the town that would become Perfection in the original film and Michael Gross plays this version of Burt too, called Hiram. He's a very different character who can't use guns, though he learns and it is cute to see the burgeoning obsession beginning. He handles the lead better than he did as Burt in the previous film, but that just underlines how different the film is in style.

The mine has been attacked by "Dirt Dragons" and luckily we're back to basics at least. No silly ass blasters here, just your basic common variety of Graboid. And the writers (who have been the same throughout the series and also did Short Circuit!) obviously have a lot of affection for their creations and have managed to make a rather faithful little period version.

Unfortunately they forgot to make it funny. It's quite serious, surprisingly, so although the characters, effects and plot, all hinge together nicely, it's a bit boring. They don't even try to use the Western angle properly, settling for a sombre tale of a town struggling to make ends meet; I'd have liked to have seen a couple of bona-fide cowboys get eaten, horses and all, for instance. There was one gun-fighter, and he didn't call the worm "Varmint" once!

It's a pleasant film to watch without any effort and for absolute Tremor fanatics, some nice links to the earlier characters, but the whooping b-movie crowd the original seemed made for, will find nothing to get excited about here.

(From Jon's Random Reviews on July 12th, 2009)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Star Trek



What's the show about?
Captain Kirk and his crew aboard the starhip Enterprise explore the unknown parts of the galaxy and have dealings with the strangest aliens such as the Klingons or Trelane.

"Where No Man Has Gone Before"
During the try of breaking through the galactic border the ships gets heavily damaged and several crewmembers get killed. But one man - Gary Mitchell, an old friend of Kirk's - was somehow altered. The question remains if whether he is now a threat to the ships security.

My Opinion
Kirk was simply a cool guy and the only man known that grows more hairs over the years instead of less. "Star Trek" is a cult classic and most of the episodes are still watchable. But I liked the movies more than the series.

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on January 5th, 2008)