DVD Collectors Online

Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, a review by dfmorgan

Year: 1987
Director: Hiroyuki Yamaga
OverviewWatched: 6th Feb 2010
My Thoughts: This anime I first saw in 1995 on a VHS released in the UK by Manga Video, this version was cut and dubbed. I then got the uncut US R1 DVD in 2000 released by Manga Entertainment and again there were problems, Manga badly transfered this film onto DVD and were castigated by the fans and many review sites. Now finally I have a version which should be near perfect. Colours and images were nice and sharp generally, some evidence in places of dust but not too obtrusive. Sound was good, I watched it in Japanese but my amp doesn't support HD sound so only had the downmixed Dolby Digital 5.1 from the PS3, not a lot of surround effects but when used it added to the ambience. One thing that was strange though was that it was window-boxed, i.e. a border around the whole image on screen. Checked up on a couple of review sites and that was intended to ensure that the original aspect ratio was fully shown.

At its heart this is a love story. A young man, a member of the recently formed Royal Space Force, meets a young woman, distributing pamphlets, and their romance follows a slightly tortuous path. Mixed in with this is a secondary story about the nations ongoing troubles with a neighbouring country and their first launch into space. Of course there is also duplicity within the government which leads to a interesting conclusion to this film.

My Rating: Not too sure about the window-boxing so 4

Dave

(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on February 11th, 2010)

The Exorcist: The Version You Never Seen, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen
Year: 1973
Director: William Friedkin
Rating: R
Length: 132 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround EX, English: Dolby Digital Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English, French

Stars:
Ellen Burstyn as Chris MacNeil
Max von Sydow as Father Merrin
Lee J. Cobb as Lt. Kinderman
Kitty Winn as Sharon
Jack MacGowran as Burke Dennings

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Theatrical Trailers
Production Notes
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
Let me start out this review by letting you all know that this film holds a special place in my heart. This was Dawn's (my late wife) all time favorite movie. We watched this together countless times. And it never failed to scare her every time. Scared her to the point that after watching it she made me follow her around the house as she didn't want to be anywhere alone. I always felt it was unfortunate she never saw this version of the movie. While the movie never scared me. I could see how it would scare people.

The above reminds me of something else. Several years later my niece spent the night with us. And she came to me saying... "Uncle Pete, Show me a movie that will scare me!" So I instantly thought of The Exorcist... and can you believe she sat there and laughed through the entire movie!?!? Kids now a day! Which bring us to the point that it was Brittany chose this movie to watch next. (So you can expect a review from Brittany soon) But I already told her.... if she laughs at this movie... I am calling a psychiatrist!

To me this is a great movie. Sure it is a bit slow in parts. But the story is of such interest to me that it didn't "feel" slow. I of course love the head spin scene... and then there is the whole spider walk down the stairs scene... very cool. I am afraid that my problem reviewing this movie is determining how much of my fondness is for the quality of the movie and how much of it is how it just holds a special place in my heart. So how true is the rating I am giving it? I am questioning myself on this matter. But one thing I would never question myself on is the fact that I would definitely recommend this movie!



(From Movies of the '70s Marathon on March 19th, 2010)

Miracles Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

6. The Hand of God
Paul comes under investigation by the police after a woman is found murdered in her home, leaving behind her diary where she had sketched his name and image, along with the words "God is nowhere".

Guest Stars:
Blake Bashoff
John Thaddeus
Pat Skipper
Robert Clotworthy

My Thoughts:
This is the final episode to air on ABC in it's original run. Thankfully they gave us the entire 13 episodes on this DVD collection. This episode is an interesting one as it continues with the series long storyline. But it did seem a little slow to me. This episode completes the second disc in the set.

My Rating:

(From Miracles Marathon on December 30th, 2009)