DVD Collectors Online

Remember the Titans, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Remember the Titans
Year: 2000
Director: Boaz Yakin
Rating: PG
Length: 113 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: DTS: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Denzel Washington
Will Patton
Wood Harris
Ryan Hurst
Donald Faison
Craig Kirkwood

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Bonus Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Closed Captioned
THX

My Thoughts:
Another sports movie I enjoyed. And another one I didn't realize till today that it was based on a true story. This one has a good story... and I liked all the  characters. And I thought Denzel Washington did a good job. I am glad I have this one added to my collection... can see myself watching it again sometime.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs on August 8th, 2010)

Dark Shadows, a review by Dragonfire

Dark Shadows



I wanted to see this movie from the time I heard that it was going to be made.  It is based on a soap opera that aired in the last 60s and early 70s.  A revival of the show was done around 1992 or 1993, but it only lasted 12 or 13 episodes.  I saw that series and enjoyed it.

Barnabas Collins lives a life of privilege and wealth.  He is a bit of a ladie's man, but he doesn't return the affection of Angelique.  She doesn't take rejection well, causing the death of the members of Barnabas's family and the woman he loves before cursing him and turning him into a vampire.  She then manages to have him buried in a chained coffin.  Almost 200 years later, he is released when he coffin is discovered.  Barnabas returns to the family home and convinces Elizabeth to let him stay.  Around the same time, Victoria Winters arrives as the new governess.  Barnabas is drawn to her, but things get complicated when he learns that Angelique is still alive and she still wants him.

I really enjoyed the movie and found it to be very entertaining, though the plot does have a few issues.  The very complicated relationship between Barnabas and Angelique receives the most attention.  That pushes everything connected to Victoria to the background.  She has a much bigger role in the revival of the seies and I think in the original show as well, so it is disappointing how she is handled in the movie.  A few other things are introduced and then not dealt with that well, possibly because of time constraints.  Despite those things, I did still enjoy the movie.  Things look like they are from 1972, when the movie is set.  There is a good soundtrack, with great songs from that time.  Barnabas has an interesting look, with long fingers and very pale skin.  He is able to go outside during the day, but he must be covered by a large umbrella.  His becoming a vampire because of the curse of a witch is a little different.  The characters are interesting and the cast does a good job with their parts, especially Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer.

The movie has a few issues with the story, but I enjoyed it overall.  This isn't a movie that everyone will like.  Some fans of the original series may not like the way the subject matter is handled.



I did get a longer review posted at Epinions.

Dark Shadows


(From Dark Shadows on June 11th, 2012)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: A girl hypnotizes Clark and he subsequently breaks up with Lana. He (unwillingly) reveals all his abilities to her and does whatever she wants. What he doesn't know is, that she was hired by Lex, but luckily for Clark she double-crosses Lex and doesn't expose him to Lex but instead tries to kill him (Lex). But Lex has other things on his mind, too. He's located Milton Fine in Honduras and he believes that Milton is a government agent.

My Opinion: Spike Milton is a hard-to-kill kind of guy. It's good that he's back, that means that the Krypton arc is back in the game.
I am sorry and relieved at the same time that the relation of Lana and Clark is over. Sorry for obvious reasons and relieved because that entire hide-and-seek was getting tiresome. Of course it won't completely stop but the amount of lies can go down to normal Clark-level.

Synopsis: With the help of a Kryptonite drug, Lana dies and comes back from the dead. But while she's dead she can talk to her parents. The problem is that one can only die so many times before one stays that way. Both Clark and Lex try to help her and get killed in the process.

My Opinion: This is my third attempt to write this paragraph. I don't know why, but somehow it didn't felt right. I've never been religious, yet I've never had any problem with the concept of an afterlife in a fantasy show. Xena has been to several places for the dead (the Elysian Fields, Tartaros, the Amazon afterworld), Buffy was in Heaven and there were several hell dimensions and still I didn't like the idea that Clark could talk to his dead father and that he could give his son a warning. Sorry, I can't really explain why, but that's how I feel.

Synopsis: Maddie is the foster daughter of Martha's chief of staff. Then her foster mother gets killed and she lives at the Kents's until new foster parents can be found. But Maddie is special, she can control glass with her mind. Has she killed her foster mother?

My Opinion: The actress of Maddie (Emily Hirst) strongly reminded me of Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) in the first Harry Potter movie. I also found it interesting how they managed to make her the prime suspect just to reveal that her father (Callum Keith Rennie, Leoben in Battlestar Galactica) has the same abilities. The concept of second generation meteor freaks has been mentioned before but it was still interesting.

Synopsis: Lionel nearly gets killed when his limo is rammed by a train. But this was no accident, someone has made a game out of the attempts to kill Lionel. But soon it's not only Lionel's life that is endangered, it's Martha's as well.

My Opinion: Everytime I watch that episode, I am sure that Ian Tracey has had a previous appearance on the show, that I've seen him there before. But IMDb tells me, that he hasn't.
While I found the tasks to be interesting I nonetheless recognized the obvious television/movies errors, such as a train that doesn't even stop after it has hit a car or Clark catching a falling elevator without hurting the occupants, even though they've just fallen several hundred feets.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on June 14th, 2008)