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The Legend of Billie Jean, a review by addicted2dvd

The Legend of Billie Jean: Special 'Fair is Fair' Edition (1985/United States) Trailer |IMDb |Wikipedia | Mill Creek Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Director: Matthew Robbins Writing: Mark Rosenthal (Writer), Lawrence Konner (Writer) Length: 95 min. Rating: PG-13 Video: Widescreen 1.78:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: None

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Stars:
Helen Slater as Billie Jean
Keith Gordon as Lloyd
Christian Slater as Binx
Richard Bradford as Pyatt
Peter Coyote as Ringwald
Martha Gehman as Ophelia

Plot:
When local rich kid Hubie Pyatt (Barry Tubb) steals and wrecks Binx Davy's (Christian Slater) beloved motor scooter, Binx's older sister, Billie Jean (Helen Slater), demands the $608 it costs to fix it. Binx shoots Mr. Pyatt (Richard Bradford) by accident and he and Billie Jean flee town accompanied by Billie Jean's girlfriends, Ophelia (Martha Gehman) and Putter (Yeardley Smith). They become fugitives and when they pick up a very willing hostage, Lloyd (Keith Gordon), they become criminals. Billie Jean becomes a legend in her own time, a symbol of freedom to teenagers everywhere!

Extras:

• Audio Commentary

I have not seen this movie in close to 30 years! I haven't seen it snce the '80s shortly after it's release. All I remembered is that I enjoyed this one... and I must say... all ths time later and I still loved this film! The downside to this blu-ray disc is that it was released by Mills Creek.... one of the worst... very low budget release. I was actually surprised to see this one has a commentary track with Helen Slater and Yeardly Smith. But at the same time they couldn't even put a menu for scene selection!?! I would love to see a blu-ray release for this one done right!



(From What Movies I Been Watching on August 9th, 2014)

Whip It, a review by Critter

Whip It



Director: Drew Barrymore

Writer: Shauna Cross

Plot: In Bodeen, Texas, an indie-rock loving misfit finds a way of dealing with her small-town misery after she discovers a roller derby league in nearby Austin.

Cast:
Ellen Page - Bliss Cavendar
Alia Shawkat - Pash
Drew Barrymore - Smashley Simpson
Landon Pigg - Oliver
Andrew Wilson - Razor
Juliette Lewis - Iron Maven

My Thoughts

This is Drew Barrymore's directorial debut and it shows. With Whip It Barrymore played it as safe as someone could making their first film by following a formula of these "teen breaking out of a rut" type films that seems to have developed over the years. She stuck to this forumula and followed all the regular conventions and cliches so closely in fact that I often felt while watching the film that I had seen it before.

That said however this still was a cute and easily enjoyable film, it just didn't break any boundaries or bring anything new. Ellen Page seems to be playing the same character over and over these days of the quirky and often misunderstood teenager. And while I must admit she's good at it it would be nice to see her go back to the days where she had a larger variety of roles such as An American Crime, Hard Candy and X-Men.

One thing this film does succeed in doing is educating the world of the sport of 'Roller Derby' which really is the highlight of the film. The derby scenes are fast-paced and in my opinion very well shot which made them a delight to watch. Especially for those of us who didn't even know of the roller derby sport before this film (keep in mind I'm from a small town in Australia )

Overall this film is light-hearted and quite enjoyable with some funny and memorable characters yet still brings nothing new to the table.

Rating: 3/5

(From Critter's Films at Cinemas Reviews on December 13th, 2009)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Hyperdrive: Series One & Two (2006/United Kingdom) IMDb | Wikipedia 2 entertain Video (United Kingdom) Length: 351 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:
It is 2151. Britain has launched a fleet of spaceships to protect her interests in a changing galaxy. Amongst them is the HMS Camden Lock, with a crew who will risk everything and stop at nothing to bring harmony to the galaxy, while encouraging aliens to relocate their businesses to Peterborough.

They are led by the inappropriately optimistic Commander Henderson, a glorious hero in the eyes of himself, and his First Officer, York, not just a brilliant scientist and tactician, but also a borderline psychopath. The rest of the crew comprise love-struck Diplomatic Officer Teal, who burns several boxes of candles for the Commander; manic depressive Nagivator Vine; insubordinate Technical Officer Jeffers and enhanced human Sandstrom - whose body and mind were modified in exchange for the Space Force paying off her student loan. Together they experience the highs and lows of space travel and inter-galactic diplomacy: big swivelly chairs, anoying talking doors, and, of course, the alien wars that threaten the survival of life in the universe...


Hyperdrive
1.01 A Gift From the Glish
Writer: Kevin Cecil (Writer), Andy Riley (Writer)
Director: John Henderson
Cast: Nick Frost (Henderson), Kevin Eldon (York), Miranda Hart (Teal), Dan Antopolski (Jeffers), Stephen Evans (Vine), Petra Massey (Sandstrom), Paterson Joseph (Space Marshal), Richard Katz (Male Glish), Katherine Jakeways (Female Glish), Laurence Howarth (Fasmoff), Remi WIlson (Piretti), Joe Marshall (Wade), Waen Shepherd (Captain Helix), Stephanie Dooley (Beautiful Space Lady), Morwenna Banks (Announcer), Computer Voices), * Maggie Service ( (voice)), * Ewan Bailey ( (voice))

Not as funny as I hoped. But probably something I hopefully will finish watching in the future. If it would have been better, I probably would have watched the whole series today before continuing on in this marathon.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 3rd, 2012)