DVD Collectors Online

The Miracle Worker, a review by Tom

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Title: The Miracle Worker
Links: IMDb | Wikipedia

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Year:	1962 / United States
Director:	Arthur Penn
Writing:	William Gibson (Screenwriter), William Gibson (Original Material By)
Rating:	PG
Length:	102 Min.
Video:	Widescreen 1.66
Audio:	English: Dolby Digital 1, German: Dolby Digital 1, French: Dolby Digital 1, Italian: Dolby Digital 1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 1
Subtitles:	Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Greek, Romanian

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Stars:
Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan
Victor Jory as Captain Arthur Keller
Inga Swenson as Kate Keller
Andrew Prine as James Keller
Kathleen Comegys as Aunt Ev

Plot:
Starring in what is quite possibly the most moving double performance recorded on film, Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke are remarkable in their Oscar-winning portrayals of Annie and Helen. Ennobling and uplifting, this inspirational story of courage and hope is one of the finest works of arts in the history of motion pictures.

Locked in a frightening, lonely world of silence and darkness since infancy, 7-year-old Helen Keller has never seen the sky, heard her mother's voice or expressed her innermost feelings. Then Annie Sullivan, a 20-year-old teacher from Boston arrives. Having just regained her own sight, the no-nonsense Annie reaches out to Helen through the power of touch - the only tool they have in common - and leads her bold pupil on a miraculous journey from fear and isolation to happiness and light.

Awards:

Academy Award	1962	Won	Best Actress	Anne Bancroft
Academy Award	1962	Nominated	Best Costume Design, Black-and-White	Ruth Morley
Academy Award	1962	Nominated	Best Director	Arthur Penn
Academy Award	1962	Won	Best Supporting Actress	Patty Duke
Academy Award	1962	Nominated	Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay	William Gibson
AFI	1962	Won	100 Years... 100 Cheers (2006)
AFI	1962	Nominated	100 Years... 25 Scores (2005)	"Composer": Laurence Rosenthal
BAFTA	1962	Nominated	Film And British Film
BAFTA	1962	Won	Foreign Actress	Anne Bancroft
Directors Guild of America	1963	Nominated	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	Arthur Penn
Golden Globe	1962	Nominated	Actress in a Leading Role - Drama	Anne Bancroft
Golden Globe	1962	Nominated	Actress in a Supporting Role	Patty Duke
Golden Globe	1962	Won	New Star of the Year - Female	Patty Duke
Golden Globe	1962	Nominated	Picture - Drama	Fred Coe
National Board of Review Awards, USA	1962	Won	Best Actress	Anne Bancroft
Writers Guild of America Awards	1963	Nominated	Best Written American Drama	William Gibson

Extras:
Scene Access

I bought this movie to see how much of the movie Black is taken from here. The early scenes in Black with the young Michelle show a lot of similarities to this movie. Though I enjoyed it more in Black. Here it stretches too long. This movie ends with the "water" scene, which in Black is the first big breakthrough and after that follows the life of a now adult Michelle.
I also thought that the teacher-pupil relationship has a much bigger weight in Black.
But in itself, "The Miracle Worker" is a good movie with great performances by its stars. My favorite scene is the ten minutes battle between them when Annie is trying to teach Helen table manners.



Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on August 11th, 2010)

Terminator 2, a review by Dragonfire

Skynet, the 21st century computer waging a losing war on humans sends a second terminator back in time to destroy the leader of the human resistance while he is still a boy. His mother is the only one who knows of the existence of the Terminators, human-like robots that exist only to kill and are nearly indestructible, and Sarah, the boy's mother is currently in a state mental hospital because of her 'delusions'. A second protector is sent back to the past by the Human resistance to protect John Connor, their future leader, at all costs.

My Thoughts

I saw this one when it was first released in the theater - I actually won tickets to an early screening from a local radio station. Anyway, I enjoyed the movie then and I still like it.  It has been a while since I last saw it, so I had forgotten a few small things.  For a while I was thinking that I had forgotten whole scenes and sequences, then I remembered that my DVD had 16 or 17 extra minutes added back into the movie.  Some of those minutes did help to add some explanations while others didn't seem as...important.  I liked that Arnold's Terminator had been reprogrammed to protect John.  The new Terminator..T-1000 I think was really cool, especially the whole liquid metal shape changing thing.  Of course that made him harder to kill..but it was still cool.  The action scenes were done well and helped to keep things interesting.  I remember being surprised by how...buff Sarah was in this movie.  It was almost like she was trying to give Arnold some competition in the muscle department.  lol

I watched 2 short extras on the making of the movie..the first one had lots of interesting stuff on how the effects were done.  It was talked about how the liquid metal thing built on what had been done in The Abyss.  There are more extras that can only be accessed through the DVD-ROM, which I haven't checked out yet.  I do really like the movie.  It is a very well done action movie.

 

I've started working on a longer review to post at Epinions, but it isn't done yet.

(From Dragonfire: What I've Been Watching on January 15th, 2009)

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Anyanka/Anya wants to have her power center back that was destroyed by Giles in the alternate reality Cordelia accidentally created. She tricks Willow into doing a spell but it doesn't work as expected. Instead they pull Vampire-Willow from there into this reality and she - after a short period of acclimatization - tries to make it as "fun" as her reality was.

My Opinion: "And I think I'm kinda gay." Nice foreshadowing. I really like this episode, it's fun to watch and Alyson is great in all four roles (Old Reliable Willow, Vampire-Willow, Pretend-Vampire-Willow, Pretend-Willow). I also liked Anya in all her scenes, especially when this 1120 year-old ex-demon tried to get a beer in the Bronze.
Too bad Vampire-Willow died in her reality, it would have been cool to have her back at a later time.

Synopsis: A demon tries to sell the "Books of Ascension" to the Slayers. While the gang is discussing how they get their hands onto these books before the mayor does, Faith reports back to him and gets the books for him. They also try to turn Angel into Angelus again. First by seduction then by magic. But not everybody in the Scooby gang is fooled by Faith.

My Opinion: It was a bit too convenient that Giles knew the demon who was supposed to turn Angel but otherwise it was an interesting watch, especially since even the viewer didn't know of Giles's/Buffy's/Angel's plan to con Faith. And Pretend-Angelus was awesome once more, he has such a great malignity.

Synopsis: When Buffy fights against two demons and kills one of them, some of his(?) blood splatters over her hand. At first it just itches but then she begins to hear voices. But she doesn't hallucinate; she can hear the actual thoughts of the people around her. At first this is fun and could be a great advantage in combat but soon she can't shut anything out anymore and on top of that she hears the voice of an unknown person who wants to kill all the students.

My Opinion: One of my favourite episodes, I love these kind of truth-telling episodes because at first it's great fun but it'll ultimately turn for the worse. I especially liked it how they characterized the thoughts of the characters (Cordelia: think = say; Xander: sex; Oz: deep thoughts yet silent) which matched them perfectly. I also really liked Buffy's speech in the tower.
I believe this is the first time Jonathan was featured as a bit more than a "runs through picture" character. I really like that kind of continuity because it makes the show feel more wholesome in contrast to shows where the episode cast is exactly that.

Synopsis: Their time in High School is coming to an end and after that their ways will most likely part. Buffy has been accepted to Northwestern, Willow to every university with a stamp and Xander is going to backpack over the country. But first they have to literally survive graduation day and Mayor Wilkins's ascension. They have to steal the "Box of Gavrok". They don't know what it contains but it seems to be important to him.

My Opinion: Mayor Wilkins is not among the best of the Big Bads but in episodes like this I really appreciate him. His talent to bluntly tell the truth (and let's face it: he was not lying about the chances of Angel's and Buffy's non-existing be-together future) is what makes him a decent Big Bad.
I also loved it that they chose Willow over the box without even arguing (except for Wesley...). It's what I expect from a "band of brothers".
And of course the band won't break up. As usual with these shows (Smallville, Veronica Mars, Gossip Girl) they found a way to keep the gang in town and together.

(From "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Marathon on December 6th, 2009)