DVD Collectors Online

Annie, a review by GSyren

Annie (5-050629-007237)

United States 1982 | Released 2012-11-26 on Bluray from Sony Picture Home Entertainment

127 minutes | Aspect ratio 2.40:1 | Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo, Italian Dolby Digital 4.0, German Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo, Japanese Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo, Spanish Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo

Directed by John Huston and starring Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Ann Reinking, Tim Curry, Bernadette Peters

ANNIE, the story of everyone's favorite plucky, red-haired orphan finally makes the leap from DVD to Blu-ray*! One day Annie (Aileen Quinn) is chosen to stay for a week with the famous billionaire "Daddy" Warbucks (Albert Finney). One week turns into many, and the only person standing in the way of Annie's fun is Miss Hannigan, the tyrannical ruler of the orphanage (played to hilarious perfection by Carol Burnett). Will Miss Hannigan's zany attempts to kidnap the irrepressible any succeed? Sing along to the unforgettable songs and experience the beloved musical like never before!

My thoughts about Annie:

I'm disappointed. I usually like musicals, but Annie did nothing for me. I didn't like the songs (with one or two exceptions) and I didn't like the dance numbers. I suppose the big dance number in the cinema was supposed to be an homage to Busby Berkeley, but it didn't impress me at all. Whoever choreographed it obviously is no Busby Berkeley. I didn't much care for Aileen Quinn as Annie, either. Carol Burnett, Albert Finney, Tim Curry and Bernadette Peters were all OK, but they couldn't save the film, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I was just in the wrong mood? Maybe I would have liked it better if I had actually known anything about Little Orphan Annie? I know of the comic strip, but I have never read it. Well ,for whatever reason, this was not my cup of tea.

I rate this title

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on May 2nd, 2015)

A Place in the Sun, a review by Antares

A Place in the Sun





Year: 1951
Film Studio: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Romance, Drama
Length: 121 Min.

Director
George Stevens (1904)

Writing
Theodore Dreiser (1871)...Novel "An American Tragedy"
Patrick Kearney (1893)...Play "An American Tragedy"
Michael Wilson (1914)...Screenplay
Harry Brown (1917)...Screenplay

Producer
Ivan Moffat (1918)
George Stevens (1904)

Cinematographer
William C. Mellor (1903)

Music
Franz Waxman (1906)...Composer

Stars
Montgomery Clift (1920) as George Eastman
Elizabeth Taylor (1932) as Angela Vickers
Shelley Winters (1920) as Alice Tripp
Anne Revere (1903) as Hannah Eastman
Keefe Brasselle (1923) as Earl Eastman
Fred Clark (1914) as Bellows, defense attorney
Raymond Burr (1917) as Dist. Atty. R. Frank Marlowe
Herbert Heyes (1889) as Charles Eastman

Review
       The Fifties would bring about many changes to the film industry. Technologies that had helped us defeat the Axis powers were now being used to make everyday life in America more convenient and more informed. Television would become the guiding force in entertainment over the next decade and the major threat to the power of the Hollywood studios. With the weakening of the Hays code, producers and studio executives decided that racier subject matter would best hold back the tide of growing popularity with television, and keep their coffers filled. Just ten years earlier it would have been unthinkable to make a film based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. But times had changed, and a story about an illegitimate pregnancy and the murder that ensues, would be considered tame in the light of the atrocities that had occurred during the war. George Stevens softened the story by dwelling more on the love relationship of the characters as portrayed by Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor.

       This would be the first pairing of these two screen icons, and the chemistry between the two was electric. They would appear in two more films together, Raintree County, and Suddenly, Last Summer, with the former being the last time we would see Clift in all his youthful glory. The car accident that would alter his facial features, would also lead to a dependency on painkillers, and his performances in all later projects would seem distant and detached. But for the time being, he was beginning his ascent to the top of the most popular actors list, as he would follow this film two years later with From Here to Eternity. Taylor would become his lifetime friend and confidant and over the next decade would help him in his times of trouble. A Place in the SunReview Criterion4 Stars - Historically important film, considered a classic.

(From A Place in the Sun (1951) on November 5th, 2010)

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

7. Apocalypse, Nowish
Original Air Date: 11/17/2002
When Cordelia's apocalyptic nightmares become a reality, Angel, Wesley, Gunn and Lorne find themselves powerless against The Beast (guest star Vladimir Kulich) who has risen from the center of the Earth, bringing earthquakes and a rain of fire to Los Angeles. Bloodied and beaten, Angel and his friends realize that they may not be able to stop the impending doom.

Guest Stars:
Stephanie Romanov
Daniel Dae Kim
Vladimir Kulich

My Thoughts:
Another episode I enjoyed. I like how the did "The Beast"... they made him look right cool. And the fight between him and Angel and the gang was a good one... The Beast is getting the best of them. Which of course makes for a good... exciting episode.

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on March 16th, 2010)