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Little Black Book, a review by addicted2dvd

Little Black Book (2004/United States) Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment Director: Nick Hurran Writing: Melissa Carter (Original Material By), Elisa Bell (Screenwriter) Length: 107 min. Rating: Rated PG-13 : Sexual Content/Humor and Language Video: Widescreen 2.40:1, Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.0, French: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround Subtitles: English, French

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Stars:
Brittany Murphy as Stacy
Holly Hunter as Barb
Kathy Bates (1948) as Kippie Kann
Ron Livingston as Derek
Julianne Nicholson as Joyce
Stephen Tobolowsky as Carl

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Bonus Trailers
• Featurettes
• Closed Captioned

I just finished watching this one. And I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is a romantic comedy so I went into it figuring how it would end... just had to watch the journey. But no... not this time. It actually throws a bit of a curve ball and goes with the unexpected. This movie stars Brittany Murphy... I have now seen a few of her movies and I must say.... I am starting to become a fan. It is a shame she passed away at such a young age. This one has an entertaining storyline. It seemed to go by rather quickly... always a good sign when watching a movie. I liked Kathy Bates as the Talk Show host. Holly Hunter was good too... though the voice she was using for this role was a little on the weird side. Definitely worth watching... glad I have it in my collection... thanks to a generous friend that gave it to me!




(From What Movies I Been Watching on January 20th, 2012)

The Mark of Zorro, a review by Rogmeister

The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Cast: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Eugene Pallette
Director: Rouben Mamoulian

When I think of swashbucklers, Errol Flynn's "Adventures of Robin Hood" is the first one that comes to mind but this is right up there with it. Interestingly, Basil Rathbone plays the bad guy in both. That's not really a surprise as Rathbone was a first-rate swordsman of his own. This is the first good version of Zorro of the sound era (Douglas Fairbanks had played him in the silents) with Tyrone Power coming home from Spain to discover his countrymen being taxed to death. Thus, he takes up the mantle of Zorro to set things right.

This is more swashbuckler than western but I'm still including it as part of my western marathon since it does take place in the Old West and there are horses...but the weaponry of choice is more swordplay than gunplay. It's a fine film and deservedly considered a classic.  This is a 2-sided disc...one side features a colorized version of the film while the other side is the proper black & white version which, I believe, is a restored version that looks excellent.   Film critic Richard Shickel provides a commentary and they also include the episode of A&E's "Biography" TV series that profiled star Tyrone Power.  Another bonus is this DVD came with a set of photos (5x7, I think) from the movie done in a sepia-tone.

(From Roger's Ongoing Westerns Marathon on July 4th, 2009)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Beyond Reality
Beyond Reality chronicles the unique lives of two adventuresome university professors who delve into the mysterious world of the paranormal.

Shari Belafonte stars as Laura Wingate, a parapsychologist who has traveled the world studying different cultures, religions and strange occurances. As the open-minded, witty and outspoken head of a private university's Parapsychology Department, Laura devotes her time to teaching but is constantly distracted investigating paranormal events.

Carl Marotte plays J.J. Stillman, a clinical psychologist who has been trained in the traditional sciences. He is inquisitive, responsible and often overly analytical.

Together, Laura and J.J. apply their combined expertise, curiosity and compassion to investigate the fascinating, extraordinary, but completely plausible world of the paranormal.

Mirror, Mirror
A student that has a crush on J.J crosses into a parallel dimension where she can make her destiny come true.

My Thoughts:
This is a series that I caught a few episodes of before I bought the DVDs. It is a good series well before similar series such as The X-Files. Unfortunately on the first season (of 2) is out on DVD. I still hope to see the second come out. Also unfortunately the episodes are not in order on the disc... as the pilot episode is listed as the second episode. Though the way they are made you wouldn't know the difference. This first episode has Nicole de Boer (I loved her in The Dead Zone and Cube) as the student that had a crush on J.J. She was 21 when she made this though she looked much younger then that. And much different then she does now...as she was a little on the chubby side during this series. And she is actually credited with a nick name in this series... Nikki de Boer. She returns to the series later in this season... and through the second season in another role as Celia who helps Laura and J.J. on their quest.

I enjoyed this series quite a bit. If you want to check it out... it is released from Mills Creek and is discontinued but you can get it at the Amazon Marketplace starting at $9.00

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on November 2nd, 2009)