DVD Collectors Online

The War Within, a review by Rich

Trudge through Pakistan...



This searing, controversial, and thought-provoking drama examines the motives and emotions behind terrorism. Co-writer Ayad Akhtar stars as Hassan, a Pakistani man who's falsely accused of terrorist associations, then imprisoned and tortured before finally leaving jail as a genuinely militant extremist. He goes to stay with his old friend Sayeed in New York (Firdous Bamji in a scene-stealing performance), where he explores the city, flirts with Sayeed's sister (Nandana Sen), and works with a group planning to bomb Grand Central. The impressive cast of unknowns and solid direction from Joseph Castelo make this tense, thoughtful drama an intriguing look at a subculture that, for obvious reasons, is more often demonized than dramatized.

Run of the mill terrorist plot and standard fare these days, the Director IMO unable to allow the characters to become associable, it felt difficult to really to warm to this film. In light of September 11 I am really surprised this film was allowed to be made, at times it seemed the film was trying to justify terrorism as a revenge. 3/10

(From Around the World in 80 DVD's on February 14th, 2008)

The Kids Are All Right, a review by dfmorgan

The Kids Are All Right

Year: 2010
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Cast: Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo
OverviewWatched: 20th Mar. 2011
My Thoughts: Oh dear, I should have listened to the Daily Mail's Christopher Tookey. He gave this 5 stars and rated it highly so I should have stuck with my usual instinct for his reviews and given this a miss but I didn't

Overall I didn't find this funny. I didn't feel for any of the characters even in the sad rather than funny areas that this film went into. It wasn't exactly boring but I wasn't grabbed by it.

My Rating: A ho-hum 2


(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on March 20th, 2011)

"Due South" marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

Starman
This episode I have mixed feelings about. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the previous episode. But it was still pretty good. Some of it was pretty out there... and some of the attempts at humor didn't work for me. But over all not a basic average episode I guess.

My Rating:

(From "Due South" marathon on January 24th, 2010)