DVD Collectors Online

Gamera vs. Viras, a review by Danae Cassandra

Year of Release: 1968
Starring: Noriaki Yuasa
Directed By: Kojiro Hongo, Michiko Yaegaki, Mari Atsumi, Junko Yashiro
Genre: Science-Fiction, Disaster, Tokusatsu, Kaiju

Overview:
The reign of terror continues when aliens take two boy scouts hostage to blackmail Gamera into aiding their invasion of Earth. When that plan fails the giant alien leader Viras battles the flying turtle in a duel to the death.

My Thoughts:
Space Monster Viras makes their appearance! They have come to conquer Earth and destroy humanity! Only our great protector Gamera stands against them! They have found out Gamera's love for children though, and will use it against him!

While the bee design spaceships are neat, and there are some good ideas here, they're not followed through with. Too much footage from the previous Gamera films and the absurd squid-style design of Viras cause the film to be rather flat. The kids can get annoying, but they're far from the worst in these films.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 2.5/5

(From Gamera! on February 27th, 2016)

Duplicity, a review by goodguy

Duplicity (2009) Written & Directed by: Tony Gilroy Starring: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen DVD: R1-US Universal (Aug 15, 2009) My rating:

Cover blurb: Oscar winner Julia Roberts and Clive Owen star as two sexy spies-turned-corporate operatives in the midst of a clandestine love affair. When they find themselves on either side of an all-out corporate war, they'll put everything on the line to remain one double-cross ahead in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse. From writer/director Tony Gilroy (seven-time Oscar-nominated Michael Clayton) comes the film critics are raving about: "Roberts and Owen have sizzling chemistry in this instant classic."(Lou Lumenick, NEW YORK POST)

No they don't. Have "sizzling chemistry", I mean. In fact, I'm hard-pressed to think of a movie pairing with less chemistry (*1). That Roberts and Owen can do much better even with somewhat detached characters playing games with each other, they both demonstrated in Closer a few years ago. Here, about the only scene that works between them is one that gets repeated a few times throughout the movie under different circumstances; the first repetition also cleverly clueing you into what's really going on, plotwise.

The plot, of course, is all clever scheming and double-crossing in a corporate spy game. For all its cleverness, it is surprisingly pedestrian and dragged quite a bit during the two hour running time. It has a final twist, I didn't see coming. Maybe I would have, if I cared enough about it in the first place. But I'm the guy who prefers Ocean's 12 over Ocean's 11, so spending too much time on supposedly intricate plotting and twisting is a surefire way to get me bored.

The highlight of the movie is Carrie Preston as a travel agent who gets caught in the crossfire. She has a separate scene with each of the leads, and with her, even Clive Owen gets a chance to shine.


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(*1) Maybe Kate Beckinsale and the Michael character in the Underworld movies, but there the romance angle wasn't that important anyway.


(From goodguy's Watch Log on October 4th, 2009)

The X-Files Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

16. Young at Heart
Original Air Date: February 11, 1994
John Barnett, who suppositively died years ago in prison, comes back to haunt the person who helped put him in jail - Mulder.

Guest Stars:
Dick Anthony Williams as Reggie Purdue
Alan Boyce as Young John Barnett
Christine Estabrook as Agent Henderson
Graham Jarvis as NIH Doctor
Jerry Hardin as Deep Throat


My Thoughts:
Another one that didn't really impress me a whole lot. More of an average episode that didn't keep my interest as much as I would have liked.

My Rating:

(From The X-Files Marathon on April 8th, 2010)