DVD Collectors Online

Lisa and the Devil, a review by Achim

Title: Lisa e il diavolo
Year: 1973
Director: Lisa and the Devil, Mario Bava, The House of Exorcism, Alfredo Leone [Mickey Lion]
Rating: NR
Length: 96 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Mono, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles:

Stars:
Lisa and the Devil
Telly Savalas
Elke Sommer
Silva Koscina
Alessio Orano

Plot:
Following the international success of BARON BLOOD, Bava was given carte blanche to make the film he'd envisioned his entire career. Telly Savalas and Elke Sommer star in this surreal tale that unfolds as both waking dream and elliptical nightmare, a lush and disturbing meditation on love, death, identity and the machinations of evil. Now recognized as Il Maestro's final masterpiece, LISA AND THE DEVIL has been fully restored and remastered from the original camera negatives recently discovered in a Rome lab vault.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Trailers

While the cover hails it as Bava's final masterpiece I really can't see why. After the first 20 minutes build up a creepy atmosphere I almost fell asleep over the course of the next 20 minutes. During the third 20minutes the atmosphere almost recovered (the now sleepy audience has trouble recognizing this) and leads into a bunch of violent murders, waking the audience up again. The next 30 minutes are another snorefest and then comes the ending, which is rather interesting but comes way too late to save the movie.

Looking back at the film with the knowledge of the ending, it appears better than it should. Too little stuff was going on during the experience that kept my interest. Heck, that's not even quite correct, the problem for me is more the presentation, the lack of music and other means to build suspense. This could have been much better; as the intend of Bava becomes clear at the end I could only feel sad at his failed attempt to fulfill his vision.



(From Mario Bava marathon on July 20th, 2009)

Gantz, a review by Tom

Gantz (2010/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia Sunfilm Entertainment, Tiberius Film (Germany) Director: Shinsuke Sato Writing: Length: 129 min. Video: Widescreen 1.85 Audio: German: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 Subtitles: German

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Stars:
Kazunari Ninomiya as Kei Kurono
Kenichi Matsuyama as Masaru Kato
Yuriko Yoshitaka as Tae Kojima
Kanata Hongo as Joichiro Nishi
Natsuna as Kei Kishimoto

Plot:
After trying to rescue a man on the subway tracks, two teens wake up in a room dominated by a mysterious black sphere that sends them to hunt down and kill aliens hiding on Earth.

Extras:

• Featurettes
• Interviews
• Scene Access
• Wendecover

In short: It's a good live-action adaption of the source material (a manga). I enjoyed it.

I was surprised though how far along with the story they got here. They left out a lot of stuff to do so. I expected the second film to end around the point in the story, where the anime adaption did. But they already covered every major story point of the anime in this first film. Except of course the last few episodes of the anime, which diverged largely from the manga to conclude the story (as the manga is still ongoing).
They were even elements in this movie taken from later storylines from the manga. Mainly the second love interest, which probably will be a big part in the second movie.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on October 3rd, 2011)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series (1992/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Shout! Factory, Sony Pictures Television (United States) Length: 2097 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles:

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Plot:
At long last, Garry Shandling's comedy series about the twisted inner workings of a late-night talk show comes to DVD...all of it.

Larry Sanders (Garry Shandling) is a neurotic late-night talk show host flanked by Artie (Rip Torn), his caustic, foul-mouthed producer, and "Hey Now" Hank Kingsley (Jeffrey Tambor), his affection-thirsty sidekick. Off-air it's all train wrecks and egos, but when the lights go down and the theme music kicks in, you get late-night at its finest.

Also starring Linda Doucett, Janeane Garofalo, Penny Johnson, Wallace Langham, Bob Odenkirk, Jeremy Piven, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Sarah Silverman, Scott Thompson, and written and produced by Garry Shandling, Peter Tolan and Judd Apatow, The Larry Sanders Show was the hippest TV show...probably ever.


The Larry Sanders Show
1.01 What Have You Done For Me Lately? (AKA Garden Weasel)
Writer: Garry Shandling (Created By), Dennis Klein (Created By), Peter Tolan (Writer)
Director: Ken Kwapis
Cast: Garry Shandling (Larry Sanders), Jeffrey Tambor (Hank Kingsley), Megan Gallagher (Jeannie Sanders), Wallace Langham (Phil), Jeremy Piven (Jerry), Penny Johnson (Beverly), Linda Doucett (Darlene), Janeane Garofalo (Paula), Rip Torn (Arthur), Robert Hays (Himself), Deborah May (Melanie), Sam Whipple), James Karen), Rif Hutton), Harley Venton), Kathy Kinney)

A fun series about the behind the scenes of a daily late-night talk show. With Garry Shandling as the talk show host. I especially love about this series, that it has real-live celebrities as guests parodying themselves.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 5th, 2012)