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Cesta do pravěku, a review by GSyren

Title	Cesta do pravěku  (aka Journey to the Beginning of Time) (8-594159-070042)
Director	Karel Zeman
Actors
Produced	1955 in Czechoslovakia
Runtime	81 minutes
Audio	Czech Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles	English, Czech
Overview	This immensely popular educational film from 1955 tells the story of four boys who set out on a wooden boat back up the river of time into the prehistory of the planet Earth. This pioneering work includes a wealth of scientific facts, introduced as part of an exciting boys' adventure. Whole generations of children first learned about the prehistoric past of our planet from this film, with its long-extinct plants and animals, which come alive here thanks to the creativity and the artistry of Zeman's trick photography. This film is widely regarded as one of the best children's adventure films in world cinema.
My thoughts	Karel Zeman was a very inventive Czech filmmaker. He made films in very different styles. The Fabulous World of Jules Verne is perhaps his best known film, at least outside of the Czech Republic. Perhaps this looks familiar: Cesta do pravěku is not made in this style, though. It uses normal live action enhanced with various trick photography to depict prehistoric animals. The film elements used for this DVD are not quite in pristine condition, but still quite good, and probably better than most viewers have seen before. The story is somewhat reminiscent of The Land That Time Forgot, at least the beginning. However, this is a lot more pedagogic. For the most part the animals look better than those in Land, but the Tyrannosaurus Rex looks pretty pathetic. But then they looked pathetic in pretty much every fifties movie. This is far from the worst example. The film probably was quite exciting for young people in the fifties and sixties, but today it's more of a curiosity. It's an important part of film history, and I liked it fine. This film, and 4 other films by Karel Zeman is available on DVD from The Karel Zeman Museum in Prague.
My rating	4 out of 5

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on December 11th, 2013)

The Kid from Brooklyn, a review by GSyren

Title	The Kid from Brooklyn (Disc ID: 4315-C93A-675A-77AE)
Director	Norman Z. McLeod
Actors	Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen , Steve Cochran, Eve Arden
Produced	1946 in United States
Runtime	113 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles	None
Overview
My thoughts	A lightweight comedy marred by some unnecessary musical numbers. The script is weak but the cast is strong. Virginia Mayo is as lovely as ever. Vera-Ellen is fine but underused. Gravely voiced Lionel Stander repeats his role from The Milky Way (1936), of which this is a remake. Now, I have nothing against musicals. In fact, I like them a lot. Providing the musical numbers are there to help the story along. I don't like them when the numbers seem inserted without any better reason than being time fillers. And that's what they mostly feel like to me in this movie. The story is amusing, but way too predictable to be great. This movie is worthwhile if you like Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo. If not, you'll probably get bored quite soon.
My rating

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on April 15th, 2014)

"Big Bang Theory" Marathon, a review by Tom

09. The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization (2008-03-17)
Writer: Chuck Lorre, Lee Aronsohn, Dave Goetsch, Bill Prady, Stephen Engel
Director: Joel Murray
Cast: Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter), Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper), Kaley Cuoco (Penny), Simon Helberg (Howard Wolowitz), Kunal Nayyar (Rajesh Koothrappali), Talbott Lin (Chinese Leonard), Howard Chan (Chinese Sheldon)

Another great episode! Sheldon keeps on delivering my favorite lines


10. The Loobenfeld Decay (2008-03-24)
Writer: Bill Prady, Lee Aronsohn, Chuck Lorre
Director: Mark Cendrowski
Cast: Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter), Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper), Kaley Cuoco (Penny), Simon Helberg (Howard Wolowitz), Kunal Nayyar (Rajesh Koothrappali), D.J. Qualls (Toby)

They were talking about Sarah Connor Chronicles
Looks like Sheldon doesn't like it

Sheldon having to have to manufacture the perfect lie because he didn't like the white lie Leonard thought up

"You have a lot to learn about lying"

Nice to see D.J. Qualls again. Haven't seen him for years in anything.

(From "Big Bang Theory" Marathon on October 1st, 2008)