DVD Collectors Online

Big, a review by DJ Doena

May, 21st


Tom Hanks    ...    Josh Baskin
Elizabeth Perkins   ...    Susan
Robert Loggia   ...    MacMillan
John Heard   ...    Paul
Jared Rushton   ...    Billy
David Moscow   ...    Young Josh

Synopsis: Josh is a 13 year old boy who loves to hang out with his best friend Billy. But he's also starting to get interested in girls and when he's humiliated in front of the girl he likes he just wishes to be big on a Zoltar magic machine. And his wish is granted. When he wakes up, he's an adult who has to flee from his own house. Billy helps him to find a room and a job in New York City. Then they start to search for the Zoltar again. But life as an adult isn't as terrible as it seemed in the beginning.

My Opinion: It's a nice comedy flick which I enjoyed very much. Tom Hanks is a great actor who can play like an innocent child as well as his more serious roles, like The Green Mile or Saving Private Ryan. And Elizabeth Perkins was great, too. They were a great it-wasn't-supposed-to-be couple and I especially liked the scenes where she tried to hit on him and he reacted like a 13 year old.

There still one thing I can't get out of my head. I am aware that there are more movies out there like this (e.g. 13 Going on 30 from 2004). And even though I have seen the extended edition now I still have the following image in my head: After Josh had become a kid again he goes to school again and sits in his place when a new red-headed school girl comes into class and gets seated behind him. He turns around and she smiles to him.
I don't know from which movie I got that scene but I always associate it with Big.

(From DJ Doena's movie watchings 2009 on May 21st, 2009)

Contamination, a review by GSyren

Contamination (5-027035-012827)

Italy 1980 | Released 2015-07-06 on Bluray from Arrow Video, Arrow Films

95 minutes | Aspect ratio 1.85:1 | Audio: English PCM Mono, Italian PCM Mono, Commentary Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo

Starring Italian horror veteran Ian McCulloch (Zombie Flesh Eaters), Contamination, from director Luigi Cozzi (Starcrash, Hercules) is one of the brightest stars in the firmament of early '80s Italian Splatter. A cargo ship drifts into New York harbour. Its crew: all dead, their bodies horribly mutilated, turned inside-out by an unknown force. Its freight: boxes upon boxes of glowing, pulsating green eggs. It soon becomes clear that these eggs are not of this planet, and someone intends to cultivate them here on Earth. But who? And to what end? Contamination takes the premise of Ridley Scott's classic Alien and peppers it with exploding guts galore and a dangerously infectious soundtrack from celebrated Italian prog-rockers Goblin (Deep Red, Suspiria).

My thoughts about Contamination:

First of all, let's make it clear what this film is not. It's not an Alien ripoff. The eggs are clearly inspired by Alien, but that's pretty much it. And another thing - it's not a big budget movie. In part it looks better than it deserves, especially on Arrow's blu-ray release. Some of the acting is so-so, but judging Italian actors by the English dubbing is a bit unfair. Ian McCulloch is quite OK. Why this was classified as a video nasty is beyond me. I guess it was because of the exploding bodies, but they look more comical than horrific. Back in 1980 no Swedish distributor even tried to get it past the censors. Well, those were different times. Today it hardly raises any eyebrows. I watched this the first time 12 years ago. I gave it three stars back then. Today I like it just a little bit better. Perhaps because I know what to expect. Or more importantly, what not to expect. And perhaps because the blu-ray looks so good.

I rate this title

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on August 10th, 2015)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

3.08 Spy vs Spy (1997-11-02)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), David Cole (Writer)
Director: Paul Lynch
Cast

(From "Due South" marathon on January 2nd, 2010)