DVD Collectors Online

Batman Begins, a review by Tom

Title: Batman Begins
Year: 2005
Director: Christopher Nolan
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 134 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Arabic, English, German, Hebrew, Icelandic

Stars:
Christian Bale
Michael Caine
Liam Neeson
Katie Holmes
Gary Oldman

Plot:
In 'BATMAN BEGINS', acclaimed director Christopher Nolan explores the origins of the legendary DARK KNIGHT. In the wake of his parents' murders, disillusioned heir BRUCE WAYNE (CHRISTIAN BALE) travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. With the help of his trusted butler ALFRED (MICHAEL CAINE), detective JIM GORDON (GARY OLDMAN) and his ally LUCIUS FOX (MORGAN FREEMAN), Wayne returns to GOTHAM CITY and unleashes his alter ego: BATMAN, a masked crusader who uses strength, intellect and an array of high-tech weaponry to fight the sinister forces that threaten the city.

Awards:

Academy Award	2005	Nominated	Best Cinematography	Wally Pfister
American Society of Cinematographers Awards	2006	Nominated	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases	Wally Pfister
Art Directors Guild Production Design Awards	2006	Nominated
ASCAP Awards	2006	Won	Top Box Office Films	James Newton-Howard, Hans Zimmer, Ramin Djawadi (additional music)
BAFTA	2005	Nominated	Achievement In Special Visual Effects	Janek Sirrs, Dan Glass, Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin
BAFTA	2005	Nominated	Production Design	Nathan Crowley
BAFTA	2005	Nominated	Sound	David Evans, Stefan Henrix, Peter Lindsay
British Society of Cinematographers Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Cinematography Award	Wally Pfister
Costume Designers Guild Awards	2006	Nominated		Lindy Hemming
Empire Magazine Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Actor	Christian Bale
Empire Magazine Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Director	Christopher Nolan
Empire Magazine Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Thriller
Golden Raspberry Awards	2005	Nominated	Worst Supporting Actress	Katie Holmes
Hugo Award	2006	Nominated	Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
MTV Movie Awards	2006	Won	Best Hero	Christian Bale
MTV Movie Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Movie
MTV Movie Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Villain	Cillian Murphy
Online Film Critics Society Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Original Score	James Newton-Howard, Hans Zimmer
Saturn	2005	Won	Best Actor	Christian Bale
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Costume	Lindy Hemming
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Director	Christopher Nolan
Saturn	2005	Won	Best Fantasy Film
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Music	James Newton-Howard, Hans Zimmer
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Special Effects	Janek Sirrs, Dan Glass, Chris Corbould, Paul J. Franklin
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor	Liam Neeson
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Supporting Actress	Katie Holmes
Saturn	2005	Won	Best Writing	Christopher Nolan, David Goyer
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Comic-to-Screen Adaption
Scream Awards	2006	Won	Best Director	Christopher Nolan
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Fantasy Movie
Scream Awards	2006	Won	Best Scream-Play	David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Sequel
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Superhero	Christian Bale
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Most Heroic Performance	Christian Bale
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Most Vile Villian	Cillian Murphy
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	The "Holy Sh%t!" / "Jump-from-your-Seat" Award	"The Train Sequence"-Scene
Scream Awards	2006	Won	The Ultimate Scream
Teen Choice Awards	2005	Nominated	Choice Summer Movie
Teen Choice Awards	2006	Nominated	Movies - Choice Sleazebag	Cillian Murphy
Visual Effects Society Awards	2006	Nominated	Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture	Alex Wuttke, Pete Bebb, Dayne Cowan, Imery Watson (For the Gotham City monorail chase)
World Soundtrack Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Original Soundtrack of the Year	James Newton-Howard, Hans Zimmer

Extras:
DVD-ROM Content
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers
US-Comic-Buch mit 3 Batman-Stories

This movie moved the franchise in the right direction. I like the "realistic" approach this movie takes with Batman. Though I never warmed up to the villains in this movie. I don't like Scaregrow, and I really didn't like Liam Neeson's character. He is the cause that the movie slowed down too much in some places. Especially in the beginning. Also his masterplan to destroy Gotham City is ridiculous.
High points in this movie are for me all scenes with Morgan Freeman's Fox or Gary Oldman's Gordon.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on April 25th, 2010)

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, a review by Tom

Title: Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
Year: 2001
Director: Karan Johar
Rating: FSK-6
Length: 210 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital Stereo, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Amitabh Bachchan
Jaya Bachchan
Shah Rukh Khan
Kajol
Hrithik Roshan

Plot:
Yashovardhan Raichand (Amitabh Bachchan) and his wife Nandini (Jaya Bachchan) have raised their sons, Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) and Rohan (Hrithik Roshan) showering them with love and affection. Yash has tried to pass on to his sons the values, heritage and traditions of their family. Nandini has different dreams for her sons. Dreams of love that she wanted both her sons to experience, more so Rahul as she shares a special bond with him. A bond that has been cultivated with love for a child that was never meant to be... a child who was adopted. Rahul's adoption was a secret never discussed in the Raichand household. Ever since Rahul found out at the age of 8 years, it became the reason for his unending gratitude for his parents- especially his father. His father's every wish became a command for him. A command which he never breaks until he falls in love with Anjali (Kajol)- a bubbly girl from Chandni Chowk, who dotes on her younger sister Pooja (Kareena Kapoor). Rahul marries Anjali and brings her home but his father doesn't approve of her. Rahul thus decides to leave home causing his mother's every waking moment to be spent eagerly awaiting his return. Seeing this the younger son Rohan makes a promise to reunite the family and bring back the happiness they once shared.

Awards:

Filmfare Awards	2002	Nominated	Best Actor Award	Shahrukh Khan
Filmfare Awards	2002	Won	Best Actress Award	Kajol
Filmfare Awards	2002	Won	Best Art Direction Award	Sharmishta Roy
Filmfare Awards	2002	Won	Best Dialogue Award	Karan Johar
Filmfare Awards	2002	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor Award	Hrithik Roshan
Filmfare Awards	2002	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor Award	Amitabh Bachchan
Filmfare Awards	2002	Nominated	Best Supporting Actress Award	Kareena Kapoor
Filmfare Awards	2002	Won	Best Supporting Actress Award	Jaya Bachchan
IIFA Awards	2002	Won	Best Male Playback	Sonu Nigam
IIFA Awards	2002	Won	Best Supporting Actress	Jaya Bachchan

Extras:
Scene Access

I watched this movie first of the three newly purchased Bollywood movies, as this one is the longest of the three. It goes three and half hours (currently the longest movie in my collection, beating out "Das Boot: Director's Cut" by ten minutes). Strange, that I always dread watching Hollywood movies which are more than two hours long, but I do not mind Bollywood movies taking this long. As a matter of fact I already think, that when a Bollywood movie is less than two and half hours long, then something is wrong with it
This movie started out a little too boring except for a few really fun scenes. But almost at the one hour mark, it really picked up for me and I really enjoyed the remaining two and half hours.
The movie is about a family, where one of the sons (Shah Rukh Khan) is outcast, because he fell in love with a common girl instead of marrying into an arranged marriage. The son moves with his new wife to London. Ten years later, his now grown up brother (Hrithik Roshan) follows him and is staying at his brother's without telling him who he really is. And his mission is to reconcile the father with his enstranged son.
This is now the first movie I saw with Shah Rukh Khan, who is a real superstar in Bollywood movies. And I am glad that I liked him, because he is also the star in the other two Bollywood movies I have bought.
And again we have a lot of beautiful women
In the beginning it was hard to keep track of who is who and how to keep them apart. But later on, only two of these women were relevant and these two are easily distinguishable.
Hrithik Roshan (who was the star in the first two Bollywood movie that I saw), again did a great performance. The only problem I have with him now is, that since I first noticed, that the has two thumbs on his right hand, I always seek out his hand when it's in the pictures. It's a little distracting. And they do not even bother one bit to hide this in any of his movies. I think they are right to just ignore this instead of constantly trying to hide it, but it is destracting nonetheless. You can see it, for example, a few times in the music video I posted with my Krrish review.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on July 9th, 2009)

Veronica Mars Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

9. Spit & Eggs
The coaster isn't clear: A coaster treated with a date-rape drug indicator leads Veronica to the campus rapist. Logan makes a decision about his relationship with Veronica. And Dean O'Dell discovers his wife's infidelity.

My Thoughts:
What an episode! An excellent conclusion to the rapist storyline... and the start of the next multi-episode mystery. I loved every minute of this one!

My Rating:

10. Show Me the Monkey
O'Dell's "suicide" may be patterned after the murder Veronica devised for her criminology class. And Mac is attracted to the leader of a campus animal rights group accused of nabbing a lab monkey.

My Thoughts:
A good episode. Though I got to say... I never cared much for Logan. And I especially never cared for him with Veronica. in this season I always wanted her to get with Piz. In this episode.... so close yet so far.

My Rating:


11. Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves
Comic-Con, prime spot for babe action! Max asks Veronica to find his one-night-stand soul mate, a 'Battlestar Galactica' fan who turns out to be a hooker. Meanwhile, Keith follows up on Dean O'Dell's death.

My Thoughts:
A pretty good episode... though not one of my favorites. Going nuts over a hooker you didn't know was a hooker is one thing. But after you find out... going to the extremes this guy did is just unbelievable.

My Rating:

12. There's Got to Be a Morning After Pill
Someone slips Tim's squeeze (who's also Dick's squeeze) RU486 to make her miscarry a baby she didn't want to lose. Can Veronica discover the who and the how? Her investigation crosses paths with the O'Dell case.

My Thoughts:
This is another episode I liked quite a bit. It ha a good weekly mystery. And I must say I had to laugh when Keith and Veronica Mars went undercover together... and they said their names were Carson Drew and his assistant Nancy. For those that don't know... Carson is the name of Nancy Drew's father.

My Rating:



(From Veronica Mars Marathon on April 19th, 2010)