DVD Collectors Online

North, a review by Antares

North (1994) 1/5 - I always wondered what it must have been like for Rob Reiner in the 70's to be walking down a street or eating in a restaurant and having some stranger waltz up and yell Hey Meathead. It had to be excruciatingly annoying. After finishing North, I now realize that he must have really hated the general public so much, that he delivered a two hour shit burger just to get even. I finally got the chance to watch this today, courtesy of HDNet movies, and I'm glad that I didn't grab this at Blockbuster oh so many years ago. For a gifted director, who gave us The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap, Misery, When Harry Met Sally and the seminal Stand By Me, to unleash this stinking pile of excrement on the public, should be grounds for banishment from Hollywood. The other part of the equation that baffles me is that Alan Zweibel, long one of the better comedy writers at Saturday Night Live in the 70's and 80's, would pen such an unfunny, cliche ridden mess of a screenplay. To say that it is painful to watch is being kind. I'd rather watch Madonna do Shakespeare than have to ever sit through this film again. There isn't one joke in this film that even raises a mere chuckle, and Elijah Wood, with those evil blue eyes of his, is absolutely loathsome in the title role.

(From Antares' Short Summations on January 15th, 2012)

The Hunger Games, a review by Dragonfire

The Hunger Games



I've heard about The Hunger Games books for a while, but I only picked them up after the movie was released.  I just wasn't that sure I wanted to read them before then.  The previews for the movie looked interesting, so I decided to pick up the book.  I really liked it and would have started right in on the second one if I'd had it.  I picked up Catching Fire and Mockingjay at the same time.  When I finished the second one, I started right in on the third one.  It did take me a while to see the movie, mostly because of my work schedule.  Once I managed to see it, I really enjoyed it. 

In a futuristic country, a boy and girl teenager from each of twelve districts are chosen to compete in a fight to the death that is televised and required viewing.  Sixteen year old Katniss volunteers to be the tribute from her district when her younger sister is chosen.  She and Peeta, the boy tribute, are taken to the Capitol where they start preparing for the games.  During the required events before the games, Katniss and Peeta receive a lot of attention. 

The movie stays fairly close to the book, though there are changes.  Some of them show things that weren't shared in the book since it was just from the perspective of Katniss.  It is interesting to see the different things.  I do feel like a few things weren't handled as well as they should have been.  I know stuff has to be cut when books are turned into movies, but certain things aren't going to make as much sense to people who haven't read the books because of how they are handled in the movie. 

The movie has a disturbing subject, just like the book.  The games are shown, and tributes die in various ways, some of which are really unpleasant.  Despite all the killings, the movie manages to be rated PG-13.  That is probably because of the horrible jerky camera work that makes it impossible to make out anything at times.  The camera is bouncing around, constantly in motion even in scenes that have no action.  It is ridiculous and I hate it.  It would have been better if some of the violence was just hinted at instead of using all the jerky camera work.  The movie probably would have been stronger if it had gone with an R rating, but the studio was never going to go for that. 

Katniss is a very strong, determined character, though she has some flaws.  That makes her more realistic.  Jennifer Lawrence is wonderful in the part.  Peeta isn't developed as much and in the movie, his motivations with a few things end up more uncertain than they were in the book.  One or two things are explained like they were in the book, which I didn't like.  I liked Josh Hutcherson in the part.  The other tributes aren't seen as much, so they aren't developed much.  Primrose, Katniss's younger sister is just in a few short scenes at the beginning.  Gale, the friend that Katniss hunts with, is in a few more scenes, mostly broodily watching the coverage of the games.  There is just something about him that I don't like.  I didn't like him much in the book either.

The movie has a few issues, the biggest being the horrible camera work, but it is good and definitely worth seeing.



I did get a longer review posted at Epinions.

The Hunger Games



(From The Hunger Games on June 11th, 2012)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Mad About You: Season One (1992/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (United States) Length: 489 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:As Good As It Gets, 1998


Mad About You
1.01 Pilot
Writer: Paul Reiser (Original Characters By), Danny Jacobson (Original Characters By), Danny Jacobson (Writer), Paul Reiser (Writer)
Director: Barnet Kellman
Cast: Paul Reiser (Paul Buchman), Helen Hunt (Jamie Stemple Buchman), Tommy Hinkley (Jay Selby), Anne Ramsay (Lisa Stemple), Richard Kind (Mark), Leila Kenzle (Fran)

I have watched the first two season about eight years ago and I enjoyed it. I have further two seasons in my collection, but for some reason I never came around watching it.
I think the writing and the performances by the two leads is great, considering they often have to carry almost all scenes by themselves.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 7th, 2012)