DVD Collectors Online

Dog Day Afternoon, a review by Rich

Dog Day Afternoon



Before Peter Finch was 'mad as hell' in NETWORK, Sidney Lumet's scorching indictment of the American television industry, Al Pacino played an equally ferocious and fed-up bank robber in Lumet's classic film DOG DAY AFTERNOON. Pacino is heartbreakingly real as Sonny, a smart and tough if self-destructive Brooklyn tough whose plan to rob the local bank to fund his male lover's (Chris Sarandon) sex change goes absurdly wrong. Accompanied only by his doltish accomplice, Sal (John Cazale), Sonny resorts to kidnapping a handful of bank employees when he realizes that all the money had been removed before his arrival. As the lengthy August day drags on, Sonny and the hordes of local police, led by Sergeant Moretti (Charles Durning), make little progress, and eventually Sonny's wife and lover are brought to the scene. The crowd's sympathy is immediately captured by the charismatic Sonny, whose antagonism with the police is played out before an audience of millions, leading to an inevitably tragic finish.
Balancing suspense, violence, and humor, the film's depiction of a grand scale media event craftily dives from the political to the personal, evoking a piercing portrait of a single man and his devastating downward tumble into the cracks of the system that Lumet made a career of chronicling. DOG DAY AFTERNOON reunites Pacino with his SERPICO director Lumet, and stands as one of the finest films of the 1970s.

Stand-out performance by Pacino masks the dating of this movie, incredible depth and appeal he creates for the character Sonny highlights his genuine talent. The film as a whole is pretty limp for me in terms of action and suspense, and the 2nd half is totally ruined by being bogged down with over the top sentimentality regarding homosexuality.
Overall an enjoyable viewing experience, and a pleasure to see Pacino mastering his craft
 



(From Riches Random Reviews on January 16th, 2009)

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, a review by GSyren

Title	Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (5-014437-100337)
Director	Joseph Zito
Actors	Erich Anderson, Judie Aronson, Peter Barton, Kimberly Beck, Tom Everett
Produced	1984 in United States
Runtime	88 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital Mono, German Dolby Digital Mono, French Dolby Digital Mono, Spanish Dolby Digital Mono, Italian Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles	Arabic, Bulgarian, Danish, English, French, German, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Slovenian, Swedish, Croatian, Hebrew, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Polish, Romanian, Czech, Turkish
Overview
My thoughts	Missing in Action with Chuck Norris and Red Scorpion
My rating	3 out of 5

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

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Get lost in the hottest series of the year. From J.J. Abrams, the creator of Alias, comes the action-packed adventure that became a worldwide television event.

Stranded on an island that holds many secrets, 48 people must band together if they hope to get home alive. Now you can experience the nonstop excitement and mystery of every episode, from the show's stunning first minute to its spectacular finale, on a seven-disc set.

Presented in a widescreen theatrical format with 5.1 Surround Sound and bursting with more than eight hours of original bonus features - including unaired Lost Flashbacks from the final episode - Lost is a real find.

Pilot
During a routine trip from Sydney, Australia, to Los Angeles, Oceanic flight 815 is blown off course and crashes on a remote, deserted island. Convinced that rescue is coming soon, the surviving passengers set up camp on the beach and try to make the most of what they think will only be a short time on the island. One fo the 48 survivors, Dr. Jack Shephard, suggest that they find the transceiver in the front of the plan so they can radio for help. But when a terrifying howl comes from the jungle, it becomes apparent that this is no ordinary island.

My Thoughts:
This is a series that I only watch on DVD. Unfortunately I am very far behind as I still only have the first 2 seasons. While I still enjoyed the show. I discovered the re-watch value was just not as high as the first time I watched it. Maybe it was just that I really wasn't much in the mood to watch this today but I found it to be good but not as exciting as the first time I saw it.

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on March 8th, 2010)