DVD Collectors Online

Stop Making Sense, a review by Antares

Stop Making Sense (1984) 95/100 - I am awash in a sea of shame. Back in the late 70's, a friend turned me on to the Talking Heads and they instantly became my favorite band during the ensuing 80's. So for me to have never seen this outstanding concert film is incredibly embarrassing. What amazed me most about the concert was how polished and expressive the band had become in just 5 short years. I had seen them live in August 1979, as they were promoting their third album, Fear of Music, and they pretty much just stood still behind their microphones and played their instruments. Don't get me wrong, it was one of the best concerts I've ever attended, but man, I wish I had seen them on their Speaking in Tongues tour now! Demme does an amazing job of capturing the intensity of the performances with many different camera angles, which put the viewer right on stage with the band. What I found most incredible was the fact that never once do you see any of the other cameras he's using in any one shot. It's as if they were invisible. It's a shame that all concert films aren't shot in this manner. It was refreshing not to have to listen to inane interviews with either ego-maniacal band members or drugged out, wasted concert goers. There's no back stage footage or scenes of the roadies and sound crew doing sound checks in the empty concert hall, before the show. This is how I want my concert films!!!

As for the music... well ... it's the Talking Heads!!!! They were the most creative band of the 80's and it shows here. I loved the way the film began with just David Byrne coming out on stage with a small boom box and playing Psycho Killer. Usually it irks me to no end when a performer messes around with the way they play their most famous songs, but here, it works magnificently as it it acts as a precursor to the introduction of other band members, each coming on stage one at a time with each successive song. The playlist for this concert was heavily ladened with songs from the Speaking in Tongues album, and while it's a very good album, it means that a few other great songs aren't going to be played. That is why I give this film a score just south of perfection. I could have done without the token Tom Tom Club song, catchy as it is, because I'd much rather have heard The Great Curve or For Artists Only instead. The latter, a song which would have fit nicely right after the four song introduction set I mentioned, would have acted as a bridge to the conceptual performance that was to follow.

What the color coding means...

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on July 26th, 2013)

Finding Nemo, a review by Tom

Title: Finding Nemo
Year: 2003
Director: Andrew Stanton
Rating: FSK-0
Length: 96 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround EX, German: Dolby Digital Surround EX, German: DTS ES (Matrixed), Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Commentary, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Turkish

Stars:
Englische Stimmen
Albert Brooks
Ellen DeGeneres
Alexander Gould
Willem Dafoe
Brad Garrett

Plot:
When Nemo, a young clownfish, is unexpectedly carried far from home, his overprotective father, Marlin (Albert Brooks), and Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), a friendly but forgetful regal blue tang fish, embark on an epic journey that leads to encounters with vegetarian sharks, surfer dude turtles, hypnotic jellyfish and hungry seagulls!

Awards:

Academy Award	2003	Won	Best Animated Feature Film	Andrew Stanton
Academy Award	2003	Nominated	Best Music, Original Score	Thomas Newman
Academy Award	2003	Nominated	Best Sound Editing	Gary Rydstrom, Michael Silvers
Academy Award	2003	Nominated	Best Writing, Original Screenplay	Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds (Screenplay); Andrew Stanton (Story)
American Cinema Editors Awards	2004	Nominated		David Ian Salter, Lee Unkrich
American Film Institute Awards	2003	Won	Movie of the Year
Annie Awards	2003	Won	Best Animated Feature	Pixar Animation Studios
Annie Awards	2003	Nominated	Individual Achievment - Animated Effects	Justin Ritter
Annie Awards	2003	Won	Individual Achievment - Animated Effects	Martin Nguyen
Annie Awards	2003	Nominated	Individual Achievment - Character Animation	Dave DeVan
Annie Awards	2003	Won	Individual Achievment - Character Animation	Doug Sweetland
Annie Awards	2003	Nominated	Individual Achievment - Character Animation	Gini Santos
Annie Awards	2003	Won	Individual Achievment - Character Design in an Animated Feature Production	Ricky Nierva
Annie Awards	2003	Won	Individual Achievment - Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
Annie Awards	2003	Won	Individual Achievment - Music in an Animated Feature Production	Thomas Newman
Annie Awards	2003	Won	Individual Achievment - Production Design in an Animated Feature Production	Ralph Eggleston
Annie Awards	2003	Won	Individual Achievment - Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production	Ellen DeGeneres as the voice of Dory
Annie Awards	2003	Won	Individual Achievment - Writing in an Animated Feature Production	Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, Dave Reynolds
BAFTA	2003	Nominated	Screenplay (Original)	Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds
BMI Film & TV Music Awards	2004	Won	BMI Film Music Award	Thomas Newman
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	2004	Won	Best Animated Film
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	2004	Nominated	Best Picture
European Film Awards	2003	Nominated	European Film Academy Non-European Film - Prix Screen International
Golden Globe	2003	Nominated	Picture - Musical or Comedy	Graham Walters
Hugo Award	2004	Nominated	Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
MTV Movie Awards	2004	Nominated	Best Comedic Performance	Ellen DeGeneres
MTV Movie Awards	2004	Nominated	Best Movie
Online Film Critics Society Awards	2004	Won	Best Animated Feature
Satellite Awards	2004	Nominated
Satellite Awards	2004	Nominated	Best Original Score	Thomas Newman
Saturn	2003	Won	Best Animated Film
Saturn	2003	Nominated	Best DVD Special Edition Release
Saturn	2003	Nominated	Best Music	Thomas Newman
Saturn	2003	Won	Best Supporting Actress	Ellen DeGeneres
Saturn	2003	Nominated	Best Writing	Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds
Visual Effects Society Awards	2004	Won	Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture	Andrew Gordon, Brett Coderre (For "Speaking Whale")
Visual Effects Society Awards	2004	Nominated	Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture	David DeVan, Gini Santos (For "Inside the Whale")
Young Artist Awards	2004	Won

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Interactive Game
Kurzfilm "Knick Knack"
Music Videos
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
THX certified
Trailers
Virtuelles Aquarium

A great movie. The animation is wonderful. Dory is the most fun character in this movie. Too bad that I didn't watch it in the theatre.

Rating:

(From December Marathons - DISCUSSION AND REVIEW THREAD on December 24th, 2009)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

American Dad!: Volume One (2005/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (United States) Length: 284 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

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Plot:
From the delightfully twisted creative minds behind Family Guy comes American Dad!, the animated tour de force featuring CIA operative Stan Smith, his outrageous family, and Roger, the alcoholic extra-terrestrial who lives with them!

Follow the adventures of the Smiths from the California desert where Stan's wife Francine relieves her wild youth at the Burning Man Festival to Saudi Arabia, where the entire family is sentenced to death by the Vice and Virtue Police! Whether it's rigging elections, erasing memories, casing sleazy strip clubs, or staging "bum fights," it's all in a day's work for Stan, and it's all here in the side-splittingly hilarious first 13 episodes of American Dad!

American Dad!
1.01 Pilot (2005-02-06)
Writer: Seth MacFarlane (Writer), Mike Barker (Writer), Matt Weitzman (Writer)
Director: Ron Hughart
Cast: Seth MacFarlane (Stan/Roger (voice)), Wendy Schaal (Francine (voice)), Scott Grimes (Steve (voice)), Rachael MacFarlane (Hayley (voice)), Dee Bradley Baker (Klaus (voice)), Curtis Armstrong ( (voice)), Mike Barker ( (voice)), Chris Cox ( (voice)), Carmen Electra ( (voice)), Jeff Fischer ( (voice)), Mike Henry ( (voice)), Natasha Melnick ( (voice)), Kim Parks ( (voice)), Kevin Michael Richardson ( (voice)), Andre Sogliuzzo ( (voice)), Daisuke Suzuki ( (voice)), John Viener ( (voice))

Going in I thought this was too similar to Family Guy and wouldn't last long. But this series found its own voice later on. The pilot episode was boring though.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on March 25th, 2011)