DVD Collectors Online

X-15, a review by KinkyCyborg

Title:X-15
Year: 1962
Director: Richard D. Donner
Rating: NR
Length: 107 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Mono
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Charles Bronson
Brad Dexter
James Gregory
Lisabeth Hush
David McLean

Plot:
Before Top Gun, Apollo 13 or The Right Stuff, this breathtaking, jet-fueled journey of high-altitude filmmaking blasted audiences from zero-G to 4,000 miles per hour with its thrilling tale of America's victory in the space race. Starring David Mclean, Charles Bronson and Mary Tyler Moore, X-15 sets the sky as the limit - for excitement!

The courageous pilots of the Air Force's X-15 program are determined to take an experimental rocket 100 miles above the earth... at four times the speed of sound! At stake is American air supremacy and proof that space travel is possible. but also at stake are their lives... and the lives of the terrified wives they've left behind.

Extras:
Scene Access
Closed Captioned


I generally enjoy movies of historical significance but this one was a bit of a bore. About early experimental rockets that would eventually lead to the shuttle program, I found it repetitive and lacking any excitement. The special effects used for the scenes when the rocket exits the earths atmosphere were very campy, even by 1962's standards.

Charles Bronson, whom I'm used to doling out vigilante justice or squinting from beneath a cowboy hat was quite out of place in this one as a test pilot. Mary Tyler Moore's head of hair looked more like a helmet than the ones used by the pilots. James Stewart narrates.

If you are really into planes the monstrous, modified B-52's are quite impressive.

KC

Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on July 4th, 2010)

Ghajini, a review by Tom

Title: Ghajini
Year: 2007
Director: A.R. Murugadoss
Rating: 15
Length: 183 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Arabic, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish

Stars:
Asin Thottumkal
Aamir Khan
Pradeep Rawat
Jiah Khan
Riyaz Khan

Plot:
Ghajini is the largest grossing Hindi film of all time. It is the only Indian film to earn one billion rupees at the box office across India and it grossed 4 million US dollars overseas within a week of its release.

A film about a man with only 15 minutes of memory recall. A man who was once suave, successful and had everything a man could desire. A man who had everything he loved snatched away from him, including his identity by brutal senseless violence. A human being who is forced to become something close to inhuman. A story about his wounded, savage quest for revenge. Driven by the pain of what he once was and had...

Awards:

Filmfare Awards	2009	Won	Best Action Award	Peter Hein
Filmfare Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Actor Award	Aamir Khan
Filmfare Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Actress Award	Asin Thottumkal
Filmfare Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Director Award	A. R. Murugadoss
Filmfare Awards	2009	Won	Best Female Debut Award	Asin Thottumkal
Filmfare Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Movie Award
Filmfare Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Music Director Award	A. R. Rahman

Extras:
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Music Videos
Scene Access
Trailers

The screenplay was written after the author first heard about Memento. After the screenplay was finished, he watched Memento, and he decided that his screenplay is different enough to Memento to warrant an own movie.
And he is right. Except the fact that the main protagonist has short-term memory loss because of an attack in which is fiancé was killed and he badly wounded, and the fact that he takes polaroids to remember stuff and tattoo his body, this movie takes a different take on the premise.
Like I had expected, it did not switch the scenes around like in Memento. Instead we only get flashbacks which tell the story before the accident. The present day shows us how he is going after the murder of his fiancé with a vengeance.
The flashback story is a fun romantic comedy type story of how he met his fiancé. And it shows the happenings which lead to the attack.
The present day is a much more violent movie than Memento. For some reason these two greatly different styles work very well together in this movie. Also Aamir Khan did a great job potraying both incarnations of his character.



Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on August 1st, 2009)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon, a review by Achim

11. Self Made Man
Cameron never sleeps, so what does she do at night? Chase a T-888 that?s been lost in time.

My comments:
This episode concentrates entirely on Cameron investigating the past. We get a little of John and nothing of anyone else. Cameron has apparently paid regularly visits to the local library, where she bribed the night watch (with donuts) to let her in. She uses her time there to find someone in the past and looks for the connection to the future.

I mostly enjoys crime films where the story slowly unravels to eventually reveal the big picture and on occasion give as a moment. No exception here. There is quite a bit witty dialog (two of Cameron's bon mots made me laugh out loud) and the detective work runs along at a steady pace. But here's the rub, which happens often with this kind of stories: the "timing" is off. By that I mean that the entire investigation (plus Cameron's "problem solving at the end) happens in one single night. Going through records, finding film clips, having conversations, connecting the dots (no pun intended) and all they need is a couple of hours...? Fail (this is where I deduct one notch in the rating). Another problem is that I felt lots of lag, where I thought the story could speed up a bit and move along; luckily those are moments never lasted very long.

John's story is merely a side note and shows him getting closer to Riley. I did not like this section at all and him suddenly bursting put and almost beating the crap out of a guy who is already down felt out of place to me.



(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on February 11th, 2010)