DVD Collectors Online

Spider-Man 2, a review by Tom

Title: Spider-Man 2
Year: 2004
Director: Sam Raimi
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 122 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Surround, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: Commentary, English, German, Trivia, Turkish

Stars:
Tobey Maguire
Kirsten Dunst
James Franco
Alfred Molina
Rosemary Harris

Plot:
Two years have passed, and the mild-mannered Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) faces new challenges as he struggles to balance his life as the elusive superhero Spider-Man. Tormented by his secrets, Peter is in danger of losing all those that he holds dear. His love for MJ (Kirsten Dunst) becomes stronger and his friendship with Harry Osborn (James Franco) is complicated by the young Osborn's bitterness over his father's death. These relationships are now in danger of unravelling when he confronts a new nemesis, the brilliant Otto Octavius, (Alfred Molina) who has been reincarnated as the multi-tentacled 'Doc Ock.'

Awards:

Academy Award	2004	Nominated	Best Sound Editing	Paul Ottosson
Academy Award	2004	Nominated	Best Sound Mixing	Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Joseph Geisinger
Academy Award	2004	Won	Best Visual Effects	John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, John Frazier
AFI	2003	Nominated	100 Years... 100 Cheers (2006)
American Film Institute Awards	2004	Won	Movie of the Year
BAFTA	2004	Nominated	Achievement In Special Visual Effects	John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony La Molinara, John Frazier
BAFTA	2004	Nominated	Sound	Paul Ottosson
BMI Film & TV Music Awards	2005	Won	BMI Film Music Award	Danny Elfman
Cinema Audio Society Awards	2005	Nominated	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures	Joseph Geisinger, Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush
Empire Magazine Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Actor	Tobey Maguire
Empire Magazine Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Actress	Kirsten Dunst
Empire Magazine Awards	2005	Won	Best Director	Sam Raimi
Empire Magazine Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Film
Hugo Award	2005	Nominated	Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
MTV Movie Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Action Sequence
MTV Movie Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Movie
MTV Movie Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Video Game Based on a Movie
MTV Movie Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Villain	Alfred Molina
Satellite Awards	2005	Nominated		Alfred Molina
Satellite Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Cinematography	Bill Pope, Anette Haellmigk
Satellite Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Film Editing	Bob Murawski
Satellite Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Original Score	Danny Elfman
Satellite Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Sound (Editing & Mixing)	Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Joseph Geisinger, Paul Ottosson, Susan Dudeck
Satellite Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Visual Effects	John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, John Frazier
Saturn	2004	Won	Best Actor	Tobey Maguire
Saturn	2004	Won	Best Director	Sam Raimi
Saturn	2004	Won	Best Fantasy Film
Saturn	2004	Nominated	Best Music	Danny Elfman
Saturn	2004	Won	Best Special Effects	John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, John Frazier
Saturn	2004	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor	Alfred Molina
Saturn	2004	Won	Best Writing	Alvin Sargent
Taurus Award	2005	Won	Best Overall Stunt by a Man	Chris Daniels, Michael Hugghins
Taurus Award	2005	Nominated	Best Specialty Stunt	Tim Storms, Garrett Warren, Susie Park, Patricia M. Peters, Norb Phillips, Lisa Hoyle, Kevin L. Jackson, Clay Donahue Fontenot
Taurus Award	2005	Nominated	Best Work with a Vehicle	Tad Griffith, Richard Burden, Scott Rogers, Darrin Prescott, Mark Norby
Teen Choice Awards	2005	Nominated	Choice Movie Bad Guy	Alfred Molina
Teen Choice Awards	2004	Won	Choice Movie of the Summer
Visual Effects Society Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Single Visual Effect of the Year	John Dykstra, Lydia Bottegoni, Dan Abrams, John Monos (For the clock tower)
Visual Effects Society Awards	2005	Won	Outstanding Compositing in a Motion Picture	Colin Drobnis, Greg Derochie, Blaine Kennison, Ken Lam (For the train sequence)
Visual Effects Society Awards	2005	Won	Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Act on Motion Picture	Dan Abrams, David Emery, Andrew Nawrot, John Hart (For the NYC street, night)
Visual Effects Society Awards	2005	Won	Outstanding Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Visual Effects Film	Alfred Molina
Visual Effects Society Awards	2005	Nominated	Outstanding Special Effects in Service to Visual Effects in a Motion Picture	John Frazier, James D. Schwalm, James Nagle, David Amborn
Visual Effects Society Awards	2005	Nominated	Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture	John Dykstra, Lydia Bottegoni, Anthony LaMolinara, Scott Stokdyk
World Stunt Awards	2005	Won	Best Overall Stunt by a Man	Chris Daniels, Michael Hugghins
World Stunt Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Specialty Stunt	Tim Storms, Garrett Warren, Susie Park, Patricia M. Peters, Norb Phillips, Lisa Hoyle, Kevin L. Jackson, Clay Donahue Fontenot
World Stunt Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Work with a Vehicle	Tad Griffith, Richard Burden, Scott Rogers, Darrin Prescott, Mark Norby

Extras:
Commentary
DVD-ROM Content
Featurettes
Multi Angle
Music Videos
Outtakes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailers

One of the best superhero movies. I enjoy it even better than the first one. Also the CGI Spidey is much more convincing in this movie.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on January 2nd, 2010)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Year of Release: 2013
Directed By: Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage
Genre: Fantasy, Action

Overview:
The second in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug continues the adventure of the title character Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) as he journeys with the Wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellan) and thirteen Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) on an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor.

My Thoughts:
First let me say, I love Middle-Earth.  I love the characters and the setting and everything about it.  Being overlong only means that we get to spend more time in Middle-Earth.  Yes, I want the extended version.

First, the good.  Martin Freeman is great as Bilbo.  I could probably watch Ian McKellen do just about anything.  Richard Armitage's Thorin is wonderful (if very different from the book), and I can now see the set-up for his Thorin to make decisions that book-Thorin makes (something I couldn't see in the last film).  I also liked the addition of the elf Tauriel, and her interaction with Kili.  I liked the changes to the character of Bard, and his enlarged role in the story.  I loved Benedict Cumberbatch's Smaug, the conversation between him and Bilbo (just about the best part of the film) and the enlarged role Smaug played. 

For my complaint about the movie, it wouldn't be that the movie was long.  It would be that it was long in the wrong way.  Certain things got extended and fleshed out, while others were eliminated - I would have trimmed up some of the battle scenes so that we could have kept the dwarves journey through Mirkwood longer, kept the sequence with the black river from the book, and had more character interaction.  I still don't know who some of the dwarves are (Bifur, Nori, Dori, Ori, Oin ... which one is which, anyway?  Only Thorin, Fili, Kili, Balin, Dwalin, and Bofur have any personalities, and I only know which one Bombur is because he's the fat one and Gloin because of the reference to Gimli).  Lastly, the business with the Arkenstone needed a bit more fleshing out - exactly how is the whole plan supposed to work, anyway?  Bilbo sneaks in, gets the Arkenstone, and then ... what? 

On the other hand, I thought they handled the Ring well, and the doings of the Necromancer, as well as the foreshadowing for the grimmer days ahead.  It's a grimmer, grittier version of The Hobbit, but also a nobler one in the goals of the dwarven company.  Overall, as you can see from how I rated it, I thought the good outweighed the bad, but it wasn't the masterpiece all of the first trilogy are. 

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on December 27th, 2013)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Dracula: The Series


Children of the Night
When Eileen Townsend gets transferred to Europe, she takes her sons (teen-age Chris and 10-year-old Max) to stay with her uncle, Gustav Helsing - descendant of the famous vampire hunter

My Thoughts:
This is a Saturday morning series geared towards kids that originally aired in (I believe) 1990 for just the one season. I never seen this show when it originally aired. But when I saw the DVDs for sale cheap I thought it would be a good show Britt and I could watch together. And Britt does enjoy this one. Though she does say it has one of the most annoying opening themes ever!  It is a cute show... I am glad I added it to my collection. One of the characters in this series is played by a very young Mia Kirshner.

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on December 29th, 2009)