DVD Collectors Online

Monsoon Wedding, a review by Tom

Title: Monsoon Wedding
Year: 2001
Director: Mira Nair
Rating: 15
Length: 109 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Naseeruddin Shah
Lillete Dubey
Shefali Shetty
Vijay Raaz
Tilotama Shome

Plot:
An exuberant family drama set in Mira Nair's beloved Punjabi culture, where ancient tradition and dot-com modernity combine in unique and perfect harmony.

As the romantic monsoon rains loom, the extended Verma family reunites from around the globe for a last-minute arranged marriage in New Delhi.

Monsoon Wedding traces five intersecting stories, each navigating different aspects of love as they cross boundaries of class, continent and morality. The film celebrates a contemporary India never seen before.

Awards:

BAFTA	2001	Nominated	Film Not In The English Language	Caroline Baron, Mira Nair
British Independent Film Awards	2002	Won	Best Foreign Independent Film - Foreign Language
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	2003	Nominated	Best Foreign-Language Film
European Film Awards	2001	Nominated	Screen International European Film Award (non-European)
Golden Globe	2001	Nominated	Foreign Film
Satellite Awards	2003	Nominated

Extras:
Commentary
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

As soon the movie started, I was reminded of "Rachel Getting Married". It has a similar style and theme. The cinematographer is even the same in both movies. Looking at a few reviews on the internet, "Rachel Getting Married" is even often compared to this movie.
Personally I enjoyed this one more. I liked the characters more.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 25th, 2010)

Gokusen: The Movie, a review by Tom

Gokusen: The Movie (2009/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia Panasia Films (Hong Kong) Director: Toya Sato Writing: Kozueko Morimoto (Original Material By), Michiru Egashira (Screenwriter), Yuko Matsuda (Screenwriter) Length: 118 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35 Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital EX 5.1 (Matrixed 6.1), Japanese: DTS ES 6.1 (Discrete), Cantonese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Chinese, English

---

Stars:
Yukie Nakama
Kazuya Kamenashi
Katsuhisa Namase
Yuya Takaki
Haruma Miura

Plot:
Wearing jerseys, glasses, and pigtails, passionate high school teacher Kumiko Yamaguchi (Yukie Nakama), a.k.a. Yankumi, has now been a teacher for seven years. In the spring, Yamato Ogata (Yuya Takaki), Ren Kazama (Haruma Miura), Kengo Honjo (Hideo Ishiguro), Rikiya Ichimura (Junta Nakama), Satoru Kuraki (Akito Kiriyama), and Shunsuke Kamiya (Shohei Miura) have graduated from Akado High School, where Kumiko has been teaching for a year. She is now overseeing the new students of Class 3D, who still have not opened up to her and are giving her a hard time.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Trailers

This movie concludes (so far) the live-action adaption of Gokusen. After three seasons and two specials spanning seven years, this theatrical movie acts as a final farewell to the fans. I can only recommend it to fans, as this movie is mostly here for getting as much of the cast and running gags back as possible. Yankumi has a new class here with the class of the third season just having graduated. Both classes play a rather big role here, but we also see a lot of the characters from the first two seasons in cameos (with one notable absence)

Rating:

(From 2010 December Marathon - Discussion thread on December 24th, 2010)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Kujibiki Unbalance: The Collection
Year: 2006
Director:
Rating: NR
Length: 375 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Commentary, English

Stars:


Plot:
Chihiro has always had rotten luck in life. But at the prestigious Rikkyouin Academy, where everything is decided by drawn lot, or kujibiki, he finds his luck changing when he draws the lot for student council president. He and his harem of student council candidates undergo a year-long, impossible apprenticeship under the current ruling body, which happens to be led by one of Chihiro's childhood friends. The road to success is filled with zany misadventures, innocent romances, and a wild humor that is sure to please.

Each disc includes an episode of Genshiken!

Extras:
Commentary
Genshiken OVAs
Trailers

Originally this was a fictional series in the Genshiken series. Then they re-imagined it and made a real series out of it. I bought this one, because it includes three additional Genshiken episodes, which bridges the first and second season of Genshiken. It introduces my favorite Genshiken character Ogiue.
The Kujibiki Unbalance series is nothing which I can really recommend. It had some fun scenes and episodes, but overall I can recommend this set only to fans of Genshiken to have that anime series completed. The Genshiken episodes are great!

Kujibiki Unbalance

#	Episode	Rating
01	Everyone Gets Surprised at School. 7 pts.
02	You Have to be Able to Keep Promises. 2 pts.
03	Siblings Are a Pain. 6 pts.
04	Want to Hang Out Sunday? 5 pts.
05	Friends Might Change. 1 pt.
06	I Swear I'll Keep It a Secret. 8 pts.
07	I'll Listen to My Superiors. 4 pts.
08	I've Forgotten About the Past. 7 pts.
09	The Fireworks Looked Pretty. 5 pts.
10	Though We Look For It, It's Not There. 3 pts.
11	Stumbling In the Dark. 0 pts.
12	Let's Make Our Dream Come True. 9 pts.

Genshiken OVA

#	Episode	Rating
01	My Name is Ogiue and I Hate Otaku
02	I Am From the Planet Otaku
03	Then I'll Undress You!

(From Tom's Random Reviews on January 7th, 2010)