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Phantom of the Opera, a review by GSyren

Title	Phantom of the Opera (4-048317-448111)
Director	Dwight Little
Actors	Robert Englund, Jill Schoelen, Alex Hyde-White, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Lawrence
Produced	1989 in United States
Runtime	93 minutes
Audio	German DTS-HD Master Audio 2-Channel Stereo, English DTS-HD Master Audio 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles	None
Overview
My thoughts	This is the slasher version of The Phantom. It deviates from the book in several ways, in names, in locations and in story details. There is a somewhat confusing frame story that is set in present day New York, but the main story is set in London rather than in Paris. As for the mask, it seems to be a mix of inspirations from Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House of Wax (1953). Disappointingly missing from the story is the falling chandelier. Apparently the producer couldn't afford it. Robert Englund is good as the Phantom, but a little too creepy for my taste. Jill Schoelen as Christine is nice to look at, but not very memorable. To me, this looks more like a slasher story than a regular telling of the Phantom. Your appreciation of it is most likely dependant on how much you like slasher films. Me, not so much. Personally I have a soft spot for the Hammer version with Herbert Lom. And, of course, the silent classic with Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin. So for me, this one is OK, but not more than that.
My rating

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on January 25th, 2014)

Captain America: The First Avenger, a review by Achim

Captain America. The First Avenger

I made a point of seeing Captain America in 2D. Only by making a choice like that we can stop the madness

I quite liked it. I thought they tried hard to walk around the pitfalls that come with a film about a superhero whose name has America in it. I am not easily offended by such things but still noticed how toned down it felt.

I quite enjoyed the origins story in this one; I was not aware that Captain America was/is a man-made superhero. My favorite actor in this was Stanley Tucci as the German scientist who escaped the Nazis to created the program that would create Captain America. Tony Stark's father was pretty much just like him

The best special effect must have been to make Chris Evans so skinny.

While this movie plays during the second world war, it does tie in with the upcoming The Avengers movies. Strongly looking forward to that now.

My Rating: (a weak)

(From Captain America: The First Avenger on August 2nd, 2011)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Futurama: Season One (1999/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (Germany) Length: 286 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, German: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Commentary, Danish, English, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish

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Futurama
1.01 Space Pilot 3000
Writer: David X. Cohen (Writer), Matt Groening (Writer)
Director: Rich Moore, Gregg Vanzo
Cast: Billy West (Fry/Farnsworth/Zoidberg/Various (voice)), Katey Sagal (Leela (voice)), John DiMaggio (Bender/Various (voice)), Dick Clark (Himself (voice)), Leonard Nimoy (Himself (voice)), Tress MacNeille (Various (voice)), Dave Herman (Various (voice)), Kath Soucie (Michelle (voice))

I have been a fan of this series since day one. It's nice to finally see the first episode again. It has been awhile. I forgot that it started out with Fry running from Leela because he wanted to avoid to have a career chip implanted. They have dropped this concept later it seems.
And sure enough, you can really see Nibbler's shadow in the scene where Fry falls into the freezer. It was an episode in a later season which revealed that it was no accident that he was frozen, but caused by Nibbler when he travelled back in time to ensure Fry being frozen.
Is it me, or are the voices that Billy West is doing (Fry/Farnsworth) a little different than later in the series?

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 20th, 2011)