DVD Collectors Online

Millennium Actress, a review by Tom

Title: Sennen Joyu (Millennium Actress)
Year: 2001
Director: Satoshi Kon
Rating: PG
Length: 83 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese: DTS 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Stereo, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Japanese Voices
Miyoko Shoji
Mami Koyama
Fumiko Orikasa
Shozo Izuka
Syouko Tsuda

Plot:
Millennium Actress has the stylistic sophistication of Perfect Blue with the empathy, warmth and truth of Spirited Away.

A gorgeous, theatrical animation from the maker of anime classic Perfect Blue and last year's adorable Tokyo Godfathers. MILLENNIUM ACTRESS begins as a TV crew track down 70-something screen goddess Chiyoko Fujiwara. Chiyoko begins to tell her life story, at which point she literally steps into the past, dragging the confused crew into her memories - one moment they're discussing dramatic art, the next dodging bullets in the midst of a movie as the boundaries between film, memory, fact and fiction become a breathless blur. Chiyoko's history is depicted as a series of screen roles in which she appears as a feudal princess one moment, a lonely astronaut the next, endlessly chasing a lost love across the millennium. This stunning plunge through the centuries is testament not just to the pleasures but also the great strengths of animation: the many ages of screen goddess Chiyoko are achieved not with dubious CGI but artfully drawn. Playing with subjective and objective realities and richly textured with swooningly beautiful imagery, the film is a mental and visual anime feast.

Extras:
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

I bought this, because I stumbled across this when browsing amazon.co.uk. It sounded interesting and it was cheap.
The animation is beautiful, the story is an interesting blend of reality and fiction. While the title-giving actress tells about her past, the interviewers are sucked into her world by having her movie roles and her real life search for a lost love mixed together into the surreal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpGrD5wUzKE

Rating:

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

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a review by DJ Doena

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home



William Shatner ... Admiral / Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy ... Captain Spock
DeForest Kelley ... Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy
James Doohan ... Commander Montgomery "Scotty" Scott
George Takei ... Commander Hikaru Sulu
Walter Koenig ... Commander Pavel Chekov
Nichelle Nichols ... Cmdr. Uhura
Jane Wyatt ... Amanda
Catherine Hicks ... Dr. Gillian Taylor
Mark Lenard ... Ambassador Sarek
Robin Curtis ... Lieutenant Saavik
Robert Ellenstein ... Federation Council President
John Schuck ... Klingon Ambassador
Brock Peters ... Admiral Cartwright

After having stolen the Enterprise and having it blown up above Genesis, the crew has to return in the captured klingon Bird of Prey which Dr. McCoy ironically named HMS Bounty. On Earth they have to face charges of mutiny and theft of the Enterprise. But there is anothere traveler on its way to Earth with a message for its inhabitants.

My opinion:
The funniest movie of the series and I enjoyed it very much. This movie is packed with gags that play with the situation that a group of humans and aliens from the 23rd century has to blend in with the population of San Francisco in the year 1986.
What is regrettable is the fact that we haven't learn anything since then. We still hunt whales for "scientifical purposes".

(From Weekend Star Trek Marathon on February 9th, 2008)

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

8. Mr. Ferguson Is Ill TodayMy comments:
At first I was wondering why the writer made John do so many foolish things. He id it in earlier episodes and had since seemed to have learnt. Well, if he wasn't doing things like running away without telling anyone, there wouldn't be any exciting plots

Matthias has pointed out before it's his favorite and I can at least confirm from my side that it's the best episode yet. I always enjoy the "bits and pieces" approach to tell a story, presenting us with segments, each following another person, that slightly overlap. This way important information can occasionally be left out only to be revealed later on. Kudos to the writer team to pulling it off very effectively

We also get great action by Thomas Dekker (especially the first half) and Garrett Dillahunt as Cromartie is very menacing here.

Only now, two or three episodes after the incident I realize that Ellison's role in all this must be bigger than we can imagine so far. Triggered by his question to Sarah about his role I noticed that  Skynet felt it was a good idea to actual model a Terminator after him. Well, or something. Looking forward to see more of him.



(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on February 7th, 2010)