DVD Collectors Online

Apocalypse Now, a review by dfmorgan

Apocalypse Now

Year: 1979
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen
Overview: Francis Ford Coppola's stunning vision of man's heart of darkness revealed through the madness of the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Willard receives orders to seek out a renegade military outpost led by the mysterious Colonel Kurtz. Willard's mission: "Terminate with extreme prejudice." One of the most powerful films of all time, Apocalypse Now was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won two for Best Sound and Best Cinematography.

Watched: 12th Jun 2011
My Thoughts: I have seen this film before in both theatrical and Redux versions and decided that for this Blu-ray edition I would watch the theatrical cut. The cut used in this edition has a fade to black with no credits ending and is supposed to be the original 70mm theatrical cut, apparently it is also the first time that a home video release of this film has been in the correct aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The enhanced definition given by the HD presentation adds to the film.

My Rating: Still thought provoking for a 5



(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on June 18th, 2011)

Chandni Chowk to China, a review by Tom

Title: Chandni Chowk to China
Year: 2009
Director: Nikhil Advani
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 144 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Mithun Chakraborty
Akshay Kumar
Deepika Padukone
Ranvir Shorey
Roger Yuan

Plot:
Have you ever dreamed of being more than your circumstances? Sidhu (Askay Kumar) longs to escape his dreary existence cutting vegetables at a road-side food stand in Chandni Chowk, one of the oldest and busiest markets in Delhi, India. When two strangers from China proclaim he is the reincarnation of a Chinese war hero, Sidhu envisions fame, fortune and adventure. Journeying with them back to China, Sidhu meets the alluring Sakhi (Deepika Padukone) and love blossoms. But can it survive the vicious smuggler, Hojo (Gordon Liu) and his cadre of kung-fu assassins?

Megalomaniacal villains, crazy inventors, Chinese mystics and outlandish kung-fu assassins all get thrown together in this joyful, uplifting adventure full of beautiful landscapes, attention-grabbing songs, and high energy dancing.

Awards:
Extras:
Bonus Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Poster
Scene Access
Trailers

A silly Bollywood kung fu movie with the familiar story of a nobody getting accidentally involved fighting a (Chinese) gangster gang and then starting to learn martial arts "Karate Kid"-style and defeating them. The star reminded me of Adam Sandler. So essentially this could be classified as a Bollywood Adam Sandler movie. The fights were okay, also the songs. Beautiful Deepika Padukone stars in a dual role as twin sisters who were separated as babies. One was raised by the gangsters, the other by the mother in India.



Rating:

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

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Kujibiki Unbalance: The Collection (2006/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia Anime Works (United States) Length: 375 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Commentary, English

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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!


Kujibiki Unbalance

Writer: Shimoku Kio (Original Material By), Michiko Yokote (Screenwriter)
Director: Tsutomu Mizushima
Cast: Fujiko Takimoto (Chihiro Enomoto (voice)), Ai Nonaka (Tokino Akiyama (voice)), Ami Koshimizu (Ritsuko K Kettenkrad (voice)), Kumiko Nishihara (Renko Kamishakujii (voice)), Kazuko Kojima (Koyuki Asagiri (voice)), Yukana (Kasumi Kisaragi (voice)), Reiko Takagi (Risa Humvee (voice)), Masayo Kurata (Komaki Asagiri (voice)), Yuko Goto (Kaoruko Yamada (voice)), Yuko Sasamoto (Shinobu Enomoto (voice)), Kayo Sakata (Kujibiki Commission Chairwoman (voice)), Eri Nakao (Kujibiki Commission Member (voice)), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Harunobu Madarame (voice, uncredited)), Kaori Mizuhashi (Chika Ogiue (voice, uncredited))

Kujibiki Unbalance was originally a show-within-a-show on Genshiken. A really over-the-top one at that. Then they made a real anime out of it. Though this is more like an reimagining. Strangely, it would probably have been better, if they made a straight-forward adaption of it.
I mainly bought this this, because it includes bonus episodes for Genshiken, which bridge the first and second season of that series.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 5th, 2012)