DVD Collectors Online

Nanny McPhee , a review by Dragonfire

Nanny McPhee In this wickedly charming tale, EMMA THOMPSON portrays a mysterious woman with special powers who enters the household of the recently widowed Mr. Brown (COLIN FIRTH) and attempts to tame his seven very naughty children.  The children have managed to drive away 17 previous nannies, but as Nanny McPhee takes control, they begin to notice that their misbehaving has magical and startling consequences.  "A magical, fantastic and wonderful fable that will capture the heart of the whole family!" (Maria Salas, 'NBC-TV') My Thoughts I first saw this movie in the theater.   I loved it then and picked up the DVD once it was released.  I still really enjoy this movie. There are similarities to Mary Poppins with a nanny arriving just when she is needed, but I think there is enough different about this movie to keep it from being just a copy of the other movie.  This one is based on the Nurse Mathilda books.  The plot is fairly simple, but very entertaining.  The Brown children behave horribly at first, but that starts to change after Nanny McPhee arrives.  She has a special way of dealing with the children and teaching them lessons that is a bit magical.  A lot of stuff about her remains a mystery and I think that adds to the magical feel of the movie.  Several things that happen in the movie are funny.  Some of the humor is a bit silly, but it still works really well for the movie and helps makes things entertaining.  The children do act like brats at first, but that starts changing and they become nicer and more likable.  Much of what happens is predictable, but that doesn't make the movie less entertaining for me.  This one won't appeal to everyone. There isn't a lot of character development, but that works for what is going on.  Nanny McPhee is a wonderful character and Emma Thompson does a great job with the part.  The makeup for the character is amazing.  She isn't recognizable at first.  I like how as the children start to act better her appearance slowly changes.  It is subtle at first, but becomes more noticeable.  The DVD has a few entertaining extras, including bloopers and a featurette focused on the makeup for Nanny McPhee.  I still love this movie and thing is has held up really well.  It is definitely worth watching. I got a review posted on Epinions after I saw the movie in the theater. Nanny McPhee

(From Nanny McPhee on September 19th, 2010)

Ratatouille, a review by Critter

Ratatouille (2007)



Director: Brad Bird

Plot: Remy is a young rat in the French countryside who arrives in Paris, only to find out that his cooking idol is dead. When he makes an unusual alliance with a restaurant's new garbage boy, the culinary and personal adventures begin despite Remy's family's skepticism and the rat-hating world of humans.

Cast: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett

My Thoughts:RatatouillehowRating:  


(From Critter's Alphabet Marathon Reviews on July 3rd, 2010)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: When Keiko O'Brien returns from an expedition to the Fire Caves on Bajor she's changed. She claims that she's possessed by a Pah-wraith and it will kill her if O'Brien doesn't do what she says. In the next days O'Brien is forced to modify the quipment of the station but he has no idea to what end, he just knows it's harmless for biological lifeforms. But luckily there is someone who discovers the plan of the Pah-wraith.

My Opinion: I liked this episode because it's one of the rare episodes where Rom has a major role and where he could show that he isn't dumb at all and that he's loyal if asked to. And he subsequently earned his promotion to the day shift.

Synopsis: Lucsly and Dulmer from Temporal Investigations arrive on DS9 to investigate a time travel that the Defiant and its crew has done. Caused by the Orb of Time the Defiant was moved back in time to the year 2268 and they appear directly in front of the space station K-7 and the Enterprise - NCC-1701, Kirk's Enterprise. As it turns out they had an old enemy of Kirk's on board and he tries to rewrite history. Sisko and his crew have to find him and to prevent any change in the timeline.

My Opinion: This was Star Trek's 30th anniversary episode and it was great. They used the original footage of the original series and inserted the DS9 characters digitally into it.

(Sisko & Dax)

(O'Brien & Bashir)

And they had a lot of fun with it, from the agents, which are anagrams of Mulder and Scully, to the classical uniform and equipment. And of course the question why the Klingons looked different back then and of course the Tribbles. 

Synopsis: Jadzia and Worf are going on vacation, to Risa, THE vacation planet within the Federation. As it so happens they are accompanied by Julian and Leeta - and Quark. Only Worf doesn't seem to be able to relax - but despite being fearsome warriors, Klingons are also well known for their celebrations where a lot of Blood Wine is consumed. Soon after their arrival Worf joins a radical group of New Essentialists who are convinced that the Federation and its people have become to soft.

My Opinion: This was an OK episode but if I had to argue with Worf, I'd say that most people like peace and quit but the Federation has proven more than once that it's willing to defend their way of living with the force of arms and that the people stand up for what they believe in. But I liked the explanation of why Worf is mostly so self-possessed, so rigid with himself. It must be a traumatizing event to accidentally kill someone because you hadn't control over your klingon nature.

Synopsis: The runabout arrives on the station on auto-pilot. The four occupants - Sisko, Odo, Garak and Dax - are in some kind of coma. When they wake up they are on DS9, but it's Terok Nor and it's nine years ago. And nobody recognizes them for who they are but they seem to be bajoran workers. Odo's predecessor is in charge of security but something doesn't add up - the unfolding events had taken place only seven years ago when Odo was already in charge.

My Opinion: I liked this episode because it became very quickly evident that the entire time shift was somehow connected to Odo but it wasn't clear why and how and they managed to lay down false trails like the assumption that the Founders could have somehow created this. I also liked the conversation between Kira and Odo at the end, it reminded me of another flashback episode (Necessary Evil) only this time Kira and Odo had switched roles.

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on January 25th, 2009)