DVD Collectors Online

Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold, a review by Antares

Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold (1964) 66/100 - The sixth installment in the Zatoichi series is an action packed mess of a film. It drags at times, and the plot is pretty threadbare, I mean, c'mon, with Ichi's superb hearing, how could he not hear the chest falling from the ridge, and also the ronin who eventually spirit it away? Director Kazuo Ikehiro is desperately trying to impress not only the executives at Daiei with abundant swordplay, but also the critics by showing off his skills at creative editing, lighting and cinematography. But this overabundant effort makes for a more stilted and uneven viewing experience. Hopefully, future directors in the series will follow the KISS method of storytelling and film making...Keep It Simple, Stupid!. Great opening title sequence though.

What the color coding means...

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 29th, 2014)

The Langoliers, a review by addicted2dvd

The Langoliers
Something bizarre has happened aboard flight #29...a nightmare so chilling, so frightening, so unrelenting it could only come from the mind of Stephen King. Now the master storyteller of our time gives terror a new name in THE LANGOLIERS. A jet leaves on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Boston. But early in the flight, ten passengers awaken to a startling realization: All of the other passengers have vanished - and the ground below is only...ground. But once they manage to land the plane, the situation doesn't improve. No one is there...the air is still...the clocks have stopped...and a dread, evil presence bent on their destruction is headed straight for them. Based on the novella from the best-selling anthology 'Four Past Midnight', Patricia Wettig ('City Slickers II'), Bronson Pincho ('Beverly Hills Cop'), Dean Stockwell ('The Player') and David Morse ('The Getaway') stare into the jaws of oblivion in this nightmare from the mind of Stephen King.

My Thoughts:
This is a 3 hour Stephen King miniseries. It has a rather bleak look at time travel. Bronson Pincho's character Mr. Toomy is really off. And what is with that tearing of paper? It was almost like he was enjoying that a little too much... if you know what I mean. This is not one of my favorite King miniseries... though it has it's moments. Juast average... maybe slightly above average.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: 1/16 - 1/18 on January 18th, 2009)

Veronica Mars Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

Episode 5: You Think You Know Somebody
Border incident. Troy's trip to Tijuana ends with him saying adios to his father's car when thieves nab the wheels. Good thing he has a detective for a girlfriend. Or is it?

My Thoughts:
This is a pretty good episode... but not one of my favorites... in this episode Veronica finds out that her father is dating her guidance counselor... and her father runs a background check on  Veronica's boyfriend Troy... giving it to her... telling her she can look at it if she wants... but the decision is hers. Also Veronica continues her search for her mom. In this episode I found myself more interested in the side stories then I was in that week's mystery.

Episode 6: Return of the Kane
Dirty politics in the school election has Veronica doing the Woodward-and-Bernstein bit. Plus: Logan creates a PR nightmare for his movie-star father when he sets up fight nights featuring homeless men.

My Thoughts:
This one was a good episode. Not only did we get a decent weekly mystery that was entertaining... it really worked hard on the season long mystery as well.

Episode 7: The Girl Next Door
Veronica's pregnant neighbor disappears right after an argument with her artist boyfriend. Pranksters: Weevil and Logan unleash their creativity when they serve detention together.

My Thoughts:
This was a decent episode... I enjoyed it... but it did have one major flaw in it. This is one of the episodes that works mostly on the single episode mystery. And I still remember the first time I saw it I found the end of the mystery to be very predictable. I saw it coming a mile away. This is something that don't happen all that often on Veronica Mars... but it does happen every now and then.

Episode 8: Like A Virgin
Pure hell. An online "purity test" ruins the reputation of Veronica's friend. Also: Keith helps Wallace's mother lose a bad-news tenant. And Veronica visits Abel Koontz on death row -- with disturbing results.

My Thoughts:
This was definitely a good episode... very entertaining... with a surprising ending. I especially liked how they handled who was behind the "purity test".

(From Veronica Mars Marathon on August 24th, 2007)