DVD Collectors Online

Inside Man, a review by Tom

Inside Man (2006/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Universal Pictures (Germany) Director: Spike Lee Writing: Russell Gewirtz (Writer) Length: 123 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: Croatian, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Slovenian, Spanish, Turkish

[tom]5050582427844.5b.jpg[/tom]

---

Stars:
Denzel Washington as Detective Keith Frazier
Clive Owen as Dalton Russell
Jodie Foster as Madeleine White
Christopher Plummer as Arthur Case
Willem Dafoe as Captain John Darius

Plot:
A police detective, a bank robber, and a high-power broker enter high-stakes negotiations after the criminal's brilliant heist spirals into a hostage situation.

Awards:
Won:

American Film Institute Awards (2006)

Movie of the Year

Extras:

• Scene Access

The last time I watched it, I remember enjoying it much more. This time around the movie seemed to drag. Nevertheless it is a good bank heist movie which I can recommend.

(From Tom's Random Reviews on January 1st, 2014)

Four Lions, a review by Antares

Four Lions (2010) 74/100 - I would have probably enjoyed this a lot more had I the option of selecting English subtitles on the DVD, as I must have missed at least 30% of the dialog, because I couldn't understand what they were saying. Aren't there any deaf people in England? It's amazing how many British films on DVD, do not have this option. It's not just the accents that are hard to understand, it's also the propensity to have characters with exaggerated speech impediments that make understanding British dialog a task that's most frustrating without textual assistance. OK, rant over. I thought this was a very daring concept for a film, all fraught with potential land mines of political incorrectness, but the director skates the fine line between black comedy and classless social satire very adroitly. I actually don't think he pushed the envelope enough, and that's why I kind of felt unfulfilled after finishing the film. The early bits of slapstick at the Pakistani camp just felt like filler and after watching some of the outtakes, wished that those scenes would have been left in and the training camp stuff removed. Overall, the film is good for a few laughs, but I don't feel it's as good as I've been led to believe.

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 September 5th, 2012)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl
Year: 2006
Director:
Rating: PG-13
Length: 325 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Stars:


Plot:
On a warm, cloudy afternoon, Tomari bursts in on two girls from her class, Hazumu and Yasuna, sharing a tender first kiss. Her heart breaks ... from jealousy.

Hazumu was born a boy, but he certainly doesn't act it. He's sensitive, delicate, and loves gardening. Lucky for him, he grew up with the tomboy Tomari, who is always there to protect him. Despite her own feelings, she pushes Hazumu to confess his love to the elegant Yasuna. After Yasuna rejects him, he retreats into the mountains in despair. So begins the strange series of events that changes him into a her, and earns her the love of both Yasuna and Tomari.

Extras:
Interviews
Textless opening and closing
Trailers

Surprisingly couragous for the conservative Japan.
A boy, which through an accident with an alien ship gets tranformed into a girl is caught in a love triangle with two other girls. Both of which were already interested in him while he was a boy. One is a girl also he was interested in, the other is his long-time childhood friend.
What I found refreshing is, that the makers made it clear from the beginning, that this change is not reversable. So there is no easy way out by simply turning him back into a boy. Also he is not trying to be more boyish after turning into a girl. As a matter of fact he was rather girly to begin with.
I don't know if it was intentional, but I see it as a metaphor for a girl caught in a boy's body who is now being turned into his/hers true self (sex-change operation).
This series touches a little on the topic of how friends and family will react on such a change. Partly in a comedic way, but also in a serious way (especially the girls caught in the love triangle).
Another interesting aspect brought into the series is a strange illness one of the girls has, where she cannot can see the boys only some vage figure.

Overall a fun romantic comedy, where the main protagonist happens to be a girl instead of a boy.

Rating:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSvaVl0y-Xs

(From Tom's Random Reviews on November 9th, 2008)