DVD Collectors Online

The Number 23, a review by RossRoy

Original Title: The Number 23 Year: 2007 Country: United States Director: Joel Schumacher Rating: 14 Length: 101 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital Stereo Subtitles:

What they say
Jim Carrey and Virginia Madsen star in the year's most "mind-bending" (Pete Hammond, 'Maxim') psychological thriller directed by Joel Schumacher.

The nightmare begins when Walter (Carrey), a mild-mannered dogcatcher, begins reading a tattered, used book called 'The Number 23'. Obsessed by the countless similarities between the degenerate main character and himself, Walter plunges headlong into the same dark, seductive world. When the book's main character commits an unspeakable act, Walter is terrified that he's destined to follow the same twisted path.

My Thoughts
I quite enjoyed that one. I think it is a nice little thriller. And as with many other thrillers, there's the obligatory twist at the ending, which I sort of saw coming, and yet I was still surprised by it. I also felt the urge to watch it again to try and catch the little clues that are scattered throughout the movie. I think it deserves a watch, it may not win any awards, but it's good. I loved Jim Carey in the leading role. I find I like him much more in his dramatic work than his comedy, i.e. Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and now The Number 23. Virginia Madsen is just as beautiful as ever.



(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on April 13th, 2008)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army, a review by Jon

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
3 out of 5



From the visionary director of Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy II: The Golden Army takes you into fantastical worlds with imaginative creatures and thrilling fight sequences unlike anything you've ever seen before!

That overview is taken from the cover and unfortunately reveals more of the film than it may appear. Hellboy II is rather lazy overall and if not a cash-in, lacks the drive of the first film. I've always enjoyed Del Toro's "one for me, one for you" approach, but I'm not sure who this one was for exactly.

I likened Hellboy to a sitcom in certain moments and that was a good thing, humanizing the fantastic characters. Here it is even more like a sitcom and not in a good way. It's the One where Hellboy gets drunk! It's the One where he argues with Liz! It is funny and entertaining, but there's none of the weight the first one had. Still, this is the role Ron Perlman surely looks forward to the most because he is brilliant. Doug Jones takes full control of Abe (amongst others!) this time around for an expanded role and the relationship with Hellboy is great.

Maybe it would have still worked had the overall plot not have been so massive. For those of you who need more than the cover offers, it concerns a prince of the Underworld (Luke Goss) declaring war on our world and it's up to the paranormal team to stop it. As I said, big stuff, but crucially, it doesn't centre on Big Red like the first one did. In fact, there's an obvious plot-line where he is poisoned and this seems like a shoe-horned in attempt at bringing him in direct line of the main story.

If the set-piece nature of the story is less subtle this time around with half-arsed links between the fights, then at least those set-pieces are marvellous fun, especially the market place and the swarm. Plus the banter, sitcom or not, is very assured and funny. Johann is particularly brilliant and the all-too human agent from the first movie is missing, so we're fully immersed in fantasy land and it works better for it. Plus that makes Jeffrey Tambor's long-suffering boss even funnier. Luke Goss might feel like the odd-one out, but he is excellent, building on his superb performance in Del Toro's Blade II and it's a log way since Bros!

Roger Corman famously hijacked sets that were due to be demolished to churn out very fast b-movies. I can't help feel Del Toro has done the digital equivalent and found a bunch of models he forgot to use in Pan's Labyrinth and has cobbled together a sequel. Still, I can't quite be that cynical as there is too much evidence that he still has a great deal of love for the character and that does come through the screen, making for a wonderful piece of escapism at least. It's still much better than most of his peers. Perhaps it's fairer to say that after Pan's, he got a bit carried away and over-confident and forgot to make sure the central plot was rock solid.

(From Jon's Marathon of Horror! 2009 on November 1st, 2009)

Tom's TV Finales marathon, a review by Tom

[tom]702727132629f.jpg[/tom]

Azumanga Daioh (2002/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia ADV Films (United States) Length: 650 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

---

Plot:
In Miss Yukari's English class, every day is an adventure.

First off, there's the airhead teacher herself. She may have graduated from high school, but she sure hasn't left. And with the arrival of two transfer students - a ten-year-old prodigy and a space cadet - it's going to be an intersting class! Between handling enormous assignments, dodging murderous volleyballs, and eduring endless rivalries, summer vacation should serve as a welcome break for the weary student - unless your teachers come with you! Getting through three years alive with this motley crew is going to be an adventure!


Azumanga Daioh
Season 1.26 Graduation Ceremony 20.09.2002
Writer: Kiyohiko Azuma (Original Material By), Ichiro Okouchi (Screenwriter)
Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori, Toru Takahashi
Cast: Jessica Boone (Chiyo Mihama), Kira Vincent Davis (Ayumu Kasuga), Mandy Clark (Tomo Takino), Nancy Novotny (Koyomi Mizuhara), Christine Auten (Sakaki), Allison L. Sumrall (Kagura), Luci Christian (Yukari Tanizaki), Monica Rial (Minamo Kurosawa), Tiffany Grant (Kaorin), Hilary Haag (Chihiro), Andy McAvin (Kimura), John Swasey (Principal), Shelley Calene-Black (Announcer), Shelley Calene-Black (Additional Voice), Jessica Boone (Additional Voice), Luci Christian (Additional Voice), Mandy Clark (Additional Voice), Kira Vincent Davis (Additional Voice), donaldo (Additional Voice), Jason Douglas (Additional Voice), Hilary Haag (Additional Voice), Allison L. Sumrall (Additional Voice), John Swasey (Additional Voice), , Tomoko Kaneda (Chiyo Mihama), Yuki Matsuoka (Ayumu Kasuga), Chieko Higuchi (Tomo Takino), Rie Tanaka (Koyomi Mizuhara), Yuu Asakawa (Sakaki), Houko Kuwashima (Kagura), Akiko Hiramatsu (Yukari Tanizaki), Aya Hisakawa (Minamo Kurosawa), Sakura Nogawa (Kaorin), Akane Omae (Chihiro), Koji Ishii (Mr. Kimura), Mamoru Fujimoto (Principal), Naoki Yanagi (Male Student A), Hiroyuki Yoshino (Male Student B), Ryoko Nagata (Female Student A)

A great conclusion to the series. Throughout the 24 episodes we saw the girls going through their three years of Japanese high school. And in this episode they are graduating and it is fairly emotional. This episode suggests that the friendships they have built throughout this series will last even after everyone will go their separate ways.

And I really liked how true to the manga they stayed with this series, even though the manga was a four-panel comic strip and you wouldn't think it would be fitting for such a series.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Finales marathon on January 26th, 2013)