DVD Collectors Online

Angel Heart, a review by Rich

Title: Angel Heart

Movie Count:22  
TV Ep. Count:15  

Runtime:108
Certificate:18
Year:1987
Genres:Horror, Suspense/Thriller

Plot:Alan Parker's brilliantly imaginative thriller Angel Heart is re-born on DVD for the Director's Chair Collection.
The film, packed with stunning images, jaw-dropping scenes and superb performances from Robert De Niro and Mickey Rourke, is a fusion of two genres - the classic Chandleresque detective story and the supernatural.
Harry Angel is hired for $125 a day to track down the big band swinger Johnny Favourite. What seems like a straight-forward missing person case dramatically becomes a murder hunt for this down-and-out private detective. His client, Louis Cyphe, a mysterious stranger, is forced to up his fee to keep Angel on the case.
Each of Angel's leads ends up as a victim of a ritualistic act of murder, as he begins to put together the pieces in the jigsaw of Johnny's strange story... the nightmare has just begun.

My Review:
Having been slightly underwhelmed after watching this on TV, following so many good reviews, I approached this to give it a second chance.
Again however my mind has not changed, it is a good film, but it is in no way great.
Dark, oppressive and brooding, with wonderful imagery and direction, the deep South comes alive on your screen with New Orleans in particular portrayed as a sweaty, mysteriuos city full of imaginitive characters. DeNiro does not appear much in the film, but the scenes with him and Rourke are hypnotically sinister and mesmeric. For Rourke, definately a great performance from an actor who lost his way career-wise, a role seemingly made for him.
The sex scene with Lisa Bonnet is infamous, but personally I didn't find it too disturbing or in the least shocking?
An imaginitive private eye whodunnit with sinister undertones, slow-going in places, but with enough twists to maintain full attention, the whole film was slightly spoilt by such an obvious and frankly laughable ending.




(From Rich's October Horror Fest on October 19th, 2009)

Rear Window, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Rear Window: Collector's Edition
Year: 1954
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: PG
Length: 114 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.66:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Mono, French: Dolby Digital: Mono
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
James Stewart
Grace Kelly
Wendell Corey
Thelma Ritter
Raymond Burr
Judith Evelyn

Plot:
None of Hitchcock's films has ever given a clearer view of his genius for suspense than Rear Window. When professional photographer J.B "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined to a wheelchair with a broken leg, he becomes obsessed with watching the private dramas of his neighbors play out across the courtyard. When he suspects a salesman may have murdered his nagging wife, Jeffries enlists the help of his glamorous socialite girlfriend (Grace Kelly) to investigate the highly suspicious chain of events...Events that ultimately lead to one of the most memorable and gripping endings in all of film history.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Featurettes
Gallery
Production Notes
DVD-ROM Content

My Thoughts:
This is the second time I watched this movie within the 9 months that I owned it. Before buying it  I have never seen it before. Since I knew the ending this time I was afraid I wouldn't like it as much the second time around... but that just wasn't the case. I enjoyed this awesome movie just as much this time as last... if not more so. So I will just repeat here what I said the last time.

Being fairly new to the classics I am not too familiar with any of the people involved in making this movie. But from what I have seen so far I do enjoy the work of Alfred Hitchcock as well as Jimmy Stewert. But I am almost embarrassed to say that this is the first thing I ever seen Grace Kelly in. After watching it the first thing I want to say is Wow! that Grace Kelly was more then adorable. She was one gorgeous (and at least going by this movie talented) lady. Rear Window is a fantastic movie. It had me glued to my seat for the entire movie. Sure there was some scenes in it that was a little on the slow side... but you know... it worked for this movie. It may have had some slow scenes... but they were still interesting. I have seen this story told over and over again in different movies and TV show episodes. But this is the first (now second) time I ever seen the original movie. And I must say... I can see why it gets so much homage. The story is great... everyone involved did a wonderful job... this movie deserves the right to be called a true classic. If there is anyone else like me here that has never seen this movie before I highly recommend it.



(From Addicted2DVD's Classic Movie Reviews on May 12th, 2010)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl: Staffel 1 (1982/Germany) IMDb | Wikipedia (Germany) Length: 630 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 1 Subtitles:

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Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl
Season 1.01 Spuk in der Werkstatt
Writer: )
Director:
Cast: Gustl Bayrhammer (Meister Eder), Hans Clarin (Pumuckl (voice))

A childhood favorite of mine. And a TV series which can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. Still 40 years later, it really holds up and is a joy to watch as an adult. Also something my son enjoys.
It is a show about a cobold, who is stuck to live with an old man (Eder) in his workshop. It is a mix between animation (Pumuckl) and live-action (everything else). And for a forty year old German TV show this mix holds up suprisingly well.
I like how Eder and Pumuckl are immediate friends. In my memory Pumuckl always annoyed Eder, but that isn't so. Eder is really happy to have Pumuckl as a companion. And Pumuckl really respects Eder and mostly listens to him.



(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on February 21st, 2022)