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Thunderball, a review by Antares

Thunderball





Year: 1965
Film Studio:
Genre: Action, Adventure, Suspense/Thriller
Length: 125 Min.

Director
Terence Young (1915)

Writing
Richard Maibaum (1909)...Screenplay
John Hopkins (1931)...Screenplay
Jack Whittingham (1910)...Original Screenplay
Kevin McClory (1926)...Original Story
Jack Whittingham (1910)...Original Story
Ian Fleming (1908)...Original Story

Producer
Kevin McClory (1926)

Cinematographer
Ted Moore (1914)

Music
John Barry (1933)...Composer

Stars
Sean Connery (1930) as James Bond
Claudine Auger (1941) as Domino Derval
Adolfo Celi (1922) as Emilio Largo
Luciana Paluzzi (1937) as Fiona Volpe
Rik Van Nutter (1929) as Felix Leiter
Guy Doleman (1923) as Count Lippe
Molly Peters (1942) as Patricia Fearing
Martine Beswick (1941) as Paula Caplan

ReviewDr. NoFrom Russia with LoveGoldfinger that the series reached its creative zenith. Everything that is associated with the Bond character was finally in place by the third films release; the gadgets, the car, and of course the women. But it would be with the fourth venture in the canon that the would take their place alongside Connery as the primary enticements for the viewer, both male and female.

       After the success of Goldfinger, the world was clamoring for more of their favorite secret agent. By 1965, the Bond character had seen many pale comparisons and imitators in both film and television, yet Sean Connery still remained ahead of the pack. Thunderball would be his fourth outing with the shaken, not stirred martini and sadly, the last time he truly gave it his all. He would star in three more ventures, but mainly for the paycheck. Although the story lacked the punch of the Goldfinger screenplay, it more than made up for this shortcoming by giving us the best of the Goldfinger in the eyes of most Bond fans. Two years later, the release of You Only Live Twice, would send Connery into the first of his Ratings Criterion

(From Thunderball (1965) on February 28th, 2010)

The Lost Boys, a review by Antares

The Lost Boys (1978) 2.5/5 - A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon the film Finding Neverland on HDNet. It told a rather fanciful and creative tale of the author J.M.Barrie, and his relationship with five brothers growing up in England around the turn of the 20th century. The boys would be the basis for the creation of Barrie's most famous work, Peter Pan. When I wrote that review, I mentioned that I had never read the book, nor seen the famous Disney film. But due to its rather creative way of the spinning its story, had completely absorbed me. After I watch something that is based upon an historical character, I always find myself scouring the web, to get more in depth knowledge of said character. When I perused many articles about Barrie and his relationship with the Llewellyn Davies brothers, I kept reading about a BBC mini-series which chronicled the same story as Finding Neverland. That film had a more dubious reputation when it came to the historical accuracy of its story, but had been such a delight to watch, that I forgave it for its shortcomings in the truth department. The Lost Boys

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 8th, 2012)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Year: 2006
Director:
Rating: NR
Length: 350 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0, English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English

Extras:
The Adventures of the ASOS Brigade
Trailers
Original TV Broadcast Previews

This series is about a girl, Haruhi, who acts like the whole world revolves around her. What she doesn't know, it probably does. Three years ago she wished herself, that there would be things like aliens, time-travellors and ESPers (psycics) in her world for her to meet. Because of this wish, these things do exist. As a matter of fact, the school club she has founded (which goal is to find aliens, time-travellors and ESPers), has an alien, a time-travellor and an ESPer in it and she doesn't notice it. The job of these individuals is to make sure, that Haruhi is happy with the world as it is and is not bored with it. You never know, what she would wish next otherwise. Maybe the end of the world?

This series is really funny. Especially how forceful Haruhi is with her fellow club members. It is told from the point of view of the only "ordinary" member of her school club "SOS Brigate" (Spreading Excitement All Over the World with Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade) who narrates the story.
This series enjoys a huge cult following in Japan. Even so far, that fans are doing the dance which appears during the end credits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXO0Baqzme4

What I find disappointing with the DVD release though (and that is not necessarily the fault of the US publisher, because it also was this way with the Japanese DVD release), that they are using the chronological order of the episodes and not the order they were aired. Originally the main story arc was told in six episodes spread out over the season with single self-contained stories in-between (which happen after the main story). But on the DVD they start with an episode which is totally different from the rest of the series (Episode 0) which shows a "movie" the main character have made. It's a little strange going in, but after getting to know the character during the rest of the series, this episode has a lot charm to it. After it they bring the main story's six episodes. Which ends with a nice emotional conclusion. Then after that they bring the rest of the episodes with single story lines which go nowhere particular and therefore the season ends on a low note.
But nevertheless it is totally worth to watch.

Rating:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZeV1GkYurc

(From Tom's Random Reviews on September 1st, 2008)