DVD Collectors Online

Cube, a review by addicted2dvd

Cube


My Thoughts:
I first popped in this movie for my Gore-Fest Marathon because I remembered the opening scene... which is rather gory and fits the bill. Unfortunately there was only a couple such scenes in this movie. For the most part this movie is not really that gory. At least not to the point of inclusion of such a marathon. If I would have remembered that I would have picked another movie. But with that said... this is a favorite of mine. As I said it does have some gore to it... but it has much more then that... this movie shows what people are capable of in the name of survival. And you better believe... some of it is not pretty. Another thing I really enjoyed in this movie... it was my first introduction to Nicole DeBoer... an actress I quickly became a fan of.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Gore-Fest on June 14th, 2009)

Serenity, a review by Tom

Title: Serenity
Year: 2005
Director: Joss Whedon
Rating: 15
Length: 119 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: DTS HD Master Audio, Spanish: DTS 5.1, French: DTS 5.1, Japanese: DTS 5.1, French: DTS 5.1, German: DTS 5.1, Italian: DTS 5.1, Spanish: DTS 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround, Commentary: Other, Commentary: Other
Subtitles: Chinese, Commentary, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

Stars:
Nathan Fillion
Gina Torres
Alan Tudyk
Morena Baccarin
Adam Baldwin

Plot:Awards:

Empire Magazine Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Newcomer	Nathan Fillion
Empire Magazine Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Hugo Award	2006	Won	Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Science Fiction Film
Saturn	2005	Won	Best Supporting Actress	Summer Glau
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Sci-Fi Movie

Extras:
BD-Live
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Outtakes
PiP
Scene Access

In preparation for watching this movie I have watched the complete Firefly series for the first time these last few days. Of course being a big Buffy fan and also a Sci-Fi fan, I had given this series a chance when it first aired. But I had stopped watching after the first three or four episodes because it just didn't click for me. I am not a fan of western and I didn't like the western setting this series chose to do.
Now having giving this series a second chance, I must admit that I enjoyed it. Although still not keen on the western setting, it did work well in this series. As a matter of fact, it hardly feels like a science fiction series, it is just set on a spaceship. Great exchange in the last episode:
Wash: "It sounds like science fiction"
Zoe: "Honey, you are living on a spaceship"
Wash: "And your point being?"
So I can definately recommend this series to Western fans.

I love how the series has a real life feel to it instead of some futuristic feeling to it. I especially liked the Serenity set. It just really feels like a "lived-in" ship. And the characters were fun also (and you definately see that the actors had fun doing this series). I also like the fact that the series had the guts to do a soundless space, even with action scenes in space.
As I said, this series had a great ensemble cast, which were used very well. Sadly they didn't get around to really start the River storyline. Which brings us to the Serenity movie.

As I hoped, the movie finally brings the River storyline to the foreground. What started slowly building up in the series, is just now fully there.
The movie starts of great, though then it felt to me more like the standard sci-fi fare. Almost gone is the western ambiente, this movie feels more like the standard science fiction movie. This is how I originally hoped the Firefly series to be, but now I just feel like it missed capturing the series.
Also I don't feel like this movie is a good place to start. There is no introduction to the characters. It just continues on where the series left off. Good for the fans of the series, bad for the casual movie audience.
Besides River the other characters just don't seem to recapture the series. It was not obviously out-of-character, but they feel more one-dimensional here. In my opinion the captain was the most out-of-character. He was more the captain like Joss Whedon originally imagined him (if I go by what they said in the making of of the Firefly set), and not really the same as Nathan Fillion made him out to be in the series.
I also didn't like the fact .

Though it sounds like I didn't enjoy this movie all that much, this isn't correct. I liked it, but I would have liked it more if they followed more the spirit of the series. More drama than action. I give this four stars, but barely.

One thing I forgot to mention: I love the theme song of the series. It just captures the mood of the series perfectly.

Rating:

(From Serenity on February 17th, 2010)

Angel Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Angel tries to find out how a youth shelter is connected to Wolfram & Hart. As it turns out, W&H is hosting a charity party for the shelter, but they intend to keep a great deal of the collected money for themselves.

My Opinion: Nice trap that Lindsey walked into. And I, too, think the question is important: How ethical is it to take money from dubious sources and use it for god purposes. At least in this case the money is "clean" because W&H couldn't take any of it.

Synopsis: A young physicist works on a formula that can "freeze time". But he has - without his knowledge - help from demons who have other plans with that invention.

My Opinion: What bugged me in this episode - or rather in Angel in general - is the mingling of demon world and human world. The demons are so obvious that nobody should be surprised anymore that they exist. Sunnydale was directly over a hellmouth but even there the humans had their bar and the demons had another. There hasn't been a demon that walks into a human bar and the barkeep says that he usually serves only vampires disguised as humans.

Synopsis: Angel and the other work separately on the same case: A group of cops is out there who arrest and beat up youths with no obvious reason. And they even keep talking after they got beheaded.

My Opinion: There's nothing better than a nice group of zombies. But it is obvious again that good intentions don't necessarily result in good deeds.

Synopsis: Angel learns that one of the senior partners of W&H plans to visit the firm. But this "senior partner" is a demon from a hell dimension. Angel plans to kill him and the other partners.

My Opinion: This episode was really depressing, especially the end and the lift to the "home office".

(From Angel Marathon on February 17th, 2008)