DVD Collectors Online

Me Without You, a review by goodguy

Me Without You (UK 2001) Written & Directed by: Sandra Goldbacher Starring: Anna Friel, Michelle Williams DVD: R2-UK Momentum (2002) My rating:

Cover blurb: ME WITHOUT YOU is a funny, moving and uplifting evocation of the 80s - decade of post-punk and protests - that will strike a chord with anyone who has ever lived through friendship and survived to tell the tale.
In a long, hot summer, Holly and Marina make a childhood pact to be friends forever. For the troubled and fiercely independent Marina (Anna Friel), determined to try everything, Holly (Michelle Williams) stays the only constant in a life of divorcing parents, experimental drugs and fashionable self-destruction. For Holly, Marina represents sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, a stark contrast to her own insecurity over her appearance and studious lifestyle.
As the years pass by, the girls experience all life has to offer - sex, love and loss - but the whole while Holly harbours a secret passion for Marina's brother Nat (Oliver Millburn). Will their friendship survive the truth to stand the test of time?

This is not a female buddy picture or a chick flick, but an honest and bittersweet look at a friendship that turns into something suffocating as the girls grow older. I already knew that Michelle Williams is a fine actress, but so far I had only seen her in supporting roles. Here she proves that she can also play the lead. Anna Friel, while having the slightly more difficult role, is equally great. Never saw her before, but I look forward to the arrival of my Pushing Daisies box.

DVD Note: Avoid the R1-US. It is slightly cut, has the wrong aspect ratio, and lacks the AC.


(From goodguy's Watch Log on August 31st, 2008)

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a review by KinkyCyborg

Title:Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Year: 1964
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Rating: PG
Length: 93 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.66:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, French: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: Spanish

Stars:
Peter Sellers
George C. Scott
Sterling Hayden
Keenan Wynn
James Earl Jones

Plot:
U.S. Air Force General Jack Ripper goes completely and utterly mad, and sends his bomber wing to destroy the U.S.S.R. He suspects that the communists are conspiring to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people. The U.S. president meets with his advisors, where the Soviet ambassador tells him that if the U.S.S.R. is hit by nuclear weapons, it will trigger a "Doomsday Device" which will destroy all plant and animal life on Earth.

Peter Sellers portrays the three men who might avert this tragedy: British Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, the only person with access to the demented Gen. Ripper; U.S. President Merkin Muffley, whose best attempts to divert disaster depend on placating a drunken Soviet Permier; and the former Nazi genious Dr. Strangelove, who concludes that "such a device would not be a practical deterrent for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious". Will the bombers be stopped in time, or will General Jack Ripper succeed in destroying the world ?

Extras:
Scene Access
Closed Captioned


Kubrick's brilliant comic take on nuclear Armageddon. First time watching it and it was great. George C. Scott's performance as the bubble gum chewing Buck Turgidson is a revelation.

Long before Eddie Murphy and his broken record comedy flicks, Peter Sellers was plying the art of multiple roles in film and each of his three characters in Strangelove were hilarious!

Slim Pickens riding the ICBM to the ground like a rodeo bull is one of the classic cinema scenes of all time. A young James Earl Jones plays the bombardier.

What is funny about this movie is that through about the first 30 to 40 minutes, before the slapstick elements appear, it plays out like a serious and accurate depiction of military procedure and protocol.

A must have in anyone's collection.

KC

Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on July 13th, 2010)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Millennium
Retired serial-profiler Frank Black has moved his family to Seattle to escape the violence and horror he dealt with while working for the FBI in Washington, D.C. Although his uncanny and often unsetting ability to see into the twisted minds of serial killers has caused him much inner torment, Black knows his "gift" can still be used to help protect and save others. For that reason he has joined the Millennium Group, a team of ex-law enforcement experts dedicated to fighting against the ever-growing forces of evil and darkness in the world.

Pilot
Frank hunts for a murderer trying to fulfill an apocalyptic prophercy and discovers that his own past has followed him and his family to there new home in Seattle.

My Thoughts:
This is a great series starring Lance Henriksen. The pilot episode sets up the series well. After watching the pilot episode I fell like I could watch entire series again. But I think I better put that one off a while.

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on April 20th, 2010)