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Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, a review by addicted2dvd

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011/United States) Trailer |IMDb |Wikipedia | Warner Home Video Director: Stephen Daldry Writing: Eric Roth (Screenwriter), Jonathan Safran Foer (Original Material By) Length: 129 min. Rating: Rated PG-13 : Emotional Thematic Material, Some Disturbing Images and Language Video: Widescreen 2.40:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Thai: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Spanish, Thai

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Stars:
Tom Hanks as Thomas Schell
Thomas Horn as Oskar Schell
Sandra Bullock as Linda Schell
Zoe Caldwell as Oskar's Grandmother
Dennis Hearn as Minister
Paul Klementowicz as Homeless Man

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Featurettes
• Digital Copy

I decided to watch this one today in honor of Sandra Bullock's birthday. As most of you know... I am a huge fan of hers. Though she doesn't have a huge part in this film... as most the film follows around their son. While I found this to be a very good film. It is also very slow. And I did feel my attention to go elsewhere at times. But it kept my attention for the most part. It is definitely one I think is worth checking out.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: The Blu-ray Experience on July 26th, 2013)

Soul Surfer, a review by Dragonfire

Soul Surfer tells the story of teenage surfer Bethany Hamilton.  She survived a shark attack that took her arm and she returned to competitive surfing.  I hadn't realized a movie was being made about what happened before seeing the trailers.  I do remember hearing the news reports about it when it happened.

The movie starts off introducing Bethany, her family, and best friend.  It is clear how much surfing is a part of her life and a competition is shown.  The shark attack is shown, though not in a lot of detail.  I think the way it was shown worked well.  It is clear that she has been attacked and seriously injured without being gory.  The fact that she survived is amazing.  She has an incredibly good attitude about what has happened to her overall, though she does have moments when she struggles with it.  She is still in the hospital when she talks about wanting to go surfing again.  I can't imagine setting one toe in the ocean again after seeing a shark, let alone after being attacked.  I should probably mention that I have...issues about sharks.  I do have a fear of sharks even though I don't live near the ocean - I saw one of the Jaws movies too many times when I was younger.  In some ways, the shark attack in this movie freaks me out more than the more graphic shark attacks in other movies I've seen.  Bethany and the people she were with weren't doing anything.  There was no sign of the shark.  It just lunged up out of the water and attacked her with no warning.  That is scary.  I read some stuff about the movie and evidently some scenes were filmed in the same spot where the attack happened.

The movie does deal with things tied to Bethany's recovery and how she and her family dealt with some things.  It took time for Bethany to be able to surf again.  The movie is very entertaining and interesting, though there is some bad dialogue every so often.  The cast does well with their parts, especially AnnaSophia Robb as Bethany, though she is several years older than Bethany was when she was attacked.  Bethany was only 13 when that happened.  She is professional surfer now.

The movie has a beautiful look in many scenes.  Bethany lives in Hawaii and that is where the movie was filmed.  The beaches look gorgeous.  The scenes showing the surfing are well done.  There are some amazing shots that I don't have a clue how they were filmed. 

The movie has a few issues, but overall it is really good and definitely worth seeing.  Bethany's survival and recovery is amazing.  When the movie is over, there is footage of the real Bethany surfing, before and after the accident.  One of her brothers filmed a lot of home movies, and that is where a lot of the footage came from.  The movie is definitely worth watching.



I did get a review posted after seeing the movie.

Soul Surfer


(From Soul Surfer on May 8th, 2011)

My PILOT Marathon, a review by Rich

Farscape - Season 1

Premiere (48:05)
We start on Earth and meet John Crichton and his father. During John's experimental space flight, he is sucked into a wormhole and transported to the far reaches of the galaxy. After being dragged aboard a large and strange craft, he is injected with translator microbes giving him the ability to understand what the strange aliens he finds on board are saying to him. At first what he hears is probably not quite what he expected. Using the theory that he was working on back at Earth, he and the others escape their pursers and run to the uncharted territories.



An astronaut testing an experimental space craft is catapulted into another dimension in space. Chased by the maniacal leader, John Crichton battles against all the odds to get back to Earth.

Again a series purchased for my kids several years ago, I must admit to being pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this premiere. The characters are introduced well and were interesting, the budget looks and feels respectable in terms of production, sets and special effects, and there is a major 'must see next episode' ending to this which will force me to watch more.
There were little touches of comedy, a freshness in the writing, and enough differences to other sci-fi series to make it original.
Difficult to make a huge judgement on just a pilot, but based on this I am impressed.
 

(From My PILOT Marathon on September 11th, 2009)