DVD Collectors Online

Letter Never Sent, a review by Danae Cassandra

Letter Never Sent (Neotpravlennoye pismo)
Year of Release: 1959
Directed By: Mikhail Kalatozov
Starring: Innokenti Smoktunovsky, Tatiana Samoilova, Vasili Livanov, Yevgeni Urbansky
Genre: Drama

Overview:
The great Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov, known for his virtuosic, emotionally gripping films, perhaps never made a more visually astonishing one than Letter Never SentLetter Never Sent is a fascinating piece of cinematic history and a universal adventure of the highest order.

My Thoughts:
This is a visually striking film.  The cinematography is really, truly beautiful.  Absolutely stunning.  Each shot, each movement, is gorgeously composed, and you could hang stills in galleries next to art photography and not know they were from a film.  The camera work is very definitely the star here.

That doesn't mean that's all there is to this film.  The actors all give solid performances.  There's a real empathy you develop for the characters.  The story is straightforward, yes, but it's well told.  In one view the film reads as propaganda: the characters are very patriotic, cooperative, willing to make sacrifices for the good of their group and their country.  They're hopeful of freeing Russia from dependence upon imported diamonds with a discovery of their own.  Yet, there's also a subtle criticism I read in the film.  These people give up everything for the state, they believe in it with all their hearts, but all it brings them is loss and death.  The voice on the radio tells them that they are eagerly awaited back home (for their discovery) and later that rescue has been sent out,  ... yet it never arrives.  

Excellent film, beautiful cinematography, recommended for film aficionados.  A typically bleak Russian ending makes this probably not a good choice for the more general viewer, though.

Bechdel Test: Fail  

Overall: 4/5

(From Within My (Mom's) Lifetime Marathon on September 19th, 2015)

Stephen King's Cat's Eye, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Stephen King's Cat's Eye
Year: 1985
Director: Lewis Teague
Rating: PG-13
Length: 94 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Drew Barrymore as Our Girl
James Woods as Morrison
Alan King as Dr. Donatti
Kenneth McMillan as Cressner
Robert Hays as Norris

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Trailers
Production Notes
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
This is one of the first Anthology movies I ever seen... and one of my favorites. In my opinion a real horror classic! I loved how the cat in the beginning of the movie is shown running past other Stephen King greats... like.. seeing the cat getting scared by Cujo coming out from behind a fence and almost getting run over by Christine. This Anthology had 3 stories to it... and in this case I really enjoyed all 3 of them. I definitely recommend this movie to any horror fan!



Reviewed: Oct. 23, 2006

(From What Movies I Been Watching on January 31st, 2010)

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

17. Inside Out
Original Air Date: 4/2/2003
Desperate to find out why Cordelia has turned to the dark side, Angel goes to demon Skip for answers. Forcing the truth out of him, Angel learns that all that's transpired, Connor's birth, Cordelia's ascension to the higher plane, Angel turning into Angelus and Cordelia's pregnancy, were all a part of a higher being's plan to create something even more powerful than itself.

Guest Stars:
Gina Torres
David Denman
Stephi Lineburg
Julie Benz

My Thoughts:
Another right good episode. We even get to see Darla and the demon Skip again. And everything is pretty much tied up in this episode to reveal the answer to any questions from this season to this point.

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on March 20th, 2010)