DVD Collectors Online

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, a review by Antares

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011) 60/100 - How does one go into a remake of one of their top ten films? With trepidation, I assure you. I don't think there's ever been a better samurai film than Kobayashi's original Seppuku, and this is coming from a film fan who worships at the altar of Akira Kurosawa. At first I wondered what direction Miike would take. Would he make it more flashy, with a lot more swordplay or would he play it safe and follow the original frame by frame. For the most part, he chose the latter. And though it does reflect some of the feeling of the original, Miike stays with the parts of the screenplay that show case the misery the family endures after their clan has fallen from the grace of the Shogun. By dwelling a bit too long on this aspect, the film feels much lengthier than the 2 hour and 8 minute running time. Kobayashi's film clocked in at 2 hours, 14 minutes, but for me, it breezed by. Finally, a couple of choices made in the last act were misfires. Would I recommend it, lukewarmly if it's a person's first foray into samurai cinema. But if you've seen a few, then I say skip it.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on July 11th, 2020)

Salem's Lot (1979), a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Salem's Lot
Year: 1979
Director: Tobe Hooper
Rating: NR
Length: 183 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Mono
Subtitles: English, French

Stars:
David Soul as Ben Mears
James Mason as Richard K. Straker
Lance Kerwin as Mark Petrie
Bonnie Bedelia as Susan Norton
Lew Ayres as Jason Berk

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
I have loved this one since the first time I saw it back in my teen years. Of course this is an adaptation from the book that Stephen King wrote. Who of course is my favorite horror writer. For a movie that is just over 30 years old... this movie has some decent scares in it. I personally haven't been scared from it since I was a kid... but I do remember it would scare my wife every time we watched it. A couple of my favorite spooky parts in this movie is ..

   1. The kid vampire scratching at his friends window.... pleading with him to let him in.
   2. The grave digger rocking in the rocking chair... looks over at you and hisses at you with his eyes glowing

I am really enjoying watching this one again. As for comparing this one to the remake... that is something I don't normally like to do... but sometimes it is just too hard not to. I really like both versions... like them both  a lot! but I think I have to say I enjoy this one the most between the 2. I don't know why... but to me this one is a pure classic when it comes to vampire movies... it is one of the ones to beat!

Needless to say... this is one I would always highly recommend to any horror fan... and an absolute must see for any fan of vampire movies. Now... please lets see a dvd release of Return to Salem's Lot! It has been so long since I seen the sequel I can't remember anything other then it's existence.



(From Movies of the '70s Marathon on March 21st, 2010)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

1.01 Free Willie (1994-09-22)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Kathy Slevin (Writer), Paul Haggis (Writer)
Director: George Bloomfield
Cast: Paul Gross (Constable Benton Fraser), David Marciano (Detective Ray Vecchio), Beau Starr (Lt. Harding Welsh), Daniel Kash (Detective Louis Gardino), Tony Craig (Detective Jack Huey), Catherine Bruhier (Elaine), Christopher Babers (Willie Lambert), Ed Sahely (Hamlin), Christina Cox (Caroline Morgan), Domenic Cuzzocrea (Landlord), Djanet Sears (Public Defender), Elena Kudaba (Celeste), Todd Schroeder (Charles), Matt Birman (Donald), Michael Donaghue (Hugo)

A great first episode. All the other regular cast members are introduced, including Ray's beloved 1971 Buick Rivieras which will get blown up a few times.
I like the captain, also Elaine who falls for Fraser is fun.
A familiar face to me: One of the guest stars (Chistina Cox) starred in "Better than Chocolate", a movie I reviewed recently.


Rating:

(From "Due South" marathon on June 22nd, 2009)