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My Neighbours The Yamadas, a review by dfmorgan

Title: My Neighbours The Yamadas
Original Title: Houhokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun
Year: 1999
Director: Isao Takahata
Rating: PG
Length: 104 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Japanese: Dolby Digital: 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Yukiji Asaoka
Toru Masuoka
Masako Araki
Hayato Isohata
Naomi Uno

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Bonus Trailers
Featurettes
Storyboard Comparisons
Closed Captioned



A very weird film. Based on a popular manga this is a series of vignettes very much in the comic-strip style of Andy Capp, The Perishers, FoxTrot, Blondie and many, many others. The style takes some getting used to, apparently this was the first film from Studio Ghibli to be produced entirely on computer as Isao Takahata did not want the traditional look and feel of cel animation. As to be expected with a film of this concept some of the vignettes work better than others, one of my favourites is when Mr. Yamada is 'watching the baseball' and Mrs. Yamada wants to watch a movie. The ballet between them as Mrs. Yamada tries to use the zapper to chanage the channel and Mr. Yamada blocks with his newspaper is well executed and nicely choreographed.

I did enjoy this to a degree, some bits worked some didn't so a 3

(From dfmorgan's Studio Ghibli Marathon on August 1st, 2010)

Idle Hands, a review by Tom

Idle Hands (1999/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Columbia TriStar Home Video (United Kingdom) Director: Rodman Flender Writing: Terri Hughes (Original Material By), Ron Milbauer (Original Material By), Suzanne Todd (Original Material By) Length: 88 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Turkish

---

Stars:
Devon Sawa as Anton Tobias
Seth Green as Mick
Elden Henson as Pnub
Jessica Alba as Molly
Vivica A. Fox as Debi LeCure

Plot:
The Devil will find work for idle hands to do... But what happens when he chooses the laziest teen slacker in the world to do his dirty work?

Anton Tobias (Devon Sawa, WILD AMERICA) is a channel-surfing, junk-food munching, couch potato burn-out who can't control the murderous impulses of his recently possessed hand. With the help of his zombiefied buddies, Mick (Seth Green - AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME) and Pnub (Elden Henson - THE MIGHTY), Anton's got to stop the rampaging devil appendage before it takes total control of his life and ruins any chance he has with class hottie Molly (Jessica Alba - NEVER BEEN KISSED). Vivica A. Fox (INDEPENDENCE DAY) and Jack Noseworthy (THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE) co-star in this wickedly funny horror comedy.

Awards:
Nominated:

Saturn (1999)		Best Performance by a Younger Actor (Devon Sawa)
Teen Choice Awards (1999)		Film - Most Disgusting Scene (Devon Sawa)

Extras:

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Production Notes
• Scene Access
• Storyboard Comparisons
• Trailers

A fun horror comedy. It came to my attention because of Seth Green. Also Jessica Alba has an early role here. That movie was the first time I saw her in anything. When Dark Angel came out, I associated her still as the hot girl from Idle Hands.

Rating:

(From Tom's Horror Marathon 2012 on October 4th, 2012)

Pilot Season 2014-15, a review by DJ Doena

Undateable



Undateable @ Wikipedia
Undateable @ IMDb

Synopsis: Danny's (stand-up comedian Chris D'Elia) old roommate is buried, err, married now and he's looking for a new one.
That's when he invites the Black Eyes Bar owner Justin to live with him.
Except that Justin is not what you'd expect when you think of someone who owns a bar. He's very shy and serious and Danny on the other hand is a man-child.
Now it's Danny's mission in life to teach Justin and his lovable loser friends the art of speaking to women (and in one case, to men).

My Opinion: I like the guys. Even though they are portrayed as weird and losers, they are not the butt of the joke. They are just different.
They are not nerds but they do remind me of the early seasons of The Big Bang Theory.
I didn't even remember that until I rewatched the pilot yesterday evening but this sitcom does come with a laugh track though I think it's not as loud and obnoxious as with other shows.
I still don't get why this concept hasn't abandoned yet. I decide when I think something's funny or not, I do not need a sarcasm laugh sign.
But maybe it's because you can't completely mute it out since most shows like this are recorded in front of an audience - but then I'm wondering why they are laughing after just about every sentence, funny or not.

One of the female characters is portrayed by Briga Heelan who's acting in another small comedy series I really like, Ground Floor.



Ground Floor:



(From Pilot Season 2014-15 on September 7th, 2014)