DVD Collectors Online

Rush Hour, a review by addicted2dvd

Rush Hour


My Thoughts:
All the sudden I found myself in the mood for Jackie Chan's style of martial arts and comedy combination. That mixed with the hilarious Chris Tucker and you know you have yourself a winner. I found myself laughing through out this entire movie. Beyond the comedy and the martial arts... this movie has a really good storyline. Even though I have seen this movie before... I found myself glued to the seat... not being able to take my eyes off all the fun. Definitely a winner here! Another thing that I really enjoyed on this movie... like on most (if not all) of Jackie Chan movies... during the end credits you are treated to a blooper reel. Yup... even more fun and laughs. This DVD is part of the New Line Platinum Series... so you are also treated to a load of extras as well.

(From Weekend Movie Marathon: 7/4 - 7/6 on July 4th, 2008)

Yabu no naka no kuroneko, a review by Danae Cassandra

Yabu no naka no kuroneko  (Kuroneko)

Year of Release:  1968
Directed By:  Kaneto Shindo
Starring:  Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kiwako Taichi, Kei Sato 
Rated:  Not Rated

Overview:
In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn feudal Japan, malevolent spirits are ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is dispatched to confront the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle with personal demons as well. From Kaneto Shindo, director of the similarly terrifying Onibaba, Kuroneko (a.k.a. Black Cat) is a spectacularly eerie twilight tale, with a shocking feminist angle, evoked through ghostly special effects and exquisite cinematography.

My Thoughts:
What a magnificent film!  The cinematography is so perfect, so gorgeous, the unconventional use of lighting, the play of darkness and shadow in the film, the eerie fog that heralds entering the supernatural realm.  The look of the film and its atmosphere are so wonderfully done, the use of black and white so appropriate that I can't imagine what this would look like in color.  The actors are all great as well.  Poetic, tragic, symbolic, chilling, I would highly recommend this for any fan of classic or Japanese horror.  Avoid only if you can't watch a subtitled film (in which case, I feel sorry for you).  Any other horror film I watch this month has a high bar set by Kuroneko.

Bechdel Test:  Fail

Overall:  4.75/5

(From Danae's 2012 Horror on October 8th, 2012)

Doctor Who Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Spearhead from Space. Even back then the NC used window dummies, the Autons.

My Opinion: I don't really remember what I thought about all this when I first watched it but I am a fan of Farscape as well, so wacky sci-fi doesn't bother me.
Upon rewatch I still like the episode, it's a good (re)pilot. The characters are very well introduced (except maybe for Mickey) and can portray both the seriousness as well as the humour ("There's a strange man in my bed").

My guess is that Mickey was supposed to be a one-off character who was supposed to show why it was easy for Rose to leave it all behind and start travelling with the Doctor. Well, he grew out of it.

While I was slightly familiar with Eccleston (he played the invisible man on Heroes' first season) the only person I truly knew was Rose's mum (Camille Coduri) because she played John Goodman's love interest in a guilty pleasure favourite of mine: King Ralph (also starring: Peter O'Toole, John Hurt and Richard Griffiths).

In hindsight and through knowing more about Doctor Who as a show I love how they mix modern CGI special effects with their classic foes like the ridiculously looking Autons.

(From Doctor Who Marathon on January 4th, 2014)