DVD Collectors Online

Tarantula!, a review by GSyren

Title	Tarantula! (5-050582-409741)
Director	Jack Arnold
Actors	John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll, Nestor Paiva, Ross Elliott
Produced	1955 in United States
Runtime	77 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital Mono, German Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles	Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish
Overview	When a tarantula, which has been injected with a special nutrient formula, escapes from a scientist's laboratory, it grows into a 100-foot beast that menaces the Arizona countryside. Professor Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll) has been working on a special nutrient to help ease a predicted food shortage that is expected to come with the increase in human population. His experiments have been moderately successful but there have been some failures as a result. One day while he is gone, two of his colleagues inject themselves with the nutrient with disastrous results and die a few days later. One however goes mad and injects Deemer with the formula. During a struggle, a giant tarantula injected with the formula escapes its cage and grows even larger and starts to attack cattle as well as human beings.
My thoughts	Having recently watched Bert I. Gordons [Earth vs.] The Spider, I felt it was time to re-watch the other 50's spider movie, TarantulaTarantula is a better film than The Spider. In The Spider there is no explanation for the appearance of the big spider. In Tarantula it's a genetic experiment gone wrong. In both films the spider is very hard to kill, but in Tarantula the weapon that finally kills it  is at least believable. Tarantula has better actors than The SpiderTarantula is not really that scary. As a film monster, that is. If I had actually met it in real life I would certainly have felt differently. No chance of that, fortunately. How about the victims? How scary are they? Well, in Tarantula we don't see much of its victims. They are all just bones. Not that scary to see. The scares in Tarantula comes from the effect that the growth hormone has on people. Why it affects people so differently from how it affects animals is never really explained. What The Spider does to people looks scary, though: Tarantula has one of Clint Eastwood's first film appearances in a bit part as an air force pilot. Interesting, but certainly not memorable. John Agar is... well, he is John Agar. He had a few good roles under his belt, but he never became a star. Leo G. Carroll was always dependable is supporting roles, and this is no exception. Another fine character actor, Nestor Paiva, plays the sheriff. But a fine cast can't really save a somewhat lackluster script. Still, enjoyable if you like these old B-movie type films. I do. See this blog entry for more on The Spider vs. Tarantula.
My rating

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on March 13th, 2014)

Tooth Fairy, a review by addicted2dvd

Tooth Fairy
A bad deed on the part of a tough minor-league hockey player results in an unusual sentence: He must serve one week as a real-life tooth fairy.

Stars:
Dwayne Johnson
Ashley Judd
Stephen Merchant
Julie Andrews

My Thoughts:
This is the first one Britt and I decided to watch together. It is one of the movies my brother downloaded for us to watch together. It is a Disney movie starring Dwayne Johnson as a reluctant Tooth Fairy. I went into this one with some doubts. But I must admit... there was quite a few laughs in it. Definitely worth the time put into it. I will have to add this one to my DVD collection when I can.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Anything Goes on February 25th, 2010)

My PILOT Marathon, a review by Rich

Title: Sledge Hammer!: Season One

Certificate:NR
Year:1986


Plot:In the fall of 1986, an unsuspecting TV nation met a new kind of comedy hero who made Rambo look like Pee Wee Herman. David Rasche starred as the trigger-happy lawman whose hatred of criminal scum and yogurt eatin' creeps was matched only by his love of excessive force and a .44 Magnum. Over the next two seasons, this hilariously deranged lampoon of DIRTY HARRY and plenty of other targets became one of the most notorious series in television history and launched a rabid cult of fans that grows to this day. This is SLEDGE HAMMER!

The complete first season of SLEDGE HAMMER! is now newly re-mastered (including removal of the laugh track) and loaded with an arsenal of exclusive extras that features uncensored footage, all-new interviews with stars David Rasche, Harrison Page and Anne-Marie Martin, audio commentaries and more, all given the "Hammer" seal of approval by Series Creator & Executive Producer Alan Spencer.

Episode List:
1. Under the Gun (Pilot)

My Review:
Great series that begins with this pilot as it meant to carry on, slapstick and stupid, Naked Gun meets Dirty Harry.
The pilot deals with the introduction of Sledge and the gorgeous Dori Doreau, and despite being over 20 years old it feels current in its style and laughter inducers. It takes the piss out of many cop shows, and in Sledge you get a comical hero that you have to love.
Belly laughed all the way through this opener, and it took me back to when we used to view this series on ITV late on Friday nights  after the pub.
 

(From My PILOT Marathon on September 29th, 2009)