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Star Wars, a review by Tom

Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (1977/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (Germany) Director: George Lucas Writing: George Lucas (Writer) Length: 125 min. Video: Widescreen 2.39 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, Italian: DTS 5.1, German: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English, German, Italian, Commentary

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Stars:
Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford as Han Solo
Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa
Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin
Alec Guinness as Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi

Plot:Awards:
Won:

Academy Award (1977)		Best Art Direction (John Barry, Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley (Art Direction), Roger Christian (Set Decoration))
Academy Award (1977)		Best Costume Design (John Mollo)
Academy Award (1977)		Best Film Editing (Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas, Richard Chew)
Academy Award (1977)		Best Music, Original Score (John Williams)
Academy Award (1977)		Best Sound (Donald MacDougall, Ray West, Bob Minkler, Derek Ball)
Academy Award (1977)		Best Visual Effects (John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune, Robert Blalack)
Academy Award (1977)		Special Achievement Award (Benjamin Burtt Jr. (Creation of the alien/creature/robot voices featured in 'Star Wars'))
BAFTA (1978)		Anthony Asquith Award For Original Film Music (John Williams)
Golden Globe (1977)		Original Score (John Williams)
Grammy Awards (1978)		Best Album of Original Score written for a Motion Picture or Television Special (John Williams)
Hugo Award (1978)		Dramatic Presentation
Saturn (1977)		Best Costumes (John Mollo)
Saturn (1977)		Best Director (George Lucas)
Saturn (1977)		Best Makeup (Rick Baker, Stuart Freeborn)
Saturn (1977)		Best Music (John Williams)
Saturn (1977)		Best Science Fiction Film
Saturn (1977)		Best Special Effects (John Dykstra, John Stears)
Saturn (1977)		Best Supporting Actor (Alec Guinness)
Saturn (1977)		Best Writing (George Lucas)
Saturn (1977)		Outstanding Art Direction (Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley)
Saturn (1977)		Outstanding Cinematographer (Gilbert Taylor)
Saturn (1977)		Outstanding Editing (Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas, Richard Chew)
Saturn (1977)		Outstanding Sound (Ben Burtt, Donald MacDougall, Sam F. Shaw)
Saturn (1977)		Outstanding Television Performance (Jonathan Harris)

Nominated:

Academy Award (1977)		Best Director (George Lucas)
Academy Award (1977)		Best Picture (Gary Kurtz (Producer))
Academy Award (1977)		Best Supporting Actor (Alec Guinness)
Academy Award (1977)		Best Writing, Original Screenplay (George Lucas)
American Cinema Editors Awards (1978)		Best Edited Feature Film (Richard Chew, Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas)
BAFTA (1978)		Film Editing (Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas, Richard Chew)
British Society of Cinematographers Awards (1977)		Best Cinematography Award (Gil Taylor)
Directors Guild of America (1978)		Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (George Lucas)
Golden Globe (1977)		Actor in a Supporting Role (Alec Guinness)
Golden Globe (1977)		Director (George Lucas)
Golden Globe (1977)		Picture - Drama (Gary Kurtz)
Saturn (1977)		Best Actor (Harrison Ford)
Saturn (1977)		Best Actor (Mark Hamill)
Saturn (1977)		Best Actress (Carrie Fisher)
Saturn (1977)		Best Supporting Actor (Peter Cushing)
Writers Guild of America Awards (1978)		Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen (George Lucas)

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Commentary
• Trailers
• Photo Gallery
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Interviews

This was now the first time, that I have shown my son this movie. He is going to be seven years old soon. I "prepared" him for Star Wars with the Nintendo Switch game "Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga". We started the game with the chapter for this movie (the order of the story how it is supposed to be watched ). We finished recently the first part of the game which covers this movie. And he is a big fan of the Star Wars LEGO sets.
So I tried to show him this movie in the hope he will enjoy it. He managed it in one sitting
And he enjoyed it the whole way through. And I also still enjoy this movie quite a lot.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on April 7th, 2023)

Ponyo, a review by dfmorgan

Ponyo

Year: 2008
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Hiroki Doi, Yuria Nara, Tomoko Nagashima
OverviewWatched: 5th Jun 2010
My Thoughts: Another wonderful anime from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. The basic premise of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid with a magical twist. I liked the Wagnerian references to The Ride Of The Valkyrie from that opera.

My Rating: Just loved it to bits so a 5

Dave

Addendum: Think I'll have to sort out all my Studio Ghibli titles and have a marathon session with them.

(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on June 6th, 2010)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Monks have found a 25,000 year old tablet under the ruins of the city Sisko once found. And that tablet mentions the Emissary and an upcoming Reckoning on which the future of Bajor will be decided. Sisko takes that tablet back to DS9 for studying but Kai Winn interfers and demands its return. But that tablet contains more than just a vague prophecy.

My Opinion: Have I mentioned that I hate Kai Winn? And it won't get better in the seventh season. Unfortunately the number of "Emissary" and the "Winn" episodes will increase towards the end of the end of the show. Too bad.

Synopsis: Nog - the only Ferengi in Starfleet - has been assigned to deliver treaty proposal  to the Great Nagus and Jake accompanies him. But they run into a group of Jem'Hadar ships and have to evade. But this leads them directly into Dominion space where they meet the USS Valiant. The Valiant was presumed lost eight months ago but it's still there and the crew - Starfleet Academy's cadet corps "Red Squad" - is fighting the war behind enemy lines.

My Opinion: Eight months ago the war had already started and it's very unlikely that a real Starfleet would give a Defiant-class ship to a bunch of cadets instead of using it on the front lines. But the overestimation of one's own capabilities is exatcly what I would expect of "Red Squad" cadets. And its easy to get sucked into a group that is very self-assured. It was interesting to watch this group and seeing Jake as the voice of reason or rather as Cassandra since no one listened to him.

Synopsis: Brunt has dethroned Zek and installed himself as acting Grand Nagus after Zek has issued an amendment to the Ferengi Bill of Opportunities that allows women to wear clothes. Zek tries to assemble the other FCA commissioners on DS9 to prove to them how profitable his move could be and to convince him to reinstate him. But when Quark's mother has a hard attack he needs another women to speak on their behalf.

My Opinion: I've seen better Ferengi episodes. But I have to say I am surprised that it had been so many of them. I knew there were quite a number of them but I had forgotten that it had been so many Ferengi shows over the course of DS9. But if memory serves, this was the last one.

Synopsis: The O'Briens go on vacation to a lovely planet. But then Molly wanders off on her own and falls into a cave and through an ancient time portal - 300 years into the past. But when O'Brien and Dax find a way to beam her through that portal and through time she comes out as an 18-year-old. She's spent 10 years on that planet alone and she's changed. While Worf and Dax are babysitting Kirayoshi, Miles and Keiko try to reconnect to their daughter.

My Opinion: Again the main plot wasn't as interesting as the side plot. I liked to watch Worf babysit and him trying to prove to Dax that he could be a good father. But the most interesting thing was the fact that abandoned time portals just seem to stand around on every other planet.

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on February 28th, 2009)