DVD Collectors Online

The Lineup, a review by Antares

The Lineup (1958) 97/100 - Now this is my kind of crime film! It starts off a bit slow, with the obligatory scenes for exposition sake, but once we meet Eli Wallach and the outstanding Robert Keith, this film shifts into overdrive. What made this movie resonate for me was the realism that Don Siegel puts on screen. Correct me if I'm wrong, but was this the first film to show blood dripping from a murder victim's body? I can't recall any other film before this that showed it, as it was banned by the Breen office. Another aspect that I loved were some of the tracking shots that Siegel used and of course the wonderful panoramic shots of San Francisco. Eli Wallach plays the hit man with a maniacal, yet calculating cockiness that proves what a great actor he has been throughout his lengthy acting career. But for my money, the real star of this film is Robert Keith. I had only recognized him from a classic episode of The Twilight Zone called The Masks, in which he was quite good. But in this film, he steals almost every scene he's in, even outperforming Wallach. And one last note on the acting... I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the little girl who played the daughter who used the heroin on the doll's face. Her name was Cheryl Callaway, and in an endless sea of robotic, wooden or cloying child actors, she was a breath of fresh air. She's never too saccharine when she is first introduced and her transformation into a terrorized and scared kid is completely believable. It's a shame her career never blossomed any further. If you are looking for a crime procedural that hits all the right marks, then you can't go wrong with The Lineup. This is definitely going to be cracking into my top 20 of all time. I've got two more films left in the Columbia Film Noir collection Volume 1 and I already know that I'll be purchasing this set in the near future.

What the color coding means...

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 October 14th, 2013)

Ocean Waves, a review by dfmorgan

Title: Ocean Waves
Original Title: Umi Ga Kikoeru
Year: 1993
Director: Tomomichi Mochizuki
Rating: PG
Length: 72 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Nobuo Tobita
Toshihiko Seki
Yoko Sakamoto
Yuri Amano
Kae Araki

Plot:
Rarely seen outside of its native Japan and never before released within the U.K, Ocean Waves (also known as Umi Ga Kikoeru and I Can Hear The Sea) is one of Studio Ghibli's most obscure and sought after titles. Directed by Tomomi Mochizuki (Princess Nine) and based upon author, essayist and playwright Saeko Himuro's most popular, best selling novel, Ocean Waves is one of the most poignant and unsung masterpieces within Studio Ghibli's legendary creative output. Wonderfully detailed and incredibly subtle, there are very few films in the histroy of animation that have managed to capture so well the joys and drama of adolescence and teenage alienation.

Kochi is your average coastal town on the sleepy, idyllic island of Shikoku and young Taku is definitely your average high school student. But soon his quiet life will be turned upside down with the arrival of Rikako: a beautiful, female student recently transferred fromTokyo. By the end of term Taku will have learnt a valuable lesson in love and friendship.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers


I only watched and reviewed this in February so my thoughts are still much the same. At heart a sweet and gentle love triangle. Taku and Yutaka have been friends since starting high school. Yutaka as the class representative is asked to show a transfer student, Rikako, around. Rikako has transferred in from Tokyo following her mothers separation from her father. Taku realises that his friend has feelings for Rikako but tries to not get involved. However fate has other plans and stirs things up until the friendship starts to strain. As a short film there isn't a lot of character development and some bits of the storyline appear rushed. It is obviously not a Miyazaki film as most scenes featuring trees, plants, fields, the sea are static images but then again it was also a low budget film.

A bit of background as, like Only Yesterday, this film has not been released in the US. Apparently, as a made for TV film, Disney decided not to accept this as part of the overall Studio Ghibli catalogue it wished to promote. Optimum Releasing, from the UK, had the opportunity to take this film in 2009 and did so. They released the film to DVD in its original Japanese language with subtitles as part of their Ponyo promotion in early 2010.

Overall still an enjoyable film but I'll drop the 4 rating down to 3 now that I've watched this following other Studio Ghibli titles

Dave

(From dfmorgan's Studio Ghibli Marathon on July 7th, 2010)

House M.D.: Season One, a review by addicted2dvd

House M.D.: Season One (2004/United States) Go deeper into the medical mysteries of House, TV's most compelling new drama. Hugh Laurie stars as the brilliant but sarcastic Dr. Gregory House, a maverick physician who is devoid of bedside manner. While his behavior can border on antisocial, Dr. House thrives on the challenge of solving the medical puzzles that other doctors give up on. Together with his hand-picked team of young medical experts, he'll do whatever it takes in the race against the clock to solve the case. It's the intriguing new series 'TV Guide's' Matt Roush hails as "...the uncommon cure for the common medical drama." EPISODES: 1. Pilot 2. Paternity 3. Occam's Razor 4. Maternity 5. Damned If You Do 6. The Socratic Method 7. Fidelity 8. Poison 9. DNR 10. Histories 11. Detox 12. Sports Medicine 13. Cursed 14. Control 15. Mob Rules 16. Heavy 17. Role Model 18. Babies & Bathwater 19. Kids 20. Love Hurts 21. Three Stories 22. Honeymoon

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Stars:
Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House
Lisa Edelstein as Dr. Lisa Cuddy
Omar Epps as Dr. Eric Foreman
Robert Sean Leonard as Dr. James Wilson
Jennifer Morrison as Dr. Allison Cameron
Jesse Spencer as Dr. Robert Chase


Extras:

• Scene Access
• Featurettes

After finding out I will be getting season 6 given to me here soon... I just couldn't help myself. I had to start watching this series. I need to remind myself of the characters and storylines before watching the new set when it gets here. The first time I watched this set I really didn't care much for the first several episodes... as I really didn't care much for the character of House. But once he grew on me I loved the show. I of course didn't have this problem this time around and ended up enjoying every minute of it.... right from the start. If you never got around to checking out this series... I highly recommend it!




(From Addicted2dvd's Random TV Series Watched on December 5th, 2011)