DVD Collectors Online

Sense and Sensibility, a review by Antares

Sense and Sensibility (1995) 70/100 - One thing about Jane Austen...you know what you are going to get going in. It will be proper, dry and very British. But for me, that's OK, because I'm deep down, an Anglophile, and I love period pieces. What struck me was the fact that I kind of liked the performances of a couple of the male actors more than the female leads. Alan Rickman and Hugh Laurie both carried themselves rather well for what is extensively a set piece made for females. Hugh Grant, on the other hand, does his usual, one dimensional, stammering, eyelash battering dolt, who, if it weren't for his looks, would relegate him to playing the village idiot. Ang Lee's direction is serviceable, with moments where I felt his editing could have used a bit more tightening. I felt the same way about The Ice Storm, so maybe it's a weakness in his films for me. I liked the film, but doubt if it would be something I'd revisit any time soon.

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 March 13th, 2013)

I Am Sam, a review by Rich

I Am Sam



Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer give career-defining performances in this humorous and heartwarming story about a mentally challenged father who enlists the aid of a high-powered attorney to help him regain the custody of his daughter. An all-star supporting cast and a spectacular soundtrack complete this unforgettable story of life, love and laughter!

Touching movie, totally dominated by the 2 wonderful performances of Penn and Pfeiffer. Add in Dakota Fanning as the daughter, and the mix of cast worked tremendously well together in a project clearly all were enthused about.
A whole range of emotions are pulled from you during this movie, many happy, laugh out loud moments, especially with Sam Dawsons troop of friends in court. Then of course there are the lump in the throat, something in my eye moments which litter the film.
Sure it's a manipulative tear-jerker, exploited to the full by Hollywood, 'well it worked for Hoffman' negative comments that could be thrown at the film.
But personally I enjoyed it, I thought the performances were admirable, and it just stayed below the 'too sickly' borderline.
 


**Laura Dern mini-marathon


(From Riches Random Reviews on August 26th, 2009)

Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews, a review by Tom

VOY 7.24 Endgame
Writer: Kenneth Biller (Screenwriter), Robert Doherty (Screenwriter), Rick Berman (Original Material By), Kenneth Biller (Original Material By), Brannon Braga (Original Material By)
Director: Allan Kroeker
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), Dwight Schultz (Barclay), Richard Herd (Admiral Paris), Vaughn Armstrong (Korath), Manu Intiraymi (Icheb), Lisa Locicero (Miral Paris), Miguel Perez (Physician), Grant Garrison (Cadet), Alice Krige (Borg Queen), Amy Lindsay (Lana), Matthew James Williamson (Klingon), Joey Sakata (Engineering N.D.), Richard Sarstedt (Star Fleet Admiral), Iris Bahr (Female Cadet), Ashley Sierra Hughes (Sabrina), Majel Barrett (Compute Voice (voice))

Voyager gets home with the help from a future Janeway. It is a nice enough final episode for Voyager. Nice to see a possible future, where Voyager did take another 16 years to get home.
What I missing is some kind of coda, where we see what happens to the crew, now that they are back home. We get some idea through some dialog, but I think it could have easily filled up half a season to explore this topic. For example, what happens to the doctor? How will he come to be recognized as a person?
I think to show the alternate future was in some way a good idea to give some hints about their future lives (at least for the ones who did make it home in that timeline).

P/T moments:
The birth of their daughter for once. Then you also see them still happily married in the alternate future. Also Tom refusing Harry's idea for a dangerous mission to explore the possibility to get home on the grounds, that it's too dangerous for him as a husband and father-to-be and that he is already home, is a nice touch.
This concludes the P/T marathon.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews on October 3rd, 2009)