DVD Collectors Online

I, Robot, a review by Tom

Title: I, Robot
Year: 2004
Director: Alex Proyas
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 110 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: DTS 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 3, Commentary: Dolby Digital 3, Commentary: Dolby Digital 3
Subtitles: Commentary, English, German, Turkish

Stars:
Will Smith
Bridget Moynahan
Alan Tudyk
James Cromwell
Bruce Greenwood

Plot:
In 2035 A.D., robots are programmed to live in perfect harmony with humans and have become part of everyday life on Earth. When a brilliant scientist at the U.S. Robotics Corporation is found dead, Chicago Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) is called in to investigate. Aided by robot psychologist Dr. Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan), Detective Spooner uncovers the possibility that a robot may be the primary suspect in the case. But as Spooner gets closer to the truth, he gets caught up in a race for his life, when robot intelligence attempts to shut down his investigation. With time running out, a deeper threat emerges from the core of a mechanized world that challenges the very existence of mankind.

Awards:

Academy Award	2004	Nominated	Best Visual Effects	John Nelson, Andrew R. Jones, Erik Nash, Joe Letteri
ASCAP Awards	2005	Won	Top Box Office Films	Marco Beltrami
Saturn	2004	Nominated	Best Science Fiction Film
Saturn	2004	Nominated	Best Special Effects	John Nelson, Andrew R. Jones, Erik Nash, Joe Letteri
Teen Choice Awards	2004	Nominated	Choice Movie of the Summer
Visual Effects Society Awards	2005	Nominated	Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Act on Motion Picture	Rachael Haupt, Mark Tait Lewis, Nick McKenzie, Geoff Tobin

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailers

Essentially this could have been a real fun action popcorn movie, but I cannot get over the cheap looking special effect. There is not a moment where I couldn't forget that they were acting in front of a green screen. There were a lot of moments where the actors just didn't really match with the background (lighting etc.).
Alan Tudyk (Wash from Firefly) is "playing" the robot Sonny. A fun surprise to see here was Chi McBride as Will Smith's boss, who is the guy who played Emerson Cod in Pushing Daisies.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on April 8th, 2010)

Instant Swamp, a review by Tom

Instant Swamp (2009/Japan) IMDb FusionMediaSales, Third Window Films (United Kingdom) Director: Satoshi Miki Writing: Satoshi Miki (Writer) Length: 120 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: English

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Stars:Plot:
Miki Satoshi's follow-up to film festival hit the 'Adrift in Tokyo' stars the beautiful Kumiko Aso a Haname, a lively young journalist blessed with an exceedingly vivid imaginative working for a woman's magazine on the brink of bankruptcy. Her daily diet of gloopy health drinks aren't enough to shield her from what she perceives as a particularly severe run of bad luck, which all began on her eighth birthday when her father stormed out of the house, not only abandoning her, but flinging all her toys into a nearby swamp, including a cat talisman which she thinks must have been cursed. Haname sets out to retrieve her lost possesions, a quest which reacquaints her with her father, now a hippie working a junk shop who goes under the name 'Light Bulb', and brings her into contact with a punk named Gus.

Extras:

• Bonus Trailers
• Scene Access
• Trailers

As expected, a quirky comedy. Nothing laugh out loud funny, but these characters are amusing to watch.

Rating:

(From 2010 December Marathon - Discussion thread on December 10th, 2010)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by Peter von Frosta

Crusade



What's the show about?
The crew of the Excalibur searches in the galaxy for a cure that the plague the Drakh left on Earth.

What happened before?
2267, 5 years after the 5th season of "Babylon 5" the Drakh a former ally of the Shadows attacks Earth. They leave a plague on Earth which threatens to kill all life within 5 years. One of two prototype starships is ordered to find a cure to this plague. This was seen in the TV movie "A Call to Arms".

"War Zone"
What's the pilot to this show? That's a really difficult question. The storyline started with the TV movie "A Call to Arms", but none of the characters of the series was present in that movie (except Galen and Lochley). But JMS (the producer of Babylon 5) considers "War Zone" in the logical order on place 13. I still take it because it introduces the crew.

Captain Gideon takes over the command of the newly-built starship "Excalibur", one of two prototypes equipped with Human, Minbari and Vorlon technology. Gideon's mission is to find a cure for the plague that is going to wipe out all life on Earth. But first he has to take a little detour to hunt down one of the Drakh ships...

My Opinion
I haven't come around to watch this show yet. In fact this was the first time I ever watched an episode of it. Mainly because the show was canceled before it was even shown to an audience. If I like it, I'll know it will only last 14 episodes and I am somewhat confused that the order of the episodes is not the chronological order and if you watch it in the latter order uniforms change and some dialogs don't match. I've got no idea what JMS was thinking. Originally Crusade should have a 5-year-storyarc just like B5.

Which Episode did you start with? The episodes are not in chronological order (similar to TOS), therefor please remember to watch the show in the following order:
   1. War Zone (108)
   2. The Long Road (107)
   3. Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
   4. The Memory of War (102)
   5. The Needs of Earth (101)
   6. Racing the Night (103)
   7. Visitors From Down the Street (104)
   8. Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
   9. The Path of Sorrows (109)
  10. Patterns of the Soul (110)
  11. Ruling From the Tomb (111)
  12. The Well of Forever (106)
  13. The Rules of the Game (112)

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on January 4th, 2008)