DVD Collectors Online

Inglorious Basterds, a review by Jon

Inglourious Basterds
5 out of 5



(From Jon's Random Reviews on September 29th, 2009)

Knowing, a review by Dragonfire

I went to see Knowing last month.  It was entertaining overall, but not exactly what I was expecting.

in 1959, a time capsule is buried to mark the opening of a new elementary school.  Inside the capsule are drawings from the students.  After the ceremony to bury the capsule, one of the students disappears.

Fifty years later, the capsule is going to be dug up.  Caleb is a student at the elementary school.  He is being raised by his father John, a professor at MIT who is still grieving the death of his wife. When the capsule is dug up, the students at the school each get an envelope that is to have one of the drawings in it.  The one Caleb gets is just a paper full of numbers.  John ends up noticing something by chance and develops a theory about what the numbers mean.  That sets him off on a mission, which leads him to meeting Diana, a woman connected to what is going on, and her young daughter Abby.

Some time is taken to set up the time capsule situation in the past before focusing on things going on in the present with Caleb and John.  Knowing works as a decent thriller for the most part, though it could have been better.  There are some suspenseful moments that work well.  The page full of numbers provides a little bit of mystery since it isn't clear what they mean at first. That ends up being figured out fairly early, though there are still things to figure out by the end of the movie.  The mystery surrounding the numbers is eliminated for people who have seen the trailers though since they clearly give the explanation.  I hate when that happens.  Ultimately, there aren't that many surprises in the movie and certain things are rather predictable, which was a bit disappointing.  I didn't like the ending that much, though I suppose it was logical with what was going on.  Something just seemed wrong about it to me.  There are unusual things going on throughout the movie which add some interesting moments.  The unusual elements of the movie aren't going to appeal to a lot of people though.  One or two subplots were introduced and then they didn't really go anywhere.  None of the characters were overly interesting.  The actors were fine, though nothing that special.  Nicolas Cage is fine.  His fans may find something to like about the movie.

I was entertained by Knowing, but it could have been better. 

 

I did get a review posted on Epinions.

Knowing



(From Knowing on May 5th, 2009)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Aoi & Mutsuki: A Pair of Queens! (1999/Japan) (United States) Length: 325 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:
Aoi was raised as a normal boy on Earth. Little did he know he was the heir apparent to Mito, the Queen turned Space Pirate of an alien race that chooses their sex at puberty. Aoi fell in love with Mutsuki, the policewoman who was chasing Mito, and the three of them saved the Universe. The only side effect was that Aoi had blossomed into a beautiful young woman. Now a malevolent entity calling herself the true Queen of the Universe appears with enough power to destroy entire planets. Aoi must defend her new throne, but she needs Mutsuki's help. Mutsuki must come to terms with her own feelings for Aoi so they can defend Earth together and become the galaxy's first royal pair of queens.

Mito no Daiboken: Futari no Jou-sama
1.01 The Queen Has Risen!
Writer: Fumihiko Shimo (Screenwriter)
Director: Takashi Watanabe
Cast: Tomoko Kawakami (Mito (voice)), Soichiro Hoshi (Aoi Mitsukuni (voice)), Kyoko Tsuruno (Mutsuki Nenga (voice)), Yumiko Kobayashi (Masatsuki Nenga (voice)), Sakiko Tamagawa (Sobo (voice)), Motoko Kumai (Sabu (voice)), Yuu Asakawa (Shin (voice)), Omi Minami (Kafuko (voice)), Machiko Toyoshima (Miyako Okubo (voice)), Takayuki Okada (Tendo (voice)), Masashi Yabe (Sega (voice)), Chiemi Chiba (Konami (voice)), Sayaka Ohara (Hiroko (voice)), Mikako Takahashi (Azuki (voice)), Saori Higashi (Ota (voice)), Ayako Kurasaki (Shizumi (voice)), Takayasu Usui (Nandabu (voice)), Taro Masuoka (Nibaul (voice)), Hidenari Ugaki (Kishu (voice)), Takuma Suzuki (Owari (voice)), Hideyuki Hori (Lanvan (voice)), Kazuhiko Inoue (Kagero Mitsukuni (voice))

This series is a sequel to another series, which I haven't seen. At the end of that series, one of the characters is transformed into a girl. This series now is about that character and also his relationship with a girl, which I think was his love interest in the first series. So the premise sound interesting. But the series itself is boring, as it is mostly about some crazy and ridiculous stuff going on and not so much about the relationship.
The best thing about it is the opening theme.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on March 26th, 2011)