DVD Collectors Online

Things We Lost in the Fire, a review by Rich

Title: Things We Lost in the Fire

Runtime:118
Certificate:R
Year:2007
Genres:Drama

Plot:My Review:
Not sure why this film attracted me so much, perhaps the mood I am in, or maybe such a great performance from love him or hate him actor Benicio Del Toro. His portrayal of a heroin addict, friendless bar one, hated initially by the wife (halle berry) until his redeeming features and kind heart start showing through, is oscar like in its domination of the screen.
Although the pace is somewhat slow, and the length nearly 2 hours, I enjoyed this moving film and totally got in to all of the emotions, heartbreaks, fears and despairs. I have not a great experience with drugs or addicts, but this film seems to genuinely portray such a life accurately, the usual depressive state a user feels, and maybe hope for anyone either going through rehab or trying to find reasons to attempt to get clean.
But the film offers much more than this, it is uplifting and motivating, the script is exquisite, the acting of an extremely high standard once Duchovny disappears from the set, the direction is superbly and sympathetically handled by Susanne Bier, and the camerawork truly makes you feel part of the unfolding drama.
One of the best movies I have seen this year, highly recommended.


(From December Marathons - DISCUSSION AND REVIEW THREAD on December 22nd, 2009)

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, a review by Dragonfire

I went to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian today.  This is definitely a family friendly movie, though I think adults can enjoy it as well if they are in the mood for a light hearted, somewhat silly movie.  The movie can stand alone fairly well, but some things will make more sense if the movies are watched in order.

Larry has moved on from working as a night guard at the Museum of Natural History and now owns his own company.  He is becoming more focused on his work, though it does seem like his relationship with his son Nick is still strong.  Larry is surprised when he goes to visit the museum for the first time in several months and he finds out that most of the exhibits are being replaced new, high tech holographic type displays.  The original exhibits are going to be stored in the Federal Archives at the Smithsonian.  Larry finds out that things are not going well once the exhibits get there and he heads to the new museum.  He has to deal with Kah Mun Rah, an Egyptian plotting to rule the entire world. 

My Thoughts

I enjoyed this movie overall, though it is a bit silly and won't appeal to many people.  The movie has a fun adventure and a decent amount of humor that makes for a fun, entertaining movie overall.  The movie isn't as funny as the trailers made it seem, but it is still funny.  Several things made me laugh.  There are new characters thanks to new exhibits at the Smithsonian coming to life.  The plot isn't that different from the first movie, but there are a few new twists because of the new setting.  The movie is predictable, which may turn off some viewers.  There are lots of special effects, but they don't overtake everything. 

There are several new characters in this one thanks to the new setting and only a few of the previous characters return and have much to do.  Several of them are just shown in a few scenes, which is disappointing in some cases.  I really liked Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt in the first movie, and in this movie, Teddy only turns up in a few scenes.  Some of the new characters are interesting and I did enjoy seeing Oscar the Grouch turn up briefly. 

Overall, this is a fun, entertaining family friendly adventure movie.  I really enjoyed it, though I know it won't appeal to many.  People that liked the first movie may also like this one.  People that didn't like the first one should probably stay away from this one.

 

I did get a longer review posted on Epinions if anyone wants to take a look.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

(From Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian on May 23rd, 2009)

Death Note anime/manga/movies comparison, a review by Tom

03. Dealings

This episode catches up with the missing scenes from the previous chapters and continues with the fifth chapter of the manga.

- we learn that the head of investigation of the Kira case is in fact Light's father (chapter 3)
- L and police find out, that the times, people are killed probably fits the non-school time of a student. Also that Kira needs to know the face of the victim (chapter 3)
- Light logs into the police computer with his father's password and finds out the status of the investigation (in the manga, Light learns the fact, that the police suspects a student doing the killing from his father during dinner, chapter 3)
- Light kills the next criminals at full hour intervals (when writing down the cause of death, he can specify a time) (chapter 3)
- L sees this as a proof, that Kira can manipulate time and is in fact aware of the police investigation. L sees this as challenge by Kira. (chapter 4)
- Light did this, to make L suspicious of the police and vice versa. He wants L to start investigating the police and expects the police to react negativelly to be investigated by someone, who doesn't even show his face. (chapter 4)
- investigation team members quitting because they fear to be killed by Kira (chapter 4)
- L has FBI agents following the family members of the police investigation team (chapter 5)
- Light finds out, that he is being followed (chapter 5)
- Light learns from Ryuk (the death god), that death gods write down the names of people in their death notes, to get the remaining years of the victim's life span added to their own. But this does not work for a human writing down the names. He also learns, that death gods can see the names and remaining life span of the people they are looking at. He offers light a deal. A death god's eyes in exchange of half of his remaining years. (chapter 5)


Movies: Everything happening in this episode also happens in the movie.


(From Death Note anime/manga/movies comparison on February 1st, 2009)