Mysterious Girlfriend X: Complete Collection

Unfortunately, as too often happens, the people who write the product summary have either never watched the show in question, or are misguided enough to believe that sensationalism is the path to sales success. What I mean to say is the "Editorial Review" (which is rather a "official" product summary) is almost entirely misleading as to what this show is about.

Here's what Mysterious Girlfriend X is really about:

This is a low-key romantic comedy about a couple of high schoolers discovering love for the first time with each other. Although there are some unique circumstances as to how this comes about, the core of the story is not really about those oddities, but rather about how this couple grows together emotionally over time.

Mikoto Urabe is the titular "Mysterious Girlfriend" -and an intriguing mystery she definitely is. In the strictest sense she represents what is sometimes referred to as the "Magical Girlfriend" type of character... however this is played very low-key for most of the series, with the emphasis instead placed on how she handles developing her love interest (given her unusual attributes), rather than any stories focused on her "powers" per se.

Akira Tsubaki is the often bewildered protagonist -equally accepting and intrigued by Urabe. Probably the most important thing I can say about him is: he is normal, in the sense that he is neither an over-the-top pervert, nor does he recoil in fear whenever a female pays attention to him (unlike alot of anime male leads). His reactions are pretty understandable, and generally he is a pretty mellow guy.

There is drool exchanged, and alot of it -but this is reasonable when you consider how much drool is exchanged in your average french kiss (not to mention other bodily fluids in intercourse). Some people seem to haven a strong aversion to this, but that really comes down to some unrealistic ideas as to what is "hygienic" in human sexuality (which is not a terribly hygienic act). Mysterious Girlfriend X handles these realities with a very matter-of-fact honesty that is quite refreshing.

Overall, the series is heartwarming and humorous, and I think by the end of the series you will find yourself rooting for the couple to continue growing together long into their mysterious future.

There are techniques used by storytellers and others to grab the audience and to hold their attention;this crazy series grabs a "handful" and doesn't let go,even when it becomes clear the two are heading down the path to probable romance. The initial tasting of her drool may feel like a slap across the eyes to even the most hardy of otako's and cause the weak to run screaming from the room but if you take it as a French kiss... without the tongue...and the kiss...,well,it still is a bit off the wall.The tasting of drool,so goes the storyline,tells the taster the true feelings of the the drool doner that they are unable to express in words,but only if there is a "connection" to the other person.

What you will get is a great,well-drawn,dare I say,intelligent series about a male teenager that falls for a very strange teen-aged girl that,among other weirdness,carries a pair of scissors in her panties, even in her bikini while she sunbathes at the beach.For whatever reason,she pulls the scissors out and uses them to astonishing effect on whatever object that she targets.

Probably one of the best offerings from the anime "gods" this season and is on my "must buy" list. Easily PG-13 but probably aimed for the 16-17 age group. I got my copy quickly and it is a first-rate product. The "fan-serv" in this edition remains the same few times she pulls her scissors out and the "nudity" is,even without details,(ie,no nipples)the nude bodies are further shaded or blurred. As the story is the purpose of this series and not fan-service,it is most highly recommended.

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The initial impression I had from this anime is that this would be a really queer series to watch. I decided to give it a try since crunchyroll had it available for subscription and I actually enjoyed watching the story and seeing the characters progress through their problems.

Story:

The premise is that a new transfer student names Urabe comes into the class of the main character Akira and she ends up creeping everyone out by out bursting into laughter. One day Akria comes back into the class late and wakes up Urabe and tells her to go home and she ends up leaving a drool puddle on her desk. For some unknown reason Akira decides to lick that drool.

Throughout the series Urabe's drool has some mysterious effect on Akira. This is really out there with the drool thing, but the story does suck you in and makes you want to know what events take place each episode. I never found it to be predictable at all with a really unique character like Urabe. The series definitely has more a mature theme, but I never found it to be creepy, it's just how the characters are.

Animation:

The animation is pretty cool in this series. It has the high-definition quality of 1080p, but the character design have that classic 1990/2000's look to them a bit and it ends up blending together wonderfully. The locations they visit and the school setting all look amazing in HD and you never get bored watching the events taking place. The main characters themselves have their own unique look to them and you can tell who's who even if they are in the school outfits, or city clothes.

Soundtrack:

Some of the themes are really, really cool. The main one I love is the dream theme; which is the song that plays when Akira has a dream, or any dream like sequence that plays out during the anime. It was really nothing I have heard before and was stuck in my head for a while. The other themes are mainly a mix of the opening and ending themes.

Speaking of the opening and ending songs, the voice actress for Urabe actually sings both of them. I only found this out by looking at IMDB and I thought this was pretty cool that she can both act and sing really well. The opening theme reminds me a bit of Chobits though, since you can hear a bit of theme at the start of it. The closing theme is interesting to listen to as well.

Verdict:

I really enjoyed watching this anime and it's nothing like I have seen before. The memorable soundtrack, characters and story make this a series I really recommend to anyone who enjoys anime; especially those who like stories about relationships. Granted I know the droll thing can make some people not want to watch this anime at all, but is it really that odd compared to series that have aliens with superpowers that shoot beams, or giant robots fighting intergalactic wars? If you can get past the droll theme, you're in for one of the most unusual and great series out there.

Positive:

* Really cool story that sucks you in

* Never found it to be predictable

* Great mix of classic character design with High Definition Resolution

* Characters are identifiable with unique design

* Dream theme is amazing and extremely memorable

Negative:

* Drool thing might turn away some people

* Also has some mature themes in the episodes

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First, listen to the other reviewers and NOT the blurb on the back of the package. Though I like spit puns as much as the next person, that is a very inaccurate description of the tone of this show. It's actually a pretty serious and often sweet show, not just a gross-out comedy. Nothing really gets explained about Urabe's "powers" (no answers in the manga yet either) but it preserves her mystery. Anyway, when I first watched the show, I might has well have had some of Urabe's addicting drool: I marathoned all thirteen episodes in one day!

It is rated M, and rightly so, but it's pretty tame compared to most M-rated things I've seen. There is no sex, no violence to speak of, some nudity shielded by strategically placed shadows (edit: a bit more than I remembered, you can actually see some... topmost female body parts in the second episode, though they are shown in the shadowed side of a sunset), a few suggestive surreal dream sequences, and no bad language that I recall (at least in the subtitled version). The topics of sex and arousal are touched on, mainly to illustrate some of the embarrassing/confusing feelings, and honest wonderings about sex that most teenagers have. But one thing I really love about the show is that the main couple is taking their relationship very slow. I read an essay online calling it "the first pro-abstinence anime", and that sounds about right to me. I would say this show is appropriate for more conservative teens ages 16 and up.

Finally unless you really like the manga, I would not recommend buying this show without watching at least several episodes first. (At the present time, it's streaming legally for free on Crunchyroll.) I absolutely love it, but I realize that there are a lot of people who won't. There's a slowly building romance with no "payoff" in the traditional sense, so that may disappoint some viewers. And then there's the drool. And a lot of it. That kind of stuff doesn't bother me, but I have always kind of been labeled the weird one in my family... and at my school... and at my church... and, well... Try the show: you just might like it.

Update: Got the blu-rays, and just wanted to say that the picture and sound quality is fantastic. Had to watch the dub for comparison reasons and I LOVED it. Since I don't speak Japanese, I missed a lot of the nuances in the tones of voice the characters were (probably) using. I can actually discern them in the English dub, so I enjoy the show even more now than I did before. I thought the VA they picked for Urabe was perfect. Almost no special features, if you care about that. I found this to be a good release, and I'm sure going to get my money's worth out of it.

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I guess that to say Mysterious Girlfriend X is different would actually be an extreme understatement. To say that it's a love it or hate it anime, that's probably more accurate. The plot follows the romance between Mikoto Urabe, an unusual girl who within one episode bursts into a fit of maniacal laughter seemingly for no reason (she also she wields scissors as a weapon with some skill) and Akira Tsubaki, the guy who's addicted to her drool. Yes, you read that last part right. Some will immediately be turned off by the fact that this series is about a guy whose connection to his girlfriend is through her drool. The drool is very much a part of this series and yes, for many people this will be too much.

For those okay with this though, you're in for a treat. The animation on this series is STUNNING. Beautiful, gorgeous, a thesaurus will run out of words and not heap enough praise on the artistic merits of this series. In the opening episode there is a dream sequence involving a dance, and I knew from that moment I would have to watch the series to the end simply because of the visuals. The blu only makes it better. There are seriously some scenes that it feels like you could pause at any moment and hang the image on a wall.

Now that I've talked about the artistic merits, let me say, the story is amusing. There are several laugh out loud moments. The plot has some interesting turns and the series has better than average voice acting. Part of the fun of this series is listening to Urabe, who does not even sound like your usual anime character... she sounds like a real person in terms of her voice, which only adds to the strangeness of her character. For those who care there is an English dub included, which is surprising given Sentai's usual releases (I cannot judge the dub though as I'm a subtitle only person).

Some will probably complain that there is a lot in this series that goes unexplained. Some of the explanations for the weirder aspects seem illogical, and keep the viewer expecting for a different answer that will never arrive. While this may be annoying, I must point out that the title is "Mysterious" Girlfriend X. The title lets you in a little on this before you even watch the show, so you can't say they didn't warn you.

I'm honestly a little surprised this series got a release in the US let alone a blu-ray release. The plot is a little out there and no doubt a little gross to some. Yet, the novelty of this one is part of the charm. Hopefully Sentai will give more unique anime a chance here in the US. I highly suggest that if you're an anime fan you give it a shot. This one's worth it.

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Killing Bono (2011)

This movie is based on a true story. There were 2 friendly rival bands playing in Dublin. One of them changed their name to "U2" and we know the rest of that story. Bono, wanted the guitar player off the rival band. Rather than directly ask the guitar player, Ivan, he asks his brother Neil, the band's leader, who refuses. Neil believes his band will become better than U2 (who haven't cut their first album) and he is doing Ivan a favor. Ivan doesn't realize he had a chance to play for what will be the world's most popular band until...

Meanwhile, in order to become big, the band gets involved with the Irish mafia. They end up playing strip joints before borrowing money to go to London. Finally near the end of the movie, we understand the title. Neil believes all his problems are caused by Bono...if he could just kill him. The movie title is a hook and has little to do with this extraordinary film, a must for rock fans.

Martin McCann did an excellent job playing Bono. The movie was funny and entertaining.

"Remember only this: the measure of a man is what's left when fame falls away... oh, and another thing: get as much sex as you can!"

F-bomb, sex, nudity.

No members of U2 were harmed in making this film.

This 2011 comedy-with-a-hard-edge derives its screenplay from Neil McCormick's semi-autobiographical 2003 book `Killing Bono: I Was Bono's Doppelgänger'. Shot mainly in Belfast (which doubles for the film's 1980s Dublin and London locations) and directed by Nick Hamm, the result is clever, witty and entertaining.

The core of the story is that, contemporaneously with the embryonic U2 who initially called themselves `The Hype' another schoolboy band in Dublin led by the McCormack brothers, Neil (the older, played by Ben Barnes) and Ivan (the younger, talented, guitar player played by Robert Sheehan) was starting up. Neil believes his band to be better than Bono's outfit, so when Bono asks Neil to release his brother Ivan from his band because he wants him for U2, Neil declines the first in a long line of poor decisions on Ivan's behalf which costs his younger brother an `A-list' musical career.

The story then develops as in parallel with U2's rapid international success, Neil and Ivan stumble from one hilarious episode to the next and suffer continuous frustration and disappointment in `making it big'. Invariably, Neil makes poor decisions even when opportunity comes knocking and always believes his band `Shook Up' can make it with no help from U2, who offer to get them a recording contract and a place as support band on their tour, which Neil declines without ever consulting his brother. The tribulations include becoming indebted to a psychopathic Irish mafia gang leader; playing sleazy strip joints to an apathetic audience; scheduling a breakthrough gig to coincide with The Pope's mass in Phoenix Park; and escape to London where they again miss the chance of a recording contract but rent a run-down loft apartment from the excellent and extremely camp Pete Postlethwaite (in his final film role) who opens up a whole new social life for the boys.

Success in a small way did come eventually to the McCormacks' band but they might have been better known, and sooner, without Neil's self-confessed blunders. The story is fast-paced and the script good with plenty of laugh-out-loud dialogue, especially when involving Peter Serafinowicz as the frequently lethal but narcissistic Irish Mafia king, making a great success of a difficult role. Martin McCann is particularly convincing as Bono: he even looks like him, and has his persona to a `T'.

`Killing Bono' is a good way to spend a couple of hours and almost everyone I know who has seen it is of the opinion that it deserves a wider audience. You don't need to be a U2 fan, or even a rock music fan, to enjoy it.

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Killing Bono is one of those films which has received surprisingly little public recognition, but which has been rated highly by nearly everyone who has seen it. It certainly deserves a much wider audience.

The story line is based on Neil and Ivan McCormick, who were contemporaries of Bono and the other members of U2. Like U2, they had a sixth form band and high aspirations. Neil always felt that his band should be at least as successful as Bono's and as U2 became the most successful band on the planet, this rivalry prompts him to make a series of disastrous mistakes as he seeks the success he craves. As the older brother he tends to make decisions, normally bad ones, without consulting Ivan. Ivan is also blissfully unaware that Bono wanted to recruit him for U2, but Neil vetoed it, and is understandably less than delighted when he does eventually discover this. Neil seems to have a special talent for getting Shook Up booked for the most inappropriate gigs. The one which clashed with the Pope's visit to Ireland and another in a sleazy strip joint being particularly hilarious.

This is quite a light hearted film, at times very funny and the sound track is excellent. When we hear the music of Shook Up, the McCormicks' band, it is actually rather good which really makes you wonder why they sunk without trace and were not more successful. There are some very good performances, notably by the late Pete Postlethwaite making his last appearance as Karl, the landlord, and Peter Serafinowicz as Hammond, the wonderfully insincere agent. Highly recommended!

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"Killing Bono", one of the better films I saw at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival, is a darkly funny, bittersweet and thoroughly engaging rock `n' roll fable from the UK, based on a true story. A cross between "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" and "I Shot Andy Warhol", it revisits familiar territory: the trials and tribulations of the "almost famous". Dublin-based writer/aspiring rock star Neil McCormick (Ben Barnes) co-founds a band called Yeah! Yeah! with his brother Ivan (Robert Sheehan) right about the same time that their school chum Paul Hewson puts together a quartet who call themselves The Hype. The two outfits engage in a friendly race to see who can get signed to a label first. Eventually, the Hype change their name to U2, Hewson reinvents himself as "Bono" and-well, you know. In the meantime, the McCormick brothers go nowhere fast, as the increasingly embittered and obsessed Neil plays Salieri to Bono's Mozart. There are likely very few people on the planet who know what it feels like to be Pete Best (aside from Pete Best)-but I suspect that one of the players in this particular drama knows that feeling-and my heart goes out to him (no spoilers!). Nick Hamm directs a wonderful cast, which includes a fine swan song performance from the late great Pete Postlethwaite.

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I really wasn't expecting much from "Killing Bono", but it's a nice surprise: very well made with terrific acting! The music is terrific, too. Sure, they could have left out use of the tobacco drug and still had a great movie, but besides that flaw, I'd recommend this hidden gem to nearly anyone over 18. And even if you'd never heard of U2, it would STILL work.

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Kamisama Dolls: Complete Collection (2011)

Kyohei has left his town to attend college in the city. He has a dark past. He used to be a Seki. Seki use their powers to control god dolls. The reason for these powers is never made clear. All we know is that there are people from his village that have these powers, and they constantly fight each other. Despite this unclear plot, a story emerges. Sort of. Kyohei's sister comes to stay with him; his best girl, Hibino, Hibino's boobs, and Hibino's Dad. They seem to have a peaceful life, training Lil' Sis Utao, and goofing off. Some enemies show up, and the past comes back to haunt Kyohei. The drama and action are almost too much for him to handle.

This anime is kind of strange. The back story is well written, but vague at the same time. As I said earlier, the characters pasts are covered pretty well, but the whole premise of god dolls is not explained at all. Why do they even exist? What is their purpose, and why does anyone give a crap about them. That makes no sense to me, but whatever.

The animation, voice acting, and soundtrack are all pretty well done. It's a good series overall, but it does leave you hanging. If they don't continue Kamisama Dolls, they really wasted their time. This series could be something great if it is taken further. It has no business being 13 episodes long. It appears that there is more to come, but you never know. I liked this anime, but I can see it not going over too well with some due to the weird plot. It's rated MA, but I think that is a bad rating. There is some suggestive stuff, but no nudity. The language, and violence are kind of moderate. I think 14 and up is a better rating. I think that you should watch it online before buying. It's kind of steep for something that isn't a sure hit. You may like it, you may not. I think that it's worth checking out at least.

And what is worse...this show teases you with a preview of events to come with no promise of a second season. ARRGG!!!

Anyways, God Dolls is an interesting series in the respect that...it never really becomes too predictable. The characters are mostly generic but the backstory keeps things on edge in most episodes. The characters come from a village where they've hid a secret. They have the ability to control these "dolls". They are more or less like giant puppets but have a supernatural origin which makes sure not everyone can control one. In the story you are mostly following a guy who was a former operator of one of these dolls. You also meet the successor, his younger sister. He is desperate to get away from the village and leave that world behind while she is struggling to control the doll.

At times this show will totally fool you. It acts very lighthearted and joyful...but then the backstory hits you and it plunges into very dark places. The dolls are not all helpful and the potential for huge battles becomes very high as humans try to control a power they weren't meant to control. You get to see why he wanted to leave the village and glimpses of the past he is trying to forget. It is a ride you didn't expect coming and by the time the series ends, it leaves you on a cliffhanger note yearning for that season two. I do not kid that the final scenes of this show is a preview of the potential second season and if you keep with the series till that point, you'll be wanting that season two.

It is not a terrible cliffhanger but enough of one where you will hope the studio decides to make season two. Overall in the end, this is a very nice little series. It is aimed at the older age, post high school demographic so be sure to enjoy the fantastic opening theme song that definitely gives it a more adult feel to it. The name of it is Fukanzen Nenshou and it is sung by Ishikawa Chiaki. The only major issues you'll likely have is the characters seeming a little generic. I got over it after a few episodes so give it that much of a shot.

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this is a great anime and i couldnt be any happy. i will be buy from this again . and the price is not bad at all

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Kamisama Dolls is a supernatural series with likable characters and, odd, but effective comedy. I was very excited when I started watching this series because it seemed very mature, funny and refreshing. However, around episode five the writing started to become lousy, and the story lost its initial positive momentum.

As far as its technical merits, Kamisama Dolls has cheap looking animation (the character designs are shaky at times), and the music score gets old pretty quick. The notable exception is the song used in the opening; it is very cool.

Overall, Kamisama Dolls is not a terrible series. It has good things like its quirky characters and a mysterious (and sometimes spooky) atmosphere. But if you are interested in a story that wants to better develop its characters and offer a complete story with a resolution (it is set up as a season one with more episodes to come), this is not the series for you.

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Bleak House (BBC)[Region Free]

For once, I am happy to find a remake of a fine old Masterpiece Theatre offering that is as good as the original. "Bleak House" is currently available on an DVD with Diana Rigg as the most familiar name; and except for some incomprehensible line readings by a young character named Joe, it is a very good account of the Dickens novel. Having already appeared on Public Television, the remake has Gillian Anderson (yes, the one from "X-Files") as Lady Dedlock, and a cast of 80 speaking roles, many of which are played by actors that will send you searching the cast listings that go by too quickly at the end of each episode.

The eight parts will be shown so that the first and last will run two hours and the four in between an hour each. I found the complex plot actually easier to follow in this version than I did in the earlier one. And while I prefer Rigg to Anderson, I think I can easily recommend this new adaptation over the other.

The story--lawyers will hate it--involves the infamous Court of Chancery in which disputes over estates can be buried for years until the lawyers' fees make further legalizing unnecessary. Against this background, the case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce being a major part of it, we have the story of John Jarndyce (Denis Lawson), his ward Ada (Carey Mulligan), her companion Esther (Anna Maxwell Martin), and Ada's beloved Richard (Patrick Kennedy).

The latter becomes obsessed with the case, while Esther becomes involved in the mysterious past of Lady Dedlock, who happens to recognize the handwriting on some legal documents delivered by the utterly immoral family solicitor Tulkinghorn (Charles Dance). I will not reveal any more of the plot, lest it spoil your enjoyment. You will wind up guessing much of it, but it is a lot of fun--unless you are a lawyer.

Peripheral to the plot are the usual cast of Dickens "characters": Krook the junkman (Johnny Vegas) who finds some incriminating letters (and dies the strangest death in all fiction), Smallweed the moneylender (Phil Davis) who cannot walk by himself and must be "shaken up" by his weird niece every few minutes and who gets the letters, and Miss Flite ( Pauline Collins) who looks forward to "judgment day" when her case will finally be settled and she can set her birds free.

Most interesting of all is the policeman Bucket (Alun Armstong), the first real detective in English fiction. Although he looks like a toady for the rich, he does his job and does it well, solving a murder case and being considerate to a certain lady who would suffer if her connection with the case should come out.

Of course, the arm of coincidence in Dickens is a long one; and while a good deal of the plot does strain credulity, the acting and period ambience are of the highest level. The only thing that annoyed me was the director segmenting his "establishing shots" (exterior views of buildings to let us know where we are) into two or three rapid cuts with some electronic "whoosh" for each one. Pretentious and irritating after the first dozen or so.

I caught the first two hours of this adaptation of Dickens Bleak House on Masterpiece Theatre on Sunday night and I was immediately hooked. If you love dark Victorian mysteries this is a must see. I remember hearing promos for the show stating its starring Gillian Anderson but I thought it was some English actress with the same name as Scully from the X-files. What a shock when I realized I watched Scully for I did not realize it at the time it was her. Ms. Anderson becomes Lady Dedlock replacing her FBI professional pant suits outfits for a Victorian frock. Although common elements to both characters are repressed emotions and icy personalities. I have not read the novel but the show is emphasizing the mystery aspects of the story with Lady Dedlock trying to hide a secret from her past, how everybody's fate is somehow bound into the Jarndyce case over disputed wills and what role if any Esther plays in all of this. Also, the series focuses a sharp eye on the byzantine legal world of Victorian England that makes the US legal system seem the epitome of efficiency. Charles Dance is great as the ruthless barrister Tulkinghorn who sets his sights on uncovering Lady Dedlock's secret. Anne Maxwell Martin is great as the innocent and virtuous Esther Summerson. Besides Ms. Anderson some might recognize Mr. Dance who has seen roles in various movies and TV series including the villain in the Eddie Murphy Buddhist action-adventure movie The Golden Child, and Denis Lawson, who plays the benevolent John Jarndyce, was Wedge Antilles in the original Star Wars movies. Like any Dickens novel this TV series is filled with interesting often eccentric secondary characters from the young law clerk Mr. Guppy to Miss Flite.

The atmosphere is dark with lots of mist, fog and rain as one would expect in a Victorian novel. You have the contrast of the romantic elegant world of Lady Dedlock's estate and the cozy feeling of Bleak House estate with the grim, mud and muck that the lower classes lived in. The period costumes and sets are top notch. The series for me captures the essence of the Victorian period. Can't wait for the series to play itself out.

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A simply magnificent production of Dickens. Read the Amazon editorial review above, I agree with all of it.

Dickens can be difficult to translate to film. His cartoonish drawings of his characters, both literal and literary, are the stuff of political lampoon. And he IS interested in politics; the politics of class, culture, the legal system, and how his characters are trapped in them, by situation, and by their own human choices. His characters and story lines are so intricate that they must have been manna for the readers of his (no tv, no film) time period, but they can sometimes be dry and dull for a modern audience.

Enter the skillfull writing of THE MASTER ADAPTOR Andrew Davies, and a production that careens and slams prison doors from one story to another, and we are briskly carried along... in this story of secrets, blackmail, and the endless wait for the legal system to do... something... anything.

As with most BBC casting, it is excellent... every single character not only LOOKS as they should, but can really act. Nice to see Gillian Anderson break through and prove that yes, american actresses really CAN run with the best of them, if they get the chance to. Anna Maxwell Martin as our lead protagonist is simply wonderful. She has the kind of looks that we do not get to see in the hollywood casting system. Her character does not rely on her appearance, because she knows she can not, but she becomes so dear to us, we care deeply about her, and her complexity and calm in the midst of chaos reveal her true inner beauty. Through her we see the souls of others as they respond to her.

Dickens is VERY interested in the devastation of the Brittish class system, and the costumes and sets bring this all darkly to life, from the filth and disease of the street urchins, the tattered foppishness of a dance instructor, the soldiers barracks and stark sleeping compartments, to the cluttered new money oppulence of Bleak House and the old dusty money feel of the house of the local aristocracy.

The beginning is slow... neccessary to introduce the whole population of characters, and just when you think the train will never take off, it speeds into overdrive, and you scream with dizzy joy like a roller coaster ride. We get all the benefits of todays cinematic language and style in telling, while losing none of the story and atmosphere. A really masterful, very modern production of an old Dicken's tale.

10 stars!

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The time is the 1840's in Victorian England. The film opens with a court case being heard in what was then known as Chancery. A row of justices are hearing the case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, where an inheritance from several generations ago has the trouble of having several claimants, all of whom may be the correct ones. The case has dragged on for so long that people have committed suicide over the outcome, and others have grown withered and old waiting for a decision. As for the lawyers, they're estastic -each one will be getting paid off first, and the longer they drag it all out, the more they'll get.

The story centers around two young people, Richard Carstone (Partrick Kennedy) and Ada Clare (Carey Mulligan), who are cousins and fellow claimnants to the Jarndyce inheritance. The courts have deemed that they are too young to be on their own, so another relation, John Jarndyce (Denis Lawson) has offered them his guardianship and a home at his estate, Bleak House. As it would not be seemly for Ada to be alone, he has invited another young woman, Esther Somerson (Anna Maxwell Martin) to be her companion, and as we discover, to help him run his house. Bleak House, we discover, is actually quite pleasant, and Mr. Jarndyce is one of those people we like to meet in the real world -he warns both Richard and Ada that to pin their hopes on the endless case is foolishness, and instead do as he did and make their own way in the world. But young Richard, as we see, is feckless and more than a little stupid -he can't turn away his hopes of the money, and so plays at picking a profession whether it is law, or medicine, or anything else that would turn a living. We are also introduced to a friend of Jarndyce's -Mr. Skimpole (Nathaniel Parker) who claims to be 'innocent as a child in all things' and who happily battens off of others, in the most odious fashion.

On a neighboring estate, that of Sir Lester Dedlock (Timothy West) and his wife, Lady Dedlock (Gillian Anderson), there is also interest in the case. They are visited by their lawyer, Mr. Tulkinghorn (Charles Dance), who begins his own hunt when Lady Dedlock faints at the signt of the handwrighting on one of the legal briefs. Immediately, we're curious as to the why and who.

The who is Mr. Nemo (John Lynch), a law writer who makes a scanty living by copying out documents for the lawyers. He's also a sad, beaten man who finds solace only in opium. His neighbor, Miss Flite (Pauline Collins), a distressed gentlewoman, has her caged birds for company as her own claim goes on forever in the chancery courts, with little hope for the future as well. And Mr. Nemo's only friend it seems, is Joe, a young streetsweeper who has a very fateful encounter with Lady Dedlock herself at the end of the first two hour segment.

As we discover, not everyone in this tale will end happily or rich. Money, in some form or another, is the constant worry of this tale, along with a general condemnation of the law profession -one result of Dickens' novel was that it created such an outpouring of anger at the Chancery Courts that the system was finally reformed.

This one is a cold, chilling portrayal of the two extremes of early Victorian England. At one end you have the ease of the Dedlocks, John Jarndyce and Mr. Tulkinghorn. At the other is the grinding poverty of Mr. Nemo, Miss Flyte, and Joe. In between there are the uncertain futures of Ada, Richard and Esther, and indeed most of the characters in the novel. Money, and the lack of it, is one of the major themes of the story, along with family secrets, greed and outright lies.

Some critics state that this was probably Dickens' finest novel. I'm inclined to agree, all of the characters are complex, with their own stories and desires giving them voice and depth. Too, Dickens' own wit and scathing humor is pretty evident in the dialog, and the names of the various characters throughout.

This version comes in at 510 minutes, in a DVD transfer that is quite nearly perfect. The lighting at times is haunting with the use of polarized filters, the sound is crisp, and the acting top notch. Whoever did the casting in this was dead-on in their approach -the most intriguing of the characters, Lady Dedlock and Esther, are perfect. Costuming and set design are perfect for the period. Too, the art directors were careful in not wallowing in the poverty-stricken parts of the story, nor in moralizing, they just show things as they were, and let the audience make up their own mind in what can be right or just.

Another version of this was adapted for PBS/Masterpiece Theatre back in 1985, with Diana Rigg as the cold Lady Dedlock.

DVD extras include: subtitles in English,

This miniseries is one of the reasons why PBS?s Masterpiece Theatre and the BBC remain the gold standard as far as I am concerned. If you are curious about more about this novel or the miniseries, be certain to check out their links on . Highly recommended.

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The one Dickens novel I never read turns up in a brilliant realization from Andrew Davies, with mesmerizing characters and first-rate actors in another BBC success. Gillian Anderson refocuses her considerable acting chops to bring the luckless Lady Dedlock to perfect fruition. The relative scarceness of her scenes, and their critical importance to the story, makes her appearances even more tantalizing. The entire cast once again proves the English theatre tradition thriving, and is directed with consummate skill, and pride of detail. I love the redoubtable Pauline Collins as the quintessential Miss Flite, and Charles Dance is incendiary as the heartless Tulkinghorn. Anna Maxwell Martin (Esther Summerson) is a marvel to watch; she corners a self-assurance most actors only dream of, with ownership of every nuance of face and inflection it's a huge performance of requisite Dickensian depth, perfectly tuned and delivered with the most gifted ease imaginable. It's worth every minute just to watch her copiously in her many scenes. Dickens' many minor characters never fail to justify their presence in his novels, however extravagant, and Bleak House has its profuse share. It's amazing how beguilingly the BBC has forged its remarkable history of mini-series of English literature; I can think of few, if any, failures. Bleak House is, bar none, one of its masterpieces. Nothing prevents an unqualified recommendation for an exquisite film experience more than worthy of the great Dickens.

College Road Trip (2008)

(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)College Road Trip [Theatrical Release]

College Road Trip is a slap-stick comedy that is a great movie to take your kids to, as long as they are young. The main criticism I have of this movie is about the marketing, since most kids that are college bound are probably too old for this. The jokes are very predictable humor. If your kids are older than 14, they will probably find this style of humor too childish for their tastes. In that way this movie is a missed opportunity for Disney to expand their market to all the older Martin Lawrence and Raven fans.

If you've seen the trailers, you pretty much know the entire story. Dad (Martin Lawrence) takes daughter (Raven) on a road trip to check out colleges. Antics ensue.

Martin's character is a very over-protective police chief who is a bit of a control freak. His daughter has long outgrown being daddy's little girl. He wants her to stay local for college, but she wants to go away.

There's a genius younger brother and a pet pig to add the cute factor. There must be a lot of young geniuses out there because little brothers never have normal intelligence in movies or TV anymore, but I digress. Raven's friends are cliched teenaged valley girls who aren't even from the valley.

Most people who initially may be interested in seeing the movie are either Raven fans or Martin Lawrence fans. Yet this movie was made for an audience of much younger kids.

I am a huge Martin Lawrence fan and I think Raven is very talented and funny. But both of them were under used in this movie. Martin Lawrence is frequenty upstaged by his co-stars, and Raven does a good job but doesn't have the best lines. In fact, Will Sasso, Donny Osmand, his daughter, and the pig are the highlights of this movie. And they don't have enough scenes to make this movie really funny for adults.

Young kids from 5 to 12 or 13 will love the jokes. College bound kids will find themselves wondering why they called this "College Road Trip" when it's clearly designed for kids that aren't even out of grade school.

Overall, this movie is somewhat disappointing. It could have been so much more with the cast that they collected here. If you've got a group of young kids and want to take them to a fun and wholesome Disney movie, this is it. If you're kids are college bound, or even high school sophomores, they probably would rather see something else.

Enjoy!

I enjoyed this movie so much when it was in theaters and I can't wait to see this again.... I laughed so much! It made me feel better after a hard days work. I would even so my parents this because in a way .... THIS TELLS EXTACT how I feel about college and the NEED to GET AWAY from HOME! Donny Osmond was the Best PART, even tough, I like Raven and Martin. I truly think you should consider purchasing this movie... I truly can't wait for a second one with these two families.

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This movie stars Raven-Symone and Martin Lawrence, in probably one of the best Family events of the year. Martin's humor, Donny's humor, Raven's great acting, and the pig, make this movie a must-see. It is really a great film, and close to the end, it becomes one of those movies that are cry worthy...

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I just loved this movie its the best clean movie in a long time im a big Donny Osmond and Raven Fan so his movie was just what i needed for my collection of dvds .

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I definitely love COLLEGE ROAD TRIP.

Despite, it is sort of a Children movie, even though it deals with College, the movie is a great movie for all ages, and families!

Plus Raven-Symoné makes this movie all better!!!!

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Appleseed (2010)

This is my first review for Amazon. I've always felt that the reviews that I read were adequate to represent the movies and anime that I liked. Not this time.

I have an extensive collection of anime. Everything from the really silly stuff, filled with fan service, to the very serious classics that so many fans rave about. I'm not really into the mecha thing, though I do have a lot of it. It's the animation first that drives my interest, then its the story and the character development are close seconds.

Appleseed has all that I'm looking for in an anime, and in Spades. Great characters, a well crafted plot, and some of the best animation I have ever see. To say, as some reviewers have, that the movement in this version are unnatural,is more than unfair, it's just not true. All action is extremely lifelike, and the action scenes are the best I've ever seen. I actually found myself reversing the disc to rewatch some action repeatedly, something I never do.

I've owned this version of Appleseed a few weeks now, and I have watched it at least five times, and am looking forward to another veiwing soon.

I have relied on Amazon reveiws to decide whether or not to buy anime in the past, so I hope that this reveiw is helpful. There is a lot of good anime worth investing in, and this one is near the top of my list.

Close to the beginnings of my anime reviewing here I saw the 2001 Final Fantasy release. This set a standard for CGI that may very well never be equaled without a significant technology breakthrough. Another notable film of the period was the original Ghost in the Shell, had outstanding animation. Appleseed has much in common with both films. It shares the heavy use of CGI, and some interesting bits of underlying philosophy with Final Fantasy. And, like Ghost, it was created from a manga series from Masamune Shirow. If you're familiar with Ghost in the Shell you may very well see the world of Appleseed as that post-apocalyptic version of Ghost's, which was already unraveling.

Here the world is mostly ruined, other than a small colony composed of humans and bioroids androids whose primary function seems to be to balance humanity's tendency to self-destruct. They are indistinguishable from humans other than that they lack the ability to breed, and cannot feel anger. Yet all this is apparently to no avail. With no outer war to distract them mankind has opted for inner violence, and Olympus is torn by human fear of the bioroids.

Into this comes Deunan Knute, a deadly woman warrior who is the daughter of a woman who helped create the first bioroids, and, in the company of Briarius, and old lover who has become more machine than human, Deunan is Olympus's hope for the future. Buried within her mind is the key that will complete the bioroids, and give them the capability to love and have children. The events trigger an Armageddon like confrontation.

The story is almost successful, despite it's somewhat simplistic characterization. Director Shinji Arimaki fails to provide some needed continuity, though. The result is that important things happen off-stage and there are too many unexplained switches in the plot. Arimaki has seized the primary theme of human anger, suspicion and xenophobia, thrown in a lost of admittedly spectacular scenery and fight scenes. But he only pays lip service to the deeper questions of human nature that Shirow often addresses. The result is an vary entertaining film that just misses the mark.

That being said, it's still worth watching. There is an earlier animation film of this story that enjoys a significant cult following. I would like to see that, and look at the manga as well. There is something to this that does capture the imagination, and there's more to be found than what this film focuses on.

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Appleseed recieved a ton of hype prior to its DVD release, and for good reason. Using a new technique called 3D live action CG, the original story has been given an amazing upgrade. The story involves Deunan Knute, a beautiful but deadly soldier, who after World War III is taken to the city of Olympus (which is supposed to be a Utopia). In this city, humans coexist with the Bioroids, an advanced human clone form whose purpose is to make human existence more peaceful. When the balance of this relationship is threatened, Deunan and Briareos are the only hope to save the city of Olympus (from what I wont say). I can say that this movie is action-packed throughout, and there was never a slow moment to me. Another reviewer said that this was not a deep philosophical anime like Akira or Ghost in the Shell, and that is true. But who needs that when you have something that is so visually impressive? One complaint is that the story is too rushed. I thought it was excellent, and it has been said that a sequel is in the works. But anyway, the bottom line is that this is the most impressive CG feature I have ever seen. The characters are very easy to relate to, the action will surely please any fan that wants action in an anime, and the soundtrack in the movie is awesome.

So I bought the two-disc version in the LE tin. If you have more money the Briareos figure is a very cool thing to have. As far as the tin goes, it is high quality featuring great artwork from the movie. It is not metal like some others I have bought, and it is hard to explain. Very nice though and a must for anime fans and collectors.

There are some great extras in this loaded set compared to other anime movie releases (most come with little or no insight into the making of the film). On disk 1 is the feature film in English or Japanese. There are also previews for other Geneon releases (Samurai Champloo, Paranoia Agent, Fafner and a couple of others). Disk 2 has some pretty great extras as well. There is a behind the scenes featurette with several of the people behind the movie to start out, and it gives their opinions on Appleseed and the pros of this new animated style. It is interesting if you like that sort of thing on DVDs. There is also a concept art gallery as well as image gallery with most of the characters from the movie. Next there are 2 Japanese trailers from the thearical release of Appleseed as well as 1 U.S. trailer. "Appleseed Info" fills you in on some of the names throughout the movie and what they are, such as "Gaia", as well as character bios. Add to this a commentary track from both the director and producer, and it makes for one excellent anime DVD.

Overall this is now my favorite anime feature film (and I have seen several). The story was great and easy to understand. The action sequences with Deunan and Briareos are awesome. The songs from the movie are perfectly suited to the scene which adds to its greatness. I believe a lot of people may share my opinion upon first viewing this, but it may not appeal to everybody. Best anime movie ever? That is for you to decide. At least give it a shot, and if you become a fan then this 2 disc version is the one to own.

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I just had the privilege of watching an advance promo copy of this new version of Appleseed, and I am deeply impressed.

Simply put, it is beautiful. Hands down, the animation in Appleseed is some of the best I've ever seen; a stunning combination of computer rendering and cell animation, with mind-blowing results. It puts pretty much every other animated movie I've seen recently -from "Final Fantasy" to "The Incredibles" -to absolute shame. Those movies wish they looked this good.

The soundtrack, featuring Paul Oakenfold and Ryuichi Sakamoto among others, is also excellent. The music provides counterpoint to key scenes, but is never over the top.

The story is a solid one, peopled by believable characters and a steadily-moving plotline. Action sequences are paced nicely, and the dialogue is simple but works. My one complaint (a minor one) is that I wish that they had gotten better voice actors for some of the parts. The actress for Deunan was fine, but better actors for Briareos and Hitomi I think would have carried it a little better. Nevertheless, this was but a minor distraction in an otherwise outstanding film.

If you're a fan of Japanese animation, or animated films in general, then you must see this movie. This could well be the first in the next generation of animated movies -which would be quite fitting.

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Based on the comic book series by Masamune Shirow, APPLESEED takes place on a future Earth following a massive world war. A small zone of peace and civilization exists in Olympus, a city overseen by the supercomputer Gaia. Balance is kept via the coexistence of humans and bioroids, artificial beings with suppressed emotions (who are thus less likely to lead to dissent and more war.) But as it is human nature to fear other races, many fear a time when bioroids will control humans. It is up to skilled warrior Deunan Knute to unlock the secret from her past that will prevent a new conflict from breaking out.

This version of APPLESEED is entirely computer generated, to varying degrees of success. The outdoor night scenes look spectacular, while day and indoor scenes look rather artificial. At first I thought the human characters were hand drawn, but they too are rendered, though not as fully as those in 2001's FINAL FANTASY movie. They appear flat and doll-like next to the scenery and mechanical constructs, with their hair curiously molded. It might have been better if they had been done the old-fashioned way after all.

The film is presented on DVD in three 5.1 soundtracks: English Dolby Digital, Japanese Dolby Digital, and Japanese DTS. I'm not set up for DTS yet so I watched it with the second option, and it sounded fantastic. This is a movie you'll want to show off your surround sound system with.

Extras on the standard DVD edition include a director and producer commentary, previews for other Geneon releases, and staff biographies. You can also jump directly to the musical sequences within the film; featured artists (with biographies) include Boom Boom Satellites, Paul Oakenfold, Ryuichi Sakamoto and others. There is also an advert for the CD soundtrack, and DVD credits, but it's reaching a bit to call these extras.

This film has been rated R by the MPAA which I think is harsh. Except for a little bloody violence in the opening sequence, there's nothing in APPLESEED that wouldn't be appropriate for younger viewers, although the story may fly over their heads. If you're going to watch it around kids, you might want to just jump past the first chapter. Or not.

Despite the ambitious nature of the production, I found it left me a bit cold overall. This may be stating the obvious, since most of the characters we meet are artificial, but there is very little emotion or humanity in the story. I didn't care much about any of them. The story isn't very involving, and Deunan's ties with Olympus' origins felt contrived. It's worth renting if you're a CG enthusiast, but I can't give this a strong recommendation otherwise.

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Absence of Malice (1981)

This is a good movie with an interesting plot, good acting, decent directing and a politically relevent comment on the excesses of the US Press. Paul Newman gives his standard delivery that garnered him another deserving Best Actor nomination. However, what I come away with each time I see this movie is the short but powerful preformance of Wilford Brimley as the federal Justice Department official who comes in to untangle the confusing trap that Newman set. While the other characters have been playing a game of chess up til now, Brimley has no time for ruses or finess. He bullies, cajoles, and forces his way to the truth in a role that makes everyone else look small in comparison. His dispensing of penalties, options and opinions in the wake of the "tag; you're it" game that everyone else was playing is masterful. It's almost too bad the film didn't end there because the rest is unimpressive in comparison.

What is hard to comprehend is that Wilford Brimley not only didn't get the Best Supporting Actor Oscar; he wasn't even nominated! Oh well, awards don't always go to the most deserving. If you haven't seen "Absence of Malace", watch it the next chance you get. Much of it will impress you and one scene in particular will stay with you long after the others are forgotten.

If Woodward & Bernstein brought down the Imperial Presidency of Richard Nixon by exposing Watergate, which is arguably a good thing, then it introduced the era of "Gotcha" journalism. The press in this country is considered the fourth estate and it certainly has started acting like another branch of the government with the key difference that nobody checks or balances it. In "Absence of Malice," Sydney Pollack's indictment of the power of the press in the modern era, one man is given good reason to fight the system.

Michael Colin Gallagher (Paul Newman) is the son of a Mafia boss, long dead, who know owns and runs a liquor warehouse. He knows nothing about anything, but Elliott Rosen (Bob Balaban), the leader of a Justice Department Strike Force who is getting nowhere in southern Florida, leaks a fake story that Gallagher is the subject of an investigation. Smelling blood in the water, reporter Megan Carter (Sally Field) goes after the story that is not really there. Gallagher's life is exposed to the world and as the story that is not there grows it destroys the life of an innocent, Teresa Perrone (Melinda Dillon). At that point Gallagher concocts a plan to bring down everybody, simply by letting them do exactly what they want to do in a nice example of how to give a lot of people enough rope to hang themselves.

Unfortunately there the script requires Newman and Field to go through the motions for one of the more unbelievable romances in movie history, which only gets in the way of the focus of the story. You can never believe that she sees him as anything more than a story any more than you can accept that he is able to look past what she is trying to do to see a woman worth loving. Certainly that set up is not necessary for the powerful scene where Gallagher lays hands on Carter to show her exactly how many damage a human being writing a story on a computer can do to another person. But even then, the script asks us to believe that the spark between these two has not been wholly extinguished, and that is not something I can do.

But "Absence of Malice" is more than saved by the film's final scene where Gallagher's trap succeeds brilliantly and Wilford Brimley shows up as Asst. U.S. Atty. Gen. James A. Wells to put the pieces together and dispense a little judicial justice. Carter does too little too late in terms of trying to do something noble, but we are given to believe that she has learned her lesson, although I would certainly like more evidence than this. But even if she goes straight there are plenty of other reporters willing to play the game knowing that they will rarely be held accountable or have to play for any mistakes that they make. This is a depressing film, not just because it tells a depressing story, but because the grim reality it portrays of how the press functions in this country is distressingly true.

"Absence of Malice" received Oscar nominations for Paul Newman as Best Actor in a Leading Role, although his solid performance is nothing special, and for Melinda Dillon as Best Actress in a Supporting Role as the most memorable character in the film. The scene in which she tries to hide from her family the fact that her name and life are being tossed around on the front page of the newspaper is both chilling and heartbreaking. Kurt Luedtke was nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen and except for the unnecessary and problematic romantic subplot there is plenty of gravity to the story and scenes. Watching this movie again makes me think that the time has come for somebody to go after the state of journalism today and use something more pointed that the stiletto Pollack employs in this 1981 film.

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The issue of leaking information to the press has been around for years, and this film does its best to illustrate how badly it can backfire when the sources aren't properly checked and re-checked.

Having said that, and being a journalist myself, I just want to shoot Sally Field for her gross violations of journalist ethics. Getting involved with the subject? No how, no way. It just isn't done. If you can accept this HUGE leap of journalistic and editorial faith, then the rest of the movie is a breeze.

Aside from Newman, I think the best performance in the movie is one of the briefest...Wilford Brimley as the U.S. Attorney who gets to the bottom of the mess. It's just a pleasure to watch him go through the paces of tearing Bob Balaban's little vendetta all to pieces, and to experience his grudging approval to let Newman walk.

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It's hard for me to just toss around 5-star ratings for movies. I think they need to be reserved for something really special. Absence of Malice is a great movie and it deserves a solid 4-stars in my opinion.

There is really no need to rehash some of the other things said in the previous reviews. I certainly agree with all the kudos for Wilford Brimley. His performance became the initial reason why I fell in love with this movie. The repeat viewings have shown me that it is hard to find bad acting in this movie.

You always know that a director has done a great job when he can take characters with limited screen time and still cause us to know what they are feeling and thinking. Pollack does this masterfully with DA Quinn (Hood), Uncle Santos (Adler), and Editor McAdam (Sommer).

I did have 2 problems with the film after the first couple viewings but have since made peace concerning them. First, I really didn't like the Teresa Perrone character played flawlessly by Melinda Dillon. I didn't buy the relationship between her and Gallagher (Newman) but I guess if she had been his sister or his ex-wife then the revenge plot he charted with his uncle would have taken a different course.

I also initially didn't like the casting of Sally Field in the lead. I felt the same way a fews years ago when Meg Ryan tried to pull off Proof Of Life. If you needed cute then Sally Field was your huckleberry but this role needed a little more street cred. The problem I had was who else could you have cast? Streep was even younger then Fields at the time. I'm not a huge Faye Dunaway fan but she probably would have been a better fit. But, I will have to admit that Ms Field never looked better then when she was standing on the dock in the closing scene with Paul Newman.

One last note. I wonder if Bob Balaban, who since has been great in the Christopher Guest trilogy of films and the TV show Seinfeld, kept the rubber band that he kept spinning around in this movie. It was a very effective prop in moving forward his career.

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This is Sydney Pollack's best film in my opinion. A great example of how politics, the legal system, the court of public opinion, and journalism intersect. First-time screenwriter Kurt Luedtke, a former reporter was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Also, a great example of the tragedy of unintended consequences. Paul Newman plays the leaned upon everyman who stands up for himself, and Sally Field as the eager yet naive twenty or thirty-something newspaper reporter who gets the story but at a personal cost. The climatic courtroom scene at the end is one of the most dramatic and well written dialogues in American film.

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Boogens (1981)

Well, I wasn't exactly a kid when this gem of a film came out, and it didn't give me nightmares or make me afraid to go in the basement, but it was one of the most enjoyable movie dates ever with my future husband in December 1981. We liked it so much that we bought the VHS version as soon as we found that it was available in the 1990's, and made an anniversary tradition of sending the kids to grandma's, lighting a fire in the fireplace, turning out the lights and popping some Boogens into the VCR (we even brought it along to a hotel once). The tape lasted about a decade before becoming unwatchable a few years ago, so it will be terrific to be able to revive the tradition for our upcoming 30th anniversary. Thanks for releasing this long-awaited treat in DVD format!

The Boogens is a 1981 horror flick that has become a bit of a cult classic partially due to it's unavailability for almost 2 decades and partially for it's amusing title. It's just fun to say "Boogens". The film also has sentimental importance to me, as it was one of the horror flicks I saw with friends at the legendary Oritani grind house in Hackensack, N.J. A time when B movies were still released in a theater, where they belong, and a time I now cherish in this direct to DVD and VOD age. Now being given the chance to revisit this low budget chiller, it's time to answer the question of whether it's as fun as I remember or has time and nostalgia created a far better memory then it was a movie. And I'm happy to report it still is a fun flick, although 80s nostalgia does play a part. In a way, "Boogens" is a quintessential horror for the late 70s, early 80s with it's slow burn, creepy old man with ominous warnings, and nubile girls in skimpy bathrobes investigating noises in dark cellars. This is exactly the type of movie Ti West paid homage to in the recent "House Of The Devil". A few months later Evil Dead would arrive and crank horror flicks up to 11 and Jason was just getting started on his body count.

This 1981 horror stars Rebecca Balding ("Silent Scream") and takes place in rural Silver City, Colorado, a small mining town where the mines are being reopened for the first time since a supposed cave-in 70 years previous. But, unknown to two college grads (Fred McCarren and Jeff Harlan) working on the re-opening and their two nubile young ladies (Balding and the equally cute, Ann-Marie Martin), the mines were caved in on purpose and unsealing the tunnels unleashes our title creatures and they are quite hungry.

Boogens is well directed by James L. Conway who also directed pseudo-documentaries like "Hanger 18" and "In Search Of Noah's Ark" and who went on to direct a lot of genre TV including episodes of all the post-original "Star Trek" series and the current, "Supernatural". He directs with a leisurely pace but, builds some nice suspense and also knows to keep his monsters hidden until the very end. And when we do see them, they are good old fashioned prosthetics, there's something charming about prosthetics that CGI rarely matches. He gets good performances out of his cast and the fact that they are all very likeable helps add suspense when they are in danger. There is some nice gore but, it is used sparingly and the body count is low. This movie was made just as the slasher sub-genre started to gain momentum and before body count became crucial to the proceedings.

Sure, by today's standards "The Boogens" is tame, slow and cheesy but, it is the type of horror that they made when I was in high school and I will always have a soft spot in my movie geek heart for them. The transfer on blu-ray is absolutely beautiful and it`s worth a look for horror fans, especially those who enjoy horror from this era. Welcome back, "Boogens".

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Wow! That's all I can say about this one. I first saw the Boogens when I was nine years old and it scared me so bad I couldn't even look under my bed for a week. I had to wait more than half a lifetime to find the movie again on VHS, but when I did it hadn't lost any of its gruesome charm whatsoever. Set in the majestic Rockies (my native territory) The Boogens focuses on four twenty-somethings who move into a nice, if somewhat sinister cabin in the woods which was the site of a brutal killing in the beginning of the film. The four soon split up for various reasons and go about their own ways. The story kicks into overdrive when the first of them is dragged under his vehicle and sliced open by the nasty claw of the Boogen. We see this only in quick flashes of ingenious editing that gives us only a "taste" of the real thing. Dark, cramped, sometimes unbearably spooky, the Boogens sent a message to us in the early eighties: Horror is not dead, not even sleeping, we just have to know which cave to look in to find the scariest monster, and The Boogens provided it. I thank the director and the cast for giving a nine-year-old boy the scare of a lifetime!

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In the small mining town of Silver City, an evil has been unknowingly unleashed on its unsuspecting residents. The old mine has been sealed up and abandoned for over seventy years but now some outsiders are about to make a big discovery and it isn't silver or gold. What unspeakable horror lives in the mine? Is there any way to escape it? What is a Boogen?

The Boogens is a slow paced horror film that relies on its ability to build up the suspense for most of the film and then unleash everything it has on the viewer in the last 20-30 minutes. If you're a horror fan looking for a high body count and plenty of gore and nudity then this film may not be for you. There isn't a high body count, there's very little gore and barely any nudity to speak of. Fans get a brief glimpse of Rebecca Balding's butt in one scene and her breasts in another, that's it. As for the creatures; we never really see them until the last 20-30 minutes of the movie.

Thanks to Olive Films the "Boogens" has finally seen daylight on Blu-ray and DVD. I don't know what type of restoration Olive Films did to the print if any, because the film still suffers from embedded artifacts, speckling and a certain amount of graininess throughout. Don't get me wrong, the video image is clear and definitely viewable.

Aside from the old school non CGI creatures and effects this film also benefits from an eerie music score, so the mono soundtrack provided on this release was a bit of a disappointment for me. The mono sound is clear and crisp but I had hoped for a 5.1 sound option as well. I expected this Blu-ray release would be filled with tons of bonus features and extras, it isn't. The only extra included is an audio commentary from director James L. Conway, screenwriter David O'Malley and actress Rebecca Balding.

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The Boogens, despite its name, is a well paced horror film which pays justice to the cult monster movies of the 1950's. The editing style gives the viewer a well balanced blend of suspense, shock and gore to make the film both eerie and frightening. I originally saw this movie on cable about 18 years ago and was equally entertained after watching the VHS copy I recently purchased. The "Boogens," themselves, are a bit cheesy looking and were designed after a sheep's brain with slashing tenticles for legs (I learned this from the make up effects person in charge of creating the creatures for this film). The directing coupled with the editing style are what save this movie by giving us only a glimpse of the the creatures, keeping us on the edge of our seat for the majority of the film. This is one of the few real monster movies that are a credit to the monster genre.

I know 3 stars may not seem like much but only the best films are worthy of 4 and above.

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Bigger Than Life (The Criterion Collection) (1956)

Talk about a film ahead of its time, Nicholas Ray's 1956 drama Bigger than Life tanked upon release in the US most likely because of its dark, brooding and unflinching observations on suburban life (the film is partially based on Ray's own childhood, if I'm recalling correctly.); people back then didn't want to be told about the monster next door, and to a lesser extent people today still don't want this, but Ray's film is so perfect in every respect that one can't look away from the screen for a moment.

Ray, like Fuller, unfortunately was, more or less, wholly ignored in the US during his life but was immensely popular with the Cahiers kids and I'm glad to see that in the past decade or so his films, besides the popular Rebel Without a Cause, are getting some serious reevaluations.

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Here's the details, for those interested, in regards to the Criterion release:

* New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition

* Audio commentary featuring critic Geoff Andrew (The Films of Nicholas Ray)

* Profile of Nicholas Ray (1977), a half-hour television interview with the director

* New video appreciation of Bigger Than Life with author Jonathan Lethem (Chronic City)

* New video interview with Susan Ray, widow of the director and editor of I Was Interrupted: Nicholas Ray on Making Movies

* Theatrical trailer

* PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic and video maker B. Kite

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Here is to hoping that they get their hands on Johnny Guitar.

In BIGGER THAN LIFE, director Nicholas Ray and producer/star James Mason explored the dark side of suburban life. James Mason delivers one of his most accomplished and subversive performances in this sadly-neglected 1956 movie gem, the story of a man pushed to the brink of madness thanks to his abuse of a 'miracle drug'.

Mild-mannered schoolteacher Ed Avery (James Mason) works hard to provide for his wife Lou (Barbara Rush) and young son Richie (Christopher Olsen), secretly working after-hours as a taxi switchboard operator. When Ed is struck down by a debilitating and potentially fatal illness, doctors prescribe wonder drug Cortisone, and it seems to do the trick. Ed feels more confident than he has in years, and loves to spoil the family with expensive trips to the department store. But Ed's dependence takes a darker turn when he begins taking the pills in larger quantities. Lou and Richie can only stand by helplessly as Ed angrily lashes out, hurling abuse and insults at his wife and son. The mood swings only get worse as the weeks wear on, to the moment when Ed finally cracks completely...

I won't try to spoil any major plot points. BIGGER THAN LIFE will surprise and shock you with it's hard-hitting subject matter, and the frank way it's depicted was I'm sure the main reason why the movie flopped in 1956. It's well and truly the flipside of "Father Knows Best". Today the movie still rings true because so many families are dealing with similar issues on a daily basis. James Mason and Barbara Rush are completely mesmerising to watch here. Child actors from the 1950's are normally very mannered and "trained" on screen, but young Christopher Olsen is heartbreaking as the tortured Richie; his performance absolutely rings true. Walter Matthau, Kipp Hamilton and Roland Winters are also very fine.

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***** 1956. Directed by Nicholas Ray. A teacher, suffering from a rare and painful disease, accepts to take cortisone, a new drug in the 50's, under medical surveillance. Unfortunately, the patient modifies his prescriptions and becomes little by little psychotic. This undisputable masterpiece presents in 95 minutes all the major Nicholas Ray themes: an idealistic hero who can't accept his average destiny, the bitter study of the American way of life and a smart use of the new Technicolor technology, with its new space offered to the directors, to name a few. Some scenes, like the scenes with the mirrors, are already part of Movie History. You can now buy a zone 2 DVD of BIGGER THAN LIFE at Amazon.fr with a perfect copy of the film and very interesting featurettes about the themes handled by Nicholas Ray in this film. A DVD zone your library.

Read Best Reviews of Bigger Than Life (The Criterion Collection) (1956) Here

Nicholas Ray has long been one of the most underrated directors. He may have been recognized and respected for his groundbreaking Rebel Without A Cause, but his much of his output was long ignored by mainstream audiences and critics alike. The tide has recently been shifting and Ray's other output has begun to receive the recognition it deserves. Bigger than Life is Ray's 1956 effort concerning mental illness, drug use, and the 1950's family structure.

Bigger than Life tells the tale of Ed Avery, a good-natured school teacher who in the hard 50's is juggling an additional job at a Taxi company to provide for his family. As the pressure of everyday life and these two jobs mount up, he notices certain bouts of pain and even a few blackouts. Dismissing these episodes, it later becomes obvious to him and his family that he is unable to keep up with daily life in such a way. A specialist tells him that he has a very rare inflammation of the arteries; a condition that would grant him only a short few months to live. The only way of combating this disease is a new experimental steroid hormone called Cortisone. This abuse of this drug which Ed must take for the rest of his livelihood in has extremely adverse effects such as Psychosis, a condition with symptoms such as hallucinations and impaired judgment.

Ray's treatment of Ed's abuse of Cortisone is simply jaw-dropping. The audience continually waits and waits for a violent outburst, an outburst that literally tears the family apart-but it doesn't happen. Ray could have easily taken this condition and created a violent and physically abusive monster, but he keeps Ray controlled. On the surface, besides his little conspiracy and new-found ideologies Ed does not seem to be effected in a major way by the drug. Ray knows that if he transgresses toward violence and abusive, his film will become the average deleterious suburban family film. The film eventually does display Ed's breaking point, emotionally and psychologically, but does it with such subtle consideration that its arrival surprises and shocks. Ed's eventual violent outburst has such an unexpected biblical context that we uncontrollably grin at the screenplay's shrewd inclusion of this incident. It's not only the late inclusion of the Ed's biblical revelation, nor his alternation of it, but Ray's provocative method of approach.

Bigger than Life ushers back the era where films were not only simple in their approach, but even the conflicts were more clearly and effectively constituted. In Bigger Than Life, the adverse effects of the drug are so carefully displayed that at certain times it just seems as if he has gone through a spiritual and philosophical revelation. Ray treats psychosis as psychosis should be treated: multi-layered and channeling multiple symptoms. Nowadays, film freely display mental ill patients, such as Schizophrenics, as beginning at the peak of the disease, either with a single noticeable symptom or suddenly with all symptoms. Rarely do they spend time developing and showing the meager signs of mental illness, and eventually displaying the illness in its most domineering stages.

Bigger than Life is so focused in its approach to Ed's illness that it is overwhelming. There is no subordinate plot that disrupts the story or the audience's attention. The film is a reflection, a dark one, of the effects of drug use and how such use tears apart a man's soul, his family structure, and even is capable of turning him into a man that is unrecognizable in behavior, attitude, and demeanor. The underlying concept that Ray seems to continuously point towards is what makes a man? Is Ed still Ed after his experience with Cortisone? He looks like the previous Ed, and he responds when he is called by his name. However, no one seems to recognize him, his family does not recognize this deranged perfectionist father and husband with these newly developed ideas; even the milkman does not view Ed as he did before. Ed may be literally kept alive due to the Cortisone, but the drug drenched all of his personality and left everyone only with a shadow of the previous schoolteacher.

Bigger than Life was largely attacked and criticized after its release due to its skeptical view of the American family structure-not unsurprising, considering that it was released in the mid 50's. Ray's film may lack the jolting electricity it had for viewers at the time of its release, as such adverse effects of drugs have become better known and treated, but its unique and considerate approach still makes it one of the most , deftly executed, underappreciated, and singular cinematic works ever.

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This 50s film on American suburbia now released on DVD sure packs a punch into the solar plexus of conformity. Mason,producing as well,gives one of his best performances in a Jeckyll and Hyde role.Ray was one of the great American directors.His use of colour was symbolical and expressive.His use of wide-screen Cinemascope opens up architectural space inside a suburban home.The use of light and shadow and camera angle to bring out extremes of emotion and a character's inner life and phantasy.Rush is superb as the supportive but anxious wife,Lou.Olse is excellent as Ritchie the son.And Mattau comes across well as an eccentric but affable colleague and family friend.He is concerned about his colleague's changes in mood and supports the wife and son.

The subject is,superficially,the use/abuse of a 'wonder drug',Cortisone,to heal Mason's physical disease.If he doesn't take this drug he is expected to live for only another year,and in crippling pain.However Mason takes more than he should,pretends to be a doctor,writing out his own prescriptions.This unlocks a pandora's box of psychosis and patriarchy:"God was wrong",he declares, Abraham should have sacrificed Isaac. He is about to sacrifice his son with scissors after shutting his wife away in a cupboard. He is the template for any dictator, now his inner-Nietzsche has been liberated.I loved everything about this long lost masterpiece.Mason is unforgettable and brings the best of his acting skills to the part.One for the collectors

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The Decoy Bride (2011)

I am a David Tennant fan and now a Kelly MacDonald fan. This is a lovely romantic comedy that focuses on characters caught in a delightful dilemma. This is the type of role that Tennant does with such ease giving depth to his character making it easy to see how two women would fall in love with him. Kelly MacDonald is down to earth and human like the rest of us. Making it even better is the fact that David's fiance is someone you also like in fact there isn't a character to dislike so no stress! Buy it, pop some popcorn, relax and enjoy I've watched it twice already I bought it region 2 from Amazon UK when it was released in England.

I've just watched this movie one and three-fourths times in a row (all D.T. scenes), and then I went back and watched my favorite scenes again, twice. I jumped on the opportunity to see this movie in the US since I'm a die-hard David Tennant fan, and where do we get this much screen time with him lately? This was even better than I expected, and I'd recommend it as a good romp to anyone, fan of David Tennant or no. Best ten bucks ever spent! Enjoy!

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Admittedly, the only reason I got this film was to see David Tennant outside of the DOCTOR WHO realm. My expectations were low and so imagine my utter surprise when I found myself completely drawn in by this wonderful little comedy! The plot is pretty simple, but this film is so much more enjoyable because the writing is great and the actors are far more fun to watch than the standard American romantic comedy leads. Because the dialogue is delivered by actors who inhabit their character as opposed to actresses trying to pose as thespians, this film has a lot of heart going for it. And even though it's somewhat predictable, you cannot help but be entertained. No need to give you any plot points, but if you're a David Tennant fan, then you'll enjoy the film. If you like comedies that are not bombastic in their approach, then you'll be smitten. If you like excellent dialogue and quarky characters, then you might just fall in love with the film. Not the greatest story ever todl, but DECOY BRIDE is a far better film than anything featuring Katherine Hiegel and Jennifer Anniston. These actresses could learn a thing or two about sutbtleness, which is why this film works so well. Can't help it....I'm under the DECOY BRIDE's spell and am most likely going to buy this film on Blu Ray as it's a great film when you need cheering up and want a smile on your face!

Read Best Reviews of The Decoy Bride (2011) Here

I am admitted David Tennant fangirl, but having said that, the movie was cute and adorable all on it's own. A bit formulaic in parts, but it's a rom-com chick flick. David was great and Kelly was brilliant. I fell in love with both of them. Definitely worth the 10 dollars to watch!!

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I am also a David Tennant fan from the US, and was so excited to see The Decoy Bride available here on Amazon. It was a really cute movie that was a bit quirky at times, laugh at loud funny (at least I did), and enjoyable to watch. David was (as usual) fantastic and Kelly MacDonald was lovely to watch as well. The island was a gorgeous backdrop for the story too. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys chick flickish movies, and/or is a David Tennant fan:)

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Red Heat (1988)

Arnold Schwartzenegger in the role of humorless, ultra-disciplined Soviet police-captain Vanya Danko, teamed with Chicago PD screw-up Art Ritsek (Jim Belushi), to track a Georgean drug kingpin... this is one of Arnold's greatest, but least-appreciated, action-films. The best scenes take place in Russia, in the banya (public bath), over the rooftops around Red Square, in the mafiya cafe. Arnold's Russian, spoken with his Austrian accent, is pretty terrific! What impressed me was the film's close attention to detail: Even Danko's handwriting and numbers were authentically Russian-style. The machismo of the personal battle between Ivan Danko and the smuggler was intensely Russian, as was Danko's unswerving conviction of Soviet superiority. His terse correction of the hotel clerk's question "Is [Viktor] another Russian, like you?" Danko: "Soviet.", is right-on -Georgeans are not Russians, although many Americans don't know that. The scripting of a Georgean as the loathesome criminal is actually quite revealing, and surely a reflection of the film's "official" Russian input . Despite the grimness of the plot and Arnold's character, there is plenty of dark humor, mainly provided by Belushi's portrayal of undisciplined officer Ritsek. The humor frequently contrasts the strictly indoctrinated Soviet structure with the (to Danko) near-anarchy of American freedom. Much of the mayhem and carnage wrought during the process of Danko's personal war defies credibility; as Ritsek puts it: "Why aren't there any cops around when you need one!" The action genre's obligatory high-speed chase scene was ludicrous, yet appropriately Russian (everything Russian always seems so much "bigger"...). And the protagonists' exchange in the end, in which Vanya gets the better deal, is also typically Russian -and proves that Danko is not so humorless after all. By the way, this movie (like all of Arnold's action-films) is extremely popular here, where it has been dubbed into the Russian language. Ironically, in the russkiy version, all the obscenities have been deleted from the dialogue.

Don't bother wasting your money if you think you are upgrading like I did. The earlier ARTISAN release is still much better than this special edition. The image is better and ALSO the sound. I don't know what Lions gate thought they were doing, but remastered? no. I compared both several times before writing this even though I only had to compare once. Might as well wait for a HD DVD to come out, this is a waste unless you want the additional features.

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Schwarzenegger and James Belushi make a great team in this crazed action film. Schwarzenegger plays the serious Captain Ivan Danko, a Russian detective. Opposite him, James Belushi, is the comical cop, Art Ridzik, always good for a laugh. Who could guess what would happen when these two got stuck together?

On the downside of the film the beggining is all Russian. You'll be forced to read English subtitles not able to enjoy any of the visuals, until around ten to twenty minutes into the film. Unless of course you speak Russian.

The final word. If you're looking for something to do on a boring afternoon, I recommend sitting back and enjoying Red Heat.

Read Best Reviews of Red Heat (1988) Here

Cannot beat this deal for a fun 1980s film in BD that actually came across as good as can be without Lionsgate dumping too much money into it.

The clarity gave a decent showing even with the amount of skin tones being shown by our fearless leader in that beginning Russian spa scene. The color was vivid, maybe too much so once they hit the snow with the flesh tones and fake injuries contrasting against the white. But the credit (pink colors) looked clear with no grain at all, and admittedly that DNR thingy (or whatever they call the removal process for some of these upgrades) did not blur/fuzz things at all. The Chicago street scenes looked good and the background signs are actually readable now. The DTS is mostly channeled to the front three, but they managed to add some decent bass here and there.

The supplements are from the 2004 edition in low def, but it is always nice to see that stunt man memorial featurette, recommend that if you pick only one to watch. The included TV spots and such are always nice for a before and after comparison on quality. For what they put into this, and the price being offered I feel you won't be disappointed.

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The film was funny just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, but I must say it has become hilarious today after the fall. It is not even a real caricature because there is a nostalgic dimension to it. Nostalgic about a time when things were simple in the world where there was us and there was them. We were necessarily on the right side by identifying with the side we were geographically on. And the rest was only politics.

But with the distance, there is no us and no them, there is only one global mess and we all have to live in it, parakeet or not, East-German watch or not, Georgian mafia against Chicagoan mafia. And now this mafia or these mafias have turned into terrorist armies. All over the world the game because it is a game, a killing game is no longer Miranda versus totalitarianism. It is kill them first versus totalitarianism.

These mafiosi are choir boys when compared with the Ben Laden and the Prabhakaran of today, and note I took two dead examples for whom there were no Miranda rights. These people are responsible for thousands of people killed, hundreds of thousands of people mutilated by mines or other assault weapons. They have no rights any more. They lost them when they decided to enter a war against humanity, a war of pure violence and crime.

The film is showing that so well including with allusions to Dirty Harry or Dr Zhivago. These people do not sell drugs to make money but they are selling drugs to break the law, make money and kill anyone they can come across on their way. They kill for the pleasure of killing. When the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet system came down, and we were liberated of the good terrorists who were fighting for the liberation of humanity. For those people who admired such "patriotic" heroes people like Gaddafi or Prabhakaran were revolutionaries. All that has changed and they have become what they were all the time, nasty terrorists.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, little by little all the self-calling "revolutionary" movements in the world have had to change identity and enter the political arena with only political weapons and drop the other weapons in some kind of ditch forever. The guerilla movements in Angola and Mozambique were forced to drop their weapons, the IRA was forced to move towards a political solution, the various diamonds wars in Africa were also forced to drop their weapons and their diamonds had to go back on the market without any blood stain, the Sandinistas were obliged to concede a defeat before then regaining power in elections.

We could multiply examples. The Basque ETA is a die-hard movement like the Corsican independence movement. The LTTE was in Sri Lanka the first major victory against that terrorism and since then many things have changed in the Arab world and as for Al Qaida. That's why this film has become so funny with years.

Some could have said it was a Cold War comic film at the end of those events. But now it is the most hilarious film on the subject of the end of a revolutionary vision that was not really revolutionary but just violent. But today it is the Soviet of the old days who are right: criminals may have Miranda rights, but that is only if they survive their arrest. If they don't they have no other right than to shut up. That's why these criminals are not supposed to survive their arrest. Just make sure they have the fair chance to shoot or try to shoot first and that they are the real big ones, not some manipulated non-entities.

In 1988 the film was advocating Dirty Harry's methods. Today it justifies the use of such methods: these scumbags have to be brought home, but in a corpse bag if possible. The bullets are already too much of an expense to bring them back home, so let's avoid the trial that would ensue if they were still able to speak or at least move one single toe. Something changed in 1989, even if the Bushes Sr. and Jr. did not understand it properly. I can imagine the mess the Bushes would have done in Libya sending the Cavalry for sure.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

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