DVD Collectors Online

The Birds, a review by Tom

Title: The Birds
Year: 1963
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 15
Length: 115 Min.
Video: Pan & Scan 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Mono, German: Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
Rod Taylor
Jessica Tandy
Suzanne Pleshette
'Tippi' Hedren
Veronica Cartwright

Plot:
Nothing equals The Birds for sheer terror when Alfred Hitchcock unleashes his foul friends in one of his most shocking and memorable masterpieces. As beautiful blonde Melanie Daniels ('Tippi' Hedren) rolls into Bodega Bay in pursuit of eligible bachelor Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), she is inexplicably attacked by a seagull. Suddenly thousands of birds are flocking into town, preying on school-children and residents in a terrifying series of attacks. Soon Mitch and Melanie are fighting for their lives against a deadly force that can't be explained and can't be stopped in one of Hollywood's most horrific films of nature gone berserk.

Awards:

Academy Award	1963	Nominated	Best Special Effects	Ub Iwerks
AFI	1963	Nominated	100 Years... 100 Movies (1998)
AFI	1963	Won	100 Years... 100 Thrills (2001)
Golden Globe	1963	Won	New Star of the Year - Female	Tippi Hedren

Extras:
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Storyboard Comparisons
Tippi Hedren's Screen Test
Trailers
Universal News Reels

I am not very much of a horror film fan. I know these bird attacks should be creepy and all, but it just isn't doing it for me. Also the bird sounds were just annoying. For me it sounded like cats cries.

Also I feel that the first half of the movie is disconnected with the second half of the movie. I know most people find it okay that there is no reason given why the birds attack. Usually I would agree, but having no reason given just makes it seem like Mel arriving on the island and playing her prank and then the bird attacks are two movie storylines just thrown together for the fun of it. I had expected that her bringing the two love birds is the cause that the other birds were going crazy.

Rating:

(From Alfred Hitchcock Marathon on February 14th, 2010)

The Young Mr. Pitt, a review by Antares

The Young Mr. Pitt (1942) 72/100 - Entertaining bit of British wartime propaganda from 1942. Robert Donat gives another great performance as William Pitt the younger, Great Britain's youngest Prime Minister ever. Many scenes echo the events and sentiments of that time, modern, besieged Britain, at war with the Nazis. Substitute Hitler for Napoleon, the "We are alone now" ideology and somewhat, Pitt as an amalgamation of both Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain, and you have a film which pushes all the right propaganda buttons, but has no great climactic moments. It kind of ends with a whimper, but I was entertained.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on July 13th, 2020)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Monk: Season One (2002/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Universal Studios Home Entertainment (United States) Length: 561 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

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Plot:TONY SHALHOUB is a riot" (TV Guide) in Monk, the show that critics are praising as "fresh, exciting and utterly original." (Chicago Tribune)

Monk's hilarious, offbeat antics have made him unfit for duty but he's back as a police consultant to help out on their most baffling cases. The brilliant but neurotic Monk is now fighting crime as well as his abnormal fears of germs, cars heights, crowds and virtually everything else known to man in "the best detective show to come along in decades." (New York Post)

"Nothing on TV generated more fun than this" (Los Angeles Times) and now you can enjoy the entire first season of Monk on DVD.

*Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (2002)
**Best Performance by an American Actor in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy (2002)


Monk
1.01 Mr. Monk and the Candidate
Writer: Andy Breckman (Writer)
Director: Dean Parisot
Cast: Tony Shalhoub (Adrian Monk), Bitty Schram (Sharona Fleming), Ted Levine (Captain Stottlemeyer), Stanley Kamel (Dr Kroger), Gail O'Grady (Miranda St. Claire), Michael Hogan (Warren St. Claire), Ben Bass (Gavin Lloyd), Jason Gray-Stanford (Lt. Deacon), Kane Richotte (Benjy), Rob Labelle (Sheldon Burger), Vincent Gale (Jesse Goodman), Fred Ewanuick (Jake), Shawn Reis (Ian Sykes), Dion Johnstone (Lieutenant Gitomer), Chris Shyer (Carl), Edmond Wong (Cop at Kindergarten), Alexis (Elevator Gal), J.B. Bivens (First Cop), Dax Belanger (Second Cop), Esme Lambert (Angry Old Lady), Stellina Rusich (Trudy), Carmen Aguirre (Uniform Cop), Ray Galletti (Cop at Rally), Doris Chillcott (Jason's Mother), Michelle Addison (Nicole Vasques), Dean Marshall (Cop in Lobby), John Sampson (Jason Rondstadt), Guyle Fraizer (Detective)

Monk is a series I enjoyed watching, but I thought it stayed on air too long. The series got a little tired later on.
Nice surprise: There is an actor I revcognized here which I didn't know the first time around. Fred Ewanuick, who plays Hank on "Corner Gas".

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 9th, 2012)