Topic: Tom's Random Reviews

[Tom]

Title: GTO
Year: 1998
Length: 569 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Chinese, English, Other

My Thoughts:

A fine example of a well-done live action adaption of a manga. Even though a lot of things have changed, it helps to transfer it to a more believable live action TV series. The actors are well-chosen, especially Onizuka.
A lot of the story changes even made it into the anime which otherwise follows the manga story-line more closely.

I like it, when they make adjustment to fit the story better in the frame of the current media but stay close to the spirit of the source material.
This way, even though you know the source material, you can find new stuff to enjoy, but are not put off by it, when they try to stay compulsively close to the source material.
For example, I enjoy the GTO live action series more than the anime. The same goes for Death Note, where I prefer the live action movies to the anime (the manga of course is still better). But in the case of Death Note I think, that someone who doesn't know the manga, will prefer the anime, because there they get more of the taste of the full story. I on the other hand know, what things they have changed and prefer the manga version in those cases. This is why I enjoy the live action version, because there they had the guts to make some drastic changes, which help in their own way to tell the same story in a smaller time-frame.

Here the in my opinion great opening theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdpIijQF6vo

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning
Year: 2008
Director: Peggy Holmes
Rating: G
Length: 77 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , English: DTS 5.1 , French: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Jodi Benson
Samuel E. Wright
Jim Cummings
Sally Field
Tara Strong

Plot:
See how it all started for one of Disney's most beloved characters in the all-new movie, 'The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning'.

Imagine a time long before Ariel met Prince Eric and walked on land - a time when music was banned from the underwater kingdom of Atlantica. Torn between family duty and her love of music, Ariel must make the most difficult choice of her life. With the help of her friends, Sebastian and Flounder, and her six amusing sisters, will the young mermaid be able to restore music, friendship and love to the kingdom?

An all-star cast returns, including Jodi Benson (Ariel) and Samuel E. Wright (Sebastian) - plus meet the deliciously wicked villain Marina Del Rey - in a marvelous musical adventure teeming with surprises, breathtaking animation and all-new songs.

Extras:
Closed Captioned
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Interactive Game
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

I was a little disappointed with this outing. Previous Little Mermaid movies offered each a few memorable songs. This one hadn't even one memorable song in my opinion. The story is standard family movie fare. Nothing real original. Animation-wise it is better than the second movie and is good for a direct-to-DVD movie.

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Underworld
Year: 2003
Director: Len Wiseman
Rating: 12
Length: 116 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , English: DTS 5.1
Subtitles: Dutch

Stars:
Kate Beckinsale
Scott Speedman
Michael Sheen
Shane Brolly
Bill Nighy

Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

First off: The story of this movie is pretty boring. Technically it is done rather well.

This movie was the first one I have watched yesterday on my new TV. And I must say, it looked astonishing. I am glad that with good upscaling you can get really good video from a DVD on a Full HD television set. I did not notice any flaw in this movie. I hope more movies have such a good picture quality on DVD.

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Smallville: Season Seven
Year: 2007
Rating: NR
Length: 830 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Portuguese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai

Stars:
Tom Welling
Kristin Kreuk
Michael Rosenbaum
Allison Mack
Julian Glover

Plot:
There are two CLARK KENTs. One is the young man whose life in a tiny Kansas town sets him on destiny's path. The other is a BIZARRO show shares Clark's DNA but not his values. Only one of them can survive.

SUPERMAN mythology grows deeper and more powerful in an event-packed season that includes the arrival of Clark's cousin KARA/SUPERGIRL. Keep a low profile and master your powers, Clark says. Kara has other ideas. Plus: LANA LANG might prefer Bizarro to the real deal. LOIS LANE makes a career leap. CHLOE SULLIVAN finds that balancing a meteor power with a personal life isn't easy. And LEX LUTHOR's power-lust has a new fixation - Kara. New characters and complications. New secrets and lore. New thrills and special effects. Power up to Season 7!

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Scene Access

My Thoughts:

Overall I quite enjoyed this season. I liked the introduction of Kara. I hope she will be back at some point. But although I enjoyed this season, the story plot holes are getting bigger and bigger.

I haven't read anything about this season before going into it. So after having Supergirl enter the scene and having Dean Cain guest star (playing again a CK), I was thinking, that it would be really nice to finally see Kal-El's mother Lara portrayed by Helen Slater. A few episodes later, there she was

Also finally we got to see Pete again. But sadly it was in a weak episode.


There was one instance , I think it was in the episode "Lara", where I was really annoyed by one line. There we had Lara pulling out a hidden dagger in their home on Krypton, with her saying, that Jor-El is opposed to weapons but has always a dagger at home to be able to protect his family (or something along the line). This obvious reference to the Americans' thinking of having guns at home with this justification for some reason really bothered me. This "right to bear arms" sentiment is something I really do not like.
I am glad to be living in a country, where it is not common, that private persons are owning guns. I do not have the feeling, that I could be threatened with a gun when walking the streets, even less at my own home.
When I hear that there are planning to remake "Death Note" in Hollywood, I always have to think of the ending of the first "Death Note" movie.

(click to show/hide)

At the end, Ryuk is wondering, how Light could be sure, that his plan will work. For this he would have to be sure, that only the gun in question is in the vincinity. And Light says, that nobody in Japan is carrying a gun with them. So he could be sure, that the gun of this FBI agent is the only gun in the building. There I always have to think, that they would not be able to do the same ending in an American movie

But enough of this small rant

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Over The Hedge
Year: 2006
Director: Tim Johnson, Karey Kirkpatrick
Rating: FSK-0
Length: 80 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , German: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Turkish: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Commentary, English, German, Turkish

Stars:
Bruce Willis
Garry Shandling
Steve Carell
Wanda Sykes
William Shatner
Nick Nolte
Thomas Haden Church
Eugene Levy

Plot:
A scheming raccoon fools a mismatched family of forest creatures into helping him repay a debt of food, by invading the new suburban sprawl that popped up while they were hibernating...and learns a lesson about family himself.

Extras:
Commentary
DVD-ROM Content
Featurettes
Interactive Game
Short film "Hammys Bumerang Abenteuer"
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

Great movie with great animation! With fun characters voiced by an all-star cast which is put into good use. William Shatner as an opossum who over-dramatically fakes his own deaths is great . I love how Shatner has embraced parodying himself the last 10 years or so. Steve Carell is also great as the voice of Hammy.

Rating:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE77igZczlI

[addicted2dvd]

This is one I never got the chance to see.... I will have to do something about that!

[Najemikon]

I thought it was pretty good, but the plot is just about the same as Toy Story. Also, the comic strip it's based on is much edgier and very funny. I get it on a comics.com subscription.

[Dragonfire]

I've seen that one.  It was all right, but not one of my favorite animated movies.

[Tom]

Title: Pushing Daisies: Season One
Year: 2007
Rating: NR
Length: 410 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Portuguese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Spanish, Thai


Plot:
Every not-so-often, along comes a show that's different. Wonderfully different. Pushing Daisies, TV Guide's Matt Roush writes, "restores my faith in TV's ability to amuse, enchant and entertain." It's the story of Ned, a lonely pie maker whose touch can reanimate the dead. Cool, but there's a hitch. If Ned touches the person again, the miracle is reversed. If he doesn't, a bystander goes toes up. What to do? Easy: Team with a private eye, bring murder victims back just long enough to discover whodunit, and collect the rewards. Things go well until Ned's boyhood sweetie is the next dear departed, and he can't resist bringing her back for keeps! Dig the wit, style and quirky romance: If you're not laughing, you may need a visit from Ned.

Extras:
Scene Access
Featurettes

My Thoughts:

"And these were the facts":
From the makers of Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, two great series, comes another series. The idea of this series is interesting. The execution is quirky and reminds me a lot of Amelié.
But after these nine episodes I am wondering where else this series can go. I hope it hasn't run its course yet (I haven't read anything about how the second season fares so far, yet).

Rating:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Umi-2WOdzI

[Dragonfire]

I saw a few of the episodes last year after the show started and enjoyed them.  I missed most of them though.  I have thought about picking up the DVD set.

[Tom]

To keep my reviews a little more at one place, I will post my monthly movie marathon entries here and link the entries in my marathon list to here.





Title: Bowfinger
Year: 1999
Director: Frank Oz
Rating: PG-13
Length: 97 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , English: DTS 5.1 , French: Dolby Digital Surround , Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Steve Martin
Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Heather Graham
Christine Baranski

Plot:
How does Bobby Bowfinger ('Steve Martin'), Hollywood's least successful director, get Kit Ramsey ('Eddie Murphy'), Hollywood's biggest star, in his ultra low-budget film? Any way he can. With an ingenious scheme and the help of Kit's eager and nerdy brother Jiff, an ambitious and sexy wannabe ('Heather Graham') and an over-the-hill diva ('Christine Baranski'), Bowfinger sets out to trick Kit Ramsey into the performance of a lifetime. Enjoy the fun with Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin - together for the first time in the hit comedy 'BOWFINGER'.

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
DVD-ROM Content
Featurettes
Outtakes
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

I was not sure, if I had seen this movie before. But seeing it now, I remember having it seen on TV a few years back. This is a really good comedy. I properly didn't appreciate it that much when I last saw it (maybe it was the German dub at fault).

Probably the only good movie Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy have done the last 10 years.
Eddie Murphy is doing his dual role really well. The role of Bowfinger is a perfect fit for Steve Martin. Heather Graham does the naive country girl (who turns out to be not so naive) well.

Terence Stamp was really fitting as the leader of the Scientology-like cult. Seeing him here I wonder, why they only use his voice for Jor-El in Smallville. I always had General Zod in mind before when I thought of him, but is look (at least in 1999 when this movie was made) would be perfect for the role of Jor-El.

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Johnny English
Year: 2002
Director: Peter Howitt
Rating: FSK-6
Length: 84 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1 , English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , German: DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English, German

Stars:
Rowan Atkinson
John Malkovich
Natalie Imbruglia

Plot:
Johnny English, a British secret agent who dreams of rising beyodn his menial job within the MI-7 organization, is hired to protect the Crown Jewels after all the other agents are bumped off. When the jewels are stolen, he eventually uncovers a plot to replace England's monarch with what the British fear the most: a French king.

Extras:
Deleted Scenes
DVD-ROM Content
Featurettes
Interactive Game
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

Edward Blackadder meets James Bond. It is a decent James Bond parody. Not as over the top as similar parodies (like the Leslie Nielsen one). Rowan Atkinson does fit well in the role. Sadly the screenplay is rather average. This movie could have been much more.

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Antitrust
Year: 2001
Director: Peter Howitt
Rating: 15
Length: 104 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Ryan Phillippe
Rachael Leigh Cook
Claire Forlani
Tim Robbins
Douglas McFerran

Plot:
In a world where unseen enemies can watch your every move, who can you trust? Ryan Phillippe ('Cruel Intentions'), Rachael Leigh Cook ('She's All That'), Clare Forlani ('Meet Joe Black') and Oscar® nominee Tim Robbins star in this fast-paced, sizzling thriller that crackles with genuine intrigue, considerable suspense and an ingenious, stunningly cinematic payoff you have to see to believe!

Young, brilliant computer whiz Milo Hoffman (Phillippe) lands an exciting and lucrative job at the world's largest computer company, N.U.R.V. Handpicked by powerful C.E.O. Gary Winston (Robbins) to work on a project that will change the way the world communicates, Milo thinks he's found the dream job. But when his best friend Teddy is brutally murdered and clues lead to N.U.R.V.'s involvement, Milo becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth. With his cunning and beautiful girlfriend (Forlani) and a sexy programmer (Cook) to help him, Milo races to beat Teddy's murderers at their own cyber game. But as they close in on him, he realises he may be too late to learn the most important code of all: keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer. And know which are which before you're killed.

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Music Videos
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

I quite enjoyed this movie. Finally a "hacker" movie, which stays relatively realistic in its dispiction of computer programming and hacking.
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, when I first saw it. At the time I thought it would probably be rather unrealistic like "The Net" with Sandra Bullock. I had bought it mainly because it has Rachael Leigh Cook in it
This movie is essentially a battle between the good (open source programmers) and evil (big Microsoft like cooparations). Tim Robbins as the CEO of the cooperation is unmistakenly based on Bill Gates.

Rating:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS1EOjO9sgw

[Tom]

Title: Eulogy
Year: 2004
Director: Michael Clancy
Rating: 14
Length: 91 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , French: Dolby Digital Surround , Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Spanish

Stars:
Zooey Deschanel
Hank Azaria
Rip Torn
Ray Romano
Piper Laurie
Kelly Preston
Famke Janssen

Plot:
Last rites. Last words. Last laughs.

When three generations of a dysfunctional family gather in Rhode Island to bury the family patriarch, members of the Collins clan are at each other's throats in no time. Son Daniel is a secret porn actor, and daughter Lucy is a lesbian. Lucy totes along her lover Judy to the outrage of Lucy's aggressively neurotic sister Alice, whose hysterical overreaction to the pair's marriage plans ought to tell everyone something. Rounding out the delightful crowd are dim brother Skip, whose unfailingly rude twin sons offer caustic commentary on their elders' infantile predilections; matriarchal widow Charlotte, who becomes so justifiably distraught at the insanity of her children she tries to commit suicide; and Kate, a confused but comely college freshman who juggles preparation of the eulogy with internal debate over what to do with her childhood friend-turned-suitor, Ryan.

Extras:
Closed Captioned
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Outtakes
Scene Access
Storyboard Comparisons
Trailers

My Thoughts:

This movie did no do so well with the critics, but I enjoyed it. I came across it, because Zooey Deschanel is in it. How many of you buy movies just because an actress you enjoyed in the past is in it?

The cast is well known (at least to me) and they all did a good job (even Ray Romano ).
There is even a minor but fun role played by Rene Auberjoinois (Odo from DS9).

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Kamichu!: The Complete Series
Year: 2005
Rating: PG-13
Length: 400 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo , Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Plot:
What would you do if you suddenly became a god? When little Yurie, a junior high school student, discovers that she is a god, she is beside herself in indecision and asks her friends. Thus begins her new life exploring what it means to be a god and her struggle to properly fulfill all the responsibilities it entails. From finding stray gods to dealing with Martians, her life is about to become more than ordinary.

Extras:
Photo Gallery
Production Notes
Trailers

My Thoughts:

When I had read the cover overview, I had expected a rather different type of a series. But even though it is almost completely different than I have expected, I quite enjoyed this series. I had expected some over the top comedy, but this series is more on the serious side with slow pacing. I would call it a mix between "Haibane Renmei" and "Spirited Away" with a little "The Cat Returns" touch.
But I think that I had a lot more laugh-out-loud moments, than I would have had in a pure comedy.
I also enjoyed the nice backgrounds.

Rating:

Opening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrIHyw6q0lQ