Topic: Tom's Random Reviews

[DJ Doena]

Somehow the cover looks awkward and unproportional without the Blu-ray bar. Do we need a WhatBRYouGot code?

[Tom]

Somehow the cover looks awkward and unproportional without the Blu-ray bar. Do we need a WhatBRYouGot code?

I would need a img tag which includes the bar. But I like the proportions.

[Tom]

Title: Sennen Joyu (Millennium Actress)
Year: 2001
Director: Satoshi Kon
Rating: PG
Length: 83 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese: DTS 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Stereo, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Japanese Voices
Miyoko Shoji
Mami Koyama
Fumiko Orikasa
Shozo Izuka
Syouko Tsuda

Plot:
Millennium Actress has the stylistic sophistication of Perfect Blue with the empathy, warmth and truth of Spirited Away.

A gorgeous, theatrical animation from the maker of anime classic Perfect Blue and last year's adorable Tokyo Godfathers. MILLENNIUM ACTRESS begins as a TV crew track down 70-something screen goddess Chiyoko Fujiwara. Chiyoko begins to tell her life story, at which point she literally steps into the past, dragging the confused crew into her memories - one moment they're discussing dramatic art, the next dodging bullets in the midst of a movie as the boundaries between film, memory, fact and fiction become a breathless blur. Chiyoko's history is depicted as a series of screen roles in which she appears as a feudal princess one moment, a lonely astronaut the next, endlessly chasing a lost love across the millennium. This stunning plunge through the centuries is testament not just to the pleasures but also the great strengths of animation: the many ages of screen goddess Chiyoko are achieved not with dubious CGI but artfully drawn. Playing with subjective and objective realities and richly textured with swooningly beautiful imagery, the film is a mental and visual anime feast.

Extras:
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

I bought this, because I stumbled across this when browsing amazon.co.uk. It sounded interesting and it was cheap.
The animation is beautiful, the story is an interesting blend of reality and fiction. While the title-giving actress tells about her past, the interviewers are sucked into her world by having her movie roles and her real life search for a lost love mixed together into the surreal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpGrD5wUzKE

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Danny the Dog
Year: 2004
Director: Louis Leterrier
Rating: 16
Length: 99 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: DTS 5.1
Subtitles: Dutch

Stars:
Jet Li
Morgan Freeman
Bob Hoskins
Kerry Condon
Vincent Regan

Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

A bought this a few a month ago for 2€ blind from a fellow Invelos member. I didn't get around watching until now, as Rich gave it a favourable review recently. And I agree with him. It's a enjoyful movie. Different than I had expected. The cast is good, the fights are fun to watch.

Rating:

[Najemikon]

I wonder if Unleashed was marketed properly? I've never been bothered about seeing it and most reviews, in a broad sense, seemed "confused". It looks like quite a different film to what I thought it was judging by your twos comments.

[Jimmy]

This cover is sure ugly
I've seen the trailer of this some time ago on another dvd and it looks too much like a Jackie Chan movie to me.

[Tom]

This cover is sure ugly
I've seen the trailer of this some time ago on another dvd and it looks too much like a Jackie Chan movie to me.

My actual cover is different though (it looks better). But I assume that the current cover in the Invelos database is from a first release.

The movie didn't remind me of a Jackie Chan movie. I haven't seen many Jackie Chan movies, but what I have seen so far, the fights are supposed to be funny. But here the fights are about a man who is let loose on his opponents like a wild animal.

I'm not sure if you talking about this trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF0ShH6XtN8

Besides the strange cuts it suits the movie. Though the movie puts more emphasis on the relationship Danny is building up with Morgan Freeman's character and his step-daughter.

[Tom]

Title: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Year: 2005
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: PG
Length: 115 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround EX, French: Dolby Digital Surround EX, Spanish: Dolby Digital Surround EX
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Johnny Depp
Freddie Highmore
David Kelly
Helena Bonham Carter
Noah Taylor

Plot:
What wonders await you in Willy Wonka's factory? Explore fields of soft minty sugar grass in the Chocolate Room...Sail along the Chocolate River in a pink sugar boat...Experiment with Everlasting Gobstoppers in the Inventing Room...Observe talented squirrels in the Nut Room and travel to the Television Room by a glass elevator. You'll find a lot that's funny, a little that's mysterious...and an adventure as sweet and satisfying as a Wonka Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight bar. This dazzling film adapted from Roald Dahl's classic children's novel, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Freddie Highmore, is your Golden Ticket to a world so inventive, so imaginative, you won't want to miss a delicious moment!

Extras:
Closed Captioned
DVD-ROM Content
Featurettes
Interactive Game
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

When I have first seen the trailer for this movie, I was thinking that they have Willy Wonka looking and acting too much like a parody of Michael Jackson.
But then when I saw this movie, I was proven otherwise.
At first I thought, that this movie wouldn't come close to the "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" movie (especially the performace of Gene Wilder in that one). But because this is not a simple remake of that movie, but actually stayed closer to the original book, this movie has its own merits.
Though I must admit, that I liked the songs in the old movie better. But I liked that they used different music styles for each song in this movie.
Just why must any Danny Elfman opening theme music sound like his Batman theme? I noticed this in Planet of the Apes, Spider-Man and here.

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Highlander
Year: 1986
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Rating: 15
Length: 111 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian: Dolby Digital Stereo, Spanish: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Dutch, French

Stars:
Christopher Lambert
Roxanne Hart
Clancy Brown
Sean Connery
Beatie Edney

Plot:
They are immortals, destined to live forever. They must duel down the ages until one remains. Only decapitation by sword can release them from their age-long battle for an incredible prize - power beyond imagination.
From the Scottish Highlands of the sixteenth century to present-day New York, they war for the Prize, while the fate of mortal man hangs in the balance.

Extras:
Interviews
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

The best of the Highlander movies. I like this movie (and the TV series), mainly because of the flashbacks. It's almost like time-travel. You see the same (immortal) character interacting in different time periods throughout history. This is why I also like flashbacks in series like Buffy and Angel.
Another thing why I like the TV series is the sword fights. But in this movie they are not good. You can see, that Christopher Lambert is not so well trained at sword fights as Adrian Paul is in the TV series.

Rating:

[DJ Doena]

Not to mention the soundtrack by Queen!

[Tom]

Not to mention the soundtrack by Queen!

Yes, but I found it strange that any character, who was listening to a radio, was listening to a Queen song

[DJ Doena]

There can be only one! (band). 

[Najemikon]

Ther can be only one! (band). 

[Achim]

Ther can be only one! (band). 

I was not aware there was a bunch of fellow Queen fans here!

I think the best placed song in the film (not my favorite song by a stretch, but I remember it from the film the most) is Who Want to Live Forever, as it wonderfully mirrors the sad realization on the screen.

Is Flash Gordon (not Flesh Gordon ; btw, didn't Vibrocount work on that...?) good enough a movie to watrrant a purchase for the soundtrack (am I making any sense?)?

[DJ Doena]

No, I don't think so. While I can watch the movie once in a while, I haven't listened to the soundtrack in ages. It was one of my earliest CDs but except for the main title (which is on Queen's Greatest Hits I) there's not much remarkable on it.