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Reviews

My Neighbor Totoro

I find it interesting that Disney makes a big deal of its partnership with Japan’s Studio Ghibli, but only releases the films of Hayao Miyazaki. Along with Ponyo, three of Miyazaki’s earlier films are getting a “deluxe” treatment on DVD. What puzzles me is that instead of DVDs, these Studio Ghibli rereleases should be arriving like Ponyo does, in a Blu-ray DVD combination pack. My Neighbor Totoro is one of the most magical film that Miyazaki ...

Wonderful World

Best remembered for his turn in such comedies as Ferrris Beuller’s Day Off and Election, Matthew Broderick has always taken on dramatic roles throughout his career. Now with Wonderful World, he takes another dramatic turn, this time in what is meant to be an almost charming story of a man coming out of his shell, but instead comes across more like a depressing story abut being too late for one’s own party. Despite this, Broderick ...

Star Ocean: The Last Hope (International Edition)

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that I am not quite finished playing Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope – International Edition. From what I can tell I’m about 3/4 of the way through and the boss fights are just getting tougher and tougher. It might be a couple of weeks before I do finish the game. This PlayStation 3 port of the (previously exclusive) Xbox 360 RPG is the same ...

Kiki’s Delivery Service

I find it interesting that Disney makes a big deal of its partnership with Japan’s Studio Ghibli, but only releases the films of Hayao Miyazaki. Along with Ponyo, three of Miyazaki’s earlier films are getting a “deluxe” treatment on DVD. What puzzles me is that instead of DVDs, these Studio Ghibli rereleases should be arriving like Ponyo does, in a Blu-ray DVD combination pack. Kiki’s Delivery Service is an adaptation of a novel, but the story ...

White Knight Chronicles

This console generation, aside from HD graphics, has been about online gaming. Xbox Live and to a lesser extent the PlayStation Network have changed console gaming and made almost every game seem incomplete unless there was some online component. Thankfully developers have backed off that initial bandwagon, but the integration of the massive multiplayer online game into traditional genres is not complete to any extent. This makes White Knight Chronicles an important game. Level 5 has ...

Bitch Slap

Bitch Slap wants to be a B-movie that is aware of what it I and have fun with it. The problem is that it doesn’t quite go all the way and fully commit. Sure, there are limitations with the budget, and those are worked around just fine (even if the green screen backdrops are obvious). In a way, Bitch Slap comes across more like a play adapted for film that has a schizophrenic rewrite editor. Most ...

Clash of the Gods

“Clash of the Gods” is a 10 episode series on the History channel that looks at some of the more popular ancient myths. Not only do the stories of the myths get told, explaining what they are, but what the links are between these stories and the real world. Through simple reenactments and narration we see much of the stories retold, along with the various “talking heads” that we expect in a documentary series. The various ...

Ponyo

Disney and Studio Ghibli entered into a working partnership several years ago, While many of the recent films, such as Spirited Away, were able to get greater distribution through Disney’s resource, it is perhaps only with Ponyo that the collaboration is in full effect, and not just because this is an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story of The Little Mermaid. There is something about the story and the way it is told here that ...

Old Dogs

Remember when John Travolta’s career was on a downward slide and he was reduced to cashing in with Look Who’s Talking sequels? It would appear that his “comeback” is over. Yes, we enjoy watching him do comedies, but Old Dogs? Really? The best thing about the film is that Robin Williams displays what could be considered restraint. He doesn’t necessarily play the straight man in a comedy duo, but he doesn’t go over the top with ...

The Neverending Story

There are a number of my peers that love The Neverending Story, and while I enjoy the film enough, I don’t count myself as one of the major devotees. Perhaps it was because the film came out in my later teen years, and I was moving beyond the simple “believe” fantasy storylines. Maybe I too closely identified with the bullied protagonist of Bastion (literally) and found some flaws with his behavior as portrayed in the ...

Turn The Beat Around

Turn the Beat Around is a modern day Flashdance. Instead of welding, we have flooring. Instead of getting admitted to a dance academy, we have a disco club opening. Oh, there are troubles along the way, such as a boyfriend that is a jerk, and some of the usual workplace issues. Zoe is a young aspiring dancer who lands herself a job working for a local real estate mogul who owns several properties and clubs. She ...

Olivia Takes Ballet

Originally a series of children’s picture books, Olivia is now a television series aimed at preschoolers. This isn’t a bad thing, but don’t’ think of Olivia the series as being educational. Instead the fun I in the imagination that Olivia displays, which is why the books proved to be popular enough to make the leap from page to television. The spirit of the books is intact with the series, and now some of those episodes are ...

SpongeBob’s Last Stand

SpongeBob’s Last Stand is the latest in a line of DVD releases that are a mish-mash of individual episode segments. Rather than taking the full season, or even half of a season as the current trend is, over the last couple of years SpongeBob SquarePants episodes have been released in a rather haphazard manner with no regard for the audience. Because the series is geared towards children (for the most part) and there is no ...

Jack5sons: A Family Dynasty

The Jask5sons: A Family Dynasty is a six episode reality series that aired on A&E meant to chronicle the family’s return to the stage in honor of the 40th anniversary of The Jackson 5. Shot during 2009, naturally events took a different turn with the death of Michael Jackson and the planned 40th anniversary event didn’t take place. The first episode was shot before Michael Jackson’s untimely death. What we see are the four brothers (minus ...

Gentlemen Broncos

I wanted to enjoy Gentlemen Broncos, but something just held me back from fully enjoying the film. Maybe it’s the mash-up between big and low budget production values. Maybe it’s the way that the story tries too hard to replicate the “indie” spirit of Napoleon Dynamite. The same folks behind Napoleon Dynamite are behind Gentlemen Broncos, so it’s a fair comparison. Gentlemen broncos has much of the same quirkiness to it, but muc of the ...

Cold Souls

Let’s get the comparisons out of the way. While Cold Souls is original, it is reminiscent of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I mention this not to be derogatory in any way to the work of writer/director Sophie Barthes, but to give some sort of compass bearing as to the direction Cold Souls has taken. Paul Giamatti plays a version of himself, an actor preparing for a stage performance of Chekhov’s ...

Clash of the Titans (1981)

Harry Hamlin as Perseus? Really? My memory of Clash of the Titans is fuzzy, and if you had asked I would never have imagined Hamlin as the Greek hero of myth. I remembered Pegasus, the Kraken, Zeus and his figures of clay representing mortals, but that was it. I even remembered a scene with skeletons come to life, but that was from another Harryhausen film. I don’t think I’ve seen Clash of the Titans since it ...

Abby In Wonderland

Abby in Wonderland is a (very) loose adaptation of the classic Lewis Carroll story with a Sesame Street twist. It was originally released on DVD a couple of years ago, and now with the Tim Burton film arriving in theaters, it seemed appropriate to cash in on the heightened awareness of Alice in Wonderland (there are a couple of other appropriate DVDs seeing similar treatment). Falling asleep while Elmo tells her the story, Abby finds herself ...

Alice in Wonderland (1933)

Taking elements from both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, the 1933 version of Alice in Wonderland is a bit of a confusing mess that must have absolutely delighted audiences when it first debuted. Noted comedy director Norman McLeod was behind the camera for this adaptation that seems to have attempted to mash together the two books, and works for the most part on its own, but not as any sort of ...

Alice in wonderland (1966 BBC)

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of the few works that is famous for its literary origins as well as the number of film versions. However, most people are familiar with the film versions with usually add in elements of that work as well as the sequel Through the Looking Glass. Much in the same way that Baz Luhrman adapted William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet using the original text but adapted it to a modern setting, ...

The Universe Season 4

Previous seasons are here. Season 4 of The Universe sees the series getting a bit more on track than before. With 12 episodes, the focus is back where it belongs for the most part, but there are a couple of episodes that just shouldn’t be part of this series. Still, overall this fourth season is a bit stronger and is certainly worth checking out. First, let’s get this out of the way – I watch The Universe ...

Ninja

Ninja is a low budget martial arts action film. That’s the best way to describe the film. I lead with that statement because everything is colored by this fact. Real life martial arts champion Scott Adkins is Casey, a westerner raised in a ninja dojo. Unfortunately there is resentment from the star pupil, which creates conflict. After this pupil is kicked out, the dojo’s prized heirloom, a trunk of original ninja weapons from hundreds of years ...

Nurse Jackie

Nurse Jackie is the latest salvo in the HBO/Showtime rivalry. Taking the co-star of one of HBO’s crown jewels, The Sopranos, Edie Falco and putting her center stage, the show tries very hard to be just on the edge of grim. It takes cues from House and ER with the slightly hopeful world that is covered in grime. Oddly enough even inside of the hospital everything is muted and tinged with grays and browns. Stylistic as ...

The Informant!

Based on a true story, but punched up significantly for film, The Informant is the story Mark Whitacre, an executive at ADM, a company that, among other things, produces food additive Lysine. Deciding to put a stop to the global price fixing the company participates in with other major producers from other countries, Mark (Matt Damon) contacts the FBI.   While this scenario sounds simple enough, the bizarre twists the story takes are downright hilarious. Mark is ...

Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years

Warner Brothers is celebrating Clint Eastwood with the collection 35 Films 35 Years. This is a box set of Clint’s films that he has either directed, starred in, or both. As a collection of films, this is not only huge and substantial, but a virtual archive of output. Since the films are all available separately, there are two factors affecting whether or not this set is worth purchasing. First is the price. At the retail ...

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