Collecting Movie Reviews

I know Amazons reviewer hates this series, but I find it entertaining. I know the story doesnt really go anywhere, and some of the Mech designs are poor, but I just enjoy watching it. I dont find the characters boring at all, I do find them a little retarted at times. The Isami family is a little wacked in the head, the Mom sleeps around the daughter is a psyco the son seems pretty normal and the dad is just weird. If you like L-Gaim or Gundam, or other war based mech series you should find this worth a watch at least.

I'm a big fan of all types of mecha anime, but this one has to be my favorite now. It has pretty much everything I could want in a mecha show. Fans of Five Star Stories and Heavy Metal L.Gaim will love this.

Departure from the Ocean Depths (B-): Hime recieves her very own Brain while Yuu contemplates live on Earth.

Fated Reunion (B+): Yuu escapes Orphen to find Hime and tries to break into a research lab.

Yuu's Battle (B+): Yuu meets the pilots from Novis Noah and helps them defend a town from Grand Chers.

The Hometown Flames (B): Yuu returns to his hometown as well as his only childhood friend, Kanon. There, Kanon must decide whether to stay with Orphen or not.

Friend or Foe (B-): Kanon returns to Novis Noah to flush out Yuu once again.

Double Revival (B+): Kanon attempts to pilot a Brain Powered while witnessing a revival.

Rejection (A): Kanon and Higgins aquire Brain Childs to fight the Grand Chers. And another Grand Cher revives.

At the Port of Call (B): KD tries to infiltrate Novis Noah and Kanon becomes more attached to Russ Lemberg.

Johnathan's Sword (B+): Mr. Mohammad comes to buy the Novis Noah and Johnathan Glenn holds the ship's crew hostage.

The music of Brain Powered alone is worth watching this show. The animation is a tad dated, but still watchable. Extras on the second disc include Textless Opening and Closing. The insert in the package contains a brief synphosis of the series.

Overall, this is a great start to a highly intriguing plot that will get way better as the show goes on. Plus, 9 episodes on 2 discs is a good deal. Highly recommended to all mecha fans, old or young.

Ralph Byrd returns as Dick Tracy in RKO Radio's DICK TRACY'S DILEMNA. Tracy is helped by Vitamin Flintheart (Ian Keith) as they match wits with a gang of fur thieves and a criminal named "The Claw" who uses his articial hand as a weapon. Jack Lambert has the role of "The Claw" and Kay Christopher plays Tess Truehart.The cast also includes Bernadene Hayes as Longshot Lillie and Jimmy Conlin as Sightless. The movie sometimes goes by the title of the MARK OF THE CLAW.

If you liked the Dick Tracy comics, you'll love these 4 films. The first 2 on disc 1 star Morgan Conway, a little known actor, who does look the part. The other 2 on disc 2 bring back Ralph Byrd who played the role in 4 cliff hanger serials in the 30s. Plus there are some nice little extras after each movie on each side of each disc. So put on your yellow trenchcoats it's time for some grade B mysteries of grade A caliber.

This is a very interesting DVD set specializing in the investigations of the Paranormal Activities mainly in US and England. What I Love the most is the photographs of the Ghosts and Spirits shown at the begining of every case, but it would've been better if they had provided a special section in the "MENU" of each DVD containing all the photographs collections including their details (dates, Origin, Etc.). The other good thing about this DVD is that it provided information on the places with the most reported Paranormal Activities and also the name of the Investigators of few well known cases.

Before I launch into praise for these DVD's I have to admit that not all the stories related therein are of the bone-chilling variety, though quite a few are. Many stories are of hauntings by friendly type spirits, where the returning entity means no harm to the visitor, and while these may still cause most people to run for the hills, they pale in comparison to the truly frightening stories, namely the ones regarding entities that DO try to harm or frighten.

Hosted by Patrick MacNee (The Avengers), who takes us to various locations famous - or infamous - for it's ghostly activities, we get to visit such places as Hollywood and parts of the Old West (among others) where we realize that the dearly departed are not really departed. MacNee does a good job in setting up the stories, and the ghostly photographs - supposedly real - that usually precede the stories, lend an even more chilling edge to the proceedings.

For ghost story fans, I would also recommend the video collection of the old television show 'One Step Beyond'.

The collection is of the titles: 1) Weather Women, 2) Ladies Phone Club, 3) Terminatrix, 4) Tokyo Decamaron 5) Undressed for Success and 6) Sumo Vixens.
Each DVD is in it's own case, and all are stored in a cardboard box. To determine if this set is right for you, you should look at the reviews for each title before dropping this kind of cash. But, if you like what you see, it is a good bargain as seperately these titles would run in the neighborhood of $125.00.

I will certainly be looking for more Kei Mizutani movies after the box set. Good bang for the buck.

Legend of Himiko is a cool anime. It's funny, loveable and full of action. I really loved it. If u like fantasy you'll like it too.

As to why I gave this anime a 4 star rating; well first of all, the graphics in the first few episodes weren't that good for a recent production. secondly, the storyline builds up really nice and the plot produced is great but it resolves really rapidly and abruptly and the anime ends quikly. Other than that, the characters are great and funny. And the story is great that you can get so involved in the story.

I recommend it.

I didn't know much about this series when I first purchassed it on a gamble, but I wasn't dissapointed. The story is interesting, and runs along fine. Considering it was based off of a Japanese playstation game. There are plenty of hunourous points, and there is enough action to keep most into it. Animation is clean, and the music is very good. Particulary the opening and closing themes.
There are many extras, like outtakes, art galleries, etc. So I think its worth picking up.
The only complaint I had is that the English voice acting seemed kind of dull and lifeless. So you might want to watch it subtitled instead of the Dubbed version.

One thing which I wanted to know, but could not find on the packaging until I opened it, was whether the movies in the set were all widescreen. I was quite happy to find out that all of the films in the collection are widescreen, at least according to the packaging. I have watched 4 of these films and enjoyed them all. It would be useful if the technical specifications section would spell out more clearly when films, especially in box sets, are in widescreen.

A long-time Luc Besson fan, I have avoided renting or buying one of my all-time favorite films, 'Subway' because the US dubbed version is so incredibly terrible. I finally got around to shopping for the DVD and discovered that it had been released twice, once in the original, reformatted version with English dubbing (BLECH!) and more recently in wide-screen format with choice of French with English subtitles or the (BLECH!) dubbing. This box set, for those who are curious, includes the latter version. In fact, all the films in the set are in wide-screen format (5th Element includes BOTH modified and wide-screen) and the box set includes Director's Cut (original French version) of The Big Blue. I took the plunge and bought the collection and can honestly say I'm ecstatic to have purchased it. Well worth the money!

to be honest, while i am excited to have this box set in my hands, especially the remastered special edition of jfk, i am a bit disappointed. firstly, nixon isn't included (platoon isn't either, but i bought it the same day since it's an inexpensive dvd). i know nixon's in the 10-dvd set, but i think it fits nicely into the themes of this edition, although i'm not sure what dvd they would take out to fit it in (maybe any given sunday, but i'm sure the box wouldn't sell as much without his most lucrative film). so, no nixon, not too big of a problem. the second problem, and i think the bigger of the two, is the poor quality of the born on the 4th of july dvd. while not my favorite of his films, it is one of his least questionabley great films. there isn't the same kind of love/hate relationship that viewers and critics have with natural born killers. it doesn't achieve stone's trademark excesses, it's just an all around powerful film. thus, why wouldn't universal do a little more with the transfer (remaster it at least, anamorphic maybe). it really is a substandard transfer. the doors, jfk and natural born killers all got special edition treatment, so why not a film for which he was awarded an oscar? i really don't know, it just puzzles me why a box set that classifies itself as a fairly definitive collection of oliver stone's career (excluding of course salvador and platoon) would skimp on providing us with a definitive edition of born on the 4th. well, oliver stone's not a perfect man or a perfect director, so i guess it figures that this isn't the perfect box set. nonetheless, although i've complained for most of this review, the rest of the set is excellent. jfk, my favorite, is finally given its deserved treatment on dvd--excellent transfer, commentary, to name a few. the any given sunday dvd is a slight improvement over the standard edition. the commentaries, from stone and jamie foxx are not the best i've heard, but they're worth listening to for some behind the scenes info. i haven't checked out the rest of the extras, but i'm not disappointed with this edition. natural born killers is essentially the same as the early director's cut release, except that it isn't the director's cut and it's anamorphic. the extras are all included, deleted scenes and alternate ending, and i think the commmentary is the same. why they couldn't get the director's cut is i'm sure a matter of distribution rights or something of that matter, but it's still a great dvd. wall street is the same as the individual release, it has a decent transfer, plus commentary. the doors dvd is an all out special edition with a great transfer, commentary and lots of interviews, extra scenes, etc. they should'vd put this kind of effort in born on the 4th of july. i haven't seen oliver stone's america yet, i'm sure it's a solid look into oliver stone's career. well, that's it for my thoughts. i haven't checked all the dvd's out entirely, but i'm generally satisfied with my purchase.

Here we have one of the greatest collections of film work ever assembled by a filmmaker. The work of Oliver Stone stands as one of the greatest creative bodies of work in the history of film. And sure, they are brilliantly filmed, written, performed and photographed, but Stone's work is appreciated because of the power and influence it weilds. Unlike typical directors, Stone's films make us think and look at ourselves in the mirror. Some of the films here like "JFK" and "Natural Born Killers" serve in fact, as important film documents of the 20th century. "Wall Street" is a brilliant study of greed in American society. It uses the world of the stock market as a backdrop to explore the themes of ambition, greed, lust and power. "Born On The Fourth Of July" is one of the best films ever about Vietnam, a powerful story about a man who thought he was doing the right thing for his country and returned a crippled, disillusioned man. "The Doors" is the greatest rock film of all time. Val Kilmer gives a stunning performance, almost on the verge of possession, as Jim Morrison. The concert scenes are amazing and with the authenticity of a documentary. It's also an effective study of how excess can kill a great artist. Then comes "JFK," the best film in the collection. Here Stone paints a disturbing, powerful portrait of the forces that killed John F. Kennedy. It is a study of how politics and power work in the world. "Natural Born Killers," a stunning stylish wild ride, is a brilliant satire about violence and our obsession with violence in the world. "Any Given Sunday" is the best football movie of all time! I was a little disappointed with the extra documentary, "Oliver Stone's America," which is interesting and watchable but is just a simple conversation. The extra Charlie Rose interview in the "Natural Born Killers" DVD is enough. But here we have work that is obviously done by a genius. He is willing to cross the line to present something that opens the eyes and mind. His films are haunting, hypnotic, stylish, intelligent and provocative. This special collection is jam-packed with extra material. "The Doors" and "JFK" are special two-disc editions that have deleted scenes and in the case of "The Doors," a special making-of documentary. Be warned, "Natural Born Killers" is not the Director's Cut, but the original version. However, edited scenes found in the Director's Cut are on the DVD. Oliver Stone is probably the most important American director currently producing films. This is a unique, powerful collection of film, of provocative art.

After reading the review below, I thought I'd better write in to clarify the sexual politics of Revolutionary Girl Utena. If you don't care one way or the other about this issue, read no further. If you do, I hope this will be a guide to help you think about the show.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is 39 episodes long, but for several years only the first 13 episodes have been available in the States. There are three reasons for this. First, the sex. We see teenage characters who are sexually active in some way, even though we don't see what they do. Second, and more important, there are some pretty obvious displays of gay sexuality, including one character who is a lesbian and knows it. Third, there are open discussions of brother-sister incest, including a younger girl who has a hopeless crush on her older brother.

Let's handle these three things one at a time.

1. The sex. In terms of its frankness about teen sex, Utena is more graphic than any US-based cartoon for tweens but far less so than Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So, if Buffy doesn't bother you, this show might not either.

2. The gay themes. This show never judges people for being gay, and the entire series is clearly about finding out what you want and staying true to your own ideals and desires. The main character, Utena, seems to like only boys at first, but she also kind of wants to BE a boy--strong, assertive, and able to defend other girls who are being persecuted or pushed around. In short, this is not a show about traditional family values.

3. The incest stuff. Incest is NEVER presented in a positive light in this show. Quite the contrary, is is portrayed as a tragic reality that is neither imaginary nor safe. The show's insights into the dynamics of family desire are very, very radical, and if you don't even want to THINK about these isues, don't watch the show. However, if you want to see a show that takes the issue seriously and will give you food for thought about what incest MEANS, you are in for a revelation.

[Note--The Black Rose Saga also has hints of teacher-student sexual relations, and these are handled similarly. The reality of such relations is acknowledged, but there no sense of sexiness, much less of approval]

This middle segment of the show, The Black Rose Saga, is the least interesting one. It's sort of a lengthy pause between the first arc, which handles the development of Utena as a "prince," and the last arcs, which deal with two basic questions: what does it really mean to be a "prince," and what would it take to revolutionize the world? However, even though it's a pause, it's still an interesting portrait of some minor characters and their own struggles, which are often different from Utena's.

In terms of its overall take on sexuality and desire, Utena is more radical than ANY show in the US, including Xena, OZ, Queer as Folk, etc. In terms of its sexual politics it just might be the most radical TV show, ever. By the time the series is over, the show has pretty much completely revised the whole idea of how men and women are supposed to relate to each other and what it means for them to desire each other. From the simple image of a prince on a white horse, an entire new fairy tale emerges that suggests women, and men, are headed toward a very new future. I can't say more without spoiling the show.

I write all this becuase US fans of Utena often attempt to downplay these issues and say that the characters aren't "really" gay, etc. Fine--but the characters aren't "really" straight, either. They are complex, powerful, and often tragic individuals who are trying to figure out what they want in life. I think we need more shows like this, both for teen viewers and for the rest of us. But make no mistake, this isn't just some adventure cartoon with cool fight scenes, and it will try to make you ask questions about your own desires.

The release of the second arc/season of Utena is a big deal-a very big deal for us in the states. The Black Rose arc is far from being the best Utena series, but is still better than most series. It's fighting sequences are better than that of the first season, but it dosen't focus on character relationships the way the 1st does, but gives us a good insight on the secondary characters of the show, such as:: Kanae, Kozue, Shiori, Tswuabuki, Wakaba & her Onion Price, and Keiko. It also introduces us to the so called "villians" of Utena, Mikage and Mamiya. The relationship between the two has scared some off from this series but please, there aren't any real fruity scenes between the two. It never goes farther than Mikage kissing Mamiya's fingers- so if you're homophobic, you'll still enjoy this series. Mikage is a very interesting character with a dark past that will give this series quite a shocking season finale. Don't pass up the series that shocked Japan and is flying off the US racks.

Contains episodes 14-26

***Aside from the Black Rose, this also contains the first two episodes of the highly anticipated 3rd Saga- Akio.***

College Football is fast becoming America's newest pastime. There are always those who will argue baseball is better, but college football is always talked about from July through February with a childlike zeal. "Rites of Autumn" attempts to give a history of the coaches and players that shaped the sport into the NCAA and NFL we know today. The series is ten episodes narrated by Burt Reynolds and each one has themes similiar to a Ken Burns' documentary. The only holes in the show are the lack of information on teams other than Alabama,any Big Ten teams, Notre Dame, USC,Oklahoma, and Miami. There are many teams that really helped shape the sport that were totally looked over. Perhaps time did not permit, but this is a very entertaining view of sports history. Overall I would recommend anyone at least renting it or borrowing from a friend because if you love football...you will love "Rites of Autumn".

Since this ten-part documentary first aired on ESPN last fall, the only way to purchase it for home viewing had been to go directly through the production company. I did it that way, and the incovenience and delays were monumental. College football fans now able to purchase this amazing series more easily should celebrate.

Narrated by Burt Reynolds (who, as an actor and a Florida State alumnus, is not my favorite person), "Rites of Autumn" reviews this history of college football from its earliest days to the present, focusing on individual elements of the sport. Reynolds's voice-over, to his credit, smoothly introduces the viewer to each subject and character, with an engaging objectivity an interest in each. From individual players to specific matches and long-time dynasties, the topics covered reflect the characters and events of the sport while investigating the social and even political influences exercised and experienced by America's first gridiron love--the college game.

Using interviews and vintage footage, the story involves the viewer and conveys the historical scope and grandeur of the college football story in a way worthy of the game's great legacy. Fans of smaller programs will be glad to note that, while the series gives its greatest emphasis to the "biggest" schools, it also acknowledges the importance and influence of teams from lesser divisions. While it would be simple for any intimate fan of the game, let alone a fervent devotee of a specific school, to detect prominent persons and events left unaddressed, the ten, hour-long episodes encompass everything that might reasonably be included, without any glaring exclusions.

If you cannot travel to the College Football Hall-of-Fame in South Bend, envelope yourself in the sites and sounds, the history and pagentry, of America's greatest sport through this collection. You'll not regret having a bridge over the long eight-month gap from the last College Gameday broadcast of the old season to the first broadcast of the next.