Reviews about Movies & DVDs

TheBard says "Blood, bullets, outlaws and the birth of the F.B.I." about "PUBLIC ENEMIES"

TheBard — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:12:04 GMT

Bottom-Line: Intellect is in short supply throughout Public Enemies, but it is good entertainment nonetheless.

Directed and produced by Michael Mann Public Enemies chronicles the newly minted Federal Bureau of Investigation's (F.B.I.) battle to rein in the outlaws of the Great Depression period. Special Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), is sent to head up the F.B.I.'s Chicago field office by then head of the agency, J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup).

Once ensconced in Chicago Purvis leads the manhunt for Indiana born John Dillinger (Johnny Depp ). Dillinger has already served eight years for armed robbery, been captured once, but then escapes, and is responsible for some two dozen robberies and at least 6 police slayings in three states.

My Viewpoint

As the nexus of this tale of criminals, G-Men, bank robberies, and bullets, Jonny Depp as John Dillinger comes close to embodying the man who is part Robin Hood, part cold blooded killer, and quintessentially American. As it...

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Fardreamer says "If you love Billy Joel, you'll enjoy this Greatest Hits DVD" about Billy Joel - The Greatest Hits, Volume III - The Video

Fardreamer — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:34:14 GMT

Although I was still in high school when cable television's Music Television (MTV) premiered on August 1, 1981, I really never got "into" the whole music video mystique like so many of my peers did when that channel wasn't yet the huge basic-cable network that is today and - of course - aired lots and lots of music videos.

One reason for this is that at the time, no cable company had yet begun to offer service to our South Florida neighborhood; the CATV industry was growing by leaps and bounds, but it would not be until 1988 that my mom would sign up with one of the many companies which would provide us with basic cable services over the next 20 years.

Another reason for my non-wanting my MTV is that as much as I love technology and the whole concept of innovation in entertainment, I'm sort of an "old-school" kind of guy when it comes to listening to music and finding my own interpretations of a song's lyrics.

To me, the notion that a director - whether he's a well-known filmmaker...

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minniemouse956 says "Finally - a workout video for all fitness levels" about Kathy Ireland

minniemouse956 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 03:13:00 GMT

Finally a workout video for all fitness levels. I am a heavier adult who needs to exercise, but it seems every workout video I've tried is too difficult. This makes me feel discouraged which leads me to not exercising. Kathy Ireland's workout video was awesome. It was filmed outdoors which makes for some interesting views. There are all kinds of people on the video - even a heavier lady, which NEVER happens. Throughout the video, Kathy is doing the moves, and specifically tells the audience what to do differently if they are a beginner. I warms my heart to see the support that the other people in the video were showing the "beginner" on the video. Seeing that makes me want to watch the video and exercise again and again. There are 3 sections of the video, so the more advanced exercisers can proceed through all three, and the beginners can work their way up. Thank you Kathy Ireland.

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TheBard says "Another Eastwood American History Lesson Thoughtfully Told " about The Changeling

TheBard — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:30:20 GMT

Bottom-Line: A little plodding at times Changeling is a great film.

Produced and directed by Clint Eastwood Changeling chronicles the true story Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) a single mother whose son Walter (Gattlin Griffith) goes missing one day from their Los Angeles home in 1925.

Christine calls the police and after the mandatory 24-hour waiting period the much maligned Los Angeles Police Department starts looking for her son. They think they have found him in DeKalb, IL and Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) contacts Christine with the good news. But when the boy arrives Christine insists that he is not her son...

The plot in Changeling is quite involved, too involved to detail here, sufficed to say, the script is brilliantly done and recounts in some detail the events that transpired between 1925 and 1935.

My Viewpoint

The title, Changeling, and the trailers for the movie carry with them an allusion that this was to be a science fiction film and that the events that...

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orangegiraffe007 says "Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred GETS RESULTS!" about Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred

orangegiraffe007 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:20:57 GMT

This is one of the only fitness videos that I have ever purchased and I am SOOO glad that I did! It is an amazing video! It is never boring and it GETS RESULTS FAST! Within just a couple of days I could already feel new definition in my arms! The greatest thing to me is that the whole workout is less than 30 minutes long, warmup and cool down included!! The workout is tough... Jillian is true to herself and doesn't kid around! But just stick with it and you will see results! I was skeptical at first, but I went online and checked out all the reviews and most of them were great, so I decided to check it out. Before I bought it, I was able to start it on Comcast On Demand for free, but only the first two levels were on there. After I progressed to the third, I was really into it and I bought it and I wasn't disappointed! This is the only workout that I've actually made it all the way through. All the hype over this video is real... try it out if you don't believe me!!

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gowgirl says "Walk away the pounds is energic,fun and gets you on your way tol" about Walk Away the Pounds

gowgirl — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:52:46 GMT

When I started watching "Walk away the pounds" I knew I was in for the walk of a life time. Leslie gets you so motivated and ready to walk. I noticed that everyone in her workout tape is of all sizes and ages which makes me fell like I can do the video myself.None of her steps are complected or hard ,they are as she states just walking steps. and easy to do. The great background music e the beat for you so you don't even think about it.You just walk with the music and as it speeds up to get your heart rate up you don't even notice. One thing about "walk away the pounds" is when its over you know you had a good walk but feel as though you want to do more. So I did and i bought more of her walking tapes and cds. Another great thing about Leslie's workout is that you really get three workouts on one vhs tape. You can walk as in the video or with weights or if you don't have that level you can just walk in place. Although they are not hard ,her steps can be done with or without arm movement's....

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VolFanGrl says "Not as good as the book.....but still terrific!" about Twilight - The Movie

VolFanGrl — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:23:50 GMT

After I read the book, I could barely wait to watch the movie. While it wasn't as good as the book, but, really, what movie is EVER as good as the book?, it was still wonderful!!!

Seeing the characters from the page come to life on the screen was exciting. I think the selection of actors fit PERFECTLY! While I had seen previews for the movie, at the time I had no intention of reading the books, because I thought they were intended for teens, but, thankfully, my husbands cousing talked me into reading the books. But, while seeing the previews, I hadn't really paid much attention to what the characters looked like. When I saw them on the screen, it was like they had been pulled directly from what I had imagined they would look like!!!

I am looking so forward to the next instalment in this saga.

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GigiandAdonai says "All the adventure and scifi a 10-year-old could ask for!" about Race to Witch Mountain

GigiandAdonai — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:21:27 GMT

Tuesday I took my best friend's 10-year-old grandson, Hunter, to see Race To Witch Mountain. I owed him a movie because I took his younger sister Halie to see the Hannah Montana Movie. He chose this movie and by the time we were able to squeeze it in with his baseball practice and banjo lessons we got a date. Fortunately for me it had already left the big theaters and gone to the multi-cinemas and games complex where every movie is $2.00 every day!

I had seen previews for the movie and knew I also wanted to see it. I could vaguely remember the older movies EscapeTo Witch Mountain (1975) and Return From Witch Mountain (1978) and then remade in 1995. I didn't go into this movie with any preconceived ideas of how the movie should turn out. I wasn't even trying to recall the older movies and compare them. I became a fan of Dwayne Johnson when I saw him in Game Plan and I knew he would be an excellent performer in this movie as well.

The leading cast to Race To Witch Mountain...

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ladydi123 says "Step Brothers is the funniest movie of the season" about Stepbrothers

ladydi123 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:18:15 GMT

StepBrothers is probably one of the funniest movies I have seen in years.I really love comedies and have watched all of Will Ferrell's movies but this one is the best when Will Ferrell and John Reilly who are two middle age men who are forced to live together when their parents get married. They begin together fighting about everything from who gets to watch the TV first to who sleeps on the top bunk., but when their antics take there toll on their parents marriage the two men come together to reunite their parents.In the end this movie is somewhat touching. This movie had me laughing the whole time. It was a hilarious comedy that I would watch over again many times.I watched this movie on DVD the unrated widescreen edition which I purchased on Amazon.com for $15.99. A pretty good buy considering I spent more than that for my husband and myself when we watched it for the first ime at the movie theatre.

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GreatMartin says "ALL ACTORS EXCELLENT--MOVIE ISN'T" about "PUBLIC ENEMIES"

GreatMartin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:07:16 GMT

"Public Enemies" proves two things: the first being that, no surprise, Johnny Depp is a grade A actor and, second, he might bring back hats for men!

I might wind up being in the minority but I found this to be a long, boring film with the most annoying, many times very confusing and certainlyunnecessary, camera shots. The camera is used for every angle from looking up from the floor to looking down from the sky or ceiling. There are shots of car vents, all parts of rifles, dark chases through woods and various criminals and FBI agents to the point that you don't know which is which.

One of the biggest problems I had was, knowing how John Dillinger died, so many scenes that might lead to his capture or death have no meaning or suspense. Also, based on a real person told in reel life it is hard to know what is true and what is false, in particular two scenes where it is hard to believe no one recognized this very well know man whose face is on Wanted Posters all over the country.

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CASH100GIRL says "could have been an exciting, slow book-read - too slow for video" about WHEN A MAN FALLS

CASH100GIRL — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:12:45 GMT

I'm in an online Media-Swap Club - and I was so excited to have a swap for a SHARON STONE MOVIE. How can a movie be bad with Sharon Stone?

Well, WHEN A MAN FALLS is...

boring
slow, while wondering...
- if there is a point to be made
  - or if people are just interacting
- will there be clarity about the people in the movie
- where is this movie going?

Although I'm not a regular novel-reader, I do think that this story would have been a great book to READ at one's own pace. I think it would have been more exciting to read, put the book down & come back, read some more, etc.

The movie was very slow in issues getting to a point of resolution - no exciting build-up - there were too many people-issues.

I can't wait to swap-back this movie!

While watching this movie, I learned a new feature on my remote control - DISPLAY showed me how much movie-time was left. FINALLY! [yawwnnn] everything is pulled together in the very end when after the unexpected happens, everyone is...

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jasyjen says "The suspense and excitement just wasn't there." about Friday the 13th (2009)

jasyjen — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:19:53 GMT

I love a good horror movie, and enjoy the suspense of excitement of the original Friday the 13th movies, so I was excited to see the remake. I was curious to see how they could improve on a 'classic' movie with all the technology available today. It turns out, they didn't improve on it at all, and in fact they made it worse.

** There are no spoilers in this review!

I was so disappointed with the remake of Friday the 13th. What I like most about the original Friday the 13th movies is the chase. You know, the victims hiding in the woods, Jason stalking them with an axe in hand, and even though you know they won't escape, the chase is exciting. There is NONE of that in the remake (except for at the end). Literally, Jason walks up to a victim, he kills them, and he moves on. BORING.

The classic Friday the 13th movies all have a little bit of nudity and sex, and there's really nothing wrong with it. However, in the remake their is GRAPHIC (YES, VERY GRAPHIC) sex scenes. ...

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JazzSinger says "Great story of tragedy and football." about We Are Marshall

JazzSinger — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:42:51 GMT

On November 4, 1970, a chartered airplane carrying the Marshall University football team, the entire coaching staff except for one assistant coach, the university's athletic director, and many influential people from the town of Huntington, West Virginia crashed, killing everyone on board. We Are Marshall is the story of the rebuilding of the Marshall football team following that tragedy.

After the plane crash, Marshall is left with no athletic director, no head coach, and only four varsity players (Assistant Coach Red Dawson missed the flight for a recruiting trip, and the four players were left home for various reasons). The university originally decided to suspend the football program, but thanks to the efforts of senior player Nate Ruffin, the decision was ultimately made to continue with the football team.

The first step in rebuilding Marshall football was to hire a head coach, a task which fell to University President Donald Dedmon. Coach Dawson didn't want the job, and neither...

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legacyx says "'Hey, you can't fight here, this is a war room' - hilarious " about Doctor Strangelove

legacyx — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:40:26 GMT

Intelligence sources have confirmed that Russia has built a self-activating doomsday device that cannot be destroyed. America and her allies live in constant fear of a preemptive strike from the USSR, and Russia is constantly beleaguered by the American B-52 bombers all situated 200 miles within striking distance of their targets (Dirks). Compute this all, and it equates to a world in peril. This is the reality portrayed in Doctor Strangelove. The two superpowers vying for ultimate power within the world will use any means necessary to achieve their ends, even if it means putting everything else at risk. The tensions are high, the people are worried, and the leaders are in constant fear; a false alarm, a technical malfunction, a disorderly chain of command—any of this could potentially trigger a nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Doctor Strangelove, a film created in 1964 strives to capture this essential moment in history. A demented US general orders a preemptive nuclear...

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Steelthunder says "One of the greatest movies ever" about Godfather

Steelthunder — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:45:33 GMT

The Godfather. Simply put, my favorite movie not involving outer space or general horror. I mean look at the cast, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia(Yo Adrian!) Shire. There is so much I can talk about, the acting, the story(based on Mario Puzo's best-selling novel). It's the rare perfect movie that can mix action, story, and acting.

If you do not know, the movie is based on ten years in the lives of the Corleone family, who are about to make their rise as the most powerful mafia family in the country. We see Vito's near-assasination and eventual death, Michael's doubts about entering the family business, Sonny's hot temper and Fredo's indeceiveness.

Eventually, Michael takes control and things get more intense from there on. We see a rather gripping scene where as his godson is being baptized,his henchmen going around wiping out the five families of New York, all while Michael is asked to renounce Satan. Very gripping moment.

Of course, the 1972 film is followed...

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EricasPOV says "Eddie Izzard is the greatest comedian of our time!" about Eddie Izzard - Glorious

EricasPOV — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:08:37 GMT

Oh my goodness, Eddie Izzard has given me more joy than I can probably properly put into words. First off, I should establish that I am a total anglophile and I love all manner of British things. Yes he's a transvestite, but don't be put off by his appearance. He is intelligent, so bloody intelligent, and he weaves history, religion, philosophy, and myth into his comedy. It's very off the cuff and improvisational. I love that Eddie isn't harsh or mean in his humor, although he is blatantly liberal minded, so be warned! I have no problem with that myself, and if you don't either definitely give Eddie a chance. He is culturally and politically critical but in a hilarious way...he opens one's eyes to double standards and injustices while making you laugh till your sides hurt. I wouldn't just recommend Glorious, but every DVD or CD or video Eddie has put out. Unfortunately some of his material is not available in America, but find whatever you can on Youtube. I've also seen him live and would...

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Jessicaam2006 says "Something for everyone in this romantic comedy" about "the Proposal"

Jessicaam2006 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:45:12 GMT

The proposal is one of those rare movies that can make you laugh and cry the whole way through. Sandra bullock is amazing as the editor who is getting deported! She fits the mold perfectly and was complimented by Ryan Reynolds as the male lead. Through their adventures in Alaska you fall in love with her after having so much hate for her when the movie began. It keeps you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next. The twist at the end is phenomonal and you couldnt ask for a better plot. The ideas are very original and is not at all predictable. Its an idea that everyone is familiar with but they took it to a whole new level and executed it perfectly. The Proposal is a great movie to go see with your significant other. It has something for everyone its a comedy for all the comedy fans with a heartbreaking love story for all the romantics out there. This is a movie that all can enjoy and appreciate. It makes you want to be a part of the family.

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Jessicaam2006 says "Laugh out Lout Hilarious All the Way Through!" about The Hangover

Jessicaam2006 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:37:57 GMT

When I went to see the Hangover I was expecting your typical comedy. But I was pleasantly surprised by the complex story line and all the twists and turns along the way. This movie will have you on the floor laughing through the entire thing. I especially loved the asain man who played the bad guy. The four friends are unique and unpredictable you never know what they are going to get into next. It keeps you on your toes and makes you relate to the characters even if you have never experienced Vegas. I would recomend this movie to most people. As long as you can be lighthearted and take a joke without getting offended you will be in stiches. Im actually going to see it for a second time with all my girlfriends tonight. Its perfect for a night out with the girls or guys or a date night. There is something in it for everyone to enjoy and laugh along to. Its about time a movie came out that was truly funny. Its a breath of fresh air.

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jalishamccoy says "Kaleido Star Strikes Again" about Kaleido Star Vol. 1: Welcome To The Kaleido Stage

jalishamccoy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:07:11 GMT

Kaleido Star strikes again with it's amazing charaters, plot, and sense of enjoyment. It consist of a girl that is interested in performing in a circus and in order to make her dream come true she needs to audition and impress the judges around her. Running late to her audition, the girl never got a chance to perform to make it in the circus, but later on in the show it turned out they really needed her since one of the performers got hurt. Just her luck!

I would consider this anime to anime lovers and to people who like something entertaining and fun. This anime has high quality, it has bright colors, and everything looks extra happy. There are some parts when they are sad, but mostly there are just happy parts. This anime is good for almost anyone and I'm sure it would make plenty of people satified. If there was anything bad about this anime I would metion it now, but obviously there is nothing to hate about the anime.

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jenny1380 says "Heartwarming and thoughtful. It gets you thinking!" about FIREPROOF

jenny1380 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:16:06 GMT

The movie Fireproof was enjoyable and refreshing. It was a religious based movie, meant to help couples work through the tough times that marriage can bring. My husband and I had never watched a religiously based movie before, but we both enjoyed the movie and it's message. A strong marriage has become something of a novelty in America. Divorce is more prevalent in todays' society. This movie encourages couples to take the time and effort to try everything possible before going to the extremes of divorce. It was a very heartfelt movie with some good sound advice. It got both my husband and I thinking. It doesn't have many known actors in it, but that didn't seem to take away from the message it was sending out. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is struggling in their marriage and is looking for help and not sure where to turn. A lot of couples don't feel comfortable going to marrige counseling, so this might be a good alternative. There is a website that goes along with the...

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