Demetri Martin: Standup Comedian

Just ok
I loved Demetri's previous programs and own them for repeated viewing; this one I watched once and gave away - just kinda "eh". It had some great moments, but I feel like he's kinda losing his niche a little bit by getting a little ruder with his jokes. He is truly funny - he doesn't need to do that.

GREAT!
I am madly in love with Demetri Martin. His performances and writing are the best!
He never dissapoints - disipoints -disappoints ....me. I love his humor and this dvd is no disa- dissa- let down.
He always makes me laugh and, in my opinion, he just keeps getting better - I mean, funnier. What TALENT!!!!

Funny
I have always loved Demetri Martin, he doesn't have to resort to swearing to get a laugh. His simple and humours observation of everyday laugh gets me laughing every time. I thoroughly This DVD and would recommend it to my friends. Particularly loved the audio commentary on the audio commentary.

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Pure

A Child's Unwavering Protectiveness of His Troubled but Loving Mother.
"Pure" could be viewed simply as a drug addiction movie, but I was relieved to find that it isn't simply that, as I've seen too many overwrought addiction movies at this point. "Pure" is the story of a 10-year-old boy trying to save his mother -save her from heroin, from her dealer, and from the law. Mel (Molly Parker) has been overwhelmed by life's demands since the death of her husband left her with 2 young boys to raise. She turned to heroin for consolation, but it got the best of her. She can no longer hold down a job or meet her children's needs. Young Paul (Harry Eden) knows only that his mother is sick, and he will do anything to help her -the household chores, look after his little brother, even prepare the "medicine" that makes Mel feel better. But Paul slowly realizes that something is not quite right with his mother. He doggedly tries to understand and resolves to help his mother kick her habit. But Paul finds himself navigating a complicated world of conflicting interests...

"I just know I can kick it!"
Socially conscious and beautifully acted, director Gillies MacKinnon sets his tale of junkies and young boys and wayward mothers in the working class housing estates of Northern England. This film has a gritty, uncompromising sensibility that is certainly going to repel some viewers, while attracting others and it mostly works until the end, when the film tends to replace hard-nosed and obdurate realism with contrived sentimentality.

Pure is a cautionary tale, a look at the world of suburban heroin abuse through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy. Paul's (Harry Eden) dad has died of a heart attack and now he heads his household, looking after his younger brother Lee (Vinnie Hunter), and smack-addicted mother Mel (an absolutely terrific Molly Parker). Paul's grandmother (Geraldine McEwan) is not happy about this situation at all and has been trying desperately to keep Mel's addiction problem within the family.

Paul doesn't know what a "junkie" is and resents the...

Pure
I probably shouldn't review it so soon after watching it, because my "intellectual side" probably isn't online right now. This is a powerful drama, flawless in conception and execution, about a ten-year-old boy with a dead father, a mother addicted to heroin, and various and sundry other problems to deal with. I've watched two British films about heroin addiction this year and been moved to tears by both, but I've never met a heroin user in my life. We don't have heroin in Watha. We probably don't have British DVDs in the stores either. We don't even have stores. But I digress. If you see this one, grab it. I know I'll watch it again. I just don't know how many times. Oh, and if you're an author, consider this. "There are no minor characters." If you'd like to see this premise in action, get this film. After all the crap I've reviewed this week, you don't know how happy it makes me to cite an instance where a novelist can learn from a filmmaker.

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Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

A lot of fun and a 3D extravaganza!
Sequels generally have a tendency to be half as good as the original, but in this case Madagascar 3 has a refreshingly new look, same level of energy and humor with its cast of characters, and a vibrant backdrop of a circus.

The cast of characters - Marty, Alex, Gloria, and and Melman - decide to leave Africa and go back to New York, but need the penguins help to fly back, the penguins are as hilarious as they have been. With the penguins in Monte Carlo, there begins their adventure. They run into the devious Captain Chantal Dubois is the head of animal control in Europe who is called for help. She is a little too serious about her job and wants to mount the heads of the animals, particularly Alex the lion's, on her wall as trophies. She brings delightful humor with her ways! In a way she reminded me of the "Bad Kitty" eastern European lady from NY in part 2. The scenes with her are very funny. The lemur king Julian falls in love with the bear at the circus and he is...

Subreference Spectacular!
I'm the dad reviewing here: Super fun, ridiculous movie. Story line was so-so. That's okay though. Why? Because the characters both old and new were so endearing and well-developed that it doesn't really matter. No kid says "I love the continuity in that subplot about the relationship between King Julien and the bear." No. It's more like "It was funny. Polka-dot Polka-dot Polka-dot Afro!" and it was way funnier than I expected for installment 3. The subreferences to The Matrix, Bond films, and Cirque de Soleil, and zillions of other little things, I was in stitches several times. Actually my kids looked at me sideways wondering what the heck. In addition, the incredible fine details make it worth getting HD, or Bluray. I know I'm gushing, but I don't care -- this series has given me so many good laughs they deserve it. Basset hound!
Update 10/17/2012-- I watched it again, on my little Kindle screen, to recover from an episode of Walking Dead. It did the trick, but was so funny I...

FYI - Digital Copy
Just an FYI - the insert on the DVD asks you to go to a Paramount web site, where you will asked for your code, email address, DOB, etc. Ignore it - they just want to add you to their database. Just launch iTunes, click "Redeem", enter the code on the insert - the movie will download to your iTunes library.

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First Christmas: Story of First Christmas Snow

Good News: Its Finally Out on DVD / Bad News: Everything Else
You really have to hand it to Warner Brothers for the sheer audacity they have with these Rankin/Bass titles. It's been about 2 decades since the incarnation of the DVD. By now, you would think that all of the titles from this well-known and much-loved company would be readily available for the public to purchase. But they aren't. Instead Warner trickles out a title every year or so, first releasing them in so-called "Deluxe Editions" before adding them into yet another slightly revamped "Christmas Classics" boxed set.

Now, the only thing which makes these releases "deluxe" is they have that emblazoned across the top of the cover. There are absolutely NO special features here, save for a "Holiday Cards That Kids Can Make" thing?! You've got to be kidding me!! I find it very hard to believe that Warner Brothers doesn't know that most of the sales of these shows are by ADULTS who grew up on them! But maybe they don't - so that means they are either really really stupid or...

Finally released, but alone?
I'd guess we'd all have to say "It's about time". Finally getting around to releasing some of the last remnants of the Rankin/Bass animations, but the ridiculously odd thing of them releasing this exceptionally short work ALONE? It's only getting a 3 star rating because of this (not to mention that it's under a Warner Bros. label), it actually deserves a 5 for the production itself.

You can't honestly expect me to even think about purchasing this at a $14.95, let alone a suggested retail price of $19.95? I think you'd be hard pressed to even have a standard SRP of $9.95, at least then you can have the typical store mark down a few bucks to a more proper price point.

Anyway, at least there's been an effort to at least put one of my most favorite pieces (in the top 3) of Rankin/Bass out for the general public to own on DVD. Only being a ridiculoulsy old copy that was briefly released on VHS oh so long ago, and probably hardly anyone even knew about...

First time on dvd but Deluxe edition??? I don't think so.
Here we go, another year and another so called " deluxe edition " from Warner bros. The only good thing about this dvd is that this is the first time this Rankin Bass classic has been on dvd. Deluxe normally means great extras, here we have none. Deluxe edition means a great remastered picture, bearing in mind the other deluxe editions had no noticeable visual improvements over their regular dvd counterparts, one best be going in with low expectations. Here is what Warner Bros should have done, released " The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus " in a deluxe edition with " The First Christmas " as an extra, this special it's only about 23 mins long so no need charging this high price when it's nothing added with any value. I guess as Rankin Bass fans we should be some what happy that Wb even bothered to release this long lost Christmas special however.

I give this Rankin Bass special 5 stars, it's adorable and heart warming. The cover art and the nerve to be charging this...

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It Came from Outer Space

An early Sci-Fi Gem from the fifties...
The great thing about 1950's sci-fi movies is the way in which they took the psychological fallout from the Soviet-USA Cold War confrontation that dominated the decade (paranoia, McCarthyism and the "Red Scare", fear of the atomic bomb), and turned it into edgy science fiction that's unlike any present-day moviemaking. Some of these relatively low-budget films were awful, but others have stood the test of time to become classics of the genre. One of the best is 1953's "It Came From Outer Space", which features a great plot, solid acting, and is based on a story created by the great Ray Bradbury, one of the best sci-fi writers of his generation.

Richard Carlson - who also starred in another 50s sci-fi classic, "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" - plays John Putnam, an amateur astronomer and scientist who lives in the desert outside a small town in Arizona. The townsfolk consider John to be a loner and something of an oddball, but he does enjoy the love of Ellen Fields...

3D Or Not 3D, That Is The Question
In the 1970s I had the privledge of seeing IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE on the big screen in its original 3D format, and as such it was a visually fascinating film. But like all 3D films, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE suffers in the translation from big screen 3D format to a standard television screen: the special effects, which seemed so spectacular in 3D, seem only so-so. And that is truly regrettable, for in its original format IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE is a classic of 1950s science-fiction.

The story, created by Bradbury, concerns an amateur astronomer who discovers that aliens have crashlanded in the desert--but no one will believe him. Although the basic premise has been done to death, at the time OUTER SPACE was released it was still fresh, and Bradbury gives the tale an unusual spin that lifts it out of the realm of later 1950s and 1960s teenybopper flicks. But shorn of its 3D effects, the film lacks impact, and the creatures that were so impressive on the big screen become literal...

The DVD Falls Just Short of Meteoric
This is a wonderful movie, even in the flat 2-D we are offered on this DVD. I've actually never seen this movie in its original 3-D splendor, but I've been told it was stunning.

The story is, by today's standards, typical for the 1950's science fiction film. Handsome, rugged scientist (Richard Carlson of Creature From The Black Lagoon fame) and beautiful girlfriend (Barbara Rush) witness a meteor crashing to ground in the Arizona desert, only to learn it is a spacecraft from another world. No one believes them until people begin to disappear, and later return as almost robotic zombies. But this story was based on a Ray Bradburry short story, and that story, combined with wonderful script writing, takes this from a bland sci-fi popcorn muncher to a thinking man's (at least on the B-grade movie level) story of paranoia and terror that ultimately shows the weaknesses, and the strenths, in humankind.

What most young people today don't realize is that this film was a first of...

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Three Texas Steers

Good early John Wayne
This is a good DVD incarnation of an early John Wayne Republic B western. Well-done and enjoyable. Good, clean copy.

excellent quality of BR disc.....
I just received this and the other three new BR discs from the John Wayne Three Mesquiteers era. The Amazon.com review of the story almost takes longer to read than the movie is long. I'm just kidding but its a 56 minute film as they all are and I surmise the reason they are on separate discs and so expensive is because the market is small. On all films the picture quality is sharp and stunning at times and the sound is robust. These are fun films and its a hoot to see young Duke riding a big white horse with his oversized white hat. Some of the horse chase scenes in all the films is really stirring as the camera is just ahead of the horses and to see them charging at full speed in HD is pretty cool. These are sort of silly/stupid scripts and sadly Duke Wayne isn't the main star...he is co starring so he's not on camera as much as I'd like but I am a fan and am glad I picked them up. This will be my review for all four films as they were all made within a couple year period all...

Three Texas Steers
We love John Wayne! We have lots and lots of his movies. I am thankful that we had a John Wayne in this world.

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Mr. Nanny

Good not great, read the book instead
While I certainly believe that Hulk Hogan has screen presence surpassed only by a select few, this was a project that was somewhat troubled from the beginning. Hogan shows his full theatrical arsenal as Sean Armstrong in this adaptation of "Mr. Nanny" but the end result comes up a bit short.

Creating a screen translation of William Burroughs' brilliantly intricate novel was a daunting task, and while the effort put forth in writing "Mr. Nanny" for the screen by Michael Gottlieb (who also directs) and Edward Rugoff was a noble one, it still falls short of Burroughs' wild vision. Burroughs himself, a key uncredited contributor to the film, was opposed to key casting decision. For instance, Gottlieb had his heart set on Sherman Helmsley for the role of Burt Wilson, Armstrong's manager. Burroughs remarked that Helmsley's work in the TV series "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" was nothing more than "visual...

Czos Review
Mr. Nanny starring Hulk Hogan is quite literally so stupid it is funny. Really bad acting and a totally off the wall storyline make this worth viewing. If you like movies that you think are so bad their good you will like this one.

Mr. Nanny Rules!
What can I say, Christians have their bible, and I have Mr. Nanny. This has to be one of the greatest movies ever made. It takes the "AMAZING" acting skills of Hulk Hogan (the GREATEST wrestler of all time) with a plot that's undeniably sidsplittingly funny and you have a winner. The story is basically about how Hulk was at the top of the mountain in the wrestling world when one day, everything fell apart. While walking through the valley of the shadow of death, he winds up getting the job of Nanny for some problem children. Will Hulk get his wrestling career back on top? Will he turn these kids around? Buy it and find out! (As an added bonus, you get to see Hulk in a tutu!)

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