DVDizzy Forum

Cordy_Biddle wrote: "To Each His Own" has been announced for release in the United Kingdom early next year on the Odeon label. It's up for pre-order on Amazon UK.

Thanks for letting me know! But that's Region 2 and my player is Region 1. I guess I can hope for an upcoming North American release, though.

Have you tried re-coding your DVD player? It's quite easy for most. I live in Australia and have always had machines capable of playing discs from all over, so I'm never limited in my choice of getting a particular movie.

Cordy_Biddle wrote:Have you tried re-coding your DVD player? It's quite easy for most. I live in Australia and have always had machines capable of playing discs from all over, so I'm never limited in my choice of getting a particular movie.

I've considered doing that in the past, but I've always thought it was a difficult process and easy to screw up, even permanently damaging your DVD player.

But maybe I could read up on it, though, because there's certainly a lot of international releases I'd love to own.

I doubt you'd ruin your DVD player by doing it. All you have to do is find the "unlocker" code for your specific make and model DVD machine, and enter it by using the remote control. Most of my machines have been multi-region out of the box, luckily, but for the others a quick search on the Net has led me to their multi-region codes.

The Killing Fields (1984)

This summer, I wrote my Master thesis on the media coverage of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge Tribunal. To understand anything about it, I first had to learn about Cambodia's recent history. So I read hundreds of news reports and I saw many video reports on the subject. I was shocked and horrified time and time again. Sometimes, I had to take a break for a few days, because it all was so cruel and gruesome. Tonight, I finally saw the famous movie that covers the most evil, most cruel, most insane regime in history. Hell on earth.

To keep viewers interested, the makers picked out the real-life story of the friendship between the American journalist Sydney and a Cambodian journalist/interpreter, Dith Pran. Sydney barely makes it out of the country alive, but Pran is captured by the Khmer Rouge and send to the countryside, like millions of other Cambodians, to do agricultural slavework. Eventually, he manages to escape and becomes one of the few to have experienced the Khmer Rouge's labor camps and survived...

Now I had seen some brief video reports on the subject. I had seen archival footage of all the horrors of the Khmer Rouge and they were almost unbelievable. But this film still impressed me *so* much, because it was really the first time I got to see the 'full picture' all at once. Not just snippets here and there, brief excerpts with a neutral voice-over. I got to see the horror and the tragedy and I got to see that the unbelievable had really happened.

It's a very intense movie that won't tone done one moment. I was totally 'in' the film from the first minute to the last. It has scenes that shocked me, or made me jump in my seat. Because it's not only a perfect document of the madness of the Khmer Rouge, but also a very good 'thriller'/'drama'. Mike Oldfield's score may sound a bit dated at first (you can immediately tell this is a 1980's film), but is overwhelming and powerful. The final scene really got to me, when John Lennon's 'Image' started to play. I couldn't keep it dry. Kept thinking that Pran did make it --but 1.7 million Cambodians didn't.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

light, romance, comedy, action, science fiction, anime, video game, comic book

all those terms could be used to describe the movie. its good, but i have a hard time seeing it as better than that.

In remembrance of Blake Edwards' passing we watched two of my favorite movies:

Return of the Pink Panther and S.O.B.. Totally enjoyable night in the Junkie Home Theater.

Rapunzel (2010)

Read my thoughts in the appropriate thread in 'Disney Discussion'.

Tron Legacy.

Not as bad as some critics say it is.

Over the past few days I've watched:

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Castle in the Sky
Ponyo
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan
Fantasia
Fantasia 2000

They are all simply wonderful, especially Fantasia/2000. Up next is Kiki's Delivery Service, and from the library, I'm going to pick up some more Studio Ghibli films to watch this week (Princess Mononoke, Pom Poko, Porco Rosso and Whisper of the Heart; the last one I have never seen). I'll also see if they have How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Even though I have it on VHS, I'd like to see if they have the collector's edition and watch the special features.

Part 2 was kind of fun, but this thing... not so much. Too much CGI, no scares whatsoever, it was almost 2 hours long, and it was boring. And that's not even mentioning all the bizarre right-wing references. Um... what? Left-wing people get involved in housing project scams and the Bush Administration care about endangered species? I guess you learn something new every day.

OK, so I've been doing alot of Miyazaki watching over the past couple of days. I loved them all, and here are just a couple little comments.

Howl's Moving Castle - OK, so some of the plot points seemed kind of rushed and jumbled together. Still, I really liked this film. Sophie was a pretty awesome character, and I find myself saying "Oh. What a pretty fire!" More often than I should. The twist at the end with Turnip Head made me laugh really hard for some reason.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind - Wow! Nausicaa is so badass! Holy crap! She's like a Disney Princess genetically fused with Chuck Norris! I loved the movie, and I loved her. Also, I wonder, did that one woman have 3 prosthetic limbs? I know the arm was fake, but both legs, too!? Jeez...

Pom Poko - Alright, so I think alot of the finer parts of this film are completely lost to a Western audience. Have to say, though, did a lot of laughing myself silly.... at first. It got kind of depressing a few times. I almost cried when it ended. Just... they really ended it like that? Wow... that's... sad. But still! Raccoon pouches!!!!

Ponyo - Beautiful movie. Adorable, lovable characters. But what happened with the plot sometimes? IDK, I just don't understand what happened there. OK, so the earth got out of balance because she unleashed a lot of magic. And then... How does a 5 year old boy declaring his love for a goldfish put everything back to normal? Why would she have turned into sea foam if he said she didn't love her as a fish? Did nobody but that one old woman notice that she had a semi-human face? I don't know, I think everyone accepted the whole "magic talking human-fish" thing rather quickly. I was just kinda confused. I still had an enjoyable time watching it, though. If someone could maybe explain some of that... it would be appreciated.

Watched a blast from the past last night. Let's Get Harry starring Rick Rossovich, Glenn Frey, Gary Busey, Robert Duval, and Mark Harmon. About the kidnapping of a US Senator in Columbia and how his brother, living in Minnesota puts together a bunch of guys to go get his brother, Harry and this US Senator away from the kidnappers. A lot of good action and Robert Duval is off-the-hook as Shrike.

Toy Story (1995)- 10/10
Still holds up wonderfully 15 years later...

Blue Thunder starring Roy Scheider and Daniel Stern. Pretty darn good adventure story with a very cool Helicopter. Also this afternoon I watched Die Hard 2 and Polar Express. Getting in the holiday mood.

Why? Why? WHY?!

Not exactly a movie, but a good documentary nonetheless:

What would Jesus buy? (2007)

About the over-consumption and the obsession with buying, buying, buying that hypnothizes America every year come Christmas time. It follows 'Reverend Billy' and his choir of the 'Church of Stop Shopping' on a tour across the US to protest the consumerism that has taken over the holiday spirit. This is all introduced by an impressive montage of shopping craze (people fighting over the last piece of crap; people trampling each other); four year olds who have mountains of toys as big as my house; people who willingly go bankrupt to buy their kids all of the latest crap; and even a guy who gets shot in the chest, but would rather crawl to a store to be the first to buy the newest Playstation. This is what 'Reverend Billy' is fighting in this documentary.

Disney is one of Billy's main targets. He crucifies a Mickey Mouse doll; and he and his group stage a brilliant protest in Disneyland. All to make people aware they're wandering around in a cynical, saccharine-sweet imitation of Main Street, USA, where the 'cast members' are overworked and underpaid and the merchandise is made at the cost of the health and lives of underage Sri Lankan girls.

Enjoy.

Toy Story 2 (1999)- 9.999/10
Part 2 of my Toy Story marathon; tomorrow's my fourth viewing of TS3! Anyways, I enjoy this movie better each time I watch it, and I can't believe how stupid I was to think this was a bad movie. Everything's great: the humor, the drama, the voice acting, everything. The animation it top-notch, miles ahead of the original, and there are tons of clever references to the first and even some unbeknown setup for TS3. But there's just...something missing from this movie. I don't know what it is, but I find it in Toy Story and Toy Story 3 somehow. Maybe it's a weak villain, order of events, I dunno. So I still can't quite give it a 10/10 like most of the other Pixar films.

How to Train Your Dragon.

Best animated DreamWorks movie ever since the first two Shrek films.

Full Metal Jacket (1987) Probably not Kubricks best film, but still pretty enjoyable. I personally liked the boot camp scenes the best, especially with the drill sergant and Pyle.