DVDizzy Forum

Watched Bambi yesterday on my computer. Amazing how beautifully this Disney classic is animated. Trivia fact about Bambi I found on imdb.com: the antlers of Bambi's father were so difficult to animate because of the varying perspectives, that they decided to rotoscope these into the film.

I decided to watch Tim Burton's Corpse Bride last night. Fine animated film, but I sort of prefer TNBC.

I also watched a few scenes of Poltergeist, which was on TCM last night.

The Best of Everything - sort of like a publishing world version of "Valley of the Dolls". Follows the romances and lives of three junior secretaries (played by Hope Lange, Diane Baker and Suzy Parker). Joan Crawford devours the scenery.

The Rescuers on my newly purchased DVD to replace the VHS-tape. Still a very charming film, and Bernard and Bianca are a gorgeous couple.

If it counts,

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Charming and adorable, as always.

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure - In my opinion, definitely better than the UD review gave it credit for, and a bit better than the first one. Lyria's scene gave me chills, and the scene after Tink makes her wish made me tear up a little.... Gosh I'm a dork

I watched the 60-Minute version of Ghosts of the Abyss last night. I was interested how they showed the wreck compared to what it would have looked like before it sank. Some parts however were kind of slow. Overall it was enjoyable.

I forgot to mention on Wednesday, I saw The Vampire's Assistant. Te movie has it's pacing issues and what not, but it was still quite enjoyable(especially compared to Twilight).

Now I'm gonna have to read the books!

The past days I've watched:

Mary Poppins
Fantasia
Corpse Bride
Sleepy Hollow

Just watched There Will Be Blood on a Region 1 Canada disc.

The video quality on the DVD was awful. Constant artifacting, moire effects, jaggies ... you name it, it had it.

That stinks, Jules. Part of that film's wonder is its visual beauty.

Last night I watched Pulp Fiction, a film I haven't watched in its entirety since I was 14, when I was too young to truly appreciate the film. This is really a masterpiece. Why is it a film like this, following all these creeps and lowlifes, has such a stronger spirituality and resonance to it than most Christian-based films? Maybe because atonement, redemption and honor is best exemplified when in the company of thieves. Maybe I'm reading too deeply into the film, but then again, so has most everyone who has seen it in the past 15 years. It's shot right up among my favorite films of all time. **** out of ****.

Cheers,
JM

Michael Jackson's This it It - Having only been a fan of MJ's songs, this really gave me a look into what he was like out of the recording studio... and I honestly wished the film showed more of it. There should have been more of a focus on Michael himself, rather than the songs and back-up dancers. Still, highly recommended.

Michael Jackson's "This is It" - Thoughts on the film in "This is It" thread.

My grandparents were interested in watching the "Tinker Bell" series (or the 2 that are out already at least), so I watched them with them. I've already shared my thoughts on them.
My grandma agrees and prefers the second, but my grandpa (who couldn't stop laughing at Bobble and Clank for some reason) liked them both equally.

I watched two '80s horror films today. Dolls and The Funhouse. Dolls was insanely short (it was about 78 minutes) and was not what I expected at all. I expected it to be more intense, and creepier, but it just wasn't. Up until near the end, the dolls make minimal appearances, only about 2 of them talk, and you only see a few of them in action (as in, going to kill someone), and those few that you do see were very poorly animated/had bad animatronics. All but 2 of the characters (the little girl and Ralph) are unlikeable, and I expected the senior citizens - the ones who owned the house - to play a bigger role in the film. Maybe if the film was longer by a half hour or so it would have been better, as it would have given the characters and plot more time to develop.

As for The Funhouse, well, it was just...bad. Boring, uneventful plots and characters, as well as a few shots of gratuitous nudity really made the film awful. I didn't even finish it, it just seemed so dragged out and boring. I would definitely not recommend it.

Both of these movies seemed so promising and had good premises, and I was really disappointed that they weren't as good as they sounded. I'm not usually a fan of remakes but I feel like if they remade these two movies they would be great, seeing as technology has greatly improved in the 20+ years since these films have been made. Who knows, there are rumors that The Funhouse has a remake in the works, maybe Dolls has a chance.

101 Dalmatians- This is such a cute movie, I like it a lot. The scenes are pretty suspenseful, like the scene where Pongo, Perdita, and the puppies have to be covered in soot in order to get away from Cruella, Jasper, and Horace. And who could forget the car chase?

I almost felt bad for that van driver. Cruella De Vil is one of the greatest Disney Villains ever. The Cruella De Vil song is still stuck in my head.

Just Myself wrote:That stinks, Jules. Part of that film's wonder is its visual beauty.

That's what I was thinking too! The film won the freakin' Oscar for cinematography! The video quality's flaws definitely distracted me and prevented me from enjoying the film to the max. I think it's odd that Luke gave the US DVD such a glowing review (in video/audio terms). To be fair, the DVD looked much better on my computer (I think the picture was softer so the artifacting didn't show as much, and flow was smoother) but the moire effects were still somewhat visible.

In any case, I hope it's a problem with the disc and not with my setup.

It sounds like the Canadian DVD possibly used a different transfer? I rented the US DVD when it initially came out and own the US Blu-ray, and the picture is truly spectacular. The Blu-ray shows some intentional grain, but other than that there shouldn't be any flaws with the image. At the very least, hopefully you were able to enjoy Daniel Day-Lewis's mesmerizing performance. He's truly a force to be reckoned with. On a similarly off-topic note, I'm very much looking forward to Nine.

I.... Drink.... Your.... MILKSHAKE!
JM
I DRINK IT UP!

Just Myself wrote:At the very least, hopefully you were able to enjoy Daniel Day-Lewis's mesmerizing performance. He's truly a force to be reckoned with.

I must admit that my favourite performance came not from Daniel Day Lewis, but from Paul Dano. He was electrifying. He was evil.

Do you prefer Daniel Day Lewis' performance in TWBB or Gangs of New York? I think I'm veering more towards his appearance in Gangs.

The Light in the Piazza - so during my weekly visit to the library on Monday afternoon, I was perusing the CDs and came across The Light in the Piazza. I remember listening to MissBroadwayDork sing the title song on YouTube and decided to borrow it. On the way home from the library I listened to the first couple tracks of the CD and immediately fell in love with it. I then remembered, strangely enough, that Brendan mentioned in this thread that a live performance was broadcast on PBS a few years ago. I youtubed it, found a few videos, but never the whole thing. To make a long story short, I did end up finding the whole thing. Excellent songs, strong cast, beautiful love story. A+

albert