Life As We Know It – The Complete Series (2005)

To be honest, I would never have watched this series were it not for Shane. This DVD Box was in my review pile and after serious doubts in the beginning I gave it a chance. After the third episode, I found myself racing through them, not to get it over with, but because “Life As We Know It” was indeed entertaining. Check out the full DVD review over at eyecravedvd.com.

At the beginning of the pilot, Ben Conner (Jon Foster) tells us what teenagers think about and how often: sex, every 15 seconds. Ben thinks about it every 5 seconds and even less. The series revolves around three guys who are sophomores at Seattle’s Woodrow Wilson High, Dino Whitman (Sean Faris), Jonathan Fields (Chris Lowell) and Ben Connor (Jon Foster) and their obsession with sex.

Walt Disney Treasures: On The Front Lines (2004)

“Walt Disney Treasures: On the Front Lines” stands out from the rest of the Walt Disney Treasure releases simply because of its historical context. It contains 32 shorts and a full-length feature film “Victory through Air Power” originally released between 1941 and 1945. This makes “On the Front Lines” the most anticipated release of the Treasures series, and rightly so. Shorts like “Education for Death” or “Der Fuehrer’s Face” have lost nothing of their potency, and putting them into context really shows you the power of the media machine. Most of the material was made for propaganda purposes, supporting the war effort at home and some are educational hence the entertainment factor may not always be given, but the historical context of these makes them fascinating for generations to come.

Read on for a brief synopsis of the most prominent shorts, or click here for the full DVD review over at eyecravedvd.com.

Phantom of the Opera (1989)

What happens when Dwight H. Little tries to make “Phantom of the Opera” into a horror movie? Freddy Krueger is turning in his grave right now.

The Phantom (Robert Englund) haunts the London opera in search of – no, not music – no, not love – for fresh skin! You see, Freddy, I mean Erik Destler (of all names!) made a pact with the devil (not Freddy) and the devil granted Erik immortality through music and at the same time turned his face into goo, which is where the skin hunt comes in handy.

Hop over to eyecravedvd.com for the full “phantomastic” DVD Review or read on for the movie review.

The Crook (1970)

The DVD review of Claude Lelouch’s “The Crook” (1970) featuring Jean-Louis Trintignant is now available on eyecravedvd.com. Hop over there or read on for the movie review.

Simon the “Swiss” (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is the mastermind thief in “The Crook” or “Le Voyou” who just breaks out of prison to do a bank robbery of another kind. He kidnaps the little boy of an employee of the bank and blackmails the bank together with his old friend Charles (Charles Gerard) and Martine (Christine Lelouch) his ex-lover now married to a rich (yogurt) guy with whom she raises their bastard daughter (but that’s just a tiny detail that is not further explored in any way).

Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

My DVD review on Sam Peckinpah’s twisted masterpiece “Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia” is now up on eyecravedvd.com. Hop over there for the full review or read on for the movie review.

Bennie (Warren Oates) wants to get ahead in his life. Nobody loses all the time and he thinks it’s his time to win at least a little.

“Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia” does not aim to please the audience it aims to mess with it.

The movie starts out with a picturesque scene at a pond and a young pregnant girl sitting on a log, her feet dangling in the cool water. This idyllic moment is not going to last and we are shown early on what is going to transpire as we follow the young girl back to the hacienda to her father who wants to know who the father is. He has her stripped naked in front of everyone but she remains defiant and will not tell so he has her pushed to the ground and her finger broken. El Jefe (Emilio Fernández) gets the name. Alfredo Garcia. And he wants his head. A head he is willing to pay one million dollars for.

Harry & Tonto (1974)

“Harry & Tonto” is a road movie of a different kind. You can read the full DVD review over at eyecravedvd.com or read on for the movie review.

The movie starts out by showing old people walking down the streets in New York accompanied by piano music, ending up showing Harry and Tonto on their way to the groceries. This introduction is great for setting the pace and mood of the whole piece. The exposition of the character basically consists of Harry’s monologue with Tonto as the listener narrating little anecdotes, things of the past, leading up to the eviction of Harry Coombes as he is carried out of the building sitting in the chair he fell asleep in with Tonto on his lap, sprouting out curses (quotes from Lear) at the top of his voice.

A River Runs Through It (1992)

Head on over to my DVD review of “A River Runs Through It” (Deluxe Edition) at eyecravedvd.com or read on for the movie review.

“A river runs through it” is the Academy Award-winning screen adaptation (1992, Best Cinematography) of Norman Maclean’s memoir, directed by Robert Redford. Starring Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer, and Tom Skerritt in an American family drama set in the 1930s in a beautifully shot rural Montana. The father, a Presbyterian minister, played by Tom Skerritt, raises two sons of opposite nature; the one reserved, the other rebellious. The former, Norman Maclean, is played by Craig Sheffer and the latter, Paul, by Brad Pitt. The story covers the life and history of the family, and as such, the movie is heavily focused on dialogue intertwined with the breathtakingly beautiful Montana landscape.

Firewalker (1986)

The posts have stopped. The writer is sick, but before you rejoice I am already pulling through, and actually, I am getting better! So I am afraid there will be more uncanny reviews and babbling come March.

For a start, you can check out my DVD review of Mr. Roundhouse Kick also known as Chuck “Firewalker” Norris over at eyecravedvd.com.

Save your strength, you will need it.

The “story” of this movie is already contained on the back cover, so I will just fill in the pieces I found noteworthy mentioning. Along with Max and Leo (Norris and Gosset) we have Patricia Goodwyn (Flash Gordon’s Melody Anderson), the treasure-hunting team who goes to Southern America to get the Aztec gold hidden in a temple (of doom) with lots of crappy plaster walls and Goonies-like wannabe-traps.

Garden State (2004)

If the only thing that keeps you going is your faith and you no longer know what you believe in or have stopped believing in anything anymore then you must feel quite lost and life may bear no meaning. “Garden State” is about twenty-six-year-old Andrew “Large” Largeman (Zach Braff) who is so numb and void of emotions that he has literally detached himself from everything and everyone around him.
When we zoom in on him in the beginning of the movie, he is lying in a white room in a white bed and he looks so pale, he might as well be already dead.
Together with Braff the viewer goes on a journey of awakening, of rediscovering life, of experiencing emotions, honest and heartfelt emotions.