DVD Logging
Jul. 9th, 2011 05:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckAlvin and the Chipmunks - This was better than I expected. That's not to say it was really good, just better than my abysmally low expectations. We got it from the library because Delia really wanted to see it. The chipmunks were cute enough. I suppose I'd recommend it for those with small children.
Banner of the Stars 1-5 - I was bored by these episodes. Maybe if I'd seen all of Crest of the Stars (Netflix is missing two of the four DVDs), I'd have been invested enough in the characters to care, but I wasn't. I found the space battle sequences especially tedious. I didn't have any feel for why they mattered.
Bleach: Memories of Nobody - I don't have a lot to say about this movie. It felt a little flimsy but wasn't actively bad. It was more that a lot of the characters who showed up didn't have a reason to be there except to be there. Ichigo and Rukia encounter strange spirits and a shinigami unknown to them. Both the mortal world and the world of the shinigami are threatened with destruction.
Chuck season 1 - I wasn't sure we'd like this series. The premise sounded (and is) implausible, so it all came down to execution. So far, we're really enjoying the series. Scott calls it charming, and it is. The spy plots are pretty far fetched, but they're fun. The folks working at the Buy More are all distinct characters, and all funny. There are usually a few moments in each episode when I have to plug my ears and look away due to the embarrassment factor, but I can get by most of the time.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - We watched this streaming after a friend recommended it as something Delia might like and that Scott and I could enjoy, too. I think we all had fun with it though there were parts where Scott and I found the bounds of credibility stretched just a bit too far. I feel silly saying that. The entire premise-- a machine that makes food out of water vapor-- is ludicrous, but there were things that went farther still. I kind of wanted to smack the hero more than once, too. He was trying too hard in the wrong ways.
D. Gray-Man 1-7 - I didn't really enjoy this. I gave it to the end of the DVD in case it was just that the early episodes were weak. I think it's not that. I'm just not interested in fight after fight and in the grim doom of a world edging toward destruction. The monsters are creepy, so that part worked. I just wasn't interested in the fight against them.
Figure 17 1-13 - I was a little startled by the fact that these episodes were double length. I'm used to the rhythm of twenty four minute episodes, so I kept expecting the story to rise to a climax when it was only hitting a midway point. I was also surprised by how little of the story time was spent fighting monsters. When I run into a story about a girl gaining the power to change form to fight monsters, I expect that to be the majority of what's going on. Instead, Figure 17 spends a lot of time on the girl's every day life and how it's changed by the sudden insertion of twin sister. The 'twin sister' in question is actually an alien AI who can join with the girl to become a powerful fighter. The girl, herself, is shy and uncertain. Fighting scares her, but she does it because there's no one else.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - I made it through half of this before giving up and going to bed. I think the extra hour of sleep was worth more than the end of the movie. I'm not sure I could even explain what happened in the part I watched. It made that little impression on me. I think there was a world ending threat of some sort.
Hercules the Legendary Journeys season 1 DVD 1 - I didn't finish this. It was too painful. I remember liking the episodes of this I saw from later seasons, but I couldn't deal with these episodes. They were tedious. I knew it was bad when I was utterly indifferent to the tragedy of Hercules losing his family. I may try episodes from later seasons as Netflix has them streaming. I just have to overcome inertia.
Inkheart - I'm not sure why I put this in our Netflix queue. I bounced hard off the book when I tried it. I think maybe I had some vague idea that it might be Delia appropriate. Scott and I decided to pre-screen the movie before showing it to Delia, and I'm glad we did. It was a bit too scary for her in places. Maybe in a year or three. I did find the idea of people who can read things and people out of books fascinating. Scott asked me what or who I'd want to read out if I had the ability, and I couldn't answer. I think I'd be reluctant to use the ability because of the risk of getting someone or something dangerous. Plus, a lot of characters wouldn't want to leave their own worlds.
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - We watched this streaming. It was interesting to see Lex Luthor as a good guy. I'm not sure I buy the idea of an earth prime which, if destroyed, destroys the entire multiverse. It sets the stakes incredibly high, but it makes no sense (and not just because it puts earth at the center of every universe). It was still fun seeing the members of the Justice League figuring out how to fight their alternate universe counterparts.
Karate Kid - We watched this streaming. I think I prefer the older version of this movie. I love Jackie Chan no matter what he's doing, but I prefer Mr. Miyagi to Mr. Han. This movie includes a lot of scenes that take advantage of locations in China that are gorgeous. Some of those scenes, however, felt out of place in the story. They were great to look at but didn't really serve much other purpose. I've seen comments elsewhere about how much it changed the story to have the boy be so much younger. I think I agree. It does shift things. I'm not sure it's a bad shift, but it is a difference.
Kim Possible: So the Drama - It's been so long since I watched this that I've mostly forgotten it. I suppose that, in itself, says something about the overall quality. My remaining impression is that it's fine if one likes Kim Possible but is otherwise not exciting. I think I lack context for what was going on.
Last Quarter - I think I was supposed to find this creepier than I did. I think I was also supposed to have more sympathy for the characters than I did-- Instead, I kept feeling that they were dreadfully young and not very good at making decisions. In this movie a young woman, fleeing her boyfriend after discovering that he cheated on her, encounters a mysterious musician. She agrees to go away with him. She ends up stuck in limbo, between life and death, and only a girl who has recently had a near death experience can see her. The new girl, a friend of hers and the boyfriend then try to figure out what's going on.
Lois and Clark season 2 - I got these DVDs primarily as something to have one while I wrote. I didn't end up doing much writing while watching the episodes because my writing process wasn't working well, but the episodes were sufficiently fluffy that I didn't need to give them a lot of attention in order to follow what was going on. I think, perhaps, I'm not the right audience for this series (even though I'll probably watch more)-- I keep thinking that the story would be infinitely more interesting if Lois knew that Clark is Superman. I'd like to see what comes of trying to negotiate that. Of course, that removes some of the primary sources of tension.
My Best Friend Is a Vampire - I bailed on this movie after about twenty minutes. The sexual humor and situations were too much for my taste. I didn't find it at all funny. Given how I feel about vampires, I'm amazed I even gave this movie a chance. I think someone recommended it to me based on a love for one of the actors, but I might be misremembering.
Night Court season 2 - I still enjoy the humor of this series. It's a sitcom that doesn't make me flinch constantly. Even the sleazy prosecuting attorney amuses me, and characters like that usually make me want to flee. The series has aged pretty well. It's obviously dated, but it's still funny.
Onmyoji II - Watching this, I felt like I was missing something, like I lacked context to completely understand what was going on. I probably did-- My knowledge of Japanese history and folklore is limited, and my knowledge of Japanese cinema is close to non-existent. I failed to connect with Abe no Seimei or his sidekick (whose name I've completely forgotten) but rather liked the doomed supporting characters. I wanted to know more about those supporting characters and to see them get a better ending than they did. As it was, there was a bit too much horror content for my taste.
Red - There's something fun about watching incredibly competent characters doing ridiculously complicated things. It didn't matter to me why all the action was taking place-- The characters seemed to have reasons for it and plans to make it all work out. I was just along for the ride, and it was quite a ride.
Sherlock: A Study in Pink; Sherlock: The Blind Banker - I concluded that this show is really not for me. I only continued to the second story because the whole thing had come so highly recommended. There seem to be a lot of people who love it. I'm just not really in the audience for straight up detective stories. I tend not to care about them, and in this case, I really didn't.
Shrek Forever After - Shrek gets to see what the world would have been like if he'd never been born. It's a dark, depressing place where almost nobody is happy but the villain. I'm not sure what I expected from this-- I think I had low expectations. It was funny and sweet. Delia actually worried that it wouldn't have a happy ending. She kept saying, "I know it's going to end up happy," but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
Stuart Little - Delia bought this DVD for two dollars at her school's book sale. She then proceeded to watch it three or four times in a row. (She hasn't gone back to it since, for which I'm relieved.) I'd previously heard about the movie from an adoptive mother who was really bothered by how adoption was presented in the movie (and it is more than a little problematic. If I were an adoptive parent, I would definitely not want my kids seeing it), so I approached the movie with caution. I can't say that I'd call the movie actually good, but, stuff on adoption aside, it wasn't awful for something aimed at kids.
Sword of the Stranger - I'm not sure of the exact historical period in which this is set. My knowledge of Japanese history is too sketchy. I'm not sure how much it matters. I was still able to follow the story. Basically, a wandering warrior takes on the job of protecting a boy from forces out to capture and kill him (there's a prophecy that a medicine made from his blood under certain specific circumstances will bestow immortality. The Chinese emperor believes it and has sent men to Japan to follow the ritual and make the medicine). The story was pretty straightforward. Nothing particularly surprised me. I can't recommend or dis-recommend the movie as it simply wasn't my sort of story.
Tangled - I'm not sure how I feel about this movie. Scott and Delia both enjoyed it, but I felt a bit distant from it. I think part of it was that I didn't much like the hero. The story required believing that, deep down, he was a good guy, and I just never got there. I couldn't believe in the happy ending because I couldn't believe that the hero was capable of an honest relationship. I did like the witch's motivation for keeping Rapunzel. It made sense.
Teen Titans season 5 - We mostly had fun watching this. I enjoyed seeing all of the other teen heroes, and the Brotherhood of Evil seemed like an appropriate challenge. I did tend to laugh whenever the villainous Brain was on the screen-- He looked too much like a dalek. I kind of wish we hadn't watched the final episode, though. It was all set up for later episodes which were never made. It ends with everybody in the middle of things and no resolution at all.
Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death - If I'd realized how short this was, I'd have watched it streaming much sooner. For some reason, I was under the impression that it was a full length movie rather than a half hour short. This time, Wallace and Gromit are bakers, and somebody's murdering bakers. Wallace falls in love again, and Gromit has to save him from certain disaster. It was great fun. I wasn't surprised by anything, but I enjoyed it all.
Banner of the Stars 1-5 - I was bored by these episodes. Maybe if I'd seen all of Crest of the Stars (Netflix is missing two of the four DVDs), I'd have been invested enough in the characters to care, but I wasn't. I found the space battle sequences especially tedious. I didn't have any feel for why they mattered.
Bleach: Memories of Nobody - I don't have a lot to say about this movie. It felt a little flimsy but wasn't actively bad. It was more that a lot of the characters who showed up didn't have a reason to be there except to be there. Ichigo and Rukia encounter strange spirits and a shinigami unknown to them. Both the mortal world and the world of the shinigami are threatened with destruction.
Chuck season 1 - I wasn't sure we'd like this series. The premise sounded (and is) implausible, so it all came down to execution. So far, we're really enjoying the series. Scott calls it charming, and it is. The spy plots are pretty far fetched, but they're fun. The folks working at the Buy More are all distinct characters, and all funny. There are usually a few moments in each episode when I have to plug my ears and look away due to the embarrassment factor, but I can get by most of the time.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - We watched this streaming after a friend recommended it as something Delia might like and that Scott and I could enjoy, too. I think we all had fun with it though there were parts where Scott and I found the bounds of credibility stretched just a bit too far. I feel silly saying that. The entire premise-- a machine that makes food out of water vapor-- is ludicrous, but there were things that went farther still. I kind of wanted to smack the hero more than once, too. He was trying too hard in the wrong ways.
D. Gray-Man 1-7 - I didn't really enjoy this. I gave it to the end of the DVD in case it was just that the early episodes were weak. I think it's not that. I'm just not interested in fight after fight and in the grim doom of a world edging toward destruction. The monsters are creepy, so that part worked. I just wasn't interested in the fight against them.
Figure 17 1-13 - I was a little startled by the fact that these episodes were double length. I'm used to the rhythm of twenty four minute episodes, so I kept expecting the story to rise to a climax when it was only hitting a midway point. I was also surprised by how little of the story time was spent fighting monsters. When I run into a story about a girl gaining the power to change form to fight monsters, I expect that to be the majority of what's going on. Instead, Figure 17 spends a lot of time on the girl's every day life and how it's changed by the sudden insertion of twin sister. The 'twin sister' in question is actually an alien AI who can join with the girl to become a powerful fighter. The girl, herself, is shy and uncertain. Fighting scares her, but she does it because there's no one else.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - I made it through half of this before giving up and going to bed. I think the extra hour of sleep was worth more than the end of the movie. I'm not sure I could even explain what happened in the part I watched. It made that little impression on me. I think there was a world ending threat of some sort.
Hercules the Legendary Journeys season 1 DVD 1 - I didn't finish this. It was too painful. I remember liking the episodes of this I saw from later seasons, but I couldn't deal with these episodes. They were tedious. I knew it was bad when I was utterly indifferent to the tragedy of Hercules losing his family. I may try episodes from later seasons as Netflix has them streaming. I just have to overcome inertia.
Inkheart - I'm not sure why I put this in our Netflix queue. I bounced hard off the book when I tried it. I think maybe I had some vague idea that it might be Delia appropriate. Scott and I decided to pre-screen the movie before showing it to Delia, and I'm glad we did. It was a bit too scary for her in places. Maybe in a year or three. I did find the idea of people who can read things and people out of books fascinating. Scott asked me what or who I'd want to read out if I had the ability, and I couldn't answer. I think I'd be reluctant to use the ability because of the risk of getting someone or something dangerous. Plus, a lot of characters wouldn't want to leave their own worlds.
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - We watched this streaming. It was interesting to see Lex Luthor as a good guy. I'm not sure I buy the idea of an earth prime which, if destroyed, destroys the entire multiverse. It sets the stakes incredibly high, but it makes no sense (and not just because it puts earth at the center of every universe). It was still fun seeing the members of the Justice League figuring out how to fight their alternate universe counterparts.
Karate Kid - We watched this streaming. I think I prefer the older version of this movie. I love Jackie Chan no matter what he's doing, but I prefer Mr. Miyagi to Mr. Han. This movie includes a lot of scenes that take advantage of locations in China that are gorgeous. Some of those scenes, however, felt out of place in the story. They were great to look at but didn't really serve much other purpose. I've seen comments elsewhere about how much it changed the story to have the boy be so much younger. I think I agree. It does shift things. I'm not sure it's a bad shift, but it is a difference.
Kim Possible: So the Drama - It's been so long since I watched this that I've mostly forgotten it. I suppose that, in itself, says something about the overall quality. My remaining impression is that it's fine if one likes Kim Possible but is otherwise not exciting. I think I lack context for what was going on.
Last Quarter - I think I was supposed to find this creepier than I did. I think I was also supposed to have more sympathy for the characters than I did-- Instead, I kept feeling that they were dreadfully young and not very good at making decisions. In this movie a young woman, fleeing her boyfriend after discovering that he cheated on her, encounters a mysterious musician. She agrees to go away with him. She ends up stuck in limbo, between life and death, and only a girl who has recently had a near death experience can see her. The new girl, a friend of hers and the boyfriend then try to figure out what's going on.
Lois and Clark season 2 - I got these DVDs primarily as something to have one while I wrote. I didn't end up doing much writing while watching the episodes because my writing process wasn't working well, but the episodes were sufficiently fluffy that I didn't need to give them a lot of attention in order to follow what was going on. I think, perhaps, I'm not the right audience for this series (even though I'll probably watch more)-- I keep thinking that the story would be infinitely more interesting if Lois knew that Clark is Superman. I'd like to see what comes of trying to negotiate that. Of course, that removes some of the primary sources of tension.
My Best Friend Is a Vampire - I bailed on this movie after about twenty minutes. The sexual humor and situations were too much for my taste. I didn't find it at all funny. Given how I feel about vampires, I'm amazed I even gave this movie a chance. I think someone recommended it to me based on a love for one of the actors, but I might be misremembering.
Night Court season 2 - I still enjoy the humor of this series. It's a sitcom that doesn't make me flinch constantly. Even the sleazy prosecuting attorney amuses me, and characters like that usually make me want to flee. The series has aged pretty well. It's obviously dated, but it's still funny.
Onmyoji II - Watching this, I felt like I was missing something, like I lacked context to completely understand what was going on. I probably did-- My knowledge of Japanese history and folklore is limited, and my knowledge of Japanese cinema is close to non-existent. I failed to connect with Abe no Seimei or his sidekick (whose name I've completely forgotten) but rather liked the doomed supporting characters. I wanted to know more about those supporting characters and to see them get a better ending than they did. As it was, there was a bit too much horror content for my taste.
Red - There's something fun about watching incredibly competent characters doing ridiculously complicated things. It didn't matter to me why all the action was taking place-- The characters seemed to have reasons for it and plans to make it all work out. I was just along for the ride, and it was quite a ride.
Sherlock: A Study in Pink; Sherlock: The Blind Banker - I concluded that this show is really not for me. I only continued to the second story because the whole thing had come so highly recommended. There seem to be a lot of people who love it. I'm just not really in the audience for straight up detective stories. I tend not to care about them, and in this case, I really didn't.
Shrek Forever After - Shrek gets to see what the world would have been like if he'd never been born. It's a dark, depressing place where almost nobody is happy but the villain. I'm not sure what I expected from this-- I think I had low expectations. It was funny and sweet. Delia actually worried that it wouldn't have a happy ending. She kept saying, "I know it's going to end up happy," but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
Stuart Little - Delia bought this DVD for two dollars at her school's book sale. She then proceeded to watch it three or four times in a row. (She hasn't gone back to it since, for which I'm relieved.) I'd previously heard about the movie from an adoptive mother who was really bothered by how adoption was presented in the movie (and it is more than a little problematic. If I were an adoptive parent, I would definitely not want my kids seeing it), so I approached the movie with caution. I can't say that I'd call the movie actually good, but, stuff on adoption aside, it wasn't awful for something aimed at kids.
Sword of the Stranger - I'm not sure of the exact historical period in which this is set. My knowledge of Japanese history is too sketchy. I'm not sure how much it matters. I was still able to follow the story. Basically, a wandering warrior takes on the job of protecting a boy from forces out to capture and kill him (there's a prophecy that a medicine made from his blood under certain specific circumstances will bestow immortality. The Chinese emperor believes it and has sent men to Japan to follow the ritual and make the medicine). The story was pretty straightforward. Nothing particularly surprised me. I can't recommend or dis-recommend the movie as it simply wasn't my sort of story.
Tangled - I'm not sure how I feel about this movie. Scott and Delia both enjoyed it, but I felt a bit distant from it. I think part of it was that I didn't much like the hero. The story required believing that, deep down, he was a good guy, and I just never got there. I couldn't believe in the happy ending because I couldn't believe that the hero was capable of an honest relationship. I did like the witch's motivation for keeping Rapunzel. It made sense.
Teen Titans season 5 - We mostly had fun watching this. I enjoyed seeing all of the other teen heroes, and the Brotherhood of Evil seemed like an appropriate challenge. I did tend to laugh whenever the villainous Brain was on the screen-- He looked too much like a dalek. I kind of wish we hadn't watched the final episode, though. It was all set up for later episodes which were never made. It ends with everybody in the middle of things and no resolution at all.
Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death - If I'd realized how short this was, I'd have watched it streaming much sooner. For some reason, I was under the impression that it was a full length movie rather than a half hour short. This time, Wallace and Gromit are bakers, and somebody's murdering bakers. Wallace falls in love again, and Gromit has to save him from certain disaster. It was great fun. I wasn't surprised by anything, but I enjoyed it all.
