Mysterious Cities of Gold (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)This 1980's series, loosely based on Scott O'Dell's novel "The King's Fifth" is a superb blend of Japanese animation, French writing, and some of the best music ever.
The series which is one big story arc follows a group of Spaniards in the 16th century who go looking for a city of gold that is hidden somewhere in Central or South America, they are accompanied by an Inca girl who can decipher clues to its location and later meet other people along the way.
The storyline includes mythology of lost continents of Atlantis and Mu (Hiva in this story), and of their supposed highly advanced technology that rivals today's.
This series was the jewel of Nickelodeon's television programming in the 1980's and became a cult classic. It was previously released on DVD in Quebec and France in the early 2000's and Japan a few years later. It is now set for a long overdue US release with excellent special features.
I speculate that the success of bootleg copies of the series may have contributed to it finally being released on DVD in English speaking countries just like what happened with the series Sea Quest DSV.
The series also includes a music soundtrack by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy recorded with synthesizers which is worthy of a Grammy and an Emmy. This soundtrack is better than most movie soundtracks and has been released on LP and CD over the decades.
I am ecstatic about this release and will be buying both editions. It is a show that people who watched it growing up will want their kids to see. I watched this all the time when it was on Nickelodeon in the 80's and am glad it is getting the release it deserves.

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It is 1532 and Esteban, a Spanish orphan, is on a quest to find his father. He joins a party of Spaniards as they search for one of The Seven Cities of Gold in The New World. Zia, An Incan girl named Zia, and Tao, the last descendant of the sunken empire of Hiva, help Estaban on his search. On their journey, the three of them discover many lost technological wonders of the Mayans, Inca, and Olmecs including The Golden Condor, a huge solar-powered airship, capable of traveling considerable distances under the sun's power alone. They are constantly pursued by antagonists Gomez and Gaspard, who are also in search of the Cities of Gold.

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Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)I agree with some of the other critiques - I'm not sure how well this movie is made in terms of explaining the background of the story. Rose Red was scary. Diary is more like a documentary almost. More drama than horror. It mainly has to do with a husband and wife ... the wife is permissive and the husband is a jerk who sleeps with other women. Not sure what that has to do with the house exactly. I thought they should have focused more on how the house first became haunted. I feel there should be a prequel to the prequel now. To explain in more detail what occurred BEFORE all of this. Like before the house was built. What was there beforehand (like a cemetery, ancient burial grounds, etc.) and why is it haunted in the first place. It was not scary. It wasn't really even suspenseful. It did keep me interested through the whole movie though and the actress that played Ellen Rimbauer I thought was quite good. I would suggest seeing this movie if you are a big fan of Rose Red though because it does explain SOME things ... I wish they would make a sequel too though. "Rose Red: Part Two - Revenege of the House", maybe?
As far as the DVD itself goes, what someone else mentioned is true. If you click on Scene Selections, instead of the scenes for the Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, there are scenes from another movie. Which is a pretty major mistake, I say! No one in production caught that??? Come on, that's a pretty big thing to mess up. Unless... they did it on purpose.... I mean, this is Stephen King we're talking about. ;) I plan on writing to the production company to try and figure out the mystery identity of the Scene Selection mess-up. I'll update when I find out which move it is!

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Number Ones (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)1. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
2. Rock With You
3. Billie Jean
4. Beat It
5. Thriller
6. Bad (short version)
7. The Way You Make Me Feel (excludes beginning few minutes)
8. Man In The Mirror
9. Smooth Criminal (fast/blurry version)
10. Dirty Diana
11. Black or White (includes Macaulay Culkin segment but excludes panther segment)
12. You Are Not Alone
13. Earth Song
14. Blood On The Dance Floor (re-edited version)
15. You Rock My World (excludes beginning few minutes)
The very basic packaging tells you that this is a no frills DVD. Many of MJ's best videos are presented and that is all you get. No fancy menu or insert. No live performances, interviews, commercials or still gallery. Nothing. Not even a discography. This doesn't cut it in this day and age of DVD. The videos are great, but this is hardly a difinitive collection. Expecially since all of these (save "You Rock My World") are already available on other discs. And why do video collections keep getting released with shortened or re-edited videos? We want the FULL original video ok! Is that too much to ask?
It's hard to go wrong with an MJ music video and these are all great. But this DVD could have (and should have) been definitie. Instead it's just yet another collection of videos collectors already have.

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When Good Ghouls Go Bad (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)WHEN GOOD GHOULS GO BAD is a made for television movie, based upon a R.L. Stine story that first aired a few years ago on the Fox channel. The movie is narrated by and stars Christopher Lloyd as the patron of his small town. He has everyone call him Uncle Fred, including his own son and grandson and is a town legend. Uncle Fred used to own the chocolate factory that was the town's bread and butter. However, after a tragic accident involving a baking kiln that Uncle Fred had donated to the local high school, he shut the factory down and the town has been struggling ever since. However, with the accident at the school there also came a curse, that the town was to never celebrate Halloween again or else the young man who was baked alive would come back from the grave to destroy the town. Twenty years pass and Uncle Fred's son and grandson move back to town, wanting to celebrate Halloween. However, the townspeople won't have it. Then strange events start to happen and things go from strange to just plain bizarre.
WHEN GOOD GHOULS GO BAD is a good family Halloween movie to watch together. There isn't anything too scary and much of what could be frightening is tapered with a good sense of humor. The story is easy to follow and the acting is fairly well done for a made for tv flick. Christopher Lloyd is always a joy to watch and if for no other reason, this movie is worth watching for his performance. There aren't a whole lot of deep messages in the movie, though it does have a lot to say about the importance of family and staying connected (in more ways than one). Happy Halloween viewing.

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Twelve-year-old Danny Walker is shocked to learn that the small Minnesota town he just moved to can't celebrate Halloween because of a local curse. With the help of his recently deceased (but still kicking) Uncle Fred, Danny must battle an army of prankster ghouls rising from the ground to break the curse once and for all - and bring back the magic of Halloween!

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