DVD Verdict - First Anniversary

It’s true, I’ve been writing for one of my favorite movie review sites for a full year. That adds up to 100 reviews (after the two DVDs I’ve got sitting in front of my TV get write ups). Frankly, I’ve had a great time writing for the site. I’ve seen some excellent movies and documentaries. I’ve also endured some painful crap. I have to give my wife and cat full marks for enduring most of these with me.

To celebrate, I figured I’d create this little page of links to some of my favorite reviews and movies. Now keep in mind, I may not have liked a particular movie, but I might have had fun with the review. So if you haven’t already read some of these, follow the links, give them a read and don’t forget to click the little link at the bottom of the page to vote on whether I did a good job or not. You can also Like them via Facebook if you feel the urge.

The first review I wrote was for Instant Expert: Egypt, a documentary series intended for schools that was essentially new packaging for Egypt: Engineering an Empire.

The following were some of the best movies I reviewed:

• Agora
• Donnie Darko (Blu-ray) 10th Anniversary Edition
• How to Train Your Dragon (Blu-ray)
• The Maltese Falcon (Blu-ray)
• Rain Man (Blu-ray)
• The Special Relationship
• X-men (Blu-ray)
• Special Mention - Shogun: 30th Anniversary Edition

The following are some of the best documentaries I watched:

• American Experience: Dinosaur Wars
• American Experience: Lee and Grant, Generals of the Civil War (specifically the Grant portion)
• Azorian: The Raising of the K-129
• Floored
• Lost Kingdoms of Africa
• Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood
• Secrets of the Dead: Lost Ships of Rome
• Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman
• Wartorn: 1861-2010

Some of the movies or shows that I had low expectations for, but received a pleasant surprise:

• Across the Line
• The Big Bang (Blu-ray)
• Blues
• Murdoch Mysteries: Season 3 (Blu-ray)
• Suburban Psycho Horror Collection (specifically Drainiac)
• Taisho Baseball Girls
• The Tell-tale Heart/The Oval Portrait (specifically The Tell-tale Heart)
• X-men: The Last Stand (Blu-ray)
• Yoga

Best Anime series I watched:

• Birdy the Mighty: Decode (Specifically the second half of the series)
• Eden of the East: The Complete Series
• High School of the Dead: Complete Collection
• Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom (Especially the second half)
• Rideback: The Complete Series
• Special Mention for cat lovers - Nyan Koi: Complete Collection

My favorite reviews:

• Clover - Ernie Hudson invades my review!
• Gamera vs Guiron/Gamera vs. Jiger - I like my analysis of the silly movies.
• Great Migrations - One of my favorite verdict lines, but read the whole review for the full effect.
• Guin Saga: Collection 1 - Hobbes takes over my review!
• The Maltese Falcon (Blu-ray) - Start off the review talking like a mug.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Hamlet - I attempt to defend one of the most hated episodes of my favorite series.
• TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection - Tarzan Volume 1, Tarzan Volume 2 - Lessons learned from Tarzan
• Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman - Written while I was in a wormhole... with Mr. Freeman!
• The Weathered Underground - A choose your own adventure style review!

The most painful things I had to watch:

• America: The Story of Us - One of the most frustrating and infuriating things I've watched
• Attack on Darfur - Infamous director Uwe Boll tries to get serious
• Blue Mountain State: Season One - 286 minutes of terribly unfunny comedy
• Deadly Shooter - Deadly dull western
• Great Migrations - Beautiful photography and hilariously idiotic voice over
• Gun X Sword: Complete Collection - Anime that "borrows" from its betters and manages to be boring for 78% of the time
• Haunting of Sorority Row - So good, I completely forgot I watched and reviewed it
• Lorna Doone - Great cast, classic story, complete misfire
• The Occult: The Truth Behind the Word - A homegrown documentary too inept to inform
• Suburban Psycho Horror Collection - Specifically the unfunny Psycho Sisters
• TCM Greatest Classic Films: Tarzan Volume 1 - Specifically the horrible mess of Tarzan Escapes
• The Tell-tale Heart/The Oval Portrait - Specifically the hilariously bad Oval Portrait
• The Usual Suspects (Blu-ray) - Specifically this piss poor release for a classic movie
• Your Highness - So much comedic potential completely wasted

And that just about covers it. You can check out more of my reviews from my Dossier page over at the Verdict. I'm looking forward to another year as a staff writer for the site.

DVD Verdict Reviews

You'll find reviews for a whole host of other titles over at DVD Verdict.com. These will range from documentaries, television series as well as movies of all kinds. If its on DVD then DVD Verdict will review it.

I'll do my best not to write redundant reviews on this blog, but I am limited on DVD Verdict with word count. In same cases I may want to elaborate on a few points and so you'll find some overlap. But for the most part its different content over on that site.

Check out my dossier here. It contains a brief summary about me and you'll find links to all my reviews there as well. Feel free to contact me via the Verdict or vote on the review (at the bottom) of the page.

Check out my first year anniversary page. It has links to the best and the worst I tackled in my first year of writing for "the verdict".