Doll's House

Starring:Claire Bloom, Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Richardson, Denholm Elliott, Edith Evans, Anna Massey, Daphne Riggs, Mark Summerfield, Stefanie Summerfield, Helen Blatch, Kimberley Hampton
Director: Patrick Garland
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

This superb version of Henrik Ibsen's classic play A Doll's House stars Claire Bloom (Brideshead Revisited, Charly) as Nora, a sweet and lively but frivolous woman whose puritanical husband Torvald (Anthony Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs, The Elephant Man) loves her but doesn't take her seriously. As Torvald assumes a new position as a bank manager, an old debt of Nora's intrudes upon their happy life and reveals secret sides of both husband and wife. The play has been skillfully turned into film, tightening the action and providing the opportunity for intimate performances from an outstanding cast that also includes Sir Ralph Richardson (The Fallen Idol, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan), Dame Edith Evans (Tom Jones, The Importance of Being Earnest), Denholm Elliott (Raiders of the Lost Ark, A Room with a View), and other topnotch British actors. --Bret Fetzer

Description

A woman's struggle to have her voice heard in a man's world is "startlingly moving" (The Wall Street Journal) in this cinematic adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's famous play. "Superior performances" (The New York Times) by Claire Bloom (Crimes and Misdemeanors) and Oscar®winner* Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal) set the stage for an engrossing and remarkable drama.Nora (Bloom) will do anything to please her authoritarian husband Torvald (Hopkins). Per Torvald's instructions, Nora focuses on such womanly disciplines as dancing and taking care of babies whilehe sees to all the affairs of money. But when a past financial mistake comes back to haunt Nora, and Torvald finds out, the result is an explosion of fury and a shocking revelation that changes the course of the entire family forever. *1991: Actor, The Silence of the Lambs

Customer Reviews:

Bloom to Hopkins to Richardson.......2007-05-23

Ibsen's "A Doll's House with the superb acting of Claire Bloom, Anthony Hopkins and Ralph Richardson. Hubby(Hopkins) dominating and authoritarian in his manner commands his wife lead a perfect and errorless existence. One minor transgression on her part and Hubby goes ballistic. Knowing that her live in almost servant status in the household will end with nothing changing, nothing getting better, she bolts the abode to find her identity and Daddy mind the Baby, much to his consternation. Alls well but the Wife's gone ?

Worth Showing.......2007-05-08

Anthony Hopkins is wonderful as Torvald capturing both the insecure man and the dominating husband. The film is very close to the text. The director staged more aggression from Torvald in the final scene, but my students all agreed that even that, was true to his character and the integrity of the story.

A Doll's House, Seriously.......2006-11-24

This 1970s production of Ibsen's classic play is well worth the viewing -- it's a solid and believable -- if unsensational -- reading of one of the most famous plays in literature -- and one of the key documents in feminism. The total lack of gimmickry and straight interpretation work in its favor -- A Doll's House is one of the canonical works that doesn't need to be updated. Claire Bloom & Anthony Hopkins (the latter shockingly young) support this production with subtle, nuanced, powerful performances. Denholm Elliott is especially good as Krogstad and Ralph Richardson is moving as the dying Dr Rank ("Thanks for the light!") This version of A Doll's House makes a strong argument for tragic plot patterns which have been banished by Hollywood. My Islamic female students responded positively to this play in DVD. I only wish there were more works available in DVD of this calibre.

Excellent satire played straight.......2006-08-22

Director Patrick Garland's interpretation of Ibsen's famous social satire 'A Doll's House,' while competent and loyal to the source material, lacks effect, I think, mainly for its needlessly dry, Victorian take on a vital, perpetually contemporary theme: the systematic marginalization of those who resist the roles assigned to them by the prevailing mores and conventions of society. Missing in this production is the spirit of Ibsen's wit, which I believe would help us chuckle sympathetically, rather than scowl from a distance, at the vain hopes, hypocrisies and excesses of the playwright's bourgeois set staged in the first two acts, thus providing a much broader context, dramatically speaking, for fleshing out the universal relevancy of the poignant but potentially period-bound subject matter revealed in the third. Ironically, the film's earnest attempts to portray the play's events and characters so literally, so BBCeriously, ultimately work against it and by the final scene the whole exercise seems to have been reduced to a rather dull and dour polemic proposing feminism as an imperfect, last-ditch remedy for 19th century social injustice. Hopkins turns in a skillful but too-restrained performance as the phallocentrically rigid and self-admiring banker/husband Torvald, and Bloom (probably herself over-mature for the role) comes across as too wise and conniving to be believed as the flighty doll-wife Nora. All that having been said, though, the movie is well done. The sets are rich and befitting the era; the actors, however possibly miscast the principals (I'd like to have seen Albert Finney and Susannah York take a crack at the time), are all technically first-rate; and the story, even told as it is, without a hint of caricature, is engaging and paced efficiently by the director.

Good without being brilliant..........2006-07-17

I must say I find Miss Bloom a bit too old and static for the part, it seems she is struggling to fit into the shoes of Nora; the doll-wife-woman who had surrended all responsebilities to the male dominant in her life... But she excells when Nora matures.

True, this was the case for most women over 100 years ago...

I also find Torvald`s objections in the finale, on the not so "evil side..."

I mean Nora abandens three children in search of herself? What kind of a rolemodel is THAT???

Do we live for ourselves or for our commitments? I must say that from the day you have childeren and enter matrimony, you no longer can do whatever pleases, but must face responsebilities.

This is what is known as growing UP.

In the year of 2006 we see that too many people must "realise" themselves and end up lonely because they have escaped nearness, tenderness, closeness and committment to other than themselves...

Hopkins is a bit overweight, but with Dame Evans and Ralph Richardson - excellent....

Miss Bloom was awarded a Special award in Oslo in 2006, an award called "IBSEN`S WOMEN OF THE 20th CENTURY" with Lise Fjelstad(an excellent Nora, c the NRK adaption), Glenda Jackson(Hedda 1975-Academy Award nominee), Liv Ullmann(The Wild Duck), Wenche Foss and Bibi Andersson(amongst others) for her portrayels of Ibsen`s women...

This is a theme never to be closed hehehe

Average customer rating:

Ladies in the big house.....
Bad acting, silly dialogue, cheap sets, brief but boring nudity = yawn.
Welcome to the Dollhouse
This set the WIP standard...
"Search them...inside and out!"

Big Doll House
Starring: Judith M. Brown , Roberta Collins , Pam Grier , Brooke Mills , and Pat Woodell
Director: Jack Hill
Manufacturer: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Caged Heat
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Women In Cages

ASIN: B000BRMMK8
Release Date: 2005-12-26

Amazon.com

Director Jack Hill, a protégé of the original schlockmeister, Roger Corman, knew his way around a low budget and a shocking subject. Women-in-prison films were nothing new in 1971, but The Big Doll House had it all--sex, violence, nudity, a sadistic guard, and a sexually frustrated warden--and served it up with an abundance of cheapjack energy and tongue-in-cheek humor. The beauty of Hill's movies lay in the way they could appeal not only to the hordes who would go see them at drive-ins but also to the true trash-cinema fans who could appreciate his offbeat sensibilities. The plot is rather hoary, with a new inmate discovering the corruption of the prison setup, complete with a drugged-out psycho, a cellmate informer, and a guard who delights in torturing the women with poisonous snakes. The girls put their heads together and begin to devise a way out of their tropical hellhole, but not before disrobing several times and having a knock-down, drag-out fight in the muddy rice paddy where they're forced to toil all day. The Big Doll House, like some of Hill's other movies, was shot in the Philippines, with the cast and crew making up plot elements and dialogue in near-guerrilla filmmaking. Though the islands were a cheap place to produce movies in the '70s, the working conditions were boot camp-like. Where The Big Doll House really succeeds is in its mix of titillation and action, a fast-paced combination that makes it one heck of a fun exploitation movie to watch. It's also worth noting that this movie gave the great Pam Grier her first real starring role; she would become a Jack Hill regular before moving on to more substantial roles. --Jerry Renshaw

Description

"BIG DOLL HOUSE was the second film for my new company New World Pictures and I wanted a sure hit. Hollywood had a long tradition of women-in-prison movies and no one had done one recently. While the script of BIG DOLL HOUSE was originally set in Los Angeles, I realized I could get a bigger-looking film for the same money in the Philippines. So I sent director Jack Hill there with a number of great-looking women, including Pam Grier, who left her job as a secretary. BIG DOLL HOUSE broke drive-in records and launched a new series of successful films for me." -- Roger Corman~~Pam Grier joins a group of sexy young female prisoners in their struggle against a sadistic warden. This shocking film is perhaps one of the most influential of all women-in-prison films!~

Customer Reviews:

Ladies in the big house............2006-11-04

Anyone who likes women in prison films will appreciate this classic.... a lot of death and gore plus eye candy from the various players.... keep in mind the age that the film was made in and you'll enjoy it....

Bad acting, silly dialogue, cheap sets, brief but boring nudity = yawn........2006-04-07

I wasn't impressed. The action centers around some barely ok looking 70's female cellmates - six of `em - in a Filipino prison. At first everybody talks about how tough they are then finally some fighting breaks out and some prison guard torture, but it's all tame and slow moving.

The prisoners decide to escape so they talk about it loudly and openly so anybody can hear them, whether they want to or not. They kidnap the crooked warden and escape. People get shot and blown up. The End.

Welcome to the Dollhouse.......2006-03-17

This film is not one of the best Women in prsion movies I have seen but it is good. Pam Grier does bring a big bad quality to it and it gets really good with mud wrestling! I recommend this film if you are into the sleazy, campy, Women in prison movies like me!

This set the WIP standard..........2006-03-08

OH YEAH! This is the film which set the standard for the women-in-prison genre. The Big Doll House has everything you could possibly need if you are WIP junkie: cat fights (one even takes place in the mud), group showers, sadistic guards, scantically clothed gun toting babes, lesbianism, torture, and Pam Grier. OH YEAH!

"Search them...inside and out!".......2006-02-02

In the late 1960s actor/producer John Ashley, initially famous for appearing in a number of JD flicks, hooked up with writer/director/producer Eddie Romero in the Philippines to crank out a handful of inexpensive (i.e.cheapo), somewhat successful horror features. Always an eye towards the frugal, producer/director/writer Roger Corman jumped on the bandwagon in the early 1970s, teaming up with the pair to release his second feature under his newly formed `New World' (later to be known as Concorde) film group, a chicks in chains flick titled The Big Doll House (1971). Directed by Jack Hill (Spider Baby, The Big Bird Cage, Switchblade Sisters), the film features Judith M. Brown (Willie Dynamite), Roberta Collins (Women in Cages, Caged Heat), Brooke Mills (The Student Teachers), Pat Woodell (The Twilight People), and Pam Grier (Coffy, Foxy Brown), in her first major role. Also appearing is Christiane Schmidtmer (The Giant Spider Invasion), Kathryn Loder (Foxy Brown), Jerry Frank (Voodoo Island), and Sid `tall, bald and bearded' Haig (Spider Baby, Diamonds Are Forever).

The film starts out with the arrival of three new inmates at some podunk, backwater, women's prison located in the Philippines, I'm guessing, given the large number of Philippino extras running around. As the women are processed (full body cavity searches for everyone!) we meet Collier (Brown), one of the three prisoners, along with a butcher than butch head guard named Lucian (Loder). After this we get to meet Collier's new cellmates, and they're quite the assortment...there's Grear (Grier), who got tossed in the pokey for hustling and has a real hate/hate complex towards men, Bodine (Woodell), a political prisoner whose boyfriend is a rebel insurgent leader hiding out in the hills, Harrad (Mills), a weird junkie type with pyromaniac tendencies, incarcerated for killing her baby (that's lovely), a blondie named Alcott (Collins), and so on...life is difficult in the prison, as the days are filled with tedium labor either toiling in excessively muddy fields or weaving baskets, while the nights involve entertaining oneself with cockroach races, shankings, snitching on your cellmates, or spending time in Lucian's private chamber of sadomasochistic delights. As the film progresses we witness scenes of torture, a gratuitous and pointless shower sequence, more torture, talk of escape, a food fight, a mysterious figure in a hood overseeing the torture, a catfight that devolves into a fine display of mud wrestling, time outs in the hot box, electroshock therapy, snakes, and fun and games with Harry (Haig) and his new partner Fred (Frank), a pair of entrepreneurs who sell food, smokes, and what not to the prisoners (don't worry if you don't have the cash, as Harry will let you slide for a good groping), fantasizing about all the man hungry flesh locked behind the bars. Tired of being used and abused, a core group of girls plan an elaborate escape attempt, one that involves kidnapping the head mistress named Miss Dietrich (Schmidtmer).

What The Big Doll House lacks in aspects like cohesive story, good acting, and solid characters it more than makes up for in unmitigated sleazy fun. One thing that did surprise me a little was the fact there wasn't as much nekkidness in this movie as I would have expected. Oh, there was a decent amount, most all topless shots, a lot limited to flashes of flesh soon to be obscured by an arm, or someone turning their back towards the camera. This didn't bother me because what there was, was pretty nice (hello Ms. Grier...nice to see you and the twins). What was most notable was the complete absence of any Sapphic action. It was often alluded to in the story, but the film never delivered the goods (I wasn't looking for any hardcore dueling batwing action, but a little face suckage and copious fondling would have been nice). The plot is of the loosey goosey variety, meaning this is more or less an assemblage of sleaze soaked sequences eventually leading up to the big escape attempt. This was pretty much what I was expecting, as director Hill obviously knew enough to avoid attempting the premise of serious, social commentary in an effort to cover up the exploitive nature of the material, as was done in Corman's earlier film The Student Nurses (1970), which tried to conceal its lurid and skeezy nature by touching awkwardly upon a slew of feminine issues. While the characters themselves were of the garden-variety stock one would normally expect in a feature like this, some of the performances did stand out. Pam Grier makes one helluva butch prisoner, and I thought Haig's character just a whole lot of fun. Loder's character of Lucian, the sadistic, snake loving head guard was decent, but I only wish she would have turned it up a notch or two, as there was certainly room to do so...and check out the various native to the region extras in the prison...looks like they were recruited off the streets, having little idea what was actually going on...the last half of this film could have been titled `The Misadventures of Harry and Fred', as the pair play a more prominent role in the story, becoming entangled in the escape attempt as the women use the lure of hot prison lovin' to get the pair of knuckleheads to unwittingly help them in their plans, culminating in a sequence where the two end up in their underwear, forced at gunpoint to engage some naughty fun in the back of their truck in a twisted effort by the escapees to return some of the humiliation and degradation heaped upon them by their once captors. To say anymore would spoil things, so I'll leave it at that...overall, The Big Doll House was generally what I expected, an entertaining film packed with good, wholesome, scuzzy fun. This film was followed up a year later by one titled The Big Bird Cage (1972), which also featured Grier, and was written and directed by Jack Hill.

The fullscreen (1.33:1) picture quality on this DVD release is decent, and the Dolby Digital audio comes through well. As far as special features, there's cast and crew biographies, an original theatrical trailer, and a five minute interview piece between Leonard Maltin and Roger Corman where the two talk about this film like it was some form of high art. Corman also claims he decided to make this film in the Philippines because he thought he could get more for his money, but I think it was really just an effort to keep more dough in his pocket rather than spend what he saved on better production values. Also included are previews for the films Death Race 2000 (1975), Grand Theft Auto (1977), Eat My Dust (1976), Big Bad Mama (1974), and Humanoids from the Deep (1980), all recently re-issued onto DVD by Walt Disney Video, which, within the past year, acquired the release rights to Corman's extensive Concorde-New Horizons catalog of films.

Cookieman108

If I learned anything from this film, it's that if you ever find yourself in prison, avoid, if at all possible, sharing a cell with a junkie.

Average customer rating:

Dolls #1
The actors were very amaturish, but the dolls were great
For those who love good old 80's horror!
How to make a B-Movie Cocktail!
Love this movie!!!

Dolls
Starring: Ian Patrick Williams , Carolyn Purdy-Gordon , Carrie Lorraine , Guy Rolfe , and Hilary Mason
Director: Stuart Gordon
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000A7LR8W
Release Date: 2005-09-20

Description

They're cute, they're cuddly...and they kill! From horror director Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator) and screenwriter Ed Naha (Troll) comes this "fiendish nightmare" (The Hollywood Reporter) that combines the pint-sized playmates of childhood with bone-chilling fun, resulting in "a bloody bonbon you chew with relish" (Los Angeles Times)!A precocious girl, her nasty parents, two punk-rock losers and a weak-kneed salesman inadvertently become the guests of two ghoulish senior citizens in their dark, haunted mansion. The old couple make and collect dolls that, when not sitting still like good little mannequins, creep around in the night, offing the guests one by one! You may laugh at first, but if they turn on you, you'll regret it...for the rest of your short life!

Customer Reviews:

Dolls #1.......2007-05-10

If you remember this movie from so time ago - chances are you really liked it or really hated it. If you like it - buy it. It's worth the few bucks!

The actors were very amaturish, but the dolls were great.......2007-04-30

I would imagine if this movie was made today there would be more CGI. But I'm happy to say that it's better without it. The doll movements were very well done, I don't know who the puppeteer was but she/he did a superb job. The dolls stole the movie. The little girl was very annoying, so was the goofy young man. No really scary, but good fun.

For those who love good old 80's horror!.......2007-04-09

If you're looking for a serious scary movie that will leave you wanting to leave the lights on this is not for you. On the other hand if your looking for some funny but extremely cheesy ..entertaining 80's horror then this is a great movie. There's not too much gore and the acting is bad but its the 80s horror you gotta love. If you like movies like "Return of the Living Dead", "Creep Show", or "Ghoulies" then you'll probably like this.

How to make a B-Movie Cocktail!.......2006-10-31

In a creepy old house with two weird old people mix:
1 part Evil Stepmother
1 part Pushover Dad
1 part cute naive kid

Stick this little family concoction into a thunderstorm then add:

2 skanky punk rock girls
1 childish young man with an unhealty obsession with toys.

Sprinkle in some bad acting and there you have it! A B-Movie that's fun to watch with your friends and will get lots of laughs! Also for a little extra flavor make sure you have some bad gore effects and cheesy killing dolls! Enjoy! I know I sure did.

Love this movie!!!.......2006-09-24

I just saw this movie for the first time today and man, this ranks right up there in guilty pleasure movies for me with "Killer Klowns from Outer Space". It's a mix of horror and comedy and done perfectly. It never strays too far in either direction and finds a perfect middle ground. The dialog never gets to the point of being ridiculous or campy and the scares and horror aspect is well done. The dolls look great and real. The characters who 'get theirs' in the end are acted perfectly and well cast for the roles they play. They make you hate them well while at the same time making sure nothing of what they say or do crosses into camp. The actors who play the old people do an excellent job. I wish they were in more of the movie. The setting is wonderful. It's just a really really fun guilty pleasure movie that I can see myself watching over and over. I love the "evil puppet/toy" genre of movies, but if something is ridiculous I would never want to see it again.

After having said all I did above, I'm sure you would think I am into these kinds of movies on a regular basis and the truth is that's not the case at all. There are very few movies I own that aren't completely serious. I am way more into serious movies. That's why I had to write here to say that it takes a lot for a movie of this kind to catch and keep my attention and it did. Another glorious 80's movie. Highly recommended. Just make sure you go into it with an open mind and just enjoy it for what it is. 5 stars without a doubt.

Average customer rating:

Rozen Maiden, Vol. 1: Doll House W/Box
Starring: Rozen Maiden
Manufacturer: Geneon [Pioneer]
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Anime & Manga | Genres | DVD | Video

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The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Volume 1 (Special Edition)
Rozen Maiden, Vol. 2: Maiden War
Karin, Vol. 1: Infusion
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Volume 2 ( Limited Edition)
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Vol. 1 (Starter Set)

ASIN: B000OCZD4W
Release Date: 2007-05-29

Product Description

This is the story of one young boy who couldn't get along with his classmates and decided to drop out and never return...
This is the story of an exquisite doll who wished to one day become a normal human girl...
This is the story of one young boy and an exquisite doll and their adventures as they strive to help each other in overcoming their fears and the very real dangers of the Alice Game. However, in order to do that, they must overcome their distrust of each other.

Average customer rating:

BATTLING DOLLS
Alice; more sublime than any flower, purer than any gem, and without a touch of impurity.
Why Rozen Maiden is the best anime period! /\/\

Rozen Maiden, Vol. 1: Doll House
Starring: Rozen Maiden
Manufacturer: Geneon [Pioneer]
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( R ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Rozen Maiden, Vol. 2: Maiden War
Karin, Vol. 1: Infusion
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Volume 1
Moon Phase - Phase 6
Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, Vol. 1: Role Reversal

ASIN: B000NJL4S0
Release Date: 2007-05-29

Amazon.com

Rozen Maiden (2004) is one of the first anime series to focus on hikkomori: young adults and children who have completely withdrawn from society. Eighth grader Jun Sakurada refuses to go to school; he stays in his room, surfing the Web and ordering products. His only contact with reality is his klutzy older sister Nori, whom he bullies and insults. Through a series of curious circumstances, Shinku, an elaborate doll in a Gothic Lolita costume, appears in his room and demands he swear loyalty to her. A ring with a rose seals the compact Jun unwittingly enters, making him Shinku's servant. She is the fifth Rozen Maiden doll, with magical powers at her command. Two other dolls, childish Hina-Ichigo and whiny gardener Suigintou, join the imperious Shinku, and the trio begins giving Jun some tough love/therapy. Although its subject matter is odd for a shojo (girl's) series, Rozen Maiden scored a big hit in Japan. (Rated 13 and older: minor cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon

Product Description

Customer Reviews:

BATTLING DOLLS.......2007-06-29

Jun, a middle school student that refuses to go to school, spends most of this time ordering weird occult items over the internet and ordering his loving but ditzy sister Nori to attend to his every need. He's used to getting strange stuff in the mail but when he receives a questionaire asking if he can "wind" he responds with a yes. Soon after a odd-looking suitcase arrives and inside is a beautiful gothic doll in the form of a young girl. When he winds it, the "doll" comes to life. Her name is Shinku, the rose maiden, and she acts for all the world like she's a living breathing girl, and an aristocratic one at that! While Jun is trying to figure things out, a malevolent clown doll bursts through the window and begins making threatening moves with butcher knives right out of Psycho. He also wields razor sharp playing cards! Shinku tells Jun that the only way he can save his life is if he "swears". What "swearing" means is that he enters into a symbiotic relationship with Shinku in which she uses his life energy to battle against other dolls, all fighting in the tournament-like Alice Games. If a doll loses a fight, all their energy is drained and absorbed by the winner and the loser turns into just an ordinary lifeless doll. Whoever is the last doll standing becomes "Alice", which I suspect means to become fully human. As is typical with shows like this, some of the dolls that Jun and Shinku encounter will become their friends and others will become their enemies.

Just looking at the cover of this dvd and reading the synopsis on the back didn't really get me too excited. I mean fighting Gothic Lolita dolls going Dragonball Z on each other? I mean, it just seemed completely goofy or meant to appeal to some very maladjusted otaku males. But I was in for a big surprise. The coolest twist of the show is the reversal of the master/servant concept. Usually, in this setup, the male would be the master, albeit a complete loser, and the female would be the catering slave to his every wish, trying to make his life better merely by saying "yes" to everything. In this show, Shinku is the master, ordering Jun about! And for some strange reason, Jun pretty much complies, even though he doesn't want to. Another thing that makes this show unique is that Shinku does try to make Jun's life better, but not through babying him. She's pretty tough, so she throws all his shortcomings in his face, not to make fun of him or hurt him, but to make him aware of just how much he's wasting his potential. I have to admit that the dolls were very cute, but what made them more charming was the fact that they have these mischievous streaks that they try to hide under their innocent looks and voices. Even though the plot of the show is based on a battle tournament a la Fate/Stay Night, very little fighting takes place on this first volume, which was very welcome and which I think will change in future volumes. Don't let the cute cover scare you away. Rozen Maiden is a show worth watching also has some very funny moments.

Alice; more sublime than any flower, purer than any gem, and without a touch of impurity........2007-06-20

Loosely based on the manga series of the same name (written by Peach Pit)and first aired in Japan in 2004,(and taking a ridiculously long time to get licensed,) Rozen Maiden has finally made it to our shores in all it's glory. Beginning, strangely enough (at the beginning) with volume 1.

volume 1, is essentially all about meeting the characters, so not a whole lot of fighting takes place. the first episode introduces Jun Sakarada, a junior high school boy with 'shut in' syndrome who, through a series of unfortunate events, winds up being Shinku's medium.

Shinku is the 5th of the Rozen Maidens. a collection of 7 living dolls, who were created by master doll maker Rozen and who are destined to fight and destroy one another in the Alice Game; the winner of the game, having collected the 6 Rosa Mystica (a Rozen Maiden's soul essentially) from her fallen sisters will then become Alice and will be able to return to Rozen (whom the dolls call 'Father'). The losers of the game, will no longer be able to move, or think, and will become like an ordinary doll... lifeless.

These first 4 episodes are all about introducing the characters and are pretty light hearted, with hardly any serious fighting taking place. there is the odd scuffle here and there, but it's nothing compared to what takes place later in the series and any dramatic elements are quickly resolved by the end of the episode. 3 other dolls are introduced over the course of the 4 episodes; the first being the child like, yet incredibly powerful Hina Ichigo, the second being the key villain of the series itself, Suigintou and the 3rd being the devious, but harmless Suiseiseki.

Rozen Maiden as a whole, is an odd mix of drama and comedy. some episodes make no mention of the Alice Game and are just the dolls themselves running amok in Jun's house, whilst he tries to stop them declaring 'war' on each other over the littlest of things. whilst other's are heartfelt and tragic as the true consequences of the Alice Game begin to unfold and things happen that cannot be undone.

Brilliantly executed with stunning animation and awesome musical score, Rozen Maiden may have started out as the underdog this anime season (up against stiff competition), but i have a feeling it will last the test of time, and make it's mark on the western anime scene soon enough.

Why Rozen Maiden is the best anime period! /\/\.......2007-02-24

this is by far my most favorite anime ever. I have not seen it fully yet, but based on photos and videos from You Tube, this is worth seeing. my favorite character is Suiseiseki. she has that purity in her and she is very cute.

I myself am growing into the Alice based films of the 3 kinds:
#1 - Rozen Maiden , #2 - The Matrix Trilogy , #3 - American Mcgee's Alice.

that's my 3 inspiration for my own 3 sets of trilogy stories. I myself draw my own characters and create my own stories since 1999. 2009 marks my 10th anniversary of my stories worked on.

Rozen Maiden itself was rated #9 at the best Anime in Japan as of now. great job!

I can't wait to get the English version on DVD along with the Matrix Ultimate DVD bos set. but as of A.M. Alice , wait for the Universal Pictures release of it this year. staring Sarah Machelle Gellar and Directed by Marcus Nispel who directed TCM 2003.

Rozen Maiden has a lot of Gothic Lotia looks along with the Victorian feeling.

I used to be a cardcaptor freak, but grew out of it as years went by, now I am a Rozen Maiden Fan but starting to grow into it more and more as new information comes out everyday.

purchase this today, because next month I will. Happy Buyings!

Average customer rating:

Bad idea
Ambitious puzzle of the human nature!
Derailed not Destroyed
Squeezing the Cliche for All It Is Woth.
Despite the Bad Reviews, I Loved It!!!

The Safety of Objects
Starring: Glenn Close , Dermot Mulroney , Jessica Campbell , Patricia Clarkson , and Joshua Jackson
Director: Rose Troche
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Suspense | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Mystery | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

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( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0000AZT1G
Release Date: 2003-10-14

Amazon.com

A gorgeous collage of human details, The Safety of Objects intertwines the stories of four families living as neighbors in a pleasant suburb, all of them grappling in various ways with the aftermath of a car accident that left a teenager in a coma. That may sound histrionic, but the movie is carefully composed of little things, some ordinary--a lawyer uproots his wife's flowers because he mistakes them for weeds--and some absurd--a boy fantasizes about having a relationship with his sister's doll. But all of it, absurd or not, has some core of emotion. As the title suggests, the characters seek solace in the inanimate, things that can't betray, abandon, or truly need them. The outstanding ensemble cast includes Glenn Close, Dermot Mulroney, Patricia Clarkson, Mary Kay Place, Jessica Campbell (Election), and Kristen Stewart (Panic Room), among others; all fit together into a deeply felt whole. --Bret Fetzer

Description

An incredible all-star cast delivers unforgettable performances in this "penetrating" (Time Out New York), "can't-take-your-eyes-off-the-screen drama" (Marie Claire) about a group of suburban families whose lives are mysteriously intertwined. As Esther (Glenn Close) struggles to remain the perfect mother in the wake of a tragedy, Annette (Patricia Clarkson) copes with toxic fallout from a nasty divorce. Meanwhile, Jim (Dermot Mulroney) goes off the deep end when he's passed overfor a promotion at work. But these very different people are bound together by more than their cookie-cutter homes and manicured lawns. In fact, an event from their past threatens to shatter their fragile lives unless they can find the strength to face itand each otherhead on.

Customer Reviews:

Bad idea.......2005-11-06

This film has a great cast but what a waste of talent! The individual short stories are artlessly scrambled together with disastrously fragmented results.

Trying to film A.M. Homes's fiction must be like trying to film a bunch of Peanuts comic strips by separating & shuffling the individual panels. The rhythm & pace of the originals are gone & in their place we get a bunch of scenes out of a very mediocre soap opera.

Each episode, each character needs total focus, the reader/audience's complete attention. Everything is happening INSIDE the characters. This movie demolishes any possibilty of that ever happening. On the page the boy who falls in love with Barbie (A Real Doll) is priceless. On the screen he's pretentious & unbelievable, a kid doing schtick.

Ambitious puzzle of the human nature!.......2005-08-13

This a film that must be watched at multiple layers. You can figure out a multidimensional prism, where every face deals with a particular character and diverse approach about the existence's hard reality The impressive edition work and the increasing rhythmic tension can be imagined as frame that progressively shrinks and eventually struggles to every member of those four families whose lives are interweaved.
The dramatic reality evasion experienced by the isolated young boy with his Barbie doll goes beyond a simple metaphor; the miscommunication between father and sons are explicitly shown: the TV as Marshall Mc Luhan stated once, works out as the XX Century babysitter; in the other hand we have a mother breathes loneliness in its purest state. She is in good shape and is powerfully attracted by men much younger than her.
Close plays perhaps, the sharpest and painful role, dealing with her son in vegetative state, and her daughter who has true nightmares with a terrible secret you that will be revealed at the end.
The complex narrative structure is not any obstacle for the viewer, due the life is precisely on this way; an unpredictable, voluntary and randomness events chain.
In the other hand we have a surreptitious statement about the futility of material goods as one of the story's multiple dramatic basis; the amazing fact to maintain your hands on a car during three consecutive days just to guarantee a huge audience is a hard critic to some reality shows, and so the traveling around the market journey to carve in relief some unusual behavior patterns consumer.
The cast was simply extraordinary.
A winner, though may be a not easy going watch film for some viewers.

Derailed not Destroyed.......2005-05-19

Individuals in four handsome suburban families are coming undone; the causes are diverse -- the trauma of a tragic accident, a divorce, a missed promotion, a growing apart in a long-standing marriage. Yet, gradually, instead of spinning out of control a la the much overpraised American Beauty, the individuals here do what most of us do when hit hard by life, they crawl back on course and, bruised but alive, move on. For that reason, Safety of Objects rings much truer than AB. I wonder if that could be because Safety is a movie made by, and largely about, women rather than driven by narcissism. Be that as it may, The Safety of Objects has its bizarre -- a radio station SUV promotional stunt -- and creepy -- particularly the quasi-kidnapping that dominates much of its last quarter -- moments. But in the end people make the right decisions and director Troche brings together a nicely crafted final scene where new neighbors are welcomed with gifts of the Objects and those we have watched for two hours again begin to risk intimacy with their closest family members. All in all, not a great movie, but very watchable, with Patricia Clarkson stealing the show as she almost always does.

Squeezing the Cliche for All It Is Woth. .......2005-01-31

From the outset, I must say that this film is bizarre. I must also say that, despite the fact that I liked it enough to give it three stars, you have seen this film before. Where? It is the same type of suburban-angst-gone-haywire plot you've seen in such films as American Beauty. If that is your sort of film, then this is your sort of film. If that is not your cup of tea, then this will not be either.

The film is the story of 4 suburban families who have much more in common than first blush would tell you. All of them are somehow intertwined with a the fate of one of the families' comatose sons. (One character was in the car that injured him, another was the boys lover, etc.) It is the story, then, of how each family copes in different ways with that, and a host of other suburbanesque goings on, like being passed up for a promotion, dealing with the possible kidnapping of a daughter, or fumbling, as an adolescent, through one's first sexual feelings.

While the film, as I've said before, takes bizarre (and often unrealistic) twists and turns in the manner of American Beauty, "The Safety of Objects" has a strangely likeable quality. Like "American Beauty," the characters and story lines are just quirky enough to grab you without being so strange as to let you go. None of the characters are overtly lovable or dispicable, but all of them are at the very least, interesting and at most, compelling.

Be that as it may, though, the film is still a bit too cliche to be of any but moderate interest. Too many films - American Beauty, Short Cuts, The Good Girl, etc. - portray the same type of 'off-the-deep-end' suburban situations that this film does better, and more convincingly, than this film does it.

In fact, it is disappointing to find out that this film is based on a collection of short stories by author A.M. Holmes, because another film called "Short Cuts" is the same idea, only involving the stories of Raymond Carver. And just as Carver is a superior writer to Holmes, "Short Cuts" is heads-and-tails superior to "The Safety of Objects."

But if you like suburbia-gone-angry-and-awry films like "American Beauty," then this film is at least worth one viewing. After all, cliches are called cliches becuase they work at least well enough to be cliches.

Despite the Bad Reviews, I Loved It!!!.......2005-01-03

I absolutely loved this movie and highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't yet seen it. It's a wonderful collage of several suburban families who are somehow linked together although the reason is not revealed until the very end of the movie. Do yourself a favor and ignore the bad reviews and try it for yourself.

Average customer rating:

Ladies in the big house.....
Bad acting, silly dialogue, cheap sets, brief but boring nudity = yawn.
Welcome to the Dollhouse
This set the WIP standard...
"Search them...inside and out!"

The Big Doll House
Starring: Judith M. Brown , Roberta Collins , Pam Grier , Brooke Mills , and Pat Woodell
Director: Jack Hill
Manufacturer: New Concorde
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Crime | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

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( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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Caged Heat
The Big Bird Cage
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ASIN: 6305325820
Release Date: 1999-04-27

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Ladies in the big house............2006-11-04

Bad acting, silly dialogue, cheap sets, brief but boring nudity = yawn........2006-04-07

Welcome to the Dollhouse.......2006-03-17

This set the WIP standard..........2006-03-08

"Search them...inside and out!".......2006-02-02

Average customer rating:

Ladies in the big house.....
Bad acting, silly dialogue, cheap sets, brief but boring nudity = yawn.
Welcome to the Dollhouse
This set the WIP standard...
"Search them...inside and out!"

The Big Doll House [Region 2]
Starring: Judith M. Brown , Roberta Collins , Pam Grier , Brooke Mills , and Pat Woodell
Director: Jack Hill
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Caged Heat
The Big Bird Cage
Black Mama, White Mama
Women in Fury
Women In Cages

ASIN: B00009W35F

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Ladies in the big house............2006-11-04

Bad acting, silly dialogue, cheap sets, brief but boring nudity = yawn........2006-04-07

Welcome to the Dollhouse.......2006-03-17

This set the WIP standard..........2006-03-08

"Search them...inside and out!".......2006-02-02

Charlie Rose with Diana B. Carlin; Peter Doherty; Twyla Tharp (October 28, 1996)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Diana B. Carlin; Peter Doherty; Twyla Tharp (October 28, 1996)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

Diana B. Carlin of the Commission on Presidential Debates discusses what she has learned from various focus groups about public opinion on the upcoming election. After, Dr. Peter Doherty talks about winning the Nobel Prize for medicine for his advancements in the field of immunology. Finally, choreographer Twyla Tharp speaks about her new dance event, Tharp, that will be touring twenty American cities.

Average customer rating:

KOREAN TV SERIES " SALT DOLL "

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000QB4WJS

Product Description

Why current couple live together? For saving the dying husband,his wife sacrificed herself to sleep with a man who loves her.Though he know his wife loves so much,but he doesn't love his wife so much.We want to produce a advertisement which says " love is not stable",life youself,like you give up yourself and live like solf doll ,that girl who sacrifice herself for her husband,this love,it is 100% love. When they were young,they could got everything over to live together happily,though it's hard,they were happy. When there were 20 years old, they ignored everything for love .But they were fooled by money, but ,they were called by that love and moved,we want to produce a tear teleplay, beautiful and like fairy tale.....

DVD:

DVD

New York City Ballet Workout (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Full Frame Documentary Shorts Vol 2

Little Richard - Keep on Rockin'