The Yamada Family Chronicles

Advantages: Beautifully animated, entertaining and amusing in places
Disadvantages: Slightly too long - perhaps not to everyone's taste

...at children. Whilst it's easy to considered and dismiss them purely as 'cartoons', they often have great depth and appeal that goes beyond age and as such can be enjoyed by whole family's, children, or even just adults who enjoy "good drawings". 'My Neighbours The Yamadas' is a stylistic move away from the animation usually associated with Studio Ghibli. According to the blurb on the back of the DVD, writer-director Isao Takahata used "?digital production to create the feel of a moving watercolour sketch." The movie is about the lives of the Yamada family, which consists of the mother and father Matsuko and Takashi, their young son and daughter, as well as Matsuko's live-in mother. In some ways, the movie is also a move away from the typical Studio Ghibli style of story telling. Rather than being one long plot, the movie is more a series...

BlueMidget 09.04.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of My Neighbours The Yamadas (Animated) (DVD)

Yamada DVX-6700

Advantages: It plays EVERYTHING
Disadvantages: Cheap construction

...My Christmas present to myself this year was the ?Yamada-DVX-6700? ? which looks like a DVD player, works rather like a DVD player but offers a special something extra - this unit not only plays DVDs but many other digital formats too. The device cost me ~£55 ? to make it price comparable with other DVD players? It replaces a CyberHome ?CH DVD 400? which only plays bone-fide DVDs ? and cost the same 18 months ago. The build quality of the Yamada is best described as ?cheap? ? but? don?t get me wrong ? it looks OK next to the TV ? only if you look closely is it obvious that every component has been made to the tightest of budgets ? everything from the flimsy eject-tray to the front-panel plastic buttons and cheesy digital display which might have looked modern in the 1980s. To criticise the unit on aesthetics, however, is to...

bristol_steve 16.02.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Yamada DVX 6700

YAMADA DVX 6600

Advantages: cheap and plays 99% movie format
Disadvantages: nothing

...I bought my Yamada DVX 6600 last year at around £70, this was when DVX dvd players were starting to be used. I'm sorry but i cannot remember where i purchased my player from but it was from a online shop off the net, so i guess they are easy to find. Well, what can't the Yamada play?? i don't know because my Yamada can play everything ive tried, from dvd's, vcd's, jpegs, wma, xvid, dvx. The Yamada is supposed to play 99% of movie fromats but up to now mine has played 100%. The Yamada is a stylish silver unit that is slim and easy to function, and has the caperbility to play 5.1 surround sound, with the correct speakers of course. Comes with a remote control that you can change various functions such as PAL, NTSC, screen size, volume control etc. ITs easy to install just basically plug a scart lead into the unit and into your tv...

silkyuk9 14.04.2006 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Yamada DVX 6600

Home Alone

Advantages: Comdey none stop
Disadvantages: None

...Home Alone, was a classic hit comedy film that was first released in 1991. Even in my adulthood, I am more than happy to watch the film again, and when I was a kid I use to remember watching this film a hundred times during the Christmas holidays and summer holidays. It was such a feel good family fun film; it was the sort of film that even if you?ve watched it once you would never gets bored watching it over and over again. Plot: The film opens with the entire McCallister family packing for their Christmas vacation to France. The family is exceptionally big, some 30 plus including adults. Kevin McCallister the youngest in the family needs help packing his luggage, the older kids simply don?t have the time or the patience to help him, he feels left out and unwanted, just like most teenagers. A patrol police man Harry played by Joe...

jaygami1986 06.08.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Home Alone (DVD)

Take this Home for Christmas!

Advantages: Lovely story, festive, well written
Disadvantages: Short

...Alison Dunwoody thought she had it all - a great job, good salary and a great life in New York City. But when the recession hits, Alison is shocked to find that she's lost her job. She's too embarassed to tell her family, and instead decides to fly home to Ireland and have Christmas with her parents, sister and 3 gorgeous nieces. Alison loves the feeling of being back home, but misses her new friend Jack from New York - he knows about her job loss and she can confide in him. Will Alison be able to keep her secret away from her family for her holiday? Or is Coming Home exactly what Alison needs to make her feel happy again? I have enjoyed a few Patricia Scanlan novels in the past, but I haven't read anything by her in a while now. I am a bit partial to anything festive so when I saw that her latest book was going to be based...

mummy2harry 13.11.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Coming Home - Patricia Scanlan

  Bargains For Your Home

Advantages: Can save you money on your normal shop
Disadvantages: You pick things up you wouldn't normally. Items change regularly.

...I've done a number of reviews on items that I've picked up cheaply from Home Bargains, so I thought why not do a review on the shop itself? Home Bargains is owned by a company called TJ Morris Ltd and the stores are currently popping up all over the country. I am lucky to have 2 different stores nearby which stock some of the same stuff and some different, so it does go to show that some different products are available at different stores. What things do they sell? You can pick up loads of different things off of your main shopping list in Home Bargains. It is not like a pound shop, which are normally just full of tat and the odd bargain. Home Bargains sell products that you would find in your local supermarket, just at a much lower price. Health and Beauty In my most local store, the first aisle that...

lizngaz 11.08.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Home Bargains (Shop)

Back Home

Advantages: Westlife, great songs and voices
Disadvantages: A few week links and very ballard orientated

...This is another great album from the 4 Irish men. It is titled Back Home. There are 12 tracks on this CD:- 1 - Home - This is a beautiful ballard from the group which you will have probably have heard on the radio or advertised on the TV when the adverts for this album appears. It has a lovely tune and is very easy listening. 2 - Us against the world - This is another ballard but has a different edge to it from their usual ballards. The tune is very catchy and the song has great words. More upbeat than some of the songhs on the album. There is a very catchy chorus which is very easy to pick up so you will soon be singing along! 3 - Something right - This song has a lovely tune which makes easy listening. The words are very nice but this is not one of my favourite songs. There is a very upbeat feel to this song which does make...

sewbizzie 13.01.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Back Home - Westlife

Ideal Home magazine

Advantages: A magazine bursting with home information and ideas
Disadvantages: none

...The Ideal Home..something that I will never own ! But just looking through the jam- packed magazine makes up for all of that. A glossy covered magazine that is bursting with inspiration on how to design, decorate and furnish your home in the style of your choice.. But there are no articles that refer to `muddy boots and dog hair` !..a common problem in my home ! There are pages devoted to showing you just how beautiful a room can look,from the marbled Bathroom to the shabby chic living room. The magazine covers each and every style of home showing Victorian splendour,French chic,Traditional,Contemporary and Eclectic living. One of the most recent issues show a selection of ideas for decorating a child's bedroom. Room designs range from a Country style bedroom for a little girl, pretty in pale pink and white and strewn...

Sarahjh1 09.11.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Ideal Home

George Wimpey Homes

Advantages: Modern, affordable homes
Disadvantages: No end of niggles....

...I checked out my local George Wimpey development after being fed up of having very little space in our previous home. The show homes looked fab - they were very modern compared to all the other developer's & prices were much lower than simialr sized homes on nearby developments. We chose a 3-storey home since there was so much more space. Wimpey were fantastic at this point (bear in mind this was 3 yrs ago, when homes were selling well, so they didn't have to be so helpful in order to sell homes....service may be even better now?!). They helped us sell our old home, by lowering the price & making up the difference between the sale price & the average estimated value themselves. They paid all the legal & selling fees, & even threw on £400 for removals! (For which we paid about £50 & pocketed the rest...!). The sales staff at our...

sambam000 08.06.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of George Wimpey Homes

Home of research

Advantages: payments in pounds by cheque
Disadvantages: porr customer service, late payments, dodgy surveys

...I have been a member of home of research for a number of years now and its finally amazing to see how high standards slip. Who they are? What they do. Home of research are an online survey takers, if you join you are emailed a link to surveys a few times per month. These surveys on various subjects earn you points, once your each the threshold of 2000 you can redeem them for payment by cheque of £20. Seems quite simple? The surveys. Surveys can be on anything any subject from DVDs you by to tooth paste, to when you drink alcohol. Basically they want to know everything there is to know on the subjects, although you are not 100% guaranteed to complete a survey, as there are a number of filter questions and the default "sorry you don't fit the criteria for this questionnaire" quite often. Also bare in mind they are...

dingoo 18.02.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of The Home of Research