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X-Files - I want to Believe, a review by Rich

30/11

X-File - I want to Believe



The supernatural thriller is a stand-alone story in the tradition of some of the show's most acclaimed and beloved episodes, and takes the always-complicated relationship between Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) in unexpected directions. Mulder continues his unshakable quest for the truth, and Scully, the passionate, ferociously intelligent physician, remains inextricably tied to Mulder's pursuits.

Another trip to the cinema to end my marathon, and what a disappointment!
Sometimes you regret wishing for certain series to carry on forever, and this is the case with the x-files. This 'film' is just a feature length episode, low in quality, interest or appeal. Anderson is really showing her age now, and Mulder looked particularly uninterested. The drama and buzz between the 2 characters has been done to death and just doesn't work anymore. Lets hope X-Files gracefully retires at this point, I would rate 90% of series 1-4 episodes against this drivel.
(And the price of F******G popcorn these days!!!!!)
 


(From November Alphabet Marathon - Discussion/Review Thread on December 1st, 2008)

Taken, a review by Jon

Taken ***
3 out of 5

Taken is a solid, unambitious thriller with plenty of bone-crunching action. If you love action movies, then this is for you. It's pacy and violent, with none of that pesky plot stuff to get in its way and if it did, Liam Neeson would just cut its balls off. That's the kind of straight-forward film this is.

Ok, if you want to get picky, then the script is lazy, convenient and predictable, almost insultingly so in the last act where it resembles a typical cathartic game plot, with a daft escape from certain death and a string of bad guys leading up to the "boss". It's got the style of The Bourne Identity, but filtered through black and white 80s brutality. Typically for that era, it's also reassuringly xenophobic. This is doing for France what Hostel did for Amsterdam and Slovakia; American kids are fair game, apparently!

I don't give a damn though. It steams through the plot holes with glorious, vicious momentum. It's great, nasty fun and if Parisian producer Luc Besson is happy to reduce his home town to a tourist hell-hole, then we shouldn't mind watching. The pedigree of the modern Euro-thriller can easily be traced back to Besson's Leon, but recently he seems content producing old-fashioned stuff like this and Transporter. Taken owes a lot more to Bourne than anything else, with good solid car chases and fist fights.  It takes itself very seriously, with no trace of irony and it works because of Liam Neeson. He is fantastic as a cold-hearted arse-kicker. In fact, get him in Bourne 4! He could take that wuss Matt Damon, no trouble!

(From Jon's Random Reviews on August 29th, 2009)

Charmed: The Final Season, a review by addicted2dvd

Charmed: The Final Season (2005/United States) Get ready for the ultimate ride in supernatural entertainment! In Charmed: The Final Season, the magical Halliwell sisters Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Paige (Rose McGowan) face their biggest challenges in love, life and death as they try one last time to fulfill their destiny! Join them in their fight to protect Leo from the Angel of Death, and witness their devastating battle when demons conspire to take over the Underworld! Charmed: The Final Season's 6 discs deliver 22 episodes of nonstop thrills, suspense and a climactic finale! The Charmed Ones are ready. Are you? EPISODES: 1. Still Charmed & Kicking 2. Malice in Wonderland 3. Run, Piper, Run 4. Desperate Housewitches 5. Rewitched 6. Kill Billie: Vol. 1 7. The Lost Picture Show 8. Battle of the Hexes 9. Hulkus Pocus 10. Vaya Con Leos 11. Mr. & Mrs. Witch 12. Payback's A Witch 13. Repo Manor 14. 12 Angry Zen 15. The Last Temptation of Christy 16. Engaged and Confused 17. Generation Hex 18. The Torn Identity 19. The Jung and the Restless 20. Gone With The Witches 21. Kill Billie: Vol. 2 22. Forever Charmed

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Stars:
Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell
Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews
Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell
Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt
Kaley Cuoco as Billie

Extras:

• Audio Commentary
• Bonus Trailers
• Featurettes
• Closed Captioned

Here it is... the final season of Charmed. I went through this season so fast... in just a few hours over a day. Come to think of it... I went through the entire series pretty quick... 8 seasons (178 episodes) in exactly 3 weeks. That averages out to 8 and a half episodes per day! This is my 4th time watching the series... and I loved the entire run this time as I did the first time I saw it.

Good new this set (is the only one that) has extras! There is a few commentaries as well as several featurettes. Including a featurette where they actually interview fans of the series. A strange thing about this set is that they did not use the theme song for the opening of the episodes. They have for every previous season... but they don't for the last season? Oh well... I always skip the episode openings anyway. One thing that bugs me about all the sets of Charmed is that there is no play all function. I know how difficult is it to click the next episode once it goes back to the menu...but it can be a pain. Especially when you keep forgetting where you set down the remote... like I did many times!

This season Kaley Cuoco is added to the cast. She is well known for playing Penny on The Big Bang Theory. Kaley plays a young witch that The Charmed Ones take in and teach the craft to. This is one time I just can not pick favorite episodes... as I loved every minute of them all. I especially loved how they ended the series. Episodes like Forever Charmed is how all series should go out. It gives a great sense of closure for the series. No unanswered questions. Just a sad goodbye. If there is anything I would change if I could. It is how the final episode brought back so many familiar faces from previous episodes/seasons... but they couldn't get Shannen Doherty to make an appearance. The final shot of the episode was of a bunch of family pictures on the wall as they followed an Piper and Leo up the stairs... and they couldn't even use a picture of her on the wall!?! It is a shame.

Over-all I can't say enough good about it... loved every second. After watching all 8 seasons I actually find myself a little sad that I don't have any more to watch.




(From Addicted2dvd's Random TV Series Watched on April 21st, 2012)