DVD Collectors Online

Robin Hood (2010), a review by Halo2

(From Robin Hood (2010) on May 20th, 2010)

The Frighteners, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Frighteners
Year of Release: 1996
Directed By: Peter Jackson
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Jeffrey Combs
Genre: Horror, Comedy

Overview:King Kong, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy) comes this wicked comedy-thriller.

Michael J. Fox stars as Frank Bannister, a small-town "ghostbuster" in league with the very spirits he's supposed to be exorcising. The scam works well until a powerful spirit goes on a murderous rampage, forcing Frank to find a way to stop the diabolical ghoul in this special-effects-packed supernatural chiller that's so fiendishly entertaining, it's frightening!

My Thoughts:
This was a fun, fast-paced ride, a horror-comedy mix with a solid cast. Michael J. Fox is the best one here, but John Astin's character definitely makes an impression. Jeffrey Combs does too, but I really disliked that character. I'm detracting half a star for how over-the-top annoying I found him.

The story is entertaining, the script often funny, and the effects still look pretty decent twenty years later. The one glaring hole is that the viewer gets no explanation why one ghost is more powerful than all the other ghosts. For me that was a big oversight. Still, it's an engaging, amusing film that was a lot of fun to watch. Recommended.

Watched For: Hoop-tober 3.0, Scavenger Hunt 19, Horror/Halloween Challenge 2016

Bechdel Test: Pass
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 3.5/5

Horror/Halloween Challenge Films: 38/52

(From Horror/Halloween 2016 Challenge on October 28th, 2016)

2016 TV Pilot Reviews, a review by DJ Doena

Timeless Website
Timeless @ Wikipedia
Timeless @ IMDb

Without the government's knowledge, a high-tech mogul has built his very own time machine. But then terrorists steal it to change the past.

And now the government is involved. They send back a three-person team to 1937 to prevent the terrorists from accomplishing their mission.

They send a history professor, a soldier and a black computer engineer.

I'm on the fence with this show. The premise does not have any internal consistency and they're partially self-aware of it by having the black man commenting on it being a bad idea to send someone like him back into any part of American history.

The worst is the time-travel logic which basically does not exist. To explain this you need to have three points of view. Our real world POV A, then the one of the time travelers B1 (bad guys) and B2 (good guys) and the ones left behind C.

The pilot episode revolves around the Hindenberg airship which burned and crashed on May 6, 1937. This is the starting premise for A, B1, B2 and C.

Then the bad guys go into the past. As the end of the pilot episode shows there is no kind of ripple effect as used by Back to Future where changes in the past take a while to have effect on the present. Which means that the moment B1 left for the past, B2 and C (which at that moment are still identical) should already live in the alternate present A' which differs from our A.

But they don't. They know Flynn (the bad guy, played by ERQuantum Leap and Seven Days did it better.



(From 2016 TV Pilot Reviews on October 8th, 2016)