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Blow Out, a review by GSyren

Title	Blow Out (5-027035-009599)
Director	Brian De Palma
Actors	John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz, Peter Boyden
Produced	1981 in United States
Runtime	108 minutes
Audio	English PCM 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles	English
Overview	One of Brian De Palma's most acclaimed films, this brilliant fusion of the obsessive sleuthing of Blow-up and The Conversation with themes drawn from real-life political scandals (the JFK assassination, Chappaquiddick, Watergate) starts with sound technician Jack Terry (John Travolta) accidentally recording what might be explosive evidence of a deadly conspiracy. Brilliantly shot by the then recent Oscar-winner Vilmos Zsigmond, this terrifically stylish thriller co-stars Nancy Allen as the eyewitness who becomes the unwitting target of John Lithgow's serial killer as he ruthlessly attempts to bury all the eveidence. It's also a film about the filmmaking process: Terry Is originally hired to work on the low-budget slasher film Coed Frenzy, and later turns his technical skills to much more serious use as he tries to reconstruct a political assassination on film in a way that will stand up in court.
My thoughts	I really liked Blow Out
My rating

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on July 16th, 2014)

Angels & Demons, a review by Dragonfire

I decided to go see Angels & Demons last Friday.  I did like The Da Vinci Code overall as well as the book versions of both.  This isn't a movie that is going to appeal to everyone because of the plot, but I think it worked as an entertaining movie. 

An experiment at the CERN facility in Switzerland creates antimatter.  Shortly after that, one of the scientists is murdered and some of the antimatter is stolen.  At the same time, the world is watching the Vatican after the death of the Pope.  The Cardinals have arrived and are preparing to start Conclave, the process of selecting the new Pope.  Four of the Cardinals are kidnapped and the Illuminati takes credit.  The group also claims to have planted the antimatter somewhere in Vatican City and that it will go off at midnight that night.  An Inspector with the Vatican police decides it would be a good idea to call in Robert Langdon to try to figure out the few clues they have to go on since he knows a lot about the Illuminati.  Vittoria, one of the scientists, is also summoned to the Vatican because of the antimatter.  She and Robert try to find the cardinals and the antimatter before it is too late.

My Thoughts

I did enjoy this movie overall. It works overall as a decent thriller, though some things aren't that realistic.  There are people who have issues with the Catholic Church, so it isn't so far fetched that someone would target the Vatican during an important time when the new Pope is being selected.  It does seem a bit odd that will all the police type figures around - the Swiss Guard and Vatican Police - that a college professor would be brought in to try to deal with the situation.  It does mostly work and makes for some interesting scenes.  The mystery works, though it could have been stronger.  A few scenes have some suspense without the movie being that suspenseful overall.  The action scenes are fine, though nothing truly outstanding.  The camera work in some scenes did bug me, especially when the camera got jerky during some scenes.  That always annoys me.  I don't think that the movie was depicting Catholics or the religion in general in a negative way.  One character ends up doing some terrible things because of their ...rather...twisted view of their religion, but that doesn't make all members of the religion twisted and evil.  The cast does work well - and Tom Hanks's hair looks much better than it did in Da Vinci Code. 

Overall I think this is an entertaining movie, though it isn't going to appeal to a lot of people. 

 

I did get a longer review posted on Epinions if anyone wants to take a look.

Angels & Demons

(From Angels & Demons on May 21st, 2009)

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

16. Foundling (2/20/94)
A strange globe Clark took from the wreckage of his spacecraft begins to project messages from his father and mother on Krypton. Then a teenage thief steals the globe...and sells it to Lex Luthor!

My Thoughts:
A good episode. I enjoyed how they handled showing Clark's past to him.


17. The Rival (2/27/93)
Suddenly The Metropolis Star is scooping the Daily Planet, and Star reporter Linda King is scooping her old rival in love and work, Lois Lane. While Lois has an emotional meltdown, Clark investigates how the Star always gets the story first.

My Thoughts:
This is another episode I really enjoyed. It is just a fun episode all around. I loved how insane with jealousy Lois got. And I had to laugh when Lois found Perry in Clarks closet and even for a brief minute thought... uh... it wasn't exactly work related.



(From Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Marathon on July 18th, 2009)