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Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers, a review by Rogmeister

Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956)  B&W  83m
Special Effects by Ray Harryhausen
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Cast: Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, Donald Curtis, Morris Ankrum

Dr. Russell Marvin heads up Operation Skyhook, which is tasked with sending rockets into the upper atmosphere to probe for future space flights. Unfortunately, all the rockets are somehow disappearing. While investigating this strange occurrence, Russell and his new assistant/wife Carol Marvin are abducted by a flying saucer, where the aliens demand to meet with certain people in order to negotiate. But it was a trick; the aliens only wanted to kill them. The invasion has begun and if Russell and Carol can't find a way to get past their defenses and stop these creatures, it may be the end of the human race.

Science fiction movies seemed pretty rare prior to 1950...you got a few here and there (like Metropolis in the silent era) but they didn't really come into their own until the 1950s.  In fact Sci-Fi films of the fifties seem to be a genre all their own.  Some were excellent, some less so, but most of them seem at least interesting to check out, if for nothing but to see how we might react to aliens from outer space and other such things.  This is definitely one of the better ones with first rate special effects by Ray Harryhausen, a stop-motion artist normally known to work with mythological beasts such as might appear in the Sinbad movies but who nonetheless gave us some first rate flying saucer effects here.  Not only that, but we get to see most of Washington D.C. get destroyed...the Washington Monument, the Capitol building, even the Lincoln Memorial all reduced to rubble at the hands of these mysterious aliens.  Interestingly enough we do get to see the interior of a saucer but it's all rather bare and we do get one look at an alien but all in all it's quite a good action film.  Check it out.  

I got this DVD as part of a set...The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen: Legendary Science Fiction Series which includes four other movies.  The movie was also released by itself.  The disc has a few extras but it was re-released early last year in a 2-disc special edition.

(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 28th, 2009)

It Could Happen to You, a review by Tom

It Could Happen to You (1994/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Columbia TriStar Home Video (Germany) Director: Andrew Bergman Writing: Jane Anderson (Writer) Length: 97 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Turkish

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Stars:
Ann Dowd as Carol
Kay Tong Lim as Sun
Nicolas Cage as Charlie Lang
Bridget Fonda as Yvonne Biasi
Rosie Perez as Muriel Lang

Plot:
Charlie and Muriel Lang have led simple lives - for most of their existance. That's until they win $4 million on the lottery! There is a problem, however. Prior to winning the lottery, Charlie had eaten at a cafe and hadn't been able to tip the waitress. He had promised her, jokingly, that if he won the lottery he'd give her half of it. This is why his wife, Muriel decides to leave him. She doesn't want the waitress to get a cent of their money. Infact she wants all $4 million for herself!

Extras:

• Production Notes
• Scene Access
• Trailers

I always enjoyed this fun little romantic comedy since I first saw it. As far as I remember it was the first Nicolas Cage movie that I had ever seen. I plays a great nice guy. Bridget Fonda is lovely in this movie.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on April 30th, 2011)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season marathon, a review by Dragonfire

1. Pilot
No one is ever safe, least of all Sarah Connor and her son, John. Tired of running from the machines, Sarah decides to stand and fight.

My Thoughts

I thought this was a good start to the series.  Certain things were like the first two movies, but I thought that still worked.  It made sense to me that Sarah and John would still basically be living on the run even though they thought they had stopped Skynet and Judgment Day in the second movie.  Sarah was tied to the explosion at Cyberdine and Dyson's death, so it was believable to me that the police and even FBI would be looking for her.  It didn't seem as...believable that Sarah would have gotten in the situation she was at the beginning of the episode though.  And I thought something else just didn't work right either.


Despite the few..issues I had with the episode, I still really enjoyed it.  I loved seeing Summer Glau again.  Some of her expressions did remind me a bit of River, but it was still a different character.

2. Gnothi Seauton
New future, new identity. Cromartie, the battered but relentless Terminator programmed to kill John Connor, resurfaces.

My Thoughts

I enjoyed this episode as well.  It worked well to follow what was set up in the first episode with them getting settled in a different time and everything.
I would have liked if there had been a bit more explanation for a few things though.


I still liked the episode, but the few things I mentioned in the spoiler did bug me..and the more I think about them the more they bug me.  Hopefully those sort of things won't be happening all the time..if they do, I see myself getting really irritated at times.

3. The Turk
He's just a geek with a hobby. But is the computer chess program Andy Goode developed the beginning of the end?

My Thoughts

I did enjoy this episode as well.  It was interesting to see John and Cameron going to school and the explanation they came up with to explain why she was setting off the metal detector.  I also liked how this episode set up a new potential way for Skynet to possible start.  I didn't notice any issues that irked me in this one.

I think the cast is doing well.  I think I like Sarah from the movies a little better..but that doesn't mean this version of the character is bad..just different.   

So far, even though I was irked by a few things, I still really enjoyed these episodes and am ready to watch the next disc.


(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season marathon on January 15th, 2009)