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Die Augen der Mumie Ma, a review by Danae Cassandra

Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy)
Year of Release: 1918
Directed By: Ernst Lubitsch
Starring: Emil Jannings, Pola Negri, Harry Liedtke
Genre: Horror Thriller, Melodrama

Overview:
Albert Wendland, a young painter studying in Egypt, overhears Prince Hohenfels' plans to visit the mysterious tomb of Queen Ma.  Albert is intrigued when he hears a local legend: anyone who enters the crypt meets with disaster.  Ignoring the warning, Wendland journeys to the forbidden burial chamber and finds not a mummy but a beautiful woman, Mara, who is held prisoner by the evil Radu.  Albert rescues Mara and takes her to his European home where they are soon married.  Provided with beautiful clothes, she becomes acquainted with the ways of polite society.  Meanwhile, Radu has sworn revenge upon Mara.  The tragic curse of the mummy hangs over her head!

The Eyes of the Mummy was produced by prolific German UFA studio and boasts a who's who of movie legends.  The film was directed by a young Ernst Lubitsch, who would gain worldwide acclaim for films such as The Love Parade and Heaven Can Wait.  Emil Jannings, star of such classics as The Last Laugh and The Blue Angel, stars as Radu.  Polish femme fatale Pola Negri stars as the doomed Mara.  Negri made many films in Germany with Lubitsch before immigrating to Hollywood where her love affairs garnered more attention than her acting.

My Thoughts
This wasn't really a horror movie, despite being listed as one and having Mummy in the title.  It's really a melodrama/thriller.  Looking at it from that perspective, it's not a bad movie.  Emil Jannings is suitably sinister and threatening. Pola Negri does a commendable job as Ma, the beautiful girl who lives in fear of him, and Harry Liedtke is at least believable as her devoted husband.  While not up to the quality of his later works, Lubitsch's direction here is beginning to show his talent.  

Yes, this is a silent film, and the viewer should expect it to be one.  The acting is over-the-top by modern standards, the makeup heavy, the plot extremely simple.  Take the film as what it is, consider the year it was made in, and it's not that bad a movie, though.  

My only complaint is with my DVD copy of the film.  I'm accustomed to poor video quality, so the fact that this isn't remastered in any way didn't really bother me - yes, there were scratches and dings in the video, but they didn't take away any enjoyment for me.  What was noticeable is that the music soundtrack wasn't synced properly, so that the music would change either just before or just after the scene did, instead of properly with the change of scene.  I'm sure this is because of the cheapness of the Alpha Video release I have.

Bechdel Test: Pass
(for silent films, I will count any interaction between two women that isn't obviously about a man - here between Ma and her tutor)

Overall: 2.5/5

(From Danae's 2013 Horror Marathon on October 9th, 2013)

Night at the Museum, a review by addicted2dvd

Night at the Museum (2006/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Director: Shawn Levy Writing: Milan Trenc (Original Material By), Robert Ben Garant (Story By), Robert Ben Garant (Screenwriter), Thomas Lennon (1970) (Story By), Thomas Lennon (1970) (Screenwriter) Length: 109 min. Rating: Rated PG : Mild Action, Language and Brief Rude Humor Video: Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: Chinese, English, Korean, Spanish, Trivia

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Stars:
Ben Stiller as Larry Daley
Carla Gugino as Rebecca
Dick Van Dyke as Cecil
Mickey Rooney as Gus
Bill Cobbs as Reginald
Jake Cherry as Nick Daley

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Feature Trailers
• Bonus Trailers
• Closed Captioned
• Trivia Track

Just finished watching this one. I found it to be a fun movie... but was somehow expecting a little more. I always found Ben Stiller to be a little hit and miss... I usually like maybe half the stuff I seen him in. He was pretty good in this one. But I had more fun watching Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney. I normally like Robin Williams a lot... but didn't care to much for him in this one. But over-all a fun film... worth the time put n to watch it.



(From What Movies I Been Watching on August 3rd, 2014)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season Two
Year: 2008
Director:
Rating: NR
Length: 964 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
Leny Headey
Thomas Dekker
Summer Glau
Brian Austin Green

Plot:
The hunt is on in a season of powerful revelations, breathless pursuits and bravura effects. A mysterious 3-dot symbol (do UFOs provide a clue?), a girlfriend for John (is Cameron jealous?), a mysterious tech company ZeiraCorp (can it master the renegade software called Turk?) - Season 2's 5-disc action arsenal is locked, loaded, ready to amaze.

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Scene Access

This season started promising. Although not quite as great as the first season, I was enjoying it. But then I had the feeling that all involved were getting worn out making an action series and wanting to slow down. I have no problem with that, but I didn't really enjoy the storylines they were making then. For me it just didn't fit anymore. Added to that I didn't really like the Weaver/John Henry storyline. Her character just did not appeal to me, though the original idea involving her wasn't so bad. Also the Derek/Jessie was not that interesting. For my feeling Cameron had too few scenes. I also missed scenes with the group working together. Everyone had their own agenda.
The series picked up again towards the end, but never to the level of the first season. Contrary to the first season, which I already watched twice and could start watching again anytime, I think the urge to revisit the second season anytime soon will not be that great.
The last episode made me really worried. As it did go on they were opening up new threads one after another with the ending coming closer and closer. I was fearing that I will face a massive cliffhanger. But at the last minute with the last scene, it came all full circle for me and I think it was the perfect way to end the series. I am not sure if I would have liked a third season. I thought the last scene worked really great as a series finale.

#	Episode	Rating
01	Samson and Delilah
02	Automatic for the People
03	The Mousetrap
04	Allison from Palmdale
05	Goodbye to All That
06	The Tower Is Tall But the Fall Is Short
07	Brothers of Nablus
08	Mr. Ferguson Is Ill Today
09	Complications
10	Strange Things Happen at the One-Two Point
11	Self Made Man
12	Alpine Fields
13	Earthlings Welcome Here
14	The Good Wound
15	Desert Cantos
16	Some Must Watch, While Some Must Sleep
17	Ourselves Alone
18	Today Is the Day - Part 1
19	Today Is the Day - Part 2
20	To the Lighthouse
21	Adam Raised a Cain
22	Born to Run

(From Tom's Random Reviews on January 25th, 2010)