DVD Collectors Online

Saw III, a review by Rich

Title: Saw III

Movie Count:19 
TV Ep. Count:14 

Runtime:109
Certificate:18
Year:2006
Genres:Horror, Suspense/Thriller

Plot:In this Extreme Edition of Saw III, prepare for a truly terrifying experience from the master of cruelty. With extended scenes which have never been seen before, Saw III Extreme Edition features more gore, more shocks, more Saw. Suffering? You definitely haven't seen anything yet...
Jigsaw has disappeared. Along with his new apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith), the puppet master behind the cruel, intricate games that have terrified a community and baffled police has once again eluded capture and vanished.
While city detectives scramble to locate him, Doctor Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh) and Jeff Reinhart (Angus Mcfadyen) are unaware that they are about to become the latest pawns on his vicious chessboard.

My Review:
Having enjoyed and marvelled at the originality of Saw 1, and been entertained by the breakneck Saw 2, this latest offering I viewed was a come-down.
There was little tension as witnessed in earlier films, the interjection of humanity was misplaced, and the gore was messy and nasty. The prémis of revenge and distress was a reasonable plot for such a film, I just wasn't convinced by the delivery, nor the performance of the gorgeous Shawnee Smith as the apprentice to Jigsaw.
There is a point when some films lose focus, this did that by what at times can only be described as more and more disgustingly violent and distressingly gory scenes, culminating in the 'chest' scene. Some sleight of hand, alluding to terrorising acts can be much scarier, but when it is slapped in your face like this the impact is unappealing.
There seems little merit in this Saw franchise going any further, but as we know there is now Saw 4 and 5 to digest at some point.





(From Rich's October Horror Fest on October 18th, 2009)

Fight Club, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Fight Club
Year: 1999
Director: David Fincher
Rating: R
Length: 139 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, English: Dolby Digital EX: 5.1 (Matrixed 6.1), French: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Edward Norton
Brad Pitt
Meat Loaf [Meat Loaf Aday]
Zach Grenier
Richmond Arquette
David Andrews

Plot:
A ticking-time bomb insomniac (Edward Norton) and a slippery soap salesman (Brad Pitt) channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until a sensuous eccentric (Helena Bonham Carter) gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.

The New York Times raved that FIGHT CLUB "just might require another viewing." Here's your chance. Brace yourself.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Gallery
Production Notes
Multi-angle
Music Videos
Outtakes/Bloopers
Closed Captioned
THX
Booklet

My Thoughts:
This is another movie I haven't watched in years! And it is one that I only watched once when I first bought it back in 2000. Not because it is a bad movie... I enjoyed it quite a bit. I just sometimes have a problem going back to movies that are 2hrs long or more. So it takes me years like this. While this is a good and entertaining movie... it is also one you need to give your full attention to. Or you could get a little confused. This is one of the few movies that I actually like Brad Pitt in. I always felt him to be an over rated actor... but he is perfect in this role.



(From My Alphabet Marathon Reviews on July 3rd, 2010)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Someone kills seemingly random Starfleet officers aboard DS9 and he or she uses an old-fashioned gun instead of an energy weapon. The killer seems to be shooting at point-blank range yet there are none of the expected powder burns on the body. Ezri uses an Trill ritual to call forth the memories of Joran Dax, the murderer. She hopes that his insight can help her catch the current killer.

My Opinion: Actually, this was an interesting episode. I liked it how Joran pushed her to solve the case but I also liked how she resisted him in the end. To use a Vulcan as killer was a surprising choice, but because of that it was a good one. It seemed logical () from a script POV not to use one of the usual suspects.

Synopsis: When O'Brien and Odo return from a mission their runabout is followed by some sort of space being. It enters the ship and turns out to be a shapeshifter. But it's not a Founder. He's one of the hundred like Odo that were sent into space to explore and experience. Odo tries to convince him to live on the station, but Laas is older than Odo and he's developed a certain dislike for "monoforms".

My Opinion: While I found the special effects and the idea that a shapeshifter could turn into fire or fog interesting, the rest of the episode was rather boring.

Synopsis: Vic's program contains a hidden Jack-in-the-box component which allows the gangster Frankie Eyes to overtake the hotel and turn it into a casino. Vic is thrown out. But the crew of DS9 can't simply reset and restart the program because that would mean that Vic would lose all his memories about them. They need to find an ingame solution and soon after the senior staff of DS9 is planning a robbery of a 1960s Las Vegas casino.

My Opinion: The last fun and also the last holodeck episode of the show. I enjoyed it very much. It's a bit like Ocean's Eleven (the original one, the one without all the computer stuff). And I liked the general idea that they were unwilling to reset the program and lose Vic as they know him. Basically Vic is to them what fictional characters are to us and I love my fictional characters the way they are.

Synopsis: Shortly before Bashir departs for a conference on Romulus he's contacted by Sloan from Section 31. Sloan gives him an additional job: To evaluate the health condition of certain members of the romulan Continuing Committee. Sisko and Admiral Ross order him to play along to find out what Section 31 is up to. But when it becomes clear that someone is about to kill the chairman of the romulan intelligence service Tal Shiar, Bashir reveals this information to the romulan liason officer, Senator Cretak.

My Opinion: "Inter arma enim silent leges." - "In times of war, the law falls silent." The theme of this episode was similar to the one in In the Pale Moonlight. What is allowed in times of war to win that war? Garak did the dirty work in the former episode and now Section 31 has done it. But this time it happened with the approval of a Starfleet admiral and not just a station captain. When does the price become to high to pay? What good are principles if you lose and become enslaved? But what good are principles if you only life by them when it's an easy choice?

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on March 1st, 2009)