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A Song is Born, a review by GSyren

Title	A Song Is Born (Disc ID: FA89-393F-AFEB-6791)
Director	Howard Hawks
Actors	Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong
Produced	1948 in United States
Runtime	113 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles	None
Overview
My thoughts	The fourth and last film of the Goldwyn Years box set, A Song is Born, is the best film of the four. Unlike The Kid from Brooklyn, the musical numbers are well integrated in the script and don't feel forced at all. The script is great, based on a story co-written by Billy Wilder, and the music is performed by some of the best musicians of the time. The film is directed by Howard Hawks, easily the best of the four directors, although Norman Z. McLeod, who directed The Kid from Brooklyn, was no slouch either. Unfortunately, The Kid was one of his weaker efforts. With more moderately talented actors this would still have been a good movie, but Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo lift it up another notch. Oh, Virginia Mayo's smile melts me like butter in sunshine. For me, this film is up there with The Court Jester and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty when it comes to Danny Kaye comedies. Very highly recommended!
My rating

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

Van Helsing, a review by addicted2dvd

Van Helsing
Legendary monster hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is summoned to mysterious Transylvania on a mission that will thrust him into a sweeping battle against the forces of darkness! With non-stop action and electrifying special effects, VAN HELSING is an adrenaline-powered motion picture event Roger Ebert calls "Spectacular!"

My thoughts:
Ok... finally getting away from the classics I been watching this weekend. I was looking through my classic Universal Monster movies... and looking on the net to see which ones I was missing. Reading about all the different Wolf Man, Dracula and Frankenstein movies out there got me in the mood to watch a little of it all... but wanting to get away from the classics some. That pointed me to this movie. One I have enjoyed quite a bit. I like the mixture of action and horror. And liked the look they gave the different monsters... well for the most part at least. I think they could have done Frankenstein's Monster better then what they did.

(From Weekend Movie Marathon: 4/11 - 4/13 on April 13th, 2008)

Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon, a review by Tom

11. Ted (1997-12-08)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), David Greenwalt (Writer), Joss Whedon (Writer)
Director: Bruce Seth Green
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), John Ritter (Ted), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Robia LaMorte (Jenny Calendar), Ken Thorley (Neal), James G. MacDonald (Detective Stein), Jeff Langton (Vampire)

I never liked this episode very much. At the time I thought robots did not fit with the Buffyverse (though later on other robots came).
This was the first Buffy episode which had a "big" guest star. I think John Ritter did well.
What I liked about this episode is, when Buffy thinks she accidentally killed a human and how she handles it.

Rating:



12. Bad Eggs (0998-01-12)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Marti Noxon (Writer)
Director: David Greenwalt
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Jeremy Ratchford (Lyle Gorch), James Parks (Tector Gorch), Rick Zieff (Mr. Whitmore), Danny Strong (Jonathan), Brie McCaddin (Cute Girl), Eric Whitmore (Night Watchman)

A bodysnatcher episode. Although this is often seen as a weak episode, for some reason it had enough fun scenes in it, for me always enjoying watching it.

Rating:



13. Surprise (1998-01-17)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Marti Noxon (Writer)
Director: Michael Lange
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Seth Green (Oz), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Robia LaMorte (Jenny Calendar), Brian Thompson (The Judge), Eric Saiet (Dalton), Vincent Schiavelli (Enios), James Marsters (Spike), Juliet Landau (Drusilla)

This episode introduces the idea, that on Buffy's birthday always something bad happens.
Nice that Oz is from now on part of the gang.

Rating:



14. Innocence (1998-01-20)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Joss Whedon (Writer)
Director: Joss Whedon
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Seth Green (Oz), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Robia LaMorte (Jenny Calendar), Brian Thompson (The Judge), Ryan Francis (Soldier), Vincent Schiavelli (Enios), James Marsters (Spike), Juliet Landau (Drusilla), James Lurie (Teacher), Carla Madden (Woman), Parry Shen (Student)

Now the fun part begins! The Angelus story arc was always great turn of events. On Buffy I never really liked Angel, but when he became Angelus, he was really fun.
And the solution for defeating The Judge is a nice idea. Also we get a nice scene when Willow finds about Xander and Cordelia and tellls Xander off.

Rating:

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on February 14th, 2009)