DVD Collectors Online

Blade, a review by Tom

Blade (1998/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia BMG Video, Universum Film (Germany) Director: Stephen Norrington Writing: Marv Wolfman (Original Characters By), Gene Colan (Original Characters By), David S. Goyer (Writer) Length: 115 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: English, German

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Stars:
Wesley Snipes as Blade
Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost
Kris Kristofferson as Whistler
N'Bushe Wright as Karen
Donal Logue as Quinn

Plot:
In a world where vampires walk the earth, Blade has a goal. His goal is to rid the world of all vampire evil. When Blade witnesses a vampire bite Dr. Karen Jenson, he fights away the beast and takes Jenson back to his hideout. Here, alongside Abraham Whistler, Blade attempts to help heal Jenson. The vampire Quinn who was attacked by Blade, reports back to his master Deacon Frost, who is planning a huge surprise for the human population.

Awards:
Won:

ASCAP Awards (1999)		Top Box Office Films (Mark Isham)
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards (1999)		Favorite Actor - Horror (Wesley Snipes)
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards (1999)		Favorite Villian (Stephen Dorff)
MTV Movie Awards (1999)		Best Villain (Stephen Dorff)

Nominated:

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards (1999)		Favorite Supporting Actor -Horror (Kris Kristofferson)
MTV Movie Awards (1999)		Best Fight Sequence (Wesley Snipes, the Vampires)
Saturn (1998)		Best Horror Film
Saturn (1998)		Best Makeup (Greg Cannon, Perry Germain)

Extras:

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Production Notes
• Scene Access
• Trailers

A fun movie, but it has its lengths. It was the first proper Marvel superhero movie and started the trend of superhero movies which still lasts on.

Rating:

(From Tom's Horror Marathon 2012 on October 3rd, 2012)

St. Trinian's, a review by Jon

St. Trinian's
3 out of 5



St.Trinian's, the infamous school for 'young ladies', is facing a financial crisis. The new Education Minister (Colin Firth) is an old flame of the headmistress (Rupert Everett) but is determined to bring discipline and order to the anarchic school. A motley crew of teachers, and ruthless pupils join forces to steal the famous painting "Girl With A Pearl Earring" from the National Gallery. But can their combined cunning, girlish wiles and total lack of shame win the day before the authorities close them down for good?

The Belles of St. Trinian's is an absolute gem. This remake, is not. In fact it's pretty rubbish, but that at least means it's on a par with the originals sequels which tended to get steadily worse.

The premise, based on the cartoons of Ronald Searle, is still intact and it is glorious. I just love the idea of a self-sufficient school running riot with slapstick violence. The girls are great and at their very best are a sheer force of nature (see the moment they charge through Trafalgar Square!) led by The Twins (Holly and Cloe Mackie), backed up by the more cunning older girls, be it daft but gorgeous Posh Totty Chelsea (Tamsin Egerton) or especially the devious head girl Kelly (Gemma Arterton). They're a tight knit bunch and it takes a while for new girl Annabelle (Talulah Riley) to find her place.

She's the niece of headmistress Camilla Fritton, played brilliantly by Rupert Everett in drag (he also plays her brother). I don't normally like him, but he's good here although Alistair Sim is a very tough act to follow. Everett is great in his (her?) scenes with Colin Firth, who lifts the overall quality somewhat. Russell Brand is Flash Harry who helps the girls with their various illegal activities. He's ok, but not being stretched. I don't begrudge him being a stand-up comedian turned actor though after seeing that he was pretty good in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

So the characters are great and played by a good cast, plus the spirit of the original is well in place, what went wrong? Because as I said, it's not a good film. The plot though loosely based on Belles is a mess and there's far too much going on. Plus it's poorly edited killing some of the humour. The writers have not been looked after by the director Frank Launder. Still it's a typical Ealing story and there's little else like it,

It lacks the charm of the original, but then it was made at a unique time. British film found a real niche post-war because it's as if the teenager had inherited the world and the irreverence of things like Billy Liar was exploited ten-fold by the outrageous exploits of the girls school that refused to be ignored. The new version can't claim any of that and if anything, looks out of date before it starts. It's just bloody good innocent fun and that's all you should look for.

The end scene features Girls Aloud which should be a dreadful moment, whatever you think of them. But they blend in quite well and you get to see Cheryl Cole in a school uniform...  



(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 19th, 2009)

Birthday Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

Medium: Season 3
Ghost in the Machine
After Allison gets Joe a camcorder for his birthday, her excitement turns to dread when she starts seeing disturbing images through it connected to a murder case.

My Thoughts:
This is a good episode. One I really enjoyed... but it is far from perfect. I mean come on... what is the chances that she ends up with the same camcorder that the murder returned? I know I can usually suspend believability on such a thing... but it don't really feel quite right on this one. But other then that.. I enjoyed this one quite a lot.



(From Birthday Marathon on May 25th, 2009)