DVD Collectors Online

Night Watch, a review by Tom

Title: Night Watch
Year: 2004
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Rating: 15
Length: 114 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.85
Audio: Russian: Dolby Digital TrueHD, Russian: DTS 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Commentary, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
Konstantin Khabensky
Vladimir Menshov
Valery Zolotukhin
Maria Poroshina
Galina Tunina

Plot:
The forces of light and darkness have co-existed in a delicate balance for hundreds of years...until now. Even as the Night Watch polices the Dark Others - among them vampires, witches and shape-shifters - a chain of mysterious events triggers a dreaded, age-old prophecy: An immortal with special powers will come to switch sides, shattering the balance and unleashing an apocalyptic war unlike any the world has ever known!

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access

A well-done movie with an interesting story but which dragged on a little. I was surprised by the quality of the special effects.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on July 19th, 2009)

Poltergeist III, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Poltergeist III Year: 1988 Director: Gary Sherman Rating: PG-13 Length: 97 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, French: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Spanish: Dolby Digital: Mono Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Tom Skerritt
Nancy Allen
Heather O'Rourke
Zelda Rubinstein
Lara Flynn Boyle
Kip Wentz

Plot:
They're back...again! And they're still looking for Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) in this riveting and climactic finale to the Poltergeist trilogy. Sent by her parents to live in a Chicago high rise with her aunt (Nancy Allen), uncle (Tom Skerritt) and cousin (Lara Flynn Boyle), Carol Anne must face demons more frightening than ever before, as they move from invading homes to taking over an entire skyscraper! "Ingenious and cleverly executed" (Los Angeles Times) special effects highlight this haunting chiller that takes terror to new heights!

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
While not as good as the first one... I still enjoyed this one. I would say it is about on par with part 2. Maybe even a little better. Though it is a shame what happened to Heather O'Rourke... what was it shortly after or during making this movie. Passing at such a young age. Still only a child. I keep going back and forth whether I like the new setting of the apartment building. But over all I think it works.




Count:
Movie Count: 51
TV Ep. Count: 17
Other Count: 3

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2010 on October 14th, 2010)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Lt. Colonel Mitchell has taken over the command of SG-1. The problem is: There is no SG-1 anymore. Teal'c is council member on Dakara, Sam has been reassigned to Area 51 and Daniel is about to leave to Atlantis.
But then Vala Mal Doran comes to Earth and brings an enrycpted tablet, written in Ancient. It points to a secret location on Earth that is supposed to contain treasures. Vala binds Daniel to herself with a special set of "hand cuffs" and they go off on the search for Avalon, the resting place of King Arthur.

My Opinion: In an early episode of the eight season Sam asked how people like her are ever going to have a family. If she would become pregnant could she simply take maternity leave? The absence of Sam in this and the following episodes is exactly for this reason: Amanda Tapping is on maternity leave.
But the chemistry between Daniel and Vala works very well again. The attempts of Mitchell (Ben Browder, John Crichton in Farscape) "to bring the band back together" are honourable but (so far) in vain.
O'Neill was promoted to Major General and has turned the command over to Major General Landry (Beau Bridges). This marks the end of Richard Dean Anderson as regular cast.

Synopsis: After they've successfully solved the puzzles in the cave, Daniel discovers a device of the Ancient's that stands in relation to the stones Joe Spencer and Jack have been using for years. They suspect that it is a means of communication. Since Daniel and Vala are still "bound" to each other they try it together - and land in a remote place in foreign bodies. They don't find the Ancients there but worshippers of the Ori.
In the meantime the situation in the newly found Jaffa council develops differently than Bra'tac and Teal'c had hoped.

My Opinion: I liked the fact that they've established a permanent doctor again (Lexa Doig, "Rommie" in Andromeda). They haven't had one since the death of Dr. Frasier.
But I didn't understand how the First Prime of a backwater Goa'uld could gather that many followers. A Jaffa (it hadn't to be the First Prime) of a System Lord would have been more believable.

Synopsis: Daniel and Vala have been brought to the "City of the Gods" by the Prior. There he meets the leader of the Priors and he learns that the Ori are Ancients, too. But the Ori believe that the mortals should worship them. Anyone who doesn't follow the "path of enlightenment" will be destroyed. Through the arrival of Daniel and Vala the Ori have learned of our galaxy and they have sent their first Priors.

My Opinion: As if by magic a new enemy emerges that is more powerful than Anubis or the Replicators. The fact that the Ori cannot come here themselves makes this war winnable. In terms of Dragonball, we have reached the Buu Saga.

Synopsis: Although the "hand cuffs" have been removed, Daniel and Vala still cannot part without collapsing. They try to find out why that is and how to undo it. But for this they have to "retrieve" a few items.

My Opinion: The story and the looks of this episode felt like a mixture of Farscape and Firefly. This is no critizism, since Mitchell shouldn't be a simple copy of Jack and Vala isn't an ordinary SG team member. I liked it a lot.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on April 26th, 2008)