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Key Largo, a review by Rick

Key Largo

Hollywood Legends:
Humphrey Bogart
Edward G. Robinson
Lauren Bacall
Lionel Barrymore


Overview:My Thoughts:My Rating

(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 18th, 2009)

How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, a review by Tom

Title: How To Lose Friends & Alienate People
Year: 2008
Director: Robert Weide
Rating: 15
Length: 110 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital TrueHD, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Simon Pegg
Kirsten Dunst
Jeff Bridges
Megan Fox
Gillian Anderson

Plot:
Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) stars as Sidney Young, a gate-crashing British journalist who loves exposing the shallowness of the celebrity world, yet desperately wants to join it. His dreams may come true when he accepts an offer from renowned editor Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges) to write for ultra-chic Sharps magazine in New York City. Under the glaring eye of his distrustful supervisor (Danny Huston), Sidney finally gets to rub elbows with A-list celebrities... but always manages to rub them the wrong way. In this hilarious romantic comedy based on Toby Young's best-selling memoir, Sidney's talent for alienating people seems destines to torpedo his career. His fellow writer Alison Olsen (Kirsten Dunst) is powerless to save Sidney from further embarrassment when he sets his lustful sights on beautiful starlet Sophie Maes (Megan Fox). But when Sophie's all-powerful publicist (Gillian Anderson) makes him a very tempting offer, Sidney is finally poised to take the Big Apple by storm... or suffer the biggest humiliation of his life.

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Outtakes
Scene Access

Even though it has a surprisingly big name cast, this movie does not manage to be above average. Although it has some fun scenes in it. This movie is somewhat entertaining thanks to Simon Pegg. And Kirsten Dunst was also okay in this one. I liked her in this movie better than in her other recent movies.
You also can see actors playing Roy and Jen in "IT Crowd" in bit roles.

Rating:

(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 3rd, 2009)

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

Synopsis: Jack trains a group of young recruits (among them Hailey and Lt. Elliot). He prepares them to become members of SG teams., But then a "foothold" situation arises in the SGC and Jack has to use them to repel the alien attack.

My Opinion: A very nice training scenario, especially the last part. It was a bit unfortunate that they revealed to the audience so early that the situation in the SGC is fake. When I watched it for the first time, I didn't recognize Grace Park (Sharon Valerii in Battlestar Galactica) but back then I didn't even know her.

Synopsis: After Teal'c has killed Tanith, his Al'kesh crashes into the Stargate and the wormhole is disrupted. But this traps the fleeing Teal'c inside the Stargate's buffer and he isn't being re-integrated. Sam tries to get him out of there, Daniel negotiates with the Russians about the second Stargate and Jack is looking for "alternate sources of information".

My Opinion: In principle this episode reminds me of a "typical" transporter incident in Star Trek. But that doesn't mean that they've re-used a script, the characters behave as they should be and the other story elements would prevent that this script could be used in Star Trek. I really liked the negotiations with the Russians and the "That didn't happen in the simulations." after the borrowed DHD blew up (of course only after Teal'c's rescue). I also liked the first appearance of Dr. McKay who behaved exactly like he will do when he becomes a main character in Stargate Atlantis.

Synopsis: Daniel infiltrates a summit of the System Lords in disguise of a human slave. Among others, Yu, Ba'al, Bastet and Kali attend this meeting. The plan was that Daniel releases a new and deadly Tok'ra virus that would kill them all. But then Osiris arrives and claims to speak in the name of Anubis who wishes to return to this council. In the meantime, Lord Zipacna attacks the Tok'ra base and he, too, acts under orders from Anubis.

My Opinion: The thrilling element of this episode was to wait for the moment Daniel and Osiris run into each other. It was cool that it only happened in the last minute and that it would turn out to be a two-parter. Fortunately the titles don't give that info away.

Synopsis: The Tok'ra base is under heavy fire and many have been killed. Martoufs former symbiote Lantash had no choice but to enter Lt. Elliot. Jack, Sam, Teal'c and Elliot/Lantash have to find a way to the Stargate. Daniel has managed to deceive Osiris with the help of the same drug he used to slip into Yu's entourage. But he had to give up the plan to kill them all because that would bring Anubis into a very powerful position. And Anubis has already threatened to ignore the Asgard treaty and to attack Earth.

My Opinion: The mind can paint the worst pictures. They didn't show how SG-1 "successfully" returned home and it wasn't necessary. One can imagine how the surroundings of the Stargate had to look like, after Elliot/Lantash sacrificed himself and killed thousands of Jaffa with the help of the virus. I am torn when it comes to the Jaffa. In most cases they are simply the attacker who have to be shot in self-defence. On the other hand they are presented as slaves who have no other choice but to fight for their "god" and that makes their death deplorable. There was a similar dilemma in The Matrix, where all the inhabitants were potential enemies even though they were the persons to be freed.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on April 5th, 2008)