DVD Collectors Online

Lips of Blood, a review by Danae Cassandra

Year of Release: 1975
Directed By: Jean Rolin
Starring: Jean-Loup Philippe, Annie Belle, Natalie Perrey
Genre: Horror

Overview:
LIPS OF BLOOD (Levres de sang) was considered by Jean Rollin to be the best, or most developed, story he ever wrote. Of all his films, it perhaps best transcends his tendencies toward the poetical and arcane, while remaining at the same time true to his most personal, recurring obsessions: childhood, nostalgia, lost love, romantic quests, the cinema, obsolescence. In the course of its telling, it may also touch on such unsavory topics as vampirism and incest, but it would not be an exaggeration to call LIPS OF BLOOD "Jean Rollin's Somewhere in TimeForever EmanuelleMy Thoughts:
This is my second Rolin film (we watched The Iron Rose last year), and I continue to be impressed with his work.  This is another beautiful film.  It's like visual poetry, dark, romantic, atmospheric.  The visuals, as in The Iron Rose, are simply gorgeous at points.  There isn't much dialog - large parts of the film are silent, leaving us to the ethereal, lyrical beauty of Rolin's visuals - and the pace is relatively slow.  This is horror as art, or art as horror.

I can't say I'd recommend it outright.  I think Rolin is likely an acquired taste.  I've enjoyed both films I've seen of his, and since watching this bought two more (Fascination and The Living Dead Girl), so I definitely enjoy his style, but I don't think it's for everyone.

I have to say, however, that the trailer does absolutely no justice to this film.  It shows most of a single scene near the end of the film, and gives one a completely different idea about the content of the film.  My mom, who had the same opinion of The Iron Rose as I did, was so completely turned off by the trailer that I watched Lips of Blood while she wasn't home.  She wants to see it now, though, after I told her about it.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 3.75/5

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon on November 9th, 2014)

Green Hornet, a review by Dragonfire

Since I tend to like movies about superheroes or that are based on comic books, I wanted to see Green Hornet.  I didn't know much about the character, but I was still interested.  The biggest drawback for me was the fact that Seth Rogen was in it.  I just don't like him that much.

The movie is interesting and entertaining overall, though the plot is rather simple and straight forward.  There is a origin story of sorts that explains why the main character Brit decides to start fighting crime as Green Hornet.  Much of what happens is a bit unbelievable, but it manages to be mostly entertaining.  There are decent action scenes, though Kato does more in those scenes than Brit.  I didn't see the movie in 3D and don't see how that would have added anything to the movie.

My biggest problem with the movie is the way that Brit acts.  I only barely remember seeing a few episodes of the tv show, so I don't know how Brit acted in it.  In the movie, he comes across as an arrogant jerk most of the time and it is hard to like him.  Rogen himself has come across that way to me in different interviews I've seen him give over the years and I've thought many of the characters I've seen him play have been jerks.  It is almost like he's just being himself.  Least it seems that way to me.  I did have concerns when I heard that Rogen had been cast.  He just isn't right for this type of part.  He also worked on the screenplay, and that didn't help things.  The other actors didn't bother me in their parts, though Cameron Diaz did seem wasted and even miscast her in the part of Lenore.

Despite Rogen, I did like the movie overall.  I think it would have been better if someone else had been cast as Britt/Green Hornet. 



I did get a longer review posted at Epinions.

http://www.epinions.com/review/Green-Hornet/content_541619752580

(From Green Hornet on March 19th, 2011)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Airwolf



What's the show about?
Airwolf is a specially-equipped and -armored helicopter that can go supersonic. Stringfellow Hawke is the pilot of that gunship and he keeps it hidden from The Firm, a branch of the CIA who developed and built Airwolf. Hawke however uses the helicopter in missions for The Firm, mostly in Third-World-Countries and behind the Iron Curtain.

"Shadow of the Hawke"
Dr. Muffet is the creator of Airwolf but after a successful demonstrations he kidnaps the helicopter ti Libya from where he attacks french Mirages and sinks an US destroyer. Stringfellow Hawke is a former test pilot of Airwolf and he gets the assignment of returning Airwolf.

My Opinion
"Airwolf" is the total opposite to "The A-Team" when it comes to the death toll. Although I liked the show it became ludicrous when the Airwolf crew vistited "East Germany". But that can be said about almost every american movie/show in the 70s/80s, so I won't hold it against Airwolf.

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on January 6th, 2008)