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The Hourglass Sanatorium, a review by goodguy

The Hourglass Sanatorium (PL 1973) Written & Directed by: Wojciech J. Has, based on short stories by Bruno Schulz Starring: Jan Nowicki DVD: R0-UK Mr. Bongo Films (2008) My rating:

Cover Blurb: Adapted from the 1937 collection of stories by Polish author Bruno Schulz; Sanitorium Under The Sign Of The Hourglass, Wojciech Has's 1973 film version follows the journey of a young man, Joseph (Jan Nowicki), as he visits his dying father in a mysterious sanatorium. Joseph comes to realise that time itself behaves very strangely inside the walls of the asylum, and he soon finds himself immersed in a web of memories, fantasies and visions - which express the longings and frustrations of his childhood.
The film contains crazed scenes of Jews dancing together and many of the residents appear dressed as giant birds. For his part, Schulz was widely seen as Poland's answer to Kafka, he was eventually murdered by Hitler's SS army during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
A surrealist headspin, this film has been compared to the best works of Terry Gilliam, Peter Greenaway, and Luis Bunuel...

I'm glad I bought both of Has' movies together, because, while I liked "The Saragossa Manuscript" well enough, I might not have given another of his movies a try afterwards. But with this one we truly are in the realm of the surreal and the weird. While the transitions between stories in "The Saragossa Manuscript" were clearly marked, this is not the case here. The protagonist moves as seamlessly between fragments of his memories as he moves between places that cannot possibly be connected. The structure is dreamlike, but never feels arbitrary, even if one has difficulties making heads or tails of what the hell is going on. I greatly enjoyed this, but a second viewing is definitely required to make more sense of it.


(From goodguy's Watch Log on July 7th, 2010)

The Croods, a review by addicted2dvd

The Croods (2013/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment (United States) Director: Chris Sanders (1962), Kirk DeMicco Writing: Kirk DeMicco (Screenwriter), Chris Sanders (1962) (Screenwriter), John Cleese (Story By), Kirk DeMicco (Story By), Chris Sanders (1962) (Story By) Length: 99 min. Video: Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 7.1, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

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Stars:
Nicolas Cage as Grug (Voice)
Emma Stone (1988) as Eep (Voice)
Ryan Reynolds as Guy (Voice)
Catherine Keener as Ugga (Voice)
Cloris Leachman as Gran (Voice)

Plot:
Join the Croods on the journey of a lifetime in the epic comedy-adventure that "has the magical wonder of How To Train Your Dragon." When their cave is destroyed, the Croods set out to explore a spectacular landscape filled with fantastic creatures, strange surprises, and a whole new world of adventure!

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• Bonus Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Digital Copy

This one I enjoyed quite a bit. I found it to be a really fun watch. It has some big names that I really like. I also liked the settings and timeline it took place in. It made for some great visual. While a bit on the silly side it is well worth the time put in to watch it.



(From What Movies I Been Watching on December 28th, 2016)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: During the repair of a food replicator, Chief O'Brien accidentally activates a hidden device that was planted there during the construction of the station 18 years ago. This device injects a virus into each replicated food. After the incubation time people start to babble incoherently, then they get fever and die. Even worse: At some point the virus has mutated and has become airborne. Now the entire station is in danger.

My Opinion: It was an average episode, but we've seen Odo and Quark working together for the first time and that was fun.

Synopsis: The first visitor from the Gamma Quadrant comes through the wormhole but he is not on a diplomatic mission. He is the prey in a hunt and the hunters are closing in. But he is no criminal nor did he do anything wrong - not even by the standards of his home world. He was bred to be the prey. The longer he stays alive and eludes his captors the more honour he brings to himself and to the hunter that kills him at last.

My Opinion: Genetically implemented "To the death!" mentality will become a common theme in DS9 and I think the characters handled this situation very well. They've bend the Prime Directive ("no interference in the business of other cultures unless asked to") without breaking it. I don't think Picard could have handled it better.

Synopsis: When the Runabout-class shuttle Ganges returns from the Gamma Quadrant they bring someone with them: Vash. Vash is a archaeologist who is more in the game for the money than the science. A few years back she accepted an offer by the godlike being Q to show her all the interesting places in the universe. Now she's back and Q with her. And Q always equals trouble.

My Opinion: Unfortunately this was the only appearance of John de Lancie in his role as Q on DS9. Stories with Q have mostly been interesting and this was one of them, especially (again) to point out the differences between Picard and Sisko. I really liked it when Sisko punched Q square in the face and he wasn't expecting that.

Synopsis: Three men try to kidnap Jadzia Dax from the station and bring her to a court. Jadzia Dax is a Trill, a symbiotic joined species with a humanoid host and a slug-like symbiont. When the host dies the symbiont will be transplanted into a new one. The former being - and mentor of Cmdr. Sisko - Curzon Dax has died a few years ago but now Jadzia is charged for a murder where Curzon is the prime suspect. But can Jadzia Dax being held responsible for something Curzon Dax supposedly did?

My Opinion: I liked that episode. It reminded me of the TNG episode where it was discussed whether or not Data - as an artificial life-form - has the right to make his own decisions. They had some compelling arguments for both sides and since the minds of host and symbiont have been truly merged it isn't as easy as it would be with Stargate SG-1's Goa'uld/Tok'ra. I also find it fascinating what we will learn about Curzon throughout the show without ever meeting him (except for that short flashback in the pilot).

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on September 20th, 2008)