DVD Collectors Online

Die Augen der Mumie Ma, a review by Danae Cassandra

Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy)
Year of Release: 1918
Directed By: Ernst Lubitsch
Starring: Emil Jannings, Pola Negri, Harry Liedtke
Genre: Horror Thriller, Melodrama

Overview:
Albert Wendland, a young painter studying in Egypt, overhears Prince Hohenfels' plans to visit the mysterious tomb of Queen Ma.  Albert is intrigued when he hears a local legend: anyone who enters the crypt meets with disaster.  Ignoring the warning, Wendland journeys to the forbidden burial chamber and finds not a mummy but a beautiful woman, Mara, who is held prisoner by the evil Radu.  Albert rescues Mara and takes her to his European home where they are soon married.  Provided with beautiful clothes, she becomes acquainted with the ways of polite society.  Meanwhile, Radu has sworn revenge upon Mara.  The tragic curse of the mummy hangs over her head!

The Eyes of the Mummy was produced by prolific German UFA studio and boasts a who's who of movie legends.  The film was directed by a young Ernst Lubitsch, who would gain worldwide acclaim for films such as The Love Parade and Heaven Can Wait.  Emil Jannings, star of such classics as The Last Laugh and The Blue Angel, stars as Radu.  Polish femme fatale Pola Negri stars as the doomed Mara.  Negri made many films in Germany with Lubitsch before immigrating to Hollywood where her love affairs garnered more attention than her acting.

My Thoughts
This wasn't really a horror movie, despite being listed as one and having Mummy in the title.  It's really a melodrama/thriller.  Looking at it from that perspective, it's not a bad movie.  Emil Jannings is suitably sinister and threatening. Pola Negri does a commendable job as Ma, the beautiful girl who lives in fear of him, and Harry Liedtke is at least believable as her devoted husband.  While not up to the quality of his later works, Lubitsch's direction here is beginning to show his talent.  

Yes, this is a silent film, and the viewer should expect it to be one.  The acting is over-the-top by modern standards, the makeup heavy, the plot extremely simple.  Take the film as what it is, consider the year it was made in, and it's not that bad a movie, though.  

My only complaint is with my DVD copy of the film.  I'm accustomed to poor video quality, so the fact that this isn't remastered in any way didn't really bother me - yes, there were scratches and dings in the video, but they didn't take away any enjoyment for me.  What was noticeable is that the music soundtrack wasn't synced properly, so that the music would change either just before or just after the scene did, instead of properly with the change of scene.  I'm sure this is because of the cheapness of the Alpha Video release I have.

Bechdel Test: Pass
(for silent films, I will count any interaction between two women that isn't obviously about a man - here between Ma and her tutor)

Overall: 2.5/5

(From Danae's 2013 Horror Marathon on October 9th, 2013)

Badder Santa, a review by addicted2dvd

Badder Santa
Hollywood favorites Billy Bob Thornton ('The Alamo'), Bernie Mac ('Mr. 3000') and John Ritter (TV's '8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter') kick it up a notch in this unrated version of the outrageous comedy hit 'Bad Santa'. You'd better watch out - Santa Claus Willie T. Stokes (Thornton) is coming to town and he 'doesn't care' if you've been naughty or nice. Willie's favorite holiday tradition is to fill his sacks with loot lifted from shopping malls across the country. But this year his plot gets derailed by a wisecracking store detective (Mac), a sexy bartender (Lauren Graham - TV's 'Gilmore Girls') and a kid who's convinced Willie is the real Santa Claus! You're sure to believe in 'Bad Santa - The Unrated Version'...once you experience this longer, funnier and more explicit motion picture!

My Thoughts:
When I first heard about this movie... all I heard was rave reviews. Today is the first time I ever seen it.... but I just don't see what all those reviewers saw. I didn't find it that funny at all.... maybe it is just not my type of humor. I mean... it was ok... and I probably will watch it again next season... but that is about it in my opinion. I normally like John Ritter... but I found myself not even liking his work in this movie. A shame... I heard that this movie was so good... and hilarious.... Maybe after I heard my expectations was up too high. Maybe I will like it better the next time I watch it.

(From My 25 Days of Christmas Marathon on December 5th, 2007)

"Battlestar Galactica" Marathon (1978-2009), a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis:My Opinion: It sounds a bit harsh but it would have been more realistic if they had killed at least one of the cadets. They're sitting in a Viper for the first time and yet they destroy an antire squadron of Cylon Raiders. But I really liked it that they made no (verbal) issue about them being woman, just rookies. But one could see that Starbuck and Apollo felt a bit uncomfortable because "things had changed".


Synopsis: Baltar - who has been given a Basestar of his own - has been following the fleet for some time now. When they enter the void and he realizes that Adama plans to find Kobol, the planet from which the thirteen tribes set out. He develops a plan to lure the fleet into a trap. But for this he has to face Adama personally. But Lucifer - Baltar's cylon second-in-command - has plans of his own. Meanwhile Apollo and Serina have married and Adama has found Kobol. He hopes that it will help him finding Earth.

My Opinion: Lucifer is cool! He and Baltar are the perfect couple. What I just complained about did happen in this episode: Serina was killed by a Cylon and Apollo has to raise Boxey alone. But I liked Baltar's scheme, because it remained unclear to everyone (including the viewer) who he was trying to betray.

Synopsis: Apollo tries to lure a cylon patrol away from the fleet and he succeeds. But then he runs out of fuel and has to land on a nearby planet. There he meets not only simple farmers but also a gangster and his henchman: Red Eye - a Cylon.

My Opinion: It's fascinating to see how many settlements lay between the twelve colonies and Earth (see following episode, too). Yet none of them seems aware of the war at all or hasn't heard that it was lost. But I liked that a Centurion was allowed to play a main role. And he was a great gunslinger. I liked it how his scanner always stopped the moment he shot someone. I remember his death/destruction very vividly because my VCR always overdrove when it played that scene (It was to bright I believe).

Synopsis: Galactica and the fleet have just past a dust cloud and entered a new galaxy. Starbuck is about to leave for a recon mission for which he will use a modified Viper: Doubled speed but no weapons. And a new computer system. But before he departs he has a double date: Starbuck with Cassiopeia and Starbuck with Athena. Unfortunately his luck doesn't last and he gets lost in the new galaxy.

My Opinion: I liked this episode a lot for different reasons. First of all because it symbolizes the charm of the old show. Starbuck dating two women at the same time. Grandpa Adama having his grandson on his lap and telling stories of Earth - on the bridge of a Battlestar. Starbuck finding a treasure in the form of Ambrosia (a beverage) that's several hundred yahren old. But also the way they used astronomical terms (light speed, galaxy) without a care in the world.
But I had forgotten that it was Starbuck who found the drawing of our solar system in a prison cell. In the re-imagined series Starbuck paints a picture of the "Eye of Jupiter" which will be later discovered to be a pointer towards Earth.

(From "Battlestar Galactica" Marathon (1978-2009) on March 15th, 2009)