DVD Collectors Online

Tears of the Sun, a review by KinkyCyborg

Title:Tears of the Sun
Year: 2003
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Rating: R
Length: 121 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, French

Stars:
Bruce Willis (1955)
Monica Bellucci
Cole Hauser
Eamonn Walker
Johnny Messner

Plot:
Loyal veteran Navy S.E.A.L. Lt. A.K. Waters Bruce Willis) is sent into the heart of war-torn Africa on a hazardous assignment to rescue Dr. Lena Hendricks (Monica Bellucci), a U.S. citizen who runs a mission. When the beautiful doctor refuses to abandon the refugees in her care, Lt. Waters finds himself having to choose between following orders and the dictates of his own conscience. Together, they begin a dangerous trek through the deadly jungle, all the while being pursued by a rebel militia group, with only one goal in mind: to assassinate Lt. Waters' unit and the refugees in his care.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Production Notes
Closed Captioned
Voices, Fact Track & Interactive Map of Africa


Second time watching this and I enjoyed it for more than the war, action flick that it was the first time I watched it. Brutal depiction of the violence and genocide in Nigeria and how morality wins over duty.

Bruce Willis was stoic but steady and a good supporting cast including Cole Hauser and Eamonn Walker in one of his better big screen roles.... (he was excellent in Cadillac Records!)

There is plenty of action to keep the war/military fans happy and a compelling enough story to interest anyone looking for a good drama.

KC

Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on August 10th, 2010)

Total Recall (2012), a review by Dragonfire

Total Recall (2012)



This is a remake of the 1990 movie.  I tend to keep an open mind about remakes and I have ended up enjoying some.  I know some people automatically dismiss remakes as being bad.  I don't do that.  I went to see this one yesterday morning - Friday - and I really enjoyed it. 

The basic plot is similar to the original movie, with Doug having a dream over and over and feeling dissatisfied with things.  He ends up at a place called Rekall, where fake memories are implanted in a person's mind.  Before the procedure is done on Doug, an armed SWAT team arrives, killing the employees.  Doug kills the entire team and escapes, something that surprises him.  When he tells his wife Lori what happened, she tries to kill him.  She ends up sharing that they aren't really married and she is there to watch over him and make sure he doesn't remember who he really is.  Doug gets away again and sets out to figure out who he really is.  Along the way, he encounters Malina, the woman from his dream.  The big difference is that Mars doesn't play a part in the story this time.  That didn't bother me at all.  The way the plot is changed works really well, and while some things are still predictable, that doesn't make the movie less entertaining.  Lori is the main person chasing after Doug, something else that is different.  I like that change.  She kicks serious ass and is not a person you want after you.

There is a lot of action in the movie and it is done well.  The effects are done well too, with some really cool looking things.  I like the look of the locations and futuristic things in the movie.  I did not like all the lens flare that was used. It was distracting at best and downright annoying the more it was used.  The movie is violent, though not too graphic or extreme.  The movie is rated PG-13, and really not a child friendly movie.  There is a woman with 3 breasts again, and they are shown briefly.

The characters are interesting, though they all could have been developed a bit more.  Lori isn't exactly a villain, but she isn't really likable either.  She does work well for the movie.  I like the casting of Beckinsale, Biel, and Farrell and think they all did well with their parts. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and think it is worth checking out.

I rounded up to 4 from 3.5 since I can't use 3.5 at epinions. 



I did get a review posted there if anyone wants to take a look.

Total Recall (2012)






(From Total Recall (2012) on August 5th, 2012)

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

Synopsis: Finally a working hyperlight drive was installed on Prometheus. General Hammond explicitly requests Daniel for this mission. They go to Atlantis, because no one has heard of Dr. Weir or her team since they've departed. But on the way they walk into a trap and the ship is hijacked by a Kull warrior. The crew is deported to a defective Al'kesh. Only Daniel remains aboard the Prometheus and he tries to stop the Kull warrior.

My Opinion: "The name's Olo. Hans Olo." (Daniel) I was practically rolling on the floor laughing. I really liked Claudia Black's (Aeryn Sun in Farscape) first appearance on the show. And I doubt that it was a coincedence that it strongly resembled her first appearance in the Farscape pilot.
I was well entertained.


Synopsis: The war between the System Lords and Ba'al is not going well for the former. The Tok'ra have learned that the System Lord Ares wants to retreat to a planet that hasn't been "visited" by a Goa'uld for quite some time now. This planet has one very special inhabitant: Harry Maybourne.

My Opinion: I liked this episode, too. It was practically the last Planet-of-the-Week episode with the original SG-1 team (including Jack). And Harry as king/prophet was wonderful.
The fact that one didn't see Ares in person was also a good thing, because there is only one Ares, God of War for me and unfortunately he had been dead for three years at the time of the episode.

Synopsis: The former vice president Kinsey infiltrates the Trust. The SGC wants to take out this organization once and for all. But something goes wrong and Kinsey disappears without a trace. But then the Russians raise their alert status. They suspect that the White House has been infiltrated by Goa'ulds. The conflict begins to escalate.

My Opinion: The episode didn't answer the question if the Trust has been destroyed or if an identified amount of Goa'uld is on the loose now. It was an OK episode.


Synopsis: The barber Joe Spencer bought a mysterious stone in a garage sale seven years ago. Since then he has the ability to peek into the life and the adventures of an Air Force Colonel called Jack O'Neill. He tells the stories of SG-1 to his customers and his family. But he loses the contact to the real life and is obsessed with writing the stories down. But then he finds out that everything is real.

My Opinion: A very good episode for Dan Castellaneta. Dan is most commonly know for his role as the voice of Homer Simpson, Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Willie, Joe Quimby and many others in The Simpsons. Both Richard Dean Anderson and Jack O'Neill are fans of The Simpsons.
I really liked the in-jokes. When Joe tells the story of the asteroid his customer mentions that he has seen the movie and that it will hit Paris (referring to Armageddon). In the actual episode Jack made the very same joke.
They were even self-critical when they admitted that the stories have become a bit repetitive. They also pointed to the unrealistic high number of occasions where SG-1 has saved the world (that hasn't stopped them from making yet another two seasons though).

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on April 25th, 2008)