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The Incredible Hulk: Pilot Movie, a review by addicted2dvd

The Incredible Hulk: Pilot Movie
In this thrilling two- hour movie, Dr. David Banner inadvertently exposes himself to a high amount of gamma radiation and is horrified to discover that in moments of frustration and anger he is transformed into the incredibly powerful Hulk.

My Thoughts:
Another TV Movie to get me in the mood for the new movie I have on order (which should be here by middle of week). I don't know why I did not watch this one before the 2 reunion movies I watched yesterday... but I have now corrected that mistake. I always liked this telling of the origin. I don't believe it matches what is in the comics... but this series is how I was first introduced to the character. I thought it is a very good start to the series. I enjoyed every minute of it.

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(From Weekend Movie Marathon 1/2 - 1/4 on January 4th, 2009)

The Ruling Class, a review by Antares

The Ruling Class (1972) 78/100 - A bit long and at times, a bit heavy handed, but there are moments of hilarity in its skewering of upper class, aristocratic dogma. Peter O'Toole does his bombastic best with a character that pivots between two extremes. In the beginning he believes he's Jesus Christ, and everything he sees and feels is based upon love. But after a radical treatment, he's "cured" and unbeknownst to those around him, becomes the devil incarnate, for he now thinks he's Jack the Ripper. I found this part most interesting because of the rumors that have circulated for decades that Jack the Ripper may have been an insane member of the Royal family. If you're going to skewer the upper classes, then you might as well go for the jugular... pun intended. The film is loaded with many memorable quotes and my favorite has to be when someone asks him, early in the film, when he first felt he was the supreme being and he answers... "I found that whenever I prayed to God, I was talking to myself." Such a priceless line, and as usual, O'Toole delivers it with ease and aplomb. I probably would have rated this higher, but the DVD I was watching, was from a library that's known for having scratchy discs, and this one was no exception. It stalled on three occasions, and one of those times was at the pivotal moment when he transforms into his evil persona, and I missed a key moment in the narrative.

What the color coding means...

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on November 7th, 2013)

Tom's Glee Marathon, a review by Tom

Glee: Season One (2009/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (United Kingdom) Length: 968 min. Video: Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Subtitles: French, Finnish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, English

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Plot:
Join the club and bring home the fun with Glee Karaoke and Glee A talented group of high school misfits transforms into a performing sensation with the help of a dedicated teacher. Through laughter, tears, irreverent humor and unforgettable music, they learn to follow their hearts and chase their dreams.


Glee
Season 1.01 Pilot
Writer: Ryan Murphy (Created By), Brad Falchuk (Created By), Ian Brennan (Created By), Ryan Murphy (Writer), Brad Falchuk (Writer), Ian Brennan (Writer)
Director: Ryan Murphy
Cast: Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray), Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel), Jessalyn Gilsig (Terri Schuester), Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester), Jayma Mays (Emma Pillsbury), Kevin McHale (Arty Abrams), Lea Michele (Rachel Berry), Cory Monteith (Finn Hudson), Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester), Amber Riley (Mercedes Jones), Mark Salling (Noah "Puck" Puckerman), Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang), Stephen Tobolowsky (Sandy Ryerson), Patrick Gallagher (Ken Tanaka), Iqbal Theba (Principal Figgins), Romy Rosemont (Carole Hudson), Ben Bledsoe (Hank Saunders), Justin Gaston (Football Player), Kent Avenido (Howard), Jane Galloway Heitz (Lillian Adler), Melanie Henderson (Barb), Aaron Hendry (Darren), Jerry Phillips (Young Finn), Naya Rivera (Santana Lopez)

Next month season 3 of Glee is coming out on Blu-ray, so I thought I'd make a slow marathon out of it, Glee is a show I enjoy very much, especially the first two seasons. Season 3 was a bit of a let-down. I am curious how the fourth season will continue, as there probably will be a major shift in the show. Originally it was planned that after the characters graduate High School, they will introduce new characters and let the old characters leave. As it turns out, they decided to follow the old characters anyway, in addition to introducing new characters. This can fail horribly, but I am still hopeful, that they use the change in direction to get the show interesting again.
Even though I enjoy this show, I admit it has major flaws. I will try to mention the stuff which bothers me.

I will try something new this time around, to hopefully add more thoughts on an episode than a simple "I liked/didn't like it". I will use categories. I probably will add additional ones later on, or remove some.

Finncompetence:
Finn is the jock, who joins the Glee club. It is noticable, that the character is supposed to be the talented jock, who is the leader of the club. But he usually fails in many regards. He makes stupid decisions. Is acting completely clueless. Doesn't really sing well, in my opinion. And is the one in the cast who can't dance to save his life. A fact the producers only noticed when they started shooting. So I like to use this category to list some instances where Finn's incompetence to live up to what is expected of the character shows.
In the pilot, Rachel (the best singer in the Glee club with aspirations to star on Broadway) mentions that they need a male lead who can keep up with her vocally. And Mr. Schuester enlists Finn for this. Luckily for him the first major song they sing together is within his vocal range. He can do rock songs. It's the only type of songs I enjoy him doing.

Brittana:
Glee fans put together the name of two characters to build up names for couples. Brittana is short for Brittany/Santana. As you can guess, this is my favorite couple on the show. And it wasn't even planned, but the two characters just had so much great chemistry during the first season, that this couple just came to be. Huge part of this is due to the fact, that the two actresses playing these characters became best friends in real life, and that showed up on-screen. During the first season they were often (background) scene stealers because of their interaction.
The pilot doesn't have any of it yet, because Heather Morris, who plays Brittany was not cast yet. She was added to the cast with the second episode. Also Santana only has a few short scenes and doesn't say much yet.

Continuity:
Glee often has problems keeping their continuity in line. Mostly not that bothering, but I will mention some which bother me, when thinking more about it. The producers like to twist established facts to fit the current stories, or like to forget or mess up introduced storylines.
Two things I'd like to mention here regarding the pilot:
- The principal mentions that it costs $60 a month to keep Glee club alive. It is made clear throughout the season, that they do not have much of a budget. But still they often manage to have elaborate stage sets and clothes.
- A minor thing: Pictures of Rachel's dads are shown in this episode. But when the characters are finally shown for the first time in season three, they look completely different.

Notable music:
Not much yet. I like that the use two Journey songs here, which are again used in the season one finale. This brings a nice full circle to the season. One of the songs in not sung by the characters here, but will be in the finale. The other song is song here and is the signature song of Glee. It will be done again in the finale.
The song is "Don't Stop Believing", and always enjoyed it:


Rating:

(From Tom's Glee Marathon on August 5th, 2012)