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Hot Shots! Part Deux, a review by DJ Doena

Charlie Sheen    ...    Topper Harley
Lloyd Bridges   ...    President Thomas 'Tug' Benson
Valeria Golino   ...    Ramada Rodham Hayman
Richard Crenna   ...    Col. Denton Walters
Brenda Bakke   ...    Michelle Rodham Huddleston
Miguel Ferrer   ...    Commander Arvid Harbinger
Rowan Atkinson   ...    Dexter Hayman

Synopsis: Topper - who lives in a buddhist monastery now - is contacted by the CIA. They want him to rescue a rescue team that tried to rescue a rescue team that tried to rescue some hostages from Iraq. In order to accomplish this they meet with their contact deep in enemy territory - and the contact (codename "Bench Press") happens to be Ramada.

My Opinion: This time they spoofed the Rambo and other commando team movies and I enjoyed this more than the previous one. Especially in the beginning with the monastery and the Kickboxer fight. Or the scene on the jungle river (In Iraq?!? ) where Charlie Sheen meets his father (one starred in Platoon, the other in Apocalypse Now) and they congratulate each other for Wall Street. Or the scene with the body count - "Bloodiest movie of all time". So great.

(From DJ Doena's movie watchings 2009 on August 19th, 2009)

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, a review by Tom

Title: Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties
Year: 2006
Director: Tim Hill
Rating: U
Length: 82 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Other: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Breckin Meyer
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Billy Connolly
Bill Murray
Ian Abercrombie

Plot:
Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Bill Murray return in another adventure with America's favourite fat cat, and this time, Garfield's giving England the royal treatment! It's a British invasion of a different king when Garfield, along with pals Jon and Odie, travels to London and meets his mirror-image in Prince, an aristocratic kitty who has inherited a fabulous castle. The two trade places, and soon Garfield is living large as only he can! There's just one problem: the dastardly Lord Dargis wants him out of the picture. 'Garfield 2' is twice the laughs and double the fun for the whole family... It's good to be the king!

Awards:

Golden Raspberry Awards	2006	Nominated	Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment
Golden Raspberry Awards	2006	Nominated	Worst Prequel or Sequel

Extras:
Audio Descriptive track
Featurettes
Interactive Game
Music Videos
Photo Gallery
Scene Access



(From Tom's Random Reviews on August 15th, 2009)

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

Synopsis: The Cylons somehow always know the position of the fleet and follows it mercilessly. 33 minutes after the fleet has arrived at the new jump coordinates a Cylon fleet arrives also and starts to attack. The fleet has just commenced its 237th jump and the pilots and the crew of the Galactica have been awake for more than 5 days straight without relieve or pause. They have to put an end to this or they will make one final, deadly mistake.
Meanwhile another Number Eight (numerical designation of human copies that look like Boomer) pretends to have come back to Caprica to get Karl "Helo" Agathon out of there.

My Opinion: This was a great start to the show because you are thrown right in. One doesn't know how much time lay between their jump over the "red line" and the first time the Cylons found them again but it can't have been much. And then we see them already 5 days into this 33 minutes rhythm, all exhausted and on duty for over 130 hours and no hope of release except death. It was only the first of many hard situations to come but it showed directly that this won't be an easy journey.

Synopsis: When Boomer (a Cylon who doesn't know she is one) regains consciousness she finds herself soaking wet and she also has a plastic explosive plus a detonator in her hands. When she secretly brings it back she discovers that 6 more are missing from an arms locker. Soon after a huge explosion erupts in Galactica and 60% of the water tanks are emptied into space. If the fleet doesn't find a new water source it won't survive.

My Opinion: This was also a good episode, I liked it how Boomer struggled with herself, how she tried to override her Cylon programming without even knowing that it's there. I also liked it how both Adama and Roslin didn't really like the ceremonial pomp but both did it to make the other one feel better. I also took notice of Alex "Crashdown" Quartararo for the first time, because now I know his actor Sam Witwer from the eight season of Smallville.

Synopsis: They have found water, but in its liquid form it is to salty to be used, but there are also huge masses of frozen fresh water. It will be hard and dangerous work to mine that water and Apollo offers freedom points for the men on the prison ship if they are willing to help. But the prisoners stand united behind former terrorist Tom Zarek who uses the situation to take hostages and demands elections.

My Opinion: While I liked to see the classic BSG alumni Richard Hatch (Apollo in classic BSG), I never cared much for Tom Zarek or his "mission". At no time this character was somehow likeable, he's simply a bad guy who happens to be human. This was also the first episode that Starbuck becomes an all-purpose Swiss knife (Is that a pleonasm?) because otherwise there would be no reason why she would lead the marines to rescue the hostages and it's also her who carries the sniper rifle. But I am not mad about this, because it gives her more screen time.

But I really love this quote from Adama: "There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people."

Synopsis: An accident on the landing deck occurs which kills twelve Viper pilots and injures seven more. Adama gives Starbuck the task of training pilots to become Viper pilots since Starbuck had been an instructor before the war. What Adama doesn't know is that Starbuck passed Adama's son Zek in basic flight even though he should have failed because she was engaged to him. Soon after he died in his plane.

My Opinion: Another thing I like about this show: Past events are rarely forgotten, no pushing of the reset button after the episode has ended. And also the occasional flashback to a pre-war Caprica. This episode also introduces two new pilots: Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza and Louanne "Kat" Katraine and the latter one will become a worthy challenger of Starbuck's and she will call Starbuck out when no one else dares to. Starbuck needs that on occasion and that's why I like Kat.

(From "Battlestar Galactica" Marathon (1978-2009) on September 1st, 2009)