DVD Collectors Online

Four Brothers, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: The four brothers Bobby, Angel, Jermeiah and Jack return home after their mother had been killed in a store robbery. The four aren't genetically brothers but they've been raised by Evelyn who was a warm soul of the city and who cared for all children. But something doesn't add up. This was no ordinary robbery but an execution. And now the four brothers want to bury Evelyn's killer.

My Opinion: When I first watched this in the theatre I had no real idea what to expect and I thought it to be a very good movie. Mark Wahlberg played a very good Bobby which was the reason for me to watch Shooter, too. I also liked the occasional insertion of Evelyn, as if she was still there - and in the minds of her boys she still is! One could brush this aside as simple action flick, but for me it's a bit more and I have to be in the mood to watch this.

(From DJ Doena's movie watchings 2009 on January 4th, 2009)

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut , a review by Tom

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Warner Home Video (United Kingdom) Director: Richard Donner Writing: Jerry Siegel (Original Characters By), Joe Shuster (Original Characters By), Mario Puzo (Story By), Mario Puzo (Screenwriter), David Newman (Screenwriter), Leslie Newman (Screenwriter) Length: 116 min. Video: Widescreen 2.35 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish

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Stars:
Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor
Christopher Reeve as Superman Clark Kent
Marlon Brando as Jor-El
Ned Beatty as Otis
Jackie Cooper as Perry White

Plot:
You haven't seen all the Superman films until you've seen this! Superman II starring Christopher Reeve returns with a never-before-seen beginning and resolution. Director Richard Donner began shooting his vision of Superman II while concurrently filming Superman The Movie. For the first time, his unique vision is here. Jor-El (Marlon Brando in recently found footage) appears in key new scenes that amplify Superman lore and deepen the relationship between father and son. Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) plots more schemes to unmask Clark Kent as Superman. With so many changes, large and small, this version is an eye-opening alternate experience.

Awards:
Won:

Saturn (1981)

Best Science Fiction Film

Nominated:

AFI (1980)		100 Years... 100 Passions (2002)
AFI (1980)		100 Years... 100 Thrills (2001)
Saturn (1981)		Best Actor (Christopher Reeve)
Saturn (1981)		Best Actress (Margot Kidder)
Saturn (1981)		Best Music (Ken Thorne)

Extras:

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Introduction by Richard Donner
• Scene Access
• Superman Cartoons

This cut improves on an already great movie. Especially the scenes with Marlon Brando, which were excised from the theatrical cut, bring much more sense to the movie. They explain better why Superman had to give up his powers to be with Lois, and how he got his powers back. Also all the slapstick is gone now.
The first time I saw it, I was surprised how many scenes Marlon Brando had shot for this movie. I also am surprised how many Lex Luthor moments had been cut from the Lester version (all scenes with Gene Hackman were shot under Donner, therefore no new scenes were available for Lester).

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on August 15th, 2011)

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

Synopsis: SG-1 takes part in the ceremony where the last Ba'al clone gets his symbiont removed. The last of the System Lords is defeated. But something is happening. First Vala disappears, then Teal'c and then more and more people. Cameron, Sam and Daniel manage to get through the Stargate home but when they arrive on Earth everything has changed. The gate is somewhere in the arctic and Earth's history of the last 60 years seems to have changed. Another Ba'al clone has changed the past to win in the future.

My Opinion: The elements of this story aren't new, not even to Stargate SG-1. A time travel after which the Stargate program doesn't exist also happened in Moebius. And the way the "ripple effect" changed the future didn't make much sense either. But I still liked this movie, it was nice to see them all again (Don S. Davis in his last appearance) and I liked how Daniel tried to speak to Daniel and how they once again joined forces with the First Prime Teal'c. Also this movie didn't have any lengths, it felt like a slightly longer regular episode even though it was twice as long.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on April 25th, 2009)