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Tremors 2: Aftershocks, a review by Dragonfire

Tremors 2: Aftershocks



They're back! The giant underground creatures that terrorized a desert town in 'Tremors' are now plowing their way through Mexican oil fields, gobbling up everything and everyone around - and only one man can stop them! In the style of its predecessor, this comedy sci-fi creature feature reunites Fred Ward as down-on-his-luck Earl Basset and Michael Gross as gung-ho survivalist Burt Gummer, two desert desperadoes who take on the task of destroying the monsters. Partnered with them is Christopher Gartin, a young guy in need of kicks, cash, and a career change, and Helen Shaver, a sexy and intrepid scientist who's seen it all...until now. Together they devise an ingenious plan for tracking and killing the creatures. 'Tremors 2' is filled with high speed action and plenty of laughs - until the predators wise up.

My Thoughts

This one is a bit cheesy at times, but it is entertaining.  It isn't clear how much time has passed since the first movie, but it has been long enough for Earl to lose the money he made.  Val is only briefly mentioned, but it is enough to explain why he is gone.  Heather's absence is also explained in a way that is logical.  Some of the plot, an isolated area being terrorized by graboids, is the same, but enough different things happen to keep things more interesting.  The movie really isn't that gory or violent, even during the few scenes that include some violence.  There is enough action to keep things interesting.  There is also a decent amount of humor as well.  Several things that happen make me laugh, though the humor could be too silly for some viewers.  Fred Ward is fine as Earl again, though I did think his hair looked a bit silly.

I do enjoy this movie even though it has some issues. 



I did post a review on Epinions last year if anyone wants to take a look.

Tremors 2: Aftershocks


(From Dragonfire's Halloween/Horror Marathon 2009 on October 11th, 2009)

Monkey Shines, a review by addicted2dvd

Monkey Shines
From writer/director George A. Romero, the man who unleashed 'Night of the Living Dead', comes a "terrific psychological thriller" ('L.A. Weekly') that delivers a disturbing message about messing with Mother Nature. Starring Jason Beghe ("Melrose Place") and Janine Turner ("Northern Exposure"), this riveting tale is "a white-knuckle triumph [that doesn't] let up" ('Newsweek')!

Allan Mann (Beghe) is a bitter, angry and vengeful man ever since an accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. He's fed up with himself and everyone around him. All that changes when he's given Ella, a monkey trained to meet his every need. But when Ella begins anticipating Allan's thoughts, strange and deadly things start happening. And as she stalks and wreaks havoc on Allan's fair-weather girlfriend (Turner), incompetent doctor and meddling mother, Allan realizes he must stop the cunning maniacal creature...before she fully takes over his mind!

My Thoughts:
This is a movie I bought cheap a year or so ago... but never got around to watching it. I really wasn't in that big of a hurry as I knew I saw it many years ago when first released on VHS. It has been so long that watching it today was like watching it again for the very first time. I thought it was a real good movie... what I would consider a mild horror from today's standards at least. It was a slower pace then most of the horror I watch... but that is not to say it was a slow movie... as I found the entire movie enjoyable and interesting. Glad I finally decided to watch it again. Unfortunately this DVD was basically a bare bones release... only extra on the disc was the Theatrical Trailer.

(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs on December 23rd, 2007)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon, a review by goodguy

2x02 Automatic for the People
Synopsis: See Achim's post.
My Rating:

I liked the episode much better this time around. Part of it probably is simply being in the right or wrong mood, part of it is knowing how certain things will play out.

For example, I wasn't too keen about the introduction of Riley in this episode, because there already was a mystery girl in S1 and nothing came out of it. Now, I could appreciate her more and really liked the scenes between John and her. BTW, I noticed that the story outline concerning Riley is almost literally spilled out by someone else:

The entire plot of the dying guy busting in to deliver a message from the future, and the subsequent infiltration of the power plant made me roll my eyes so much, I missed the finer points of the episode. And than they ended the episode with a shot of our heroes staring at bloody (!) messages on a wall, outlining the future missions of the week. That really threw me off.

I still think the entire thing is somewhat ridiculous and the vague biblical allusion barely saves it. But it doesn't bother me so much any longer. And the supposedly suspenseful scenes of Sarah sneaking around in the power plant still drag, but in reality that's only a small part of the episode and I'm now actually thankful that they don't bore me with too much details about how they managed to get in.

As Achim rightly noted, the episode is much more about the character issues than the action, although some of these issues are a bit murky at this point, especially when it comes to John.

I can't agree about Glau phoning it in, though. Obviously something is different with Cameron, and she conveys that quite well. I especially liked her final scene with Sarah, the repeated (and perfectly reasonable) "I don't know" to Sarah questions culminating in the "Am I?" punch line.


(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on January 29th, 2010)