DVD Collectors Online

Blade, a review by Dragonfire

Blade Wesley Snipes stars as the tortured soul Blade - half man, half immortal. Blade sharpens his lethal skills under the guidance of Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), his mentor, guardian and fellow hunter of the night. When the bloodthirsty Immortals' lord, Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), declares war on the human race, Blade is humanity's last hope for survival. My Thoughts I wasn't aware that Blade was a comic book character until well after I had seen this movie.  From what I've read, it sounds like a lot has been changed about the character from the comic book.    I can't remember if I rented this one at first or if I saw it tv.  The idea of a character that is considered half human and half vampire who hunts vampires is interesting to me.  The plot is interesting and makes for an entertaining movie even though it isn't that complicated.  Most of what happens is just focused on Blade fighting vampires and Deacon trying to put his plan in motion.  Karen trying to come up with a cure is also interesting, though it doesn't get that much attention overall really.  The action scenes are done well.  The violence does get graphic in some scenes, which could bother some viewers.  The characters are interesting for the most part and the cast does fine. I do think this is a good vampire movie that is worth checking out....it just isn't great. I did get a review posted on Epinions. Blade

(From Dragonfire88's Alphabet Marathon on July 13th, 2010)

Aurore, a review by RossRoy

Original Title: Aurore Year: 2005 Country: Canada (Quebec) Director: Luc Dionne Rating: 16+ Length: 110 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 Audio: French: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo Subtitles: English, French

What they say - (translated from French)My Thoughts
Like the back cover of the DVD says, this story has touched everyone in Quebec in one way or another. Everybody is affected by this story. Of course, being such a relatively old story, it all happened at the beginning of the last century after all, it has been ingrained in our collective cultural heritage here in Quebec. Even before seeing this movie, or the one that came before it, or before reading about it, I was still very much aware of Aurore's suffering, and the collective indifference to her situation.

Unfortunately, movies being the beast they are, and the actual events taking place so long ago, there's no way to know how much of it real, and how much of it was romanced. Still, from what I've read of the case in the past, they couldn't be all that far. And that, makes it a movie that is hard to bear. You know it actually happened. You know a young girl had to go through this. You know she wasn't alone. You know she wasn't the first. You know she wasn't the last.

I may be reading more than I should into this movie. But I can't help it. I can't help but think of all these children who are being abused, to this day, by a parent and/or close relative, and nobody will say anything. So many kids have had their lives turned into hell, only because nobody will talk.

And that's what this movie is all about. Yes, it's telling Aurore's story in particular. Yes, it's easy to say that the movie may not be faithful to the actual event. Yes, it's also easy to say that the movie is flawed because it may have tried to show the stepmother as being mad, instead of just mean.

But that's not the point. That's not what the director intended.

Aurore's story is mean to an end. What he's doing, is showing how a full community becomes just as guilty as the parents, because they ignored the cries of the children. Everybody knew, yet nobody did anything until it was too late. Everybody had their suspicions. Nobody went in, or even confronted the parents. Even after Aurore was treated for a full month in a hospital.

That's the message of the movie. If you have reason to suspect something, say something. Don't wait until it's too late.

Rating:

(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on November 6th, 2008)

Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews, a review by Tom

VOY 6.10. Pathfinder
Writer: David Zabel (Screenwriter), Kenneth Biller (Screenwriter), David Zabel (Original Material By)
Director: Mike Vejar
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), Dwight Schultz (Barclay), Richard Herd (Admiral Paris), Richard McGonagle (Commander Pete Harkins), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Victor Bevine (Security Guard), Mark Daniel Cade (Technician), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice (voice))

I just had to watch this great episode which was on the same disc as the previous one. Lt. Barcley is working on a project to establish contact with Voyager. After being kicked off the project because of a wild idea of his and because of his holo-addiction which makes him interact with the Voyager characters on the holodeck, he gets councelling by Deanna Troi. At the end he proves that his idea was right and Starfleet has two-way contact with Voyager for the first time. This episode also marks the first appearence of Admiral Paris.
I like the fact, that the Maquis members in Reggie's holodeck simulation all wear the clothes they wore in the pilot episode instead of a Starfleet uniform with different rank insignias.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews on September 2nd, 2009)