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Sense And Sensibility, a review by Rich

Sense And Sensibility



SENSE AND SENSIBILITY is the story of two sisters; pragmatic Elinor (EMMA THOMPSON) and passionate, wilful Marianne (KATE WINSLET).
When their father, Henry Dashwood, dies, by law his estate must pass to the eldest son from his first marriage.  Suddenly homeless and impoverished, his current wife and daughters find themselves living in a simple country cottage.
The two sisters are soon accepted into their new society.  Marianne becomes swept up in a passionate love affair with the dashing Willoughby (GREG WISE), while Elinor struggles to keep a tight rein on the family purse strings and to keep her feelings for Edward Ferrars (HUGH GRANT), whom she left behind, hidden from her family.  Despite their different personalities, they both experience great sorrow in their affairs, but they learn to mix sense with sensibility in a society that is obsessed with both financial and social status.

Despite being generally uninterested in the period drama, with a British cast of such high calibre, and wonderfully written by Emma Thompson, I found this movie gently absorbing and very watchable.
Sadly Thompson was too old for the role she wrote for herself, but Winslet was perfect along with great performances from Rickman, Spriggs and Grant in particular. The locations, costumes and sets are attractive, and despite a slow pace the clever dialogue and warm touch are enticing.
Funny, fresh and romantic, with a score to lull you into a good mood, this film was an enjoyable surprise.
 

** Kate Winslet mini-marathon


(From Riches Random Reviews on August 2nd, 2009)

House of Wax (2005), a review by RossRoy

Original Title: House of Wax Year: 2005 Country: United States Director: Jaume Collet-Serra Rating: R Length: 113 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital Stereo Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

What they say
Thrills and chills ooze all over you in 'House of Wax', from Dark Castle Entertainment and legendary horror producers Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis ('Gothika', 'House on Haunted Hill').

When their car breaks down on a road trip, six college friends are sidetracked into an eerie backwoods town. Curiosity gets the better of them when they are intrigured by its macabre House of Wax. They soon find out that the town is not what it seems and they must find their way out before they fall victim to its ghoulishly inventive killers.

My Thoughts
I must say, I have a love/hate relationship with horror movies. On the one hand, I love them. I love how the music works together with the cinematography to create tension and a spooky atmosphere. But then, I'm also squeamish. Not so much about the gore itself, but too much is too much, but also because I'm jumpy. I get so tense expecting to be scared, that when something actually happens, my heart skips a few beats. There's also the whole side of movies lingering with me a few days after watching. Not so much on stuff like Nightmare on Elm Street, Saw, Hostel or House of Wax, but more stuff like The Ring (Ringu), The Grudge, etc. For example, I lost a lot of sleep over The Ring. I'm like that.

So, of course, going into House of Wax, I didn't know what to really expect, except I was happy to know that Paris' character would meet her demise. As is usually the case when I watch a horror movie, I again got very tense expecting the scares at every corner. But surprisingly, I'm either become desensitized, or there weren't any real jump-scare scene, but the gore made up for it. Not that there's all that much of it, but what's there is effective. It is gratuitous gore though, but I found it was good gore. I also liked the whole wax angle to it. Without giving too much away, let's just say I hope real life wax museums aren't built and populated that way

The story? What story? The whole thing is set up as an excuse for melting wax and killing people. There's one thing though, that I can't stand, and sorry, I'll spoilerize it, though I don't think it's all that big of a spoiler.
As a whole though? The movie was entertaining. It kept my interest throughout, though it takes too long to take off. The introduction of the main characters gives so little, that we don't really attach to anyone. They shoud've cut most of it, and made a 90-minute movie, instead of a 120-minute one. It would've been tighter, more focused. I still enjoyed it, even though reading all that might lead some to believe otherwise!



(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on April 13th, 2008)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Eureka: Season One (2006/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Universal Pictures (Germany) Length: 533 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English, German

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Plot:
Eureka takes place in a high tech fictional community of the same name, located in the U.S. state of Oregon (Washington in the pilot) and inhabited entirely by brilliant scientists working on new scientific advances. The town is operated by a corporation called Global Dynamics (GD), that is overseen by the United States Department of Defense. The town's existence and location are closely guarded secrets.

U.S. Marshal Jack Carter stumbles upon Eureka while transporting a fugitive prisoner (his own rebellious teenage daughter Zoe) back to her mother's home in Los Angeles. When a faulty experiment cripples the sheriff of Eureka, Carter finds himself quickly chosen to fill the vacancy. Despite not being a genius like most members of the town, Jack Carter demonstrates a remarkable ability to connect to others, keen and practical insights, and a dedication to preserving the safety of Eureka.


Eureka
1.01 Pilot
Writer: Andrew Cosby (Writer), Jaime Paglia (Writer)
Director: Peter O'Fallon
Cast: Colin Ferguson (Jack Carter), Salli Richardson (Allison Blake), Greg Germann (Warren King), Jordan Hinson (Zoe Carter), Joe Morton (Henry Deacon), Erica Cerra (Jo Lupo), Neil Grayston (Douglas Fargo), Meshach Peters (Kevin Blake), Matt Frewer (Jim Taggart), Debrah Farentino (Beverly Barlowe), Maury Chaykin (Sheriff William Cobb), Rob LaBelle (Walter Perkins), Gary Chalk (Col. Briggs), Jennifer Clement (Susan Perkins), Shayn Solberg (Spencer Martin), Zak Ludwig (Brian Perkins), Chris Gauthier (Vincent), Benjamin Smith (Oppenheimer), Ian Carter (Chief Marshal), Kwesi Ameyaw (Special Agent Hicks), Chris Burns (Soldier), Tyler McClendon (Corporal), Norm Sherry), Kevin Murray (Charlie), Keith Wilson (Baker Twin), Bryan Wilson (Baker Twin)

I saw this cheap while online shopping and read up a little about it. Sounded like a series which could be fun.
I enjoyed the pilot episode. Especially the first half, when our main character first sets foot in the city. The second half lost a little for me. The problem and the solution they had to deal with seemed a little contrived with nonsense technobabble. I hope the rest of the series doesn't rely to much on such plot devices.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on May 10th, 2012)