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Monsters vs Aliens, a review by Critter

Monsters vs Aliens



Year: 2009

Director(s): Rob Letterman, Conrad Vernon

Run Time: 94 minutes

Plot: When a meteorite from outer space hits a young woman and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters also rounded up over the years.

Cast: DVD Extras:My ThoughtsMy Rating



(From Critter's Animated Film/Anime Marathon on March 6th, 2010)

A Matter of Life and Death, a review by Antares

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) 3.5/5 - I was going to start out this review by telling verbALs to stop scratching his head, because I finally watched the film, but I think that after he reads the score I rated this film, he may just keep on scratching away. I liked the film, but when Raymond Massey's character comes forward, I thought it threw a money wrench into the flow of the screenplay. Bringing an anti-British rant from an American just seemed to me, a little disengenous. This was only one year removed from the end of the Second World War and it just came across as a rather condescending way to take a swipe at the Americans who were still over in England awaiting their return to the States. I saw it as a brave move by Pressburger to do it, but also it appeared as he was left-handedly saying... These Americans, what petulant little children. I could be reading it wrong, but that's how it came across to me.

It reminded me of something I read in a New York Times archived newspaper one day when I was perusing the microfilm collection at a library. I had been reading war reports from France from the D-Day invasion until the Battle of the Bulge. I was surprised to read a small piece about French citizens complaining about the American soldiers in the aftermath of the liberation of Paris. They were actually complaining about the soldiers who had just liberated them from over 4 years of Nazi occupational tyranny.

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 11th, 2014)

Farscape Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: A group of Delvians lures Moya to their planet. They want to learn what Zhaan can do - to kill someone with your mind. That's the crime Zhaan was imprisoned for and they want to use it to free their home planet Delvia from the Peacekeepers. Zhaan reluctantly agrees and unites her mind with the leader of the local Delvians. But the latter one doesn't play with open cards and tries to distract John and the other so they cannot interfere with the unity - a unity that could kill Zhaan.

My Opinion: I really liked how John tried to reason with Zhaan and how he showed her (also in a mind melt/unity) how he sees her - as a gentle and peaceful being and not as a murderer - and how that brought her back. I also liked how the Delvians projected false images and memories into the different people to distract them and how everyone thought he/she was the only one who wasn't affected.


Synopsis: Aeryn is giving John flying in lessons in Moya's shuttle pod and he's a slow learner by Sebacean standards. But than their pod gets caught in some form on energy barrier and they can't free themselves. Moya's looking for them but it's not until they take a strange man aboard that they learn that the pod is caught in the flax, a "spider web" laid out by pirates in this region of space. D'Argo and the scavenger leave Moya to help the pod while John and Aeryn have to repair the pod or they won't survive until help arrives.

My Opinion: So great. What a plot twist. That man, that scavenger is actually the female of his species and she has developed a crush on D'Argo. This episode was so full of love, especially since Aeryn and John have developed feelings for one another. And even Rygel didn't behave like a self-centered egomaniac - OK, he did, but it was just a facade. The actions of D'Argo and Rygel prove that this crew is finally becoming a team - luckily for the viewer there will always be topic of controversy between them.
But I would have liked subtitles very much on this episode. The scavenger was hard to understand. Unfortunately british TV show DVDs often don't have english subs, not even for the hearing impaired.


Synopsis: John is frustrated and takes his ship "for a tour around the block" when Moya suddenly and unexpectedly starbursts and is gone. Three months later: John lives a quiet life alone yet close to a village. On this planet no technology seems to work but John doesn't care. It's peaceful and the people are friendly and he can live here. But when the crew of Moya finally finds him the trouble starts. While John looks close enough to the indigenous that isn't true for neither D'Argo nor Rygel. And it was the Hynerians that brought these people here a long time ago. But Rygel cannot prove that he's a god as he's supposed to according to their holy writings.

My Opinion: They can make weird and strange yet realistic looking aliens - but they cannot make a false beard that looks real. It was an OK episode with the usual love triangle between a beautiful woman, the foreigner and the clansman who also desires her.


Synopsis: Moya has problems doing starbursts during her pregnancy and when they come out of a very bumpy ride they accidentally ram another ship. On that ship is a Nebari guard, a female Nebari prisoner - and Durka. Durka was the captain of the lost command carrier and should be dead. But he's alive and now Rygel wants him dead for the things Durka did to him. But Durka has changed, the Nebari have altered his mind with a mental cleansing. He's not the Durka that tortured Rygel - or so they say.

My Opinion: Ah, Chiana. Our newest crew (and cast) member. Gigi Edgley does an awesome job portraying her. She's a great character and great addition to this colourful gang. I didn't care much for the rest of the episode because it was obvious that Durka's true nature would reappear one way or another and that he would get punished. But I really liked it how Rygel declared victory over Durka by stating that the latter couldn't do anything to the former that he hadn't already done and that he never managed to break him.

Synopsis: Moya suddenly detects a wormhole that is closing soon. And it leads directly to Earth! John says goodbye to everyone and departs with Farscape-1 and returns home. He crash-lands somewhere on the coast of Australia. But he isn't welcomed as a hero or even with open arms. The scientists find the translator microbes and they aren't sure if he even is John Crichton - the man that disappeared seven months ago. And then D'Argo, Aeryn and Rygel appear in the shuttle pod - on a planet that has never seen an alien before. When Rygel dies in an "accident" John has to escape or his friends will die in similar "accidents". And why is every magazine on a news stand seven months old?

My Opinion: The first of a number of "Earth" episodes (real or imaginary). Of course this time it was only fake and happened all in his mind (or a simulation, I haven't figured that out). I thought that John's imagination of how his alien friends would be treated was fairly realistic. They don't represent some star empire and won't be missed - so they are good subjects to be scrutinized. OK, everyone who has seen E.T. could come to this conclusion.

(From Farscape Marathon on March 22nd, 2009)