DVD Collectors Online

Screamers, a review by Achim

Screamers (1995/United States) Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (United Kingdom) Director: Christian Duguay Writing: Philip K. Dick (Original Material By), Dan O'Bannon (Screenwriter), Miguel Tejada-Flores (Screenwriter) Length: 104 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, German: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround Subtitles: Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Hungarian

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Stars:
Peter Weller as Hendricksson
Roy Dupuis as Becker
Jennifer Rubin as Jessica
Andy Lauer as Ace
Charles Powell as Ross

Plot:
After 10 years of devastating warfare on Planet Sirius 6B, a distant mining planet, Commander Joseph Hendricksson (Peter Weller) is assigned to protect his outpost from the New Economic Block. His scientists have created a perfect weapon, designed to destroy all enemy life - a blade wielding, self-replicating race of killing devices known as Screamers.

But something has gone wrong - the Screamers continue to evolve without any human guidance, cloning themselves into human form and obliterating all forms of human life.

Betrayed by his own political leaders and disgusted by the atrocities of the endless war, Hendricksson decides he must negotiate peace with the enemy. But to do so, he must first destroy the very weapon he helped to create...
Screamers!

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• Production Notes

More of a B-movie from the mid-90s. I believe it was overshadowed by some other bigger release that year, which I can't remember what it was (maybe Species...?). However, this film is great on DVD. Good production values (they used an abandoned industrial area which gives it a great look), good acting by Peter Weller (he is very cool in this one!, to bad he never really got very far) and a solid B-movie (read: people we never really heard of) supporting cast. The special effects hold up very well, with only some minor use of CGI, and there is some gore, but not much of it. With only a few rather obvious continuity slips and mostly congruous writing this is good science fiction entertainment.

Rating:

(From The Movies from Within My Lifetime on July 5th, 2011)

Cashback, a review by Rich

Title: Cashback

Runtime:102
Certificate:R
Year:2006
Genres:Comedy, Romance

Plot:When art student Ben Willis goes through a painful break-up, he develops insomnia. To kill time, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket. There he meets a colorful cast of characters, all of whom have their own means of dealing with the boredom of an eight-hour-shift. Ben imagines freezing time, which allows him to see the beauty of the everyday world and the people inside it - especially Sharon, the quiet checkout girl, who just may hold the answer to resolving Ben's Insomnia.

My Review:
Quirky little British film, written produced and directed by the young Sean Ellis.
It follows a narrative from lead Sean Biggerstaff, an insomniac artist overcoming a break-up who takes a job on the nightshift at Sainsburys. Enter a lot of strange and funny characters, with traits very recognisable in many English people, and some gentle comedy moments. The main story follows his appreciation of the female beauty, and his amazing ability to freeze time by cracking his fingers, allowing him to strip female shoppers and draw them in a variety of poses without their knowledge.
I must admit that many parts of the film I found very erotic, the ladies he stripped were extremely attractive and typically buxom, the flashbacks to his childhood and adolescent discovery of women (through a Swedish student and schoolgirl friend) were sweetly handled but again very provocative, and the whole film feels like we are part of his dreamy existence.
The negatives are few, a football scene was hopeless, some of the dialogue padded and pointless, and one 'time-freeze' aspect that was not particularly explained enough by the end of the film.
But overall this is an original, funny, arousing, bizarre indie film that I feel many members here will really appreciate in their collections.


(From December Marathons - DISCUSSION AND REVIEW THREAD on December 14th, 2009)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: A doctor from a mental institution brings four of her patients to the station. All had been genetically anhanced when they were children but they weren't as lucky as Julian and something went wrong. The doctor hopes that Bashir can create a form of bond to them and is able to help them. He actually manages to establish a relation with them and together they analyze a holo recording of the current negotiations between the Federation and the Dominion and they are able to help. But then they discover something horrible.

My Opinion: This was a great episode. The actors played their eccentric characters very well and it was a joy to watch all these different characters. And I really liked it how Bashir showed that statistics can't predict every turn of events and how one person can change the course of history. In Germany we have a saying: "Don't trust a statistic you haven't faked yourself." And I look forward to see these guys and gals again.

Synopsis: Quark's and Rom's mother has become a prisoner of the Dominion. Quark wants to free her with a Ferengi-only group to prove that Ferengies are just as good warriors as - let's say - Klingons. But his team (consisting of himself, Rom, Nog, cousin Gaila, Brunt [formerly FCA] and the mercenary Leck) doesn't even pass the holodeck simulation. So they fall back on what they can do: They offer a trade: Ishka in exchange for the Vorta Keevan.

My Opinion: Yet another great episode. Except for the Nagus every Ferengi who had a guest appearance on DS9 was in this episode. It was so funny to watch them which was a good break from the war episodes. Too bad they couldn't find a seventh Ferengi - it would have been the perfect number for this episode.

BTW: The Vorta in the episode picture is Iggy Pop!

Synopsis: Dukat, whose condition hase been improved, is to be brought to a POW facility and Sisko escorts him there on the USS Honshu . But then the ship is attacked by the Dominion. Some people can escape in pods. Somehow Dukat has managed to get aboard a shuttle and he saves the unconscious Sisko. But they crash-land on a planet. From there they try to send a distress signal and have a "nice", long chat.

My Opinion: This disc is already my favourite disc of the season. The acting of Marc Alaimo (Dukat) was awesome. He played the insane and yet evil Dukat who tries to justifiy his actions by blaming everyone else perfectly. Even though Sisko was there this entire episode was carried by Dukat and his discussions with his hallucinations (and Sisko). "I wanted only the best for Bajor but these terrorists gave me no choice!" - Excellent.

Synopsis: Morn - one of Quark's regular guests - has died in an accident and he has made Quark his legal heir. His personal stuff isn't worth anything and he has quite an outstanding bill at the bar. But then his ex-wife shows up and implies that Morn was quite rich and she wouldn't fight Quark over the money as long as she gets a share. Now the treasure hunt for a thousand bricks in gold-pressed latinum begins. But with every day there are more people who want their share of it.

My Opinion: Morn has been a customer of the bar since the pilot episode. It has become a running gag on the show to claim that Morn is quite the chatterbox while the actor has never uttered a single word on screen (and he never will, not even in this episode). Up until now he has just been an extra but an extra that made the entire show more real because he is the prove that there is a regular station life outside the focus on the main characters. And luckily for us he isn't dead after all but will be there until the end of the show.

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on February 21st, 2009)