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Halloween, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Halloween Year: 1978 Director: John Carpenter Rating: R Length: 91 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1, Pan & Scan 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, English: Dolby Digital: Mono Subtitles: N/A

Stars:
Donald Pleasence
Jamie Lee Curtis
Nancy Loomis
P. J. Soles
Charles Cyphers
Kyle Richards

Plot:
Fifteen years ago, Michael Myers brutally massacred his sister. Now, after escaping from a mental hospital, he's back to relive his grisly crime again, and again...and again.

This is Halloween like you've never seen or heard it before!

Halloween has been fully restored under the supervision of Lucasfilm's THX Digital Mastering Services. The video was transferred by the award-winning colorist Adam Adams (Terminator 2, Titanic) from a new 35mm interpositive (made from the original camera negative) and approved by the film's cinematographer Dean Cundey (Jurassic Park, Who Framed Rodger Rabbit). The new Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack was created by Chace Productions is association with Alan Howarth using the original 16-track music studio master and the recently discovered original 35mm magnetic dialogue & effects tracks.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Featurettes
Gallery
Production Notes
THX
Radio Spots
Trivia

My Thoughts:
I usually save this one for Halloween day... but I found myself with a strong urge to watch it first thing this morning... so figured why not.

This is of course the classic horror that started it all. I think it could be arguably said this is one of the best slasher movies out there. Carpenter really did fine work... the atmosphere in this one is great. I loved Jamie Lee Curtis in this movie... and enjoyed Donald Pleasence as well... this is the first movie that I ever seen him in. This is one of the few movies I couldn't see being any better then it is. And to think it was done on such a small budget in such a short time period. While it would be hard for me to believe... if there is any horror fan out there that never seen this movie... I highly recommend checking it out ASAP!




Count:
Movie Count: 102 I Made It! (10/28)
TV Ep. Count: 53 I Made It! (10/20)
Other Count: 8 I Made It! (10/15)

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2010 on October 30th, 2010)

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs, a review by dfmorgan

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs

Year: 2009
Director: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Cast: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T
OverviewWatched: 7th Feb 2010
My Thoughts: A nice animation based on a childrens book but not having read the book, or even previously heard of it, I can't say how close or different this film is to the book. It revolves around an inventor, who never quite gets thing right, and his attempt to solve his town's problems after the local sardine factory closes down.

My Rating: Overall an enjoyable 90mins so 3

Dave


(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on February 13th, 2010)

"Battlestar Galactica" Marathon (1978-2009), a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Troy and Dillon are called back to the Galactica for an important mission. But it's a trick of Xaviar's and now they are sitting in a disabled Viper somewhere between Earth and the fleet. Meanwhile Jamie has to care for the scouts and to protect them both from the US military as well as Xaviar who wants to use them as bargaining chip. Jamie hides them in a baseball camp.

My Opinion: Don't win! Win! Don't win! Win! Jamie's constant change of minds were a bit annoying, especially since the point of this episode was totally lost on me. There was nothing in it but to show some special effects of super-kids playing baseball.

Synopsis: A Galactica patrol has encountered a new and improved Cylon Raider and engaged it. Both ships were damaged but the Raider is drifting towards Earth and will crash north of New York City. Troy and Dillon travel by plane there but they assume their patrol ship will crash there. Only two Cylons survive the crash but one of them is an advanced model who looks like a Human. And it's Halloween...

My Opinion: Together with the first part of this series, Galactica Discovers Earth, this and the following episode were re-cut to form the movie Galactica III: Conquest of the Earth. And I have to say that I like them. I thought it was an ingenious idea to hide two Cylons in plain sight, but since it's Halloween no one questions their appearance. And although these human Cylons are fully mechanical they are obviously the template for the human Cylons in the next series.
And it seems to have become a running gag that no matter where Troy and Dillon go, they get in some kind of trouble with the local law enforcement and that they steal a police car.

Synopsis: The Cylons were invited to a Halloween party and the famous radio moderator Wolfman Jack will be there. They want to capture him in order to get to the "communication center". From there they will send a distress signal and reveal Earth's position. Dillon and Troy have to prevent that at any cost. But they are not only the chaser, they are also the chased.

My Opinion: It was only years later that I learned that Wolfman Jack was a real person but I liked the character from the start. What I didn't like about this episode (and what wasn't in the movie) were Troy's and Dillon's "super jumps". But I really liked how the (seriously damaged) Centurion tried to protect the Cylon Andromus and jumped from that skyscraper and landed in the dumpster.

Synopsis: The Cylons have destroyed the agricultural ships and the fleet needs new crops. The Cylons hope that it will finally lead them to Earth. Dillon and Troy buy a piece of land from a farmer and try to grow plants there. But the farmer (and now they) are harassed by their neighbour who owns pretty much all land there and he controls the water reservoirs. But people who can fly through space can also make it rain.

My Opinion: I can't remember ever seeing this episode before. And to be honest: When they were harassed by their neighbour (played by MacGyver's Dana Elcar) I expected to see a certain black van with a red bar on it: "If you have a problem. If no one else can help. Maybe you can hire - The A-Team."
Since the scout kids were back, they used "super jumps" to spread the seeds and used the "flying saucer" to make it rain. ship I didn't like this episode very much.

Synopsis: Doctor Zee tells Commander Adama about a dream he had. It includes a great battle and a great warrior called Starbuck who had to be left behind on a lonely planet. There he repairs on of the Cylons who crashed there with him in order to have some company. But soon they are not only 2, but 3.5: Cy has found a pregnant woman and Starbuck has to get her off the planet because soon other Cylons will come looking for their patrol.

My Opinion: That was a great episode. It was well told and had great characters in it. I loved to see the developing friendship between Starbuck and Cy. It was a bit like Enemy Mine and I was really sad when Cy "died" because he protected Starbuck from these other Cylons. And it's pretty ironic that this episode worked very well and didn't need many FX shots (except for the re-used battle scenes in the beginning where Boomer has to say goodbye to his friend).

The Series - My Opinion: Let's face it: The series isn't that good. The special effects were basically reduced to "super jumps", to cloak each and everything and to make their motorcycles fly. And while it maybe OK to destroy the same Raider in the upper right corner over and over again, it looks odd when your motorcycles always fly over the same skyline no matter in which countryside you had been before - especially when you do it in nearly every episode.
It was a good idea to bring the fleet to Earth - they had told many space stories in the original series - but they didn't make anything out of it. Instead four out of ten episodes revolved around a bunch of kids and the main characters were reduced to kindergarten teachers.

(From "Battlestar Galactica" Marathon (1978-2009) on April 19th, 2009)