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The Secret of the Sword, a review by Tom

The Secret of the Sword (1985/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia BCI Eclipse, Entertainment Rights (United States) Director: Ed Friedman, Lou Kachivas, Marsh Lamore, Bill Reed, Gwen Wetzler Writing: Larry Ditillio (Writer), Bob Forward (Writer) Length: 87 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles:

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Stars:
John Erwin as He-Man
Melendy Britt as She-Ra
Alan Oppenheimer as Skeletor
Linda Gary as Teela
George DiCenzo as Hordak

Plot:
For the honor of Grayskull! Experience the thrill, fantasy and excitement in the enchanted world of Etheria where She-Ra and her friends of The Great Rebellion battle the terrible Evil Horde to reclaim their once beautiful land from the hands of destruction!

This two-disc deluxe set comprises The Secret of the SwordExtras:

• Commentary
• Featurettes
• Scene Access
• Trailers

I was in the mood to watch something related to the He-Man franchise, so I decided to watch this theatrical movie send-off to the She-Ra series. Essentially this movie, even though it was released in theatres before the series aired, was cut together from the first five episodes of the He-Man spin-off series. In a campy sort of way I still enjoy watching it to this day. I am not ashamed to admit that I loved watching the He-Man and She-Ra series when I was young and that I still enjoy watching it.
This "pilot" is a good introduction to She-Ra and we also get to see a lot of the character from the He-Man series again. Too bad that the new He-Man series didn't survive long enough to have She-Ra appearing. I really would have like to see her updated look and origin story.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 3rd, 2011)

The Thomas Crown Affair, a review by RossRoy

Original Title: The Thomas Crown Affair Year: 1999 Country: United States Director: John McTiernan Rating: R Length: 113 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1, Pan & Scan 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround Subtitles: English, French

What they say
"Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo catch fire" ('USA Today') in this sizzling, suspense-filled thriller from the director of 'Die Hard' and 'The Hunt For Red October'.

Thrill-seeking billionaire Thomas Crown (Brosnan) loves nothing more than courting disaster -- and winning! So when his world becomes too stiflingly "safe," he pulls off his boldest stunt ever: stealing a priceless painting -- in broad daylight -- from one of Manhattan's most heavily-guarded museums. But his post-heist excitement soon pales beside an even greater challenge: Catherine Banning (Russo). A beautiful insurance investigator hired to retrieve the artwork, Catherine's every bit as intelligent, cunning 'and' hungry for adventure as he is. And just when Thomas realizes he's finally met his match, she skillfully leads him into a daring game of cat and mouse that's more intoxicating -- and dangerous -- than anything either of them has ever experienced before!

My Thoughts
I really didn't know what to watch tonight. I knew I felt like watching a movie, as opposed to playing games, but I was not in any particular mood. So what I did is I closed my eyes, and "felt" my way through my unwatched pile, and watched the movie on which my hand stopped. And so The Thomas Crown Affair it was.

So, what did I think of it? Well, I don't really know. I guess it wasn't what I was expecting. I don't know where I got that from, but I was expecting some sort of suspenseful thriller. What I got, is a thriller alright, but more a romantic thriller.

I loved the opening scene. Never having seen the original, I really didn't know what was going on. And to open on a heist to steal a painting, really sets the story in motion in a great way. Unfortunately, it kinda drags all the way through to the reveal of the painting's fate. Sure, there's a few highlights. The dance scene is nice, although both of them aren't really dancers. The sex scene is fun too, and I must say, while I never cared much for René Russo, she is strikingly beautiful in this movie. And no, I'm not saying this only because we see her topless a few times . But all in all, it is quite boring in my opinion. It plays too much like a romance movie sandwhiched between two action scenes.

You know, it could be the ultimate chick flick for boyfriend. Opens with a good action scene, develops the romance, closes on an action scene. With sex and nudity thrown in for good measure.

Thomas Crown is an OK movie, but not something I'll necessarily be eager to watch again.



edit:

I forgot to mention something. The soundtrack is awesome! The choice of the songs is wonderful. It might have something to do with the fact that it is very jazz oriented, and well, I love jazz. I even let the credits roll, twice, just to listen to the song (Windmill of Your Mind by Sting)



(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on May 26th, 2008)

Caroline in the City Marathon, a review by Tom

Caroline and the Opera (1995-11-09)
Writer: Marco Pennette, Fred Barron, Dottie Dartland, Carol Gary
Director: Tom Cherones
Cast: Lea Thompson (Caroline), Eric Lutes (Del), Malcolm Gets (Richard), Amy Pietz (Annie), Jean Stapleton (Mary Kosky), Peter Krause (Peter Welmering), Tom La Grua (Remo), Lauren Graham (Shelly)

Peter Krause (Sports Night, Six Feet Under) guest stars as a classmate from Caroline's old High School. She invites him to the opera because Del doesn't want to go. Del gets jealous and both men compete over Caroline.
A rather funny episode.



Caroline and the Balloon (1995-11-16)
Writer: Bill Prady
Director: Tom Cherones
Cast: Lea Thompson (Caroline), Eric Lutes (Del), Malcolm Gets (Richard), Amy Pietz (Annie), Florence Henderson (Herself), Lauren Graham (Shelly), Michael Burger ("Parade Announcer"), Maty Monfort ("Parade Announcer"), Joel Miller (Peter), Marlon Archey (Captain Markham), Brian Hargrove (Crowd Member)

Caroline has a balloon of her comic strip at the Thanksgiving parade and it gets loose.
Not a very good episode.
One thing that really bothered me:
I do not have anything against "stunt casting". I liked the cameo appearences of our beloved Friends and Frasier characters. But when they bring in a celebrity playing themselves and doing something which would never happen, I have a problem with it. Here, one of the characters is a big fan of the "Brady Family". So they convince Florence Henderson (Mrs. Brady) to come visit Caroline at her apartement to cheer her up. Like that would happen!



This finishes off the first disc of the set.

(From Caroline in the City Marathon on September 14th, 2008)