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Deliverance, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Deliverance
Year: 1972
Director: John Boorman
Rating: R
Length: 109 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1, Pan & Scan 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: English, French

Stars:
Jon Voight
Burt Reynolds
Ned Beatty
Ronny Cox
Ed Ramey

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers
Featurettes
Production Notes
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
This is a movie that was recommended to me by several people over the years... but I never got the chance to pick it up. Then one day I got a package from a friend (Thanks Achim!) and there it was! And then it still took me quite a while to watch it.    While I have heard a lot of great things about this movie I tried not to go into it with high expectations... as that has ruined more then one movie on me in the past.

Watching this movie one word kept popping up in my mind... it says it all... that one word is WOW! This is really a powerful movie. A movie made in 1972... but you don't feel that age when watching it.  The only way I could really guess the age of this movie is by how young the main actors are. If these people were little known actors I wouldn't have guessed that this movie is a good 38 year old movie. So do not let the age of this movie stop you from checking it out! This movie has both man vs. nature as well as man vs man with the backwoods hillbillies that they have to face. I tell you... I am surprised at how much I enjoyed Deliverance. I mean I could almost watch this one again already! If that don't call for a full 5-star rating I don't know what does! Thanks again Achim!  And thank everyone (on all the sites I post this to) for the recommendation! 



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Anything Goes on January 3rd, 2010)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service, a review by Rich

On Her Majesty's Secret Service



When his usual intelligence sources fail, James Bond (Agent 007) enlists the aid of crime boss Draco to track down Ernst Stavro Blofeld, head of the evil SPECTRE organization. The trail leads to the mountains of Switzerland, where Bond goes undercover in Blofeld''s hi-tech headquarters. He encounters a bevy of seductive women, but none more beautiful than Draco''s daughter, Tracy, who wins 007 over with her fervent independence, caustic wit and love of adventure. Bond pledges his eternal devotion to her, but there are more immediate concerns: Blofeld is poised to unleash horrific germ warfare weaponry that will endanger every living thing on earth. Bond''s adventures hurl him through artillery-laden ski pursuits, and a dramatic avalanche drive

Unlike a stereotypical Bond, this was very close to the book, Lazenby was a bit one-dimensional but in a film with a gritty plot, actual spy work, emotions and vulnerability, it worked ok. Perhaps Georges downfall for his future as 007 was simply he isn't hard enough, he lacks a certain edge when it comes to physicality and presence.
Kojak is not Blofeld, I much preferred Donald Pleasance in that role. Diana Rigg a passable Bond girl.
This was back to basics with Bond having to save the world with wit, charm and intelligence, and very few gadgets to assist, which is in line with Flemings original book. The music is one of the better offerings in the whole series, and the stunts and effects do not suffer overly from dating. The dark ending I thought could have been worked better, and as we know we now have the next offering with Connerys return to avenge Blofeld.
 



(From Riches Random Reviews on March 9th, 2009)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

First I thought about a re-run of Smallville but I have watched this in the middle of last year and it's been a while since I've watched Stargate SG-1.

In order to watch Stargate SG-1, one has to watch Stargate first.



Kurt Russell ... Col. Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neil
James Spader ... Dr. Daniel Jackson
Alexis Cruz ... Skaara
Viveca Lindfors ... Catherine
Mili Avital ... Sha'uri
John Diehl ... Lieutenant Kawalsky
Leon Rippy ... General W.O. West
Erick Avari ... Kasuf
French Stewart ... Lieutenant Ferretti
Jaye Davidson ... Ra

Synopsis: Dr. Jackson is not very renowned in the scientific community. But he is convinced that the great pyramids weren't build during the fourth dynasty 5,000 years ago. He believes that they are much older. A digging back in 1928 confirms his suspicions: buried in the sands of Egypt under a great cover stone with unknown symbols - not hieroglyphs - the Door to Heaven Stargate was found. The Stargate is an ancient device to open an intergalactic connection to the planet Abydos. Dr. Jackson and Colonel Jack O'Neill (and a group of soldiers) go there. O'Neill's job is to evaluate the danger of the situation they are facing.

My Opinion: Unfortunately I haven't seen this movie in the theatres (I went to Star Trek: Generations instead). The idea that alien cultures have been to Earth and have had an influence isn't new, but it was interestingly presented. I also liked that the Abydosians really spoke abydosian (a variant of ancient egyptian) and not just english. The fights were very well choreographed, too, I didn't have the feeling that the weapons of the humans were a match to the ones of Ra's.

To adopt the story for the series they had to make some adjustments (this contains spoilers in regard to the pilot of the series):

• In the movie, Ra is portrayed as the last of his kind, in the series he is one System Lord amongst many - although the most powerful one
• In the movie, Ra is no Goa'uld, his alien body looks totally different
• In the movie, Abydos is in another galaxy, in the series it's the planet closest to Earth
• In the movie, the Stargate is a point-to-point connection to Abydos, in the series it's one in a great network of Stargates
• Ra's Jaffa (who aren't called Jaffa in the movie) don't have an abdomen pouch in which they carry a Goa'uld larva (the term Goa'uld is also an invention of the series)

Additionally one has to activate one's "suspension of disbelief" even more than in the movie, because:

• On most planets the people speak english, no explanation is given (Universal Translator in Star Trek, Translator Microbes in Farscape)
• Most planets look like canadian forrests
• On some planets are earth-like cultures that developed only after the gate was buried
• We never see normal Goa'ulds, they are either rulers or at least scientists, but the huge number of Gua'uld larvae in the Jaffa have to result in a much larger Goa'uld population

Now we can get started ...



(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on February 29th, 2008)