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The Mummy (1932), a review by RossRoy

Original Title: The Mummy Year: 1932 Country: United States Director: Karl Freund Rating: NR Length: 75 Min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo, English: Dolby Digital Mono Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

What they say
Boris Karloff's stellar performance as Im-Ho-Tep in the 1932 version of The Mummy is a landmark in screen history. A British archaeology team accidentally revives former high priest Im-Ho-Tep, nearly 4,000 years after he was embalmed alive. Finally free, he sets out to find his lost love, a vestal virgin sacrificed in a ritual. Powerful and mesmerizing, Im-Ho-Tep is unstoppable and terrifying in this brooding horror masterpiece. As The New York Times noted, "It begs description...One of the most unusual talkies ever produced."

My Thoughts
Continuing my Classic Monster theme. Again, this follows the same formula as Dracula. It establishes itself, and then ever so slowly builds up to the climax. The Mummy makeup is well done, but a little too soft IMO. I mean, Im-Ho-Tep had been rotting away for 3700 years, yet he looks like he is in his fifties at most. I'm not saying they shoud have shown rotting flesh and all, but they could've made him just a tad more wrinkly. But that very minor in the grand scheme of things in the movie. Karloff is effective portraying a menacing individual who will stop at nothing to gain what he wants.

One thing though, is it just me, or does it follow the exact same path as Dracula? Reveal the monster, move the story to a more modern setting, mind control the pretty lady, kill off whoever may get in the way, be killed by Dr Van Helsing...... oh sorry, I mean Dr. Muller (both are played by Edward Van Sloan)?

I still liked the movie, but something's missing. It's like the movie lacks that little spark that would've made it all tick. I don't know, the movie was enjoyable, but not quite as chilling as it could've been.



(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on October 13th, 2008)

Jodhaa Akbar, a review by dfmorgan

Jodhaa Akbar

Year: 2008
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonu Sood


Overview: Jodhaa Akbar is a sixteenth century epic romance about a marriage of alliance that gave birth to true love between the greatest Muslim Mughal Emperor that rules Hindustan (now India), Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar , and the fiery young Hindu Rajput Princess, Jodhaa.

The film stars Hrithik Roshan as Emperor Akbar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Princess Jodhaa.


Watched: 13th/14th Jul. 2010
My Thoughts: Following Asoka and Black this is my third Bollywood film, the second one full blown with song and dance. An immensely enjoyable experience although I couldn't watch it in one sitting, my own fault as I didn't start until 21:30ish on the 13th and at 214mins it wouldn't have finished until 01:00ish. Putting aside the song and dances, there were only 5 or 6 not sure if that is the average, this was a very enjoyable historical drama/romance. There were some decent battle scenes but I wasn't too sure about the sizes of the armies and the distances and locations that they fought in.

My Rating: A very enjoyable 4

Dave


(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on July 14th, 2010)

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

3. The House Always Wins
Original Air Date: 10/20/2002
Angel, Fred and Gunn take a road trip to Las Vegas to enlist Lorne's help in finding Cordelia, but get caught up in a supernatural and literal "futures" trading scheme. A ruthless casino owner holds Lorne hostage, exploiting the popular entertainer's psychic abilities to steal unsuspecting patrons' destinies. It is Angel's future, however, that is of more interest...

Guest Stars:
Clayton Rohner
Morocco Omari

My Thoughts:
A fun episode... but not quite as good as the previous couple. I noticed there was a commentary track for this episode with the guy that plays Lorne. So I watched it both with and without the commentary. As I said... I enjoyed the episode without the commentary. And while always fun for me to watch an episode with an actor commentary on... this one really added very little. I definitely heard better commentaries.

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on March 16th, 2010)