DVD Collectors Online

Blade, a review by Jon

Blade
4 out of 5



Blade (Wesley Snipes) is a half-human, half-vampire, the "Daywalker", waging war on a secret society of vampires with help from Whistler (Kris Kristofferson). He rescues a doctor from a vampire attack and her skills with blood may help find Blade a new serum against the thirst that tortures him. Meanwhile Frost (Stephen Dorff) is trying to bring about a vampire apocalypse...

When great comic book based movies are discussed, somehow Blade always gets forgotten. And it really isn't fair because it still holds up as one of the best. The story format of a martial artist vigilante with cool weapons and a faithful (if foul-mouthed!) assistant could be seen as a Batman clone and the style is very much like Nolan's two films. In fact, Christian Bale could do worse than throw in a couple of Blade's lines, because the tone is no less serious, but the dialogue certainly lightens it. And interesting that it came out a year before The Matrix. It matches that film for coolness and bares comparison with the plot (chosen one, prophecy). They certainly go to the same tailor, all black leather and sunglasses, and buy similar CDs, but surely a year is too tight to accuse the Wachowski's of ripping it off? But the likeness is uncanny, especially when Blade tells Karen the world she knows is a "sugar-coated topping" hiding the "real world". Actually, no, if they did copy it, The Matrix would have been far more entertaining with less po-faced exposition...

Because Blade is coldly lit, sombre and dark, but very entertaining with solid action throughout. The ending is silly and stretches the CGi past breaking point, but up to that point the plot produces some wonderful set-pieces and Norrington has a great eye for imagery; the "Blood Bath" opening, the freaky oracle vampire, the library, etc. You can see why it would attract Guillermo Del Toro to the sequel. Some criticise the villain, but I though Stephen Dorff did a good enough job and he is at least supported by a gang straight out of an 80s action thriller (and that's no bad thing). All the characters are memorable, especially Kristofferson's cranky old Whistler. The fights and lightly used gore also make this one of the last properly successful comic book films for adults.

Stephen Norrington really couldn't have done much better and I find it odd that he would go on to direct the pathetic League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which doesn't have any subtlety at all, and was such a bad experience he exiled himself. He is apparently working on a new version of The Crow and on this evidence it's an excellent idea. I look forward to smacking people in the face with my Blade DVD when they make the inevitable accusations that he's ripping off The Dark Knight!

(From Jon's Marathon of Horror! 2009 on October 4th, 2009)

Bringing Out the Dead, a review by addicted2dvd

Bringing Out the Dead
From acclaimed director Martin Scorsese ('Casino', 'Taxi Driver') comes one of his most compelling and unforgettable movies. Nicolas Cage stars as Frank Pierce, a paramedic on the brink of madness from too many years of saving and losing lives. One fateful night, Frank meets Mary Burke (Patricia Arquette), the daughter of a man Frank tried to save. Together, Frank and Mary confront the ghosts of the past, and discover that redemption can be found among the living. Co-starring John Goodman, Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore.

TV Star:
Patricia Arquette (Allison Dubois on Medium)
John Goodman (Dan Connor on Roseanne)

My Thoughts:
This is the first time I ever saw this movie. John Goodman had a fairly small role in this movie... but Patricia Arquette was in the entire film. It was a decent drama with a touch of weird. Not a bad watch... but not something I can see myself watching very often as it is a pretty depressing movie.

(From Weekend Movie Marathon: TV Stars in Movies on March 15th, 2008)

Death Note anime/manga/movies comparison, a review by Tom

10. Doubt

L and Light play tennis and try to size up each other. Light tries to find a way to get onto the investigation team without rising the suspicion that he might be Kira. But L beats him in this regard and plainly tells him that he suspects him, but wants him on the team nonetheless. If he isn't Kira, he would be a great help on the investigation. If he is Kira, he might trip up and reveal himself.
Light's father has a conversation with the chief of the police, where the chief wants to know the identity of L and Light's father refuses to tell him.
Light's father gets an heart attack but it turns out to be only fatigue.
At the end a television studio gets some tapes which are asked to be played on the air.

This episode covers the manga chapters 20-22. Essentially the same things happen except that the manga elaborates more.

In the movies, the tennis match was replaced by a chess game where both size up each other. The heart attack of the father probably inspired the ending of the second movie. The way that Light gets on the team is also much different. Essentially the whole ending of the first movie is an elaborate plan by Light to defuse the suspicion from him by letting his girlfriend be killed by Kira. He also uses it as reasoning to get on the team to "find" the killer of his girlfriend. L reveals to Light non-verbally that he suspects him being Kira by eating a special brand of chips in front of him. The same kind of chips Light used to hide the Death Note while writing down names while he was being survaillanced.
Also in the movies Light's father visits the chief of police and also a television studio gets tapes to play.

(From Death Note anime/manga/movies comparison on January 17th, 2012)