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Night Watch, a review by Tom

Title: Night Watch
Year: 2004
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Rating: 15
Length: 114 Min.
Video: Widescreen 1.85
Audio: Russian: Dolby Digital TrueHD, Russian: DTS 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Commentary, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
Konstantin Khabensky
Vladimir Menshov
Valery Zolotukhin
Maria Poroshina
Galina Tunina

Plot:
The forces of light and darkness have co-existed in a delicate balance for hundreds of years...until now. Even as the Night Watch polices the Dark Others - among them vampires, witches and shape-shifters - a chain of mysterious events triggers a dreaded, age-old prophecy: An immortal with special powers will come to switch sides, shattering the balance and unleashing an apocalyptic war unlike any the world has ever known!

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access

A well-done movie with an interesting story but which dragged on a little. I was surprised by the quality of the special effects.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on July 19th, 2009)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962), a review by Antares

The Manchurian Candidate





Year: 1962
Film Studio: United Artists, M.C. Productions
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Length: 126 Min.

Director
John Frankenheimer (1930)

Writing
Richard Condon (1915)...Novel
George Axelrod (1922)...Screenplay

Producer
George Axelrod (1922)
John Frankenheimer (1930)
Howard W. Koch (1916)

Cinematographer
Lionel Lindon (1905)

Music
David Amram (1930)...Composer

Stars
Frank Sinatra (1915) as Maj. Bennett Marco
Laurence Harvey (1928) as Raymond Shaw
Janet Leigh (1927) as Eugenie Rose Chaney
Angela Lansbury (1925) as Mrs. Iselin
Henry Silva (1928) as Chunjin
James Gregory (1911) as Sen. John Yerkes Iselin
Leslie Parrish (1935) as Jocelyn Jordan
John McGiver (1913) as Sen. Thomas Jordan

Review
       John Frankenheimer had spent his first decade as a director doing live dramas on television, most notably on Playhouse 90. His transition to mainstream film brought him quick acclaim following his success with The Birdman of Alcatraz. The Manchurian Candidate would prove that Frankenheimer would be a force to be reckoned with as a filmmaker and innovator over the next decade of his career. Based on the novel by Richard Condon, the plot revolves around a platoon of G.I.'s captured by the Communists during the Korean War. In a span of just one week they are brainwashed by a Chinese doctor, menacingly portrayed by Khigh Dhiegh, who is best remembered as the sinister Wo Fat from Hawaii 5-O. One of the soldiers (Laurence Harvey) has been programmed to kill on command and the platoon is returned to the front lines, with a pre-planted story to explain their disappearance for the previous week.

       After the war, Major Marco (Frank Sinatra) is having nightmares about the week in captivity, although he has no true memory of the brainwashing. He contacts Sergeant Shaw (Harvey) and learns that another soldier in the platoon has contacted Shaw about similar nightmares. Will Marco unravel the mystery before Shaw is triggered by his Communist handlers to perform the assassination that he has been programmed to complete? You'll have to watch the movie to find the answer.

       One interesting side note; this movie was released just one year before the assassination of President Kennedy, the one time Senator from Massachusetts. In one scene in the film, Shaw (Harvey) as the assassin is in Madison Square Garden prior to a political party convention. As he is walking across the convention floor with his hidden rifle, we can see the placards of the State delegations. It's a tracking shot of Shaw as he makes his way to complete his mission. Just as he passes below the Massachusetts placard and as the other state placards disappear from the shot, the scene changes. Was it prophetic or just coincidence?


Review Criterion4 Stars - Historically important film, considered a classic.

(From The Manchurian Candidate (1962) on July 1st, 2010)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season marathon, a review by Tom

08. Vick's Chip (2008-03-03)
Writer: Josh Friedman (Created By), Daniel T. Thomsen (Writer), James Cameron (Original Characters By), Gale Anne Hurd (Original Characters By)
Director: J. Miller Tobin
Cast: Lena Headey (Sarah Connor), Thomas Dekker (John Connor), Summer Glau (Cameron), Richard T. Jones (Agent James Ellison), Garret Dillahunt (Cromartie), Kristina Apgar (Cheri Westin), Edoardo Ballerini (Timms), Karina Logue (Barbara Chamberlain), Andre Royo (Sumner), Jonathan Sadowski (Sayles), Matt McColm (Vick Chamberlain), Luis Chavez (Morris), Brian Austin Green (Derek Reese), Bruno Amato (Gym Coach), Joshua Wolf Coleman (Clerk), Allen Evangelista (Doug), Aki Kotabe (Kendo), Tony Raymond Wilde (Eric Carlson)

I think we can make a drinking game with Derek's line "That's what they do" (while looking at Cameron).
"She lied" - "That's what they do"
"He killed her" - "That's what they do"


One of the things I didn't like about T2 is John's incredible hacking capabilites. And here they are doing it again. He was thrown eight years into the future, so he is new to current computers. And yet he can interface with a chip from the future and hack into the memory storage of the T-888 in a few minutes/hours, what even Cameron couldn't do.

Rating:

(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete First Season marathon on January 27th, 2009)