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The Hunger Games, a review by GSyren

Title	The Hunger Games (7-332421-042370)
Director	Gary Ross
Actors	Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Jennifer Lawrence, Willow Shields, Liam Hemsworth
Produced	2012 in United States
Runtime	142 minutes
Audio	English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, English DTS 5.1
Subtitles	Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Overview
My thoughts	I've been holding off watching The Hunger Games, but now that the sequel is playing in cinemas I thought it was time to watch it. And quite surprisingly I actually liked it a little bit better than Battle Royale. It's long (well, so is Battle Royale, but this is 20 minutes longer) and it has lot of CGI. Those are two things that usually put me off. I think the reason I liked it better than BR is that I came to this one with very low expectations, while the opposite was true for BR. I liked Jennifer Lawrence. I had seen her before in X-Men: First Class, but she didn't make much impression there. She did now. I was never very impressed by Josh Hutcherson, and I'm still not, but I didn't think he actually hurt the movie. I usually like Stanley Tucci (especially in Undercover Blues), but the Flickerman character was just a little too much for me. I'm actually confused as to why I didn't hate this movie. Everything indicates that I should have. I can only attribute it to me having a good day and very low expectations.
My rating	3 out of 5

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on December 5th, 2013)

The Bad Sleep Well, a review by Antares

Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru





Year: 1960
Film Studio: Toho, Janus Films
Genre: Drama, Suspense/Thriller
Length: 151 Min.

Director
Akira Kurosawa (1910)

WritingProducer
Akira Kurosawa (1910)
Tomoyuki Tanaka (1910)

Cinematographer
Yuzuru Aizawa

MusicStarsReview
       This film, for me, is the greatest argument for having movies shown in the true aspect ratio in which they were created by the director. I first watched this film in the late nineties on VHS in the dreaded Pan and Scan rendition, and I did not like it. Years went by and I waited for its eventual release on DVD in its original aspect ratio of 2:35 to 1, so I could see if this was the antidote to my displeasure with the film so many years ago. And lo and behold, upon a second viewing of the film in a widescreen format, my first assessment turned out to be way off the mark. No longer did I view it as overly-long, stilted and uneven, but an engrossing and rich melodrama from one of the most celebrated and creative directors in cinema history, Akira Kurosawa. There has never been another director as adept at framing actors, scenery and narrative action across the broad area of the screen as Kurosawa. And thus, when portions of the film are excised to accommodate the resizing needed for viewing on conventional televisions, the film takes on the appearance of an abridged Cliffs notes version, devoid of substance.

       The Bad Sleep Well
       While I shy away from rating this film with five stars, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes taut suspenseful drama. If you are new to the films of Akira Kurosawa, this may be too dry and unapproachable to the novice Kurosawa fan. Try out some of his more accessible films such as Seven Samurai and Yojimbo first, and then give this one a chance. Once you are anointed to the genius of his filmmaking, this will be a treasure waiting to be discovered.



Ratings Criterion
- The pinnacle of film perfection and excellence.
- Not quite an immortal film, yet a masterpiece in its own right.
- Historically important film, considered a classic.
- Borderline viewable.
- A gangrenous and festering pustule in the chronicles of celluloid.


(From Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru (The Bad Sleep Well) (1960) on April 20th, 2010)

Babylon 5: Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Cmdr. Sinclair has been re-assigned, Garibaldi is still comatose, Delenn is still in her cocoon and Babylon 5 gets a new commander: Captain John Sheridan, amongst the Minbari known as "Starkiller", because he destroyed their flag ship - the Drala Fi (Black Star) - in the war. And now a renegade Minbari war cruiser takes course to Babylon 5.

My opinion: The new season starts as powerful as the last season ended. While I liked Sinclair, Sheridan seems much more powerful as a station commander. And we finally learn why the Minbari ended the war. I especially liked the speech of Sheridan in front of - no one.


Synopsis: G'Kar has returned from his search and reports from a great ancient enemy who has returned after a thousand years and he believes that this foe is responsible for the destruction of the Narn base in quadrant 37. Meanwhile Dr. Franklin heals Garibaldi by using the alien healing device we've seen in the previous year and Anna Sheridan - Cpt. Sheridan's sister - visitis the station. And Delenn has left the cocoon!

My opinion: Without knowing Garibaldi Sheridan decides to give his own life power to heal him, I liked that a lot. And we learn about the loss of his wife, who died on an IPX expidition on the Rim. But at least the traitor has been apprehended. But Londo drifts deeper and deeper in the maelstrom of his destiny. And finally, Delenn has been transformed into a beautiful being!


Synopsis: The Techno Mages are leaving for the Rim and don't intend to return because they feel a dark force rising. But Londo wants to meet with them because it would be a powerful symbol to his people. Meanwhile Ivanova has to "negoiate" between the "purple" and the "green" fraction of the Drazi who are fighting over leadership.

My opinion: Ivanova says our flags have meanings whereas the colors of the Drazi are totally random but I tend to disagree. A flag is nowadays a symbol for a country. In earlier days it was the clan or the colors of the local lord. They only showed alliegience but for most of the people who fought and died it made no difference on which side they fought because they were forced to and often one side wasn't an inch better than the other. Even nowadays for most people the color of the flag is set by the birth place. Therfore it's not entirley true that our flags aren't random.But i liked the episode because it showed how stupid it is to fight over flags or colors.
The Techno Mage wasn't that interesting except for the dialog between Elric and Londo at the departure.


Synopsis: A huge earth explorer ship arrives at Babylon 5 and refills their supplies. When it re-enters Hyperspace there is an accident and the ship drifts aways from the marked routes and may get lost. The station's Starfurys try to find and rescue it.

My opninion: I think we've seen the Hyperspace for the first time in the show. Yes we've seen ships entering and leaving but not being in Hyperspace. Except from that it was an OK episode, nothing world-shaking.

Quote of the episode:
Sheridan: "If the primates that we came from had known that someday politicians would come out of the gene pool they'd have stayed up in the trees and written evolution off as a bad idea!"

(From Babylon 5: Marathon on August 6th, 2007)