DVD Collectors Online

The Haunted Mansion, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: The Haunted Mansion
Movie Count:  12
TV Ep. Count:  3
Other Count:  2
Time Started:  1:30pm

Plot:
From the studio that brought you Pirates Of The Caribbean...here's the fright-filled comedy adventure loaded with hair-raising laughs and eye-popping special effects! Eddie Murphy (Daddy Day Care) stars as a real estate agent whose family comes face to face with 999 grim, grinning ghosts in the creepy old Gracey Manor! Now, with the help of supernatural psychic Madame Leota (Jennifer Tilly - Liar, Liar), they must hilariously battle to break the mansion of its age-old curse...and do it before the clock strikes 13!

My Thoughts:
I felt in the mood for something more lighthearted and fun today (usually the case after seeing mother's doctor). I decided to pick The Haunted Mansion since it has been a long time since I seen it. It is definitely not the best ghost movie I ever seen... but what it is... is a fun way to spend 90min. If you are looking for scares you need to look elsewhere. But it is a good movie for the whole family to watch.



(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2009 on October 5th, 2009)

Village of the Damned, a review by addicted2dvd

Village of the Damned
From the master of suspense, John Carpenter, comes a chilling new version of the sci-fi classic. Something is terribly wrong in the tiny village of Midwich. After an unseen force invades a quiet coastal town, ten women mysteriously find themselves pregnant. Local physician Dr. Alan Chaffee (Christopher Reeve) and government scientist Dr. Susan Verner (Kirstie Alley) join forces when the women simultaneously give birth...and the reign of terror begins. In what the New York Times calls "one scarifying trip," the people of Midwich must try and find a way to stop the children in the Village of the Damned.

My Thoughts:
This is another movie I have not seen in many years. A remake of a classic horror that I never seen. But going by this remake I would like to. I mean... I have seen better then this one. It really is slightly above average in my opinion. But I would have to think that as usual the original would be better then the remake. One problem I have with this movie... and it really is my own personal problem... is that I still have a hard time seeing Christopher Reeve in any role other then Superman. I also didn't care much for Kristie Alley in this movie. But I do definitely feel this is a good "evil kid" movie.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: 5/22 - 5/24 on May 24th, 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)