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A Very Brady Christmas, a review by addicted2dvd

A Very Brady Christmas
Mike and Carol Brady decide to spend their savings on bringing their kids and relatives in for the holidays, but the kids are having their own problems: Greg (now a doctor) has to make the trip alone since his wife Nora is spending the holidays with her family; Peter is embarrassed to bring his girlfriend home since she is his boss; Bobby is hiding the fact that he dropped out of business grad school to race cars; Marcia's husband, Wally, has been laid off from his job at Tyler Toys; Jan and stuffy husband Phillip are separating; and Cindy is tired of the fact that mom and dad can't respect her as a grown woman. Just another day in the life of the Bradys.

My Thoughts:
For some reason I like the Brady Bunch reunion movies more then I do the actual series. This one in particular. For some reason this movie gets me in the mood for Christmas. Something that has been difficult for me the past several years. Seeing a large family celebrating Christmas of my childhood Holidays where I was the youngest child of a large family. It was fun to see most of the cast back after all the years that past. The reunion movies in this complete series set is the main reason I bought the complete series set... instead of the individual seasons. Since that is the only way to get them.


Totals:
Christmas Movies: 1
Christmas Episodes: 4

(From Addicted2DVD's 25 Days of Christmas Marathon on December 3rd, 2009)

Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story, a review by KinkyCyborg

Title:Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story
Year: 2003
Director: Lawrence Schiller
Rating: R
Length: 122 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
William Hurt
Mary-Louise Parker
David Strathairn
Ron Silver
Hilit Pace

Plot:
Journey into the world of high-stakes espionage with the gripping true-life tale of Robert Hanssen, the respected FBI agent who betrayed his family, his religion and his country. William Hurt captivates as the daring traitor who sells America nuclear secrets to the KGB - entering into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse that could cost him his life.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Closed Captioned


I didn't clue in right away when I put in Master Spy : The Robert Hanssen Story that it was another retelling of the same story found in the movie Breach with Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillipe. This movie focused on the man himself and the demons he was battling while Breach was all about the attempts to capture the spy and traitor to his country.

William Hurt perfectly plays the role of Robert Hanssen, a man who lives a double life of a devout Christian husband, father and also his secret life of informant to the Russian KGB coupled with deviant sexual behavior. It was amazing to watch how this man so deftly flew under the radar for more than 15 years, delivering some of America's most sensitive secrets to the Russians with no one even coming close to suspecting him. It finally took the collapse of the Russian state and the dismantling of the former KGB to finally point a finger in his direction.

While I found this movie to drag at times it provided a much more insightful look into the man's life. It certainly lacked the high octane thrills of Breach but I'd still recommend it as a good watch.


Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on May 25th, 2010)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Lois Lane comes to Smallville to find out who killed her cousin but then she finds a guy in a field who doesn't know who he his. Jonathan Kent lies in a hospital bed and is brain-dead. Lana is still in Paris and has a new boyfriend. Lionel is still in jail, waiting for his trial. And Lex - who has survived the attempt to poison him - travels around the world to find objects that are connected to the symbols in the Kawatche cave.

My Opinion: Sorry, but that went a bit too fast. Within half an hour Kal-El was Clark again. I am sure that if the writers really wanted to, this could have been an arc that lasted at least 4 episodes, even more. Just because it was a cliffhanger doesn't mean it has to be resolved in the very first episode of the new season.
But I like the arrival of Lois, she is refreshingly blunt. And I liked the appearance of Margot Kidder (Lois Lane in the Superman movies), especially her remark regarding Dr. Swann and a "former life". She's now the third person from the movies to appear in the series (Annette O'Toole [Lana Lang in Superman III, now Martha Kent] was obviously the first).

Synopsis: After they've found out that Chloe's grave is empty, Clark and Lois investigate her disappearance, but there are several obstacles: For one, Lois's father is a three-star General who doesn't want his daughter digging into that mystery. Secondly, he is in league with Lex. And thirdly, there's a T-1000 meteor freak who works for Lionel and wants to kill Chloe for real this time. And Lana has returned to Smallville.

My Opinion: That was a really obvious Terminator 2 rip-off, especially with the end. But I still liked it, the scenes in the Kent house were really funny. Lois's great advantage is, that she has no history whatsoever with Clark. For her, he's simply "Smallville".

Synopsis: Clark is now in his senior year at high school and he's trying out for the football team against the wishes of his father (again). The new assistant coach is none other than Lana's new boyfriend. It's a relationship they must keep hidden because he could get fired for it. But there's something else that has changed: A student nicknamed "Scabby Abby" is now a real beauty but when she kisses people they get delusional and land in the hospital. While Lois is stuck at Smallville High (she needs a few additional points to get accepted to the university) she helps Chloe and Clark to investigate.

My Opinion: The bitter irony of that episode is in my opinion, that Erica Durance (Lois) has had a "boob job" because someone convinced her that she would have better chances to get a job afterwards.
That aside it was a decent FotW episode.

Synopsis: The cheerleaders of Smallville High are using meteor rocks to create a love potion. When the football team drinks of it they all become aboulic slaves with the exception of Clark who gets ill from it. Chloe drinks from it, too, and soonafter a new cheerleading star is born.

My Opinion: This was a very funny episode, especially the parts where Chloe hits on Clark and where Clark had to pretend that we was under the love spell. I had a great time.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on June 1st, 2008)