DVD Collectors Online

Wyatt Earp, a review by Rogmeister

Wyatt Earp
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Music by James Newton Howard

Interestingly, this movie and another movie about Wyatt Earp called Tombstone both hit the big screen within a year or so of each other...maybe they both came out the same year...I'm not real sure.  But becasue they were released so quickly together, many people compared them together which may be an unfortunate thing.  I've yet to see the other film so I won't do that.  Unlike Tombstone, which I assume concentrates on one part of Wyatt Earp's career, this film (which was originally planned to be a TV mini-series and later turned into a feature film when director Kasdan came aboard.  Perhaps the span was too great for one film...it certainly is a long one, beginning when WSyatt was a teenager and ending a bit after the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (with a tacked-on finale with Wyatt in his later years following the Alaskan Gold Rush.  This film stars Kevin Costner as Wyatt with a terrific performance by Dennis Quaid as Doc Holiday who lost a lot of weight t play the ill doctor who was suffering from tuberculosis.  There's a lot of familiar names in this film from Isabella Rosselini (as Big-Nose Kate) to Tom Skerritt.  It's got some great photography and a great score and I can't complain about the direction.  But I do think the film is a bit long and includes perhaps too much.  Among the extras, in fact, are even more scenes that didn't make the final cut...here they call them "lifted" rather than deleted scenes for some reason.  There are also some other extras including a documentary and TV special.  My one gripe about the DVD is they divide the movie over 2 discs...at one point you have to take Disc 1 out and put in Disc 2 to continue watching the film.  But while I do think the film includes too wide a sweep, I must say I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would since I had read a few not-so-great reviews of this film.  This isn't the best Wyatt Earp film around but I did enjoy it.

(From Roger's Ongoing Westerns Marathon on December 20th, 2009)

Død snø, a review by Achim

(2009/Norway) E1 Entertainment (United Kingdom) Director: Tommy Wirkola Writing: Tommy Wirkola (Writer), Stig Frode Henriksen (Writer) Length: 88 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: Norwegian: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: English

---

Stars:Plot:
With a car packed full of ski equipment and enough beer to fuel their escape from everyday life eight medical students head out on their Easter vacation.

Isolated in the snowy hills the group begins to realize they came to the wrong resort, as deep in the hills lay an unthinkable evil.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• Featurettes

I had a lot of fun with this one. My friend and I were enjoying that this Norwegian film did not use the same patterns an American film would have used, which in whole made it feel fresh. my friend did however complain about the unrealistic use of the human anatomy, especially that of intestines (he is a surgeon...). There are a few laughs in this, as well as a sufficient amount of gore. So, while obviously not a masterpiece of a film, it is great fun for that Saturday night with some friends over.

Rating:

(From The Movies from Within My Lifetime on August 7th, 2011)

Babylon 5: Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: A Centauri agricultural colony is attacked by the Narns and taken over. The head researcher of the Centauri happens to be the nephew of Centauri embassador Londo Mollari and the Narn have no intention of giving the colony back. Meanwhile unarmed transports are raided by people who seem to know exactly when and where a transport will be.

My opinion: This episode is somewhat of a second pilot. While it doesn't introduce the station or the characters it sets certain things in order and makes changes to the staff and the appearence of certain aliens (e.g. Delenn, the Minbari ambassador). It also introduces the concept of a primary and a secondary storline to this show, a concept that many of the following episodes will use, too.
It's not that great an episode but it shows the mutual hatred between the Narn and their former oppressors, the Centauri. But I loved Lt. Cmdr. Susan Ivanova from the start and while Lt. Cmdr. Takashima (from the Pilot) was ok, Susan seems much more powerful from the beginning.


Synopsis: An alien unknown to mankind "stumbles" through the jump gate and lands himself in the infirmary. To other aliens his kind is known as Soul Hunters because they catch the soul of people the moment they're dying. And this particular Soul Hunter has come for a certain ambassador.

My opinion: I liked this episode because it discussed the different belives of what happens to a soul when the body is dying. And everyone was certain that his/her concept alone was to be the correct one and than one should act accordingly.
I also liked the hints that Delenn is hiding something from Sinclair and the first mention of Dukhat, although the events leading to his demise are not revealed yet.


Synopsis: Londo falls in love with a Centauri exotic dancer and doen'st care much about his duties as ambassador of the Centauri Republic. Meanwhile someone uses illegaly the high priority communication channels known as "Gold Channel" and security chief Michael Garibaldi is determined to find him or her.

My opinion: I really liked the insight of the Centauri society because it showed that the Republic is more like an aristocracy with houses and titles and slaves. I also liked. We also learn more about Ivanova and that she is russian. OK, since Star Trek's Chekov this is no new concept but I was always a fan of the idea that not every human in space is of american origin.


Synopsis: Babylon 5 has its second birthday and Sinclair is trying to evade from a InterStellar Network (ISN) News reporter. But more danger to the station are some artefacts from a world long dead and the realization that not one person of a species is a pure being of that species.

My opinion: I love enemies who mus be defeated in the great Star Trek tradition of "talk them to death". While ST often used it on computers and confused them with logic, it works with bio weapons, too. And we learn that there are deserted worlds and civilisations long gone and the earth company InterPlanetary eXpiditions (IPX) sponsors such expiditions.

(From Babylon 5: Marathon on August 4th, 2007)