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Shutter Island, a review by Dragonfire

Shutter Island

(From Shutter Island on March 21st, 2010)

The Invisible Man, a review by Rogmeister

The Invisible Man (1933)
Director: James Whale
Cast: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, Una O'Connor, William Harrigan, E.E. Clive (plus a few "don't blink or you'll miss them" bits for John Carradine and Walter Brennan)

This is based on a novel by early science fiction writer H.G. Wells.  It is about a scientist who discovers a way to turn himself invisible...but he hasn't found an antidote and the chemicals he has given himself are driving him insane and he runs amuck in a British countryside village.  This is probably more science fiction than horror but I still enjoy watching it this time of year as the wintry landscape evokes a similar feel to some other classic scary movies though it doesn't quite reach that level, but Una O'Connor certainly gives us her best screaming fits.  I enjoyed the film a great deal and it's ironic that Claude Rains (in one of his earliest roles) is in the entire film without his face actually being seen...until the final shot. 

I decided to watch this as my first entry in this marathon since the leading lady is Gloria Stuart...who passed away just days ago at the age of 100.  She certainly looks nothing here like she did in her great come-back role as the older Rose in "Titanic".  She is young and vibrant, a perfect leading lady for such an early time.  I watched this via the Legacy Collection of The Invisible Man which includes 5 total films, four Invisible Man movies and one Invisible Woman film.  The picture and sound quality are first-rate and I highly recommend this film.  It's also a very short film...an hour and 11 minutes.  They don't make 'em that short anymore! 

(From 2010 October Horror Marathon (Discussion thread) on October 2nd, 2010)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Smallville: Season Seven
Year: 2007
Rating: NR
Length: 830 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Portuguese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai

Stars:
Tom Welling
Kristin Kreuk
Michael Rosenbaum
Allison Mack
Julian Glover

Plot:
There are two CLARK KENTs. One is the young man whose life in a tiny Kansas town sets him on destiny's path. The other is a BIZARRO show shares Clark's DNA but not his values. Only one of them can survive.

SUPERMAN mythology grows deeper and more powerful in an event-packed season that includes the arrival of Clark's cousin KARA/SUPERGIRL. Keep a low profile and master your powers, Clark says. Kara has other ideas. Plus: LANA LANG might prefer Bizarro to the real deal. LOIS LANE makes a career leap. CHLOE SULLIVAN finds that balancing a meteor power with a personal life isn't easy. And LEX LUTHOR's power-lust has a new fixation - Kara. New characters and complications. New secrets and lore. New thrills and special effects. Power up to Season 7!

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Scene Access

Overall I quite enjoyed this season. I liked the introduction of Kara. I hope she will be back at some point. But although I enjoyed this season, the story plot holes are getting bigger and bigger.

I haven't read anything about this season before going into it. So after having Supergirl enter the scene and having Dean Cain guest star (playing again a CK), I was thinking, that it would be really nice to finally see Kal-El's mother Lara portrayed by Helen Slater. A few episodes later, there she was

Also finally we got to see Pete again. But sadly it was in a weak episode.


There was one instance , I think it was in the episode "Lara", where I was really annoyed by one line. There we had Lara pulling out a hidden dagger in their home on Krypton, with her saying, that Jor-El is opposed to weapons but has always a dagger at home to be able to protect his family (or something along the line). This obvious reference to the Americans' thinking of having guns at home with this justification for some reason really bothered me. This "right to bear arms" sentiment is something I really do not like.
I am glad to be living in a country, where it is not common, that private persons are owning guns. I do not have the feeling, that I could be threatened with a gun when walking the streets, even less at my own home.
When I hear that there are planning to remake "Death Note" in Hollywood, I always have to think of the ending of the first "Death Note" movie.
But enough of this small rant

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on October 23rd, 2008)