DVD Collectors Online

Broken Lance, a review by Antares

Broken Lance (1954) 3.5/5 - This was a pleasant little surprise of a western. You don't think of Spencer Tracy when you talk about sagebrush cinema, but he does a good job playing a cattle baron who is double crossed by three of his four sons, whom he signs away the deed to his ranch to, to avoid a lawsuit from a mining company. In some ways the story kind of has a King Lear motif going for it, but as opposed to the brothers turning on each other, the fourth brother comes back from prison seeking revenge on them. I was also surprised at how good Robert Wagner was as the vengeful half breed brother. It's easy to forget that he started out as a matinee idol back in the early fifties, especially when you consider all those banal TV shows he did in the 70's and 80's. If you ever get a chance to watch this film, keep an eye out towards the end for what has to be the luckiest stunt man in the history of film. In the last ten minutes of the film, two of the brothers are fighting on an outcropping of rocks. One of the brothers is shot and falls from a boulder about 40 feet above a river. The stunt man who does this fall, just misses a huge boulder in the river by about a foot and a half. I had to rewind it a couple of times, because I couldn't believe how lucky this guy was. I sure hope he got paid well for that jump.

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 24th, 2012)

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, a review by Danae Cassandra

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Year of Release: 2009
Directed By: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Starring: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Cambell, Mr. T
Genre: Comedy, Animation

Overview:
When Flint Lockwood's (Bill Hader) latest contraption accidentally destroys the town square and rockets up into the clouds, he thinks his inventing career is over. Then, something amazing happens as delicious cheeseburgers start raining from the sky. His machine actually works! But when people greedily ask for more and more food, the machine starts to run amok, unleashing spaghetti tornadoes and giant meatballs that threaten the world! Now it's up to Flint, with the help of weather girl Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) and Steve, his talking monkey assistant, to find some way to shut down the machine before the world is covered in super-sized meatballs!

My Thoughts:
This was an entertaining and funny movie. The animation is great, it's bright, vividly colorful, and super sharp, absolutely perfect for the subject. The characters are interesting and quirky, even the minor ones have a little something to set them apart. Not only is it amusing and inventive, it also has quite a few good points to make - about over-consumption, waste, and how being smart is undervalued. It's also a good father/son film, and would likely look spectacular in 3D. Recommended for any fan of animation or anyone with kids. Lots and lots of fun.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 3/5

(From Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs on June 7th, 2014)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: The ambassadors of China, the United Kingdom and France have been invited to the Pentagon. There they learn about the Stargate program. But Senator Kinsey is also present and he wants to persuade the ambassadors to give the NID control over the Stargate program.

My Opinion: Now alle the permanent members of the UN Security Council know about the Stargate. Interesting about this episode was that no member of SG-1 (past or present) made a live appearance. Everything was presented as flashbacks. If you wanted to see a SG team, you'd have to imagine General Hammond, Major Davis, Colonel Checkov and Thor as a SG team.
But the best scene was when Thor corrects Senator Kinsey and insists that he isn't just a Commander but the Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet.
But you haven't missed anything if you didn't watch it.

Synopsis: SG-1 discovers a crashed spaceship and its crew, but is soon attacked by other aliens. Sam wants to repair the ship to learn more about it but the crew isn't who they claim to be.

My Opinion: The episode wasn't bad, especially because SG-1 has learned from past experiences not to judge too quickly, who the "good guys" and who the "bad guys" are.
But what I found more interesting was to read the name Dion Johnstone once again. Dion was the black "Jaffa" in Rules of Engagement. After that he played the Unas Chaka, the Goa'uld Na'onak (Apophis's alter ego on the hell moon, probably to avoid the mentioning of Peter Williams's name in the opening sequence and thus spoiling the punch line), Lt. Tyler in The Fifth Man and just recently in Metamorphosis. In this episode he played the Captain of the Sebrus. It reminds me a bit of Wayne Alexander who played Sebastian (Jack the Ripper) and Lorien as well as a Narn, a Drazi and a Drakh in Babylon 5. However, both actors wore masks in most of their roles thus avoiding to challenge the suspension of disbelief.

Synopsis: Teal'c has weird dreams, although he usually doesn't dream at all. He dreams that he is a firefighter. But he has to leave soon for an important mission but these dreams prevent him from having a proper Kel'no'reem. The firefighter with the nickname "T" has weird dreams. He dreams that he belongs to a team that visits other planets. But he has to undergo an important surgery soon, he gives one of his kidneys to his stepfather Brae.

My Opinion: Great episode. To see all the guys (and gal) as firefighters was interesting. Sometimes it reminded me of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Far Beyond the Stars. But as I said, I like out-of-character episodes. This wasn't even a real out-of-character episode because all people behaved as they would normally do - except that they were firefighters.

Synopsis: During a training flight with the Prometheus the hyperlight drive had to be jettisoned in the orbit of a planet where it explodes. Unfortunately the planet has no Stargate and without the hyperlight drive the travel would take ages.

My Opinion: An picture that is shown on Stargate (both in SG-1 or Atlantis) is that alien cultures can be as paranoid as we are. And that this paranoia can lead to actions that make more damage than they prevent. Unfortunately politicians on our planet don't seem to watch Sci-Fi shows. Instead they are creating more security laws and are thereby taking our freedom. Fortunately there was a politican that wasn't short-sighted (that's the reason why they call it "fiction").

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on April 13th, 2008)