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Centurion, a review by Achim

Centurion (2010)

I watched Centurion at the cinema today. It tells the story of a Legion of Roman Soldiers (they mention that that's about 3000) pushing north in England and being decimated by a group of Picts (early Scots...?). A small group of survivors (7) will have to find a way back south before the scouts of the Picts find and kill them. Before that, however, they want to go rescue their captured general.

Based on a true legend (my words, not theirs) the film is much slower than I had expected from a Neil Marshall film. There is a couple of scenes where he used buckets of blood and gore, some of it is concealed with fast cutting though. Somehow the film failed to properly get me emotionally close to the main character(s), which made the final "battle" less involving than it should have been. A story worth telling for sure, not sure if it will grant repeated viewings though.



(From DCO fourth Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on July 2nd, 2010)

Relentless, a review by Achim

Relentless (1989/United States) (United States) Director: William Lustig Writing: Phil Alden Robinson (Writer) Length: 92 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Stars:
Judd Nelson as Arthur 'Buck' Taylor
Robert Loggia as Bill Malloy
Leo Rossi as Sam Dietz
Meg Foster as Carol Dietz
Patrick O'Bryan as Todd Arthur

Plot:
A sadistic serial killer holds Los Angeles in the grip of unspeakable fear in this hard-hitting action-thriller.

Rejected from the police force on psychological grounds, Buck Taylor (Judd Nelson) exacts revenge by committing a string of brutal murders and taunting the LAPD. The only clues are pages torn from a telephone book and victims who appear to have somehow participated in their own deaths. But when a brash rookie detective (Leo Rossi) pairs up with a cynical veteran (Robert Loggia) to track down the killer, the cat-and-mouse game ends in a deadly fight to the finish.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• Closed Captioned

Probably the most mainstream film by William Lustig that I know. While not a masterpiece, this is a solid thriller but with some turns in the story line that sets it apart from similar films of the same era. I was surprised by the amount of well known actors (mostly by face not necessarily by name) this movie had to offer. Besides Nelson, Loggia, Rossi and Foster (she is such strange eyes...) there is also Edward Bunker, Roy Brocksmith and George 'Buck' Flower.

A buddy cop movie, a serial killer movie and eventually a revenge movie, Lustig does a great job balancing the elements so they don't get in the way of each other. Sure, the motivation of the killer is rather stock standard, but otherwise this film offers some solid entertainment.

Rating:

(From The Movies from Within My Lifetime on July 11th, 2011)

The Good Old Days TV Thread, a review by addicted2dvd

My Thoughts:
This is a show I have learned I like quite a bit. Unfortunately the series only lasted the one season (30 Episodes). Which was released on DVD in 2 volumes. With so few episodes I decided that I would only watch an episode here and there to allow my enjoyment of first time viewings to last much longer. Even though every time I watch an episode I get the urge to continue watching the set. There is one thing that bugs me a bit about this show. The time travelers never find a change of clothes to match the time period. And you seldomly see anyone question their attire. This episode is a good example of this... here they are in the time of General Custer and Chief Sitting Bull... one in a suit and the other in a turtleneck sweater. But yet they are not even looked at funny. As for this particular episode... I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is an interesting time period. It has a good story with a little bit of action as well.

My Rating:

(From The Good Old Days TV Thread on February 18th, 2010)