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Darkman, a review by Jon

Darkman
3 out of 5

Peyton (Liam Neeson) is a scientist working on synthetic skin that only lasts 99 minutes in the light. His girlfriend (Frances McDormand) is uncovering corruption and so hired thug Durant (Larry Drake) blows up him and his lab. Horribly disfigured, without feeling and in a rage, Peyton plots his revenge.

A pure comic book movie from Sam Raimi and an obvious dry run for Spider-Man, but bears a huge resemblance to both Robocop and Batman (especially Danny Elfman's lazy overbearing score that never... shuts... up! )

It's an unusual cast really for this sort of thing which along with Raimi's trademark abstract direction makes for a surreal experience. So it should be much better than it is, but for poor dialogue and a story that plays safe by borrowing far too much. Apparently Raimi's creation, he obviously didn't trust himself. It gets much better in the end, after finally abandoning Robocop (hero dead and buried, except he's rebuilt and looking for his old life while picking off the gang) and Batman (duh), but it's so clearly what would become Spider-Man that even it's best bits are too familiar now. Hero swinging through city, albeit attached to a helicopter, leading to kidnapped girlfriend about to drop many hundreds of feet before he swings in and catches her...  Raimi obviously has a bit of a fetish about swings...

(From Jon's Random Reviews on January 28th, 2009)

Coraline, a review by Critter

Coraline



Year: 2009

Director(s): Henry Selick

Run Time: 96  minutes

Plot: An adventurous girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.

Cast: DVD Extras:My ThoughtsThe Nightmare Before Christmas I was looking forward to this film quite a bit. I love the stop-motion animation technique and am glad to see it is making somewhat of a comeback, what with The Fantastic Mr FoxMy Rating
 

(From Critter's Animated Film/Anime Marathon on December 21st, 2009)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Knight Rider: Season One
Year: 2008
Director:
Rating: 15
Length: 769 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles:

Stars:


Plot:
An iconic TV classic is back and better than ever in the reinvented, updated and super-charged Knight Rider Season One. From executive producers Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity franchise), David Bartis (The O.C.) and Glen Larson (Battlestar Galactica) comes this action-packed series about the coolest car ever created K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Three Thousand), that's equipped with artificial intelligence capable of hacking into any computer, the weapons system of a jet fighter, and incredible custom body technology that allows it to transform into other vehicles. Relive every Season One episode as an elite team of crime-fighters work with K.I.T.T. (voiced by acting legend Val Kilmer) to track down elusive, hight-tech villains. Presented in uninterrupted Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, you won't want to miss this fast-paced ride to the wild side!

Awards:
Extras:
Commentary
Featurettes
Outtakes

I have seen the pilot when it first aired. Even though I had some problems with it, I was excited overall for a new series. But when the reviews of the actual series came in, I didn't bother picking up the DVD set when it was released.
But when it was on sale now and it's only a single season, I decided to give it a chance.
I have to admit, that I enjoyed the pilot more than I remembered it being. I thought it did a good job setting up the series and also acknowledging the 80s series.
But when I saw the episodes from the actual series, I was heavily disappointed. Bad acting overall. Especially bad was the guy who played Sarah's father. He always had to do the exposition and he always looked like he didn't know what he is talking about. Hard to believe that this guy is supposed to be the inventor of both KITTs.
Horrible scripts which sole aim seem to have been to get the lead actresses into a bikini or down to their underwear. Also I think it is a terrible idea to make KITT a transformer, being able to transform in any kind of Ford car (pick-up truck and even a big van etc.). They should have left it with the "attack mode" (which essentially is the updated version of the "super pursuit mode" of the original KITT). Although the attack mode could have looked better. I looks cheap and ugly. It almost seems like they wanted to top the series Viper, which also had a super car which transformed into the Defender mode. So they couldn't leave it with one alternate forms, but had to have multiple. Or they wanted to get in as much product placement for Ford as possible.
They even had KITT's evil twin KARR be an outright transformer! A robot in disguise of a car. It even has Optimus Prime's voice! Though to be fair this is a nod to the original series, where Peter Cullen also did the voice for KARR.
I liked that they used the windshield as a head up display. But I think it is very stupid to take up the whole windshield for incoming calls. They hardly couldn't see the street anymore when talking on the phone.

After the first 13 episode they retooled the show. Kicked out all the bad supporting cast and kept the ones which were the only fun back in the headquarters scene. And moved the direction of the series more to be like the original series. They even did a bit with petty criminals trying to steal KITT, which was a running joke in the old series.
I have to say, that I enjoyed the last five episodes. And if they would have done it like this from the get-go, maybe the series would still be on today.
I loved how KITT seems to constantly put down Michael at the end. Like when Michael told him to track something, and KITT was like "No shit, dickhead. I am already on it. You don't need to tell me every little thing."

One other thing: I liked the new intro. I starts out as an updated version of the original theme and sounds like the theme of "IT Crowd" towards the end.

#	Episode	Rating
01	Prometheus (Pilot Episode)
02	A Knight in Shining Armor
03	Journey to the End of the Knight
04	Knight of the Iguana
05	A Hard Day's Knight
06	Knight of the Hunter
07	Knight of the Living Dead
08	I Wanna Rock & Roll All Knight
09	Knight of the Zodiac
10	Knight Fever
11	Don't Stop the Knight
12	Day Turns Into Knight
13	Knight to King's Pawn
14	Exit Light, Enter Knight
15	Fight Knight
16	Fly By Knight
17	Knight and the City
18	I Love the Knight Life

(From Tom's Random Reviews on July 11th, 2010)