Director Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) and producer Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs) up the ante in the brutal and terrifying sequel to the smash hit Hostel.Starring Bijou Phillips (Almost Famous, Venom), Heather Matarazzo (The Princess Diaries, Scream 3) and Roger Bart (The Producers, TV's Desperate Housewives), Hostel Part II takes place directly after the events of the first film and once again also features Jay Hernandez (Hostel, Ladder 49) as the revenge-seeking but ultimately hapless Paxton.Hostel Part II follows a group of female backpackers as they are lured to the apparently perfect youth hostel for a holiday packed with hedonistic fun. However, the truth once again turns out to be far more terrifying as the girls are subjected to a brutal ordeal at the hands of the sick tourists who pay to exercise their darkest desires.
I know a few here can enjoy gore, but I am a lightweight so spent some time averting my eyes at the most gruesome parts of the film. Well constructed and slickly produced, breathless pace and vivid imagery. If you are a fan of this genre I would have thought this to be nearly as good as they come. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and thus have to say it would be worth a viewing. 5/10
True Grit (1969) Directed by Henry Hathaway Music by Elmer Bernstein Cast: John Wayne, Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Corey, Jeremy Slate, Strother Martin, John Fiedler
Matty Ross (Kim Darby) tries to find someone to track down and bring in the killer of her father and she winds up teamed with a cantakerous U.S. marshal named Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) and a headstrong Texas ranger (Glen Campbell). Lively directed by Henry Hathaway and featuring John Wayne's Oscar-winning performance as the one-eyed Cogburn. Glen Campbell once said his acting was so bad that he made Wayne look so great by comparison that he won the Academy Award. I'm not sure that's altogether fair...but Campbell is definitely in over his head in this film. But other first-rate films have had a bad performance or two (remember Ricky Nelson in Rio Bravo?) and he doesn't bring it down too much. Overall we have some fine performances (including John Wayne apparently having a heck of a time) and a first-rate western. There is some nice photography here in picturesque locations and a solid musical score by Elmer Bernstein.
I have the Special Collector's Edition of this disc and it does have some nice features including cast and crew (including Kim Darby and Glen Campbell) talking about what it was like working with Duke and a too-short piece where a few historians talk about real western outlaws of the Old West.
Glee Season 1.19 Dream On Writer: Ryan Murphy (Created By), Brad Falchuk (Created By), Ian Brennan (Created By), Brad Falchuk (Writer) Director: Joss Whedon Cast: Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray), Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel), Jessalyn Gilsig (Terri Schuester), Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester), Jayma Mays (Emma Pillsbury), Kevin McHale (Arty Abrams), Lea Michele (Rachel Berry), Cory Monteith (Finn Hudson), Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester), Amber Riley (Mercedes Jones), Mark Salling (Noah "Puck" Puckerman), Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang), Neil Patrick Harris (Bryan Ryan), Jonathan Groff (Jesse St. James), Idina Menzel (Shelby Corcoran), Molly Shannon (Brenda Castle), John Michael Higgins (Russell), Iqbal Theba (Principal Figgins), Naya Rivera (Santana Lopez), Paul Vogt (Herb Duncan), Heather Morris (Brittany Pierce), Harry Shum, Jr. (Mike Chang), Dijon Talton (Matt Rutherford), Molly McCook (Sophomore Singer), Wendy Worthington (Woman Auditioning)
Brian, an old rival of Will's, shows up, played by Neill Patrick Harris. I enjoyed this episode. Also in this episode Rachel finds out, that Shelby (the coach of the rival Glee club) is her biological mother. This storyline has been chosen by the producers because fans have been saying that Idina Menzel (Shelby) and Lea Michele (Rachel) look a lot alike. They were not wrong as you can see in one of the music clips below. Menzel has starred in "Wicked" on Broadway. I only knew her from the movie version of "Rent" before this.
Tina-Watch: She has some great scenes with Artie.
Notable music: There was a short rendition of "Piano Man" sung by Brian and Will, which I enjoyed. Another song I enjoyed was "Safety Dance", a dream sequence in which we see Artie out of his wheelchair for the first time. Before this I wasn't aware that the actor playing Artie wasn't paralized in real life:
Another song I really enjoyed in this episode is Brian (Neill Patrick Harris) and Will singing Aerosmith's "Dream On". And I also enjoyed Artie singing "Deam a Little Dream of Me".
My favorite song in this episode is sung by Shelby and Rachel. "I Dreamed a Dream" from LesMis. Sadly I only found a clip for it where the spoken parts are dubbed in Spanish:
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May 17, 2024, 09:54:51 AM
