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The Golden Compass, a review by RossRoy

Original Title: The Golden Compass Year: 2007 Country: United Kingdom Director: Chris Weitz Rating: PG Length: 113 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround EX, English: Dolby Digital Stereo, French: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English, French

What they say
In a marvelous parallel world where witches soar the skies and Ice Bears rule teh frozen North, one special girl is destined to hold the fate of the universe in her hands.When Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) becomes the keeper of the Golden Compass, only she has the ability to read its portent messages and prevent her world - and all others - from slipping into an evil darkness.

My Thoughts
That was an underwhelming experience if there ever was one. Underused stars, overused child actor who obviously can't carry a movie alone, overused CGI, bland and routine direction, etc.

My main gripe about the movie though, is the lead child actress. Not that she's a bad actress or anything, but who the hell decided to greenlight a project where a child actor has to carry a whole movie with only 2 CGI animals as support? I've yet to see a single child actor who could pull that off.

And the animals.. Well, they are well animated and very well done. But the thing is, it is at times painfully obvious that there's nothing there. You'll see someone petting the animal, but not even touching it. Or, holding it in their arms, and it just becomes way too obvious.

The stars? Oh sure, you can put Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, even Kathy Bates on the promo material and posters! But, each one of them is on screen for about, oh, 5 minutes each? And two of them are only doing voices anyway (Ian and Kathy)!

But it's a shame really. Because the story itself could have been so much more. It really feels like an introduction of this world, with little regards to an actual coherent story, in the hopes it'll prove "good enough" to warrant sequels that will actually tell the story. Thing is, they leave so much open, and so little actually happens here, I'm not even sure people would want to see a sequel.

Rating:

(From RossRoy's Random Viewings on July 24th, 2008)

Gone Girl, a review by addicted2dvd

Gone Girl (2014/United States) Trailer |IMDb |Wikipedia | Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (United States) Director: David Fincher Writing: Gillian Flynn (Original Material By), Gillian Flynn (Screenwriter) Length: 149 min. Video: Widescreen 2.40:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 7.1, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Czech: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Polish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Turkish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround Subtitles: Czech, English, French, Polish, Portuguese, Slovakian, Spanish, Turkish

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Stars:
Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne
Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne
Neil Patrick Harris as Desi Collings
Tyler Perry as Tanner Bolt
Carrie Coon as Margo Dunne

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Digital Copy
• 'Amazing Amy Tattle Tale' Book

I must say I definitely enjoyed this one. It has a very good story with lots of twists and turns.One you definitely have to give all your attention to while watching... but that is not hard as it easily keeps your interest. The entire cast did a fine job... as I was easily able to care about all the characters. I definitely recommend this one if you haven't seen it yet.


(From What Movies I Been Watching on August 17th, 2015)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Dollhouse: The Complete Series (2009/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (United Kingdom) Length: 1162 min. Video: Widescreen 1.78 Audio: Subtitles:

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Plot:
From Joss Whedon, the creative mastermind behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, comes THE COMPLETE SERIES of the sexy, suspenseful thriller, Dollhouse.

Dollhouse is an illegal organisation that provides its elite clientelle with "actives" - programmable human beings, who temporarily become anyone or anything - the perfect burglar, lover, spy or assassin.

The stunningly talented Eliza Dushku stars as the lovely but lethal "active", Echo - who is charged with unlocking the deadly secret that will ultimately determine the fate of mankind.


Dollhouse
Season 1.01 Ghost
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Joss Whedon (Writer)
Director: Joss Whedon
Cast: Eliza Dushku (Echo), Harry J. Lennix (Boyd Langton), Fran Kranz (Topher Brink), Tahmoh Penikett (Agent Paul Ballard), Enver Gjokaj (Victor), Dichen Lachman (Sierra), Olivia Williams (Adelle DeWitt), Amy Acker (Claire Saunders), Reed Diamond (Laurence Dominic), Kurt Caceres (Gabriel Crestejo), Brett Claywell (Matt), David Doty (Sam Zimmerman), Tim Kelleher (Detmer), Vincent Laresca (Mr. Sunshine), Haley Alexis Pullos (Davina Crestejo), Greg Collins (Older Man), Bryan Costanich (Friend), Jonny Lee (Deerskin), Christian Meoli (Thug 1), Oscar Torre (Chui), Becky Wu (Assistant)

I had watched the first two or so episodes when it originally aired and was not hooked. But they say it got better, so I am willing to give this series another chance. Especially because I was fan of Eliza Dushku on Buffy (and I am still disappointed that she turned down a Faith spin-off) and I am fan of Joss Whedon in general.
The pilot episode is good and I can see myself giving this series another go. I think it was more the second episode which turned me off this series.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on November 10th, 2012)