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Enter The Dragon, a review by Jon

Enter The Dragon
4 out of 5



Thirty years following his untimely death, Bruce Lee remains the movies' supreme martial-arts star. His masterful final film Enter the Dragon stands the test of time as the most beloved martial-arts epic in film history.

Enter The DragonEnter The DragonWay Of The Dragon and The Big BossPolice Story or Drunken Master Enter The Dragon is merely ok. A three star movie, with a five star legend. We can only wonder at what he would have gone on to do, especially with the support of stars like Steve McQueen. He was as charismatic off-screen as on.

(From Jon's Alphabet Marathon 2010 on July 20th, 2010)

Dick Tracy, a review by Dragonfire

Dick Tracy Legendary police detective Dick Tracy is the only man tough enough to take on gangster boss Big Boy Caprice and his band of menacing mobsters. Dedicated to his work but at the same time devoted to his loyal girlfriend, Tess Trueheart, Tracy find himself torn between love and duty. His relentless crusade against crime becomes even more difficult when he gets saddled with an engaging orphan and meets seductive and sultry Breathless Mahoney, a torch singer determined to get the best of Tracy. A faceless character, the Blank, threatens both Tracy and Big Boy, and it takes all of Tracy's skills to save the city. My Thoughts I first saw this movie not long after it came out to rent.  When I decided to watch it again recently, that was only the second time I've seen the movie.  It had been so long since I last saw it that I had forgotten a lot.  Things get started quickly with a group of mobsters being killed.  It doesn't take long to find out who is behind the murders, so that part of the story doesn't add any mystery.  A little bit of of mystery is added when a new, mysterious criminal turns up and gets involved in what is going on.  There is a lot of action, though there is very little actual violence.  The plot is interesting and makes for a fun, entertaining movie.  Several things are going on, though things don't get so complicated that it is hard to keep up with what is going on.  Some of what happens is predictable, though there are also one or two surprises. The movie has a very interesting and unique look.  Instead of trying to make things more realistic, the comic strip/comic book look is embraced.  Bright, vibrant primary colors are used for just about everything from locations to cars to outfits that the characters wear.  The look of that is a bit different, but I think it works perfectly with the subject matter.  I like the look of things in the movie, though it could be too different for some viewers.  In some shots that show more of the city, it looks like an actual illustration from a comic book.  Many of the characters have very unique looks too and their names are tied into the unique way they look.  Flattop has a flat head and Lips has large lips.  There are a lot of characters that turn up at least briefly.  Many of them are barely used at all.  All the actors did fine with their parts.  Even Madonna is decent.  This is a fun, entertaining movie that deserves to be seen and is worth watching. I did get a review posted at Epinions. Dick Tracy

(From Dick Tracy on June 15th, 2010)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Deep Space Nine is a former cardassian space station orbiting the formerly occupied planet Bajor. The Bajorans have lived for 60 years under cardassian rule but now they are free. The provisional government has asked the Federation for support and Starfleet takes over the management of DS9. It's commander is Benjamin Sisko, who has lost his wife three years ago in the battle against the Borg and now he must raise his son alone in the middle of nowhere. His second in command is Major Kira, a former bajoran resistance fighter. The rest of the crew are both Starfleet officers of all kind of races and Bajorans. Chief of security is Odo, a shape-shifter with unknown origins.
The spiritual leader of the Bajorans asks Cmdr. Sisko to study the "Tears of the Prophets", mythical orbs that have come to Bajor of the last ten thousand years. With their help Cmdr. Sisko discovers the only known stable wormhole in our galaxy and it leads to the Gamma Quadrant, to a point 70,000 light years away from DS9, on the other side of the galaxy. And suddenly the bajoran system has been put onto the map and the Cardassians will accept any excuse to re-take it.

My Opinion: It's very clear from the beginning that DS9 will be different than its predecessor Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). TNG played on a all-Federation-personnel Starfleet spaceship, while on DS9 uncounted cultures clash: Starfleet personnel, Bajorans and the civilians aboard the station - for example Quark, the Ferengi bar owner. And most of the characters have a background story and their lives haven't been straight-forward. I really like that. Unfortunately I can't really remember what I thought about them, when I saw them for the first time back in the mid-90s, but DS9 is now my favourite Star Trek show and one of my favourite Sci-Fi shows.
I also liked the idea of the "handshake" when the Enterprise made an appearance in the pilot episode, something they will do again when the Voyager departs from DS9 in their pilot episode. But the meeting between Captain Picard and Cmdr. Sisko also showed that these shows will be different.

Synopsis: A bajoran scout ship is being attacked by a cardassian warship but the pilot can be beamed out shortly before his ship is destroyed. He seeks asylum aboard DS9 because he was a member of the Khon-Ma, a "terrorist cell" during the occupation. Kira knows him from these days and she pleads to Sisko to grant asylum. But not all Cardassians have left the station. The local tailor Garak - who is suspected to be a spy - contacts Dr. Bashir in a rather unorthodox way and informs him about a meeting between two klingon renegades and the former terrorist.

My Opinion: The first episodes of the season will be used to introduce the viewers to the characters. While the pilot was mostly about Sisko and the loss of his wife at Wolf 359, this episode is about Kira and her past in the resistance. It was an OK episode, but I really liked the introduction of Garak, who will become an interesting guest character over the years.

Synopsis: Odo tries to throw a Bajoran out of Quark's casino/bar and wants him off the station. A few hours later that man is dead and there are no traces that could explain how the murder had left the crime scene. As chief of security Odo investigates but soon becomes a prime suspects and thus having a conflict of interest. Meanwhile Chief O'Brien's wife Keiko - who was a botanist aboard the Enterprise - has nothing to do on DS9 and becomes frustrated. When Sisko's son Jake befriends Quark's nephew Nog and subsequently gets into trouble, she decides that the station needs a school.

My Opinion: This episode introduces Odo who has also been security chief during the last years of the occupation. I really like that he's a man of principles who has his own codex and who values justice above all else. It was only consequent that it was he who pointed out that only a shape-shifter could have left the crime scene without leaving a trace. The story's hole was that the doctor couldn't figure out what these DNA particles were until it grown into a whole body. After all he was second-best in his year at medical school...

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on September 20th, 2008)