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The Brothers Grimm, a review by Rich

The Brothers Grimm



Matt Damon (The Bourne Supremacy, Ocean's 12) and Heath Ledger (The Patriot, A Knight's Tale) team up to bring you one of the year's most fantastic adventures in this magical tale based on the lives of the legendary storytellers. Will and Jake Grimm (Damon and Ledger) dazzle small towns with their imaginative folklore and elaborate illusions. But when the brothers journey into a real enchanted forest, they encounter many of the fantastic characters and thrilling situations found in their beloved fairy tales! From the award-winning director of Twelve Monkeys, Brazil and Monty Python And The Holy Grail, this fabulous motion picture is sure to leave you living happily ever after!

A true spectacle of a film, amazing effects, effective cast, humour and truly oddball script. However despite a lot of promise it fails to meet the mark, in fact at times it became boring. Terry Gilliam is written all over the production and delivery, some dark moments, with a touch of cheese thrown in. The sets were fairly spectacular, but I found so much was going on at any one time the screen felt cluttered.
Quirky and entertaining at times, this gothic fairy tale is better in principle and concept than receipt.
 

**Monica Bellucci mini-marathon



(From Riches Random Reviews on August 22nd, 2009)

A Great Day in Harlem, a review by Antares

A Great Day in Harlem (1994) 92/100 - I learned more about jazz history in just one hour of this documentary, than in all 19 hours of Ken Burns' bloated and pontificating film on the same subject. The director, Jean Bach, who just passed away the other day at the ripe old age of 94, was a jazz fanatic and celebrated historian of this truly American art form. This was her first film, which documents one of the most famous photographs in history, the gathering of 57 of Jazz music's most famous performers for a group photo on the streets of Harlem in 1958. Thelonius Monk, Lester Young, Count Basie, Mary Lou Williams and Dizzy Gillespie are but a few of the genre's heavyweights who took part in the photo shoot. But it's the attention paid to the lesser known musicians in the photo, that makes this documentary so interesting. Inter cut with segments from old television appearances, these jazz practitioners of long ago, show why they were considered the heart and soul of the African American community from the thirties to the latter fifties. I had never heard of some of these performers, but Bach seems to have found old kinescopes of celebrated performances, which just blew me away with these artist's technical expertise. If you're interested in jazz music, then I recommend you seek this short documentary out. It only lasts a little under an hour, but you'll be rewarded with a plethora of background on the New York Jazz scene over sixty years ago.

What the color coding means...

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on May 30th, 2013)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Lionel Luthor gets shot twice and a drunk Jonathan Kent is the prime suspect. All evidence points to him but Clark believes in his innocence. In the end there are four people who had a motive to kill Lionel but none of them was the culprit.

My Opinion: I am not too much into crime stories and didn't like this story that much.

Synopsis: During a cave rave party a student is stung by something and in an adrenaline rush he jumps from a great height and dies. Pete is also stung and starts to behave similarly. When Clark and Chloe investigate in that matter Chloe becomes the third victim and then Pete infects Clark with red kryptonite - and the party begins.

My Opinion: This was a great episode, I liked Chloe's style. Unfortunately it's once again Clark who can't give an explanation for his behaviour. Sometimes the "relationship" of Clark and Lana is a bit annoying because the writers do everything in their power to bring them not together. But the "party" part of this episode was really great so I can overlook this annoyance. Of course they had to draw the forgetfulness card to undo Chloe's knowledge.

Synopsis: Lex has finally found his half-brother Lucas and wants to ally with him against their father. But Lionel has found him first and he and Lucas manage to squeeze out Lex. Lex is broken and has to leave the mansion. There's only one place he can go: The Kent farm.

My Opinion: It was cool to see Lex do an honest job on the farm. And Lucas had a valid point when he asked how much personality of the parents is reflected in the children. Another interesting question is whether or not Lionel could already see again during Insurgence because that would mean that he has witnessed Clark's powers firsthand.

Synopsis: Martha tries to hide the key to the spaceship - the octagonal disc - in the storm cellar. But there she inhalates meteor-infested spores and gets very ill. When the Disease Control Agency wants to search the farm, Clark has to hide the spaceship at Pete's house. But Clark gets infected, too and they can't bring him to a hospital.

My Opinion: Another episode that I liked a lot, especially the part where Clark was sick and both women had to think about how they feel about him. That's one thing I find interesting about the characters: Both Lana and Chloe don't like that Clark keeps secrets from them yet both aren't totally honest to him either when it comes to their feelings.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on May 25th, 2008)