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House of Frankenstein, a review by addicted2dvd

House of Frankenstein (1944)
Deranged scientist Gustav Niemann (Boris Karloff) escapes from prison and overtakes the director of a traveling chamber of horrors. Pulling the stake out of a skeleton, he revives the infamous Count Dracula (John Carradine) and commands him to kill the man responsible for his imprisonment. He then finds the frozen Frankenstein Monster (Glenn Strange) and the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.) buried under the ruins of the infamous Frankenstein laboratory.

My Thoughts:
This one I enjoyed. I liked seeing all 3 of my favorite classic movie monsters in one movie. Though I was a bit disappointed that there was in interaction between Dracula and the other 2 monsters... as they got rid of Dracula before they even found The Wolf Man and Frankenstein. No complaints on the audio/video quality on this one either... was really impressed how good it looks after all these years.

(From Classic Monster Movie Marathon on May 18th, 2008)

The Princess Bride , a review by Tom

The Princess Bride (1987/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Concorde Home Entertainment (Germany) Director: Rob Reiner Writing: William Goldman (Screenwriter), William Goldman (Original Material By) Length: 94 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: German: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: German

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Stars:
Cary Elwes as Westley
Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya
Chris Sarandon as Prince Humperdinck
Christopher Guest as Count Rugen
Wallace Shawn as Vizzini

Plot:
When the lovely Buttercup is kidnapped by a ghastly gang intent on fermenting an international incident they find they are pursued by the Dread Pirate Roberts who just might be Westley, her one true love. Also after everyone is nasty Prince Humperdinck to whom Buttercup is now betrothed but who seems to care little for her continued survival. The stage is set for swordfights, monsters, and tortures - but will Grandpa be allowed to finish telling the story with all these kissy bits?

Awards:
Won:

AFI (1987)		100 Years... 100 Passions (2002)
Hugo Award (1988)		Dramatic Presentation
Saturn (1987)		Best Costumes (Phyllis Dalton)
Saturn (1987)		Best Fantasy Film
Young Artist Awards (1988)

Nominated:

Academy Award (1987)		Best Music, Song ("Storybook Love": Willy DeVille (Music/Lyrics))
AFI (1987)		100 Years... 100 Laughs (2000)
Casting Society of America Awards (1988)
Grammy Awards (1988)		Best Album of Original Instrumental Background Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television (Mark Knopfler)
Saturn (1987)		Best Actress (Robin Wright Penn)
Saturn (1987)		Best Writing (William Goldman)
Writers Guild of America Awards (1988)		Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (William Goldman)

Extras:

• Bonus Trailers
• Scene Access

I was thinking about rewatching the movie after I recently watched Stardust, but never actually came around to it. After Peter Falk's passing I thought it was now the right time to rectify this.
This is a great fairy tale movie, with a lot of fun scenes. And Peter Falk's and Fred Savage's scenes with a grandfather telling the story to his grandson, bring just the right amount of variety to it. Peter Falk's character very much reminded me of Columbo. He has the same mannerisms.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 26th, 2011)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Lana has a secret admirer who sends her poems but Clark is overprotective and assumes he is a stalker. Clark and Ross finally find the young man who is held captive in the basement of the house of by his parents. But when they release him, he transforms and not even Clark is able to stop him.

My Opinion: Lana's grudge with Clark didn't even last one episode. I find it always interesting how people manage to hold helicopters on the ground just because they are strong enough - yet they aren't anchored to the ground in any way. It's one of the riddles about superpowers I probably never solve. I liked it, though and it was nice to see Richard Moll (Bull in Night Court) again although it was only a small role.

Synopsis: Two students die of old age in short succession and that can't be a coincedence. Someone seems to suck the life out of them to stay young. But the Kent family has yet another problem: They need some additional money and there's a person who could help: Martha's father. But Jonathan and he have a long, bad history that Clark tries to mend.

My Opinion: A standard FotW episode where the bad gal died a bit too fast in my opinion. But I liked to see that even the Kents can't solve all their family issues, it makes them more normal.

Synopsis: A woman comes to town who claims to be Clark's real mother. She also claims that he is a half-brother of Lex's. Meanwhile Lana tries to find out whether a certain man is her biological father. It is also revealed, how the Kents managed to get adoption papers for Clark.

My Opinion: A "family" episode that I liked a lot. It is interesting to see how the "average television family" has changed over the decades, from the "perfect" housewife, the husband and the two children to what we've seen in recent years (the families in ER, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, ... and Smallville). I never noticed before that Chloe's mother has been mentioned that early in the show, although her fate hasn't been revealed yet.

Synopsis: Ryan calls from the Summerholt Institute where he is held as research object. Clark rescues him but that nearly lands him in prision for kidnapping. Ryan's ability to read minds is based on a brain tumor that will kill him. Clark and Lex try to prevent that.

My Opinion: A very emotional episode and a very sad one. I find it interesting how they made the comic Warrior Angel a forebode of things to come. Funny thing to say about a fantasy series but it makes it more realistic that Clark isn't able to save everyone, especially when there's nothing that he can do personally.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on May 24th, 2008)