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Carnival of Souls, a review by addicted2dvd

This weekend I decided to do some classic movies. I have not been a fan of classic movies for very long at all... I would say probably just a few years. Before that it was like pulling teeth to try to get me to watch anything earlier then 1980!

This weekend I decided to go with classics when I started to profile all the disc that came in a free boxset I got for subscribing to the Total Movie & Entertainment Magazine. This boxset has 40 classic movies (well what they consider classics) on 20 DVDs.


Carnival of Souls (1962)
Mary Henry is enjoying the day by riding around in a car with two friends. When challenged to a drag, the women accept, but are forced off of a bridge. It appears that all are drowned, until Mary, quite some time later, amazingly emerges from the river. After recovering, Mary accepts a job in a new town as a church organist, only to be dogged by a mysterious phantom figure that seems to reside in an old run-down pavilion. It is here that Mary must confront the personal demons of her spiritual insouciance.

My Thoughts:
As soon as I popped this one in it looked vaguely familiar. Turns out at some point I did see this one before... not sure if I caught it on cable one evening... or if I watched this disc shortly after I got it... but I did remember it more and more as I went on. It is a movie that I enjoyed a lot! I would love to get a better version of it. The quality on this one left much to be desired... but it was better then I was expecting it to be. It felt like I was watching a VHS tape that someone had recorded... on the slowest speed. I also had to turn up my volume quite a bit since the audio was rather low. but other then that it was just fine. But as I said... I will be looking for a better version on this one... hopefully with some extras!

(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Classics on August 17th, 2007)

Faraw! Mother of the Dunes, a review by Danae Cassandra

Faraw!  Mother of the DunesOverview:
FARAW! recounts twenty-four hours in the life of a woman in Songhoi country. Zamiatou, the mother of three young children, is fighting for survival in a town in northeastern Mali, on the edge of the desert. Her husband is to weak to work and her children are exasperated by their situation of poverty. Life is very hard in this devastated, almost desolate region haunted by the specter of drought. Zamiatou endures many ordeals, refuses to put her daughter into prostitution and finally gets help from her old friend, Morou, who lends her a donkey and a few water skins....

My Thoughts:
A powerful and moving portrait of one woman's indomitable determination and strength of will. As George Monbiot once said, "If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire." Zamiatou is the embodiment of that quote. She isn't afraid of difficulty or hard labor. Indeed, that is her life and she accepts it. She is unwilling to take the easy (but morally repugnant) way out, but instead holds her head high and clings to her honor and her faith. If you don't admire her character by the end of the film, you have no soul.

The casual misogyny of her two sons toward their sister, and Zamiatou's acceptance of that, is less easy to accept, and mars this otherwise excellent film. That may be my Western bias speaking. I'm rather sad that no one else on Letterboxd has logged this film, as it's well worth seeing.

Bechdel Test: Pass

Overall: 3.5/5

(From March Around the World 2016 on March 15th, 2016)

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

2. Lonely Hearts
Another of Doyle's visions leads the newly formed Angel Investigations to a trendy bar where they face off against a worm-like demon who eviscerates its victims.

Guest Stars:
Elisabeth Rohm
Lillian Birdsell
Obi Ndefo
Derek Hughes

My Thoughts:
This is the first episode that has the character of Detective Kate Lockley. It is a pretty good episode... but not what I would call a great one. I liked the introduction of Kate... and it did have some good fight scenes in it. But for some reason it didn't click for me. Maybe because I never been one to frequent bars and clubs. I did however get a kick out of Doyle getting into a bar fight to defend Cordelia's honor. That is another thing... I always disliked Cordelia in the episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But in this series I like her. Only a little at this point... but she soon grows as a person... and as she does she grew on me as well.

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on December 22nd, 2009)