DVD Collectors Online

Oriana, a review by Danae Cassandra

Where We Are: Venezuela
wikipedia

What We Watched


Oriana

Year of Release: 1985
Starring: Doris Wells, Daniela Silverio, Mirtha Borges, Maya Oloe
Directed By: Fina Torres
Genre:  Mystery, Romance

Overview:
A taut, Gothic, Latin American romance, winner of the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Marie returns to a rundown Venezuelan house in the jungle where she spent summers as a child. Her return ignites memories of a summer when her adolescent sexual curiosity led to a surprising encounter. "An exotic JANE EYRE set in a jungle-choked hacienda" (SEATTLE WEEKLY).

My Thoughts:
Ignore the rather lurid overview there.  This is a mystery.  Yes, Maria does return to the hacienda where she once spent a summer with her reclusive aunt Oriana.  The mystery is Maria trying to figure out her aunt and the mystery of her life and family.  The film is told in three timelines:  Maria as an adult, Maria as a teen, and Oriana as a teen, but I didn't find it confusing when it moved between times.  It's a pretty good mystery, as you are led through in Maria's perspective who is naturally curious and inquisitive about her aunt, especially as she finds clues to Oriana's past and is constantly redirected away from her attempts to find anything out.  The end of the film gives you some answers, but other answers must be figured out by the viewer.  While the clues are there, my mom and I had a good discussion figuring out exactly what the relationships within the family were and why Oriana had remained at the hacienda her whole life.

Very glad to have finally gotten the time to watch this, and recommended for anyone who might enjoy a family-centered mystery.

Bechdel Test:  Pass

Overall: 4/5

(From Around the World in 86 Movies on February 1st, 2013)

Aliens, a review by Jon

Aliens
5 out of 5



Lt. Ripley returns to Earth and no-one believes her story. In fact, the planet is being colonised. Soon however, they lose contact with the colonists and a rescue mission is mounted. Ripley reluctantly agrees to go along as consultant.

Alien has always been one of my favourite films. Aliens was my absolute favourite for a long time and it still holds up today. Utterly magnificent, it gets better with every viewing (I pretty much know it off by heart! ). In the mid-1980s, sequels were not as expected as they are today and the only truly successful ones were often part 2's of a continuing story (Empire Strikes Back for instance). So I feel confident in saying that Aliens is the best "unnecessary" sequel ever made.

Although it lacks the grace and unique atmosphere of the peerless Alien, it expands on the original without compromising its themes, rather it emphasises them, using the familiar motifs in new ways. In Alien, I felt the creature was so perfect it represented a shift in the food chain. Marines armed to the teeth should be able to kick nature in the nuts and force the balance back, but the cocky soldiers (all with their own personalities rather than faceless grunts) are on the back foot from the first attack and need rescuing by Ripley who is only there as an advisor on the "bugs".

One of cinemas icons, Ripley is the one who evolves to find a common ground and a foothold to survive. Not as the kick-arse Ripley everyone remembers because she was clearly that by the end of Alien and comes back pretty quick here to take charge of the disintegrating military. Here, more importantly, it's as a mother to runaway Newt that will get her through this time. The Alien lifecycle may be perfect, but that humanity is the best weapon we have. Sigourney Weaver was deservedly Oscar nominated for the role. Newt (Carrie Henn) is a brilliantly written child character, something that is frequently mishandled and annoying. Cute, but tough, she gets some great lines and her expression is faultless at conveying real terror.

The mother angle is what brings Ripley face to face with the Alien Queen. Stan Winston's fantastic creation still causes a shiver down the spine. I'm not sure if a Queen was actually envisaged in Giger's original bio-mechanics and simply not used in Alien, but either way, it's development here is perfectly handled and honours the original cycle. She's truly the stuff of nightmares.

Aliens greatest trick though is that all this worthy psychological extension of the themes in Alien is wrapped up in one of the best and most influential, balls to the wall action films, peppered with quotable one-lines (admittedly almost all from Hudson!). It's a brutal masterpiece that leaves you exhausted and gets the adrenalin pumping, and that's before the final act! The power-loader sequence is superb. The music and editing build to a crescendo few other films can match.

The fact that the Aliens theme is used time and time again in trailers is proof alone of the enduring power of this rollercoaster.



(From October Marathon: Horror! on October 21st, 2008)

Firefly Marathon, a review by Tom

09. Ariel
Writer: Jose Molina (Writer)
Director: Allan Kroeker
Cast: Nathan Fillion (Mal), Gina Torres (Zoe), Alan Tudyk (Wash), Morena Baccarin (Inara), Adam Baldwin (Jayne), Jewel Staite (Kaylee), Sean Maher (Simon), Summer Glau (River), Ron Glass (Shepherd Book), Blake Robbins (Agent McGinnis), Jeff Ricketts (Blue Glove Man #1), Dennis Cockrum (Blue Glove Man #2), Tom Virtue (Pompous Doctor), Roma Chugani (Receiving Doctor), Ira Steck (Young Intern), Michael Nagy (Particularly Dressed Man), Alex Connie (Patient), Cate Cohen (Crash Team Nurse)

The episode is okay. What I really like is the end where Mal has to deal with

Rating:

(From Firefly Marathon on February 28th, 2010)