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The Mummy, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Mummy
Year of Release: 1932
Directed By: Karl Freund
Starring: Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Arthur Byron, Edward Van Sloan
Genre: Horror

Overview:
The Mummy features horror icon Boris Karloff in a legendary performance as the Egyptian, Imhotep, who is accidentally revived by a team of archaeologists after 3.700 years. It is revealed in a flashback that he was a high priest, embalmed alive for trying to revive the vestal virgin whom he loved, after she had been sacrificed. Alive again, he sets out on an obsessive - and deadly - quest to find his lost love. Featuring groundbreaking makeup by Jack Pierce and artful direction by Karl Freud to achieve a mysterious atmosphere, this terrifying classic inspired countless sequels, spoofs and spin-offs that continue to fuel the legacy of the monster to this day.

My Thoughts:
Second watch, and I still really enjoy this film.  Karloff is still wonderful in his performance as the tortured romantic willing to go to any length to be reunited with his lover, and the direction and subtle horror of the film is still top notch.

I was struck, as I was watching today, with the question of who decides who should live and who should die.  Imhotep is the villain because he wishes Ankh-es-en-amon to live at the expense of Helen.  But does that line of reasoning also not make Frank and Dr. Muller equally villainous, for they wish Helen to live - therefore at the expense of Ankh-es-en-amon...

Watched For: Scavenger Hunt 19, Hoop-tober 3.0, Horror/Halloween Challenge 2016

Bechdel Test: Fail
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 3.5/5

Horror/Halloween Challenge Films: 10/52

(From Horror/Halloween 2016 Challenge on October 7th, 2016)

Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, a review by Tom

Title: Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon
Year: 2003
Director: Sooraj R. Barjatya
Rating: FSK-0
Length: 197 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital Stereo, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Hrithik Roshan
Kareena Kapoor
Abhishek Bachchan
Johny Lever
Pankaj Kapur

Plot:
The Kapoor family want their eldest daughter, a girl named Sanjana, to get married to an American-Indian businessman named Prem. Prem is welcomed, and after a few misunderstandings, both Sanjana and Prem fall in love with each other. Then chaos descends upon the Kapoor family when they find out that the boy named Prem is a fake, and that the real Prem was delayed and is now reaching India. How will this news affect Sanjana, who has given her heart to the fake Prem?

Awards:

Filmfare Awards

2004

Nominated

Best Supporting Actor Award

Abhishek Bachchan

Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers

At times a very silly movie. The story is also nothing special. But there were enough fun scenes in it and also a few songs that I enjoyed, to make it a somewhat fun watch.
It was also the first time, that I liked a character potrayed by Kareena Kapoor throughout the movie. Hritik Roshan has again one of this hyper active character roles. Abhishek Bachchan seems to be typecast as the quiet, professionally successful, understanding, but turned down second love interest (he does it great though).

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on August 4th, 2009)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

What's the show about?
Gossip Girl belongs to a group of students who live in Manhattan's upper east side and they are rich - really rich. The "outsiders" of this group are Dan and Jenny Humphrey who live in Brooklyn but go to the same private school as the others. It's a show about love, life and intrigues and the one person who blogs about all this: Gossip Girl. Nobody knows who she is, but she and her network of "informants" know everything.

"Pilot"
The new school year has begun and Dan is now a junior. And one event will change his life and that of the others forever: Serena van der Woodsen is back from her year on boarding school and she will go to their school again. S is D's big love but she doesn't even know he exists and S and Queen B have some unfinished business.

My Opinion
The show is very intriguing with all these characters that have their own agendas, with their love and revenge plottings and in the middle of it Dan who so doesn't really fit into this world yet is bound to become the ultimate insider. And I love Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) as the voice of Gossip Girl. I never watched shows like Beverly Hills, 90210 or The O.C. but this show I really like, I even bought (and read) the book by Cecily von Ziegesar on which the show is based on:



(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on September 1st, 2009)