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A Christmas Carol, a review by Tom

A Christmas Carol (1999/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Boulevard Entertainment (United Kingdom) Director: David Jones Writing: Peter Barnes (Screenwriter), Charles Dickens (Original Material By) Length: 94 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English, French

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Stars:
Patrick Stewart as Ebenezer Scrooge
Richard E. Grant as Bob Cratchit
Joel Grey as The Ghost of Christmas Past
Ian McNeice as Albert Fezziwig
Saskia Reeves as Mrs. Cratchit

Plot:Awards:
Nominated:

Saturn (1999)		Best Single Television Presentation
Saturn (1999)		Best Television Actor (Patrick Stewart)

Extras:

• Featurettes
• Production Notes
• Scene Access
• Trailers

At first I thought it a little strange to see Patrick Stewart as Scrooge. He seems a little young for the role. But he has ten years in a one-man Christmas Carol show under his belt and he did a good job. That he can do crumpy, I always believed. Look at his early interpretation of Captain Picard.
Compared to the other adaptions I have seen, Scrooge seemed a little restrained at the end when loosened up.

Rating:

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

Pavement, a review by KinkyCyborg

Pavement



Title:Pavement
Year: 2003
Director: Darrell James Roodt
Rating: R
Length: 91 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Robert Patrick
Lauren Holly
Barry Shabaka Henley
Chris Hoffman
Danny Keogh

Plot:
A middle-aged nurse has been found brutally murdered in her apartment. The killer took his time, showing the victim no mercy. The cops, led by Detective Buckley (Lauren Holly) are on the case, unaware that the victim's brother (Robert Patrick), a tracker from Alaska, is shadowing them. When similar victims are discovered, the cops soon realize that they're looking for a serial killer. But what do the victims share in common? The clues lie in their murderer, a cold-hearted, methodical torturer, twisted and tormented by the pain of being alive, bent on revenge for the simple crime of being born. Whether the cops and the tracker can follow the clues to the killer will be a test of their ability to observe...to analyze...and to survive.

Extras:
Scene Access


Decent thriller that could have been better but for two major drawbacks. The first being the irritating camera tricks. Constantly zooming in and out and skipping ahead in time in 3 second intervals, all coupled with cheesy 'whooshing' sound effects. God I hate that!  Might as well turn on a bloody strobe light.

The other negative is the performance of Lauren Holly whom I've yet to watch in a movie where I didn't think she was in way over her head, even in a straight to video flick such as this. She has no acting depth at all and attempts to compensate for her lacking skills by being cute and posturing that is embarrassingly obvious.

Robert Patrick on the other hand is excellent as the stoic and steady tracker, brother of one of the victims. He lends tremendous credibility to the film and I think this would have made a better movie had it been just about him hunting down his sister's killer on his own.

There were a few more roll-your-eyes moments but nothing too shameful. All in all this had a sound story and makes for a presentable late night thriller to watch.

KC

Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on February 11th, 2011)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: SG-1 is in hell. Their plan to escape didn't work after Apophis had unexpectedly risen from the dead. And he needs a dead pledge to prevent Sokar from executing him. But the Tok'ra have also a plan B: They intend to blow up Ne'tu.

My Opinion: Cool continuation. Apophis managed to save his skin again. I also liked the hallucination sequences due to the "Blood of Sokar".

Synopsis: After SG-1 returns from a mission something strange happens: Teal'c awakes in the infirmary and overhears a conversation between General Hammond and an unknown alien. There are two possibilities: Either the base has been overtaken or they have been exposed to a dangerous chemical that causes hallucinations.

My Opinion: When I watched the episode for the first time, until a certain point it was unclear to me which one is the truth, especially with the argument between Jack and Maybourne. What I like about such disguise devices is that they can actually change the size and form of a person.

Synopsis: Klorel crashes with a Deathglider on the Tollan homeworld. For a short moment, Skaara is in control of his body and he asks the Tollans for help. They agree to hear both sides.

My Opinion: A great episode. I love episodes with court hearings, especially when you could agree with both sides. I also liked the split where Daniel argues with logic and Jack with his heart. I thought this episode stands in one row with Star Trek TNG's The Measure of a Man. Regrettably we haven't seen Omac (Enigma) again.

Synopsis: SG-1 can't remember being on a planet for 15 hours. But then they find a microscopic device implanted into their brains. It generates an audio-visual hologram that only SG-1 can see and hear: Urgo.

My Opinion: Dom DeLuise (Cannonball Run, father of Peter DeLuise) is too funny as Urgo. I had a really good laugh, it was a great fun episode.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on March 17th, 2008)