DVD Collectors Online

John Carpenter's Vampires, a review by addicted2dvd

John Carpenter's Vampires
In the blood-chilling tradition of 'Halloween' and 'Village of the Damned' comes John Carpenter's unique vision of the ultimate killing machines, VAMPIRES.

"Forget everything you've ever heard about vampires," warns Jack Crow (James Woods), the leader of Team Crow, a relentless group of mercenary vampire slayers. When Master Vampire Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith) decimates Jack's entire team, Crow and the sole team survivor, Montoya (Daniel Baldwin), set out in pursuit. Breaking all the rules, Crow and Montoya take one of Valek's victims hostage.

The beautiful but unlucky prostitute (Sheryl Lee) is their sole psychic link to Valek, and through her senses they will track down the leader of the undead. As Valek nears the climax of his 600-year search for the Berziers Cross, Jack and the new Team Crow do everything humanly possible to prevent him from possessing the only thing that can grant him and all vampires the omnipotent power to walk in the daylight.

My Thoughts:
This is another of my favorite Vampire movies. I think James Woods did a great job as a vampire hunter. I have liked this one since the first time I saw it.  It is a decent standard release DVD... good picture and sound... but only extras are the Trailer and a Commentary.

(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Vampires on September 9th, 2007)

Ghosts of Edendale, a review by addicted2dvd

Ghosts of Edendale


My Thoughts:
This is another one that my friend gave me... the same friend that gave me Hide & Seek. This one I didn't care for nearly as much. I would say this one is OK at best... but this movie had a couple problems I couldn't get past. First of all it was a rather slow movie. So much so that I actually felt like I was forcing myself to keep watching. Another problem I had with this one is that I just couldn't get myself to care about any of the characters. When you combine slow with characters you don't care about it is really hard to enjoy the movie. On the good side (yes there is a good side) they did have a couple of interesting ghost appearances. a couple of ideas of seeing ghosts that I haven't seen in any other movie. And for the most part the ghosts looked good. Unfortunately that just wasn't enough to save this movie from being any more then just OK.

(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs on December 21st, 2007)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Superman II (1980/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Warner Home Video (United Kingdom) Director: Richard Lester Writing: Jerry Siegel (Original Characters By), Joe Shuster (Original Characters By), Mario Puzo (Story By), Mario Puzo (Screenwriter), David Newman (Screenwriter), Leslie Newman (Screenwriter) Length: 127 min. Video: Widescreen 2.35 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 1, German: Dolby Digital 1, Italian: Dolby Digital 1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital 1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

---

Stars:
Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor
Christopher Reeve as Superman/Clark Kent
Ned Beatty as Otis
Jackie Cooper as Perry White
Sarah Douglas as Ursa

Plot:
Unwittingly released from Phantom Zone imprisonment, three super-powered Planet Krypton criminals (Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran) plan to enslave Earth - just when Superman (Christopher Reeve) decides to show a more romantic side to Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). Gene Hackman (as Lex Luthor) also returns from the first film and with a top supporting cast, witty Richard Lester direction and visuals that astound and delight, Superman II saves the day any day you watch it.

Awards:
Won:

Saturn (1981)

Best Science Fiction Film

Nominated:

AFI (1980)		100 Years... 100 Passions (2002)
AFI (1980)		100 Years... 100 Thrills (2001)
Saturn (1981)		Best Actor (Christopher Reeve)
Saturn (1981)		Best Actress (Margot Kidder)
Saturn (1981)		Best Music (Ken Thorne)

Extras:

• Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Scene Access
• Trailers

Chances that I would revisit the theatrical cut of Superman II were slim since I saw the superior Donner Cut, but since I just double-dipped on the Blu-ray set, I planned to watch all movies therein.
The theatrical cut isn't as bad as I remembered, and I could enjoy it again as I did in the past before knowing anything about the Donner/Lester controversy. Still some stuff are obviously unfitting. Especially since they chose not to use any Marlon Brando scenes, which results Jor-El missing in the flashbacks to the first movie (launch of Superman's ship and the imprisonment of General Zod). And also the need to use Superman's mother in the Fortress of Solitude scenes.
But I have to say, that there is only one moment, which I miss from the theatrical cut in the Donner Cut. And that is Clark's resignation of keeping up the charade and admitting to Lois that he is Superman. There is something similar in the Donner cut, but because it is a scene never originally shot and taken from screen test footage, it is not as effective (Christopher Reeve not yet the perfect Superman. Acting-wise and body-wise).

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on August 14th, 2011)