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Illuminata, a review by goodguy

Illuminata (1998) Written by: Brandon Cole & John Turturro Directed by: John Turturro Starring: John Turturro, Katherine Borowitz, Susan Sarandon, Christopher Walken DVD: R2-DE Kinowelt/Arthaus (2007) My rating:

John Turturro is mostly known as an actor, but he has also written and directed three movies. I already wrote about his gorgeous Romance & Cigarettes (2005) here. Illuminata is about a theater company in New York at the beginning of the 20th century. The movie disguises itself as comedia del'arte and has probably half a dozen dangling subplots, but its main theme really is the problematic relationship between two creative people. It's a bit like Fellini crossed with Bergman. The big names like Sarandon and Walken all deliver great performances, and so does Turturro himself, but Katherine Borowitz (a stage actress and Turturro's real-life partner) absolutely stands out.

(From goodguy's Watch Log on August 31st, 2008)

Midnight Mass, a review by addicted2dvd

Midnight Mass: Fright Flicks (2003/United States) Lions Gate Home Entertainment (United States) Director: Tony Mandile Writing: Tony Mandile (Original Material By), F. Paul Wilson (Original Material By) Length: 98 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles:

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Stars:
Douglas Gibson as Fr. Joe Cahill
Pamela Karp as Gwen Waters
Marvin W. Scwartz as Fr. Alberto Palmeri
Julia Cornish as Raven
David Dwyer [Dave Dwyer] as Carl Edwards

Plot:
In a world that has been taken over by vampires, Father Joe, a once reputed and respected priest who had been forced out of his parish, and his unlikely friend, a militant atheist, go to war against the vampire invasion that threatens to suck the blood out of the human race's veins.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Featurettes
• Gallery
• Outtakes/Bloopers
• Closed Captioned

This one is a different type of vampire movie. This film shows if they were to work together and were able to take over the world. Would we be able to take control of the world back? I enjoyed this one. Yes, it is a low budget film, but I liked what they did with what they had. Enjoyable... worth the time put in to watch it.


(From Horror/Halloween Marathon 2023 on October 24th, 2023)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Monks have found a 25,000 year old tablet under the ruins of the city Sisko once found. And that tablet mentions the Emissary and an upcoming Reckoning on which the future of Bajor will be decided. Sisko takes that tablet back to DS9 for studying but Kai Winn interfers and demands its return. But that tablet contains more than just a vague prophecy.

My Opinion: Have I mentioned that I hate Kai Winn? And it won't get better in the seventh season. Unfortunately the number of "Emissary" and the "Winn" episodes will increase towards the end of the end of the show. Too bad.

Synopsis: Nog - the only Ferengi in Starfleet - has been assigned to deliver treaty proposal  to the Great Nagus and Jake accompanies him. But they run into a group of Jem'Hadar ships and have to evade. But this leads them directly into Dominion space where they meet the USS Valiant. The Valiant was presumed lost eight months ago but it's still there and the crew - Starfleet Academy's cadet corps "Red Squad" - is fighting the war behind enemy lines.

My Opinion: Eight months ago the war had already started and it's very unlikely that a real Starfleet would give a Defiant-class ship to a bunch of cadets instead of using it on the front lines. But the overestimation of one's own capabilities is exatcly what I would expect of "Red Squad" cadets. And its easy to get sucked into a group that is very self-assured. It was interesting to watch this group and seeing Jake as the voice of reason or rather as Cassandra since no one listened to him.

Synopsis: Brunt has dethroned Zek and installed himself as acting Grand Nagus after Zek has issued an amendment to the Ferengi Bill of Opportunities that allows women to wear clothes. Zek tries to assemble the other FCA commissioners on DS9 to prove to them how profitable his move could be and to convince him to reinstate him. But when Quark's mother has a hard attack he needs another women to speak on their behalf.

My Opinion: I've seen better Ferengi episodes. But I have to say I am surprised that it had been so many of them. I knew there were quite a number of them but I had forgotten that it had been so many Ferengi shows over the course of DS9. But if memory serves, this was the last one.

Synopsis: The O'Briens go on vacation to a lovely planet. But then Molly wanders off on her own and falls into a cave and through an ancient time portal - 300 years into the past. But when O'Brien and Dax find a way to beam her through that portal and through time she comes out as an 18-year-old. She's spent 10 years on that planet alone and she's changed. While Worf and Dax are babysitting Kirayoshi, Miles and Keiko try to reconnect to their daughter.

My Opinion: Again the main plot wasn't as interesting as the side plot. I liked to watch Worf babysit and him trying to prove to Dax that he could be a good father. But the most interesting thing was the fact that abandoned time portals just seem to stand around on every other planet.

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on February 28th, 2009)