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Twice Told Tales, a review by Danae Cassandra

Twice Told Tales
Year of Release: 1963
Directed By: Sidney Salkow
Starring: Vincent Price, Sebastian Cabot, Brett Halsey, Beverly Garland,
Genre: Horror

Overview:
It's spine-tingling terror... in triplicate! "Virtuoso of horror" (Los Angeles Times) Vincent Price dials up the depravity in this spellbinding trilogy of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "all-chiller" (LA Herald-Examiner) classics! Featuring "a demented genius! Poisonous plants! Oozing blood! [And] a corpse in a wedding gown" (The Film Daily), Twice Told Tales spins three diabolical nightmares of madness, mayhem and murder most foul!

My Thoughts:
This anthology film stars one of my all-time favorite actors, Vincent Price, so there's no way as far as I'm concerned to go too far wrong here. If you like Price, you'll enjoy this film.

That's not to say that all things are equal. The final story, "The House of Seven Gables" is by far the best one, and has the most atmosphere and horror attached. Price's character is also the only truly villainous one in this piece, unlike the tortured characters in the other two stories. The first story, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," is also quite good, the horror being more subtle here than in the final piece, but nonetheless present. The middle story, "Rappaccini's Daughter," I find to be the weakest and most predictable. There is the horror of the situation, but overall it is also the least 'horrific' if one can use the term here.

Recommended for fans of Price, or fans of 60's style horror. If you liked Tales of Terror (which is arguably better, but still...) you'll like this.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 3/5

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon on October 8th, 2014)

Aquamarine, a review by addicted2dvd

Aquamarine
It's the end of summer and Claire (Roberts) and Hailey (Jojo) have a major problem. In just five days, Hailey's family is moving halfway around the world! These girls need a major miracle, and get one in the form of Aquamarine, a beautiful mermaid who washes ashore in a late summer storm. Sweet but clueless to the ways of romance, she offers to grant the girls one wish if they help her find the boy of her dreams. But when they attempt to reel in the cute local lifeguard, the result is something none of them expect...and they discover that sometimes what you wish for isn't what you really want after all.

My Thoughts:
I promised my daughter Brittany that I would watch one of her movies with her this weekend. And this is what was picked out. It is a cute enough movie... but definitely strongly geared to the teenage girl. But all the same it was entertaining. Most the characters likable... at least the ones you are supposed to like. It is worth checking out at least once.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: 5/22 - 5/24 on May 24th, 2009)

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

Synopsis: Vala returns to a planet that she has ruled as a Goa'uld and as herself. She tries to warn the people of the Ori by retaking her role as Qetesh. The plan doesn't work out and Vala is being put on trial. But then a Prior arrives and Daniel tries to convince the people that the Ori are false gods just as the Goa'ulds have been.

My Opinion: That's the problem when you tell people over thousands of years that there are living gods. This idea is then hard to kill, especially when you have such "convincing arguments" as the Priors have. But I liked this episode because it showed that Vala is not completely egoistic - only a great part of her. The discussion between Daniel and the Prior was also very well written.

Synopsis: A Prior comes to a planet of the free Jaffa but when they don't bow to him he enables an expanding force field around the Stargate. The Ori try to establish a beachhead in our galaxy and the Prometheus is dispatched to prevent exactly that.

My Opinion: The best part was the face of the Goa'uld fatso when he was thinking about his future. The destruction of the Supergate looked really cool but I am afraid that it won't be the last. And while I like the fact that Sam has returned, it's sad that Vala has gone missing. She has brought a lot of pep into the show. But many people have returned and she isn't even definitivly dead (and not even that has stopped some people).

Synopsis: As it turns out, Ba'al is hiding on Earth. He has been here since his defeat over Dakara and he has used the Trust organization to help him. Gerak from the Jaffa High Council has learned of this and he wants to be the one who catches him. But Ba'al has a reinsurance  that could cost the lives of many people.

My Opinion: I think Cliff Simon (Ba'al) has an interesting voice. I believe we have heard it for the first time. I also liked the idea of beaming an entire building or the multiple Ba'al clones. I am quite sure we will see them again.
The sad thing about this episode is that Earth can't find lasting and true allies. Among the Tollans and Tok'ra have never been more than one or two reliable persons. Even during the war against the Goa'ulds the alliance with the rebel Jaffa had been fragile. What did Earth do to deserve that ingratitude?

Synopsis: The Sodan are Jaffa who have parted ways with the other Jaffa 5000 years ago. Since then they've never served any Goa'uld. When SG-1 wants to meet them there is a incident during which a Sodan is badly wounded and Mitchell is captured. And the Priors have found their way to this planet, too.

My Opinion: The village of the Sodans and their way of life had a japanese touch although Tony Todd isn't the typical japanese. I have to confess I am fascinated by the Samurai culture. I am well aware of the fact that the image Hollywood shows has nothing to do with the reality in those times. Still I am a fan of the "noble warrior" image. It's quite sad that words like "honour" have no meaning at all anymore. And I am definitively not talking about the "honour" as in "honour killings", they have nothing to do with "honour".
I liked the episode a lot.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on April 27th, 2008)