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Excalibur, a review by Eric

Excalibur




Summary:My Thoughts: To my defense for what I'm about to write I must remind everyone that I am not a fan of fantasy movies.  I do enjoy true masterpieces like LOTR but it's not a genre I am particularly fond of.  I totally hated the first 20 minutes of that movie, to me it was preposterous and I actually laughed a few times at what I thought was gonna be 2.5 hours of complete ridicule.

The first battle scene however caught my interest.  There you see men fighting with swords in their armors but unlike what we're used to in movies they're not all gracious and impressive in their movements.  On the contrary they are slow to move and react, they are always out of balance and falling after hitting an adversary because the weight of their armors and weapons pull them forward.  I really liked that because it look real, in the 13th century these armors were probably extremely heavy and knights must have had limited movements because of them.  From that point on I stopped lauging at it and decided to give it a chance.

Although I would probably not watch this again I have to say that I liked it, I found some parts of it pretty annoying and long but other parts totally kept my attention.  Especially when Helen Mirren comes into the picture.  The movie is made in a style that resembles a theater piece but I found most (if not all) the other actors and actresses to be poor at it.  Mirren however does a great performance and her character is credible, most of her scenes made me feel like I was watching a play.  She does exactly as it's supposed to be done, with this "lyrical" way of saying things that you would expect from a Shakespeare play.

As I have never read any writings about Arthur I cannot say whether this movie is close to the actual legend or not but it covers all I know of it including the sword in the stone, the query for the grail, Merlin and Morgana (Mirren) and the final battle with his own son.

I must however question the choice of some of the scores.  It it mostly well suited but in most of the scenes where you see Arthur and the Knights riding their horses on their way to battle they chose Carl Orf's Carmina Burana.  That really bothered me as I find it totally out of place both geographically and in its significance.

Carmina Burana are mostly drinking and dancing songs written in German, French, Latin and some English by the Goliards, a group of clergy, in protest to the growing contradictions in the church like the failures of the crusades and the financial abuses.  In my mind there is absolutely no relation whatsoever between those songs and an army of Knights riding to battle to defend their King which they believe was made such by God.

My score: , I'm sure most people who like the Fantasy genre would give it a

(From Eric's DVD watching. on June 1st, 2008)

Marnie, a review by Achim

Title: Marnie
Year: 1964
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: PG
Length: 131 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Mono, French: Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Tippi Hedren ['Tippi' Hedren]
Sean Connery
Diane Baker
Martin Gabel
Louise Latham

Plot:
Tippi Hedren is Marnie, a compulsive thief who attempts to rob her boss, Mark Rutland (Sean Connery), but instead ends up marrying him. Her obsessive behavior continues, but when she is pushed to the edge after a terrible accident, Marnie's groom urges her to confront the past in the shattering conclusion of this psychological thriller.

Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers
Featurettes
Gallery
Production Notes

First off, this is not the usual Hitchcock thriller. Closer to Rebecca in nature, I guess, this is about a psychologically damaged woman and her husband trying to get close her. The themes are strong (rape is mentioned and then of course the reveal at the end) and kudos to Alfred to try something completely different, albeit almost clearly out of his area of expertise. Some scenes manage to shine when things get closer to the director's regular topics, like the hunting scene and especially its conclusion, but in overall it was lacking. I want to point out that I enjoyed the dialog that was put into Connery's mouth!

In my opinion the film's failure lies strongly on Tippi Hedren's shoulders; or Hitchcock's for that matter, who so dearly wished to make a star out of her. The role of Marnie demands a far greater range than Hedren is able to provide. The performances by Sean Connery and Diane Baker are marvelous, but they are not enough to save the film marred by the lead actress and a director trying to find foot in a new genre.




(From Alfred Hitchcock Marathon on January 3rd, 2010)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Dawson's Creek: Season Five
Year: 2001
Director:
Rating: NR
Length: 987 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: Portuguese, Spanish

Stars:


Plot:
They've gone from adolescence to adulthood and now it's time to make their way in the world. Joey, Jen and Jack head to college in Boston, Dawson makes his way to film school in Los Angeles, and Pacey chooses to explore other opportunities instead of going to college. Dawson also finds himself facing some major changes on the home-front. Even though they're starting a new chapter in their lives, there's nothing that can break the bond between these friends.

Awards:

Teen Choice Awards	2003	Nominated	Choice TV - Drama/Action Adventure
Teen Choice Awards	2003	Nominated	Choice TV Actor - Drama/Action Adventure	Joshua Jackson
Teen Choice Awards	2003	Nominated	Choice TV Actress - Drama/Action Adventure	Katie Holmes
Teen Choice Awards	2003	Nominated	Choice TV Sidekick	Mika Boorem
Teen Choice Awards	2000	Won	TV - Choice Actor	Joshua Jackson
Teen Choice Awards	2001	Won	TV - Choice Actor	Joshua Jackson
Teen Choice Awards	2002	Nominated	TV - Choice Actor, Drama	Joshua Jackson
Teen Choice Awards	2000	Nominated	TV - Choice Actress	Katie Holmes
Teen Choice Awards	2001	Nominated	TV - Choice Actress	Katie Holmes
Teen Choice Awards	2002	Nominated	TV - Choice Actress, Drama	Katie Holmes
Teen Choice Awards	2000	Won	TV - Choice Drama
Teen Choice Awards	2001	Nominated	TV - Choice Drama
Teen Choice Awards	2002	Nominated	TV - Choice Drama/Action Adventure
Teen Choice Awards	2002	Nominated	TV - Choice Sidekick	Busy Philipps

Extras:
Closed Captioned
Scene Access
Trailers

I am still enjoying this series. I think the transition from High School to University went well in this series. In the audio commentaries for season 4 they said they were trying not to pull the same stunt as a lot of other series were doing. I.e. that there is suddenly a university in town where all main characters are going to. Though they didn't exactly do this here, they still managed to put all main characters to the same city (Boston). This started with finding a way why Jack and Jen did not go to New York as originally planned. Then Pacey showing up in Boston and finally for Dawson to quit UCLA to also be in Boston.

Now a small review on the character developments this season (spoilers ahead):

Dawson:
The beginning of this season Dawson had to deal with the sudden death of his father. Mitch (played by "The Flash" actor John Wesley Shipp) was always one of my favorite TV dads so I was a little sad to see him go.
Later on Dawson had a small relationship with Jen. It was okay to get them together for a short while. It shows that they just do not click. Then Dawson pulled a miracle (or it is strange TV timelime): He made a great movie based on a phone book sized screenplay in just a few days. He even changed the main star half-way through without a problem.

Joey:
She seems to be in her element in college. Also her love interests were fun to watch. First she almost started a relationship with her professor. And later on she tamed a resident womanizer.

Jen:
Besides her relationship with Dawson and her starting hosting a radio show, nothing much happened.

Jack:
He joined a fraternity, became an asshole, started drinking and finally pulled himself together again.

Pacey:
Starts working at a noble restaurant and becomes quite a big shot there, until he looses his job at the end of the season. Towards the end he starts a relationship with Audrey.

Audrey:
Joey's new roommate. She is one of the reasons I finally went ahead to watch this series. Because I was curious about her. She is played by Busy Phillips who was part of the cast in Freaks & Geeks. It is a fun character to watch. The friendship which develops between her and Joey is nice. Also her relationship with Pacey seems right.

#	Episode	Rating
01	The Bostonians
02	The Lost Weekend
03	Capeside Revisited
04	The Long Goodbye
05	Use Your Disillusion
06	High Anxiety
07	Text, Lies and Videotape
08	Hotel New Hampshire
09	Four Scary Stories
10	Appetite for Destruction
11	Something Wild
12	Sleeping Arrangements
13	Something Wilder
14	Guerilla Filmmaking
15	Downtown Crossing
16	In a Lonely Place
17	Highway to Hell
18	Cigarette Burns
19	100 Light Years From Home
20	Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
21	After Hours
22	The Abby
23	Swan Song

(From Tom's Random Reviews on December 19th, 2009)