DVD Collectors Online

The Mummy's Curse, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Mummy's Curse
Year of Release: 1944
Directed By: Leslie Goodwins
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Peter Coe, Virginia Christine, Kay Harding
Genre: Horror

Overview:
In his final film appearance, Lon Chaney Jr. returns as one of the screen's most memorable movie monsters: ancient Egyptian mummy Kharis, who is tormented by his forbidden love for a long-dead princess. Transported to Cajun country by archaeologists, Kharis breaks free and goes on a rampage of terror and destruction. Finally, he is united with his princess. But they soon discover that the greatest threat their ancient romance has ever known may be the museum curators who are after them.

My Thoughts:
The final film in Universal's franchise. I'll say this - from Hand onward there's been good continuity in the series. Each film following and referencing the previous in an effective way. The one break in continuity is that somehow Massachusetts has now become Louisiana. But we do pick up where Ghost ends. The plot is much a retread again, but at least they change it up with the assistant the one becoming obsessed with the girl rather than the high priest. Again, the same basic quality as the previous films without the surprise ending of Ghost. Still, if you've enjoyed those you'll enjoy this one and want to see it as part of the franchise.

Again, the overview attached to this film in Profiler is really inaccurate to the film.

Watched For:  Hoop-tober 3.0, Horror/Halloween Challenge 2016

Bechdel Test: Pass
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 2.5/5

Horror/Halloween Challenge Films: 22/52 (16 reviewed)

(From Horror/Halloween 2016 Challenge on October 10th, 2016)

My Summer of Love, a review by Tom

Title: My Summer of Love
Year: 2004
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Rating: 15
Length: 83 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Nathalie Press
Emily Blunt
Paddy Considine
Dean Andrews
Michelle Byrne

Plot:
Mona (Natalie Press)has just got hold of a brilliant moped that only cost a tenner. No engine but still dirt-cheap. She lives with her brother, Phil (Paddy Considine) who used to run a pub before he found God and poured away all the booze. Tamsin (Emily Blunt) is rich, spoilt and trying to live a life of seductive decadence.

They meet on the moors, above their quiet Yorkshire village and begin an intense, unlikely friendship.Tamsin and Mona want to escape their lives, but Phil wants to save them and save everybody else. Mona wants the old, dangerous, Phil back; the brother that she loved. Tamsin wants to see what it takes to break him.

Awards:

BAFTA	2004	Won	The Alexander Korda Award For The Outstanding British Film Of The Year	Tanya Seghatchian, Christopher Collins, Pawel Pawlikowski
British Independent Film Awards	2004	Nominated	Best British Independent Film
British Independent Film Awards	2004	Nominated	Best Director on an British Independent Film	Pawel Pawlikowski
British Independent Film Awards	2004	Nominated	Best Performance by a Actress in a British Independent Film	Natalie Press
British Independent Film Awards	2004	Nominated	Best Performance by a Supporting Actor or Actress in a British Independent Film	Paddy Considine
British Independent Film Awards	2004	Nominated	Most Promising Newcomer	Emily Blunt
European Film Awards	2005	Nominated	European Actress	Natalie Press
European Film Awards	2005	Nominated	European Cinematographer	Ryszard Lenczewski
European Film Awards	2005	Nominated	European Director	Pawel Pawlikowski
European Film Awards	2005	Nominated	European Film

Extras:
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

This movie is okay. Not really my kind of movie. The performances were good. Also the story has some merrit, but in general it is just another one of those lesbian movies which just have to have a tragic/sad ending, like "Lost and Delirious", "Heavenly Creatures" and countless others. Sadly it is hard to find lesbian movies which are upbeat and have a happy ending.

Rating:

(From Lesbian Movie Marathon on March 5th, 2010)

"Battlestar Galactica" Marathon (1978-2009), a review by DJ Doena

                   


Synopsis: Many years ago the Humans in the Twelve Colonies of Kobol build themselves advanced machines that would work for them. But these machines developed and one day they began a war against their masters.
40 years has it been since the war has ended and the Cylons disappeared. Now they are back and they want the total annihilation of mankind. They have hacked into colonial defences and disabled it. The attack comes swift and deadly. Only a handful of ships under the lead of the Battlestar Galactica survives this holocaust. Now they want to find the mystical thirteenth colony of Kobol: Earth.

My Opinion: When I heard that there would be a new Battlestar Galactica series, I was excited. This series is nothing like the old one except for the basic story. Some of the characters have changed gender and/or skin colour, their names have become call signs and Adama is no longer the lone leader of the fleet. He's now a military commander who was about to retire. The role of the civilian leader was taken by President Laura Roslin who is a counterpoise to Adama. Also, the characters aren't so upright anymore: Lee "Apollo" Adama dislikes his father because of what happened to his brother, Kara "Starbuck" Thrace hits "superior assholes" once in a while, Colonel Tigh is a drunk, Baltar is the egocentric scientist who inadvertently let the Cylons into the defence mainframe and Sharon "Boomer" Valerii is a Cylon sleeper agent. Ah yes: And some Cylons look like Humans now. Of these 12 human models we know 4 so far.
What I like about this mini-series and the following series was that they didn't overdo the Sci-Fi elements. When they use FX it looks great but they decided to don't make everything futuristic. The interior and the normal stuff looks pretty much normal. No fancy laser pistols, no communicators, no spacy music instruments.

(From "Battlestar Galactica" Marathon (1978-2009) on April 25th, 2009)