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30 Days of Night , a review by Dragonfire

30 Days of Night My Thoughts This one is based on a comic book that I haven't read.  Since I haven't read it, I have no clue how close to the source material the movie stays.  The idea of vampires attacking during 30 days of darkness is interesting and it seems like something they might do.  The plot really isn't that complicated since it is just about the vampires attacking and people trying to survive until daylight returns.  Much of what happens is predictable, though one major thing happens that I didn't expect.  Unfortunately, some of what happens doesn't make much sense.  Once the darkness sets in, the vampires move in and they kill almost everyone in what seems like minutes.  The vampires attack and kill everyone they find, leaving bodies everywhere.  A handful of people, including the sheriff, his estranged wife, and younger brother, manage to survive the attack and they find a somewhat decent hiding place.  All that happens fairly early in the movie.  After that, the rest of the movie is basically the survivors trying to stay hidden until the darkness ends.  The survivors are able to peek out and see that the vampires are systemically going through houses and buildings, seeming to be searching for anyone who may be hiding.  Yet someone the survivors manage to stay hidden, even as some fighting happens between them.  Huge chunks of time in the 30 days of night are skipped over, and then, very late in the movie, a few more survivors turn up without any explanations for how they have survived.  That doesn't work for me.  Too much time in the movie passes without much of anything happening, and that does make several scenes drag.  The movie is fairly violent and a lot of blood is shown, though it doesn't get really gory.  In several scenes, the violence happens off camera, and just the after math is seen.  That is gory enough most of the time.  These vampires are very savage and vicious with how they kill.  They basically rip out the throats of their victims instead of just sucking blood.  Blood is everywhere, even all over the vampires.  That was probably meant to make them look and seem scarier, but that effect doesn't last that long.  The vampires in this movie are a bit bizarre.  None of them are identified by name during the movie, though they have names in the credits.  Marlow seems to be in charge. He is the only one who talks and the others just screech and yell.  The screeching does sound creepy, but it is a bit weird.  When Marlow talks, it is in some other language and subtitles aren't provided.  The vampires have a mouth full of sharp pointy teeth that are almost shark like instead of just 2 fangs.  The face and eye shapes of a few of the vampires do make them look somewhat like a shark as well.  That is something else that is odd.  These differences do make the vampires more unique, but it also makes them a bit weird.  There isn't much character development for anyone, and basically none for the vampires.  Eben, the sheriff, does have a few issues to deal with and he probably has the most development.  Most of the characters seem nice enough, but I never felt that connected to any of them.  The cast all does fine with their parts. I did watch the extras on the making of the movie and they are interesting.  The extras mostly feature the crew and director talking.  A few cast members only briefly appear.  Overall, this is an entertaining vampire movie, though it isn't my favorite. I did get a review posted at Epinions. 30 Days of Night

(From Dragonfire88's Alphabet Marathon on July 30th, 2010)

Stargate, a review by DJ Doena

First I thought about a re-run of Smallville but I have watched this in the middle of last year and it's been a while since I've watched Stargate SG-1.

In order to watch Stargate SG-1, one has to watch Stargate first.



Kurt Russell ... Col. Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neil
James Spader ... Dr. Daniel Jackson
Alexis Cruz ... Skaara
Viveca Lindfors ... Catherine
Mili Avital ... Sha'uri
John Diehl ... Lieutenant Kawalsky
Leon Rippy ... General W.O. West
Erick Avari ... Kasuf
French Stewart ... Lieutenant Ferretti
Jaye Davidson ... Ra

Synopsis: Dr. Jackson is not very renowned in the scientific community. But he is convinced that the great pyramids weren't build during the fourth dynasty 5,000 years ago. He believes that they are much older. A digging back in 1928 confirms his suspicions: buried in the sands of Egypt under a great cover stone with unknown symbols - not hieroglyphs - the Door to Heaven Stargate was found. The Stargate is an ancient device to open an intergalactic connection to the planet Abydos. Dr. Jackson and Colonel Jack O'Neill (and a group of soldiers) go there. O'Neill's job is to evaluate the danger of the situation they are facing.

My Opinion: Unfortunately I haven't seen this movie in the theatres (I went to Star Trek: Generations instead). The idea that alien cultures have been to Earth and have had an influence isn't new, but it was interestingly presented. I also liked that the Abydosians really spoke abydosian (a variant of ancient egyptian) and not just english. The fights were very well choreographed, too, I didn't have the feeling that the weapons of the humans were a match to the ones of Ra's.

To adopt the story for the series they had to make some adjustments (this contains spoilers in regard to the pilot of the series):

• In the movie, Ra is portrayed as the last of his kind, in the series he is one System Lord amongst many - although the most powerful one
• In the movie, Ra is no Goa'uld, his alien body looks totally different
• In the movie, Abydos is in another galaxy, in the series it's the planet closest to Earth
• In the movie, the Stargate is a point-to-point connection to Abydos, in the series it's one in a great network of Stargates
• Ra's Jaffa (who aren't called Jaffa in the movie) don't have an abdomen pouch in which they carry a Goa'uld larva (the term Goa'uld is also an invention of the series)

Additionally one has to activate one's "suspension of disbelief" even more than in the movie, because:

• On most planets the people speak english, no explanation is given (Universal Translator in Star Trek, Translator Microbes in Farscape)
• Most planets look like canadian forrests
• On some planets are earth-like cultures that developed only after the gate was buried
• We never see normal Goa'ulds, they are either rulers or at least scientists, but the huge number of Gua'uld larvae in the Jaffa have to result in a much larger Goa'uld population

Now we can get started ...



(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on February 29th, 2008)

Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon, a review by Tom

06. Halloween (1997-10-27)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Carl Ellsworth (Writer)
Director: Bruce Seth Green
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Seth Green (Oz), James Marsters (Spike), Robin Sachs (Ethan Rayne), Juliet Landau (Drusilla), Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder), Larry Bagby III (Larry), Abigail Gershman (Girl)

I always enjoyed this episode a lot. Ghost Willow was especially great. And a helpless Buffy was also interesting to see.

I think it's great they introduce the Ripper side to Giles. The last few episodes, Giles was becoming the butt of too many jokes.

Rating:

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on February 8th, 2009)