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Ghost Town, a review by Jon

Ghost Town
3 out of 5



Ricky Gervais plays dentist Bertram Pincus, who briefly dies during a small operation. This gives him the ability to see ghosts and they, like most people, really annoy him. Especially Frank (Greg Kinnear) who wants help making sure his widow (Tea Leoni) doesn't remarry.

This is a cute film. In some ways it can't help but repeat old ground from Ghost, but there's just a hint of [British] irony to stop it being purely sentimental mushy rubbish. Though there is that too. Greg Kinnear is great as Frank, trying to right the wrongs of his life, but he would have been lost without straight-man (for the most part) Gervais. It's another miserable bastard variation for him to play, but he does very well and I'm always pleasantly surprised at the mileage he gets out of what is essentially the same routine. There's a nice twist on his usual trick of pretending not to understand a question when a Doctor does it to him, brilliantly. I'm certainly never bored by him and he has some cracking lines that made me laugh out loud, especially when he's dealing with the various ghosts begging him for help (which of course he refuses). I'm not sure his character would have been that witty, but he saves it mainly for scenes with or about Tea Leoni's character so we can easily claim she's having the effect on him as he falls for her. I enjoyed her character and the two work very well off of each other, and all three leads flesh out what could easily have been very thin roles. Leoni on particular has always had a slight unpredictability, which is essential in a film like this.

Because yes, this is fully-certified, middle-of-the-road, completely harmless rom-com, and as should be, it is very predictable. Heck, think really hard for a couple of minutes and I bet you can work out the broad plot without seeing the film! Don't do that though, it is worth seeing, because like all good rom-coms, it knows how predictable it is and generally gets on with it. I do wish the middle section had been shorter so there'd have been more time in the last act. A couple of very funny ghosts fall by the wayside, which was a shame. Still, it's occasionally moving, occasionally hilarious, if dependably obvious.

EDIT: Btw, this is worth seeing on Blu-Ray. New York looks absolutely gorgeous, especially just on the cusp of winter. And there's some nice time-lapse effects that I'm sure would have been lost a little bit on DVD.

(From Jon's Marathon of Horror! 2009 on October 3rd, 2009)

The Tourist, a review by Dragonfire

The Tourist

I went to see The Tourist recently.  I was interested in seeing it after seeing the trailers.  I did really enjoy the movie, though it is a little different from what I expected.

The plot is interesting, dealing with a tourist, Frank, who gets pulled into an odd and dangerous situation because of Elise, a beautiful, mysterious woman.  There is a bit of action and some minor violence.  Things do get off to a slightly slower start, but the pace does pick up.  I have read that some people think the movie is too slow, but I didn't feel that way.  A few complications do pop up and I think there is enough going on to keep things interesting and entertaining.  There is a little bit of humor in a few scenes, but I don't think the movie is a comedy.  There are a few surprises to what happens that work well.

The characters are interesting and I do like Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in their parts.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and think it is worth checking out.

I did get a review posted on Epinions.

The Tourist

(From The Tourist on January 4th, 2011)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Dawson's Creek: Season One (1998/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (United States) Length: 567 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: English, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish

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Plot:
Kevin Williamson (the Scream movie series, I Know What You Did Last Summer) created this engaging drama, which chronicles a group of young friends' passage from adolescence to young adulthood in the small coastal town of Capeside, Massachusetts. Based on Williamson's own experiences growing up, "Dawson's Creek" focuses on 15-year-olds Dawson (James Van Der Beek) and Joey (Katie Holmes), who have been friends since they were five and are trying to cope with the way their friendship is changing now that their hormones are raging. Add to the mix their friend Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and the new girl in town, Jen (Michelle Williams), and you can count on extra twists to the drama in their already turbulent lives.

Filmed on location in Wilmington, Durham and Raleigh, North Carolina, this first season marks the beginning of an unforgettable journey that explores the agony and ecstacy of teenage life. Can the kids of "Dawson's Creek" really grow up without growing apart? Watch and find out!

Dawson's Creek
1.01 Pilot
Writer: Kevin Williamson (Created By), Kevin Williamson (Writer)
Director: Steve Miner
Cast: James Van Der Beek (Dawson Leery), Michelle Williams (Jen Lindley), Joshua Jackson (Pacey Witter), Katie Holmes (Joey Potter), Mary-Margaret Humes (Gail Leery), John Wesley Shipp (Mitch Leery), Mary Beth Peil (Evelyn Ryan), Nina Repeta (Bessie Potter), Nicole Nieth (Nellie Oleson), Mitchell Laurance (Mr. Gold), Leann Hunley (Tamara Jacobs), George Gaffney (Bodie), Ed Grady (Gramps), Ted King (Newscaster Bob), Rick Forrester (Big Guy), Evan Kelly (Roger Fulford)

When Dawson's Creek first started airing on TV, I ignored it. But when the first season reran I caught the episode "Detention" by chance and was hooked since. I then continued to watch the second season and had downloaded the third season when it originally aired in the US (30 MB real media video on dial-up). Though I lost interest in the fourth season. But now I have all seasons on DVD and watched it up to the fifth season. I have yet to watch the final season.
The pilot is still good. You can still see that it was something fresh for its time. Of course they have been a lot of Dawson-type shows since.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on April 2nd, 2011)