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The Gate, a review by Achim

Title: The Gate
Year: 1987
Director: Tibor Takacs
Rating: PG-13
Length: 86 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Stephen Dorff
Christa Denton
Louis Tripp
Kelly Rowan
Jennifer Irwin

Plot:
After an old tree is removed from the ground, three young children accidentally release a horde of nasty, pint-sized demons from the hole in a suburban backyard. What follows is a classic battle between good and evil as the three kids struggle to overcome a nightmarish hell that is literally taking over the Earth.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Trailers
Gallery
Interviews
Closed Captioned

This film came recommended by a few here on the forum and I must say the film exceeded my expectations. A little Canadian effort into the teen horror genre of the 80s (e.g. Monster Squad of the same year, which this film owns easily) it has excellent special effects (especially the minions kept amazing me) and decent acting from the child actors who after all have to carry the film. Stephen Dorff, who is not yet recognizable comapred to how we know him now, is at a very early career stage here and obviously still had to learn a lot.

The film takes its time to set up the characters and explore their relationships. Nothing feels overly contrived when each plot point is made to move the story towards the inevitable opening of The Gate. It almost feels like a teen comedy for a while, but a good one at that. Good writing, with some hood jokes, keeps our attention up. We are about half way into the movie when all hell breaks loose and the kids have to go against the demon and his minions. The ending is ultimately rather typical for its time and would be considered lazy screen writing today.

I thought that the PG-13 was well stretched in a few spots

Best insult: "Suck my face until my head caves in!"



(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 2nd, 2009)

Independence Day, a review by Dragonfire

Independence Day My Thoughts I saw this one in the theater at least twice, though I'm thinking it might have been 3 times.  At that time, the dollar theater was still open.  Anyway, I also got the movie on VHS and I have no idea how many times total I've seen the movie.  This was the first time I'd watched it in a while, but I still enjoyed it overall.  Things get off to a slower start while all the characters are introduced and the situation is set up.  For much of the movie, it jumps around from character to character, showing what each of them are up to.  Even once most of them are in the same place, the movie still jumps around.  That does get a little annoying, though it mostly works for what is going on.  Because there are so many characters to deal with, none of them are that developed.  Most of them are rather flat actually.  It would have been nice if there had been more development for the characters.  The cast is good and does fine with their parts. There is a lot of action throughout the movie.  The action scenes are done well for the most part and I think they have held up well.  Some of the action is a bit over the top, but that is to be expected for this type of movie.  The action ends up receiving more attention than the characters or the story.  The violence isn't that extreme or graphic, though the movie really isn't a good one for younger children.  The story of aliens showing up is interesting, though I don't think it is handled as well as it could have been.  Some aspects of the story do seem to be pulled from the original V..at least the look of the ships and how they hover over large cities is very much the same.  Much of what happens is predictable, especially if you have watched many of this type of movie.  It does seem like the director has used this one as a template for some of his later movies - The Day After Tomorrow and 2012.  Those movies have a very similar structure and the same type of characters in general.  Really the only difference is how the world is being destroyed.  I think the elements worked better in this one.  Independence Day has some issues with being predictable and having flat characters, but the movie is entertaining overall.  It is a decent disaster type movie. I did get a review posted on Epinions if anyone would like to take a look. Independence Day

(From Dragonfire88's Alphabet Marathon on July 5th, 2010)

Sliders Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

7. IN DINO VERITAS
The sliders land on a new world and are trapped in a cave, menaced by a man-eating allosaurus that has survived since the prehistoric age. Quinn must leave the safety of the group to go in search of the timer, which was lost somewhere outside.

My Thoughts:
This is a very goodf episode... actually one of my favorites of the entire series. It would have been a huge miss if they didn't do an episode where the Dinosaurs were still among us. And I thought the hologram ranger for the dinosaur reserves area was a very good idea. And I also enjoyed the truth collars they had to wear from the previous world. I would have liked to seen an episode on that world alone.

My Rating:

8. POST TRAUMATIC SLIDE SYNDROME
The Sliders finally land in the one place that none of them wants to leave--home--but Quinn is the only one that has doubts about their good fortune. Meanwhile, Arturo hatches a plan to use Quinn's discoveries to win a Nobel prize.

My Thoughts:
Another episode I have always enjoyed a lot! They think they are home... but minor differences proves that they are not. Then finding out that Arturo had been replaced by his double and tries to claim Sliding for his own. The one thing I didn't care for is leaving it open if the "real" Arturo is the one that slid with them or not.

My Rating:

9. OBSESSION
When the quartet slides into a society dominated by psychics, Wade meets the man of her dreams who happens to be next in line for the position of Prime Oracle, the most powerful person in the world. But when she discovers that her love wants her to remain with him forever (at any cost), the future doesn't look quite so rosy.

My Thoughts:
This episode, to me, is no more then average. The whole psychic thing was an alright storyline... but I didn't care for the dream sequences to tie the story together.

My Rating:

10. GREATFELLAS
In a U.S. where Prohibition was never repealed, the Sliders find themselves embroiled in a vicious struggle among warring organized-crime families, corrupt government officials and dedicated G-men--one of whom looks exactly like Rembrandt.

My Thoughts:
Another episode that is just average to me. This is probably do to the fact that I never liked the whole Organized Crime storylines... for any show really.

My Rating:

(From Sliders Marathon on August 18th, 2009)