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Campfire Tales, a review by addicted2dvd

Campfire Tales
Horror takes a detour deep into the woods in this terrifying cross between 'Scream' and 'Tales From The Crypt', starring Christine Taylor ('Dodgeball') and Ron Livingston ('Office Space').

Returning home from a concert and driving recklessly, four teenagers crash their car on a deserted road. To ward off the cold, they build a fire and wait for help. But the hair-raising stories they tell around the fire put a deeper chill into the night. Each tale is more lurid, more horrifying, more shocking than anything they've heard before. Yet for these unlucky teens in the woods, the biggest shock is still to come...

My Thoughts:
I blind bought this one for this past year's Halloween Marathon. I enjoyed it so much then that I found myself ready to watch it again now. I enjoyed it just as much this time as I did the first time. I am to the point of saying this is my favorite Anthology Horror at the moment. Not only was all 3 stories suspenseful with great atmosphere... the wrap around story (where anthologies usually loose me) was a really good story in it's own right. The only thing that I could consider a downfall in this movie would have to be the fact that the first 2 stories are tellings of very well known urban legends... so you fairly quickly know what to expect. But that is ok... because these stories are so well done that you still enjoy every moment of it... even if you do know where it is going. This is one I will highly recommend... especially if you like anthology horror.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon 1/2 - 1/4 on January 2nd, 2009)

Blade, a review by Jon

Blade
4 out of 5



Blade (Wesley Snipes) is a half-human, half-vampire, the "Daywalker", waging war on a secret society of vampires with help from Whistler (Kris Kristofferson). He rescues a doctor from a vampire attack and her skills with blood may help find Blade a new serum against the thirst that tortures him. Meanwhile Frost (Stephen Dorff) is trying to bring about a vampire apocalypse...

When great comic book based movies are discussed, somehow Blade always gets forgotten. And it really isn't fair because it still holds up as one of the best. The story format of a martial artist vigilante with cool weapons and a faithful (if foul-mouthed!) assistant could be seen as a Batman clone and the style is very much like Nolan's two films. In fact, Christian Bale could do worse than throw in a couple of Blade's lines, because the tone is no less serious, but the dialogue certainly lightens it. And interesting that it came out a year before The Matrix. It matches that film for coolness and bares comparison with the plot (chosen one, prophecy). They certainly go to the same tailor, all black leather and sunglasses, and buy similar CDs, but surely a year is too tight to accuse the Wachowski's of ripping it off? But the likeness is uncanny, especially when Blade tells Karen the world she knows is a "sugar-coated topping" hiding the "real world". Actually, no, if they did copy it, The Matrix would have been far more entertaining with less po-faced exposition...

Because Blade is coldly lit, sombre and dark, but very entertaining with solid action throughout. The ending is silly and stretches the CGi past breaking point, but up to that point the plot produces some wonderful set-pieces and Norrington has a great eye for imagery; the "Blood Bath" opening, the freaky oracle vampire, the library, etc. You can see why it would attract Guillermo Del Toro to the sequel. Some criticise the villain, but I though Stephen Dorff did a good enough job and he is at least supported by a gang straight out of an 80s action thriller (and that's no bad thing). All the characters are memorable, especially Kristofferson's cranky old Whistler. The fights and lightly used gore also make this one of the last properly successful comic book films for adults.

Stephen Norrington really couldn't have done much better and I find it odd that he would go on to direct the pathetic League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which doesn't have any subtlety at all, and was such a bad experience he exiled himself. He is apparently working on a new version of The Crow and on this evidence it's an excellent idea. I look forward to smacking people in the face with my Blade DVD when they make the inevitable accusations that he's ripping off The Dark Knight!

(From Jon's Marathon of Horror! 2009 on October 4th, 2009)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Day Break
Did you ever have a day so bad you couldn't wait to get past it? The kind of day where nothing goes your way and everything turns out wrong. What would happen if you couldn't put this day behind you...literally?

Today, Detective Brett Hopper will be accused of shooting state attorney Alberto Garza. He will offer his rock solid alibi but will realized that he has been framed and will run. Then he will wake up and start the same day all over again. This time he'll do it differently - and will continue to - until he finds out who's framing him, get his gang witness to court to testify and save the lives of his loved ones. Hopper has only one advantage to his favor - he remembers everything he did the "day prior" that didn't work. It's a painful way to learn because he also carries the bruises and battle scars with him from every mistake-filled day.

Daybreak features Taye Diggs (Private Practice, How Stella Got Her Groove Back) as Detective Hopper in this action-packed thriller from director Rob Bowman (The X-Files, Reign of Fire) and writer Paul Zbyszewski (After the Fire). Also co-starring are Moon Bloodgood and Adam Baldwin. Along with all 13 episodes of this program are special features which include interviews with the cast and producers, behind-the-scenes footage and audio commentary from the cast and crew.

Day Break (Pilot)
When Detective Brett Hopper woke up this morning, he thought it was a normal day, a day like any other one, but he soon learns he has been accused of killing Assistant District Attorney Alberto Garza. Even after offering a solid alibi, no one believes him. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds out he is reliving the same day and his loved ones are in danger.

My Thoughts:
This a show I bought blind... I never even heard of it till I decided to order it. It is a short lived TV Series that only lasted 13 episodes (only 6 episodes originally aired before cancellation). But I got it cheap and decided to take a chance on it. I always liked the movie Groundhog Day... so I thought it would be a fairly safe purchase. Going by the pilot episode only it seems to be a pretty good series. I enjoyed it. Though I do have to wonder how much they can do with him for an entire series

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on November 29th, 2009)