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Laughter in Paradise, a review by Antares

Laughter in Paradise (1951) 62/100 - This British comedy had a great premise, that unfortunately, never really builds upon the crazy possibilities inherent in its storyline. It's the story of an aristocrat, known as the world's most famous practical joker, who has died, and has, as part of his will, bequeathed his estate to 4 relatives of his extended family. But there's a catch...each must perform a specific task that is completely contrary to their character's nature, and it must be done before thirty days have elapsed since the reading of the will. Being the world's greatest practical joker, each task that the aristocrat has conjured up, is meant to tweak each of its recipients. One relative is a fortune hunting womanizer, and he must marry the first woman he speaks to. The second relative is a stuffy, cruel woman who must take a job as a maid servant. The third is a spineless bank teller who must hold up the bank he works for. And finally, the fourth is a timid, milquetoast dime novelist who must get arrested and spend thirty days in jail. I waited for that crazy kind of dry humor the British are famous for, to surface throughout this film, but sadly, the film plays out mainly as a cute morality tale instead, with the obvious ending attached. It's a fun film, but pales in comparison to what Ealing was cranking out at this time.

What the color coding means...

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on July 28th, 2012)

Watchmen, a review by Tom

Title: Watchmen: Director's Cut
Year: 2009
Director: Zack Snyder
Rating: R
Length: 186 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.40
Audio: English: DTS HD Master Audio, French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Malin Akerman
Billy Crudup
Matthew Goode
Jackie Earle Haley
Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Plot:Awards:

Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Comic Book Movie
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Ensemble
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best F/X
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Fantasy Movie
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Superhero	Billy Crudup
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Superhero	Jackie Earle
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Superhero	Malin Akerman
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Best Supporting Actress	Carla Gugino
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Fight-to-the-Death Scene of the Year	"Ozymandias vs. The Comedian":
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Most Memorable Mutilation	"Arms Cut Off by Rotary Saw":
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	Scream Song of the Year	"Desolation Row": My Chemical Romance
Scream Awards	2009	Nominated	The "Holy Sh%t!" Scene of the Year	"The Destruction of Manhattan":
Teen Choice Awards	2009	Nominated	Choice Movie Actress - Action/Adventure	Malin Akerman

Extras:
BD-Live
Featurettes
Maximum Movie Mode
Music Videos
Scene Access

Even though I enjoy this movie, I feel it is much too long. The graphic novel on which this movie is based on, was always said to be unfilmable. They have proven this incorrect. As a matter of fact this is almost a panel-by-panel reenactment (at least it feels like it). And this is in my opinion just playing it too safe. A good film adaption, in my opinion, takes a source material and takes parts which are essential and provide a good and stream-lined story. Here they almost did not take any liberties, which is just too lazy for a film adaption. This approach would have better fit in a mini series.
A good comic book adaption, where they still have the general storyline and ideas in the movie, but have enough changes to better fit the constraints of a movie, are in my opinion the two Death Note movies.
But I have to give it to the movie, that the one big thing they have changed was for the better. And that is the ending. I like the movie version better. Coincidentally I thought the same thing about the Death Note ending.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on October 10th, 2009)

"Due South" marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

Vault

This is a fun episode. as was said there is a couple new characters that appears in this season. Though I don't know what I think of them at this point since their parts in this episode was really rather small. I also liked seeing Francesca with a larger part then she normally has. The ending on this one was a bit shocking... will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

My Rating:

(From "Due South" marathon on August 10th, 2009)