DVD Collectors Online

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a review by samuelrichardscott

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) R2 United Kingdom

Overview:My Thoughts:
This is a rewatch for me just to see if it's just as good the second time around as it was the first. It is. Everything about this movie manages to hit the nail on the head. Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monoghan and every other actor/actress involved is perfectly cast, the script is fantastic, if a little confusing at times and the whole feel to it was just right. It managed to take the dark comedy it was aiming for and mix it perfectly with noir qualities. There are lots of nice little nods to other films with chapters being named after early noir movies, the beginning reminding you of Sunset Boulevard and, as he breaks the fourth wall, Downey Jr. lets us know it will end properly and not numerous times like Lord of the Rings. Not many films can pull off the fourth wall, but Kiss Kiss Bang Bang pulls this and so much more off. Highly recommended. 4.5/5

(From Never Ending Movie Marathon (short reviews) on June 27th, 2010)

The Pit and the Pendulum, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Pit and the Pendulum
Year of Release: 1961
Directed By: Roger Corman
Starring: Vincent Price, John Kerr, Barbara Steele, Luana Anders, Antony Carbone
Genre: Horror, Suspense

Overview:
Happily-ever-after goes under the knife in this "eerie [and] excellent" (The Hollywood Reporter) saga of murder, madness  and forbidden desire. Starring Hollywood horror great Vincent Price, this "spine-tingling thriller" (Redbook Magazine) is a  "lush, elegant and bloody" (CueMy Thoughts:
Roger Corman certainly knows how to make a movie.  You don't need a big budget and lots of state-of-the-art effects.  What you need are good actors, suspense, and a lot of atmosphere.  Vincent Price, of course, is superb.  Some people consider his style a bit "hammy" but, honestly, I think they're just jealous because they'll never be as awesome as Vincent Price.  The rest of the cast is pretty solid, though John Kerr's character comes off as very one-note for most of the film, and isn't as interesting as either of the others.  Of course, this is really Price's show as far as the actors go.  The rest is down to great art direction, a pretty interesting script that keeps the viewer guessing, and wonderful, creepy, gothic atmosphere.  Recommended for anyone who likes older horror films. 

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 3.75/5

(From Danae's 2013 Horror Marathon on October 7th, 2013)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: A rather large fleet of klingon ships under the command of General Martok arrives at the station and their true intentions remain unclear. But then they start to search ships that try to leave the bajoran sector to look for changelings. Sisko needs a Klingon to shed some light into this: Lt. Cmdr. Worf, son of Mogh. But when the fleet departs for an attack on Cardassia (that is infiltrated by Founders - or so do the Klingons believe), Worf has to make a choice: To stay with Starfleet or to rejoin his people.

My Opinion: Hawk is back! This was a great start to the season. Worf and Martok are great additions to the show and I like how fluent the concept of good and bad guys is. Except for Babylon 5 in other shows of that time the good guys remain good and the bad guys remain the bad guys. There's rarely a grey area. Yes, the Klingons have been the bad guys once, but since the start of TNG they basically belonged to the good guys and that didn't change - until now. It also often happened that a race was portrayed in a certain way and there were only a few exceptions to that general portrayal. Only Humans had been shown in all variations of grey. That is also due to the fact that TNG has shown a certain race rarely twice (except for the Klingons). DS9 with it's "port of call" concept has broken with that and has shown all kinds of Bajorans, Klingons, Cardassians and will continue to do so.

Synopsis: An accident happens aboard the Defiant and Sisko gets vaporized and his son is shocked. But a few months later Ben Sisko reappears in Jake's quarters and disappears again. Then a year later it happens again. Ben is caught in some kind of subspace bubble and Jake (who was involved in the original accident) is his anchor to this world. While his life goes on, he spends his time either with writing or studying subspace mechanics and after fifty years, Jake has figured out how to save his father.

My Opinion: In general, I liked this episode and (again) the relationship between Jake and his father. The story is very emotional and very well told. What bugs me is the fact that the Dominion war didn't seem to have happened in that timeline. Firstly this contradicts the things we have learned so far about the Dominion infiltration of the AQ (e.g. in The Adversary) and secondly because that would mean that Sisko's survival would lead to the greatest war in the history of the AQ with its millions of deaths.

Synopsis: O'Brien and Bashir detect a crash-landed ship along a trading route in the GQ. But when they approach the planet they get shot down and have to face a group of Jem'Hadar. But these are not regular Jem'Hadar, these one want to be free and for this they need to free themselves from the Ketracel-white drug. Bashir doesn't believe this is possible due to his experiences with the Jem'Hadar infant in the previous year.

My Opinion: For the first time since the start of their friendship a rift has been created between Miles and Julian. Although it was sad to see, their behaviour was very fitting to each character. Miles has fought in the cardassian border wars and seen what an ruthless enemy is capable of and Julian is still a very enthusiastic doctor who values life above all else. But I am glad that their friendship will survive things like that.
And now we've seen Jem'Hadar who can think and act outside their genetically programmed pattern. Again a race has been shown more than one-dimensional and it will happen again.

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on November 2nd, 2008)