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The Butterfly Effect 2 , a review by Tom

The Butterfly Effect 2 (2006/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia New Line Home Entertainment (United States) Director: John R. Leonetti Writing: Michael Weiss (Writer) Length: 92 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Stars:
Eric Lively as Nick Larson
Erica Durance as Julie Miller
Dustin Milligan as Trevor Eastman
Gina Holden as Amanda
David Lewis as Dave Bristol

Plot:
It's nonstop suspense and action in this powerful sequel to the megahit, The Butterfly Effect.

After a tragic accident claims the life of his girlfriend (Erica Durance, TV's Smallville), Nick (Eric Lively, American Pie) discovers that he has the paranormal power to change the past and save her. But when he keeps going back to alter other events, he soon realizes that his actions have dire consequences for the present...and their future.

Extras:

• Bonus Trailers
• Closed Captioned
• Commentary
• DVD-ROM Content
• Featurettes
• Scene Access
• Trailers

A boring and uninteresting movie. The actors are weak and the characters are unlikable.

Rating:

(From Tom's Time-Travel Movie Reviews on March 13th, 2011)

The Tracey Fragments, a review by goodguy

The Tracey Fragments (CA 2007) Written by: Maureen Medved, based on her novel Directed by: Bruce McDonald Starring: Ellen Page DVD: R1-US ThinkFilm/Image (July 2008) Here is a link to a larger version of the beautiful poster.

Cover blurb: Oscar-nominated Ellen Page (Juno, Hard Candy) delivers an extraordinary performance as a feisty, independent-minded teenager with a unique view of the world. From cutting-edge director Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, Roadkill), THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS tells the story of an outsider who uses fantasy to help her deal with a secret crush, loneliness and frustration. When her 7-year-old brother wanders away while under her care, she examines her life as she is propelled on a late-night journey through the city in a desperate attempt to find him.

There are many movies and even some TV shows that use split screen, but I know only two other movies  that employed this technique throughout their entire running length: Mike Figgis' Timecode (2000) and Hans Canosa's Conversations with Other Women (2005). Timecode divided the screen into four panels showing different actions, each in one single take, that meet at certain junction points. Conversations used two panels to show the same story (the meeting of two seemingly strangers) simultaneously from both viewpoints. Timecode was a boring and uninteresting affair, Conversations was a great movie that deserves its own review, if I find the time to do it. What both have in common is that their use of split screen is static and, in a way, conventional.

The Tracey FragmentsThe Tracey Fragments can only be called a revolutionary step in film making. Before TTF, split screen was merely used as a replacement for intercutting either different scenes or different viewpoints of a scene. TTF goes way beyond that simple montage concept. Consider Tracey running away from something and the borders of the panel closing in on here, the panel getting smaller and smaller and the remaining screen filled with black. Or as Tracey is about to leave somewhere, dozens of tiny panels with closing doors pop up all over the screen. There are numerous other techniques like time-lapse over multiple panels, repetition, shattered and rebuild panels, etc. It is important to note that all these techniques and concepts aren't abstract implementations, they are essential in creating an emotional resonance with the viewer. It is, in short, visual storytelling at its best.

All the daring innovation is anchored by (yet another) strong performance from Ellen Page. In fact, she is the reason I discovered the movie; I knew nothing about the director Bruce McDonald, although he seems to have some kind of semi cult status in Canada.

Last but not least, the movie has a great score by Broken Social Scene, including a cover version of Patti Smith' Horses.

Highly recommended, although I'm aware that it might not be everyone's cup of tea.


(From The Tracey Fragments on August 30th, 2008)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Moonlight: Season One (2007/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Warner Home Video (United Kingdom) Length: 664 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: English, German

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Plot:
Any private eye knows a lot about other people's secrets. L.A. private eye Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin) has a secret of his own. He's a vampire, dwelling in a covert netherworld complicated by friendship with an undead finance honcho (Jason Dohring), memories of the alluring ex-wife (Shannyn Sossamon) who turned him into a vampire, and a relationship with a human (Sophia Myles) he feels drawn to protect - and maybe to love. But no matter how tempting, Mick knows a vampire-human romance is eternally dangerous.

This 16-episode, 4-disc set of the series voted the 2008 People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama is a sure entertainment bet for all who like their vampire stories sleek, intense and passionate.

When going in I thought this would be just another vampire doing redemption by helping people series. But this series surprised me. I really enjoyed it. Also some ideas to the vampire mythos were refreshing (though some were more like going back to Bram Stoker, like stake through the heart only paralyzes the vampire).
The ongoing romance storyline was good, as where the cases they were working on. Also nice to see a vampire series, where vampires stay the only supernatural thing. And not introduce magic, werewolves etc.
This is a thing which bothers me with such series or superhero movies and series: First the hero is the only thing different to the "real" world. But then they introduce more and more "super" and extraordinary stuff. This is probably the reason why I never got into superhero comics.
Too bad this series was cancelled so soon. It really would have had the stuff to continue.
The only thing I didn't like about this series was the need for vampires to sleep in freezers. These are a fairly recent invention. What did the vampires do in the past then?

#	Episode	Rating
01	No Such Thing as Vampires
02	Out of the Past
03	Dr. Feelgood
04	Fever
05	Arrested Development
06	B.C.
07	The Ringer
08	12:04 AM
09	Fleur de Lis
10	Sleeping Beauty
11	Love Lasts Forever
12	The Mortal Cure
13	Fated to Pretend
14	Click
15	What's Left Behind
16	Sonata

(From Tom's Random Reviews on February 17th, 2011)