DVD Collectors Online

Unknown, a review by DJ Doena

(german title: Unknown Identity)

Actors:
Liam Neeson
January Jones (Mad Men)
Bruno Ganz (Der Untergang / Downfall)
Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds)
Frank Langella (Masters of the Universe, Dave)

Plot:
Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) and his wife (Jones) arrive in Berlin to attend a bio-tech conference. He has to return to the airport because he left a briefcase there and his cab has a crash. When he wakes up in the hospital four days later he's not Dr. Harris anymore. Someone else is Dr. Harris and even his wife doesn't recognize him anymore. What the hell is going on?

My opinion:
I watched this in the theatre (german dubbing) yesterday. I liked that the whole picture took place in my hometown (Berlin) and that it actually was Berlin (and not just a canadian stand-in ). I found it amusing that in the dubbed version the only person speaking with an accent was Gina (Kruger) - a german actress.

When I first saw the character played by Bruno Ganz (I never saw Downfall and didn't recognize him) I immediately said "I bet he was with the Stasi" (former east-german secret service) and I was proven right that very minute. What I also liked about this character was that he pointed out that the whole plot didn't make much sense - until the reveal.

The Germans were a bit "too german" sometimes, like when Dr. Harris had to ID himself just to get into the conference room, even though he was on the guest list. The same thing with the cheap hotel just to keep him from getting a place to sleep. And the nurse: "Gretchen Erfurt". Seriously?

When I saw Langella I also instantly knew that he was the baddie. Except for Superman Returns (Perry White) I can't remember him not playing a baddie (He was Skeletor AND Nixon!!!).

The plot reveal had his ups and downs, for example
The other big plot holes I noticed where these:

I found Jones' character in general rather useless, which is kind of the same way I feel about her Mad Men character Betty Draper.

Everything considered it was an OK movie which I will watch on DVD again, mainly to watch it in english and check how they did the whole english/german mix.

And for us Germans: The doctor is Stockinger from Kommisar Rex.

(From Unknown on April 2nd, 2011)

The Grudge, a review by addicted2dvd

The Grudge (2004/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (United States) Director: Takashi Shimizu Writing: Takashi Shimizu (Original Material By), Stephen Susco (Screenwriter) Length: 98 min. Video: Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD: 5.1, French: Dolby TrueHD: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround Subtitles: English, French

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Stars:
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Karen
Jason Behr as Doug
William Mapother as Matthew
Clea DuVall as Jennifer
Kadee Strickland as Susan

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Bonus Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• BD-Live
• Theatrical and Unrated Versions, Two Short Films

While this is a good ghost story, I have seen better. Don't get me wrong... it is well worth watching. It is always nice to see familiar faces from TV Series in movies. And this one has 3 people I knew from TV series. Of course Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)... but there is also Jason Behr from Roswell and KaDee Strickland from Private Practice. I do like the way they did the ghosts in this film.


(From Within My Lifetime Marathon on January 19th, 2015)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon, a review by goodguy

2x13 Earthlings Welcome Here
Synopsis: At a conference on UFOs, Sarah gets a clue that puts her on the trail of the three dots.  Riley has second thoughts about her mission.
My Rating:

And thus begins Sarah's quest into the desert. Her first guide is a woman who was a man, whose transformation was caused by circumstances out of his control, but who embraced them to free himself. His transformation is both a mirror and a question to Sarah. Beautifully done. And even if a little too on the nose, I really liked the small flashes of Waitress Sarah and Warrior Sarah.

But what I loved most about this episode was Sarah driving towards the desert warehouse while listening to Eileen/Alan's recording. Wonderfully shot (the sprinklers hitting the car window, just one example), with an excellent score, vaguely foreboding something inevitable, and with the slightly strange tone of Eileen's voice, culminating in that chuckled "I'm a waitress" as Sarah packs the explosives. That was breathtaking.

As Achim noted, the back-story of Riley and Jesse was handled almost en passant. A tunnel scene, a hotel room scene, a car scene - that's it. Elliptical story telling at its finest, fleshing out the characters and their relation with a few words and gestures. And now here she is, out of her depth. Jesse slaps her around, Cameron is on to her, paradise doesn't look so bright anymore.

Ellison didn't sleep after Weaver showed him the monster in the basement. But he still carries on, talks to John Henry about God's creation and human life being sacred. Yet what's left behind on Sarah's path seems to be only death.

"Checkmate. I win. Would you like to play again?" That's the Terminator plot in a nutshell.

So the episode ends with two major characters bleeding to death - and an UFO? Those who watched the original airing had to wait two months for the next episode. Bummer.


(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on February 18th, 2010)