Season 3

From Hell

Synopsis: Jen has a builder in her home and Roy is quite sure (99% … 60/40) that he’s seen him on “Builders from Hell”. Now Jen can’t let him out of her eyesight. Meanwhile Moss is bullied by some guys in the park and Douglas shoots himself in the leg with his father’s service revolver.

My Opinion: A great start to the new season. Love to see Jen getting more and more paranoid and Roy re-evaluating his surety. And I loved Moss’ role-playing and trying to find a snappy comeback. I never cared much for Douglas though. I liked his father better.

Are We Not Men?

Synopsis: Moss has found a website that allows him to use the right sentences about last night’s football game. Roy tries it, too and gets them both to hang out with a bunch of real men. But these new friends are not what they appear to be. Meanwhile Jen is dating a guy that looks like a stage magician.

My Opinion: I am a German and I never cared much for football either. This week a player returned from FC Barcelona to the VfB Stuttgart and a friend of mine couldn’t be happier about it – I couldn’t care less, the only thing I found interesting was that the player’s name is “Hleb” which is a transcription of the russian хлеб* and means “bread”. Back to topic. I enjoyed to watch Roy panicking in the car after the robbery and also in their hideout. And I found it hilarious that Moss took the money just to count it.

* Remember when Christopher Plummer said “to be or not to be” in klingon? The “Ð¥” letter sounds pretty much like the “H” in taH pagh taHbe’.

Tramps Like Us

Synopsis: Jen is applying for a new job in a different company but fails to explain what “IT” stands for. Meanwhile Roy crashes a minute of silence for a dead colleague and lands himself on the streets not even having a shirt anymore. And Moss is in his “happy place” while Douglas gets tasered every time he gets aroused.

My Opinion: What I liked about this episode was Roy’s “walkabout” in the streets and Jen’s attempts at not having to say what “IT” actually stands for . But I didn’t really like the entire harassment storyline and Moss’ part in it.

The Speech

Synopsis: Jen was awarded with the “Employee of the Month”. But now she has to give a speech to the shareholders. And the speech is about her area of expertise – meaning IT. Roy and Moss are so generous and lend her “the internet”, a black box (wireless of course, everything is wireless nowadays) that what demagnetized by Stephen Hawking himself.

My Opinion: One of my favourite episodes of the show. I simply love the entire scene when they let Jen borrow “the internet” (Youtube). And I love it when their prank totally backfires on the shareholder assembly.

Friendface

Synopsis: Jen has joined Friendface, a social networking site where you find all the people you never wanted to see again. Roy and Moss join also and soon Roy has to face a woman he dumped because she looks like Batman’s Joker. And Jen is invited to a class reunion where she can’t show up without her husband – Moss.

My Opinion: An obvious pun on Facebook which I really liked, especially the part about persons you’d rather not see again. Especially the “Joker” and Roy’s attempts at “winning over” Jen made me laugh so hard.

Calendar Geeks

Synopsis: In order to organize a charity fundraiser the girls of the seventh floor want to make a nude calendar and Roy gets to photograph them. But Jen sabotages it and convinces the girls that it would be a far better idea to photograph their grannies – until she becomes responsible for the success of that calendar.

My Opinion: The Geek Calendar shooting was so funny, how Roy had to convince Moss and the others to get into certain poses was so hilarious.

The Season – My Opinion: Too bad that UK seasons are always this short, I am quite certain that the writers would have no problem to come up with more ideas. But it is as it is.

Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, Mini Marathon
Tags: Batman · The IT Crowd
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Deutsche Version

Season 1

Disc 1

Pilot

Synopsis: It’s the year 1999 and Judgement Day hasn’t happened – yet. Sarah and John are constantly switching aliases and living placaes. But one day two cyborgs have still found them: One comes in the form of a young girl called Cameron and she was sent to protect John. And the other is a classical terminator. They try to escape him but in the end there’s no place they can hide, just another time.

My Opinion: To fully enjoy the show one has to put it in a parallel universe to the movies. It’s similar to the Highlander movie (There can be only one!) and the series. While I liked the general general idea of the show I had a problem with some story elements. For example: Cameron took the other cyborg out with a power surge. In my unprofessional opinion two minutes should have been enough to somehow destroy him or at least to damage him severely – he can’t resist after all. And some of the stuff in the vault seemed unlikely, too. Even if I knew how to build a microchip in 1965 there wouldn’t be the the technology (wafers etc.) to actually do it. But they had to find a way to push the series forward to today and it was fairly ok.
So I like the story but one mustn’t think to much about the logic.

Gnothi Seauton

Synopsis: They jumped eight years into the future, into 2007. And now all three of them need new identities to blend in. Cameron leads Sarah to a group of resistance fighters who were send back by John to destroy Skynet before it goes operational. But when that fails they have to visit an old friend. Meanwhile John explores the technological differences between 1999 and 2007.

My Opinion: The writers are obviously not very burdened with the complex issues that go with time-travel. It seems that whenever they need it they will send people back and forth through time as if nothing could disrupt the timeline. But if that were so then we would be back on the concept of a time-loop as the movie Terminator had present it (It has always happened that way and always will be, there’s nothing we can do about it). But Terminator 2 had thrown that overboard and declared that the timeline can be changed and (as Doc Brown explained it in Back to the Future 2) that will result in another timeline. I also had a problem with that “Zombie Terminator” who can obviously walk without its head attached – I thought the “eyes” were its optical sensors?
Another thing I noticed: I don’t know how far ahead the pilot was shot and what they thought would happen after it, but I didn’t have the feeling to see a Mrs. Dyson or a detective who was eight years older than in the pilot. They should have used a better mask to make them look younger in the pilot (Look at Bruce Boxleitner in Babylon 5: In the Beginning!)
Too bad Enrique had to die, I would have liked it to see Tony Amendola (Master Bra’tac in Stargate SG-1) more often.

The Turk

Synopsis: Sarah is looking for former employees of Cyberdyne Systems to check whether they are continuing the Skynet project or doing something else dangerous. Connor and Cameron pose as siblings in their new school and try to blend in.

My Opinion: Is it my imagination or did the metall skeleton of that terminator look a bit too shiny? He had been blasted to peaces and has lain in the garbage. Which brings up another question: How did he get there in the first place? He wasn’t within the time bubble and thus hasn’t travelled with the others. What happend to that bank building in the last eight years and why has no one ever found the skeleton or the head – which lay quite open on the side of the street?
And when Sarah burned down Andy’s house the fires looked digital – and fake. Don’t they have the money anymore to burn down a real, wooden facade?

Disc 1 – My Opinion: The show is enjoyable, the characters are fine. But as you can see the show opens a can of questions for me and they bother me because that makes me thinking that either the writers didn’t see this problems or they thought the viewers wouldn’t notice or that the viewers wouldn’t care. None of which is really an acceptable answer in my opinion. But I will continue to watch and see how it unfolds.
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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Mini Marathon
Tags: Babylon 5 · Back to the Future · Highlander · Stargate SG-1 · Terminator
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Deutsche Version

It wasn’t planned as such, but in the last few weeks I have watched quite a number of Science-Fiction movies and a good part of them were “Doomsday” movies, so I might as well write a few words about them. Most of these movies are very, very US-patriotic but when you can accept that and when you can ignore the scientific “inaccuracies” you can have a lot of fun with them.

Independence Day

Will Smith   …    Captain Steven Hiller
Bill Pullman   …    President Thomas J. Whitmore
Jeff Goldblum   …    David Levinson
Mary McDonnell   …    First Lady Marilyn Whitmore
Judd Hirsch   …    Julius Levinson
Robert Loggia   …    General William Grey
Randy Quaid   …    Russell Casse
Margaret Colin   …    Constance Spano
Vivica A. Fox   …    Jasmine Dubrow
Adam Baldwin   …    Major Mitchell
Brent Spiner   …    Dr. Brackish Okun

Synopsis: July, 2nd. Some aliens come in a huge ship. They place their UFOs all over the world and blow everything apart. July, 3rd. We try to strike back and fail miserably. July, 4th. We give them a cold and blow them apart.

My Opinion: Great movie. Love it. It’s so cheesy that falls out of the bottom of the scale and comes back from the top of it. The characters are so overdrawn that you can’t take them seriously and that saves the movie. Imagine you would have to look at this movie with a serious eye. The president that fights in the final battle, the drunken pilot that saves the day, the scientist that writes a computer virus for an alien computer and Will Smith in the middle of it.
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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Mini Marathon
Tags: A Knight's Tale · Armageddon · Daylight · Deep Impact · Demolition Man · Firefly · Galaxy Quest · I Robot · Independence Day · Star Trek · Star Trek TOS · The Day After Tomorrow · The Island · War of the Worlds
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Deutsche Version

Season 1

Disc 1

Pilot

Synopsis: The two theoretical physicists Leonard and Sheldon get a new Neighbour: Penny, a waitress in The Cheesecake Factory. And suddenly two galaxies begin to crash into each other.

My Opinion: I liked the series from the beginning, all these cultural references gave me a happy. But I also liked the small details like Howards’ belt buckle (this time a Nintendo gamepad –> look out for it, it changes from episode to episode!) and the “table of elements” shower curtain.

The Big Bran Hypothesis

Synopsis: After he’s seen the chaos that is Penny’s appartment, Sheldon cleans it (and Leonard helps him) during the night while Penny’s sleeping. Naturally she freaks out when she realizes what they’ve done.

My Opinion: I think every episode of the first season is funny as hell, so no point repeating it over and over again. The  best scenes of this episode were the discussion about Lois Lane’s fall and the re-design of the IKEA media center.

The Fuzzy Boots Corollary

Synopsis: After having no luck with Leslie, Leonard tries to ask Penny out to a date. But she totally misinterprets the invitation, thus not considering it a date.

My Opinion: I recognized Sarah Gilbert (Leslie; Darlene in Roseanne) at once but I needed a friend to really open my eyes. I didn’t think I knew Johnny Galecki (Leonard) from anywhere until my friend pointed out that he played Darlene’s friend David on Roseanne.

The Luminous Fish Effect

Synopsis: Sheldon gets canned after he’s insulted his new boss in his very own – and typical – way. But he uses his time off to invent new things the world was waiting for, e.g. a luminous fish as a night light.

My Opinion: First Sarah and now Laurie Metcalf (Jackie in Roseanne). It’s like family reunion. I am wondering where the authors get all these ideas, e.g. to make a physicists weaving his own poncho. It’s hilarious. I also find it terribly funny when Sheldons asks things or answers to questions with no regard to the appropriateness.

The Hamburger Postulate

Synopsis: After they been practicing with their classical instruments, Leonard sleeps with Leslie and is now torn between his fantasy about Penny and the prospect of having a real relatuonship with Leslie.

My Opinion: And again it’s Sheldon and his not having a clue about social conventions that makes me laugh the most (“Message received!”). But the entire banana scene was also really great.

The Middle Earth Paradigm

Synopsis: Penny invites the four – Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Raj – over to a Halloween party and Leonard hopes that he can present himself in another light during that party.

My Opinion: Nerds. All the costumes were great and also the commentaries about them (Flashs walk in row; hobbit vs. elf; Robin Hood vs. Peter Pan) and I also really liked the closing scene.
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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Mini Marathon
Tags: Roseanne · The Big Bang Theory
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Deutsche Version

After I was done I was in the mood for a battle. Thus I started a mini-marathon under the theme
The Way of the Warrior: Strength & Honour.

The Charge of the Light Brigade
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turn’d in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder’d.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre-stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder’d.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

Gladiator

Russell Crowe … Maximus
Joaquin Phoenix … Commudus
Connie Nielsen … Lucilla
Oliver Reed … Proximo
Richard Harris … Marcus Aurelius
Derek Jacobi … Gracchus
Djimon Hounsou … Juba

Synopsis: General Maximus who has just conquered Germania is supposed to take the leadership of the Roman Empire after the emperor has died. But the emperor’s son kills his father, assumes the throne for himself and tries to kill Maximus. He can escape but becomes a slave and is being sold as “fresh meat” for the arena. There he makes a name of himself as “the Spaniard” until the day he faces the new emperor again.

My Opinion: Great movie. Loved it from the first time I ever saw it. Had to buy the extended version at once. Has a lot of quotable scenes in it that I can recite both in english and in german. While I am oppsosed to dubbing in general they did a great job with this, the german voice of Maximus is well chosen. I loved the battles in the arena, especially the “battle of Carthage”.
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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Mini Marathon
Tags: A Knight's Tale · Braveheart · Dragonheart · Gladiator · Star Trek · Stargate SG-1 · The Last Samurai · The Three Musketeers
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Deutsche Version

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

William Shatner … Admiral James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy … Mr. Spock
DeForest Kelley … Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy
James Doohan … Cmdr. Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott
George Takei … Lt. Cmdr. Hikaru Sulu
Majel Barrett … Dr. Christine Chapel
Walter Koenig … Lt. Pavel Chekov
Nichelle Nichols … Lt. Cmdr. Uhura
Persis Khambatta … Lt. Ilia
Stephen Collins … Cmdr. Willard Decker
Grace Lee Whitney … CPO Janice Rand

A huge cloud travels through Klingon and Federation space. Who or what that cloud is, is unclear, but nothing seems to be able to stop it. What is certain, is its course: It’s directly heading for Earth. Admiral Kirk takes once again the command over the Enterprise, which has just been refit for 18 monts. Because another thing is certain: The Enterprise is the only ship that can reach the cloud before it comes to Earth.

My opinion:
“The only ship available” is a running gag which goes through all shows and movies. But when the Enterprise is in the orbit of Earth it becomes a bit implausible. That aside I think the refitting of the Enterprise worked very well, it’s a very elegant ship. And one thing is a given: this movie dwells in its pictures, in great panoramic views of the Enterprise, the universe and V’Ger. I also liked that not everything was sunshine and sparkles. I liked it when McCoy told Kirk off for being arrogant and that Kirk wasn’t infallable. BTW: Have you ever registered the fact that the two movies where the final solution was not a gun fight were both TOS movies?
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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Mini Marathon
Tags: Star Trek · Star Trek TNG · Star Trek TOS
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Deutsche Version

Today it get’s a bit bloody.

Reservoir Dogs

Harvey Keitel … Mr. White / Larry Dimmick
Tim Roth … Mr. Orange / Freddy Newandyke
Michael Madsen … Mr. Blonde / Vic Vega
Chris Penn … Nice Guy Eddie Cabot
Steve Buscemi … Mr. Pink
Lawrence Tierney … Joe Cabot
Randy Brooks … Holdaway
Kirk Baltz … Marvin Nash
Edward Bunker … Mr. Blue
Quentin Tarantino … Mr. Brown

2 men return from a robbery that went bad, one of them badly wounded. In the course of time others also come back and they try to figure out what went wrong and why – that means, as long as they aren’t busy with threats of killing one another.

My opinion:
Tarantino movies are never shown in the order of the events that have taken place, this one’s no different. This one starts at the beginning of the second quarter, jumps to the third quarter and then fills the gaps of the first, second and fourth quarter. Of course one has to like Tarantino’s way of spilling blood or else one wouldn’t like this movie.
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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Mini Marathon
Tags: Jackie Brown · Kill Bill · Pulp Fiction · Reservoir Dogs
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Deutsche Version

Twins

Arnold Schwarzenegger … Julius Benedict
Danny DeVito … Vincent Benedict
Kelly Preston … Marnie Mason
hloe Webb … Linda Mason
Bonnie Bartlett … Mary Ann Benedict
David Caruso … Al Greco

Julius is a product of genetic engineering. He has six fathers and one mother. He is highly intelligent and extremely strong. He lives on a caribbean island until he finds out that he has a twin brother. Only that his brother is nothing like him.

My opinion:
For his first comedy he did well. But DeVito was a good partner and I am sure he he gave him a lot of tips.
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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Mini Marathon
Tags: Jingle All the Way · Junior · Kindergarten Cop · Last Action Hero · The Hard Way · True Lies · Twins
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Deutsche Version

View Askew is the production company of Kevin Smith and the “View Askewniverse” is the movie universe that comprises of all the Jay and Silent Bob movies.

Clerks

Brian O’Halloran … Dante Hicks
Jeff Anderson … Randal Graves
Marilyn Ghigliotti … Veronica Loughran
Lisa Spoonhauer … Caitlin Bree
Jason Mewes … Jay
Kevin Smith … Silent Bob

Clerks tells the story of Dante and Randal who work in two close-by stores, a small convienent store and a video store. They don’t work much but instead they talk about sex, movies and former girlfriends.

Clerks was the first movie of Kevin Smith and was shot in black’n'white.

My opinion:
This movie is just too funny. How do you get such ideas? If you like Smith’s humour in general you will love this flick.
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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Mini Marathon
Tags: Chasing Amy · Clerks · Dogma · Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back · Mallrats · Superman
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