Last week I watched Cloverfield. Since I haven’t seen BWP I thought the way of showing the movie (through the camcorder) was quite innovative.I think the movie was ok, but not extraordinary.

Two thinngs bothered me though:

1a) It wasn’t logical sometimes why he would disable the camera at this point during the party.
1b) It wasn’t logical sometimes why he wouldn’t disable the camera during the escape (e.g. when they climbed on the roof – I would have put it away and would have used both my hands)

2) No matter how large the biest is and no matter how thick its hide/armor is: The amount of direkt hits both by rockets and by grenades (I am not talking about the MGs) would have blasted large pieces of flesh out of the creature and it would have died.

But that is normal in this genre, it would be boring if the creature would die after half an hour.

Categories: Cinema
Tags: Cloverfield
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In Germany the first parts of this series are called “Rambo”, “Rambo II – Der Autrag”, “Rambo III”. Thus the foruth part got the US working title “John Rambo” to distinct it from the first part. I have to confess, I like it better because it resembles the title of the last Rocky movie, “Rocky Balboa”.

Yesterday I went to the theatre. Unfortunately, JR is cut in Germany (~1 minute) but I wanted to see a Rambo movie in the theatres. And you got what you paid for: A very monosyllabic Rambo and a fight in which those survive which are allowed to survive by John.

Regarding cuts: The archive footage at the beginning is seen. When children are shot, men get limbs hacked off, women are raped: all that can you see. But when Rambo kills the bad guys then every gore is cut out, for whatever reason. Don’t ask me why I couldn’t tell you if my life would depend on it.

If you watch the above trailer you see everything you won’t see in a german theatre.

Additionally I missed the scene where the priest and Rambo prayed.

It was intended to let Rambo tell us his view on the world but Stallone decided to cut it out because Rambo is more the quiet guy:

“Old men start wars. Young men fight them. And everyone in the middle gets killed. War is natural. Peace is an accident. We’re animals.”

My opinion: JR is a movie in the tradition of the Rambo movies and I will buy it uncut in RC1-country.

PS: Ironically the female lead is Julie Benz who plays the vampire Darla in the series “Angel” I’m currently watching.

Categories: Cinema
Tags: Angel · Rambo
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Season 5

Synopsis: “I was there at the dawn of the third age of mankind”. Londo has chosen the same words when he told the story of the pilot “The Gathering”. Now it is 2278, Londo has been emperor for 16 years but his time is coming to an end. When two children aks him to tell them a story, a story about “great battles and war and bravery and heroes and villains”, a true story, he tells them the events around the Earth-Minbar war.

My opinion: From all the TV movies they’ve made I like this the most. It is a good story and has great speeches in it. Without one exception we learn nothing new about the events in that war. There are some minor glitches that contradict the series but in the big picture it’s well put together.

And with this I conclude my Babylon 5 marathon.

After you’ve seen the series you can enjoy this two-part video. Especially pay attention to the words of the songs in combination with the scenes shown:

Categories: B5 Marathon, DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon
Tags: Babylon 5
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Season 4 | In the Beginning

Wheel of Fire

Disc 1

No Compromises

Synopsis: It is planned that the inauguration of President Sheridan will be take place on Babylon 5. But there is someone who has a faible for dead presidents. Meanwhile Captain Lochley arrives at the station as a replacement for Commander Ivanova. Also a group of telepaths arive and they are not Psi Corps.

My opinion: It was an ok introduction to the last season and I really liked G’Kar’s way of getting the ceremony done.

The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari

Synopsis: One of the two hearts of Londo has given up and while they wait for a transplant, Londo lies in a coma where he has to face the things he has done or not prevented.

My opinion: A walk down on the sin road. I am not much of a fan of any dream or coma episode, they are often strange (and supposedly intended to be that way), but I don’t like the idea that I have just to decide subconsciously to wake up and suddenly wake up.

The Paragon of Animals

Synopsis: Sheridan tries to convince the members of the Interstellar Alliance to sign the Declaraton of Principles. But there is some resistance to do so. Meanwhile a planet on the border of Drazi space is attacked by Raiders and they ask Babylon 5 for help.

My opinion: This one as a fan of speeches I liked a lot. The writers did a excellent job in putting those words into G’Kar’s mouth. Although I found it a bit unrealistic that the Drazi could be suddenly a thread to a large Whitestar fleet, even when they ambushed them.

A View From the Gallery

Synopsis: We watch the events of this episode through the eyes of the maintenance people Mack and Bo who work on the station And they have to repair all kind of things while an unknown force is attacking the station.

My opninion: Great episode. To switch the view from the main characters to some “by-standers” was a fantastic idea. Of course they had to cross paths with the mains, but the focus remained on them.

Quote of the episode:
Mack (to Bo about Londo and G’Kar): “So, how long you figure they’ve been married?”
(more…)

Categories: B5 Marathon, DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon
Tags: Babylon 5 · Rambo
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