Love Happens

03 Nov – €7.19 (£4.95) @ Amazon.co.uk

Rawhide: Season 1

03 Nov – €17.74 (£13.88) @ Amazon.co.uk

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

04 Nov – €0.00 ($6.99) @ Amazon.com (paid via gift certificate)

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

04 Nov – €0.00 ($7.65) @ Amazon.com (paid via gift certificate)

Starman

04 Nov – €0.00 ($9.99) @ Amazon.com (paid via gift certificate)

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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, Purchase Diary 2011
Tags: Batman · Billy Madison · Grease · Happy Gilmore · Harold & Kumar · Love Happens · My Name Is Earl · NCIS · Picture Perfect · Rawhide · Scream · She's the One · Smallville · Star Trek · Starman · The Object of My Affection · White Collar
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Batman: The Animated Series: Season 1: Part 3 & Season 2

19 Jul – €0.00 ($19.99) @ Amazon.com (paid via gift certificate)

The New Batman Adventures: The Complete Series

19 Jul – €0.00 ($19.49) @ Amazon.com (paid via gift certificate)

Superman: Doomsday

19 Jul – €0.00 ($6.99) @ Amazon.com (paid via gift certificate)

The Ugly Truth

22 Jul – €5.55 @ Drogerie Müller

Transformers

22 Jul – €9.99 @ Drogerie Müller

Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, Purchase Diary 2011
Tags: Batman · Superman · The Ugly Truth · Transformers
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Batman: The Animated Series: Season 1: Part 1

06 Jun – €0.00 ($18.49) @ Amazon.com (paid via gift certificate)

Batman: The Animated Series: Season 1: Part 2

07 Jun – €2.69 ($23.99) @ Amazon.com (paid partially via gift certificate)

CBS presents this program in color:

Hogan’s Heroes: The Complete Series

11 Jun – €26.07 (CA$61.99) @ Amazon.ca (paid partially via gift certificate)

The Butterfly Effect 2

15 Jun – €4.20 (£2.96) @ Amazon.co.uk

(only because of Mrs. Durance )

Hot Tub Time Machine

15 Jun – €6.50 (£4.96) @ Amazon.co.uk

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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, Purchase Diary 2011
Tags: Batman · Celtic Woman · Hogan's Heroes · Hot Tub Time Machine · She's Out of My League · The Butterfly Effect
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Batman

21 Feb – €6.12 (£4.06) @ Amazon.co.uk

Law Abiding Citizen

21 Feb – €12.72 (£9.39) @ Amazon.co.uk

When in Rome

22 Feb – €7.86 (£5.43) @ Amazon.co.uk

All-Star Superman

28 Feb – €12.99 @ Amazon.de

Justified: Season 1

28 Feb – €0.00 ($19.99) @ Amazon.com (paid via gift card)

Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, Purchase Diary 2011
Tags: Batman · Justified · Law Abiding Citizen · Superman · When in Rome
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The time I spend reading books is getting ever shorter (which is mostly due to my extensive TV consumption). But now I’ve finally managed to read three books again:

This one I read because (surprise!) of the TV series of the same name with Richard Chamberlain in the main role.

The novel takes place at the dawn of the 17th Century in Japan. Captain-Pilot John Blackthorne has landed/stranded with his ship, the Erasmus, there and now has to find a place within the Japanese Samurai society. And the few Europeans don’t make it any easier for he is a Protestant Englishman and they are Catholic Spaniards and Portuguese…

What surprised me the most was the fact that the series stayed very close to the book – most of the time these two drift apart. Still the book was way more detailed and can provide a view that a movie/series can only to a certain extend: To give a view directly into the heads of the characters and thus a better understanding what their motivation and drive is.

The book is relatively large with its 1226 pages (in German) but since I managed to read 350 pages on Saturday before last I can assure you that it’s very readable – even though you might need a list of the different characters, otherwise you might find yourself in the position of asking yourself “Who was Kiributso-san again?”.

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Categories: Book
Tags: Babylon 5 · Batman · Shogun · Smallville · Spider-Man
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Deutsche Version | December 2009 | January (Part 2)

You might have noticed that the old year is over, so I’m starting a new diary.
But I will only review movies I haven’t reviewed before – unless my opinion has changed drastically.

January, 1st

You’ve Got Mail

Director: Nora Ephron

Tom Hanks … Joe Fox
Meg Ryan … Kathleen Kelly
Greg Kinnear … Frank Navasky
Parker Posey … Patricia Eden
Jean Stapleton … Birdie Conrad
Steve Zahn … George Pappas

Synopsis: Joe Fox is one of the owners of the “Fox Books Superstore” chain and he sells cheap books. And now he wants to open a new store in New York. Kathleen Kelly owns the children book store “Shop Around the Corner” in close proximity to the new superstore. When they are Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox they can’t stand each other. When they are Shopgirl and NY152 they are close online friends. The question is what happens when these world collide.

My Opinion: I like this movie, it’s a sweet little romance where Meg Ryan plays the role she always plays and Tom Hanks shows his romantic side once more. I have to say I like it even better than its “predecessor” Sleepless in Seattle. That is a nice movie, too, but when I have the choice between these two, I choose this one. And even though I don’t really like The Godfather I like the running gag references to it.

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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Movie Watchings 2010
Tags: Batman · Blind Fury · Curly Sue · Dave · Die Hard · How I Met Your Mother · How to Lose a Guy - in 10 Days · Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman · Look Who's Talking · Masters of the Universe · Pretty Woman · Sleepless in Seattle · Smallville · Spider-Man · Superman · The Godfather · X-Men · You've Got Mail
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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 “Х” 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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I’ve been reading the Buffy and Angel comics that represent the eighth / sixth season for a while now. And I have read good critics about the works of Frank Miller – he wrote the graphic novels Sin City and 300 which were made into movies and Christian Bale’s Batman is also based on his interpretation of the hero.

So I decided to order a batch of new stuff.

These are the Buffy / Angel comics that I already have:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future For You

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate

Angel: After the Fall

Angel: After the Fall: First Night
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Categories: Book, Comic
Tags: 300 · Angel · Batman · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Heroes · Sin City · Star Trek
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Deutsche Version | March | May

April, 10th

They Call Me Trinity

Terence Hill … Trinità
Bud Spencer … Bambino
Farley Granger … Maj. Harriman
Elena Pedemonte … Judith
Steffen Zacharias … Jonathan
Dan Sturkie … Tobias
Gisela Hahn … Sarah

Synopsis: Trinity comes into a small town where he meets his brother Bambino again. Bambino is the Sheriff there after he accidentally shot the real Sheriff (i.e. he thought the Sheriff was pursuing him, but he wasn’t). Trinity takes the role of the Deputy Sheriff and together they help a group of Mormon settlers who have trouble with a man who wants their land for his horses.

My Opinion: Except for the early movies, Bud Spencer & Terrence Hill movies are always harmless fun. They are childhood favourites of mine and have a certain cult status here in Germany. This is mostly due to a very unique dubbing of these movies but I still enjoy them very much and I own pretty much all of them.

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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Movie Watchings 2009
Tags: Batman · Iron Eagle · Man of the East · They Call Me Trinity · Trinity Is Still My Name
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Deutsche Version | February

January, 1st

The Dark Knight

Christian Bale … Bruce Wayne / Batman
Heath Ledger … The Joker
Aaron Eckhart … Harvey Dent / Two-Face
Michael Caine … Alfred Pennyworth
Maggie Gyllenhaal … Rachel Dawes
Gary Oldman … James Gordon
Morgan Freeman … Lucius Fox

Synopsis: Batman, Lt. Gordon and DA Harvey Dent have become a very efficient team and they dealt some major blows to Gotham’s underworld. But now Batman gets a new class of enemy: The Joker. The Joker has no plan, he has no goal beside causing havoc and creating chaos. And he’s very good at what he does. But can he force Batman to cross the line?

My Opinion: A great continuation to the great first movie. I always liked the first two Batman movies and I never really liked the cheesy third and especially fourth movie. Although I’ve never read any Batman comic I’ve always felt that it had to be dark and dirty and sometimes morally grey. Batman is no bright character for me. And although it had many comic elements in it Batman Begins felt very realistic. And The Dark Knight is the perfect sequel. It continues where the first movie left off – and I love the Joker. When he first told the story about how he got the scars I thought they were going to blew it and then was relieved when he then told yet another – totally different – story and thus remained his mysteriousness. But to be perfectly honest, I had expected that the “good people” on the ferry would pull the trigger. And then have themselves blown up. That would be totally in the line of Joker’s thinking IMHO. If I were to give stars, what I rarely do, I’d give 9.5 out of 10.
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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Movie Watchings 2009
Tags: A History of Violence · Back to the Future · Bad Boys · Batman · Blast from the Past · Cliffhanger · Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog · Four Brothers · Juno · Léon · Masters of the Universe · Music & Lyrics · Never Been Kissed · Notting Hill · Pirates of the Caribbean · Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves · The Blues Brothers · The Hard Way · The Saint · X-Men
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