House M.D.: Season 6

01 Apr – €24.26 (£19.60) @ Amazon.co.uk

The Switch

01 Apr – €9.45 (£6.94) @ Amazon.co.uk

Rambo

08 Apr – €7.86 ($10.99) @ Amazon.com

Supernatural: Season 5

08 Apr – €11.68 ($26.49) @ Amazon.com (partially with gift certificate)

These three are series from my childhood that were made in former East Germany:

Spuk im Hochhaus (Spook in the Apartment Building)

11 Apr – €12.95 @ Amazon.de

In 1782 two innkeepers made their guests drunk and robbed them. When they killed a constable they were cursed to re-appear 200 years later and have to make seven good deeds to amend for their sins. They re-awake in an apartment building and cause havoc while trying to help.

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Categories: DVD / Blu-ray, Purchase Diary 2011
Tags: Bones · Dante's Peak · Harry Potter · House M.D. · JAG · Legion · Max Headroom · Rambo · Scott Pilgrim vs. the World · Spuk im Hochhaus · Spuk unterm Riesenrad · Spuk von Draußen · Supernatural · The Fast and the Furious · The Guild · The Switch · Up
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No Ordinary Family @ Wikipedia
No Ordinary Family @ IMDb

The Powells are your run-of-the-mill slightly dysfunctional family. Jim works as a police artist who has not achieved what he had hoped for. Stephanie on the other hand is too successful and has barely any time for her family. And their kids have their own problems at school.
But when their plane crashes in South America something weird happens to all of them. Caching a baseball at 140mph? Running the mile in less than six seconds? Piece of cake… But where does one go from here?

I really enjoyed the pilot. It had the right mixture of fun and seriousness which could make for a very interesting dramedy show. And since I like the actors of both parents already (Michael Chiklis from The Commish and Julie Benz from Buffy, Dexter & Rambo) I think I will like this show very much.

Categories: Short Review, TV Season 2010/2011 Diary
Tags: Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Dexter · No Ordinary Family · Rambo · The Commish
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Deutsche Version

Synopsis: Rambo is a young man who wanders aimlessly over the land. He is a “drifter”. Rambo was in Vietnam, he enlisted to get to a better unit than he would have if he had been drafted. For his services over there he got the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Teasle is an older man who lives a quite life in his jerkwater town Madison, Kentucky. He is the Sheriff there. Teasle was in Korea. For his services over there he got the Distinguished Service Medal.
The Problem is: When these two clash into each other, neither will back down and a war starts in the heart of America.

My Opinion: The general story is known from the movie First Blood but the book (on which the movie is based – not vice versa) contains some important differences. For example: The story in the books takes place relatively shortly after John’s return from Nam. And in opposition to the movie Teasle isn’t the redneck, but both are very stubborn people who are embossed by their life’s experiences. The book always switches the perspective from Rambo to Teasle and again to Rambo und one isn’t as biased towards Rambo as one is in the movie. That also due to the fact that Rambo wreaks havoc in the book – none of the people who follow John to the ravine will return home alive.
The book is easy to read and it’s always clear what is happening and where it is happening. I liked it.
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Categories: Book
Tags: Rambo
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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 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?”
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Categories: B5 Marathon, DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon
Tags: Babylon 5 · Rambo
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