02 Dec – €40.43 (£32.03) @ Amazon.co.uk

Raising Hope: Season 1

06 Dec – €1.68 ($17.49) @ Amazon.com (paid partially via gift certificate)

Due Date

07 Dec – €4.44 @ Penny

Come Fly With Me: Season 1

08 Dec – €11.99 (£8.91) @ Amazon.co.uk

Smallville: Season 10

08 Dec – €34.50 (£27.76) @ Amazon.co.uk

Bad Teacher

14 Dec – €9.90 @ Amazon.de

Green Lantern

14 Dec – €9.97 @ Amazon.de

Dragonball Evolution

17 Dec – €5.55 @ Real

Iron Man 2

17 Dec – €9.99 @ Media Markt

Salt

17 Dec – €12.99 @ Media Markt

Shrek Forever After

17 Dec – €7.99 @ Media Markt

Unknown

22 Dec – €12.06 (£8.91) @ Amazon.co.uk

X-Men: First Class

22 Dec – €13.29 (£9.91) @ Amazon.co.uk

Your Highness

22 Dec – €12.06 (£8.91) @ Amazon.co.uk

The American

22 Dec – €7.99 @ Drogerie Müller

Bedtime Stories

22 Dec – €7.99 @ Drogerie Müller

The Losers

22 Dec – €9.99 @ Drogerie Müller

Dexter: Season 5

25 Dec – €22.14 (£16.97) @ Amazon.co.uk

Grown Ups

25 Dec – €6.62 (£4.45) @ Amazon.co.uk

Mr. Deeds

25 Dec – €4.77 (£2.96) @ Amazon.co.uk

Source Code

25 Dec – €12.47 (£8.91) @ Amazon.co.uk

Tucker & Dale vs Evil

25 Dec – €10.03 (£6.94) @ Amazon.co.uk

Chuck 3×14 Chuck vs the Honeymooners
I’ve enjoyed this episode very much. It had the typical Chuck mixture of fun and action the early seasons had. Sarah’s Texan impersonation was also very funny and I don’t think I have to say anything about her habit of walking around in lingerie all the time.
But I also really enjoyed Jeffster’s (IMHO good) interpretation of Leaving on a Jet Plane.

Romantically Challenged 1×02 The Charade
Nope, nothing special about this show. Just your average multi-camera sitcom with laugh-track.

Happy Town 1×01 In This Home on Ice
I’m a bit confused. Is this pure mystery? Is there a supernatural element in the story? What’s up with Chloe?
The pilot felt a bit rushed because so many different characters had to be introduced (however briefly) but it certainly looks intriguing and I’ll continue to watch.

10 Things I Hate About You 1×15 The Winner Takes It All
If there’s one thing in TV Land that gives me the creeps, it’s public embarrassments in front of a big audience, especially if one sees it coming. I always cringe and even try to stall the inevitable moment by pausing(!) the video. And yet I will not skip over it.
In contrast, I have no problem with putting myself into a spotlight and do things I’m not talented enough to do – just for the fun of it.

Unfortunately, 10 Things won’t get a second season. While it’s not the best show out there, I certainly enjoyed it.

Bones 5×19 The Rocker in the Rinse Cycle
This is one of the episodes I have my problems with. Bones always dealt with magic when it came to solve their murders but the way they found the cause of death this time was once again too over the top. It was like the episode where the bones turned into foam and they still could determine the way the blade (bullet?) went through the rips. Wall Banger.
But I enjoyed the other parts: Booth getting loose, B&B singing, Hodgins & muslim guy talking Baseball, Angela invoking her father, …

Cougar Town 1×21 Letting You Go
I know I become repetitive with this but the guys rule! And that to the music of Enya!

Gossip Girl 3×19 Dr. Estrangeloved
Yes! Jenny’s plan failed. Now I need a real comeuppance for her and I’m happy.
In the case Dan vs. Vanessa I have to say I’m on his side. She simply could have told him and none of this would have happened. If she really expected to have no chance at all, why did she send it in the first place?
As for Blair & Chuck it’s surprising how the roles have switched; earlier in the season it was he who was the adult, responsible guy and suddenly she seems to be more mature than him.
And of course Dr. van der Woodsen is up to no good, I did expect no less…

Smallville 9×19 Sacrifice
Too bad this is Smallville. Otherwise I’d expect a huge battle at the end of this season, like the battle in X-Men 3 where everyone has to choose sides.
But since it is Smallville, I expect that the Kandorians will be dealt with without a big bloodshed. I imagine they get bottled up again. And Zod will die by his own hand or stupidity or whatever. I don’t see him being killed by any Human (because that would be cheap) and Clark can’t do it (you know that divine character clause that prohibits him from doing such things…).

House M.D. 6×18 Open and Shut
House simply can’t resist and I’m still not sure whether he really does it for Wilson’s sake or for his own. But at least his meddling takes place on a rather civilized level compared to what he did over the last years.
And Taub … well, he’s Taub. Let’s see when this comes crashing down.
This was also the first time in quite a while that I remembered that Thirteen has an actual name (Dr. Hadley) though I still can’t remember her first name…

Justified 1×07 Blind Spot
And M.C. Gainey’s back…
This was yet another interesting episode; I’m getting quite fond of that show, even though I have my usual problem of not being able to place all the faces and their role in the story.

Supernatural 5×20 The Devil You Know
So, dead ex-boyfriend of Lana Lang’s (Jason Teague) meets another dead ex-boyfriend of Lana Lang’s (Whitney Fordman). The universe is a small place, even when it’s an alternate one.
And yet another familiar face: Mark A. Sheppard, who first got on my radar Badger in Firefly. This season alone I’ve seen him in White Collar, Leverage, Chuck & Supernatural. This guy deserves his own show!
I just hope he doesn’t screw Bobby over because anything is possible with two Horsemen, one fallen Angel and only two episodes left…

Doctor Who 5×05 Flesh and Stone
Seems that River-Song doesn’t seem to know the Doctor as well as she thinks. At least I couldn’t notice any difference in his behaviour just because he found out that she was in prison and why.
I especially enjoyed how Amy tried to snog the Doctor without the hesitation her predecessors had.

One thing my mother(!) noticed: When the Doctor leaves Amy and then comes back to tell her that she must remember, one only sees his face and hands – most of the time. But when you see his neck you can clearly see a tweed jacket.
First of all: He shouldn’t wear that jacket in that moment because the Angels took it from him.
Second of all: Does it look slightly different (darker)?
If it is a different jacket then this was certainly not the Doctor from this episode (and since time is re-writing itself, it’s not impossible that he was actually twice there).
If it’s the same jacket it still poses the question if this was a simple production error (different order of scene shooting) or on purpose which leads to the same conclusion above.

The Good Wife 1×19 Boom
Maybe I wasn’t really paying attention but I was surprised how the trial (not) ended because of that last testimony. Maybe I have to watch it again.
Nonetheless I liked the other two stories of that episode, the one with the lawyer castling and the personal story of Alicia and her husband.

Stargate Universe 1×11 / 1×12 / 1×13 Space / Divided / Faith
It’s getting better (but since it’s rising from the basement that doesn’t mean much) but I’m still not really interested. I just watched it because I was tired anyway and I didn’t want to miss out on a show that I really care about.
The “rebellion” in the 12th episode made no sense whatsoever. If it had succeeded, what was their plan for afterwards? What would have changed? Soldiers without guns. And then? Their argument was that in a democracy the military obeys a civilian government. Okay, but how was that ever supposed to work here? Even if Young agreed: At one point (next battle) they would have gotten back their weapons and if he decided “Screw this!” then there would be nothing the civilians could do about it…

CW 18

Chuck 3×05 Chuck vs First Class
Both stories were really great. It was really cool that put the Buy More (without Chuck) in the focus and Morgan and Casey are awesome together. But Chuck’s mission was also really cool. And I have to admit it: I really like Kristin Kreuk. I liked her on Smallville and I like her here. She’s probably one of very few persons that I wouldn’t mind as “love interest” replacement for Sarah. And Shaw seems to be a good character, too.

Castle 2×14 The Third Man
Another nice scavenger hunt I enjoyed very much. The “double date” dinner was really cool and the case itself was fascinating. It was so funny how Castle tried to hide the newspaper(s) from Beckett and how the “Gossip Girl” had to explain to him why she wrote it that way.

House M.D. 6×11 Remorse
The schizophrenic was a nice proxy to get a glimpse into House himself. This episode was very well written and I really liked the side-story about his former fellow student and (however short) Cuddy. I wish they’d make a full-blown House/Cuddy episode anytime soon.

Life Unexpected 1×02 Home Inspected
Things were a bit rushed in this second episode because of the custody inspection (which they had to pass in order to get the show running) and this caused this back-and-forth in just one episode. But I liked the part about her orphan friends and I still think this is going to be an interesting show.

White Collar 1×09 Bad Judgment
“What does the fridge magnet represent?” – “A fridge magnet.” I really liked this episode, the way they played the OPR agent and made him lose his judge-in-the-pocket. But Mozzie was once again the funniest part of the episode.

Heroes 4×17 Chapter Sixteen ‘The Art of Deception’
Tracy! Long time no see! Finally I get the feeling this season is going somewhere. Though this somewhere looks suspiciously like X-Men: The Last Stand. But as long as they can deliver, I don’t mind.

Bones 5×13 The Dentist in the Ditch
OK case, OK side-story. Nothing that will stay in mind.

Burn Notice 3×11 Friendly Fire
Nice to see Danny Trejo again. Also Mike was a really cool ominous man; I bet the gangbanger will one day become a proper client of his.

Leverage 2×12 The Zanzibar Marketplace Job
Nice to see Mark A. Sheppard again. Also “interesting” that everyone in Kiev seems to speak a decent English.

Smallville 9×10 Disciple
Archer story boring. Zod story mildly interesting but predictable since Zod is no question mark in the Superman universe.

The Vampire Diaries 1×12 Unpleasantville
I always have one problem with big casts: I can’t memorize the faces of the minor characters and can’t remember if they appeared before and what their role was. But at least the episode ended with a bang (IMHO).

Supernatural 5×12 Swap Meat
I’ve recently talked with friends about this and since this episode is the first encounter with it since then, it gets the load: I’m starting to hate this “48 Hours Earlier” crap. It’s worn out. It doesn’t surprise anymore. When an episode starts and the character behaves totally uncharacteristically or is in a shitload of shit then you’ll know by now that after the opening credits they will through you back a couple of hours or days to show the viewer how he came to be in that unfortunate situation. The WTF? moment is totally gone for me.
What me also bothered in this episode was that at the end their dead school buddy wasn’t even worth a mention. I get that with adults (but even then it’s questionable) but the teens should be totally freaked out.

CW 04-05

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.

January, 2nd

Spider-Man 2

Director: Sam Raimi

Tobey Maguire … Spider-Man / Peter Parker
Kirsten Dunst … Mary Jane Watson
James Franco … Harry Osborn
Alfred Molina … Doc Ock / Dr. Otto Octavius
Rosemary Harris … May Parker
J.K. Simmons … J. Jonah Jameson
Ted Raimi … Hoffman
Bruce Campbell … Snooty Usher

Synopsis: Spider-Man is still the hero of the day but Peter Parker has ever bigger problems to manage these two sides of his life and it’s often Peter’s life that loses. Which means he loses his jobs, his grades at the university are dropping and the worst: Mary Jane is disappointed of him. And then an experiment of Dr. Octavius’s goes horribly wrong and turns him into an obsessed maniac.

My Opinion: I like this movie a tiny bit more than the first – which is saying much because I really love the first part. All the fights against Doc Ock are great but what’s really great is, that he isn’t a villain through and through and has the capacity to see his error and redeems himself at the end.
It’s really sad that after these two great movies the third failed due to executive meddling.

Die Hard

Director: John McTiernan

Bruce Willis … Officer John McClane
Bonnie Bedelia … Holly Gennaro McClane
Reginald VelJohnson … Sgt. Al Powell
Paul Gleason … Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson
William Atherton … Richard Thornburg
Alan Rickman … Hans Gruber

Synopsis: John McClane is a NY police detective who visits his wife for Christmas. She works as an executive in a company in L.A. and they celebrate not only Christmasbut also the new offices: the Nakatomi Tower. But it isn’t a party until someone crashes it. In this case Hans Gruber and his gang, a pretending terrorist but actual thief who wants the 650 million Dollars in bearer bonds in the Nakatomi safe. What he didn’t expect was “Roy”.

My Opinion: Still a great piece of action cinema. John was one of the first heroes who actually bleed during their lone gunman action but there aren’t many people who can keep up with his cool badass attitude. Of course Alan Rickman was also brilliant as the villain and if you ask me he was the best opponent John ever had. Or as Barney put it in How I Met Your Mother: “Charming international bandit. In the end, he dies hard. He’s the title character.”

January, 3rd

How to Lose a Guy – in 10 Days

Director: Donald Petrie

Kate Hudson … Andie
Matthew McConaughey … Ben
Kathryn Hahn … Michelle
Annie Parisse … Jeannie
Adam Goldberg … Tony
Thomas Lennon … Thayer
Michael Michele … Spears
Shalom Harlow … Green

Synopsis: Andie is a columnist with the Composure magazine and she usually writes the “How To” articles but she has bigger plans. She wants to write about politics and the economy. Ben works in an advertisement agency and usually creates campaigns for sports companies. But he has bigger plans. He wants to score the deal with the DeLauers who are the biggest fish when it comes to diamond jewellery. Ben gets it when he manages to make a woman really fall in love with him until the presentation. Andie gets her wish granted if she can write an article about what women do wrong with guys: “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”. Guess who’ll run into each other.

My Opinion: This romcom gets its appeal from the absolutely opposite intentions of its protagonists. She does everything to drive him crazy and he puts up with it. But it also works because they have chemistry together.
I also like their performance of “You’re so vain” at the end, especially because neither can really sing (at least the characters can’t). Rationally neither is really in the position to be mad at the other but in that moment they’re just pissed off and it makes for a great scene.

January, 8th

Pretty Woman

Director: Garry Marshall

Richard Gere … Edward Lewis
Julia Roberts … Vivian Ward
Jason Alexander … Philip Stuckey
Alex Hyde-White … David Morse
Hector Elizondo … Barney Thompson

Synopsis: He’s a successful business man. He buys companies, fillets them and sells the pieces at a profit. She hasn’t even finished high school and works now as a hooker on Hollywood Boulevard. Their lives cross paths because he can’t drive stick. But it’s just a business arrangement. She’s his companion for one week and that’s it. As if life was that easy…

My Opinion: Hollywood fairy tale at its best. Julia Roberts was only 22 when she made this and she looked gorgeous in it, especially in the cocktail dress. But my favourite character in this movie is the hotel manager Mr. Thompson. The way he treats her and verbally sails around the cliffs and when he helps her – it’s really great, particularly because he has no reason to help her.

January, 10th

Blind Fury

Director: Phillip Noyce

Rutger Hauer … Nick Parker
Terry O’Quinn … Frank Devereaux
Brandon Call … Billy Devereaux
Noble Willingham … MacCready
Lisa Blount … Annie Winchester
Meg Foster … Lynn Devereaux

Synopsis: Nick Parker was blinded during the Vietnam War but he’s come to live with it. The locals have taught him to compensate it and even how to use a sword. After many years he tries to contact an old army friend of his but Frank is in deep trouble. He owes people money and they force him to create designer drugs. When he doesn’t want to cooperate they kill his wife and try to take his son. But they didn’t anticipate that blind man showing up.

My Opinion: I always liked this movie. The acting isn’t exactly the best but I like the relationship between Nick and Billy; their bantering in the beginning and their friendship in the end. I also like all the fights because it looks different from what a seeing man would do.

Look Who’s Talking

Director: Amy Heckerling

John Travolta … James
Kirstie Alley … Mollie
George Segal … Albert
Abe Vigoda … Grandpa
Bruce Willis … Mikey (voice)

Synopsis: Mollie is in love with a married man who promised her to get divorced (which he doesn’t of course) and one day she gets pregnant. Nine months later a lunatic cab driver brings her to the hospital where her son Mikey is born. The crazy cab driver becomes her babysitter … and more. And even though he cannot express himself verbally, Mikey has an opinion about everything in this world and he will “tell” us it.

My Opinion: It’s a very funny movie, mainly of course due to Bruce Willis’s voice-over of Mikey but John Travolta and Kirstey Alley are a lot fun, too.
I bet the shootings were very exhausting (working with a number of small children and all) but the end product doesn’t show it – if you exclude Mollie’s birth-giving scenes.

Curly Sue

Director: John Hughes

James Belushi … Bill Dancer
Kelly Lynch … Grey Ellison
Alisan Porter … Curly Sue
John Getz … Walker McCormick
Fred Dalton Thompson … Bernard Oxbar

Synopsis: Bill and his “adopted” daughter Curly Sue are two hoboes who fight their way through life with minor cons. But with their latest scam they hit the jackpot. The lawyer Grey Ellison takes them into her home, gives them food and clothes. But how long will this work?

My Opinion: And another favourite comedy of the harmless kind of mine. All the scenes with Curly Sue are so funny, when she sings “Star-Spangled Banner” or when they play Poker or when they teach Grey the high art of conning.
Too bad, Alisan Porter doesn’t act anymore. But her new career ain’t bad either:

January, 13th

Dave

Director: Ivan Reitman

Kevin Kline … Dave Kovic / Bill Mitchell
Sigourney Weaver … Ellen Mitchell
Frank Langella … Bob Alexander
Kevin Dunn … Alan Reed
Ving Rhames … Duane Stevenson
Ben Kingsley … Vice-President Nance
Charles Grodin … Murray Blum

Synopsis: Dave Kovic is a simple man who works in an agency that gives people jobs. But he also looks exactly like the President of the United States. One day the Secret Service hires him for a public appearance because the real President Bill Mitchell has “more important” things to do. But when Mitchell falls into a coma due to a stroke the chief advisor Bob Alexander engages Dave to play the President for real.

My Opinion: This is a great fun flick about American politics with all its aspects (like the budget, running campaigns and so on) and Dave pretending to be the President and getting used to the job. I liked all the characters in their roles, from the First Lady to the bodyguard and of course the villain of the piece – Bob Alexander (Skeletor in Masters of the Universe) but the scenes between Dave and Ellen I like the most because then it shows how different a man Dave is from Bill.

January, 15th

Superman

Director: Richard Donner

Marlon Brando … Jor-El
Gene Hackman … Lex Luthor
Christopher Reeve … Superman / Clark Kent
Ned Beatty … Otis
Jackie Cooper … Perry White
Glenn Ford … Jonathan Kent
Margot Kidder … Lois Lane
Valerie Perrine … Eve Teschmacher
Terence Stamp … General Zod
Phyllis Thaxter … Martha Kent
Susannah York … Lara
Jeff East … Young Clark Kent
Marc McClure … Jimmy Olsen
Sarah Douglas … Ursa

Synopsis: Shortly before the destruction of the planet Krypton Jor-El and his wife Lara send their infant son, Kal-El, to Earth. There he grows up as Clark Kent. He looks like one of them but he isn’t one of them. Earth’s yellow sun and his dense molecular structure give him powers no Human possesses. As a Human he’s Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter; as a Kryptonian he’s Superman, saviour of the Human race.

My Opinion: I am a bit torn about this movie. I really like the entire beginning with Jor-El and when his father dies and when he learns in the Fortress.
But when he’s the reporter Clark Kent I don’t really like his persona. I know that it’s THE myth and that he has been portrayed this way in the comics but I’ve gotten too used to a much more “normal” Clark like he was portrayed by Dean Cain in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman or Tom Welling in Smallville.
I’m also not too comfortable with the scenes Lex is in because then the movie drifts too much into a comic style. I know I shouldn’t hold that against it – it’s derived from a comic after all – but I’ve got other expectations from comic movies after watching the new X-Men and Spider-Man and especially Batman movies.
But it is still a good movie one can enjoy if one accepts its origins.

January – Part 2

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.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Kevin Costner … Robin Hood
Morgan Freeman … Azeem
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio … Marian Dubois
Christian Slater … Will Scarlett
Alan Rickman … Sheriff of Nottingham
Michael Wincott … Guy of Gisborne
Nick Brimble … Little John
Sean Connery … King Richard

Synopsis: When Robin of Locksley returns home from the crusades, he finds his home burned down and his father killed. Behind this are the Guy of Gisborne and his cousin, the Sheriff of Nottingham. They try to forge an alliance of “noblemen” against the absent King Richard “The Lionheart” and to rob him of his throne. They supress the common folk to finance this plot. But Robin stands up to them and he uses Sherwood Forrest as his base of operations.

My Opinion: I’ve never understood why Kevin Costner was suddenly “out”. I like most of his movies and I like this one, too. Alan Rickman plays an excellent opponent with some comical elements. Although the movie is trying to tell the story earnestly they also insterted enough funny elements to make it not too serious. I also really liked the rants of Azeem when he complains about the english’s lack of education but that he is considered the “barbarian”.
And the appearance of Sean Connery, however short, crowned the movie for me.

January, 2nd

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Johnny Depp … Jack Sparrow
Geoffrey Rush … Barbossa
Orlando Bloom … Will Turner
Keira Knightley … Elizabeth Swann
Jack Davenport … Norrington
Jonathan Pryce … Governor Weatherby Swann

Synopsis: The pirate captain Jack Sparrow is coincidentally nearby when the daughter of Port Royal’s governor nearly drowns and he saves her. But that lands himself in a cell. Ho won’t stay there long. In the night after the “Black Pearl”, a feared pirate ship, comes to Port Royal and kidnaps Miss Swann. Only Jack knows where she’s been taken the blacksmith Will Turner teams up with him to rescue her. And now begins a wild chase across the Caribbean.

My Opinion: This was a great movie. Alas, if it has just remained one. Just like with The Matrix nobody can tell me they actually knew they were doing more than one movie and that they had a plan what was going to happen in the sequels. But this is about this movie and this movie was cool. It had all the fun and action a movie needs. It takes the whole pirates genre totally unseriously and makes a great fun out of it. And to be honest: This could only work with the current special effects. Remember how the skeletons walked in Army of Darkness? Back then this movie could have never worked. Nowadays (visual) special effects are mostly used to blow something up or destroy it in another way. But to use them in a totally un-technical movie, in sword-fights – it made the movie whole.

This was once again a very “intelligent” solution of the german title translators. They made it “Curse of the Carribean”. And when part two came out they didn’t know what to do, so they called it simply “Curse of the Carribean 2″.

A History of Violence

Viggo Mortensen … Tom Stall
Maria Bello … Edie Stall
Ed Harris … Carl Fogarty
William Hurt … Richie Cusack
Ashton Holmes … Jack Stall

Synopsis: Tom Stall is a simple man. He lives in a small town and owns a small diner. He has two children and his life is quiet. But that changes one day. One day two armed robbers come into his store. He can’t know this but they’ve left a trail of blood and killed a lot of people. Tom is willing to give them all the money but when one of them attempts to rape a women a switch turns in Tom’s head and he attacks and kills the robbers. This makes him famous and suddenly he gets visits from mobsters from the east coast who think he is someone else – or are they correct?

My Opinion: This is a very interesting movie that has no hollywood-like moral agenda. It’s brutal, it’s explicit and it doesn’t want to hide anything. The “good guy” isn’t a good guy at all, but if they would have left him alone, he would have never bothered them at all. I thought everyone played their role very well, from Viggo who has at first to pretend he doesn’t know anything to Maria and Ashton who have to learn that their husband/father is someone totally different. And of course Ed, but I like Ed in most of his roles. I also liked the semi open end where it isn’t clear what is going to happen now.

Cliffhanger

Sylvester Stallone … Gabe Walker
John Lithgow … Eric Qualen
Michael Rooker … Hal Tucker
Janine Turner … Jessie Deighan
Rex Linn … Richard Travers

Synopsis: The international thief Qualen captures a US government plane and tries to steal 100 million dollars in cash. The money is in three trunks but they get lost when the plane crashes in the Rocky Mountains. Fortunately the cases have location beacons but now they need the help of the mountain rescue to find them. Gabe and his former friend Hal are the unlucky ones to meet the gangsters and are forced to help them. But soon Qualen has to realize that it won’t be that easy to get the money back because Gabe develops into a real PITA.

My Opinion: This movie hasn’t much story and sometimes it doesn’t make much sense. But it’s a Stallone action movie, if one expects much story on has gone into the wrong movie. it has however great pictures of the Rockys and beautiful panorama shots. It’s also interesting to watch them climb these basically vertical walls. To sum it up: It’s a no-brainer action movie with a lot of Rocky Mountains imagery.

The Saint

Val Kilmer … Simon Templar
Elisabeth Shue … Dr. Emma Russell
Rade Serbedzija … Ivan Tretiak
Valeri Nikolayev … Ilya Tretiak
Henry Goodman … Dr. Lev Botvin

Synopsis: He is a man who has no name. And if he has then it’s one of a catholic saint, like Thomas Moore. But he is a thief and a good one at that. If it can be stolen and someone pays for it, he can steal it. But his life changes drastically when he steals the chemical formula to create cold fusion – a clean and basically unexhaustable power source. Now he’s not also on the run from Scotland Yard but also a russian oil magnat who wants to putsch against the russian president and he’s fallen in love with the scientist who discovered the formula.

My Opinion: This is also a movie one can’t take too seriously. Even the whole cold fusion affair aside it has quite a number of ridiculous moments. For example: He’s already at the 20th or so floor when he climbs out of a window, and uses his extendable aluminium ladder to climb vertically upwards – with no hold whatsoever. But since I’ve never watched the original Simon Templar series I still enjoyed this movie because I knew what to expect.

Four Brothers

Mark Wahlberg … Bobby Mercer
Tyrese Gibson … Angel Mercer
André Benjamin … Jeremiah Mercer
Garrett Hedlund … Jack Mercer
Terrence Howard … Lt. Green
Josh Charles … Detective Fowler
Sofía Vergara … Sofi
Fionnula Flanagan … Evelyn Mercer
Chiwetel Ejiofor … Victor Sweet
Taraji P. Henson … Camille Mercer

Synopsis: The four brothers Bobby, Angel, Jermeiah and Jack return home after their mother had been killed in a store robbery. The four aren’t genetically brothers but they’ve been raised by Evelyn who was a warm soul of the city and who cared for all children. But something doesn’t add up. This was no ordinary robbery but an execution. And now the four brothers want to bury Evelyn’s killer.

My Opinion: When I first watched this in the theatre I had no real idea what to expect and I thought it to be a very good movie. Mark Wahlberg played a very good Bobby which was the reason for me to watch Shooter, too. I also liked the occasional insertion of Evelyn, as if she was still there – and in the minds of her boys she still is! One could brush this aside as simple action flick, but for me it’s a bit more and I have to be in the mood to watch this.

January, 3rd

Blast from the Past

Brendan Fraser … Adam
Alicia Silverstone … Eve
Christopher Walken … Calvin
Sissy Spacek … Helen
Dave Foley … Troy
Nathan Fillion … Cliff

Synopsis: During the cuba crisis Calvin Webber a rich but eccentric (doesn’t this always come in the same package?) inventor locks himself and his pregnant wife in a fallout shelter because he thinks a nuclear war has broken out. They live there for 35 years with their son Adam until one day the locks unseal themselves. Now Adam goes out to buy supplies in huge numbers and he’s looking for a wife – no mutant and from Pasadena, if possible. But then he meets Eve.

My Opinion: I love this movie. It’s so great to see Adam and his seemingly outdated manners to win Eve’s heart (and the heart of nearly any woman in that movie for that matter). I have to admit I love romantic movies, the number of such movies in my collection is nearly twice as big as my science fiction movies. I can watch them until I’m totally overdosed.
Too bad that Alicia Silverstone isn’t seen more often on screen. I can’t describe it but she has something about her that I totally like.

Music & Lyrics

Hugh Grant … Alex Fletcher
Drew Barrymore … Sophie Fisher
Haley Bennett … Cora Corman
Brad Garrett … Chris Riley
Campbell Scott … Sloan Cates

Synopsis: Alex Fletcher is an 80s-Has-Been of the pop band “PoP” who sings now in theme parks and class reunions. But then two things happen at the same time. The star Cora wants him to write a new song for her about a broken heart. And Sophie comes to his appartment to water his plants. And incidentally she can actually write lyrics! They team up together to deliver the new hit song for Cora and fall in love on the way.

My Opinion: Romance movie stories are often rather simple and predictable with the usual break-up shortly before the happy end. So is the story of this movie. But as I said I don’t care. It’s not really what is told, but how it is told. And Hugh Grant doesn’t need to play much, he is actually the forty-something-doesn’t-want-to-grow-up-kinda-guy. But how he performed the typical 80s pop band member on stage was hilarious. It was so funny. And Drew as this shy yet totally sweet character is great.

Notting Hill

Julia Roberts … Anna Scott
Hugh Grant … William Thacker
Richard McCabe … Tony
Rhys Ifans … Spike
James Dreyfus … Martin
Tim McInnerny … Max
Gina McKee … Bella
Emma Chambers … Honey
Hugh Bonneville … Bernie

Synopsis: She’s an american actress who’s gotten 15 million dollars for her last movie. He owns a travel book store and earns nearly nothing. But one day their paths cross and they virtually run into each other. And then she kisses him! But is this going to work? She, known by the whole world? Him, whose name is sometimes forgotten even by his mother? In London’s Notting Hill their fate will be decided.

My Opinion: I love Julia Roberts in both her romantic movies as well as her more serious roles (e.g. Erin Brockovich). What I especially liked about this movie was, how they portreyed the gossip’s part of the life of a star. I – personally – couldn’t care less what they do outside the big screen. If I were the only consumer in the world all the gossip magazines would go bankrupt. The only time I’d really care would be when one of these beautiful actresses would fall in love with me.

Juno

Ellen Page … Juno MacGuff
Michael Cera … Paulie Bleeker
Jennifer Garner … Vanessa Loring
Jason Bateman … Mark Loring
Allison Janney … Brenda ‘Bren’ MacGuff
J.K. Simmons … Mac MacGuff
Olivia Thirlby … Leah

Synopsis: Juno is 16 and pregnant. And although she thinks about an abortion she decides against it. But she also doesn’t want to keep the baby. Thus she’s looking for adoptive parents who will take her child after it is born. And she finds the seemingly perfect couple. But there are still a few months left until the birth and some things aren’t meant to be.

My Opinion: This was a blind buy for me after it got good critics. Ellen Page played the role wunderfully. But I have to say one thing: Although I would love to have children, I wouldn’t have wanted one with Vanessa either. She felt to overwhelming to me. Her entire world did spin around that baby and I’m not sure I could have borne that weight. And in my opinion Michael Cera’s role could have been a bit bigger, it’s his child after all and he loves Juno. All in all an interesting movie but another one that one has to be in the mood for.
One additional remark: Juno says she’s named after Zeus’s wife. But Zeus’ wife is Hera. Only in the roman mythology they are called Jupiter and Juno. But then again, Zeus’s son is not Hercules, but Heracles and no one ever cared.

January, 4th

The Hard Way

Michael J. Fox … Nick Lang / Ray Casanov
James Woods … Detective Lt. John Moss, NYPD
Stephen Lang … Party Crasher
Annabella Sciorra … Susan
LL Cool J … Detective Billy, NYPD
Christina Ricci … Bonnie

Synopsis: Nick Lang is the action star of the “Smoking Gunn” movie series. His lives the life of a normal star with personal trainer, beach villa and whatnot. But he wants something more, he wants to play a cop who bleeds, who doesn’t know how to pay his rent. And so he goes undercover to New York to team up with a real cop: John Moss. And John should be delighted to work with him, shouldn’t he? How wrong he was…

My Opinion: It was so funny to watch how Nick/Ray drove John to despair and he didn’t know how to respond. I especially liked the hunt of the party killer in the theatre in front of the running “Smoking Gunn” movie. But the party killer himself was also a cool opponent in my opinion, all the action scenes with him were well done. The roles for Michael and James were totally fitting, especially from the viewpoint of what they are usually playing.

January, 5th

Léon

Jean Reno … Léon
Gary Oldman … Stansfield
Natalie Portman … Mathilda
Danny Aiello … Tony
Peter Appel … Malky

Synopsis: Léon is a professional hitman, a cleaner. Mathilda’s family has just been executed by corrupt cops over a drug issue. Now she seeks refuge at his appartment and he doesn’t know how to deal with this twelve-year old child. But soon he teaches her how to become a cleaner and she teaches him how to read. And she has also a score to settle with the killers of her four-year old brother.

My Opinion: Everytime I watch that movie I wonder if Tony is really saving Léon’s money because everytime it comes to this topic he evades it. Yes he says that Léon could have it but he gives a number of reasons why he shouldn’t take it. And at the end he treats Mathilda the very same way. It’s a fascinating movie actually and excellently played by Reno, Oldman and Portman. I am especially fascinated by Gary Oldman. In my opinin he’s very good in speaking different accents and playing varying degrees of insanity.
This is one of few movies where I notice the music much more, it seems more intense and helps to tell the story and isn’t just a background noise.
If it weren’t already late, I’d just watch another Luc Besson movie with Gary: The Fifth Element.

January, 7th

X-Men

Hugh Jackman … Logan / Wolverine
Patrick Stewart … Professor Charles Xavier
Ian McKellen … Eric Lensherr / Magneto
Famke Janssen … Jean Grey
James Marsden … Scott Summers / Cyclops
Halle Berry … Ororo Munroe / Storm
Anna Paquin … Rogue / Marie D’Ancanto
Tyler Mane … Sabretooth
Ray Park … Toad
Rebecca Romijn … Mystique
Bruce Davison … Senator Kelly

Synopsis: Evolution is a long and slow process. But every few hundred millenia it takes a leap forward. It has created human mutants. But how are they going to live in our society? Do we have to control them? Do we have to know what they can do? There’s a war upon us and Magneto wants to make sure that he’s on the winning side. And for this he needs a mutant called Wolverine, or doesn’t he?

My Opinion: Although it’s a comic adaption it feels much more real than previous superhero movies, Christopher Reeve’s Superman movies come to mind. As with Batman, Superman and all the other american superhero I’ve never read any of the comics and am thus not burdened with any expectations or knowledge that could hinder my enjoyment of the movie.
And so I enjoyed it a lot. The characters were great altough a bit few for my taste. It’s a dilemma: One the one hand it’s not really logical that each side has only three fighters (Wolverine, Storm & Cyclops vs. Sabretooth, Mystique & Toad) but if they had been more it may have been to much. But the fights were cool, everyone could participate and use their abilities.
When X-Men Origins: Wolverine comes into the theatres this year you’ll find me exactly there!

X2

Patrick Stewart … Professor Charles Xavier
Hugh Jackman … Logan / Wolverine
Ian McKellen … Eric Lensherr / Magneto
Halle Berry … Storm / Ororo Munroe
Famke Janssen … Jean Grey
James Marsden … Scott Summers / Cyclops
Anna Paquin … Rogue / Marie D’Ancanto
Rebecca Romijn … Mystique / Grace
Brian Cox … William Stryker
Alan Cumming … Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler
Bruce Davison … Senator Kelly
Aaron Stanford … John Allerdyce / Pyro
Shawn Ashmore … Bobby Drake / Iceman
Kelly Hu … Yuriko Oyama / Deathstrike

Synopsis: While Wolverine is searching for his past, his past is coming to him – in form of Colonel Stryker. Stryker once gave him his adamantium skeleton and now he wants “Cerebro”, Xavier’s technology to find all the mutants in the world. And Stryker wants to control them with it. But he hadn’t anticipated that the “X-Men” and Magneto’s “Brotherhood of Mutants” would join forces to stop him.

My Opinion: It’s the best of the three X-Men movies, the main characters are all aready introduced and we see much more mutants and abilities. The story is very enthralling but also balanced between action scenes and more quieter ones like the one at Bobby’s parents. I’Ve never noticed this before, but: Bobby’s parents ask him whether he has tried not being a mutant. As if the question itself isn’t funny enough, Buffy’s mother asked a similar one: Whether she can’t be the Slayer anymore (must have been in Becoming [second season's finale] if I remember correctly).
Too bad that Bryan Singer decided to make Superman Returns instead of the third X-Men movie. Just like with Spider-Man the third part can’t keep up with it’s predecessors.

January, 8th

X-Men: The Last Stand

Hugh Jackman … Logan / Wolverine
Halle Berry … Ororo Munroe / Storm
Ian McKellen … Eric Lehnsherr / Magneto
Patrick Stewart … Professor Charles Xavier
Famke Janssen … Jean Grey / Phoenix
Anna Paquin … Marie / Rogue
Kelsey Grammer … Dr. Henry ‘Hank’ McCoy / Beast
James Marsden … Scott Summers / Cyclops
Rebecca Romijn … Raven Darkholme / Mystique
Shawn Ashmore … Bobby Drake / Iceman
Aaron Stanford … John Allerdyce / Pyro
Vinnie Jones … Cain Marko / Juggernaut
Ellen Page … Kitty Pryde

Synopsis: A “cure” has been found to “heal” the mutants. And while some mutants like Rogue want to be healed most of them don’t see their abilities not as a disease that has to be cured. And Magneto will do anything in his power to destroy what he sees as poison for his kind. But the X-Men have problems of their own: Jean has returned as Phoenix and she’s already killed Cyclops. Can she be stopped?

My Opinion: A not so good conclusion to the overall very good trilogy. There were too many things I didn’t really like about it and most of them are connected to the Phoenix: Scott’s death (offscreen, too!), Xavier’s character change, Jean’s character change, Xavier’s death, … I know that the “Dark Phoenix” story is part of the comics but not everything that works in a comic works in a movie, too. Especially when it has never been mentioned before. If they had really wanted to conlcude the series this way they would have dropped hints in the first two installments. This goes also for this sudden classification: What the heck is a “class 3 mutant”?
I have told you before that I am not really good with faces that I have a hard time to recognize a person if I haven’t seen him or her that often before. What helps is that I have a good recognition of voices, so I often recognize an actor even if he wears an alien mask or something else. And so it was with the Kitty Pryde of this movie. I heard her voice and instantly said “Hey, that’s Juno!” and so it was.

The Blues Brothers

John Belushi … ‘Joliet’ Jake Blues
Dan Aykroyd … Elwood Blues
James Brown … Reverend Cleophus James
Cab Calloway … Curtis
Ray Charles … Ray
Aretha Franklin … Mrs. Murphy
Steve Cropper … Steve ‘The Colonel’ Cropper
Donald Dunn … Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn
Murphy Dunne … Murphy ‘Murph’ Dunne
Willie Hall … Willie ‘Too Big’ Hall
Tom Malone … Tom ‘Bones’ Malone
Lou Marini … ‘Blue Lou’ Marini
Matt Murphy … Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy
Alan Rubin … Alan ‘Mr. Fabulous’ Rubin
Carrie Fisher … Mystery Woman
Henry Gibson … Head Nazi
John Candy … Burton Mercer
Kathleen Freeman … Sister Mary Stigmata (a.k.a. The Penguin)
Steve Lawrence … Maury Sline
Twiggy … Chic Lady
Frank Oz … Corrections Officer
Jeff Morris … Bob
Charles Napier … Tucker McElroy
Steven Williams … Trooper Mount

Synopsis: Jake has just been released from prison when he and his brother Elwood visit Sister Mary who asks them for a favour. She needs 5,000 dollars or the city will close the orphanage where Jake and Elwood had grown up. And now both are on a mission from God: They put the band back together to raise the money. And now starts one of the best music road trips of all time.

My Opinion: Great movie. Great music. Great car crashings. Great guest appearances. Great movie. Everyone who likes good music (that excludes addicted ) should have seen this one. And the story is really funny, too, especially Carrie Fisher’s character. Did I mention “great movie”?

Early in the nineties I used to get up real early on saturdays because at 5.50 a TV show called Rawhide used to run where a Mr. Favor was the trail boss and he brought a herd of cattle from A to B and one of his cowboys was Rowdy Yates, played by a certain Clint Eastwood.

January, 10th

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Neil Patrick Harris … Billy / Dr. Horrible
Nathan Fillion … Captain Hammer
Felicia Day … Penny
Simon Helberg … Moist
Nick Towne … Bad Horse Chorus #1
Jed Whedon … Bad Horse Chorus #2
Rob Reinis … Bad Horse Chorus #3

Synopsis: Dr. Horrible wants to become a member of the ELE – the Evil League of Evil. But his inventions haven’t been a success yet. Somehow his crimes always fail, mostly due to the intervention of Horrible’s nemesis: Captain Hammer. But the league wants him to commit a real crime before he can become a member of the ELE. And additionally he’s in love with Penny but he’s to shy to approach her.

My Opinion: It’s a very funny musical by Joss Whedon. I don’t know if he produced it during the writer’s strike but he got the idea back then. The three acts were released on the internet without charge, without being accompanied by advertisement. I watched them back then and loved it from the start. The musics, the lyrics, the acting – everything matches and it’s a great fun to watch. I even watched all the bonus material, something I usually don’t do. And I watched the application videos for the ELE which were also really funny.

A must-see for every Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse) fan.

PS: When I first watched this, I didn’t even know him, but now I recognized “Moist”: It’s “Wolowitz” from The Big Bang Theory!

January, 11th

Masters of the Universe

Dolph Lundgren … He-Man
Frank Langella … Skeletor
Meg Foster … Evil-Lyn
Billy Barty … Gwildor
Courteney Cox … Julie Winston
Robert Duncan McNeill … Kevin Corrigan
Jon Cypher … Duncan (Man-at-Arms)
Chelsea Field … Teela
James Tolkan … Detective Lubic

Synopsis: Whoever becomes lord over Castle Grayskull on Eternia becomes the Master of the Universe and Skeletor plans exactly this. He uses a cosmic key to open a portal directly into the castle and he can assume control. He-Man and his friends have to retreat, they use the key to get out and they land on Earth. But neither Skeletor nor He-Man is giving up. And suddenly the highschool students Julie and Kevin are in the middle of an epic fight between good and evil.

My Opinion: This is a guilty pleasure of mine. I love this movie even though it’s totally cheesy and Dolph Lundgren can’t act at all. But it doesn’t matter. It’s still a great fun to watch.

January, 17th

Never Been Kissed

Drew Barrymore … Josie Geller
David Arquette … Rob Geller
Michael Vartan … Sam Coulson
Molly Shannon … Anita
John C. Reilly … Gus
Garry Marshall … Rigfort
Leelee Sobieski … Aldys
Jeremy Jordan … Guy Perkins
James Franco … Jason
Gregory Sporleder … Coach Romano

Synopsis: Josie Geller was one of the nerds in highschool, the kind of girl who asked for extra homework. It was not a pleasent time for her. But now she’s an editor at the Chicago Sun-Times and good at her job. But she wants to be a reporter, to write stories instead of reading them. And for this she has to go undercover to highschool again. But neither she nor highschool has changed.

My Opinion: A sweet liitle comedy about a young woman who gets the chance of having a better highschool memory and to finally fall in love with the right guy. Not the best romance I’ve ever seen but still quite enjoyable.

Back to the Future

Michael J. Fox … Marty McFly
Christopher Lloyd … Dr. Emmett Brown
Lea Thompson … Lorraine Baines McFly
Crispin Glover … George McFly
Thomas F. Wilson … Biff Tannen
Claudia Wells … Jennifer Parker
James Tolkan … Mr. Strickland

Synopsis: Marty McFly is an ordinary 17-year-old highschool student in the year 1985. But he also happens to have a weird friend, a scientist who invents a lot of stuff that doesn’t work. But this time he has done it. He invented a time machine and he has built it into a DeLorean sports car. But he had to con some Lybians out of their Plutonium and that would become his death sentence. Marty has no choice but to flee before them and he does. The time machine brings him to 1955 where he has to find the Doc again in order to bring him home. But he also runs into his parents and that’s where the real trouble starts.

My Opinion: If asked for a top ten movie list, this movie would be in it. I enjoy the entire trilogy very much (and I will continue watching as soon as I finished this review). Marty and the Doc are a great pair and it’s fun to watch them. I also really enjoyed the entire idea that a teen could actually observe the teenage years of his parents and see that they weren’t that different.
One of my favourite scenes is when Marty disguises as Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan and plays Van Halen music (he was also sent by the Supreme Klingon”, but that was cut out, I read it in the novelization of the movie).

And if there’s anyone out there who isn’t familiar with the story, here is it:

Back to the Future: Part II

Michael J. Fox … Marty McFly / Marty McFly Jr / Marlene McFly
Christopher Lloyd … Dr. Emmett Brown
Lea Thompson … Lorraine
Thomas F. Wilson … Biff Tannen / Griff Tannen
Elisabeth Shue … Jennifer Parker / Jennifer McFly
James Tolkan … Mr. Strickland
Jeffrey Weissman … George McFly

Synopsis: Doc is back from the future and he has bad news. Marty must help him to protect the future of Marty’s children in the year 2015. But not everything goes according to plan. When they return to 1985 it’s not the one they have left. Suddenly Biff is a rich and powerful man. Someone has interfered with the timeline and it was neither Doc nor Marty. To solve this they have to return where it started – to 1955.

My Opinion: This was my very first VHS I ever bought, back in the early 90s. If I remember correctly (and I have a memory for numbers) I paid 39.95 DM for it which is – including inflation – about 34 euros today. I don’t think I paid that much for my very first DVD (Braveheart).
While I enjoy it a lot, it’s still my least favourite movie of the trilogy. Sometimes I jump directly from the end of part one to the beginning of part three which fit neatly together. But as I said it is very enjoyable with the antiques store and the number of close encounters of the same person. Unfortunately it’s already 2009 and we have neither holo projections like the “Jaws 19″ movie nor hover technology for boards and cars.

January, 18th

Back to the Future: Part III

Michael J. Fox … Marty McFly / Seamus McFly
Christopher Lloyd … Dr. Emmett Brown
Mary Steenburgen … Clara Clayton
Thomas F. Wilson … Buford ‘Mad Dog’ Tannen / Biff Tannen
Lea Thompson … Maggie McFly / Lorraine McFly
Elisabeth Shue … Jennifer Parker
James Tolkan … Chief Marshal James Strickland
Matt Clark … Chester the Bartender

Synopsis: Marty’s stuck in 1955 while the Doc’s back in 1885. But the Doc isn’t going to live much longer after he had written the letter and Marty decides to go back and get him.But the old West didn’t have real roads and Marty subsequently rips the fuel line apart. Now they have to find another way to accelerate the DeLorean to 88 miles per hour. As if this weren’t enough Doc also falls in love and Marty agrees to a gunfight against ‘Mad Dog’ Tannen.

My Opinion: In my opinion this movie is a bit more serious than the other two and both characters seem to have grown a lot due to their travels. I felt it to be a bit unfair that Marty travelled back to save Doc’s life and he doesn’t even thank him by warning him of the “Rolls-Royce accident”. But I also thought it to be a really good idea to let Marty make that decision alone and to show that the time travels have taught him something. I also thought that Mary Steenburgen was a great addition and to see Doc in love was very nice. It great conclusion to a fantastic trilogy.

January, 28th

Bad Boys

Martin Lawrence … Marcus Burnett
Will Smith … Mike Lowrey
Téa Leoni … Julie Mott
Tchéky Karyo … Fouchet
Theresa Randle … Theresa Burnett
Joe Pantoliano … Captain Howard
Nestor Serrano … Detective Sanchez
Julio Oscar Mechoso … Detective Ruiz

Synopsis: Heroin worth 100 million Dollars gets stolen directly from the police’s evidence room. It is suspected that this was an inside job and Internal Affairs is investigating. The detectives Lowrey and Burnett have only one lead, an eyewitness to a shooting between the thieves. But for this to work, Lowrey and Burnett have to switch roles and their lives are very different.

My Opinion: I listened randomly thorugh my iTunes library when the theme song of COPS suddenly played and that gave me the idea to watch Bad Boys again.
It’s a good action movie although neither my favourite Michael Bay movie nor my favourite Will Smith or Martin Lawrence movie. But it was funny to see them bickering about their different livestyles and I loved all these different shootouts and explosions. Hey what did you expect? It’s a Bay/Bruckenheimer movie for crying out loud!

February

I’ve never read a DC comic (or Marvel for that matter) and I’ve only watched the four “Reeve” Supermans and Superman Returns. Thus I have no idea what does or doesn’t contradict Superman mythology when I watch Smallville, which is an advantage I think.

And off we go:

Disc 1

Pilot

Synopsis: A meteor shower hits a small town in Kansas: Smallville. But with that shower a spaceship arrives and it contains a small boy that is adopted by the Kents. 12 years later. Clark Kent, Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross are freshemens on the Smallville Highschool. And Lex Luthor, son of Lionel Luthor takes over the management of the Smallville fertilizer plant. But then an accident happens where Lex nearly gets killed – if it weren’t for Clark. And a man awakes from a coma in which he had laid for twelve years.

My Opinion: I really liked the homage to the first Superman movie, when Clark missed his school bus and ran across the fields again. I also liked most of the cast from the start. I also thought it to be interesting that Clark didn’t already possess all of his abilities. But the pilot plot also introduces the scheme of the show for at least the first season: Freak-of-the-Week. But they also have some minor arcs from the beginning.

Metamorphosis

Synopsis: The story continues on the day after the Homecoming. Lex still possesses Lana’s meteor rock necklace and intends to help Clark with it. But not only Clark and Whitney are interested in Lana but also Greg. He’s stalking her until he’s stung by a swarm of meteor-infected bugs. Then he becomes dangerous and only Clark is strong enough to stop him.

My Opinion: An ordinary FotW episode. But also the first where Clark has to accept his fate: He may be the rescuer but often he won’t be able to take the credit for it. He has to conceil who he is and that will bring him in as much trouble as facing his opponents will do.

Hothead

Synopsis: The football coach uses a sauna with meteor rocks which gives him the ability to burn things at will. He is also very ambitious and wants his team to win no matter the costs. And Clark wants to join the team even against the will of his father. Meanwhile Lex’s father wants his son to fire 20% of the employees in the fertilizer plant.

My Opinion: A good father-and-son-confrontation episode but both confrontations where totally different of course. If I were to imagine Jonathan Kent’s early years I can’t help but to think of a certain Bo Duke (The Dukes of Hazzard). To watch Lex over the course of the years is also interesting because they choose to portray him as “not so bad” guy in the beginning. If he were bad from the start I don’t think it would have been that interesting. There’s one problem though: Lex is supposed to be 6 or 7 years older than the others (IIRC he was 10 when the meteors hit Smallville) and although Michael Rosenbaum (29 in 2001) is actually 5 years older than Tom Welling (24 in 2001) it doesn’t feel that way. When they both face each other they both seem very adult, but Clark is only a 16-year-old Highschool student.

X-Ray

Synopsis: After sudden flashes of headaches, Clark is able to see through things though he can’t really control it. But this new ability helps him to uncover a plot to blame Lex for a bank robbery he didn’t commit. A girl who has become a bad copy of Lana has the ability to shape-shift and she can fool everybody but Clark. Meanwhile a reporter tries to blackmail Lex with knowledge about his past in Metropolis.

My Opinion: This episode starts several things. Firstly, the tradition to introduce one new ability in every season, in this case his X-Ray vision. Secondly, Lex’s obsession with Clark that will presumably never end. And thirdly we see that he has both a past that is at least greyish and that he becomes ruthless when he’s threatened.
I doubt I would have noticed it before Buffy but that was the second time in only four episodes that had at least one scene in a cemetery.

Disc 2

Cool

Synopsis: After the football player Sean has fallen into the lake he comes out of it barely alive. But something has happened, he can’t keep warm and he needs new sources of heat all the time. The best source seems to be the body heat of a human and Chloe has just given him her phone number. In the meantime Clark is driving to a concert – together with Lana, but “just as friends”. But then he learns of the danger Chloe is in and immediately returns to Smallville.

My Opinion: This will also be a recurring theme that Clark has to walk out on someone to save another and of course he can’t explain why. I thought it a bit too convenient that Whitney would find Lana in that café when he was supposed to watch a game on a Pay-TV channel, but then again, Clark’s and Lana’s relationship is as complicated as it gets, it’s even worse than the one of Ross and Rachel (Friends).
I also liked the remark when Chloe asked Clark if he comes from an ice planet – considering the movie and the place of his Fortress of Solitude that wasn’t far from the truth.

Hourglass

Synopsis: Clark does community work in a retirement home where he reads stories to an old, blind lady who claims to be able to foretell the future. But then one of the elders “gets lost” and instead a young man appears in Smallville and he has a score to settle.

My Opinion: I wonder if this old woman Cassandra (what an unimaginative name for a person that can see the future) has seen Clark as himself or as Superman when she looked into other people’s future. I also “liked” how they presented Lex’s future, the way that sunflower field turned into a wasteland covered with bones. It seemed fitting for the character.
What I didn’t understand was Harry’s motive to kill the descendants. He said he wanted to destroy the future of that teacher und thus he killed his son. He wanted to hurt the teacher, otherwise he would have killed him, too. So why now kill the children of the original jury when they jury members themselves are already dead and can’t feel any pain anymore? He simply could have left Smallville and started a new life. Mabye I don’t understand because I am not a homicidal lunatic.

Craving

Synopsis: Jodi is obsessed with diets because she is an overweight teenager. But then she finds the perfect shake: vegetables grown in meteor soil. She slims down to a perfect body, but this diet has side-effects: she needs huge portions of fat to survive. And she gets it from wherever she can.

My Opinion: People who are unhappy the way they look are very exhausting, it’s no fun to be around them. But one shouldn’t define oneself by the looks. But then again I was never a female teenager.
Once again Clark can’t be with Lana because he has to save a friend and I can understand that she’s disappointed. She said a funny thing in a previous episode, that Whitney would always be there when she would need him. Clark will also always be there when she needs him, just not in the way she meant it or expects it.

Jitters

Synopsis: A man claims to have worked on “Level 3″ in the Smallville fertilizer plant and he got somehow sick there. Now he demands answers and takes hostages at the plant. Among them: A group of Highschool students. Among them: Lana, Chloe, Pete and Clark. The problem is: This plant has no “Level 3″ – at least not officially.

My Opinion: This was the first hint, that LutherCorp conducts research on the meteor rocks and that it isn’t entirely legal. And it also showed that Lex isn’t involved in his father’s plans – at least until now. I also liked the closing scene where Lionel and Lex hugged for the cameras while the Kents hugged as a family. One could see that Lex envied them.

Disc 3

Rogue

Synopsis: A corrupt cop who witnessed Clark’s powers is now blackmailing him. When Clark refuses he frames Jonathan for a murder. Meanwhile principle Kwan fires Chloe as editor of the school paper “Torch” and installs Lana as her successor.

My Opinion: The frame was so obviously fake I don’t believe anyone could have really fallen for it. They get an anonymous tip and then they find a body in the middle of the barn, on the ground, unhidden?!? But apart from that I liked the stunts Clark pulled to get back at the dirty cop.

Shimmer

Synopsis: Lex’ castle is haunted. A ghost lives there that can move without being seen. But there’s also Amy, the daughter of an employee in the mansion. She has a crush on Lex and dislikes his new girlfriend. When the new girlfriend is attacked by the “ghost”, Clark and Chloe put one and one together and get three.

My Opinion: The cool thing about this episode is that I always forget that it is the brother and not Amy herself. It was an ok episode.

Hug

Synopsis: A very persuasive business man comes to Smallville and plans to open a new plant. But for that he would have to buy the Kent farm. There’s also a hermit in the woods who wants to be left alone but also doesn’t want to have this business man in his town. But Clark’s alliance with Kyle the hermit causes a riff between Clark and Lana who suspects to have been attacked by Kyle.

My Opinion: That episode I really liked because I liked Kyle. I like grumpy people because in the end they always have their heart in the right place. While the fight between Lana and Clark felt a bit constructed I really liked the end scene again when Clark (or was it Lex?) claims that the story of their friendship will be the stuff for legends. One regrets that it won’t end so well.
They also used the “forgetfulness plot device” for the first time to make Lex forget that he saw Clark’s powers.

Leech

Synopsis: When Clark tries to rescue to a fellow student both are struck by lightning and through the meteor rocks his powers are transfered to Eric. From now on, Clark is normal and Eric becomes “Superboy”. But then he begins to abuse his abilities and Clark has to stop him.

My Opinion: “With great powers comes great responsibility” (Ben Parker, Spider-Man) I really liked it that Clark’s nature didn’t change just because he had no powers anymore. He still tried to help even when that caused him a few broken rips. Episodes where Clark is incapacitated or otherwise limited are always interesting, yet it conveniently happens always when Lex doubts Clark. I also liked Shawn Ashmore (Iceman, X-Men trilogy) in the role of Eric.

Disc 4

Kinetic

Synopsis: There’s a series of break-ins and no one can explain how the thieves did it. But they run into Clark and Chloe when they try to rob Lex. Clark can’t prevent that Chloe falls out of a window and gets seriously hurt. Now Clark does anything in his power to find and stop these guys and he has help from the inside.

My Opinion: I am sure that there are people asking and complaining that Clark didn’t save the bad guy, too. From the looks of it it would have been possible to pull both of them out. But from my POV there is s strict order: Good guys first, bad guys later if there’s time. And maybe Clark didn’t know that the tattoo had worn off. After all he was standing there on his own free will, so: Shit happens.

Zero

Synopsis: Lex’s past catches up to him: Three years ago there was an incident at the Club Zero in Metropolis. A man was killed and now this man wants to find out what really happened. But he also endangers the people around Lex. Meanwhile there’s a school project going on and this project threatens the secret of the Kent family.

My Opinion: Now Chloe has begun to research Clark’s past, that makes the second person around him. I liked this episode because it showed pieces of Lex’s past and it didn’t reveal too soon the secret of this dead guy. With Chloe’s digging another side-story has started which means the stories will become more and more arc-y and less FotW-y. I don’t know if it was planned from the beginning but over the last episodes they have scattered a few bread crumps like the mystery of his adoption that will become relevant in later episodes. I like that.

Nicodemus

Synopsis: A man smashes into Jonathan’s car and then overturns his own. When Jonathan tries to rescue him he comes in contact with a flower that makes him act out of character. But then he slips into a coma. When Clark, Chloe, Lana and Pete investigate the case, Lana and Pete get also infected and they are going to die if a cure isn’t found.

My Opinion: Two words: Lana. Hot. *must concentrate now* I believe that was the first time that Lex lied directly into Clark’s face because he has secrets of his own. I don’t count Zero because he bluntly told Clark to stay out of it but here he held back informations because this doctor secretly works for him. It’s a long road he has started to go down.

Stray

Synopsis: A young boy called Ryan jumps in front of Martha’s car in the middle of the night. When he wakes up he claims to have amnesia. But he has also a secret: He can read minds and that’s the reason he is hunted by his stepparents who use him for robberies. But for a while he is save on the Kent farm and he bonds with Clark and through his ability he learns about Clark’s secret.

My Opinion: I found it funny to see super-hero comics in a series based on a super-hero comic. I liked this episode because I liked Ryan. I think it would be hard to hear other peoples thoughts. It might sound cool in the beginning but I think one can handle only so much honesty and I think such a person would eventually leave all the people to give the mind some rest.

Disc 5

Reaper

Synopsis: Tyler’s mother wants to die but when her son tries to grant her that wish he is caught and falls out of a window, breaking his neck. But during the autopsy he re-awakes from the death – a meteor rock around his wrist saved him. From now on he has the ability to turn people into ashes and he uses that to help people die. But then he kills someone accidentally and Clark has to stop him.

My Opinion: Euthanasia is always a complicated topic but even if one isn’t opposed to the idea in general no one has the right to make that decision for another person. I liked it that Tyler saw the error in his way and ended it his way. It would become boring if Clark always had to put down the bad guy himself.

Drone

Synopsis: Pete convinces Clark to run for class presidency. But then his competitors are attacked by bees one after the other. Clark has a pretty good idea who is behind this. Additionally he has an argument with Chloe who supports another candidate.

My Opinion: There are some parts of the american culture I will probably never understand. This was just a class presidency election, yet there were banners and buttons and flags and flyers and … all over town. Some villages around here wouldn’t put that much effort to it when it comes to the election of the next mayor. I also wonder who would fund such an election since Clark didn’t seem to have asked Lex.

Crush

Synopsis: Justin has just come out of recovery. He was injured in a hit-and-run accident the previous year. He lost the ability to use his fingers properly and thus the ability to draw. But instead he can move objects with his mind. He still tries to find that driver and Chloe helps him with that. Clark – who had a major run-in with Chloe – is sceptical about Justin because freak accidents happen around him.

My Opinion: The writers managed to put Clark in a lose-lose situation. Everytime he socializes with either of the girls he has to run off to save the other. And that won’t change for quite some time. On the one hand it’s understandable that both are disappointed by this behaviour but on the other hand they both should have learned by now that Clark only runs off when he has a very good reason to do so. Before I started this marathon I thought about making a list of people who know about Clark’s secret and have “forgotten” it again. Maybe I should make a list of how often he saves Lana’s and/or Chloe’s life.

Obscura

Synopsis: Lana is knocked out by an explosion on a field. When she awakes she is somehow mentally connected to a kidnapper. She sees that he keeps Chloe as prisoner but nobody believes her because Chloe is supposed to be in Metropolis. Clark – who has experienced stranger things – goes onto a search for Chloe.

My Opinion: Two more notches. This time he had to save both, first Chloe and then Lana. I liked the episode because he finally asked Chloe out for the spring ball. If I were him, I would have gone for Chloe a long time ago. Yes, I admit it, I belong to the Chlark (Chloe + Clark) fraction.
It was practically just a side-remark but the discovery of the octagon disc will set many things in motion. It will become one of the most important items of the show.

Disc 6

Tempest

Synopsis: Clark goes to the spring formal with Chloe and Lana brings her boyfriend to the bus station because he decided to join the US Marine Corps. But before that happens the reporter that was hired by Lex some time ago blows up the Kent’s truck with Clark in it. And he is right, Clark survives without a scratch. After that he learns both about the octagonal disc and the ship in the storm cellar. This will be a stormy day in Smallville.

My Opinion: Great finale. Smallville is a series that uses cliffhangers at the end of each season and the first parts are often great. But sometimes they fail to give it a good resultion in the next season.
I never had much interest in Whitney but he was a good reason why Clark couldn’t be with Lana. I am not sure if it was a good idea to take him out of the show that early.

The Season – My Opinion: As I said, I’ve never read a Superman comic, but I liked this show from the beginning. The cast is great and several arcs are set in motion. It wasn’t the best of all seasons but that rarely happens and in the league of first seasons it was a good one.

Season 2