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Star Trek: Voyager: Endgame (2001)
I was satisfied, I want more though!
The past few months I have collected Voyager seasons 4 to 7 on DVD (I only had 1 to 3 on video before that, because Kes is my favourite character) and have just reached the end. I saw them when they were originally shown on TV here in the UK but had forgotten most of it. Am I satisfied with the ending? I think I am. Naturally as I fan I would have liked to have seen more about what happened to the characters when they got home but that's left to our imagination. In many ways "Endgame" is similar to Next Gen's "All Good Things
" The involvement of the crew in the future, but mainly the captain. A new romance starting in the finale (Troi and Worf in Next Gen and Seven of Nine and Chakotay here), which results in death in the future. I truly loved "Endgame," fair to all characters, Neelix appears although he left the ship two episodes earlier. B'elanna gives birth to her daughter with loving husband Tom. Tuvok is ill but returning home means he can be cured. Harry has always been the most anxious and determined but admits the journey is important. The Doctor, in the future, is well respected by all and finally chooses the name Joe! But of course the Captain has the largest role, meeting her future self who wants to get the crew home earlier to prevent casualties. The Borg are involved, as they have played a massive part in this period of Voyager. Alice Krige plays the Borg Queen again fantastically, just her voice and acting method are magnificent. I feel sorry for Susanna Thompson though, the TV Borg queen replaced by the movie Borg queen. Maybe she wasn't available though. The special effects are fantastic, the Borg sub space hub and the Borg queen falling apart! It's very tense. Especially when they come out of the Borg subspace corridor and say their location is right where they thought they'd be after they'd said they'd have to go in a corridor that leads back to the delta quadrant. And what a wonderful idea to get inside a Borg sphere for protection, on the DVD special features they say it was like the Trojan horse. Voyager could have continued. If it was more popular they would have stuck with their original idea of the crew realising the ship is their home, like in Harry's speech and what Tom said because his wife and child are there. And then they could have got home in a film!
Overall, Voyager was a bit hit and miss. The sixth season seemed to be one good one followed by one less than good one. The two episodes set in the Holographic Irish village are horrible! My perception of Seven of Nine was that she took over, it all revolved around her, which wasn't true. When she first appeared, season 4 was focused on her for too many of the episodes but it evened out after that. And her character is ingenious at times, 20 years as a Borg drone gradually rediscovering her humanity. I like her, especially in "Someone to Watch Over Me," "Imperfection," and "Human Error." When Naomi Wildman was scared of her initially but then became her friend often by her side, that was lovely. Chakotay became my least favourite character. Gone was the chemistry with Janeway (will they/won't they?) and you'd never think he was first officer, he's completely pushed aside most of the time. I loved seeing Tom and B'elanna's relationship blossom against the odds. I always liked Neelix a lot. Tuvok was good at times, especially when he lost his logic, gained emotion and was friends with Neelix. Harry was annoying at times but a okay character at other times. The Doctor is probably my favourite, seeing how far he comes and comedy situations he creates ("Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" is fantastic!). Janeway is my favourite Captain of any series and you can tell Kate Mulgrew is really enjoying it.
I wish there was more, I love Voyager!
The Grudge (2004)
Very Good Horror Film
This is one of the best horror films I have seen. It was remade as an American version simply because, unfortunately, a mass number of people won't see a subtitled film. I've seen both versions and found this one to be scarier. And I guess you would like it more with familiar actors/actresses. Sarah Michelle Gellar performs well and her character Karen is likable. All the rest of the cast are very good. Clea DuVal has been in so many films yet no one seems to know who she is. Interested that three of the cast have been in Buffy, the two above and Jason Behr. I highly rate this film, a refreshing change to the teen and non-serious horror films.
Deadly Care (1987)
Wonderful performance by Cheryl Ladd...
The main attraction of this film for someone would be if they're a fan of Cheryl Ladd, like me. Or if you identify with the subject matter.
Cheryl puts in a fantastic performance. Be warned though, the film has a rather depressing tone to it. Things get worse and worse for Cheryl's character. She begins with a mild dependance on drugs from the hospital she works in as a nurse. But when her sister dies and she loses her job, she battles with alcoholism and relies on drugs more and more. She really hits rock bottom before realising she needs help, and is not accepting of the help she gets when she ends up in a hospital. Things are wrapped are rather quickly, and so you are not left with a good feeling that she turned things around for herself. We are told through a voice over. A "Five Years Later" scene would have been more effective in terms of how you feel when the film ends. But this is no major flaw for the film.
Cheryl Ladd is at her best her, with heavy going material. In other roles she has had she has not had to be so rude to her friends and people who are trying to help her. She plays a woman who relies on drugs, and when her life stops becoming manageable, it completely takes over. As I said at the start, a film for Cheryl fans, and an excellent one at that.
Spectres (2004)
Excellent film making and acting...
I can say without doubt that this it my favourite film Marina Sirtis has been in (other than the Star Trek films of course)! I loved it. Excellent film-making too! A supernatural drama is how I would define this. Laura Lee and her daughter, Kelly (Lauren Birkell), go on a summer vacation to get to know each other again, after Kelly's attempted suicide. This would be a basic premise for a family drama but a supernatural twist is added to the plot. In the moment Kelly died before being revived, her spirit became lost and mixed up with Renee's (Linda Park's character) and Kelly takes on some of Renee's traits and attracts further spiritual attention (in other words ghosts). Marina displays some of her greatest acting skills to date, in my opinion. When the psychic Will (Tucker Smallwood) and psychiatrist Dr. Halsey (Dean Haglund) realise Kelly be brought to the brink of death and be revived to regain her spirit/soul, Laura Lee gets understandably extremely emotional and has to be held by Will. Marina does a fantastic job here; devastation and helplessness are obviously not enjoyable emotions to act (see quotes below for Marina talking about this scene). At certain points in the film Laura Lee is an awful mother, not at all understanding what her daughter is going through. But this must be because she cannot cope with her daughter's attempted suicide! And she is a bit of a b*tch towards Dr. Halsey, when she says, "I'm not the one on your couch, I'm paying you to make us a happy family." But it appears that the supernatural experiences that mother and daughter go through, aid them in bonding with each other by the film's conclusion. The ending is slightly cheesy, with Laura Lee and Kelly a happy family and going off to explore the creek, but I don't have a problem with that. Kelly, Dr. Halsey, Will and all the ghosts are all roles that are cast without flaws. It's always a pleasure to see Marina in anything, Spectres is fabulous though, a perfect project for Marina, and she gets nothing but praise from me for her performance.
DVD Review: The actual film is faultless in quality, but the special features seem to be jumpy, the images jerk around and have lines on sometimes. But it's just a huge bonus to have special features, unlike Marina's other recent films on DVD, Terminal Error and Paradise Lost, which have none. It's lovely when the film company put effort in to it. This has deleted scenes, making of the film, trailers and a clip of filming where they thought the house they filmed in was haunted and something moves behind Marina. But it seems to be just a flash of light, even though the makers insist there was nothing that could produce that light! Oooh!
Nightkill (1980)
A great thriller, excellent ending...
SPOILER!!!!! I have just finished watching this film and I was very impressed. I collect Jaclyn Smith's films and most recently acquired this one on DVD.
The story took all sorts of interesting twists. Was Wendell dead? Was Katherine (Jaclyn) being set up?
I was hooked, and it was remarkable how everything came together. As soon as I saw Donner (Robert Mitchum) putting on gloves near the end, it clicked. We had not seen Wendell's face when apparently he was chasing Katherine but that added a air of mystery at the time, not seeing the 'dead' man's face.
Robert Mitchum played a very good phoney detective.
This is a rare occasion that nothing major is overlooked in the plot that the victim could have done differently. Katherine did nothing too irrational and didn't seem simply stupid at all.
Jaclyn was a pleasure to see, especially knowing she made this film while "Charlie's Angels" was still in production. However, the downside, the moment when she had to display extreme emotion, (I'm sad to say) were sometimes cringe-worthy, the worst was when she was runnning round the house shouting for who she thought was Wendell to come out. But this was required for the role I guess, a very distressed woman. However, when she discovers Steve's body in the place of Wendell's, the film makers choice to make it slow motion with music and no sound of gasping, shrieking or crying was extremely sucessful in my opinion, it worked a lot better, the expressions on Jaclyn's face spoke for themselves easily!
And the previous review about having to watch this is a second time is true, I look forward to that in a few months time, noticing the pieces being scattered to come back together later. This isn't Jaclyn at her best, but an excellent thriller with the bonus of featuring Jaclyn.
La mort mystérieuse de Nina Chéreau (1988)
Odd film, fantastic Maud...
I was very pleased to see a Maud Adams film that was new to me, I'm a fan of hers. And this certainly is a very odd film!
I did enjoy the it and it held my interest. I do have a complaint about the plot, it's structure could have been improved upon. There were no real hints of it having a supernatural twist at the end. With some films it works, a complete surprise ending. 'From Dusk Till Dawn' springs to mind, changing from a thriller to a vampire film, with success. You can connect Ariel and her mothers dislike of each other to the films outcome but that was only a slight hint. Was there was more there than a simple disfunctional mother/daughter relationship? Ariel also picked up a book while hiding in a shop after having escaped the mental home. This was a completely random situation, the book describes the woman Ariel is eventually revealed to be, someone who needs to bathe in the blood of virgins to remain forever young. The book store's owner is later found dead.
While watching this film I didn't make any connection to the book, but it had some purpose, with only a little success.
Maud is excellent in this film as Ariel Dubois. There is little glamour in this, a mental home and the streets of a french town, as the settings. But Maud looks as beautiful as ever, even with less than great costumes. Realism is created via the wardrobe but they should have been slightly improved. Maud's red dress when Ariel is revealed is very much like a temptress' dress.
Scott Renderer acts well in this movie, as Ariel's doctor. I'd never heard of him before. There is a slight casting error in the fact that he is the only obvious American actor. There is no problem, in my eyes, with the France setting and the cast being all English speaking, it's common sense for a mass audience but the rest of the cast sound European, especially exotic Maud, and so Scott Renderer stands out as American.
Françoise Brion, as Ariel's moth, is good casting. She performs her purpose well, especially near the ending, when she is walking around the house with a knife, tension mounts. The scene where she 'lashes out' at Ariel in the cafe seems a little over-the-top but perhaps it would be, given the circumstances.
The supporting cast (head doctor at the mental home, shop owner and the detective) all function well, good casting again.
The directing is okay, nothing particualrly smart or new is done. Editing is fine, apart for moments where it apparently cuts for ad breaks and there weren't any on my recording.
This is certainly an excellent film Maud has made, one of my favourites of hers.
A Death in California (1985)
Good???
*Contains Spoilers* I have been a collector of Cheryl Ladd's films for a while now and was pleased to find this on two tapes, Parts 1 and 2, hour and a half each.
It certainly held my interest throughout. But Cheryl's character, Hope, seems too easily manipulated into lying for and protecting the man, Jordan Williams (Sam Elliott), who killed her husband and raped her.
This is not Cheryl at her best, but she does as good a job as possible with the character. At first I thought Part 1 ("The Crime") would be more interesting than Part 2 ("The Trial"). But I found part 2 much more intriguing, however far fetched it seems that Mr Williams could act as his own attourney in a case like that!
The ending doesn't seem satisfactory. Hope visits Jordan in prison, with no dialogue and you wonder why? Did she indeed know him before he killed her husband and raped her? Who knows?
TVography: Charlie's Angels - Girls with Guns (2002)
Fabulous insight!
I was aching to see something like this for ages and it sure was good stuff! it was recently on the Biography channel on Sky here in the UK.
I'm 19 and a huge fan of Charlie's Angels. I was very eager to see a documentary with the actresses, producers etc talking about making the series as well as clips never seen by me before!
It was a pleasure to see two gorgeous ladies Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd interviewed, my favourite two Angels.
My only complaint is that there was talking over some clips that were very rare such as a ABC Awards show that the Angels appeared on in the 70's.
Other than that, GREAT stuff!
The Bourne Identity (1988)
Fantastic!
I have just finished watching this Movie and felt very complelled to come and write a review on here.
Where to start??! A good compliament of "The Bourne Identity" is simply that the 3 hours went by very quickly, never dragged on. It would have been perfect I imagine when first screened, over two evenings and the end of the first part is an excellent cliff hanger!
I loved the way clues, plot pieces unraveled as the Movie went along. The micro chip... finding out Bourne's name?... various clues forced out of people...
Richard Chamberlain, was good, likeable. He tackled the role very well and was, in the most part, very sucessful. Jaclyn Smith, I suppose, was the reason I watched this Movie. I am a fan of hers, initially from Charlie's Angels of course, and this was the 8th Movie featuring her I have collected. Because it's the most recent one I have seen I would be inclined to say it is my favourite but I honestly think it is! Far too often her Movies are family dramas and this is a Spy Thriller!! Yay! Marie (Jaclyn's character) develops a great deal through the Movie, her preconceptions alter, she falls in love, she becomes stronger.
I get the impression the 2002 version won't spend as much time focussing on the relationship between Bourne and Marie but I think that is just as important as the action. I certainly imagine the action scenes are better. There are no major complaints I can make about the action in this 1988 version except perhaps the "fat villain" may not have been very good at it, not too convincing. To mention one other slight down side to the film (there must be + and -) the opening scene didn't look great, of the ship, looked a bit model-ly.
But that is simply because there was no huge budget, afterall it is a TV Movie, and an excellent one at that! A good cast, Paris was an inspired choice for the main location of the movie and overall this is a Movie with a fantastic plot and main cast.
Kentucky Woman (1983)
"They Called me Buddy!" *****
***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** I have just this minute finished watching this film and come on-line! Wow! I follow the films of Cheryl Ladd, she is a favourite actress of mine and this was the first new one to me in quite a while.
A fantastic performance by Cheryl, such a strong willed woman Maggie Telford is! Forced into working in the mines to support her son and her now unable to work father. There is a case of sexual harassment, the fact her co-workers don't want a woman on their team, her church turning their back on her... Co-worker Spinner is easy to dislike, that's the idea! Deke, we grow to like as he eventually supports Maggie. And Maggie's small romantic interest, Ward, I found very likeable.
My one line summary is the most important quote from the film, I think, when early in the film Maggie is told by the only other female worker she needs "buddies" when she's down in the mines. And at the end of the film she wins back her job and more importantly the respect of the men.
Cheryl shines in this, a highly enjoyable film. :)
Brit Awards 2002 (2002)
What a ceremony!
The Brit Awards 2002 were just wonderful! The highlight has got to be Kylie Minogue's performance of "Can't get you out of my head". She must have performed it so many times since last September, but keeps coming up with new performances. It was like a re-mixed, excellent version and her entrance was like on a giant CD! Anastasia and Jamiroquai performed together, a great pairing! They sung "Bad Girls". Dido was fabulous. Mis-Teeq, Gorillaz, Sting also performed. The top winners of awards were: Kylie with two, Best International Female and Best International Album (Fever). And, Dido with Best British Female and Best British Album (No Angel).
TV Land Presents Blast from the Past (2001)
PC Game...
Thought I'd add a comment, letting people know what this PC game is, though I haven't played on this game.
"Jaclyn Smith is one of stars who has filmed special questions for this new PC game called, BLAST FROM THE PAST from TV Land. This is a one-of-a-kind PC game which Jaclyn Smith and other tv stars ask questions about their own show which you the player have to answer correctly!"
Frozen with Fear (2001)
Enjoyable, quite good...
This was shown on a late night in the UK and I saw it. It was pretty good, I did enjoy it. I was interested in it all the way through. Good performances all round, generally. Certainly worth watching if it's on TV, a good little Thriller.