1.78:1 Widescreen

For ten years we watched Jack O'Neil, Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and the Jaff'a Tealc' enter the Stargate. Others would join the team over the years. Each week we would follow their adventures, first on Showtime and finally on the Sci-Fi (now Sy Fy) Channel. We watched with awe as they stepped through a portal that was in reality a wormhole transporting them instantly to another world, brought online by dialing the device like an old-fashioned telephone. For another five years we traveled not only to another planet

“Corporations… They have all the money. They have all the power, and they use it to make people like you go away. Right now you’re suffering under an enormous weight. We provide the Leverage.”

The series centers on Nathan Ford (Hutton), an ex-insurance investigator. His life was turned around when the very insurance company he recovered millions for turned down his child for treatment to keep her alive.

Jean-Hugues Anglade plays Zorg (yup, that's his name), a handyman living in a beach-front house, scribbling away quietly in his spare time. Not so quiet is his tempestuous affair with Betty (Béatrice Dalle in her debut), whose passions overwhelm both of them. First, she moves in on him with no warning. Then, when she discovers his writing, she decides they must move to Paris so he can have a career as a writer. To make sure Zorg complies, she burns his house to the ground. Once in Paris, her plans for him fall apart, and so, bit by bit, does she.

As one could probably guess from my tender age of thirty five years, I listen to lots of 80's music. Not only did I grow up in it, the music was energetic and often thoughtful (without being too depressing). But the thing I remember most about the music on a whole is the brilliant videos behind them. David Byrne of Talking Heads was the head (literally) of one of my favorites, Burning Down the House. A great musician and pop legend, David Byrne is back to entertain us in Ride, Rise, Roar.

"Two can keep a secret as long as one of them is dead."

And there are a lot of secrets to be found on the ABC Family show Pretty Little Liars. It seems that a year earlier Alison (Pieterse) disappeared in the small Pennsylvania town of Rosewood. She was the "queen bee" of a small clique of girls. She was fond of manipulating those around her, and it seems her head games have finally caught up with her.

"Since the birth of time, humanity has endeavored to restrict evil men in prisons. But since Cain fled the murder of his brother, evil men have fled the walls of punishment. So it doesn't matter if you're a badass mother on the run because you think you're better than everyone else and somehow entitled to do what you gotta do. No, because you see, badass mothers are never fast enough. In the end, they will be accounted for."

People have been breaking out of Hell since the days of Dante.

Somewhere in my family’s history, I have a couple of odd branches. One of them leads to a former Pope (17th century I believe) and the other is even more curious, the mob. Specifically, it leads to the most popular gangster of them, Al Capone. It is pretty far down the branch, but interesting nevertheless. This leads us to our movie review for today: Kill the Irishman which deals with the real life story of Danny Greene, a man who escaped death countless times and took down the mob.

The other day, I was taking a look at my past reviews and I realized that I have been reviewing on this site for over six years. If you have been reading my reviews for that long and you aren’t married to me, bless you for sticking it out that long. Heck, I’ve only known my wife for almost 4 of those years. Anyhow, I have reviewed a plethora of subjects. One of the hardest things to do is to review a dvd season in the middle of its run. It becomes even harder when that show is True Blood

Did you ever see a movie that might have been pretty good, but it reminded you so much of other things that you just couldn't keep your concentration on the film at hand? That was my experience with the After Dark original film Seconds Apart. At almost every turn I couldn't help thinking of other films. Often times it was such a distraction that I'm afraid I never fully appreciated the one I was watching. And, there is a lot to like about Seconds Apart.

"From cradle to grave."

Lionsgate is really starting to crank out some original horror films under the After Dark label, and if this is any indication of what's in store for us down the road, I'm eager to see a few more of these titles hit the shelves. The films are direct-to-video low-budget films that have a more independent feel. While I wouldn't call the film terribly original, it does offer a slightly fresh face on the haunted house theme.