The book that sparked our interest.
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Amityville Horror
"Amityville Horror" is one more example of a pointless remake. When the original came out in 1979, we were all scared of an isolated house and the sense of being trapped without help and at the mercy of supernatural elements. Even today, the stories of the Amityville events are creepy in their own right. The fear invoked by the tragic events of 1974 was caused by the possibility that ghosts or a house could possess someone. In today’s remake, the story focuses on the people and this is where it goes wrong from the start. We see within the first 10 minutes that the children resent their new stepfather, as does the family dog. There are struggles for control between the husband and the wife and no one in the family is likable. Nor do they become any more endearing as the movie progresses. It takes nearly a third of the movie to get to the house and have the supernatural events start to unfold. The house itself is not creepy, merely dirty and unkept. The script wanders over elem...
"Sahara" is the first attempt at turning one of Clive Cussler's novels into a movie franchise but the screen version just didn't capture the essense of the novels. For anyone who's ever wandered through an airport bookstore for hours, you've seen and maybe even read several or more of these books. The books are not a prerequisite for seeing the movie but you will miss out on some key background information between the characters. Either way, the movie is just okay at best. The movie should have been good and it could have been good. The look and feel of the sets and the characters were exactly as they read in print. It was as if they were pulled off the pages and into the film but the essential heart and soul of Dirk Pitt and his buddy Al Giordino were left behind. And that's where the movie doesn't make it because we never quite believe that these two have a long standing friendship and underlying respect for one another. The clever banter seems to be...
Borg 4D
Tonight after dinner at Quark's, we went over to the Star Trek Experience to check out the Borg 4D. It was disappointing to learn the the Klingon Encounter was closed and we were going to miss seeing the bridge. I was okay with it but we had two people with us who had never been so it was a bummer for them to miss seeing the bridge. We then paid a hefty $30 for the walk through the props/costume display and the 10 minute Borg 4D event. This experience is done with all seriousness and the actors must really have to struggle to find motivation to be attacked by Borg every 10-15 minutes but they made it fun for us. Trying to rush 40-50 people to run from Borg is a bit hard to do, especially when we're all trying to look at the Borg. At any rate, we were finally into our escape shuttle and donning our "protective eyewear" for the trip. The regular motion screen is now a 3D screen and while I'm not impressed by things flying at me, I was really impressed with the...
I went back to Quark's for dinner and just had to do a couple more photos. First, I apologize for saying the Romulan Ale wasn't blue because when I saw it in daylight, I realized it's bright blue! Tonight was about pigging out with appetizers, soup and pasta! The food is good there. Get the Holy Rings of Betazed to start your meal.