When I was originally presented with a show about a married woman who communicates with ghosts, I did not think I was going to enjoy a single episode. When I found out that the woman was Jennifer Love Hewitt, I was filled with even more dread. However, I put in the first DVD hoping for the best. The good news is that other than the first episode, which continued the cliffhanger from season one, the second season and the show in general made it easy for anyone who hasn’t seen an episode before to catch up on what was going on this season.

Ghost Whisperer is partially based on the work of Mary Ann Wintkowski, a popular spirit communicator. Other help for the second season came from world renowned psychic, James Van Praagh. Praagh worked on various episodes to help make sure things were as realistic as possible. The result is a show that is surprisingly more interesting than anticipated.

Jennifer Love Hewitt plays the main character, Melinda Gordon. Melinda has always had the ability to see ghosts, even as a child. Ghosts seek her out to communicate with the living and find peace for themselves and their loved ones in the process. One of the standout episodes for me was the second in the season. A ghost approaches Miranda, but will not reveal himself. He says he needs to say he’s sorry to the woman he loved. After some hostile moments and threatening messages the ghost leaves for Miranda’s husband (David Conrad), Miranda realizes that the ghost is someone from her past.

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I had heard the television commercials announcing Jericho, though I’d never paid that much attention to them. I have never been a huge television watcher on the CBS station. I have always been more loyal to ABC. My mom is an ABC Soap fanatic. We watch ABC News both locally and nationally, and when it came to television shows, it seemed more logical to watch ABC. I was more likely to catch a preview of an ABC show so I knew more about what was on television. I now realize the error of my ways and I owe it all to Jericho.

What would you do if many of the major cities in the United States were hit by nuclear bombs and your town descended into darkness as everyone lost power and communication with the outside world? That’s the premise of the hit television show, Jericho. Taking place in the fictional town of Jericho, Kansas, the citizens of this small town become aware of some major attack when they spot a mushroom cloud in the distance from what they believe is the city of Denver. They must first deal with fallout and then figure out how to survive with no ability to contact the outside world (by conventional means).

Problems the Jericho citizens face besides lack of power and telephone communication include the danger of running out of food, lack of necessary resources, depleting medical supplies, low amounts of gasoline, and fighting amongst the citizens as the “everyone for themselves” mentality attempts to take over. This town is only held together by the Green family, which is one of the main families of Jericho and has had a mayor in office for several years prior to the nuclear attack.

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We love to celebrate holidays at Literary Illusions. That is why we plan to offer you 31 days of at least one “Halloween-related” DVD title. Sure, some of the DVDs are scary. Some will be movies we recommend while others we’ll hope you will pass on lest you suffer the same fate we did when trying to get spooked while watching these films.

Either way, our selection of “frightening movies” should have something to appease the most picky horror fan. If you enjoy gore, screams, chills, and thrills then you need to make sure to check out the 31 days of Halloween Horror Movies, sponsored by the best website online for reviews, Literary Illusions. Make sure to check us out when we begin on October 1, 2007.

To give you a sneak peek at some of our picks, all we can say is that Stephen King, Rob Zombie, and Freddy Kruger all have their place in the 31 Days of Horror DVDs. You will see some independent horror flicks, some higher budget flicks, some with famous actors and others with unknowns or b-list actors who can’t seem to get jobs in anything but horror flicks. Some mark the beginning of a budding and exciting career for today’s Hollywood superstars.

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As an action lover I am not one to turn down a chance to watch a good superhero movie. I want to be able to enjoy the comic book life of a character on screen while checking out some good action scenes in the process. Fantastic Four has always been my least favorite comic-to-movie when it comes to the movie race, but when this second installment, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, was being made; the hype was so great I decided to give it another shot. I agreed to review it and now I am wishing that I had picked out anything else on my desk because this wasn’t worth the time it took to watch.

The movie begins with the buzz about the wedding that is set to occur between Reed Richards and Sue Storm. The wedding is ruined, the first time, when the Silver Surfer buzzes into their media circus of a ceremony, and soon sends them off to try and save the world. Dr. Doom makes quite a big appearance as do some other lesser known (if you are unfamiliar to comics) bad guys.

My problem does not necessarily lay with the lukewarm story or the sub par writing for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. In that respect, it’s no better or worse than 75% of the crap that Hollywood puts out in an attempt to make a buck. Structurally speaking it is an action film in every way. There is a little bit of romance, moments of comedy, and things exploding. It’s you’re average action film.

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To me, there is no place in the world that is more beautiful then Greece. Perhaps it is my fascination with the culture of one of the most advanced and prolific Ancient civilizations that draws me to Greece and the Greek Islands. Whatever it is, Acorn Media has done an exceptional job of capturing the spirit of Greece on this DVD, Visions of Greece.

The main program originally aired on public television. You will be guided from Athens through various regions of Greece and across brilliant blue waters that surround the Greek Islands. The narrator has a pleasant, European accented voice (I’m assuming she is Greek) as she rolls the complicated names of cities, towns, and ancient ruins off her tongue with ease and perfect pronunciation.

The main program travels through eight different sections, regions, and Island locations with multiple cities, towns and areas explored in each chapter of the Visions of Greece program. Some of the areas explored include Crete, Delos, Sifnos, Mycenae, the ruins of Olympia, Delphi, Thessaloniki, Athens, Santorini, the island of Lesbos, Ionina, Corinth Canal, Egina, Rhodes (where the Colossus of Rhodes once stood), and Kavala.

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If I took the time to describe a movie to you that was filled with drugs, homophobia, rape, and misogyny what would you think I was talking about? If you said Shakespeare you are wrong. Actually, I am referring to Saturday Night Fever. Sure the plot revolves around dancing, disco, and so much more, but in the larger scheme of things this movie offers viewers all of the things I listed previously.

I wasn’t around when this film was released in theaters, but at some point I saw it (didn’t everyone) and it was one of those movies that stuck with me. In fact, every time I see this film I think I notice something new or take something away that was different than the last time watching. It’s hard to imagine that a simple disco flick could be so complex and last so long, but this one certainly has.

For the three people in the world that haven’t seen this, Saturday Night Fever was John Travolta’s breakout screen role. Tony Manero (Travolta) is a 22 year old man. He has his share of troubles and a lot to work out as far as who he is and where he wants to be. However, one thing is certain. He loves to dance. He also loves spends a lot of time with friends.

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Sketch comedy is one of those things where one person will love it and the next will think it’s absolutely uninteresting. Comedy Central ran this show, Upright Citizens Brigade, for a brief three seasons, making one think that it must be more of the former rather than the latter. However, thanks to DVD sales the cult following that exists for this show is alive and happy.

I should mention that I am not one of the cult groupies. In fact, while I had heard of the show, before this review, I had never watched any episodes. After watching them, I came to realize the bad side of my job. Unfortunately, not all material that passes my desk is going to be interesting enough, well thought out enough, or entertaining enough to please me.

The idea behind UCB is that this group of four people, Colby (Amy Poehler), Antoine (Ian Roberts), Adair (Matt Besser), and Trotter (Matt Walsh) need to watch over the entire Earth. They do this through surveillance in order to destabilize society. This is where the sketch comedy comes in. The show offers various scenarios where the UCB watches people in different scenarios. Sounds simple enough right? While it may be simple that does not make it funny.

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The 80s was known for its share of excellent movies. Many of those movies seemed to have a dancing based theme. One of those movies was Flashdance and it was actually one of the more popular movies of the decade. The movie is somewhat of a fish out of water tale of the most basic terms.

Alexandra or Alex (Jennifer Beals) is a welder by day and a club dancer by night. The Pittsburgh native has big hair and bigger dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. She wants to dance for the repertory ballet company. However, she is so scared of failing that she keeps doing her natural thing and doesn’t pursue her dream.

Alex is a smart girl and has a lot of support around her. Her boyfriend (Michael Nouri) supports her and her dreams completely. She is also influenced by her friends who also have dreams. Richie (Kyle Heffner) works as a short order cook while he dreams of being a comedian and Jean (Sunny Johnson) who has dreams of becoming a championship figure skater. If all of this support didn’t convince her it was bound to happen with the help of her mentor, Hanna (Lilia Skala) who insists that Alex has a talent and must go through with an audition.

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One of the first movies John Travolta worked on after coming back from the Hollywood graveyard was Face/Off. The movie, starring John Travolta and Nicholas Cage is not the type of movie you would have expected the normally tame or comedic Travolta to star in. This thriller is both clever and intriguing. Dealing with a role-reversal of unexpected portions, Face/Off offers a dose of revenge and redemption that is often lacking in similar films of its kind.

Face/Off takes two men on opposite sides and thrusts them into a game of physical role reversal. Sean Archer (John Travolta) is an FBI agent that is nothing short of obsessed about bringing down the criminal, Castor Troy (Nicholas Cage) who killed his son. Troy is an international terrorist more than a child killer, but it was that one unintentional action that set the train in motion towards his potential destruction.

Towards the beginning of the move Troy ends up in a coma as a bomb is left hiding somewhere in the L.A. area. Archer is left in a tight spot when he has no one to interrogate and has no idea where that bomb is located. In an odd twist of fate, Archer agrees to go into ultimate under cover by allowing to a face transplant and becoming Castor Troy. Of course, no action movie occurs without thick plots and lots of action. Troy wakes up and in the need for a face, he takes Archers.

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A few weeks ago, I watched the first season of Dexter in a number of days. Like most who watch the show, America’s favorite Serial Killer, Dexter Morgan, has captivated me in ways that serial killers should not captivate people. Morgan is perhaps the first and last killer who I want to see go free. I was crushed when the lights went out on The Sopranos and I know that when the end comes for Dexter it will be a sad day, as well because there is nothing else like it on television.

When I received the first four episodes of season two of Dexter I could hardly contain myself. I couldn’t wait to pop the disc in my DVD and watch all four episodes. Usually, I will try and restrain myself, but with Dexter it’s hard to do that. I had to know what would happen to Dexter now that his brother was dead and his foster sister, Deb had lived through the most traumatic experience of her young life.

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