30 Days of Night: Dark Days, DVD Review
30 Days of Night: Dark Days
Steppin’ to 30 Days of Night starring Josh Hartnet and Melissa George was a horror smash hit and it was only a matter of time before a sequel followed and it came under the title, 30 Days of Night-Dark Days.
The film would follow Melissa Georges character Stella however the director wanted a new actress to play the role. Initially it was sited they wanted someone younger and with more of a name to play the role but they ended up with Kiele Sanchez. I know who! She apparently was in ‘Lost’, ‘Samantha Who’ and is currently starring in ‘The Glades’. However she is no Melissa George.
Dark Days is set in LA so doesn’t quite have the same feeling of threat to it. It follows the character of Stella as she tries to expose Vampires to the world. A group of renegade Vampire hunters recruit her to go after Lilith, the Vampire Queen.
This plot-line was reminiscent of the Borg Queen in Star Trek, she comes out of nowhere and is the brains of the operation. When Stella discovers there is a new ship setting sail to the Arctic Circle for the next 30 days of night she brings the fight to them.
As a Vampire film the feature isn’t bad, L Words/Vampire Diaries ‘Mia Kirshner’ brings an element of horror to the film as Lilith but Dark Days works more as an action movie than a horror. Stella is now an ass kicking femme fatale in the same vein as Milla Jovovich Alice in Resident Evil.
That is why as a sequel to 30 Days it doesn’t fit. It’s no longer ordinary people fighting for their lives but seasoned hunters out for revenge.
The film is well worth watching but as a franchise movie it pales in comparison to the first installment.
Apparently there is going to be a third as they initially always wanted it to be a trilogy and that working title is ‘Return to Barrow’
It went straight to DVD in the States so expect the same here and can be currently viewed on line.
by candlemansa, Gaycork.com
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'The Glades' premieres 8.30pm, Sunday December 5th on W, Australia
Kiele Sanchez
A number of American reviews for The Glades have drawn parallels between Simon Baker and Matt Passmore in his lead role in this A&E Network drama.
Let’s be clear: they are both Aussie actors playing Americans in crime procedural, and they’re both pretty convincing. That’s about where the parallels end.
Whilst Baker’s Mentalist role is steeped in quiet observation, Passmore (Underbelly, McLeod’s Daughters, The Cut) is a cocky cop from Chicago. He talks so fast and drops the wisecracks that he probably has about 50% more lines to memorize.
In The Glades he plays Det. Jim Longworth, a homicide detective from Chicago who relocates to Florida after being wrongfully accused of having sex with his former captain’s wife (none of this back-story is dramatized in the Pilot).
But when a headless torso is found floating in a gator-infested swamp by two hot kids who were making out in their car, Longworth gets his first assignment. We meet him when he is playing a relaxing round of golf, interrupted by the call to investigate. Bad day to be on the green.
Longworth likes to work alone, dressed in little more than a t-shirt and jeans. While he consults regularly with a Latino forensic pathologist (Carlos Gomez), he is a lone wolf, preferring to piece together clues with a mix of experience, hunch and bravado. Why didn’t they make him a Private Eye?
Most of the minor players here, who are clearly hired just for the weekly crime, take a back seat to Passmore. It’s very possibly the best thing he has done.
Complementing the procedural crime, which isn’t really engaging enough as for a first episode, is Jim Longworth’s pursuit of attractive nurse and single mom Callie Cargill (Kiele Sanchez). It comprises the majority of his personal interest but there are hints of deeper issues linked to his exodus in Chicago. These could possibly further a bigger arc across the series.
The Florida backdrop, already a key feature of crime shows including Dexter, Burn Notice and of course Miami Vice, will lend itself well to stories of drug cartels, alligators, beaches, swamps, seniors, hotels, partying, illegal immigrants and more.
So far it doesn’t boast the style of Burn Notice nor the plotting of Dexter and without Passmore it would border on pedestrian.
But Matt Passmore is confident in the role and eminently like able. He even has the Chicago accent down pat. Already approved for a second season, there’s every reason to think he may yet make something of this series which should ultimately work as a summer diversion.
The Glades premieres 8.30pm Sunday December 5th on W.
- By David Knox on November 22, 2010
- Filed Under Pay TV, Reviews, Top Stories[amazon-product alink="0000FF" bordercolor="000000" height="240"]B002N5M41I[/amazon-product]
Kiele Sanchez, Celebrity Scoop, describes 'The Glades', A&E Network
Kiele Sanchez, Matt Passmore, The Glades
“Honestly, trying to describe this show to people is the bane of my existence,” she says. “I really have no idea. But that’s one of the things that drew me to it, actually, the fact that I couldn’t really put my finger on what it was, and the writing was just so great. There’s a music to it that I really liked.”
The actress stars as Callie Cargill, a sharp-minded medical student whose already complex life with a young son and a husband in prison is made even more complicated once a new man enters her life: Jim Longworth, a handsome Chicago detective (Aussie newcomer Matt Passmore) who has relocated to the sleepy backwater of Palm Glade, Fla.
Sanchez has nothing but praise for Passmore, with whom she has a relaxed chemistry.
“Matt is kind of a dream in every way,” she says. “He’s fun to play with on the set, and we joke around all the time, and we’ve already become really good friends. It’s very easy to have chemistry with him. I really do think he is going to explode after this.”
Sanchez says series creator Clifton Campbell, a native Floridian, was eager to capture the beauty and quirkiness of the state, something that filming in Hallandale Beach, between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, makes easier.
“The sucky part is that you are away (from home), and it’s just really, really hot,” she adds. “It usually cools off at night in L.A., so I am not used to this heat and humidity around the clock. The second you walk off the plane, it’s like stepping into a steam bath. You can’t breathe for 10 or 15 seconds.”
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30 Days Of Night: Dark Days, Review by Midnight Spookshow; presented by Daily Motion
Does 30 Days Of Night: Dark Days Represent 30 More Days Of Horrific Vampire Fun, or The Dark Days Of Direct-To-DVD sequels? Look for the truth on Daily Motion.
Find Out In This Spookshow TV Review on Daily Motion
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DVD REVIEW: 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, Stars Kiele Sanchez, Diora Baird
Kiele Sanchez Rocks it in Red Blood
30 DAYS OF NIGHT: Dark Days, Review:
Starring: Kiele Sanchez, Rhys Coiro, Harold Perrineau, Mia Kirschner, Diora Baird, Ben Cotton, Troy Ruptash.
The Pitch
You know what you need? Another vampire film with guns and stuff!
The Humans
Director: Ben Ketai
Based on the Comic By: Steve Niles & Ben Templesmith
Written By: Ben Ketai & Steve Niles
Starring: Kiele Sanchez, Rhys Coiro, Harold Perrineau, Mia Kirschner, Diora Baird, Ben Cotton, Troy Ruptash.
The Lowdown
30 Days of Night (CHUD review) was not a good movie. It was a hit, but it was not a very good movie at all. One which seemingly coasted on its bloody-mouthed caterwauling vampires, its high concept premise, and the fact it eschewed romanticism for brutality. It wasn’t enough, especially in a market saturated with vampire films.
Then again, it was based on a high concept style over substance comic book so why should anyone be surprised, at least to much. (more…)