DVD Collectors Online

Hopalong Cassidy Returns, a review by Rogmeister

The next review is of a Hopalong Cassidy movie.  I have many Hoppy films...I have 8 DVDs of double-feature Hoppy films from Image (which is what the below review is from) and I have 8 other volumes that stuff 5 Hoppy films per disc.  Those are from Platinum, a company not known for high quality releases but their Hoppy discs are pretty good.



Hopalong Cassidy Returns (74 min.), finds Bill on his way to Mesa Grande, where he is the new Marshal. Along the way he stops a runaway horse and saves a woman's life. Upon arriving in town, he discovers his old friend, the town's newspaper editor, has been brutally murdered by the very same woman Hoppy just saved, a hardnosed businesswoman who runs the town.

There were "A" pictures (major films like Stagecoach) and "B" pictures (low-budget moves such as Buck Jones and Tim McCoy would make) and the Hoppy movies were "B" westerns...but a cut above most of the other B's. They put a bit more money into them, show on locations instead of the usual sets and the extra money showed. Also, they were often longer. Most B westerns ran just about an hour but the Hoppy movies ran as long as 80 minutes. Gabby Hayes had been in the first Hoppy movie as Hoppy's uncle, but his character died. They wanted him back so they cast him again as a different character, a friend of Hoppy's named Windy.

This episode has a few unusual touches, including a female criminal and a man bound to a wheelchair...he is the friend of Hoppy's who is attacked just before Hoppy and his younger brother get to town. This movie is part of a double-feature disc from Image (they did 8 of these double-Hoppy releases) and the quality in picture and sound is outstanding.

The only downside? Hoppy kisses a girl. Ewwwwwww!


(From Roger's Ongoing Westerns Marathon on June 23rd, 2009)

Main Hoon Na, a review by Tom

Title: Main Hoon Na
Year: 2004
Director: Farah Khan
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 179 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital Stereo, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Shah Rukh Khan
Suniel Shetty
Sushmita Sen
Amrita Rao
Zayed Khan

Plot:
To your very surprise, the film is based on the current-favorite Bollywood theme of Indo-Pak relations and formulated as a mission film. Of course it's loaded with dollops of fun, humor, romance, action and emotions as well. In Bollywood slang - a complete masala film! Major Ram Prasad Sharma (Shahrukh Khan) yearns to see the ambitious project Mission Milaap become a reality. A mission that will prove to be the dawn of a new tomorrow! Where long standing enmity between two countries will begin to see its end. But some forces do not want that dawn to come. One of them is Raghavan (Sunil Shetty) who will do anything to prevent the strategic move. For this reason his devious shadow looms large over General Amarjeet Bakshi's daughter Sanjana (Amrita Rao) , whose life is in danger. Every drop of Ram Prasad's blood glistens with the shine of pride for his country and he will not allow dark actions to create an eclipse in its bright future. To protect Sanjana, he goes to her school as a student - indeed 'Back to School'! Here fun and frolic conceal his real intent. Will anyone here guess that he has just lit funeral pyre of his martyr father Brigadier Shekhar Sharma (Naseeruddin Shah) . The ashes have emerged but the fire has not subsided. For he has to fulfill his fathers last wish. Strangely, the fulfillment of his wish also lies in this very school - completing this mission will be no easy task. For it involves intense emotions and long - standing misunderstandings. These two missions are now his life-blood. The weapon of one mission is Gun and that of the other is Love. But the road to both is that of Truth. The only option is victory. The only man is Ram Prasad Sharma. And the only mantra is Main Hoon Na!

Awards:

Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Actor Award	Shahrukh Khan
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Director Award	Farah Khan
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Movie Award
Filmfare Awards	2005	Won	Best Music Director Award	Anu Malik
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor Award	Zayed Khan
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Supporting Actress Award	Amrita Rao
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Villain Award	Sunil Shetty

Extras:
Music Videos
Scene Access
Trailers

I had the urge to watch another Bollywood movie, but because of the late hour, I didn't have time to watch a complete one. But the great thing about these movies is, that they have an intermission exactly half-way through, so it is easy, to start watching one nonetheless.
So here my thoughts on the first half:
I was really surprised how much I enjoy this one. I did expect a little different movie. Going by the cover I expected something more serious. But this is a really great action comedy so far. I even enjoyed the Matrix parodies. Usually I am tired of those because everybody is doing it, but here I had to laugh out loud on it.
I also the feared it to be completely ridiculous because the German cover text states that the main character goes undercover as a senior in high school. But luckily this is not correct. He goes undercover as a student at a college and his cover story is, that he is just finishing his studies after having token a break from college for ten years for family reasons.
Also we have a familiar face here: The character's father is played by the same actor, who played the villain in Krrish.

My thoughts on the second half:
Though not as good as the first half, I still enjoyed it. Although I think it went too fast getting both couples together. But this is probably because they wanted to focus on the action part of the story here.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on July 17th, 2009)

The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon, a review by Tom

03. Tramps Like Us (2008-12-05)
Writer: Graham Linehan (Writer)
Director: Graham Linehan
Cast: Chris O'Dowd (Roy), Richard Ayoade (Moss), Katherine Parkinson (Jen), Matt Berry (Douglas), Lucy Robinson (June), Tom Binns (Nolan), Janet Whiteside (Olive), Adam De Ville (Greg), Tom Meeten (Tramp), Laura Patch (Tour Guide), Darren Strange (Lawyer), Lewis Macleod (Narrator (voice))

This episode wasn't so good. The storylines were all done thousand times before and except for a few lines, it wasn't really funny.

Rating:

(From The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon on July 31st, 2009)