DVD Collectors Online

Silverado, a review by Rogmeister

Silverado: 2-Disc Gift Set
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Music by Bruce Broughton
Cast: Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Linda Hunt, John Cleese, Rosanna Arquette

This edition of Silverado is one I probably got a year or two ago...and was my third copy of the movie on DVD.  The first copy I got they goofed up on and put it out in the wrong aspect ratio...1.85:1 (or what I call moderate widescreen).  I got another copy of the movie later in it's proper 2.35:1 aspect ratio (a more pronounced widescreen).  Then, when this 2-disc gift set came out I picked it up.  It came with a Silverado deck of cards inserted into the center where "saloon doors" open up to reveal it.  It also came with a nice booklet with an article inside titled "Silverado and the American Western" by Frank Thompson and it also includes many nice color photos from the movie.  I think you can still get this as a 2-disc set but probably not in the gift set packaging anymore.  The 2-disc set alone was re-issued at the beginning of this year.

The movie itself is in a case holding two discs.  Disc 1, of course, holds the movie in "Superbit" presentation...this was a technique where they used all a disc's memory for the movie itself to give you the highest quality image and sound (this has now been pretty much replaced by the newer Blu-Ray systerm).  Along with the movie, Disc 1 also holds an audio commentary by 3 western writers and historians and this is an interesting discussion.  I'll have to watch the movie again soon so I can listen to this in it's entirety.  Disc 2 has some extras...not a lot...a couple items there are basically promos for other westerns from Columbia...The Quick and The Dead, Hangman's Knot and some others.  Then there is "A Return to Silverado with Kevin Costner" which is Costner sitting and discussing the film and his involvement with it.  There's also a nice piece on the making of the movie featuring interviews with the other stars and such filmmakers as director Lawrence Kasdan, his co-writer and brother Mark Kasdan and composer Bruce Broughton.  I liked Broughton's score to this movie a great deal and am surprised I haven't seen his name on more movies.

Regarding the movie itself, it deals with four men (two brothers, played by Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner, plus Kevin Kline and Danny Glover) who wind up working together to take on the criminal element in the town of Silverado.  There's lots of action, though I wonder if they couldn't have edited the film just a bit more...this is still one of my very favorite PJW westerns (Post John Wayne) but at 132 minutes, it is just a little long.  You have everything in here you could want in a western...jailbreaks, saloon brawls, showdowns, a cattle stampede...about the only thing missing are Indians.  This might be considered the last of the classic westerns in that while there's lots of action and shooting, you don't get people spurting blood in slow-motion as in The Wild Bunch or anything else too objectionable.  The film garnered an appropriate PG-13 rating.  As the movie ends and the two brothers ride off, Jake yells back "We'll be back!" which was a teaser that a sequel might happen but unfortunately the movie didn't make enough money to warrant one so this wound up the one and only Silverado adventure.  Dust off your chaps, strap on your gunbelt and enjoy this one, pards...it garners a full 5 yee-haws from this ol' westerner.

(From Roger's Ongoing Westerns Marathon on October 6th, 2009)

Flesh for Frankenstein, a review by Danae Cassandra

Flesh for Frankenstein
Year of Release: 1973
Directed By: Paul Morrissey
Starring: Joe Dallesandro, Monique van Vooren, Udo Kier, Arno Juerging, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Srdjan Zelenovic
Genre: Horror

Overview:
Maverick filmmaker Paul Morrissey's Flesh for FrankensteinMy Thoughts:
"To know death, Otto, you have to fuck life in the gall bladder!"

Well, that was weird. I'd have expected an exploitation/art film mashup from a company like Redemption or Blue Underground. Seems an unusual film for a Criterion release.

I'm not even sure how to review this. A lot of the shots, lighting, and sets are quite good, but the acting is ... well ... Udo Kier is so completely over-the-top as the Baron Frankenstein, I think he's aiming to jump the moon. I think they wanted him to go that way, though. Monique van Vooren is over-the-top as well, but at least her snobbishness is more believable. At the other end of the spectrum, Joe Dallesandro delivers his performance completely wooden, while I've seen mannequins with more emotion than Srdjan Zelenović.

This is likely supposed to be a parody, but they play it straight. That works for me, because I'm not a big fan of parodies. It's a genre that's so easy to get wrong. I don't know who I'd recommend this to - at least, beyond Criterion completists. There's quite a bit of gore, so horror fans might enjoy it, but its art film aspirations come off in certain sections as pretentious. Yet the either flat or exaggerated acting may turn off serious film fans.

Horror+sex+art film is done much better by Jean Rollin, so if you're interested in that sort of genre, check him out first.

Watched For: Hoop-tober 3.0, Horror/Halloween Challenge 2016, Scavenger Hunt 19

Bechdel Test: Fail
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 2.5/5

Horror/Halloween Challenge Films: 33/52 (31 reviewed)

(From Horror/Halloween 2016 Challenge on October 20th, 2016)

"Due South" marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

Chinatown

Once again another episode I enjoyed quite a bit. I liked the fact that the female cop that has a thing for Fraser have a bit of a bigger part in this episode. And I had to chuckle at the wolf being mad a Fraser as well.

Rating:

(From "Due South" marathon on June 30th, 2009)