DVD Collectors Online

Paheli, a review by Tom

Title: Paheli
Year: 2005
Director: Amol Palekar
Rating: U
Length: 134 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Shah Rukh Khan
Rani Mukherji
Anupam Kher
Dilip Prabhawalkar
Neena Kulkarni

Plot:
Paheli is a love story based on "Duvidha". Vijaydan Dethan's re-telling of a classic Rajasthani folktale. In true fairytale style it tells the story of Lachchi (Rani Mukherjee), an innocent girl married to Kisham, whose only real interest is money. On the night of their marrage, he leaves to persue his business interests. However, a ghost (Shah Rukh Khan) has fallen in love with Lachchi and when Kishan goes away he takes on his appearance and wins everyone's hearts. When the real Kishan finally returns five years later, confusion understandably abounds until finally a wise old shepherd (Amitabh Bachchan) devises the three tests to resolve the "paheli" that has baffled everyone.

Extras:
Featurettes
Interviews
Scene Access

A nice romantic fairy tale movie. Rani Mukherji is lovely again.

Most of the Bollywood movies I have are German releases from the publisher Rapid Eye Movies, which generally are okay releases. Picture quality could be better but acceptable for three hour movies on one disc. But this movie I have bought from the UK (because the German release didn't have the original Hindi track) from the publisher "Eros International". It's the second movie from this publisher that I have. The first one wasn't even anamorphic (even though the packaging does state it). And although this one is anamorphic, the video quality again is below average. And also the audio quality is bad. And this publisher constantly has "Eros" shown in the upper left corner of the picture. I still have one movie of theirs on the way, but it will be the last one from this publisher that I will have bought. Even their mastering seems a little off. The movies seem to be divided into two title tracks which resets the time display to zero when it switches to the second track (but for some reason the chapters are continuous).
Now I have written a lot about the release itself instead of the movie
I just wanted to get my displeasure for this publisher out of the way. After the last movie I thought it may be a one-time thing, but it seems to be the norm for them.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on July 19th, 2009)

Confessions of a Driving Instructor, a review by Jimmy

                         

Title: Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1976)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Norman Cohen (Till Death Us Do Part)         
Rating: 18
Length: 1h25
Video: Widescreen
Audio: English
Subtitles: English and Dutch

Stars:
Robin Askwith (Confessions of a Window Cleaner)
Anthony Booth (Confessions of a Window Cleaner)
Sheila White (Confessions of a Window Cleaner)
Doris Hare (Another Time, Another Place)   
Bill Maynard (Confessions of a Window Cleaner)

Plot:
Our virile adventurer Timothy Lea (Robin Askwith) is back with a vengeance in this exhilarating farce based around the rivalry between driving instruction schools.

This is the second movie in the Confessions of ... boxset. No need of a big introduction here. Like in the previous one Robin Askwith and Antony Booth did a good job again. But why did they change the actress portraying Timmy mother's, I enjoyed the other actress (Dandy Nichols) more.

I haven't enjoy this one as much as the first one. Too much slapstick comedy for my taste. The side story between Lea and Mary (Lynda Bellingham) is not really interesting contrary to the one in the first film. By moment it almost looks like a Benny Hill sketch (not that I wasn't find him funny, but I'm not 12 years old anymore). The rugby game at the end is funny, but that's not enough to save the movie.

comparatively to Window Cleaner, I can't really recommand it. Not that it is awfully bad, but this one have lost all the good thing of the first one.
   
Rating : 


(From The little known movie review depot on March 7th, 2008)

Firefly Marathon, a review by Tom

06. Our Mrs Reynolds
Writer: Joss Whedon (Writer)
Director: Vondie Curtis Hall
Cast: Nathan Fillion (Mal), Gina Torres (Zoe), Alan Tudyk (Wash), Morena Baccarin (Inara), Adam Baldwin (Jayne), Jewel Staite (Kaylee), Sean Maher (Simon), Summer Glau (River), Ron Glass (Shepherd Book), Christina Hendricks (Saffron), Benito Martinez (Boss), Erik Passoja (Bree), Bob Fimiani (Elder Gommen), Alex Stemkovsky (Bandit #1)

My favorite Firefly episode. It is just a lot of fun. Like the reaction of the crew of finding out that Mal is married. The teasing. And of course Jayne trying to trade is favorite gun for Saffron. Also Inara insistance of having hit her head to hide the fact she kissed Mal's poisoneous lips.

Rating:

(From Firefly Marathon on February 27th, 2010)