DVD Collectors Online

Donnie Brasco, a review by Eric

Donnie Brasco




Summary: Posing as hardboiled jewel broker Donnie Brasco, FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone (Johnny Depp) gains entry into the brutal mob family of fading hit man Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), who treats Donnie like a son. As their association deepens, Pistone's life begins to spiral downward, placing everything that's meaningful to him - his marriage, his career and his life - in jeopardy. From acclaimed director Mike Newell ('Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire') and with a spectacular supporting cast, including Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo, and Anne Heche, DONNIE BRASCO is "a first-class Mafia thriller!" (Mick LaSalle, 'San Francisco Chronicle').

My Thoughts: I don't know what to say about it except that I loved every minute of it.  Depp's and Pacino's performance are just great.  I just can't come up with anything to say that would do it justice.

My score: , 5/5, 10/10, 5 stars and whatever else you can think of.  If you have never seen that movie you've got to watch it.

(From Eric's DVD watching. on June 1st, 2008)

Riders of Destiny, a review by Rogmeister

Riders of Destiny (1933)  58 Minutes (?)
Directed by Robert N. Bradbury
Cast: John Wayne, Cecilia Parker, George "Gabby" Hayes, Forrest Taylor, Yakima Canutt, Al St. John

While most of my reviews are done watching DVDs, I found this on an old VHS tape I've had for many years.  This movie has doubtless found its way onto many a public domain DVD westerns collection, though, I would imagine.

This was probably to be the first of a series of films where John Wayne played a character called "Singin' Sandy" and in the opening credits he is billed as "John Wayne as Singin' Sandy" but I think this was actually the only official Singin' Sandy movie ever made.  In the movie, it starts off with him riding the trail on horseback...while singing...and playing a guitar...all at the same time.  He finds a sheriff who has been shot in the back.  He eventually comes to town where ranchers have to deal with a villain who wants to buy their ranches at dirt-cheap prices while charging them exorbitant prices for much-needed water.  Singin' Sandy doesn't tell anyone who he is...it turns out he is a government agent sent to find out what is going on and help solve the situation.  Not only does Sandy sing to the daughter of a rancher he encounters, but he also sings just before he plugs a bad guy.  He makes the bad guy think he's helping him but it's all part of a clever plan and the bad guy ironically meets his end by drowning in newly released lakes of water.

A book I have lists this movie as 58 minutes (about the average length for a "B" western back in those days) but my copy is actually a bit shorter, running only about 52-54 minutes.

As with most quickie westerns of the time, the story moves along very quickly but the whole singing thing (especially since John Wayne's singing was obviously dubbed by another singer) makes the whole affair an unbelievably corny time, even for me when I'm in my "young cowpoke" guise.  There's some decent photography and a nice stunt or two so it's not really that hard to take...but I definitely wouldn't call it a classic.  I enjoyed seeing it again after many years so m aybe I'll look it up in another decade or so.

(From Roger's Ongoing Westerns Marathon on October 12th, 2009)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Rick

Witness
I liked this episode. I liked seeing Fraser in prison, and how even there his manners and politeness helped in the end. I also thought the scene where Ray and Fraser were discussing the movie was pretty funny

Ray "If it were a good movie it would be in color"  Sound familiar Pete? 

Rating

(From "Due South" marathon on August 13th, 2009)