DVD Collectors Online

El Dorado, a review by Antares

El Dorado (1966) 78/100 - Sometimes a film can be just like an old coat that you've worn for years and brings such warmth that you always feel comfortable when your wearing it. The Shootist is my favorite John Wayne movie, but El Dorado is the film that I return to at least three or four times a year. It's jut like that comfortable old coat, in that it always entertains me and never lets me down. But just as you spot little tears and loose seams in that coat over the course of time, with repeated viewings, you start to notice flaws you never saw before in cherished films. This time, I seemed like certain musical passages in the soundtrack sounded eerily like music I'd heard in Batman episodes on TV. And lo and behold, Nelson Riddle, who scored this film, also scored an episode of that program and the music for the Batman film made in 1966. There were a couple of moments when I was waiting for William Dozier to break in to the action with, "Meanwhile, back at the Penguin's secret hideout"... Something else I noticed this time too, is that Ed Asner is horribly miscast as Bart Jason, the money man behind the guns in the range war. Every time he was onscreen, he reminded me of George Costanza from Seinfeld. Another goof is having Bull say that he'll play Marchin' through Georgia on his bugle to warn Cole and J.P. about the three gunman their trying to apprehend at the mission. Bull is obviously from the deep South with his thick Arkansas accent, so he definitely would have fought for the Confederacy. And no southern rebel would be caught dead playing a Union song on a bugle. But even with these little ticks and tremors, I still love this film. I know that I'll return to it every few months or so, probably until the day I die. It's what a western should be. Good storytelling, mixed with just the right amount of action and of course, some great looking sixties eye candy, Michele Carey and Charlene Holt...Meow!!!

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on March 14th, 2015)

The Invisible Man (1933), a review by Tom

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The Invisible Man (1933/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Universal Pictures (United Kingdom) Director: James Whale Writing: R.C. Sherriff (Screenwriter) Length: 72 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 1, French: DTS 1, Italian: DTS 1, German: DTS 1, Spanish: DTS 1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: Danish, English, French, German, Finnish, Italian, Commentary, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish

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Stars:
Claude Rains as (The Invisible Man.)
Gloria Stuart as Flora Cranley
William Harrigan as Doctor Kemp
Henry Travers as Doctor Cranley
Una O'Connor as Jenny Hall

Plot:
Claude Rains stars in the signature adaptation of H.G. Wells' story about a doctor who discovers a serum that makes him invisible and is also slowly driving him insane.

Awards:
Nominated:

AFI (1933)

100 Years... 100 Thrills (2001)

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Commentary
• Photo Gallery
• Featurettes

The special effects are ground-breaking for its time. And the movie is a nice watch. But I was a little bored with it. I didn't like it, that most actors played it like it was a silly comedy. Especially the old woman, who reminded me a lot of the old ladies played by the Pythons. And a minor thing which bothered me is, that the voice of the invisible man never sounded like he was really in the scene. But this is probably the best they could do with the sound technology of the time.

Rating:

(From Tom's 2013 Horror Marathon on October 14th, 2013)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: SG-1 discovers a crystal skull within a huge pyramid. Such a skull has been found on Earth by Nick Ballard - Daniel's grandfather. But then the skull emits an energy field and Daniel is shifted out of phase. Nobody can see or hear him anymore. SG-1 needs the help of Nick to find out what happened to Daniel.

My Opinion: One can really imagine that Nick could be Daniel's grandpa. I think they did a great job with the conversations between Daniel and Nick, before Daniel realizes that Nick can actually see and hear him. They work as monologue as well as as dialogue. (Loads of "as" here!)

Synopsis: Thor's ship, the Beliskner, has been taken over by the Replicators. The Replicators are the enemies from Thor's galaxy, of whom he has reported earlier. They are a mechanical lifeform which primary objective is to reproduce. For that they literally eat Thor's ship. The Replicators have brought the Beliskner to Earth and they plan to land. SG-1 has to prevent that.

My Opinion: Spectacular crash. If humans are good at one thing, then it is to destroy things. I liked it a lot.

The Season - My Opinion: The storyline that began it all has come to an end: Sha're is dead and Skaara is free again. Only Apophis is still terrorizing the neighbourhood. There have been weaker episodes again, but as I said before I don't believe in a perfect season. But the season had a lot of interesting episodes, especially some that started new storylines.


PS: I'll take a short break now until after Easter.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on March 19th, 2008)