DVD Collectors Online

Don , a review by Tom

Don (1978/India) IMDb | Wikipedia Spark Video (United Kingdom) Director: Chandra Barot Writing: Salim Javed (Story By), Salim Javed (Screenwriter) Length: 166 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: Dutch, English, French

---

Stars:
Amitabh Bachchan as Don
Zeenat Aman
Pran
Ifrikhar
Om Shivpuri

Plot:
When ruthless Don (Amitabh Bachchan) is killed by the police, the DSP (Iftekhar) is afraid that another "Don" will take over when the rest of the gang come of know of his death, so he, unbeknown to the rest of the police force, recruits Don's lookalike Vijay (also Amitabh Bachchan) to become the real Don. Vijay is, at first reluctant, but when promised that two children he is caring for, will be looked after and educated, he agrees. He is successfully re-located back with his gang by feigning injuries, and loss of memory. He soon recuperates. Then fate takes an unexpected turn when the DSP is killed and Vinay becomes the suspect: his role as the Don ends, as his gang comes to know he is a fraud: Vijay must run for his life - both from the police and Don's gang - for his life, and the life of the two children.

Awards:
Won:

Filmfare Awards (1979)		Best Actor Award (Amitabh Bachchan)
Filmfare Awards (1979)		Best Female Playback Award ("Ye Mera Dil Pyar Ka Deewana": Asha Bhosle)
Filmfare Awards (1979)		Best Male Playback Award ("Khaike Paan Banaraswala": Kishore Kumar)

Nominated:

Filmfare Awards (1979)		Best Lyricist Award ("Khaike Paan": Anjaan)
Filmfare Awards (1979)		Best Music Director Award (Kalyanji Anandji)

Extras:

• Music Videos
• Scene Access

Last year in this place I have reviewed "Don: The Chase Begins Again". So I thought I would review the original "Don" this year. So far this is my oldest Bollywood movie in my collection. It stars Amitabh Bachchan ("Black") in his prime. He was his generation's Shah Rukh Khan. He reminded me a lot of his son Abhishek Bachchan.
I enjoyed this movie. Especially in the beginning it reminded me of early Bond movies, if Bond were the bad guy. Don's simple self-introduction "Don" had more impact than Bond's "Bond. James Bond", in my opinion. There are a lot of simularities to its remake, of course. Although the remake put in more twists. I was surprised that the main twist of the remake wasn't part of the original.

Rating:

(From 2010 December Marathon - Discussion thread on December 11th, 2010)

The Old Dark House, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Old Dark House
Year of Release:  1932
Directed By:  James Whale
Starring:  Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Lilian Bond
Rating:  Not Rated

Overview:
Weary travelers find shelter in a mysterious Welsh manor in this definitive "Old Dark House" thriller and cult movie favorite by horror pioneer James Whale (the director of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Bride of Frankenstein, and subject of the recent film Gods and Monsters).

Greeted with an animal-like grunt by the mansion's hideously scarred butler (Boris Karloff), three disoriented voyagers (Melvyn Douglas, Raymond Massey and Lillian Bond) find themselves in the unwelcoming company of the psychotic Femm family, whose members include a religious fanatic obsessed with mortality and other matter of the sinful flesh (Eva Moore), her browbeaten brother (Ernest Thesiger), and a scripture-quoting homicidal pyromaniac (Brember Wills)... all watched over by their androgynous, 102-year-old father (Elspeth "John" Dudgeon). Relieving the story's overwhelming weirdness are Charles Laughton and a young Gloria Stuart (Titanic) as two confused visitors to the strange estate.

As witty and surprising as it is darkly unsettling, The Old Dark House is a ghoulishly delightful treat, a one-of-a-kind macabre comedy blanketed with rain-soaked, gothic eeriness orchestrated by one of the foremost directors of the American horror film.

My Thoughts:
Another great little film.  I enjoyed this one as much as Island of Lost Souls, though I think Island is the better film (if by a slim margin).  We have Laughton here again, in a completely different character.  He was a great, versatile actor.  We also have another classic horror heavyweight, Boris Karloff, doing a wonderfully menacing turn as Morgan.  In fact the entire ensemble cast is good, creating unique, and often eccentric characters, even if I did think Gloria Stuart's character was incredibly silly and stupid and I didn't sympathize with her at all. The really great things about the film are the cinematography (this really is an old, dark house), and the dry, witty, darkly humorous dialogue.  Highly recommended if you like old films or classic horror.

Bechtel Test:  Pass

Overall:  4/5

(From Danae's 2012 Horror on October 2nd, 2012)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: Smallville: Season Seven
Year: 2007
Rating: NR
Length: 830 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Portuguese: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai

Stars:
Tom Welling
Kristin Kreuk
Michael Rosenbaum
Allison Mack
Julian Glover

Plot:
There are two CLARK KENTs. One is the young man whose life in a tiny Kansas town sets him on destiny's path. The other is a BIZARRO show shares Clark's DNA but not his values. Only one of them can survive.

SUPERMAN mythology grows deeper and more powerful in an event-packed season that includes the arrival of Clark's cousin KARA/SUPERGIRL. Keep a low profile and master your powers, Clark says. Kara has other ideas. Plus: LANA LANG might prefer Bizarro to the real deal. LOIS LANE makes a career leap. CHLOE SULLIVAN finds that balancing a meteor power with a personal life isn't easy. And LEX LUTHOR's power-lust has a new fixation - Kara. New characters and complications. New secrets and lore. New thrills and special effects. Power up to Season 7!

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Scene Access

Overall I quite enjoyed this season. I liked the introduction of Kara. I hope she will be back at some point. But although I enjoyed this season, the story plot holes are getting bigger and bigger.

I haven't read anything about this season before going into it. So after having Supergirl enter the scene and having Dean Cain guest star (playing again a CK), I was thinking, that it would be really nice to finally see Kal-El's mother Lara portrayed by Helen Slater. A few episodes later, there she was

Also finally we got to see Pete again. But sadly it was in a weak episode.


There was one instance , I think it was in the episode "Lara", where I was really annoyed by one line. There we had Lara pulling out a hidden dagger in their home on Krypton, with her saying, that Jor-El is opposed to weapons but has always a dagger at home to be able to protect his family (or something along the line). This obvious reference to the Americans' thinking of having guns at home with this justification for some reason really bothered me. This "right to bear arms" sentiment is something I really do not like.
I am glad to be living in a country, where it is not common, that private persons are owning guns. I do not have the feeling, that I could be threatened with a gun when walking the streets, even less at my own home.
When I hear that there are planning to remake "Death Note" in Hollywood, I always have to think of the ending of the first "Death Note" movie.
But enough of this small rant

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on October 23rd, 2008)