DVD Collectors Online

Rooster Cogburn, a review by Antares

Rooster Cogburn (1975) 55/100 - I hadn't seen this film since way back in the late seventies and I really couldn't remember the plot, so it was like I never watched it before. Now I'm kind of wishing that I never had in the first place. Painfully slow and a lazy screenplay which really just lifts wholesale segments of Hepburn's earlier film, The African Queen. And just as in that film, her character's holier than thou ramblings are especially grating after a while. I knew I was in trouble when I realized that the best performance halfway through the film was being put forth by Anthony Zerbe, a character actor well known for being a gluttonous scenery chewer. In fact, his is the only performance that I liked in the whole film. Wayne is cartoonish in this second rendering of the famous role which helped him win his only Academy Award of his career. The main villain is played almost with a toss away style by Richard Jordan, an actor whom I usually enjoy. Sad that he's kind of dialing it in. For Wayne's sake, I'm glad that he made The Shootist, the following year, because it would have been sad to end his long and iconic career with this turkey.

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 4th, 2015)

Bran Nue Dae, a review by Critter

Bran Nue Dae



Director: Rachel Perkins

Writer: Reg Cribb

Plot: In the Summer of 1965 a young man is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome - fishing, hanging out with his mates and his girl. However his mother returns him to the religious mission for further schooling. After being punished for an act of youthful rebellion, he runs away from the mission on a journey that ultimately leads him back home.

Cast:My Thoughts
Bran Nue Dae is the most refreshing Australian film I have seen in a long time. Based on a stage musical (yes the film is a musical, which is something I enjoy quite a lot) Bran Nue DaeBran Nue DaeAustraliaRating: 4/5

Trailer



(From Critter's Films at Cinemas Reviews on February 9th, 2010)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: When a bajoran man and his adopted - cardassian - son come to the station, Garak becomes interested in the two of them. The boy was raised to hate all Cardassians and to hate all that is cardassian. But he is also not really a war orphan, he's the son an important cardassian politician and enemy of Gul Dukat's, the former prefect on Terok Nor/Deep Space Nine.

My Opinion: The end was a bit unsatisfying. While the main scheme was revealed and Dukat was exposed the writers didn't really manage to explain why Sisko chose to return the son to his biological father. Sure, he mentions it in his log entry but as I said - a bit unsatisfying. But I really liked the way Bashir and Garak have been working together and Garak's "explanation" of why he knows the things he knows.

Synopsis: DS9 gets a new crew member, Ensign Melora Pazlar. She comes from a low-gravity world and needs to use a wheelchair unless she's alone and can lower the artificial gravity. She calls it "the Melora problem" that everybody but she creates and she reacts very hostile to any attempt to help her.

My Opinion: This was an interesting mix of two different problems. The first would be the interaction with disabled persons, especially when they don't want any help. I really liked Paul Hogan's character's solution to that problem in Almost an Angel. But I found the second problem more interesting: Am I willing to make a change that will prevent me from ever going home again? It's a hard choice and I couldn't say now what I would have done.

Synopsis: The Grand Nagus Zek assigns a task to Quark: He is to purchase 10,000 vats of tulaberry wine from the GQ-based Dosi. The negotiations are already hard but suddenly Zek wants not only 10,000 vats but 100,000. Luckily for Quark, one of his new waiters has an ear for business. But Pel isn't what he appears to be.

My Opinion: I like Ferengi episodes (have I said that already?) and I think it's funny that things like unknowingly working with a Ferengi female always happen to the more conservative Quark who only tries do earn an (dis-)honest living. This was also the first time that there was a new force in the GQ mentioned: The Dominion.

Synopsis: After Quark has been attacked and nearly killed, Odo has to re-open a five-year old murder case. Back then he was an arbitrator for minor differences between the bajoran workers aboard Terok Nor. But Gul Dukat gave him the task of solving this murder and he encounters a certain Ferengi barkeep and a young bajoran woman by the name of Kira Nerys during that investigation.

My Opinion: This was a very noir episode with a lot of flashbacks to the time of the occupation. It was also the first time that we learn that Quark's brother Rom might not be as dumb as he seems to be. I really liked it, especially when Quark learned that his brother had access to his money vault. 

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on September 29th, 2008)