DVD Collectors Online

Django, Prepare A Coffin, a review by GSyren

Title	Django, Prepare A Coffin (5-027035-010229)
Director	Ferdinando Baldi
Actors
Produced	1968 in Italy
Runtime	92 minutes
Audio	English PCM 2-Channel Stereo, Italian PCM 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles	English
Overview	Django the drifter returns in this classic Sixties Spaghetti Western from Ferdinando Baldi (Texas Addio, Comin At Ya!), starring Terence Hill (They Call Me Trinity) as the wandering gunslinger, hired as executioner to a corrupt local politician who is framing innocent men, sending them to hang in an evil scheme to take hold of their land. But Django has other ideas...
My thoughts	Django, Prepare a Coffin (aka Viva Django) was the sequel to the original Django. Franco Nero couldn't play Django this time, because he was busy in Hollywood doing Camelot. Instead the producers chose a relatively unknown young actor named Mario Girotti, who had just taken the stage name Terence Hill. Two years later Hill would become famous in "My Name is Trinity" (aka "They Call Me Trinity"). In this film, Django works as a hangman, but he saves the lives of innocently convicted men (and a woman) by staging fake hangings. The films doesn't make it clear if he actually hangs any guilty villains. He organizes a gang with these men in order to avenge the killing of his wife, who was shot during the robbery of a gold transport. This is not a comedy western like the many he did together with Bud Spencer. This is quite violent. In fact, when this was first shown in Sweden in 1969, it was with 11 cuts totaling over 7 minutes. Now we can see it uncut, though. And in the aspect ratio in which it was shot, 1.66:1. IMDb claims it was 2.35:1, but that is wrong. It seems, though, that it was shown in several countries matted to 1.85:1. The picture quality of this Blu-Ray disc is good, but not stellar. At times it shows its age. The disc comes with Italian and English audio. As with most spaghetti westerns of this era, both language tracks are dubbed, since they used actors of many different nationalities all speaking their own language. As far as I can determine, the Italian track uses Hill's own voice. The English dub doesn't quite sound like the voice I remember from the Hill/Spencer films, so it seemed a little off to me. The extras consist of a Viva Django trailer and an eight minute interview with Kevin Grant, author of Django Explained. I haven't seen Tarantino's Django Unchained yet. I guess it's time to get that on and see how it compares to this and to the original Django.
My rating	3.5 out of 5

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on July 1st, 2013)

The Muppet Movie, a review by Dragonfire

You'll be seeing stars (Orson Welles, Steve Martin, Bob Hope and more!) as 'The Muppet Movie' tells the rags-to-riches tale of Kermit the Frog's leap to fame and fortune.

It's Hollywood or bust when a small frog in a small swamp hears about a big audition in Tinsel Town. Against all odds, Kermit hits the road to the big time with only his bicycle and his dreams.

Along the way, he meets a beautiful actress (Miss Piggy), a stand-up comedian (Fozzie Bear) and a whole troupe of talented friends who join Kermit as he heads West. It's sure to be a lights, camera, action-packed good time!

My Thoughts

I love this movie.  I grew up watching The Muppet Show and this was one of the first movies that my mom took me to see in the theater.  The movie was full of everything that is great about the Muppets.  I loved how it showed how the characters were supposed to have met.  There were all sorts of funny things going on and the movie still makes me laugh.  The humor won't work for everyone, but I think it is very funny.  The movie had more of a plot than the episodes of The Muppet Show did, though the movie did have a lot of songs like the show did.  The songs all worked really well with the movie.  There were a lot of great guest stars in the movie too.  This showed the Muppets when they were at their best. 

There have been a few different DVD versions released.  I think the newer DVD release has had more extras, but I'm not sure.  There weren't many extras on the version I have.  There was a screen test type of thing that showed Kermit and Fozzy wondering around.  That was hilarious.

 

I did post a review on Epinions if anyone wants to take a look.

The Muppet Movie


(From Dragonfire: What I've Been Watching on February 18th, 2009)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

What's the show about?
Clark Kent is one of the best reporters at the world-famous "Daily Planet" newspaper. But when the need arises he embraces his Kryptonian heritage and becomes the Man of Steel: Superman. And she is always at his side: Lois Lane, star reporter, working with the one man and falling in love with the other.

What happened before?
From the POV of the show, nothing has happened before. Lois, Clark, Jimmy and Lex all meet for the first time here. Superman appears for the first time here.

"Pilot"
Clark Kent has just come to Metropolis, but he doesn't get the job at the "Daily Planet" that he had hoped for. And Lois Lane is futily trying to get a one-on-one interview with the famous billionaire Lex Luthor. But Clark can be very convincing and when he gets the job he incidentally opens the door for Lois to get close to Lex.

My Opinion
While the effects may be outdated, the chemistry between Clark/Superman and Lois is still great. Both actors embodied their famous characters with a lot of charm and transported one of the oldest super heroes forward into the nineties. When it comes to Lois I am undecided whether I like Teri Hatcher or Erica Durance (Smallville) better but Dean Cain clearly wins over Smallville's Tom Welling. It's not Tom's fault actually because even after 8 years the writers are still make him angsty of everything. Dean's Clark is a self-assured man and I hope Tom's Clark will become one, too.

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on September 25th, 2009)