DVD Collectors Online

Trocadero, a review by Danae Cassandra

Trocadero
Year of Release: 1944
Directed By: William Nigh
Starring: Rosemary Lane, Johnny Downs, Ralph Morgan, Dick Purcell, Sheldon Leonard
Genre: Comedy, Musical

Overview:
Judy and Johnny are orphaned siblings being raised by Tony, a Hollywood restaurateur who knows no limit in supporting his adopted children.  When Tony dies suddenly, one of them has to return home from college to keep the establishment open.  They sign a variety of entertaining acts and some exciting jazz performers.

My Thoughts:
Here we have a thin but serviceable story of a brother and sister struggling to make a success of their father's nightclub and finding love along the way. The acting isn't the greatest, but they aren't completely terrible either. The cast is made up of reliable actors, if not stars.

Still, the reason to watch this is the big band and swing music acts that populate the nightclub. Ida James doing "Shoo Shoo Baby" is a particular treat. There are some novelty bits that are also amusing, especially Dave Fleischer's little animated character. Still, I can't exactly recommend it for everyone. If you like musicals of this era, and you don't mind B-movies, this isn't a terrible film. It's also nothing special.

Bechdel Test: Fail
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 2.5/5

(From July Movie Marathon: Musicals (Yes... You read right!) on July 21st, 2016)

Ta Ra Rum Pum, a review by Tom

Title: Ta Ra Rum Pum
Year: 2007
Director: Siddharth Anand
Rating: FSK-6
Length: 149 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital Stereo, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Saif Ali Khan
Rani Mukerji
Jaaved Jaaferi
Angelina Idnani
Ali Murtuza Haji

Plot:
This is the story of one man, his family and how they overcome the obstacles that life puts in their way, together. It is the story of human spirit and how it ultimately prevails.

Rajveer Singh (Saif Ali Khan) is a pit-crew worker in a racing team with a passion for driving who gets discovered by a team manager, Harry (Jaaved Jaaferi). The same day he accidentally meets a music student, Radhika (Rani Mukerji), who he falls for instantly.

He gets drafted into 'Speeding Saddles' - a failing race team and transforms from Rajveer Singh to 'RV' - the race car driver. While his racing career takes off instantly, his love life also blossoms after a whirlwind romance. A few months later, he is both a happily married man and one of the country's best racers. Fatherhood and greater success both follow and soon he is the Number 1 race car driver in the USA, as well as the proud father of two precocious kids - Priya (Angelina Idnani) and Ranveer (Ali Haji).

But as a result of a bad racing accident, RV is hospitalized for a few months. When he tries to make a comeback, he realizes that he has been mentally scarred by the accident and has lost his edge. His life now takes a turn for the worse and after a string of failures, he is forced to auction his house and move with his family to a run-down Bronx-style neighborhood. However, RV and Radhika decide not to tell their children the truth and construct a skillful masquerade of a reality show where they have to live a poor life in order to win a mythical grand prize.

The family struggles to survive a life that they are not used to, using a mixture of fantasy and cheerfulness to pull through in the face of adversity. But an incident forces RV to reclaim the life that was taken away from him.

Can he, once again and perhaps for a last time, face down his inner demons on the race track? Can the family remain together in the wake of what could perhaps be their biggest challenge yet?

Extras:
Deleted Scenes
Poster
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers



(From Tom's Random Reviews on August 19th, 2009)

The 2013 Pilot Review, a review by DJ Doena

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Brooklyn Nine-Nine @ IMDb
Brooklyn Nine-Nine @ Wikipedia

Synopsis: Sitcom without a laugh track revolving around a laid-back NYPD cop played by Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live).

My Opinion: The show seemed to be promising at first but after two episodes the appeal is mostly gone already.

(From The 2013 Pilot Review on October 8th, 2013)