DVD Collectors Online

The Quiet Man, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Quiet Man
Year of Release: 1952
Directed By: John Ford
Starring: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen
Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy

Overview:The Quiet ManThe Quiet ManMy Thoughts:
This is a wonderfully entertaining film. It's light and breezy, romantic and filled with colorful characters and some darn good performances. John Wayne is atypically just a normal guy here, not a cowboy or a soldier, and he does a great job with it. Given his reputation, the subtlety he brings to his performance here can be surprising. Maureen O'Hara is as lovely as ever, and the cinematography is stunning.

I'd like to recommend this for anyone, but it isn't very PC, especially viewed with a modern gaze. Parts of this film would be very different if made today. You'd never see the casual treatment of wife-beating, for instance. But don't mistake that casual treatment by the locals for the film endorsing it. Both times Sean is offered a stick to beat his wife with he discards it. As he's the moral center of the film, his refusal tells us really doesn't condone marital violence. Sean offers violence (the dragging, the fight) only to appease local tradition ("It's your custom, not mine"). Yet you wouldn't see it made this way today. The subtlety of that statement (simply discarding the stick) would be to easily lost.

A great film, and my personal favorite of Wayne's oeuvre.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From Within My (Mom's) Lifetime Marathon on March 19th, 2015)

Boys on the Side, a review by Tom

Title: Boys on the Side
Year: 1995
Director: Herbert Ross
Rating: R
Length: 117 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35, Pan & Scan 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround, French: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: English, French

Stars:
Whoopi Goldberg
Mary Louise Parker
Drew Barrymore
Matthew McConaughey
James Remar

Plot:
The past is miles back. The future stretches ahead. And laughs, tears and togetherness unfold along the way. Three women sharing a car going west also share a friendship that becomes family in Boys on the Side, the acclaimed box-office hit that had audiences everywhere on its side.

Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore team in this winning celebration of camaraderie and caring directed by Herbert Ross (The Turning Point, Steel Magnolias). One (Goldberg) is a wisecracking club singer, one (Parker) a finicky real-estate agent and one (Barrymore) a free spirit. Each has secrets to reveal, strengths to impart, vital moments of self-discovery awaiting. Now's their time.

Extras:
Closed Captioned
Scene Access

This was one of my first RC1 DVDs. At the time I bought most of the movies with Drew Barrymore in it, which I could get my hands on. This movie is a great dramatic movie. Though it isn't one I will watch often. As a matter of fact this was the first time in almost 9 years that I have watched it again.


Rating:

(From Lesbian Movie Marathon on June 8th, 2009)

The 2013 Pilot Review, a review by DJ Doena

We Are Men

We Are Men @ IMDb
We Are Men @ Wikipedia

TV Line: CBS Pulls We Are Men

Synopsis: After he got stood up at the altar, Carter Thomas moves into a housing complex where he meets three other divorced men (Kal Penn, Harold & Kumar, House, M.D.; Jerry O'Connell, Sliders; Tony Shalhoub, Monk).

My Opinion: It's kind of pointless to write about a show that got cancelled after two episodes but for what it's worth I enjoyed the characters so far and I would have continued watching.

(From The 2013 Pilot Review on October 10th, 2013)