DVD Collectors Online

Haunted Gold, a review by Rogmeister

Haunted Gold (1932)  58m
Directed by Mack V. Wright
Cast: John Wayne, Sheila Terry, Harry Woods, Erville Alderson, Slim Whitaker, Blue Washington

One of 6 "B" westerns that Wayne shot for Warner Brothers in the early 30's, this has two Dukes in it...Duke Wayne himself and his white stallioin, Duke.  This is a sort of mix between a western and a scary mystery haunted house kind of movie.  John Wayne plays a young rancher who comes to a mostly deserted town with his black friend Clarence after receiving a mysterious letter...a young girl has also come after receiving a letter.  It turns out an outlaw gang is after the gold in a mostly abandoned gold mine, of which the girl's father was wrongly cheated out of his half.  There is some nice eerie atmosphere here along with the usual high-energy heroics.  Unfortunately, this wouldn't play well today due to the black  man's super-scared caricature performance which was so prevalent back in those days...the "lawdy feet, do yore thing" kind of performance.  But if you remember it was a product of the time, you can still watch this film and enjoy it.  

The DVD offers a  nice print of this movie.  There are no extras but the DVD does feature no less than three "B" westerns starring John Wayne.  Besides Haunted Gold, you also get Ride 'Em, Cowboy and The Big Stampede.

(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 29th, 2009)

See Jane Date, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: See Jane Date
Year: 2003
Director: Robert Berlinger
Rating: NR
Length: 90 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1
Subtitles: N/A

Stars:
Charisma Carpenter
David Lipper
Joshua Malina
Evan Marriott
Cameron Mathison
Eddie McClintock

Plot:
Featuring Antonio Sabato Jr. (TV's Melrose Place) and Evan Marriott (TV's Joe Millionaire), See Jane DateCharisma Carpenter, TV's Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has just received an invitation to her younger cousin's wedding, and it is engraved with two of the most dreaded words a perpetually available single can encounter: "plus guest." Come wedding day, Jane had better deliver. After all, she's already told everyone, including her meddlesome Aunt Ina (Linda Dano, TV's General Hospital) and now-famous high school nemesis Natasha Nutley (Holly Marie Combs, TV's Charmed) that she's in a serious relationship. Now Jane has two months to find a guy to fit the lie, and save face. If the series of miserable set-ups orchestrated by her well meaning best friends Eloise (Rachelle Lefevre, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) and Amanda (Sadie LeBlanc, Get Over Itright?

Extras:
Scene Access
Bonus Trailers

My Thoughts:
I originally blind bought this movie for my love of 2 of the actresses in this movie. Holly Marie Combs (Charmed) and Charisma Carpenter (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel). As it says above... this is a made for TV movie.... one that While it was a slow start... once I started to get into it turns out to be a movie I really enjoyed. It was fun seeing these 2 actresses in a non-supernatural role. Unfortunately this DVD has no movie related extras what so ever.



(From 14 Days of Romance Marathon on February 6th, 2011)

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: After being expelled from school, thrown out by her mother and having to kill Angel, Buffy has left Sunnydale and lives now in L.A. under her middle name "Anne". She's not the Slayer anymore, she's just a waitress in a diner. Meanwhile her friends try to fill her shoes and hunt Vampires at night. And Giles is looking in any place where rumours about a girl fighting Vampires exist.

My Opinion: What I really liked about this episode was that the decision was not forced upon her. She decided to help Lily and return to the fight she was born to fight. She had no contact with any kind of (obvious) demon until she decided to make it her business which then ultimately led to the decision to return home. But it was also funny to watch the attempts of the others to hunt Vampires on their own.

Synopsis: Buffy has returned to Sunnydale and while her mother and her friends are glad to have her back, nobody really wants to touch the subject of what happened in the last three months and in the final fight against Angelus. Additionally Buffy is still expelled from school. But everything (mostly) returns to "normal" when Joyce invites Buffy's friend to a Welcome Back party and a lot of (uninvited) Zombies also show up.

My Opinion: While I didn't care much for the "death mask" storyline I liked how the tension between all parties involved was building up during the course of the episode and how it erupted during the party. This air-cleaning storm was necessary and was nicely concluded by the fight against the invading Zombies. And I loved Xander's quote "Generally speaking, when scary things get scared, not good.".

Synopsis: There's a new Bad in town: Kakistos, a Vampire so old that his hands have formed into cloven and his associate Mr. Trick. There's also a new Slayer in town: Faith, successor of Kendra. But Faith is nothing like Kendra or Buffy. She's a free spirit, untamable. And she seems to take over Buffy's life. But she's also the reason why Kakistos is here and he wants her dead.

My Opinion: When I watched the show for the first time, I didn't really like or care for Faith. I can't really put a finger on the time when that has changed. Maybe when I watched her in Angel, maybe when I watched Eliza Dushku in Dollhouse. Anyway, when she appeared this time on screen I was delighted to see her again. And I liked it how Mr. Trick walked out on Kakistos with a comment on his lips that guys like Kakistos don't fit in this time anymore.

Synopsis: It's full moon again but Xander who was supposed to guard Oz slept the whole night and someone has let the window in Oz's "cell" open. As it so happens, a fellow student was mauled in the woods in that very night and Oz naturally fears that he might have done it. But something else happened, too: Someone rescued Angel from whatever hell dimension he was trapped in. But he's not really Angel, he's merely a wild animal.

My Opinion: While I don't mind that Angel is back I am a bit uncertain about this plot twist in general. It makes the concept of "death" a bit less irreversible. Many of the deaths in this show are great emotional moments and some of the dead remain that way but it gets a bit cheapened when you know that everyone can be brought back if the writers want it badly enough.
But still, I am glad that Angel is back because his return will make this season a lot more interesting.

(From "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Marathon on June 20th, 2009)