DVD Collectors Online

Riders of Destiny, a review by Rogmeister

Riders of Destiny (1933)  58 Minutes (?)
Directed by Robert N. Bradbury
Cast: John Wayne, Cecilia Parker, George "Gabby" Hayes, Forrest Taylor, Yakima Canutt, Al St. John

While most of my reviews are done watching DVDs, I found this on an old VHS tape I've had for many years.  This movie has doubtless found its way onto many a public domain DVD westerns collection, though, I would imagine.

This was probably to be the first of a series of films where John Wayne played a character called "Singin' Sandy" and in the opening credits he is billed as "John Wayne as Singin' Sandy" but I think this was actually the only official Singin' Sandy movie ever made.  In the movie, it starts off with him riding the trail on horseback...while singing...and playing a guitar...all at the same time.  He finds a sheriff who has been shot in the back.  He eventually comes to town where ranchers have to deal with a villain who wants to buy their ranches at dirt-cheap prices while charging them exorbitant prices for much-needed water.  Singin' Sandy doesn't tell anyone who he is...it turns out he is a government agent sent to find out what is going on and help solve the situation.  Not only does Sandy sing to the daughter of a rancher he encounters, but he also sings just before he plugs a bad guy.  He makes the bad guy think he's helping him but it's all part of a clever plan and the bad guy ironically meets his end by drowning in newly released lakes of water.

A book I have lists this movie as 58 minutes (about the average length for a "B" western back in those days) but my copy is actually a bit shorter, running only about 52-54 minutes.

As with most quickie westerns of the time, the story moves along very quickly but the whole singing thing (especially since John Wayne's singing was obviously dubbed by another singer) makes the whole affair an unbelievably corny time, even for me when I'm in my "young cowpoke" guise.  There's some decent photography and a nice stunt or two so it's not really that hard to take...but I definitely wouldn't call it a classic.  I enjoyed seeing it again after many years so m aybe I'll look it up in another decade or so.

(From Roger's Ongoing Westerns Marathon on October 12th, 2009)

Race to Witch Mountain, a review by addicted2dvd

Race to Witch Mountain (2009/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (United States) Director: Andy Fickman Writing: Alexander Key (Original Material By), Matt Lopez (Screenwriter), Mark Bomback (Screenwriter), Matt Lopez (Story By) Length: 98 min. Video: Widescreen 2.40:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Cantonese: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Thai: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: Bahasa, Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Other

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Stars:Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Bonus Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Outtakes/Bloopers
• Digital Copy
• D-BOX

This is a fun film and a nice updated version. It actually made me want to watch the original films from when I was a kid... not to mention many other classic Walt Disney films back from the '70s. This remake does what every remake should do... bring interest back to the original films.



(From What Movies I Been Watching on September 27th, 2017)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Oh My Goddess!: OVA Series (1993/Japan) IMDb | Wikipedia (United States) Length: 152 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Music Only: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Plot:Oh My Goddess!
.01 Moonlight and Cherry Blossoms (1993-02-21)
Writer: Fujishima Kousuke (Original Material By), Hasegawa Naoko (Screenwriter)
Director: Gooda Hiroaki
Cast: Inoue Kikuko (Belldandy (voice)), Kikuchi Masami (Keiichi (voice)), Fuchizaki Yuriko (Megumi (voice)), Yanada Kiyoyuki (Tamiya (voice)), Futamata Kazunari (Ootaki (voice))

This is the first anime adaption of the manga. And I did enjoyed it. I also have read the manga (it is still running after over 20 years).
This series has only five episodes. And a movie sequel. The first three episodes introduce the characters and is fairly close to the manga. The next two episodes is an original story not from the manga.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 17th, 2012)