DVD Collectors Online

Quigley Down Under, a review by Rogmeister

Quigley Down Under  (1990)  120m
Directed by Simon Wincer
Music by Basil Poledouris
Cast: Tom Selleck, Laura San Giacomo, Alan Rickman, Chris Haywood, Ron Haddrick, Tony Bonner, Jerome Ehlers

According to Phil Hardy's The Western, this movie was originally written in the 70s for Steve McQueen but it wasn't filmed until 1990 and Tom Selleck got the part.  Selleck made a lot of westerns in his time...possibly more than any current actor, though most have been for TV.  This is his one western (as far as I know) to hit the big screen and it's a good one.  The plot has him coming to Australia, apparently hired by rancher Alan Rickman to shoot wild dingos but he really wants him to off native aborigines.  Selleck (as Matthew Quigley) doesn't like that so they two quickly become enemies.  I really enjoy this movie...Selleck is a great cowboy, Rickman makes a fine villain, and Australia makes a fine (if different) landscape to set it all on.  We also have a fine director...Wincer did another little western you may have heard of...it's called Lonesome Dove.  I also love the film score which is by Basil Poledouris...hmmm, come to think of it, he did the music for Lonesome Dove, too.  Okay, Laura San Giacomo is not your normal leading lady, playing Crazy Cora who keeps calling Matthew Quigley by the name of Roy...but even she is endearing in her own way.  

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

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg)
Year of Release: 1964
Directed By: Jacques Demy
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Marc Michel, Ellen Farner
Genre: Romance, Drama, Musical

Overview:
An angelically beautiful Catherine Deneuve was launched to stardom by this dazzling musical heart-tugger from Jacques Demy. She plays an umbrella-shop owner's delicate daughter, glowing with first love for a handsome garage mechanic, played by Nino Castelnuovo. When the boy is shipped off to fight in Algeria, the two lovers must grow up quickly. Exquisitely designed in a kaleidoscope of colors, and told entirely through the lilting songs of the great composer Michel Legrand, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of the most revered and unorthodox movie musicals of all time.

My Thoughts:
What is love?  Is it the first blush of romance, the passion of youth and energy of youth, when life is ahead of you and everything is enormous?  I'm sure you remember those days, when everything that went wrong was the end of the world, and your life was over.

Or is love something you build with people who stand by you?  Is it something you have to work for, something that only comes when the flush of youth has passed and one becomes an adult?  

My vote is for the latter, but you can work it out for yourself.

Bechdel Test: Pass
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 4.5/5

(From July Movie Marathon: Musicals (Yes... You read right!) on July 12th, 2016)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Doogie Howser, M.D.
Neil Patrick Harris stars as Douglas "Doogie" Houwser, a whiz kid who breezed through high school in 9 weeks, graduated from Princeton at 10 and passed his medical board at 14. But as a 16-year-old doctor, Doogie must now find a way to balance the demands of professional medicine with the everyday pressures of being a teenager. In this debut season, Doogie experiences his first kiss, loses his first patient, fights the system at Eastman Medical Center, and discovers some unique lessons about life, death and growing up with help of his best friend Vinnie (Max Casella), his parents (Belinda Montgomery and James Sikking), his new girlfriend Wanda (Lisa Dean Ryan), his boss Dr. Canfield (Lawrence Pressman) and more. When you're a boy genius, life can be a mystery: This is Doogie Howser, M.D.

Pilot
Doogie needs to pass one test to get his driver's license, and another when he treats a critically ill boy.

My Thoughts:
I was just coming out of my teens when this series originally aired. And I instantly found this sitcom not only funny but fascinating. I always thought this series had one of the best opening scenes for the pilot episode. It introduces the character of Doogie perfectly. To this day I get a kick out of the opening scene of this episode. This is one series I am thrilled I have every episode of. After watching this episode I could see myself doing a marathon of the entire series run!

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on December 29th, 2009)