DVD Collectors Online

Om Shanti Om, a review by dfmorgan

Om Shanti Om

Year: 2007
Director: Farah Khan
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, Deepika Padukone
Overview: The makers of 'Main Hoon Na' are back with the biggst film of 2007!

Farah Khan, one of the most accomplished directors in India, weaves a spectacular story of romance, revenge and reincarnation.

'Om Shanti Om' is a romantic saga of a boy next door, Om Prakash Makhija (Shah Rukh Khan) who works as a junior artiste in bollywood in the 70's. He is madly in love with the superstar of that time, Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone). His dreams and aspirations to become a superstar and be with his lady love are thwarted as he witnesses the brutal murder of his beloved Shantipriya by a mercenary producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal). Om Prakash dies, trying to save his Shanti.

But destiny has something else in store when 'Om Prakash' a junior artiste returns as  'Om Kapoor' the superstar of 2007!  His journey of rediscovering himself, his past life and avenging the death of his beloved is the story of  'Om Shanti Om!

'Om Shanti Om' is a tribute, especially to the joyous and exultant era of Bollywood  -  the swinging 70's!  It has captured the imagination of the audiences worldwide with its dramatic storytelling, musical narration and stunning  performances, making it the 'Highest Grossing film of Bollywood ever!'

Watched: 5th Mar. 2011
My Thoughts: I quite enjoyed this film. Many of the references to Bollywood old and new were lost on me with my current lack of depth of knowledge about Bollywood but that didn't detract from the overall enjoyment. The big climatic song at the end for the final reveal reminded me very much of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera"

My Rating: An enjoyable 3



(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on March 6th, 2011)

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Year of Release: 2014
Directed By: Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellen, all those guys from the first two films
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Adventure

My Thoughts:
Everyone was saying that this was a step down from the previous two Hobbit films.  I don't agree with that.  All three are an enormous step down from Lord of the Rings, but The Hobbit trilogy holds together itself.  If you've enjoyed the first two, and like me, simply enjoy spending time in Middle Earth, you'll enjoy this one.  If you didn't like the first two, don't bother seeing this one. 

What was good in the other films is also good here - Freeman's Bilbo is wonderful.  He really does a great job with the character, and I really wish we'd seen more of him.  Armitage's Thorin is also great, and I liked his descent into madness, I thought he did it really well with what he was given to work with.  In fact, I felt all of the actors did well with what they were given.

The problems of the other films are present here too.  There's too much action, too much emphasis on the set-pieces, and not enough character moments.  We needed to see more of Thorin's descent into madness (and we needed the foreshadowing that got left out of the theatrical cuts of the previous two films).  A lot of the green screen work was really atrociously obvious for being green screen work. 

The character moments that were there worked so very well, though, and the deaths definitely brought a tear to the eye.  The journey is over, now, though despite my criticisms and the flaws of his second trilogy, if Jackson did anything else in Middle Earth I'd watch it in a heartbeat.  So take from all this as you will.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From Within My (Mom's) Lifetime Marathon on January 31st, 2015)

Angel Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: The fight for Connor reaches a climax. Wesley kidnaps the boy to protect him but Holtz as well as Wolfram & Hart want him - alive. Sahjhan on the other hand wants him to be dead.

My Opinion: That Holtz would kidnap the child came unexpected - I love this unpredictability. But Wesley looked rather dead and the episode when Buffy's mother died ended similar.

Synopsis: Angel tries everything in his power to open a portal into the hell dimension Quor'Toth, to get his son back. And for this he would stop short before nothing.

My Opinion: Phew, Wesley is not dead - yet. But he and Angel don't have anything to say to each other for quite some time. My assumption is that the Holtz/Sahjhan arc is over for now.

Synopsis: Cordelia returns from her vacation but everything has changed. And then there is a certain boss of a casino who wants to collect a soul that was promised to him quite some time ago.

My Opinion: This episode was ok, but I had the feeling that it was a filler. The story was complete in itself, they haven't continued old stories and haven't begun new ones.

Synopsis: The dark magics Angel used to make Sahjhan solid had unexpected side effects. A swarm of very thirsty creatures tries to break out of the hotel to find water.

My Opinion: There's the new arc (I presume). Conner is back and he has grown a "little". When I saw this I was remined of Hope in "Xena". But what else could they have done with the baby... But except for the last third the story was only average.

(From Angel Marathon on February 21st, 2008)