DVD Collectors Online

Stagecoach, a review by Rogmeister

Stagecoach: The Criterion Edition
Directed by John Ford  (1939)  96 minutes
Cast: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell, Louise Platt, George Bancroft, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill, Tim Holt, Tom Tyler

I think most people know about Stagecoach...it is a classic western, released in 1939, and usually makes the list when people are compiling lists of the top ten westerns ever made...heck, it's usually in the top five.  It deals with the people crowded into a stagecoach that is passing through Indian territory as Geronimo is on the warpath.  The passengers (in a film that, at the time of its release, was billed as a sort of Grand Hotel on wheels) include an escaped outlaw (John Wayne), a hooker with a heart of gold (Claire Trevor, though back then they never came right out and said that's what she was), a drunken doctor (Thomas Mitchell in an Oscar-winning performance), a dapper southern gambler (John Carradine) and a whiskey drummer (Donald Meek).   Of course, just when it looks like they're home free...but that would be telling.  This film deserves its legendary status and needs to be seen by everyone who can enjoy a good western adventure.

I've enjoyed Stagecoach in a number of formats.  My first copy was in the days before home video...I had a complete copy on Super 8 Sound film.  Since then I think I've had it on VHS and one or two other formats.  This is the second or third version I've gotten on DVD.  I also have a 2-disc special edition from Warner Brothers so it seems odd The Criterion Collection felt the need to also release their own versiion.   The picture quality looks to be on a par with the WB version...but it doesn't really look superior to it by my eye.  However, both the Criterion and WB versions each have their own special features (including two different audio commentaries) and I will likely keep both copies.  Extras on the Criterion edition includes an interview with John Ford, a silent Ford western titled Bucking Broadway, and other features.

Stagecoach, by the way, was remade in the 1960s...which is an edition to avoid, as is the one made in the 1980s featuring country music legends Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings.  But for the 1939 original, I give it my heartiest recommendation.   

(From DCO fourth Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on July 8th, 2010)

Lucky # Slevin, a review by addicted2dvd

Lucky # Slevin: Widescreen Edition (2006/United States) The Weinstein Company Home Entertainment Director: Paul McGuigan Writing: Jason Smilovic (Writer) Length: 110 min. Rating: Rated R : Strong Violence, Sexuality and Language Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Stars:
Josh Hartnett as Slevin
Bruce Willis as Mr. Goodkat
Lucy Liu as Lindsey
Morgan Freeman as The Boss
Sir Ben Kingsley as The Rabbi
Michael Rubenfeld as Yitzchok

Plot:
Set in the New York underworld where nothing is as it seems, Lucky # Slevin is an action-packed, "fun-as-hell roller coaster ride" (Venice Magazine). When down-on-his-luck Slevin (Josh Hartnett) stumbles into a running feud between the city's most feared crime bosses (Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley), he ignites an all-out war. Tracked by a mysterious assassin (Bruce Willis) and distracted by his flirtatious neighbor (Lucy Liu), Slevin must try to cheat death by turning the tables on the gangsters. "If you take the best parts of Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects and The Professional, what you get is Lucky # Slevin" (Shawn Edwards, Fox-TV Kansas City).

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Feature Trailers
• Bonus Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes

I never even seen the trailer for this movie before today...but I have heard good things about this one. So I went into it with little to no expectations. Unfortunately I was still less then thrilled with this movie. It probably don't help that I never been much of a fan of organized crime movies. Plus I found I just didn't care about... really any of the characters. It didn't take much time at all for my attention to wander. Before I knew it... it was little more then background noise while I did other things. So I obviously didn't give it the attention it deserved... but I just found myself unable to. Besides all that... there was some scenes that caught my attention for a few moments at a time.




(From June Marathon: Cast Chain on June 2nd, 2012)

Farscape Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: A group of Delvians lures Moya to their planet. They want to learn what Zhaan can do - to kill someone with your mind. That's the crime Zhaan was imprisoned for and they want to use it to free their home planet Delvia from the Peacekeepers. Zhaan reluctantly agrees and unites her mind with the leader of the local Delvians. But the latter one doesn't play with open cards and tries to distract John and the other so they cannot interfere with the unity - a unity that could kill Zhaan.

My Opinion: I really liked how John tried to reason with Zhaan and how he showed her (also in a mind melt/unity) how he sees her - as a gentle and peaceful being and not as a murderer - and how that brought her back. I also liked how the Delvians projected false images and memories into the different people to distract them and how everyone thought he/she was the only one who wasn't affected.


Synopsis: Aeryn is giving John flying in lessons in Moya's shuttle pod and he's a slow learner by Sebacean standards. But than their pod gets caught in some form on energy barrier and they can't free themselves. Moya's looking for them but it's not until they take a strange man aboard that they learn that the pod is caught in the flax, a "spider web" laid out by pirates in this region of space. D'Argo and the scavenger leave Moya to help the pod while John and Aeryn have to repair the pod or they won't survive until help arrives.

My Opinion: So great. What a plot twist. That man, that scavenger is actually the female of his species and she has developed a crush on D'Argo. This episode was so full of love, especially since Aeryn and John have developed feelings for one another. And even Rygel didn't behave like a self-centered egomaniac - OK, he did, but it was just a facade. The actions of D'Argo and Rygel prove that this crew is finally becoming a team - luckily for the viewer there will always be topic of controversy between them.
But I would have liked subtitles very much on this episode. The scavenger was hard to understand. Unfortunately british TV show DVDs often don't have english subs, not even for the hearing impaired.


Synopsis: John is frustrated and takes his ship "for a tour around the block" when Moya suddenly and unexpectedly starbursts and is gone. Three months later: John lives a quiet life alone yet close to a village. On this planet no technology seems to work but John doesn't care. It's peaceful and the people are friendly and he can live here. But when the crew of Moya finally finds him the trouble starts. While John looks close enough to the indigenous that isn't true for neither D'Argo nor Rygel. And it was the Hynerians that brought these people here a long time ago. But Rygel cannot prove that he's a god as he's supposed to according to their holy writings.

My Opinion: They can make weird and strange yet realistic looking aliens - but they cannot make a false beard that looks real. It was an OK episode with the usual love triangle between a beautiful woman, the foreigner and the clansman who also desires her.


Synopsis: Moya has problems doing starbursts during her pregnancy and when they come out of a very bumpy ride they accidentally ram another ship. On that ship is a Nebari guard, a female Nebari prisoner - and Durka. Durka was the captain of the lost command carrier and should be dead. But he's alive and now Rygel wants him dead for the things Durka did to him. But Durka has changed, the Nebari have altered his mind with a mental cleansing. He's not the Durka that tortured Rygel - or so they say.

My Opinion: Ah, Chiana. Our newest crew (and cast) member. Gigi Edgley does an awesome job portraying her. She's a great character and great addition to this colourful gang. I didn't care much for the rest of the episode because it was obvious that Durka's true nature would reappear one way or another and that he would get punished. But I really liked it how Rygel declared victory over Durka by stating that the latter couldn't do anything to the former that he hadn't already done and that he never managed to break him.

Synopsis: Moya suddenly detects a wormhole that is closing soon. And it leads directly to Earth! John says goodbye to everyone and departs with Farscape-1 and returns home. He crash-lands somewhere on the coast of Australia. But he isn't welcomed as a hero or even with open arms. The scientists find the translator microbes and they aren't sure if he even is John Crichton - the man that disappeared seven months ago. And then D'Argo, Aeryn and Rygel appear in the shuttle pod - on a planet that has never seen an alien before. When Rygel dies in an "accident" John has to escape or his friends will die in similar "accidents". And why is every magazine on a news stand seven months old?

My Opinion: The first of a number of "Earth" episodes (real or imaginary). Of course this time it was only fake and happened all in his mind (or a simulation, I haven't figured that out). I thought that John's imagination of how his alien friends would be treated was fairly realistic. They don't represent some star empire and won't be missed - so they are good subjects to be scrutinized. OK, everyone who has seen E.T. could come to this conclusion.

(From Farscape Marathon on March 22nd, 2009)