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The Adventures of Robin Hood, a review by Dragonfire

The Adventures of Robin Hood My Thoughts Since I have enjoyed the other Robin Hood movies that I've seen, and I read some good things about this one, I decided to go ahead and pick it up when I saw the Blu-ray for $10.  I'm really glad I decided to get it. The basic story is the same some of the other Robin Hood movies I've seen, though there are differences.  There is no mention of Robin going off to fight in the Crusades.  He decides to stand up for the people that Prince John is attempting to oppress.  Maid Marian travels to Nottingham with Prince John and it seems like she is supporting him at least for a while.  She clearly doesn't approve of Robin and seems to look down on the people that Prince John is treating so badly.  The Sheriff of Nottingham is around, though he doesn't do as much in this version.  A bigger villain is Sir Guy Gisbourne, a nobleman living in Nottingham who supports Prince John.  I don't remember that character being in the other versions I've seen, but I could be remembering wrong. There is a good amount of action to the movie with Robin using his bow and arrow several times and getting into sword fights.  The fight scenes are done well and look good.  Some of the action looks speeding up a little bit, which makes those scenes look a little odd, but they are still very entertaining.  The look of the movie makes it clear it is an older movie, but it has held up well.  The costumes for Robin and his men are kind of silly, especially with the bright colors.  It seems like those bright colors - especially the red that Will Scarlett wears - would make it harder for them to hide in Sherwood Forest.  Some aspects of the plot are a bit serious and other things are more silly, like how Robin and the men who follow him interact with each other.  They have a tendency to start laughing at stuff that really isn't that funny at times.  The relationship is there between Maid Marian and Robin, though there isn't a lot of attention given to it.  He seems more interested at first while she clearly looks down on him.  After she spends a short amount of time with him, she changes her mind about him and it isn't long after that before she decides she is in love with him.  The two of them are shown kissing once or twice and that is it.  The characters are fine, though some of them are under developed.  Most of Robin's men are just sort of there without anything specific being shared about them.  Robin is pretty much the same as he is in other versions, though a bit more light hearted.  That makes sense since the movie is more light hearted overall.  The cast all does well with their parts. The picture quality is wonderful and the colors look amazing.  The Blu-ray has a lot of extras on it, including a Bugs Bunny and a Daffy Duck cartoon tied to Robin Hood.  I still haven't watched all of them.  The extras I did watch are interesting. Overall I really enjoyed this movie and am glad that I decided to add this version to my movie collection. I did post a review on Epinions a few days ago. The Adventures of Robin Hood

(From The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) on June 29th, 2010)

British & Irish Lions 2009: Living With the Pride, a review by Rich

Title: British & Irish Lions 2009: Living With the Pride

Runtime:204
Certificate:E
Year:2009
Genres:Sports, Television, Documentary

Plot:In 1997, Living with Lions - the behind the scenes story of the British & Irish Lions Tour of South Africa - was acclaimed as one of the greatest sports films ever made. Now, 12 years on, the British & Irish Lions were back in South Africa and so were our film crew, recording every minute of what was one of the greatest British & Irish Lions Test Series of all time.
With unprecedented access to all areas of the Tour, Living with the Pride is the most intimate, honest and intense portrait of life as a Lion ever produced.
From the Pennyhill Park training camp, to the magnificent final Test victory in Johannesburg, this is the inside story of how players, who are normally the fiercest of opponents, turned themselves into a band of brothers desperate to restore pride to the Lions jersey. Their grueling 10-match tour of the World Champions' back yard asked questions of the players' mental and physical strength like never before.
British & Irish Lions legend and Head Coach Ian McGeechan worked closely with our film crew to make an astonishing no-holds-barred documentary with access to every player, an open door to every team meeting, training session, selection meeting as well as excusive access to the passion, fury and ultimately elation of the Lions dressing room. This is a unique and uncompromising insight into life on a Lions Tour, described by Tour Manager Gerald Davies as 'the last great adventure in rugby'.
No Lions Series has ever been closer, with many commentators describing the second Test as 'the greatest rugby match ever'. Sometimes hilarious, but often brutal, bruising and moving, British and Irish Lions 2009 - Living with the Pride DVD is the official and exclusive behind the scenes story of one of the most exhilarating, emotional and memorable sports tours of all time.

My Review:
Of absolutely no interest to 99% of the world, but if you are interested in rugby, or like watching behind the scenes sporting documentaries, then this view into the lives of the British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, the hardest full contact sport, in the hardest country, is a must. Not quite the 1997 groundbreaking Living with the Lions, but fascinating, awe inspiring and laced with some hilarious moments as can only be had by 40+ young fellas on tour.


(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 17th, 2009)

2016 TV Pilot Reviews, a review by DJ Doena

The Good Place Website
The Good Place @ Wikipedia
The Good Place @ IMDb

Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell, Veronica Mars) just died. And now she is in a multiplayer role-playing game on one of the infinite game servers that somewhat resembles the idea of the good version of the afterlife, like the Greek Elysian Fields or the Christian Heaven.

There's only one catch: They are extremely (and I mean: extremely) picky on who gets in there. Everyone else from Joe(sephine) Average to Adolf Hitler gets send to the "bad place". And Eleanor does not belong in the "good place".

She's just there by accident. Like it or not: The bureaucracy in the afterlife apparently has the accuracy of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. Eleanor is only in the good place because she shares her name with a really good person.

She's the glitch in the matrix. The fly in the ointment. The butterfly that causes the storm. Shortly after her arrival, the perfect balance of the good place is shattered and weird things start to happen. And the only way to stop it is for Eleanor to actually become a good person.

I had really high hopes for this show. While I was never a regular viewer of Ted Danson's Cheers, I did enjoy the episodes of that show. And Kristen WAS Veronica Mars.

And since I'm neither Christian nor of any faith I also have no problems with making fun of any aspect of any religion.

But this was just bland. Even the basic premise was self-contradictory. One the one hand every tiny, minute action or inaction you do in your life is counted in your favour or against you. But then you can just get mixed up with someone else?

And while I do understand the idea that not everyone can get into "heaven", it's rather ridiculous that not even Florence Nightingale had made the cut and is basically lumped in together with Genghis Khan and Pol Pot. I agree with Eleanor in this regard. There should be an "ordinary" afterlife for ordinary people if there's such a high standard for the good place.

There were other problems with this idea as well. I don't know if it's going to be explored in future episodes but let me explain it here: According to Whatshisname (Danson) there are 322 people on this instance of the (in lack of better terms) "game server". 322 people perfectly selected for this group with everyone having a soulmate for eternity. But what if there's a family of do-gooders? Do they land in the same instance? Can I visit other instances? Is each instance designed for people who died in a certain era, i.e. will people from the middle ages also have a big view screen and a holo helping program?

But the main problem was that it was bland. What are the episodes going to be like? Eleanor screws up differently in each episode due to her narcissism and then tries to fix it by the end of the episode and has learned some Aesop lesson?

Unfortunately, it just wasn't all that funny and interesting to watch. Also, the woman with the English accent was just annoying. What has she done to deserve to be there and grate on the nerves of her Buddhist "soul mate"?

Nah, I'm good. I prefer to decompose in peace and get blasted across the universe when our sun goes supernova in five billion years.



(From 2016 TV Pilot Reviews on September 21st, 2016)