DVD Collectors Online

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, a review by Tom

Title: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
Year: 1999
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Rating: FSK-6
Length: 188 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Salman Khan
Ajay Devgan
Aishwarya Rai
Zohra Sehgal
Vikram Gokhale

Plot:
When Salman asks for Ash's hand in marriage her family refuses. They have already chosen a husband for their daughter. Salman returns to Italy. When Ajay, Ash's new husband realizes that his new bride has been in love with someone else, he is prepared to sacrifice his love for her and take her to Italy to be reunited with her true love, Salman.

Awards:

Filmfare Awards	2000	Nominated	Best Actor Award	Ajay Devgan
Filmfare Awards	2000	Nominated	Best Actor Award	Salman Khan
Filmfare Awards	2000	Won	Best Actress Award	Aishwarya Rai
Filmfare Awards	2000	Won	Best Background Score Award	Anjan Biswas
Filmfare Awards	2000	Won	Best Choreography Award	Saroj Khan
Filmfare Awards	2000	Won	Best Director Award	Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Filmfare Awards	2000	Won	Best Male Playback Award	Udit Narayan
Filmfare Awards	2000	Won	Best Movie Award
Filmfare Awards	2000	Nominated	Best Music Director Award	Ismail Darbar
Filmfare Awards	2000	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor Award	Ajay Devgan
Filmfare Awards	2000	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor Award	Salman Khan
IIFA Awards	2000	Won	Best Actress	Aishwarya Rai
IIFA Awards	2001	Won	Best Background Score	Amrik Gill
IIFA Awards	2000	Won	Best Choreography	"Nimbooda": Saroj Khan
IIFA Awards	2000	Won	Best Cinematography	Anil Mehta
IIFA Awards	2000	Won	Best Dialogue	Amrik Gill
IIFA Awards	2000	Won	Best Director	Sanjay Leela Bhansali
IIFA Awards	2000	Won	Best Male Playback	"Chand Chhupa": Udit Narayan
IIFA Awards	2000	Won	Best Movie
IIFA Awards	2000	Won	Best Screen Play	Sanjay Leela Bansali
IIFA Awards	2000	Won	Best Sound Recording	Jeetendra Chaudhary
IIFA Awards	2000	Won	Best Sound Re-Recording	Sushmita Sen
IIFA Awards	2000	Won	Best Story	Pratap Karvat, Sanjay Leela Bansali

Extras:
Bonus Trailers
Karte
Music Videos
Poster
Scene Access
Trailers

I had high expectations for this. Not that I would think it will be a masterpiece, but I thought for sure that this will be a movie I will enjoy. It has won a lot of awards and it is written and directed by the same guy who has written and directed "Black".
But I was disappointed. The characters were flakey and rather unlikable in the beginning. And even though I enjoy the music in these films, there was too much of it in this one. There was more focus on it than it usually is. Because of this there wasn't really much story. It got better towards the end, but I don't think this will be a movie that I can watch again and again.

Rating:

(From Tom's Alphabet Marathon Reviews on July 8th, 2010)

Futurama: Bender's Game, a review by Dragonfire

Futurama: Bender's Game

With fuel prices skyrocketing, the Planet Express crew sets off on a dangerous mission: to infiltrate the world's only dark-matter mine, source of all spaceship fuel.  But deep beneath the surface lies a far stranger place...a medieval land of dragons and sorcery and intoxicated knights who look suspiciously like Bender.  So park your hover-car and saddle up your unicorn for Futurama's grandest adventure yet... Bender's Game.

My Thoughts

I loved Futurama and am still annoyed that Fox canceled it - along with some other very good shows.  Anyway, I was very happy when I learned that some direct to DVD Futurama movies were being made and I got the first two, Futurama: Bender's Big Score and Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs when they came out.  This movie didn't reference anything that happened in the first two, so it is more self contained than they were.  There were no story threads left unresolved from the second one.

The plot was a bit different, but I think that is typical of Futurama in general.  It was very entertaining and I think fans will be happy with it.  The story featured a combination of things connected to Dungeons and Dragons and The Lord of the Rings that I think worked very well and was very entertaining.  It was hilarious to watch Bender get sucked into the game and end up in a robot asylum.  The characters ended up in a fantasy world that was very interesting.  I thought the movie was funny as well.  The characters still acted like they had throughout the series without anyone having a major personality change.  Leela, Fry, and Bender really ended up with the most to do overall.  The other regular characters like the Professor, Amy, Hermes and Dr. Zoidberg were also around. 

I also enjoyed the extras.  There is a short featurette featuring a few men involved in the making of the movie talking about Dungeons and Dragons and how they incorporated it into Futurama.  They pointed out some references to the game that popped up during the episodes.  There was one deleted scene shown and some outtakes from recording sessions with the voice cast that were funny.  It would have been nice if there had been more extras. 

I don't like the case for the DVD..that is a minor thing, but I just don't like it.  Like the first two Futurama movies, it is just cardboard.  It says on the case that it is carbon neutral and how the makers are being more environmentally friendly.  I don't have a problem with that, but this type of case does not keep the disc secure.  I have to be very careful with these cases because I've had the first two movies go flying out when I was just picking up the case.  It wasn't like I was waving it all around or anything.  Anyway, the movie is still great and fans of Futurama will probably enjoy it.

 

(From My November Alphabet Marathon on November 6th, 2008)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

4.08 Good for the Soul (1998-12-16)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Peter Mohan (Writer)
Director: George Bloomfield
Cast

(From "Due South" marathon on January 2nd, 2011)