DVD Collectors Online

The Driver, a review by Jon

THE DRIVER (1971)
3 out of 5



Ryan O'Neal is a getaway driver for hire. Bruce Dern is the cop willing to bend the rules to catch this "cowboy" red-handed.

No existential soul-searching here, just bruising action served ice-cool. O'Neal's driver (no names again) is the best money can buy and he covers his tracks very carefully. But Dern's detective is hot on his tail and even sets up a job for the driver to take. There are several car chases, usually featuring several police cars. They're good fun and plenty of vehicles are involved. Walter Hill's set-ups are solid no nonsense action, which he is known for. One fantastic scene features him driving a Merc around a garage, smashing the bodywork to pieces to prove a point to the criminals who dared question whether he was good enough. He refused the job after leaving them with no doors.

The story is straightforward too. Bruce Dern is great fun as the cop working both sides to his own end. It has something of a western feel with the outlaw driver (Dern calls him "cowboy" a couple of times) and perhaps continues the genres idea of the last free hero, or last frontier. It's only let down by being a bit too cool and a bit too laidback in the lead couple of O'Neal and Isabelle Adjani. O'Neal is trying to channel Steve McQueen but often has an expression like he's just farted and hopes no-one noticed! I'm being a bit unfair; it's more a case he didn't do anything wrong and the script gave him nothing to say. It's just actors like McQueen sets the rules with Bullitt amongst others for this kind of thing, while Ryan was in Love Story. It just proves there is more to acting the cool anti-hero than standing still and not saying anything.

I thoroughly recommend the film overall. The inspiration for the classic game of the same title, it's an old fashioned noir played out in fast cars. I read in another review that people have drawn comparisons with Le Samourai and although it's hero shares the empty room and he seems only to exist when working, I wouldn't push it any further.

The Car's not really the star...
There are various cars; he starts in a Cadillac, then moves to a Ford, wrecks the before mentioned Merc and finishes the movie in a pick-up. Really, this isn't a film about the cars, just The Driver. The idea being, put him in a Flintstones car he'll still pull off the job. This goes someway to demonstrating Hill's direction as he doesn't waste time on too many bodywork angles, just the stunts.

Can't find a decent trailer, so here is the "Job Interview"...
Trailer

(From Car Movie Marathon on August 26th, 2008)

Move Over, Darling, a review by GSyren

Title	Move Over, Darling
Year	1963
Director	Michael Gordon
Stars	Doris Day, James Garner, Polly Bergen, Thelma Ritter, Fred Clark
Overview
My thoughts	My Doris Day marathon continues. This time with a remake of the 1940 comedy "My Favorite Wife" that starred Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. If you're looking for a Doris Day musical, look somewhere else. Apart from the title song over the opening credits, the only time you'll hear Doris sing is when she sings a lullaby to her children. As a comedy, this film is pleasant enough. However, James Garner is no Cary Grant. The story is rather farfetched. Doris has been shipwrecked and has lived together with one other survivor on a deserted island for five years. She has been rescued by the Navy and arrives back home the very same day that her husband has had her declared legally dead, and has remarried. Confusion ensues... The original is really a better film that this one, so unless you're a Doris Day fan, you're better off watching "My Favorite Wife". But then again, everyone is a Doris Day fan, right?
Rating

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on April 15th, 2013)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: The Office: Season Five
Year: 2008
Director:
Rating: NR
Length: 608 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Steve Carell
Rainn Wilson
John Krasinski
Jenna Fischer

Plot:
Scranton's most outrageous workforce is back to give their clients the business in the fifth hilarious season of The Office. Join obnoxious regional manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and his fellow paper pushers Dwight (Rainn Wilson), Jim (John Kransinski), Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Ryan (B.J. Novak) as they steal customers, frame co-workers, indulge in intra-office love affairs and just plain behave badly while a documentary film crew captures their every word and misdeed. Developed for American television by Primetime Emmy Award-winner Greg Daniels, The Office: Season FiveThe Office can afford to miss!

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Outtakes
Trailers
Webisodes

I have had this season lying around for a few months now but for some reason never was in the mood to watch it. I finally came around to it and I enjoyed it very much. I watched the complete season in just three evenings.
Though the fake documentary style is the charm of the series, but it is still getting more and more unbelievable. The things the characters say in their interview segments, it is like they do not think the others will watch it when it airs. Maybe they are contracted to not watch it
Also the camera people seem to be everywhere, but they never get into each other shots.

What I really like is, that after they got Pam and Jim finally together, they didn't do what other series would try to do and break them up again. Their relationship is still going strong and is getting stronger from episode to episode.
The new receptionist introduced in the last few episodes is also showing potential and what I have read she is part of the next season's cast.

#	Episode	Rating
01	Weight Loss
02	Business Ethics
03	Baby Shower
04	Crime Aid
05	Employee Transfer
06	Customer Survey
07	Business Trip
08	Frame Toby
09	The Surplus
10	Moroccan Christmas
11	The Duel
12	Prince Family Paper
13	Stress Relief
14	Lecture Circuit Part 1
15	Lecture Circuit Part 2
16	Blood Drive
17	Golden Ticket
18	New Boss
19	Two Weeks
20	Dream Team
21	Michael Scott Paper Company
22	Heavy Competition
23	Broke
24	Casual Friday
25
26	Company Picnic

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 22nd, 2010)