DVD Collectors Online

Silverado, a review by Rogmeister

Silverado: 2-Disc Gift Set
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Music by Bruce Broughton
Cast: Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Linda Hunt, John Cleese, Rosanna Arquette

This edition of Silverado is one I probably got a year or two ago...and was my third copy of the movie on DVD.  The first copy I got they goofed up on and put it out in the wrong aspect ratio...1.85:1 (or what I call moderate widescreen).  I got another copy of the movie later in it's proper 2.35:1 aspect ratio (a more pronounced widescreen).  Then, when this 2-disc gift set came out I picked it up.  It came with a Silverado deck of cards inserted into the center where "saloon doors" open up to reveal it.  It also came with a nice booklet with an article inside titled "Silverado and the American Western" by Frank Thompson and it also includes many nice color photos from the movie.  I think you can still get this as a 2-disc set but probably not in the gift set packaging anymore.  The 2-disc set alone was re-issued at the beginning of this year.

The movie itself is in a case holding two discs.  Disc 1, of course, holds the movie in "Superbit" presentation...this was a technique where they used all a disc's memory for the movie itself to give you the highest quality image and sound (this has now been pretty much replaced by the newer Blu-Ray systerm).  Along with the movie, Disc 1 also holds an audio commentary by 3 western writers and historians and this is an interesting discussion.  I'll have to watch the movie again soon so I can listen to this in it's entirety.  Disc 2 has some extras...not a lot...a couple items there are basically promos for other westerns from Columbia...The Quick and The Dead, Hangman's Knot and some others.  Then there is "A Return to Silverado with Kevin Costner" which is Costner sitting and discussing the film and his involvement with it.  There's also a nice piece on the making of the movie featuring interviews with the other stars and such filmmakers as director Lawrence Kasdan, his co-writer and brother Mark Kasdan and composer Bruce Broughton.  I liked Broughton's score to this movie a great deal and am surprised I haven't seen his name on more movies.

Regarding the movie itself, it deals with four men (two brothers, played by Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner, plus Kevin Kline and Danny Glover) who wind up working together to take on the criminal element in the town of Silverado.  There's lots of action, though I wonder if they couldn't have edited the film just a bit more...this is still one of my very favorite PJW westerns (Post John Wayne) but at 132 minutes, it is just a little long.  You have everything in here you could want in a western...jailbreaks, saloon brawls, showdowns, a cattle stampede...about the only thing missing are Indians.  This might be considered the last of the classic westerns in that while there's lots of action and shooting, you don't get people spurting blood in slow-motion as in The Wild Bunch or anything else too objectionable.  The film garnered an appropriate PG-13 rating.  As the movie ends and the two brothers ride off, Jake yells back "We'll be back!" which was a teaser that a sequel might happen but unfortunately the movie didn't make enough money to warrant one so this wound up the one and only Silverado adventure.  Dust off your chaps, strap on your gunbelt and enjoy this one, pards...it garners a full 5 yee-haws from this ol' westerner.

(From Roger's Ongoing Westerns Marathon on October 6th, 2009)

Practical Magic, a review by Dragonfire

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Practical Magic Fun and excitement abound in the Owens family of wily witches. One problem, though: the men the Owens women fall in love with are doomed to an untimely death. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman sparkle in Practical Magic, adapted from Alice Hoffman's bestseller and directed by Griffin Dunne (Addicted to Love). They play Sally and Gillian Owens, sisters hexed by a centuries-old curse...and coping with a witches brew of events involving a possible love match (Aidan Quinn) for one, a zombie (Goran Visnjic) for the other and a need to resume the age-old witchcraft taught by two doting Owens aunts (Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest). Sit for a spell and enjoy!

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This is another one that isn't really a horror movie or scary movie, but that I like to watch in October.  I first saw it in the theater and it was one of the first DVDs I got.  I still really enjoy the movie.  The plot isn't overly complicated, but it is fun and entertaining overall.  I like Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman and I think they worked together well as sisters in the movie.  There is supernatural type things going on since they are witches and they go and bring Jimmy back to life.  I never really did fully get why Gillian wanted to bring him back...he was trying to kill her before he died.  Unless it was just so they wouldn't possibly face being charged with murder or something.  I haven't read the book, though I did consider it before. 



I did post a longer review at Epinions several years ago if anyone wants to take a look. 

Practical Magic


(From Marie's 2013 Halloween/Horror Marathon on October 8th, 2013)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

What's the show about?
Colt Seavers is a Hollywood stunt man and he does all kinds of (dangerous) stunts. But since the movie business doesn't constantly pay, he has another way of getting an income: He's also a bounty hunter who hunts down bail jumpers which is sometimes even more dangerous than his stunt jobs. On both jobs he has help: His cousin Howie Munson and his assistant Jody Banks.

"The Fall Guy"
After he's done a stunt involving crashing an Indy race car into a wall and walking like a human torch, Colt's cousin Howie approaches him. Howie is supposed to be in college but has decided to become a famous stunt man just like Colt. Howie has no clue about real life and certainly even less clues about the stunt business. But Colt takes him under his wings. And their first job as a team is to bring a man back from a town he practically owns.

My Opinion
The Fall Guy was a great show and the best things were - naturally - all the stunts they did. There was only one topic of discussion on the school yard the day after an episode of "Colt" was aired - and I'm talking about East Germany where we weren't allowed to watch western television, let alone talk about it. But we did it and we imagined it was us doing all these stunts - and Jody was so hot!
Like with most of the 80s shows there's a lot of nostalgia involved and while it's still fun to watch I'd never watch more of a couple of episodes again. But I still cherish the memories and I always wanted to have a "Colt Siwas" (I had no clue how to spell that back then) truck. That thing still looks cool.

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on September 24th, 2009)