DVD Collectors Online

The Quiet Man, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Quiet Man
Year of Release: 1952
Directed By: John Ford
Starring: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen
Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy

Overview:The Quiet ManThe Quiet ManMy Thoughts:
This is a wonderfully entertaining film. It's light and breezy, romantic and filled with colorful characters and some darn good performances. John Wayne is atypically just a normal guy here, not a cowboy or a soldier, and he does a great job with it. Given his reputation, the subtlety he brings to his performance here can be surprising. Maureen O'Hara is as lovely as ever, and the cinematography is stunning.

I'd like to recommend this for anyone, but it isn't very PC, especially viewed with a modern gaze. Parts of this film would be very different if made today. You'd never see the casual treatment of wife-beating, for instance. But don't mistake that casual treatment by the locals for the film endorsing it. Both times Sean is offered a stick to beat his wife with he discards it. As he's the moral center of the film, his refusal tells us really doesn't condone marital violence. Sean offers violence (the dragging, the fight) only to appease local tradition ("It's your custom, not mine"). Yet you wouldn't see it made this way today. The subtlety of that statement (simply discarding the stick) would be to easily lost.

A great film, and my personal favorite of Wayne's oeuvre.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From Within My (Mom's) Lifetime Marathon on March 19th, 2015)

Re-Animator, a review by Jimmy

Title: Re-Animator (1985)

Genre: Horror
Director: Stuart Gordon
Rating: NR
Length: 1h26
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Jeffrey Combs
Bruce Abbott
Barbara Crampton
David Gale
Robert Sampson

Plot:
A dedicated student at a medical college and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue when an odd new student arrives on campus.

No need to say a lot about the film since it's a classic... perfect cast chemistry, excellent special effects, a very catchy and recognizable theme by Richard Band and a perfect mix of horror and comedy.

Highly recommanded and if you have never seen it what are you waiting for?


 
Rating :

(From Jimmy's - 2013 Ooctober Horror Marathon on October 2nd, 2013)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

The Office: Season One (2005/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Universal Studios Home Entertainment (United States) Length: 135 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Plot:
Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, The Daily Show) stars in The Office, a fresh and funny mockumentary-style glimpse into the daily interactions of the eccentric workers at the Dunder Mifflin paper supply company. Based on the smash-hit British series of the same name and adapted for American Television by Greg Daniels (King of the Hill, The Simpsons), this fast-paced comedy parodies contemporary American water-cooler culture. Earnest but clueless regional manager Michael Scott (Carell) believes himself to be an exceptional boss and mentor, but actually receives more eye-rolls than respect from his oddball staff. Entertainment Weekly calls The Office "smart and trenchant", and all six hilarious season one episodes are available here on DVD for the first time. The awkward silences in The Office will have you laughing out loud!

The Office
1.01 Pilot
Writer: Ricky Gervais (Screenwriter), Stephen Merchant (Screenwriter), Greg Daniels (Screenwriter), Ricky Gervais (Original Material By), Stephen Merchant (Original Material By)
Director: Ken Kwapis
Cast: Steve Carell (Michael Scott), Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute), John Krasinski (Jim Halpert), Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly), B. J. Novak (Ryan Howard), Melora Hardin (Jan), David Denman (Roy), Leslie David Baker (Stanley), Brian Baumgartner (Kevin), Angela Kinsey (Angela), Henriette Mantel), Mike McCaul), Oscar Nunez (Oscar), Phyllis Smith (Phyllis)

I know me reviewing this now for this thread is a little too early. But recently watching the seventh season put me in the mood to watch some early episodes, even though it only has been a year since I watched the first six seasons in a marathon.
Even though the first episode is a copy of the first episode of the original The Office, I still enjoyed it. Already much of the characters are present, which get bigger roles later on. Michael Scott will change though with later episode. Even going so far, that he goes from despicable to pitiful to a guy showing competence and even ending up as a pretty much nice guy where you can believe he can be considered a good boss from time to time.
What I like about this series is, that the background characters are constant. The people filling this Office are pretty much always there, making it feel to be a real Office. And it are these characters, which get more screentime and their own storylines later on.

Rating:


(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on September 4th, 2011)