DVD Collectors Online

Destry, a review by Antares

Destry (1954) 66/100 - Had I never saw the original made in 1939, I would have liked this and rated it better than I have. But you can't get the original out of your head. Audie Murphy knew he wasn't a great actor, and to ask him to play a role made famous by James Stewart was probably more daring and difficult for him, than his machine gun action in Holtzwihr which won him his Congressional Medal of Honor in 1945. So because it's pretty much a scene by scene remake of the original, by the same director, one can only compare performances. So, to start, Murphy doesn't do that bad of a job as Tom Destry. Like I mentioned earlier, if I had watched this first, I would have been impressed by how much he had grown as an actor in just six years. Brain Donlevy > Lyle Bettger, Bettger plays his usual slick, but in the end cowardly bad guy and he never comes across as anything but weak. Marlene Dietrich = Mari Blanchard, Dietrich is the better actress and her fight scene and final kiss scene with Destry are the highlights of the original. Blanchard gets kudos from me as a better singer and after reading about her struggles in her youth with polio, for being able to dance that well, having been afflicted and recovering on her own from that paralyzing disease. Charles Winninger > Thomas Mitchell, usually I really like Mitchell, but I've seen this kind of performance from him in the past, and it seemed old and stale. Samuel S. Hinds > Edgar Buchanan, I'm sorry, but Buchanan will always be Uncle Joe from Petticoat Junction, and Uncle Joe was an annoying character that I just can't get out of my mind when I see him in something other than the TV show. Mischa Auer >>> Wallace Ford, this was a no-brainer. Auer was the funniest part of the original and changing his character to a doctor, who is incredibly hen pecked just falls flat. Finally, the songs in the original fit the western town setting much better than the songs here. At times, I thought they would have been better suited for 50's burlesque house.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on July 11th, 2020)

Notting Hill, a review by Tom

Title: Notting Hill
Year: 1999
Director: Roger Michell
Rating: FSK-0
Length: 119 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , German: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, German

Stars:
Julia Roberts
Hugh Grant
James Dreyfus
Tim McInnerny
Gina McKee

Plot:
The life of a simple bookshop owner changes when he meets the most famous film star in the world.

Extras:
A Travel Guide to Notting Hill
Commentary
DVD-ROM Content
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers

This movie is a guilty pleasure of mine. Every time I watch it, I enjoy it just as much as the first time. This movie is filled some great funny moments. For example the scenes with James Dreyfus (before this movie known to me simply as Constable Goody from the Rowan Atkinson comedy series "The Thin Blue Line"). Or the first meeting of William's family and Anna Scott.
Also this romantic comedy has some nice touching moments, especially the ending.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on November 6th, 2008)

Dark Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

4. C.R.E.A.M.
Logan is approached by a woman asking to find her missing father. The father happens to be Logan's mentor/hero of his youth. Logan thought the man was dead, but learns that he is alive and not at all the noble person Logan thought him to be.

My Thoughts:
This is a good episode... though nothing really special about it. Nothing really sticks out and makes me want to talk about it.

5. 411 on the DL
Max gets called to a secret meeting after seeing a personal ad containing her bar code tattoo number. She leans that Vogelsang claims to know about the remaining children from Manticore. He insists on a large sum of money for the information.

My Thoughts:
Like the one before it... good episode... but nothing special here in my opinion.

6. Prodigy
Max attends conference about genetic engineering. She sees Lydecker at the conference, but he doesn't recognize her. Before she can slip away unseen, the conference attendees are taken hostage by a group of anti-genetic engineering terrorists.

My Thoughts:
This one I enjoyed quite a bit... had a touch of a Die Hard feel to it. This episode once again shows just how much Max cares about people... even though she tries not to show it.

7. Cold Comfort
Zack reappears and tells Max Lydecker has captured Brin, one of their Manticore sisters, and plans to do her harm. Max decides they must kidnap Lydecker and force him to reveal Brin's whereabouts. When Max and Zack discover that Lydecker was not behind Brin's disappearance, they have no choice but to team up with Lydecker to find their lost sister.

My Thoughts
This one was another really good episode.Max and Zack actually try to trust and work with Lydecker... to help save their sister. Things get difficult... to say the least... And now Lydecker knows what both Max and Zack look like. Whioch of course will make things much harder on them.

(From Dark Angel Marathon on September 4th, 2007)