DVD Collectors Online

The Shawshank Redemption, a review by Rich

Title: The Shawshank Redemption

Runtime:137
Certificate:15
Year:1994
Genres:Drama

Plot:Nominated for seven Acadamy Awards including Best Film and Best Actor, this film is an extraordinary tale of hope, friendship and survival inside a maximum security prison.
City banker, Andy Dufresne, (Tim Robbins) arrived at Shawshank Prison in 1947, convicted of two brutal murders, he received a double life sentence.
He discovers that when they send you to Shawshank State Prison of life... that is exactly what they take.
Within the confines of Shawshank, Andy forms an unlikely friendship with the prison "fixer" Red (Morgan Freeman). He also becomes popular with the Warden and the prison's guards, as Andy is able to use his banking experience to help the currupt officials amass personal fortunes.
With an extraordinary twist in the tale, Andy finds that survival comes down to a simple choice, get busy living or get busy dying.

My Review:
As a break from the horror marathon, I picked a title that always hovers in my top 10 movies, a film that oozes class and whos appeal never wanes.
Very moving and sentimental, a great adaptation, with Robbins and Freeman putting in their best ever performances. As I am sure everyone has seen it, I won't do a full review, but would just say I believe it is nearly faultless and a modern classic.


(From Riches Random Reviews on October 25th, 2009)

To The Last Man, a review by Rogmeister

To The Last Man (1933)
Directed by Henry Hathaway
Cast: Randolph Scott, Esther Ralston, Noah Beery, Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Barton MacLane

This is an early sound western and, like many westerns of the time, it is almost totally devoid of music except for the opening titles and a bit at the end.  The credits are unlike I've seen in any movie...they give the title of the music, wrier and director and all that but don't show the cast credits right away.  What they do is when each person makes his or her first appearance, then their credit is shown with them...thus, at 28 minutes into the movie when Randolph Scott finally appears, you finally get to see his name on screen.

The film is based on a Zane Grey story and deals with two feuding families who come from Kentucky and wind up the same region out west.  The Colbys, angered because the father spent 15 years in prison after the Hayden patriarch went to the law instead of the usual feuding alternative, go to work rustling all the Hayden livestock.  It's at this point that Lynn (Randolph Scott) comes home and he winds up falling for the daughter of the evil Colby (the daughter played by the fetching Esther Ralston).  While the film moves rapidly along (it's only about 70 minutes long), it has the old type western fights with lots of apparently sped-up action which seems even more odd with no accompanying music.  Also of note is that this movie features the film debut of Shirley Temple as one of the grandchildren of the Hayden patriarch.  It has an overall familiar cast and most, including Scott, do well for this 76 year old film.

This was a Paramount film but apparently the movie has fallen into the public domain as there are a lot of copies out there by different companies.  My own copy is from VCI Entertainment and it's a pretty decent copy...a nice sharp print with clear sound...but, as is usual with such cases, no extras to speak of. 

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

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

22. Home
Original Air Date: 5/7/2003


Guest Stars:
Stephanie Romanov
Jim Abele
Jason Winer
Michael Halsey
Jonathan Woodward

My Thoughts:
An interesting episode. And I like what they did for Connor's character. I remember back when this episode first aired. I was so worried all the way until season 5 started that they ruined the series by giving Angel and the gang Wolfram & Hart. But in the end I was surprised how well it actually worked out for it.

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on March 22nd, 2010)