May 2006 DVD Reviews & Video Reviews

The Rainmaker

Paramount
DVD
Suggested Retail Price: $14.98 or as low as $12.99 from Amazon.com!

When you meet the con-man named Starbuck as he comes into town in his fancy rig, you know you are in for a treat. Burt Lancaster plays this wandering charlatan and snake oil salesman. He arrives at a farm in a community that is dying from a drought. They need rain and Starbuck is just the man to conjure up a storm.

Katherine Hepburn is a spinster who has been keeping house for her long-widowed father and her two brothers. She is considered to be plain and a tomboy. So the flamboyant Starbuck takes money to bring rain to the town and meet the Hepburn character. He dazzles her, but she thinks he is a swindler.

To rain or not to rain: that is the final question as the two main characters fall in love. I assure you that they don’t make movies this good anymore. When you see this famous stage play that was brought so beautifully to the screen, you will understand why these stars were so famous. With a wonderful cast including Wendell Corey, Lloyd Bridges, Earl Holliman you know you seeing one of Hollywood’s finest efforts.

Cinderella Man

Universal Studios
DVD
Suggested Retail Price: $19.98 or as low as $12.99 from Amazon.com!

The award winning epic "Cinderella Man" stars Russell Crow as boxer Jim Braddock. Braddock is suffering, as were many people during The Depression. He had been a major contender, but now he was trying for day work and sometimes catching a job but mostly not. The times are dreary and Braddock wants beck into the fighting ring. He had once been famous as a fighter but now he is a bit of a bum. He is trying very hard to support his family. His wife Mae, played by Renee Zellweger, supports him and bolster up his attempts to find work. She is a tad dreary, but it will all come back to her when Braddock gets another chance in the ring. This is the real life story of a famous champion who became a hero in a time when the world needed a clean and good hero to worship.

Crowe is superb in this role for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe. Paul Giamatti plays Braddock's manager Joe Gould, and was nominated for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his performance. To the credit of director Ron Howard whose scope continues to broaden beyond all expectations, the fight scenes are spectacularly real. In fact, the film delighted the public. Even if you are not a fight fan, knowing that the story is true evokes your sympathy at the heartache this family faces and your joy at the success of Braddock in the final fights and his stalwart courage and integrity.

The Student Prince

Acorn Media
DVD
Suggested Retail Price: $24.99 or as low as $22.99 from Amazon.com!

Robson Green is familiar to PBS fans from the British TV series “Touching Evil”. In this delightful movie, he is playing the part of a bodyguard who is assigned to protect the youngest son of Queen of England, played by Rupert Penry Jones. The Prince is attending college at Cambridge. The bodyguard is tough, expert, and all business. The Prince is young and eventually they become friends. The Prince meets a fellow student who is from America. That’s Tara, and she is a tasty sight as well as a good actress. Both the prince and the bodyguard fall in love with the exchange student. Here there is a touch of the famous play, Cyrano, as the Guard coaches the prince in his pursuit of love.

Its a story that shows a lot of heart without being saccharine or, worse, predictable. Its thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying with rich characters that have qualities and flaws that make you glad you watched the whole show and ready to watch it again someday.

Bless Me, Father - The Complete Collection

Acorn Media
DVD
Suggested Retail Price: $59.99 or as low as $53.99 from Amazon.com!

Maybe you watched this delightful little series on public television and recognize the boxed set as a real find. If you have not seen this show before, the best way to sum it up is a throwback to movies like "The Bells of St. Mary's" and "Going My Way" where the knowing older priest and the youngster fresh from school keep an eye on their parishoners' souls.

The basic plot of the series concerns Father Duddleswell, played by Arthur Lee (Dad’s Army) who is the pastor of the parish of St. Jude's in suburban London in the late 1950's. A young priest has just arrivesd to get some on-the-job training from the wiley old Father. The young priest is played by Daniel Abneri who has the innocent look of youth but is wiser than we expect. Father Duddleswell is one of those lovable priests that turn up in those old movies like Barry Fitzgeral, complete with an Irish accent and a twinkle in his eye. He plots and plans for his church. He also protects and loves his parishoners. He is disdainful of Protestants, and often at odds with the Mother Superior of the attached convent.

Every ½ hour that you spend in the parish come with laughs and affection. You will want to meet the other characters in this series and you are invited to do so and watch one of the best of light humor that comes directly from Britain of the 1950’s.

Battlestar Galactica - Season One

Universal Studios
DVD
Suggested Retail Price: $59.98 or as low as $44.99 from Amazon.com!

To the delight of fans of pop culture science fiction, the Sci-Fi Channel resurrected the 1970's television series Battlestar Galactica for the digital age. With this box set, you can start at the beginning when the 12 colonies of are almost destroyed by a hundred-year war with the Cylong Empire. Cylons are a race of cyborgs that were created by humans, only to have them rebel against their creators. After a prolonged period of truce during which humans had no contact with the Cylons, they have come back to complete their mission to destroy mankind. And now they're tough to spot because then can look just like us. Mary McDonald plays President Roslin and Edward James Olmos is Commander Adama. President Roslin took over when she was on a space ship that had escaped during the onslaught. The surviving humans now take off on a mission to find the mythical 13th Colony - Earth.

The drama that made the original popular is even more interesting here, and the increased budget for both special effects and casting has certainly paid dividends. Olmos is much more credible as a soldier than Lorne (Ben Cartwright) Greene could ever dream of being. There are several other satisfying twists on the original series, not the least of which is the sex change for the hotshot Viper pilot Starbuck. Dirk Benedict was handsome and charming, but newcomer Katee Sackhoff gives a surprisingly believable personna combining a young woman's sensibilities with the swagger of a Top Gun pilot. And for true titillation, there's just no match for the wicked Cylon temptress Number Six played by Tricia Helfer who is forever trying seduce the traitor Baltar, who is a renowned scientist in this incarnation of the tale, via telepathic illusions.

There are 13 episodes from Season 1 in this set. You also get the four hour television miniseries that started it all, plus other extras. Fans will be delighted to see this set with it’s behind the scenes peek and other bonus pieces.

Inspector Morse Collection Set 3

BFS
DVD
ISBN# 6302903386

John Thaw plays the part of chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately is his Sergeant Lewis. Lewis puts up with a lot from Morse including paying for his drinks at whenever they stop at a bar. Basically Sgt. Lewis knows that Morse is a genius at detective work and is learning much from him. It has been a great loss when both Thaw and his alter ego passed away. At least we have this excellent collection to remind us that the British media knows how best to present a mystery and a hero cop to solve it. Morse is a solitary man. He is also an Oxford detective who loves classical music, pretty ladies and beer. He is brilliant at solving crimes and crossword puzzles, but he sometime finds himself at odds with his bosses. Morse and Frost (another Brittish police detective) are my favorites. I never tire of watching Morse operate, and the plots that are written for him are miles above anything we turn out for TV these days. I am on Collection #3 and I look forward to watching, “Second Time Around” and “Fat Chance’ among This is a gold star set and Morse is still one of my number one favorites. (Frost is also my number one). Try it and enjoy it with me.