Well 2005 and I’m already slacking, a whole day off of my self-imposed deadline. I’ll blame it on that Top 10 and Top 20 lists that I did. But ya know what.missing this first Tuesday wasn’t much – there weren’t many releases of note, but boy that second week is a killer! Let’s get to it, ok folks…
January 4th, 2005
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2-Disc Collector’s Edition)
As happens too often in the biz of DVD – the second release is just so much better than the first release. This edition of ETERNAL SUNSHINE is a 2-disc loaded to the gills release with documentaries, a conversation between Carrey and Gondry, commentary with Gondry and Kaufman, deleted scenes – then on the second disc a look into who Michel Gondry is, break down of the Saratoga Avenue scene, more deleted and extended scenes and a conversation between Gondry and Winslet. For one of the best movies of 2004, it is absolutely worth taking your old dvd to a used shop and using that money towards the double-dip. This is too good to pass up.
TROY
Ok – here’s a film that it seems the online world has decided to just really shit on. While – I don’t feel it is a great film, there’s an awful lot of this movie that I really really like. I love Brad and Eric in the film. I hate Orlando, but then… we’re supposed to despise the character of Paris, he’s a fucking tool… and always has been. But then there’s Brendan Gleeson, Brian Cox and Peter O’Toole and Julie Christie – who are fantastic in their too short roles. Ultimately – I feel it was a terrible mistake to excise the “Gods” from the story, it’s part of what made Homer’s classic… well, Homer’s classic. One should never remove the legend from the bronze age. I want this disc for that Hector vs Achilles battle alone. But then there’s the behind the scenes, deleted scenes and well… I can always turn the dvd off before seeing the fucking dreadful ending again. While far from being a great film… there’s a lot to like as well.
January 11th, 2005
BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH / ONE DOWN TWO TO GO
Ok – first off – this double feature dvd will only cost ya $9. Now – ONE DOWN TWO TO GO stars Jim Brown, Fred “The Hammer” Williamson, Jim “Dragon” Kelly and Richard “Shaft” Roundtree. That’s 4 of the manliest men to ever take names and kick ass on the silver screen. Then, they kick all sorts of ass in that movie, which is pretty fun. BUT THEN… you get BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH – which has 4 Football Players turned Actors playing in this jewel of exploitation filmmaking. This is an unsung classic, and it is hardcore cool. Think back to The Rock’s bastardization of WALKING TALL. Same kinda plotline. These 4 come back to their small town after Vietnam to find the Klan getting all uppity. They decide to get all guerilla on the Klan’s ass and fuck those rascist sonsabitches up big time. I love this movie. Plays great with a drunk audience. It’s that type of film!
THE FIFTH ELEMENT – ULTIMATE EDITION
I love THE FIFTH ELEMENT. As a kid that had access to the original French version of Heavy Metal – this film just brought all that to life for me. This dvd is offering 2 hours of never before seen documentaries and behind the scenes. The disc has both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 – so the film will sound as good as ever. But frankly – I’ll be picking this one up for all the special features. Cuz – that’s what I love about DVD! Plus – it has the best cover art for the film yet. Lame reason, but I love sharp looking DVDs.
FIGHTING ELEGY – Criterion Collection
Seijun Suzuki is one of the discovered directors on DVD. The Cinematheque in Los Angeles screened some of his films and suddenly this forgotten director was remembered. In the past I’ve recommended some of his classics like BRANDED TO KILL, but this month we get two new Seijun films from Criterion – and this is exactly what that company does best… They find brilliant seldom seen classics and give them their branding which instantly adds them to the collections of many. Now this film is just fantastic. It’s filled with Suzuki’s wild angles and frames, but has this wonderfully bizarre satiric riff on fascism and big dick egotism. It’s fantastic. One of the jewels of the month.
IVANHOE
I love this movie. One of the best jousting movies of all time, and Sir Walter Scott’s story has never been told as lush and wonderfully as with Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor and George Sanders did here under Richard Thorpe’s direction. The beautiful technicolor and the rich lush score really make this movie come to life. The fight between Bois-Guilbert (Sanders) and Ivanhoe (Taylor) is second only to Charlton Heston’s amazing battle in EL CID. Just fantastic. IVANHOE is just one of the great stories and this is a great telling of it, though frankly there should be a version of this told with more modern dramatics and action, I will always cherish this ‘storybook’ telling of the tale.
KING SOLOMON’S MINES
This is one of the great adventure movies of all time. One of those films that still has the power to capture the imaginations of kids and adults. I played this one as one of my Saturday Morning Kids Club selections about a year ago and the kids were absolutely electrified by the adventure. This film shows a totally different Stewart Granger than what most folks think of when they think of him, and Deborah Kerr was just delicious in the film. Stewart plays H.R. Haggard’s immortal Allan Quartermain – and in this film he isn’t some dazed old cartoon of the character wandering aimlessly with supernatural marksmanship. No, here he’s a true adventurer. The movie picked up Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing back in 1951 and was nominated for Best Picture. Like I said earlier, this is one of the great adventure movies ever made.
LEON – THE PROFESSIONAL (Deluxe Edition)
This is one of those movies I’ve watched a zillion times, but I’ve kinda always wanted to see what Natalie Portman thought of this movie today – and on the second disk of this, there’s a cool feature that puts it in check for her. There’s a 10 year look back on the film, Jean Reno talking about it. In all – it’s a very very fine disc with the French edit of the film and a good deal of extras we haven’t had before. Plus – I really dig that black & white image of Leon on the cover, that’s sweet. That end sequence though… it’s the stuff of legend. Please Luc Besson, make movies again!
THE LETTER
This is one of the absolute best films of William Wyler’s directing career. I’ve recommended several of his films on here before, like: THE GOOD FAIRY (genius), DODSWORTH, DETECTIVE STORY, BEN HUR, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, ROMAN HOLIDAY, THE BIG COUNTRY and most recently HOW TO STEAL A MILLION… But arguably this could be his best movie. Not his most loved, that would easily be BEN HUR, but THE LETTER. It was based on Somerset Maugham’s fantastic play, got nominated for 7 Academy Awards – but had to go up against Hitchcock’s REBECCA, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, GRAPES OF WRATH and a host of other great movies. Back when the Oscars really had hard decisions to make. Well, THE LETTER is one of those red-headed step-children of a flick. This was early proto-Noir, the French didn’t come up with the term FILM NOIR till after WWII, but this was one of those films they saw after the shells stopped falling that sent them to create a term for this new type of cinema. THE LETTER is brilliant. If you’ve never seen it, it’ll really blow you away. Especially that Max Steiner score!
RANDOM HARVEST
I’m a sucker for a good melodrama – one of those movies that’s about giving you a puppy of hope before backing the car over it… hearing that squealing agonizing bark of pain… then the close up on the little girl tears. Actually – this is far more complicated than that – Essentially – the film is the sequel to A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT. Ronald Coleman plays a WW1 amnesiac officer that falls in love with a girl to build a new life. Things, of course, get complicated and… well, I wouldn’t dare spoil it. Melodramas are films that require you as an audience member to just hand yourself over to the story. To emotionally be silly putty reacting to every laugh, shock and tearjerk they throw at you. Personally, I love it. It was directed by directing maestro, Mervyn LeRoy!
SOME LIKE IT HOT (Special Edition)
I love special editions of classic cinema. Here on this disc we get Leonard Maltin sitting down with Tony Curtis and taking a look back on working with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. As all of you that followed my recommendation and picked up that brilliant Tony Curtis flick, THE BOSTON STRANGLER, his current interviews are an absolute wonderful time. Here – the combination of his delight at his memories and the pure enthusiasm and giddiness that Leonard is so obviously displaying at getting to sit down and talk with Tony… Well, it really is a delight. This is one of the greatest films… of all time – period. It’s Billy Wilder at the top of his game and well, it’s required viewing by the human race. Heh.
THAT MAN BOLT
Fred Williamson is just effortlessly cool. In THAT MAN BOLT – he’s a pure pulp inspired badass hired to take a bag from one place to another – and the whole world wants it and is willing to die for it, and Bolt is kind enough to oblige them all. The key additional cool person in the cast is Teresa Graves, who knows when the dishes are done.
THE VILLAGE
Of the four “spotlight” films from M. Night Shyamalan, this is probably the most universally disliked, however… I feel that the film was unjustly maligned by people that bought the ad campaign that mislabeled the film as a Thriller, when it was actually a political satire… but then how do you sell a political satire about the power of fear to control society and send it scurrying back into past abandoned repression and thoughts? Either way, I think the people that hated the film would just hate the film no matter what. It’ll be interesting to see if this film grows in appreciation on home video or not.
WHAT A WAY TO GO
This is one of those star studded silly as hell black comedies that just doesn’t get shown on TV hardly enough. It’s very funny – from the leaving millions to the IRS to the series of fantasy marriages shot in different cinematic fashions… Just look at the cast on the DVD box… Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly and Shirley MacLaine. Now that’s a cool cast! And this movie is definitely cool.
WILLIE DYNAMITE
This is a hilarious example of the pimp genre gone bad. Think of THE MACK – all the coolness Goldy had, all the hot women and how slick he was… Now reverse it. Willie is pretty fucking pathetic when ya get right down to it. In otherwords – he’s all messed up. Ultimately, while it is a pretty bad movie, it also happens to be pretty damn funny too, for those that find it so.
YOUTH OF THE BEAST – Criterion Collection
Ahhhh, the second Seijun Suzuki title of the day – and this one’s a doozy. This is a Suzuki’s riff on Yojimbo, but with a Yakuza flavor instead of swords. This is one of those surreal hot poppin’ technicolor fever dreams of a film. This is an all-caps CULT FILM of rare compare. From Go-Go Dancers to Gay Sadist Brothers to Evil Knitting Academies to… well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
January 18th, 2005
CASQUE D’OR
This is one of those French Film Noirs and this one is directed by Jacques Becker ta boot. Story has a criminal’s dame falling for a newly honest fella, which of course upsets the balance of the entire local criminal world and well – it gets intense as I’m sure you’d expect. This also happens to be one of the lushest black and white noir-ish movies you’ll ever see. Just a fantastic as well as being rarely seen. Another great Criterion release.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion Collection
One of the last great Kurosawa films finally gets the super deluxe Criterion treatment. In addition to a pristine print of KAGEMUSA the shadow warrior… You get a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film… then there’s the video interviews with Lucas and Coppola – who produced the film with Kurosawa and lent them all the help they could muster. Then there’s the part I’m dying for, which is a feature that reconstructs the whole film from Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches! Holy shit, I can’t wait to check that out!
THE THIEF
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
As happens too often in the biz of DVD – the second release is just so much better than the first release. This edition of ETERNAL SUNSHINE is a 2-disc loaded to the gills release with documentaries, a conversation between Carrey and Gondry, commentary with Gondry and Kaufman, deleted scenes – then on the second disc a look into who Michel Gondry is, break down of the Saratoga Avenue scene, more deleted and extended scenes and a conversation between Gondry and Winslet. For one of the best movies of 2004, it is absolutely worth taking your old dvd to a used shop and using that money towards the double-dip. This is too good to pass up.
TROY
Ok – here’s a film that it seems the online world has decided to just really shit on. While – I don’t feel it is a great film, there’s an awful lot of this movie that I really really like. I love Brad and Eric in the film. I hate Orlando, but then… we’re supposed to despise the character of Paris, he’s a fucking tool… and always has been. But then there’s Brendan Gleeson, Brian Cox and Peter O’Toole and Julie Christie – who are fantastic in their too short roles. Ultimately – I feel it was a terrible mistake to excise the “Gods” from the story, it’s part of what made Homer’s classic… well, Homer’s classic. One should never remove the legend from the bronze age. I want this disc for that Hector vs Achilles battle alone. But then there’s the behind the scenes, deleted scenes and well… I can always turn the dvd off before seeing the fucking dreadful ending again. While far from being a great film… there’s a lot to like as well.
January 11th, 2005
BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH / ONE DOWN TWO TO GO
Ok – first off – this double feature dvd will only cost ya $9. Now – ONE DOWN TWO TO GO stars Jim Brown, Fred “The Hammer” Williamson, Jim “Dragon” Kelly and Richard “Shaft” Roundtree. That’s 4 of the manliest men to ever take names and kick ass on the silver screen. Then, they kick all sorts of ass in that movie, which is pretty fun. BUT THEN… you get BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH – which has 4 Football Players turned Actors playing in this jewel of exploitation filmmaking. This is an unsung classic, and it is hardcore cool. Think back to The Rock’s bastardization of WALKING TALL. Same kinda plotline. These 4 come back to their small town after Vietnam to find the Klan getting all uppity. They decide to get all guerilla on the Klan’s ass and fuck those rascist sonsabitches up big time. I love this movie. Plays great with a drunk audience. It’s that type of film!
THE FIFTH ELEMENT – ULTIMATE EDITION
I love THE FIFTH ELEMENT. As a kid that had access to the original French version of Heavy Metal – this film just brought all that to life for me. This dvd is offering 2 hours of never before seen documentaries and behind the scenes. The disc has both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 – so the film will sound as good as ever. But frankly – I’ll be picking this one up for all the special features. Cuz – that’s what I love about DVD! Plus – it has the best cover art for the film yet. Lame reason, but I love sharp looking DVDs.
FIGHTING ELEGY – Criterion Collection
Seijun Suzuki is one of the discovered directors on DVD. The Cinematheque in Los Angeles screened some of his films and suddenly this forgotten director was remembered. In the past I’ve recommended some of his classics like BRANDED TO KILL, but this month we get two new Seijun films from Criterion – and this is exactly what that company does best… They find brilliant seldom seen classics and give them their branding which instantly adds them to the collections of many. Now this film is just fantastic. It’s filled with Suzuki’s wild angles and frames, but has this wonderfully bizarre satiric riff on fascism and big dick egotism. It’s fantastic. One of the jewels of the month.
IVANHOE
I love this movie. One of the best jousting movies of all time, and Sir Walter Scott’s story has never been told as lush and wonderfully as with Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor and George Sanders did here under Richard Thorpe’s direction. The beautiful technicolor and the rich lush score really make this movie come to life. The fight between Bois-Guilbert (Sanders) and Ivanhoe (Taylor) is second only to Charlton Heston’s amazing battle in EL CID. Just fantastic. IVANHOE is just one of the great stories and this is a great telling of it, though frankly there should be a version of this told with more modern dramatics and action, I will always cherish this ‘storybook’ telling of the tale.
KING SOLOMON’S MINES
This is one of the great adventure movies of all time. One of those films that still has the power to capture the imaginations of kids and adults. I played this one as one of my Saturday Morning Kids Club selections about a year ago and the kids were absolutely electrified by the adventure. This film shows a totally different Stewart Granger than what most folks think of when they think of him, and Deborah Kerr was just delicious in the film. Stewart plays H.R. Haggard’s immortal Allan Quartermain – and in this film he isn’t some dazed old cartoon of the character wandering aimlessly with supernatural marksmanship. No, here he’s a true adventurer. The movie picked up Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing back in 1951 and was nominated for Best Picture. Like I said earlier, this is one of the great adventure movies ever made.
LEON – THE PROFESSIONAL (Deluxe Edition)
This is one of those movies I’ve watched a zillion times, but I’ve kinda always wanted to see what Natalie Portman thought of this movie today – and on the second disk of this, there’s a cool feature that puts it in check for her. There’s a 10 year look back on the film, Jean Reno talking about it. In all – it’s a very very fine disc with the French edit of the film and a good deal of extras we haven’t had before. Plus – I really dig that black & white image of Leon on the cover, that’s sweet. That end sequence though… it’s the stuff of legend. Please Luc Besson, make movies again!
THE LETTER
This is one of the absolute best films of William Wyler’s directing career. I’ve recommended several of his films on here before, like: THE GOOD FAIRY (genius), DODSWORTH, DETECTIVE STORY, BEN HUR, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, ROMAN HOLIDAY, THE BIG COUNTRY and most recently HOW TO STEAL A MILLION… But arguably this could be his best movie. Not his most loved, that would easily be BEN HUR, but THE LETTER. It was based on Somerset Maugham’s fantastic play, got nominated for 7 Academy Awards – but had to go up against Hitchcock’s REBECCA, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, GRAPES OF WRATH and a host of other great movies. Back when the Oscars really had hard decisions to make. Well, THE LETTER is one of those red-headed step-children of a flick. This was early proto-Noir, the French didn’t come up with the term FILM NOIR till after WWII, but this was one of those films they saw after the shells stopped falling that sent them to create a term for this new type of cinema. THE LETTER is brilliant. If you’ve never seen it, it’ll really blow you away. Especially that Max Steiner score!
RANDOM HARVEST
I’m a sucker for a good melodrama – one of those movies that’s about giving you a puppy of hope before backing the car over it… hearing that squealing agonizing bark of pain… then the close up on the little girl tears. Actually – this is far more complicated than that – Essentially – the film is the sequel to A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT. Ronald Coleman plays a WW1 amnesiac officer that falls in love with a girl to build a new life. Things, of course, get complicated and… well, I wouldn’t dare spoil it. Melodramas are films that require you as an audience member to just hand yourself over to the story. To emotionally be silly putty reacting to every laugh, shock and tearjerk they throw at you. Personally, I love it. It was directed by directing maestro, Mervyn LeRoy!
SOME LIKE IT HOT (Special Edition)
I love special editions of classic cinema. Here on this disc we get Leonard Maltin sitting down with Tony Curtis and taking a look back on working with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. As all of you that followed my recommendation and picked up that brilliant Tony Curtis flick, THE BOSTON STRANGLER, his current interviews are an absolute wonderful time. Here – the combination of his delight at his memories and the pure enthusiasm and giddiness that Leonard is so obviously displaying at getting to sit down and talk with Tony… Well, it really is a delight. This is one of the greatest films… of all time – period. It’s Billy Wilder at the top of his game and well, it’s required viewing by the human race. Heh.
THAT MAN BOLT
Fred Williamson is just effortlessly cool. In THAT MAN BOLT – he’s a pure pulp inspired badass hired to take a bag from one place to another – and the whole world wants it and is willing to die for it, and Bolt is kind enough to oblige them all. The key additional cool person in the cast is Teresa Graves, who knows when the dishes are done.
THE VILLAGE
Of the four “spotlight” films from M. Night Shyamalan, this is probably the most universally disliked, however… I feel that the film was unjustly maligned by people that bought the ad campaign that mislabeled the film as a Thriller, when it was actually a political satire… but then how do you sell a political satire about the power of fear to control society and send it scurrying back into past abandoned repression and thoughts? Either way, I think the people that hated the film would just hate the film no matter what. It’ll be interesting to see if this film grows in appreciation on home video or not.
WHAT A WAY TO GO
This is one of those star studded silly as hell black comedies that just doesn’t get shown on TV hardly enough. It’s very funny – from the leaving millions to the IRS to the series of fantasy marriages shot in different cinematic fashions… Just look at the cast on the DVD box… Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly and Shirley MacLaine. Now that’s a cool cast! And this movie is definitely cool.
WILLIE DYNAMITE
This is a hilarious example of the pimp genre gone bad. Think of THE MACK – all the coolness Goldy had, all the hot women and how slick he was… Now reverse it. Willie is pretty fucking pathetic when ya get right down to it. In otherwords – he’s all messed up. Ultimately, while it is a pretty bad movie, it also happens to be pretty damn funny too, for those that find it so.
YOUTH OF THE BEAST – Criterion Collection
Ahhhh, the second Seijun Suzuki title of the day – and this one’s a doozy. This is a Suzuki’s riff on Yojimbo, but with a Yakuza flavor instead of swords. This is one of those surreal hot poppin’ technicolor fever dreams of a film. This is an all-caps CULT FILM of rare compare. From Go-Go Dancers to Gay Sadist Brothers to Evil Knitting Academies to… well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
January 18th, 2005
CASQUE D’OR
This is one of those French Film Noirs and this one is directed by Jacques Becker ta boot. Story has a criminal’s dame falling for a newly honest fella, which of course upsets the balance of the entire local criminal world and well – it gets intense as I’m sure you’d expect. This also happens to be one of the lushest black and white noir-ish movies you’ll ever see. Just a fantastic as well as being rarely seen. Another great Criterion release.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion Collection
One of the last great Kurosawa films finally gets the super deluxe Criterion treatment. In addition to a pristine print of KAGEMUSA the shadow warrior… You get a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film… then there’s the video interviews with Lucas and Coppola – who produced the film with Kurosawa and lent them all the help they could muster. Then there’s the part I’m dying for, which is a feature that reconstructs the whole film from Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches! Holy shit, I can’t wait to check that out!
THE THIEF
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH / ONE DOWN TWO TO GO
Ok – first off – this double feature dvd will only cost ya $9. Now – ONE DOWN TWO TO GO stars Jim Brown, Fred “The Hammer” Williamson, Jim “Dragon” Kelly and Richard “Shaft” Roundtree. That’s 4 of the manliest men to ever take names and kick ass on the silver screen. Then, they kick all sorts of ass in that movie, which is pretty fun. BUT THEN… you get BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH – which has 4 Football Players turned Actors playing in this jewel of exploitation filmmaking. This is an unsung classic, and it is hardcore cool. Think back to The Rock’s bastardization of WALKING TALL. Same kinda plotline. These 4 come back to their small town after Vietnam to find the Klan getting all uppity. They decide to get all guerilla on the Klan’s ass and fuck those rascist sonsabitches up big time. I love this movie. Plays great with a drunk audience. It’s that type of film!
THE FIFTH ELEMENT – ULTIMATE EDITION
I love THE FIFTH ELEMENT. As a kid that had access to the original French version of Heavy Metal – this film just brought all that to life for me. This dvd is offering 2 hours of never before seen documentaries and behind the scenes. The disc has both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 – so the film will sound as good as ever. But frankly – I’ll be picking this one up for all the special features. Cuz – that’s what I love about DVD! Plus – it has the best cover art for the film yet. Lame reason, but I love sharp looking DVDs.
FIGHTING ELEGY – Criterion Collection
Seijun Suzuki is one of the discovered directors on DVD. The Cinematheque in Los Angeles screened some of his films and suddenly this forgotten director was remembered. In the past I’ve recommended some of his classics like BRANDED TO KILL, but this month we get two new Seijun films from Criterion – and this is exactly what that company does best… They find brilliant seldom seen classics and give them their branding which instantly adds them to the collections of many. Now this film is just fantastic. It’s filled with Suzuki’s wild angles and frames, but has this wonderfully bizarre satiric riff on fascism and big dick egotism. It’s fantastic. One of the jewels of the month.
IVANHOE
I love this movie. One of the best jousting movies of all time, and Sir Walter Scott’s story has never been told as lush and wonderfully as with Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor and George Sanders did here under Richard Thorpe’s direction. The beautiful technicolor and the rich lush score really make this movie come to life. The fight between Bois-Guilbert (Sanders) and Ivanhoe (Taylor) is second only to Charlton Heston’s amazing battle in EL CID. Just fantastic. IVANHOE is just one of the great stories and this is a great telling of it, though frankly there should be a version of this told with more modern dramatics and action, I will always cherish this ‘storybook’ telling of the tale.
KING SOLOMON’S MINES
This is one of the great adventure movies of all time. One of those films that still has the power to capture the imaginations of kids and adults. I played this one as one of my Saturday Morning Kids Club selections about a year ago and the kids were absolutely electrified by the adventure. This film shows a totally different Stewart Granger than what most folks think of when they think of him, and Deborah Kerr was just delicious in the film. Stewart plays H.R. Haggard’s immortal Allan Quartermain – and in this film he isn’t some dazed old cartoon of the character wandering aimlessly with supernatural marksmanship. No, here he’s a true adventurer. The movie picked up Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing back in 1951 and was nominated for Best Picture. Like I said earlier, this is one of the great adventure movies ever made.
LEON – THE PROFESSIONAL (Deluxe Edition)
This is one of those movies I’ve watched a zillion times, but I’ve kinda always wanted to see what Natalie Portman thought of this movie today – and on the second disk of this, there’s a cool feature that puts it in check for her. There’s a 10 year look back on the film, Jean Reno talking about it. In all – it’s a very very fine disc with the French edit of the film and a good deal of extras we haven’t had before. Plus – I really dig that black & white image of Leon on the cover, that’s sweet. That end sequence though… it’s the stuff of legend. Please Luc Besson, make movies again!
THE LETTER
This is one of the absolute best films of William Wyler’s directing career. I’ve recommended several of his films on here before, like: THE GOOD FAIRY (genius), DODSWORTH, DETECTIVE STORY, BEN HUR, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, ROMAN HOLIDAY, THE BIG COUNTRY and most recently HOW TO STEAL A MILLION… But arguably this could be his best movie. Not his most loved, that would easily be BEN HUR, but THE LETTER. It was based on Somerset Maugham’s fantastic play, got nominated for 7 Academy Awards – but had to go up against Hitchcock’s REBECCA, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, GRAPES OF WRATH and a host of other great movies. Back when the Oscars really had hard decisions to make. Well, THE LETTER is one of those red-headed step-children of a flick. This was early proto-Noir, the French didn’t come up with the term FILM NOIR till after WWII, but this was one of those films they saw after the shells stopped falling that sent them to create a term for this new type of cinema. THE LETTER is brilliant. If you’ve never seen it, it’ll really blow you away. Especially that Max Steiner score!
RANDOM HARVEST
I’m a sucker for a good melodrama – one of those movies that’s about giving you a puppy of hope before backing the car over it… hearing that squealing agonizing bark of pain… then the close up on the little girl tears. Actually – this is far more complicated than that – Essentially – the film is the sequel to A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT. Ronald Coleman plays a WW1 amnesiac officer that falls in love with a girl to build a new life. Things, of course, get complicated and… well, I wouldn’t dare spoil it. Melodramas are films that require you as an audience member to just hand yourself over to the story. To emotionally be silly putty reacting to every laugh, shock and tearjerk they throw at you. Personally, I love it. It was directed by directing maestro, Mervyn LeRoy!
SOME LIKE IT HOT (Special Edition)
I love special editions of classic cinema. Here on this disc we get Leonard Maltin sitting down with Tony Curtis and taking a look back on working with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. As all of you that followed my recommendation and picked up that brilliant Tony Curtis flick, THE BOSTON STRANGLER, his current interviews are an absolute wonderful time. Here – the combination of his delight at his memories and the pure enthusiasm and giddiness that Leonard is so obviously displaying at getting to sit down and talk with Tony… Well, it really is a delight. This is one of the greatest films… of all time – period. It’s Billy Wilder at the top of his game and well, it’s required viewing by the human race. Heh.
THAT MAN BOLT
Fred Williamson is just effortlessly cool. In THAT MAN BOLT – he’s a pure pulp inspired badass hired to take a bag from one place to another – and the whole world wants it and is willing to die for it, and Bolt is kind enough to oblige them all. The key additional cool person in the cast is Teresa Graves, who knows when the dishes are done.
THE VILLAGE
Of the four “spotlight” films from M. Night Shyamalan, this is probably the most universally disliked, however… I feel that the film was unjustly maligned by people that bought the ad campaign that mislabeled the film as a Thriller, when it was actually a political satire… but then how do you sell a political satire about the power of fear to control society and send it scurrying back into past abandoned repression and thoughts? Either way, I think the people that hated the film would just hate the film no matter what. It’ll be interesting to see if this film grows in appreciation on home video or not.
WHAT A WAY TO GO
This is one of those star studded silly as hell black comedies that just doesn’t get shown on TV hardly enough. It’s very funny – from the leaving millions to the IRS to the series of fantasy marriages shot in different cinematic fashions… Just look at the cast on the DVD box… Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly and Shirley MacLaine. Now that’s a cool cast! And this movie is definitely cool.
WILLIE DYNAMITE
This is a hilarious example of the pimp genre gone bad. Think of THE MACK – all the coolness Goldy had, all the hot women and how slick he was… Now reverse it. Willie is pretty fucking pathetic when ya get right down to it. In otherwords – he’s all messed up. Ultimately, while it is a pretty bad movie, it also happens to be pretty damn funny too, for those that find it so.
YOUTH OF THE BEAST – Criterion Collection
Ahhhh, the second Seijun Suzuki title of the day – and this one’s a doozy. This is a Suzuki’s riff on Yojimbo, but with a Yakuza flavor instead of swords. This is one of those surreal hot poppin’ technicolor fever dreams of a film. This is an all-caps CULT FILM of rare compare. From Go-Go Dancers to Gay Sadist Brothers to Evil Knitting Academies to… well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
January 18th, 2005
CASQUE D’OR
This is one of those French Film Noirs and this one is directed by Jacques Becker ta boot. Story has a criminal’s dame falling for a newly honest fella, which of course upsets the balance of the entire local criminal world and well – it gets intense as I’m sure you’d expect. This also happens to be one of the lushest black and white noir-ish movies you’ll ever see. Just a fantastic as well as being rarely seen. Another great Criterion release.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion Collection
One of the last great Kurosawa films finally gets the super deluxe Criterion treatment. In addition to a pristine print of KAGEMUSA the shadow warrior… You get a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film… then there’s the video interviews with Lucas and Coppola – who produced the film with Kurosawa and lent them all the help they could muster. Then there’s the part I’m dying for, which is a feature that reconstructs the whole film from Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches! Holy shit, I can’t wait to check that out!
THE THIEF
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
I love THE FIFTH ELEMENT. As a kid that had access to the original French version of Heavy Metal – this film just brought all that to life for me. This dvd is offering 2 hours of never before seen documentaries and behind the scenes. The disc has both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 – so the film will sound as good as ever. But frankly – I’ll be picking this one up for all the special features. Cuz – that’s what I love about DVD! Plus – it has the best cover art for the film yet. Lame reason, but I love sharp looking DVDs.
FIGHTING ELEGY – Criterion Collection
Seijun Suzuki is one of the discovered directors on DVD. The Cinematheque in Los Angeles screened some of his films and suddenly this forgotten director was remembered. In the past I’ve recommended some of his classics like BRANDED TO KILL, but this month we get two new Seijun films from Criterion – and this is exactly what that company does best… They find brilliant seldom seen classics and give them their branding which instantly adds them to the collections of many. Now this film is just fantastic. It’s filled with Suzuki’s wild angles and frames, but has this wonderfully bizarre satiric riff on fascism and big dick egotism. It’s fantastic. One of the jewels of the month.
IVANHOE
I love this movie. One of the best jousting movies of all time, and Sir Walter Scott’s story has never been told as lush and wonderfully as with Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor and George Sanders did here under Richard Thorpe’s direction. The beautiful technicolor and the rich lush score really make this movie come to life. The fight between Bois-Guilbert (Sanders) and Ivanhoe (Taylor) is second only to Charlton Heston’s amazing battle in EL CID. Just fantastic. IVANHOE is just one of the great stories and this is a great telling of it, though frankly there should be a version of this told with more modern dramatics and action, I will always cherish this ‘storybook’ telling of the tale.
KING SOLOMON’S MINES
This is one of the great adventure movies of all time. One of those films that still has the power to capture the imaginations of kids and adults. I played this one as one of my Saturday Morning Kids Club selections about a year ago and the kids were absolutely electrified by the adventure. This film shows a totally different Stewart Granger than what most folks think of when they think of him, and Deborah Kerr was just delicious in the film. Stewart plays H.R. Haggard’s immortal Allan Quartermain – and in this film he isn’t some dazed old cartoon of the character wandering aimlessly with supernatural marksmanship. No, here he’s a true adventurer. The movie picked up Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing back in 1951 and was nominated for Best Picture. Like I said earlier, this is one of the great adventure movies ever made.
LEON – THE PROFESSIONAL (Deluxe Edition)
This is one of those movies I’ve watched a zillion times, but I’ve kinda always wanted to see what Natalie Portman thought of this movie today – and on the second disk of this, there’s a cool feature that puts it in check for her. There’s a 10 year look back on the film, Jean Reno talking about it. In all – it’s a very very fine disc with the French edit of the film and a good deal of extras we haven’t had before. Plus – I really dig that black & white image of Leon on the cover, that’s sweet. That end sequence though… it’s the stuff of legend. Please Luc Besson, make movies again!
THE LETTER
This is one of the absolute best films of William Wyler’s directing career. I’ve recommended several of his films on here before, like: THE GOOD FAIRY (genius), DODSWORTH, DETECTIVE STORY, BEN HUR, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, ROMAN HOLIDAY, THE BIG COUNTRY and most recently HOW TO STEAL A MILLION… But arguably this could be his best movie. Not his most loved, that would easily be BEN HUR, but THE LETTER. It was based on Somerset Maugham’s fantastic play, got nominated for 7 Academy Awards – but had to go up against Hitchcock’s REBECCA, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, GRAPES OF WRATH and a host of other great movies. Back when the Oscars really had hard decisions to make. Well, THE LETTER is one of those red-headed step-children of a flick. This was early proto-Noir, the French didn’t come up with the term FILM NOIR till after WWII, but this was one of those films they saw after the shells stopped falling that sent them to create a term for this new type of cinema. THE LETTER is brilliant. If you’ve never seen it, it’ll really blow you away. Especially that Max Steiner score!
RANDOM HARVEST
I’m a sucker for a good melodrama – one of those movies that’s about giving you a puppy of hope before backing the car over it… hearing that squealing agonizing bark of pain… then the close up on the little girl tears. Actually – this is far more complicated than that – Essentially – the film is the sequel to A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT. Ronald Coleman plays a WW1 amnesiac officer that falls in love with a girl to build a new life. Things, of course, get complicated and… well, I wouldn’t dare spoil it. Melodramas are films that require you as an audience member to just hand yourself over to the story. To emotionally be silly putty reacting to every laugh, shock and tearjerk they throw at you. Personally, I love it. It was directed by directing maestro, Mervyn LeRoy!
SOME LIKE IT HOT (Special Edition)
I love special editions of classic cinema. Here on this disc we get Leonard Maltin sitting down with Tony Curtis and taking a look back on working with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. As all of you that followed my recommendation and picked up that brilliant Tony Curtis flick, THE BOSTON STRANGLER, his current interviews are an absolute wonderful time. Here – the combination of his delight at his memories and the pure enthusiasm and giddiness that Leonard is so obviously displaying at getting to sit down and talk with Tony… Well, it really is a delight. This is one of the greatest films… of all time – period. It’s Billy Wilder at the top of his game and well, it’s required viewing by the human race. Heh.
THAT MAN BOLT
Fred Williamson is just effortlessly cool. In THAT MAN BOLT – he’s a pure pulp inspired badass hired to take a bag from one place to another – and the whole world wants it and is willing to die for it, and Bolt is kind enough to oblige them all. The key additional cool person in the cast is Teresa Graves, who knows when the dishes are done.
THE VILLAGE
Of the four “spotlight” films from M. Night Shyamalan, this is probably the most universally disliked, however… I feel that the film was unjustly maligned by people that bought the ad campaign that mislabeled the film as a Thriller, when it was actually a political satire… but then how do you sell a political satire about the power of fear to control society and send it scurrying back into past abandoned repression and thoughts? Either way, I think the people that hated the film would just hate the film no matter what. It’ll be interesting to see if this film grows in appreciation on home video or not.
WHAT A WAY TO GO
This is one of those star studded silly as hell black comedies that just doesn’t get shown on TV hardly enough. It’s very funny – from the leaving millions to the IRS to the series of fantasy marriages shot in different cinematic fashions… Just look at the cast on the DVD box… Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly and Shirley MacLaine. Now that’s a cool cast! And this movie is definitely cool.
WILLIE DYNAMITE
This is a hilarious example of the pimp genre gone bad. Think of THE MACK – all the coolness Goldy had, all the hot women and how slick he was… Now reverse it. Willie is pretty fucking pathetic when ya get right down to it. In otherwords – he’s all messed up. Ultimately, while it is a pretty bad movie, it also happens to be pretty damn funny too, for those that find it so.
YOUTH OF THE BEAST – Criterion Collection
Ahhhh, the second Seijun Suzuki title of the day – and this one’s a doozy. This is a Suzuki’s riff on Yojimbo, but with a Yakuza flavor instead of swords. This is one of those surreal hot poppin’ technicolor fever dreams of a film. This is an all-caps CULT FILM of rare compare. From Go-Go Dancers to Gay Sadist Brothers to Evil Knitting Academies to… well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
January 18th, 2005
CASQUE D’OR
This is one of those French Film Noirs and this one is directed by Jacques Becker ta boot. Story has a criminal’s dame falling for a newly honest fella, which of course upsets the balance of the entire local criminal world and well – it gets intense as I’m sure you’d expect. This also happens to be one of the lushest black and white noir-ish movies you’ll ever see. Just a fantastic as well as being rarely seen. Another great Criterion release.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion Collection
One of the last great Kurosawa films finally gets the super deluxe Criterion treatment. In addition to a pristine print of KAGEMUSA the shadow warrior… You get a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film… then there’s the video interviews with Lucas and Coppola – who produced the film with Kurosawa and lent them all the help they could muster. Then there’s the part I’m dying for, which is a feature that reconstructs the whole film from Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches! Holy shit, I can’t wait to check that out!
THE THIEF
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
I love this movie. One of the best jousting movies of all time, and Sir Walter Scott’s story has never been told as lush and wonderfully as with Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor and George Sanders did here under Richard Thorpe’s direction. The beautiful technicolor and the rich lush score really make this movie come to life. The fight between Bois-Guilbert (Sanders) and Ivanhoe (Taylor) is second only to Charlton Heston’s amazing battle in EL CID. Just fantastic. IVANHOE is just one of the great stories and this is a great telling of it, though frankly there should be a version of this told with more modern dramatics and action, I will always cherish this ‘storybook’ telling of the tale.
KING SOLOMON’S MINES
This is one of the great adventure movies of all time. One of those films that still has the power to capture the imaginations of kids and adults. I played this one as one of my Saturday Morning Kids Club selections about a year ago and the kids were absolutely electrified by the adventure. This film shows a totally different Stewart Granger than what most folks think of when they think of him, and Deborah Kerr was just delicious in the film. Stewart plays H.R. Haggard’s immortal Allan Quartermain – and in this film he isn’t some dazed old cartoon of the character wandering aimlessly with supernatural marksmanship. No, here he’s a true adventurer. The movie picked up Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing back in 1951 and was nominated for Best Picture. Like I said earlier, this is one of the great adventure movies ever made.
LEON – THE PROFESSIONAL (Deluxe Edition)
This is one of those movies I’ve watched a zillion times, but I’ve kinda always wanted to see what Natalie Portman thought of this movie today – and on the second disk of this, there’s a cool feature that puts it in check for her. There’s a 10 year look back on the film, Jean Reno talking about it. In all – it’s a very very fine disc with the French edit of the film and a good deal of extras we haven’t had before. Plus – I really dig that black & white image of Leon on the cover, that’s sweet. That end sequence though… it’s the stuff of legend. Please Luc Besson, make movies again!
THE LETTER
This is one of the absolute best films of William Wyler’s directing career. I’ve recommended several of his films on here before, like: THE GOOD FAIRY (genius), DODSWORTH, DETECTIVE STORY, BEN HUR, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, ROMAN HOLIDAY, THE BIG COUNTRY and most recently HOW TO STEAL A MILLION… But arguably this could be his best movie. Not his most loved, that would easily be BEN HUR, but THE LETTER. It was based on Somerset Maugham’s fantastic play, got nominated for 7 Academy Awards – but had to go up against Hitchcock’s REBECCA, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, GRAPES OF WRATH and a host of other great movies. Back when the Oscars really had hard decisions to make. Well, THE LETTER is one of those red-headed step-children of a flick. This was early proto-Noir, the French didn’t come up with the term FILM NOIR till after WWII, but this was one of those films they saw after the shells stopped falling that sent them to create a term for this new type of cinema. THE LETTER is brilliant. If you’ve never seen it, it’ll really blow you away. Especially that Max Steiner score!
RANDOM HARVEST
I’m a sucker for a good melodrama – one of those movies that’s about giving you a puppy of hope before backing the car over it… hearing that squealing agonizing bark of pain… then the close up on the little girl tears. Actually – this is far more complicated than that – Essentially – the film is the sequel to A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT. Ronald Coleman plays a WW1 amnesiac officer that falls in love with a girl to build a new life. Things, of course, get complicated and… well, I wouldn’t dare spoil it. Melodramas are films that require you as an audience member to just hand yourself over to the story. To emotionally be silly putty reacting to every laugh, shock and tearjerk they throw at you. Personally, I love it. It was directed by directing maestro, Mervyn LeRoy!
SOME LIKE IT HOT (Special Edition)
I love special editions of classic cinema. Here on this disc we get Leonard Maltin sitting down with Tony Curtis and taking a look back on working with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. As all of you that followed my recommendation and picked up that brilliant Tony Curtis flick, THE BOSTON STRANGLER, his current interviews are an absolute wonderful time. Here – the combination of his delight at his memories and the pure enthusiasm and giddiness that Leonard is so obviously displaying at getting to sit down and talk with Tony… Well, it really is a delight. This is one of the greatest films… of all time – period. It’s Billy Wilder at the top of his game and well, it’s required viewing by the human race. Heh.
THAT MAN BOLT
Fred Williamson is just effortlessly cool. In THAT MAN BOLT – he’s a pure pulp inspired badass hired to take a bag from one place to another – and the whole world wants it and is willing to die for it, and Bolt is kind enough to oblige them all. The key additional cool person in the cast is Teresa Graves, who knows when the dishes are done.
THE VILLAGE
Of the four “spotlight” films from M. Night Shyamalan, this is probably the most universally disliked, however… I feel that the film was unjustly maligned by people that bought the ad campaign that mislabeled the film as a Thriller, when it was actually a political satire… but then how do you sell a political satire about the power of fear to control society and send it scurrying back into past abandoned repression and thoughts? Either way, I think the people that hated the film would just hate the film no matter what. It’ll be interesting to see if this film grows in appreciation on home video or not.
WHAT A WAY TO GO
This is one of those star studded silly as hell black comedies that just doesn’t get shown on TV hardly enough. It’s very funny – from the leaving millions to the IRS to the series of fantasy marriages shot in different cinematic fashions… Just look at the cast on the DVD box… Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly and Shirley MacLaine. Now that’s a cool cast! And this movie is definitely cool.
WILLIE DYNAMITE
This is a hilarious example of the pimp genre gone bad. Think of THE MACK – all the coolness Goldy had, all the hot women and how slick he was… Now reverse it. Willie is pretty fucking pathetic when ya get right down to it. In otherwords – he’s all messed up. Ultimately, while it is a pretty bad movie, it also happens to be pretty damn funny too, for those that find it so.
YOUTH OF THE BEAST – Criterion Collection
Ahhhh, the second Seijun Suzuki title of the day – and this one’s a doozy. This is a Suzuki’s riff on Yojimbo, but with a Yakuza flavor instead of swords. This is one of those surreal hot poppin’ technicolor fever dreams of a film. This is an all-caps CULT FILM of rare compare. From Go-Go Dancers to Gay Sadist Brothers to Evil Knitting Academies to… well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
January 18th, 2005
CASQUE D’OR
This is one of those French Film Noirs and this one is directed by Jacques Becker ta boot. Story has a criminal’s dame falling for a newly honest fella, which of course upsets the balance of the entire local criminal world and well – it gets intense as I’m sure you’d expect. This also happens to be one of the lushest black and white noir-ish movies you’ll ever see. Just a fantastic as well as being rarely seen. Another great Criterion release.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion Collection
One of the last great Kurosawa films finally gets the super deluxe Criterion treatment. In addition to a pristine print of KAGEMUSA the shadow warrior… You get a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film… then there’s the video interviews with Lucas and Coppola – who produced the film with Kurosawa and lent them all the help they could muster. Then there’s the part I’m dying for, which is a feature that reconstructs the whole film from Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches! Holy shit, I can’t wait to check that out!
THE THIEF
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
This is one of those movies I’ve watched a zillion times, but I’ve kinda always wanted to see what Natalie Portman thought of this movie today – and on the second disk of this, there’s a cool feature that puts it in check for her. There’s a 10 year look back on the film, Jean Reno talking about it. In all – it’s a very very fine disc with the French edit of the film and a good deal of extras we haven’t had before. Plus – I really dig that black & white image of Leon on the cover, that’s sweet. That end sequence though… it’s the stuff of legend. Please Luc Besson, make movies again!
THE LETTER
This is one of the absolute best films of William Wyler’s directing career. I’ve recommended several of his films on here before, like: THE GOOD FAIRY (genius), DODSWORTH, DETECTIVE STORY, BEN HUR, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, ROMAN HOLIDAY, THE BIG COUNTRY and most recently HOW TO STEAL A MILLION… But arguably this could be his best movie. Not his most loved, that would easily be BEN HUR, but THE LETTER. It was based on Somerset Maugham’s fantastic play, got nominated for 7 Academy Awards – but had to go up against Hitchcock’s REBECCA, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, GRAPES OF WRATH and a host of other great movies. Back when the Oscars really had hard decisions to make. Well, THE LETTER is one of those red-headed step-children of a flick. This was early proto-Noir, the French didn’t come up with the term FILM NOIR till after WWII, but this was one of those films they saw after the shells stopped falling that sent them to create a term for this new type of cinema. THE LETTER is brilliant. If you’ve never seen it, it’ll really blow you away. Especially that Max Steiner score!
RANDOM HARVEST
I’m a sucker for a good melodrama – one of those movies that’s about giving you a puppy of hope before backing the car over it… hearing that squealing agonizing bark of pain… then the close up on the little girl tears. Actually – this is far more complicated than that – Essentially – the film is the sequel to A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT. Ronald Coleman plays a WW1 amnesiac officer that falls in love with a girl to build a new life. Things, of course, get complicated and… well, I wouldn’t dare spoil it. Melodramas are films that require you as an audience member to just hand yourself over to the story. To emotionally be silly putty reacting to every laugh, shock and tearjerk they throw at you. Personally, I love it. It was directed by directing maestro, Mervyn LeRoy!
SOME LIKE IT HOT (Special Edition)
I love special editions of classic cinema. Here on this disc we get Leonard Maltin sitting down with Tony Curtis and taking a look back on working with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. As all of you that followed my recommendation and picked up that brilliant Tony Curtis flick, THE BOSTON STRANGLER, his current interviews are an absolute wonderful time. Here – the combination of his delight at his memories and the pure enthusiasm and giddiness that Leonard is so obviously displaying at getting to sit down and talk with Tony… Well, it really is a delight. This is one of the greatest films… of all time – period. It’s Billy Wilder at the top of his game and well, it’s required viewing by the human race. Heh.
THAT MAN BOLT
Fred Williamson is just effortlessly cool. In THAT MAN BOLT – he’s a pure pulp inspired badass hired to take a bag from one place to another – and the whole world wants it and is willing to die for it, and Bolt is kind enough to oblige them all. The key additional cool person in the cast is Teresa Graves, who knows when the dishes are done.
THE VILLAGE
Of the four “spotlight” films from M. Night Shyamalan, this is probably the most universally disliked, however… I feel that the film was unjustly maligned by people that bought the ad campaign that mislabeled the film as a Thriller, when it was actually a political satire… but then how do you sell a political satire about the power of fear to control society and send it scurrying back into past abandoned repression and thoughts? Either way, I think the people that hated the film would just hate the film no matter what. It’ll be interesting to see if this film grows in appreciation on home video or not.
WHAT A WAY TO GO
This is one of those star studded silly as hell black comedies that just doesn’t get shown on TV hardly enough. It’s very funny – from the leaving millions to the IRS to the series of fantasy marriages shot in different cinematic fashions… Just look at the cast on the DVD box… Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly and Shirley MacLaine. Now that’s a cool cast! And this movie is definitely cool.
WILLIE DYNAMITE
This is a hilarious example of the pimp genre gone bad. Think of THE MACK – all the coolness Goldy had, all the hot women and how slick he was… Now reverse it. Willie is pretty fucking pathetic when ya get right down to it. In otherwords – he’s all messed up. Ultimately, while it is a pretty bad movie, it also happens to be pretty damn funny too, for those that find it so.
YOUTH OF THE BEAST – Criterion Collection
Ahhhh, the second Seijun Suzuki title of the day – and this one’s a doozy. This is a Suzuki’s riff on Yojimbo, but with a Yakuza flavor instead of swords. This is one of those surreal hot poppin’ technicolor fever dreams of a film. This is an all-caps CULT FILM of rare compare. From Go-Go Dancers to Gay Sadist Brothers to Evil Knitting Academies to… well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
January 18th, 2005
CASQUE D’OR
This is one of those French Film Noirs and this one is directed by Jacques Becker ta boot. Story has a criminal’s dame falling for a newly honest fella, which of course upsets the balance of the entire local criminal world and well – it gets intense as I’m sure you’d expect. This also happens to be one of the lushest black and white noir-ish movies you’ll ever see. Just a fantastic as well as being rarely seen. Another great Criterion release.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion Collection
One of the last great Kurosawa films finally gets the super deluxe Criterion treatment. In addition to a pristine print of KAGEMUSA the shadow warrior… You get a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film… then there’s the video interviews with Lucas and Coppola – who produced the film with Kurosawa and lent them all the help they could muster. Then there’s the part I’m dying for, which is a feature that reconstructs the whole film from Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches! Holy shit, I can’t wait to check that out!
THE THIEF
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
I’m a sucker for a good melodrama – one of those movies that’s about giving you a puppy of hope before backing the car over it… hearing that squealing agonizing bark of pain… then the close up on the little girl tears. Actually – this is far more complicated than that – Essentially – the film is the sequel to A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT. Ronald Coleman plays a WW1 amnesiac officer that falls in love with a girl to build a new life. Things, of course, get complicated and… well, I wouldn’t dare spoil it. Melodramas are films that require you as an audience member to just hand yourself over to the story. To emotionally be silly putty reacting to every laugh, shock and tearjerk they throw at you. Personally, I love it. It was directed by directing maestro, Mervyn LeRoy!
SOME LIKE IT HOT (Special Edition)
I love special editions of classic cinema. Here on this disc we get Leonard Maltin sitting down with Tony Curtis and taking a look back on working with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. As all of you that followed my recommendation and picked up that brilliant Tony Curtis flick, THE BOSTON STRANGLER, his current interviews are an absolute wonderful time. Here – the combination of his delight at his memories and the pure enthusiasm and giddiness that Leonard is so obviously displaying at getting to sit down and talk with Tony… Well, it really is a delight. This is one of the greatest films… of all time – period. It’s Billy Wilder at the top of his game and well, it’s required viewing by the human race. Heh.
THAT MAN BOLT
Fred Williamson is just effortlessly cool. In THAT MAN BOLT – he’s a pure pulp inspired badass hired to take a bag from one place to another – and the whole world wants it and is willing to die for it, and Bolt is kind enough to oblige them all. The key additional cool person in the cast is Teresa Graves, who knows when the dishes are done.
THE VILLAGE
Of the four “spotlight” films from M. Night Shyamalan, this is probably the most universally disliked, however… I feel that the film was unjustly maligned by people that bought the ad campaign that mislabeled the film as a Thriller, when it was actually a political satire… but then how do you sell a political satire about the power of fear to control society and send it scurrying back into past abandoned repression and thoughts? Either way, I think the people that hated the film would just hate the film no matter what. It’ll be interesting to see if this film grows in appreciation on home video or not.
WHAT A WAY TO GO
This is one of those star studded silly as hell black comedies that just doesn’t get shown on TV hardly enough. It’s very funny – from the leaving millions to the IRS to the series of fantasy marriages shot in different cinematic fashions… Just look at the cast on the DVD box… Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly and Shirley MacLaine. Now that’s a cool cast! And this movie is definitely cool.
WILLIE DYNAMITE
This is a hilarious example of the pimp genre gone bad. Think of THE MACK – all the coolness Goldy had, all the hot women and how slick he was… Now reverse it. Willie is pretty fucking pathetic when ya get right down to it. In otherwords – he’s all messed up. Ultimately, while it is a pretty bad movie, it also happens to be pretty damn funny too, for those that find it so.
YOUTH OF THE BEAST – Criterion Collection
Ahhhh, the second Seijun Suzuki title of the day – and this one’s a doozy. This is a Suzuki’s riff on Yojimbo, but with a Yakuza flavor instead of swords. This is one of those surreal hot poppin’ technicolor fever dreams of a film. This is an all-caps CULT FILM of rare compare. From Go-Go Dancers to Gay Sadist Brothers to Evil Knitting Academies to… well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
January 18th, 2005
CASQUE D’OR
This is one of those French Film Noirs and this one is directed by Jacques Becker ta boot. Story has a criminal’s dame falling for a newly honest fella, which of course upsets the balance of the entire local criminal world and well – it gets intense as I’m sure you’d expect. This also happens to be one of the lushest black and white noir-ish movies you’ll ever see. Just a fantastic as well as being rarely seen. Another great Criterion release.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion Collection
One of the last great Kurosawa films finally gets the super deluxe Criterion treatment. In addition to a pristine print of KAGEMUSA the shadow warrior… You get a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film… then there’s the video interviews with Lucas and Coppola – who produced the film with Kurosawa and lent them all the help they could muster. Then there’s the part I’m dying for, which is a feature that reconstructs the whole film from Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches! Holy shit, I can’t wait to check that out!
THE THIEF
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
Fred Williamson is just effortlessly cool. In THAT MAN BOLT – he’s a pure pulp inspired badass hired to take a bag from one place to another – and the whole world wants it and is willing to die for it, and Bolt is kind enough to oblige them all. The key additional cool person in the cast is Teresa Graves, who knows when the dishes are done.
THE VILLAGE
Of the four “spotlight” films from M. Night Shyamalan, this is probably the most universally disliked, however… I feel that the film was unjustly maligned by people that bought the ad campaign that mislabeled the film as a Thriller, when it was actually a political satire… but then how do you sell a political satire about the power of fear to control society and send it scurrying back into past abandoned repression and thoughts? Either way, I think the people that hated the film would just hate the film no matter what. It’ll be interesting to see if this film grows in appreciation on home video or not.
WHAT A WAY TO GO
This is one of those star studded silly as hell black comedies that just doesn’t get shown on TV hardly enough. It’s very funny – from the leaving millions to the IRS to the series of fantasy marriages shot in different cinematic fashions… Just look at the cast on the DVD box… Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly and Shirley MacLaine. Now that’s a cool cast! And this movie is definitely cool.
WILLIE DYNAMITE
This is a hilarious example of the pimp genre gone bad. Think of THE MACK – all the coolness Goldy had, all the hot women and how slick he was… Now reverse it. Willie is pretty fucking pathetic when ya get right down to it. In otherwords – he’s all messed up. Ultimately, while it is a pretty bad movie, it also happens to be pretty damn funny too, for those that find it so.
YOUTH OF THE BEAST – Criterion Collection
Ahhhh, the second Seijun Suzuki title of the day – and this one’s a doozy. This is a Suzuki’s riff on Yojimbo, but with a Yakuza flavor instead of swords. This is one of those surreal hot poppin’ technicolor fever dreams of a film. This is an all-caps CULT FILM of rare compare. From Go-Go Dancers to Gay Sadist Brothers to Evil Knitting Academies to… well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
January 18th, 2005
CASQUE D’OR
This is one of those French Film Noirs and this one is directed by Jacques Becker ta boot. Story has a criminal’s dame falling for a newly honest fella, which of course upsets the balance of the entire local criminal world and well – it gets intense as I’m sure you’d expect. This also happens to be one of the lushest black and white noir-ish movies you’ll ever see. Just a fantastic as well as being rarely seen. Another great Criterion release.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion Collection
One of the last great Kurosawa films finally gets the super deluxe Criterion treatment. In addition to a pristine print of KAGEMUSA the shadow warrior… You get a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film… then there’s the video interviews with Lucas and Coppola – who produced the film with Kurosawa and lent them all the help they could muster. Then there’s the part I’m dying for, which is a feature that reconstructs the whole film from Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches! Holy shit, I can’t wait to check that out!
THE THIEF
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
This is one of those star studded silly as hell black comedies that just doesn’t get shown on TV hardly enough. It’s very funny – from the leaving millions to the IRS to the series of fantasy marriages shot in different cinematic fashions… Just look at the cast on the DVD box… Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly and Shirley MacLaine. Now that’s a cool cast! And this movie is definitely cool.
WILLIE DYNAMITE
This is a hilarious example of the pimp genre gone bad. Think of THE MACK – all the coolness Goldy had, all the hot women and how slick he was… Now reverse it. Willie is pretty fucking pathetic when ya get right down to it. In otherwords – he’s all messed up. Ultimately, while it is a pretty bad movie, it also happens to be pretty damn funny too, for those that find it so.
YOUTH OF THE BEAST – Criterion Collection
Ahhhh, the second Seijun Suzuki title of the day – and this one’s a doozy. This is a Suzuki’s riff on Yojimbo, but with a Yakuza flavor instead of swords. This is one of those surreal hot poppin’ technicolor fever dreams of a film. This is an all-caps CULT FILM of rare compare. From Go-Go Dancers to Gay Sadist Brothers to Evil Knitting Academies to… well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
January 18th, 2005
CASQUE D’OR
This is one of those French Film Noirs and this one is directed by Jacques Becker ta boot. Story has a criminal’s dame falling for a newly honest fella, which of course upsets the balance of the entire local criminal world and well – it gets intense as I’m sure you’d expect. This also happens to be one of the lushest black and white noir-ish movies you’ll ever see. Just a fantastic as well as being rarely seen. Another great Criterion release.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion Collection
One of the last great Kurosawa films finally gets the super deluxe Criterion treatment. In addition to a pristine print of KAGEMUSA the shadow warrior… You get a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film… then there’s the video interviews with Lucas and Coppola – who produced the film with Kurosawa and lent them all the help they could muster. Then there’s the part I’m dying for, which is a feature that reconstructs the whole film from Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches! Holy shit, I can’t wait to check that out!
THE THIEF
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
Ahhhh, the second Seijun Suzuki title of the day – and this one’s a doozy. This is a Suzuki’s riff on Yojimbo, but with a Yakuza flavor instead of swords. This is one of those surreal hot poppin’ technicolor fever dreams of a film. This is an all-caps CULT FILM of rare compare. From Go-Go Dancers to Gay Sadist Brothers to Evil Knitting Academies to… well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
January 18th, 2005
CASQUE D’OR
This is one of those French Film Noirs and this one is directed by Jacques Becker ta boot. Story has a criminal’s dame falling for a newly honest fella, which of course upsets the balance of the entire local criminal world and well – it gets intense as I’m sure you’d expect. This also happens to be one of the lushest black and white noir-ish movies you’ll ever see. Just a fantastic as well as being rarely seen. Another great Criterion release.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion Collection
One of the last great Kurosawa films finally gets the super deluxe Criterion treatment. In addition to a pristine print of KAGEMUSA the shadow warrior… You get a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film… then there’s the video interviews with Lucas and Coppola – who produced the film with Kurosawa and lent them all the help they could muster. Then there’s the part I’m dying for, which is a feature that reconstructs the whole film from Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches! Holy shit, I can’t wait to check that out!
THE THIEF
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
This is one of those French Film Noirs and this one is directed by Jacques Becker ta boot. Story has a criminal’s dame falling for a newly honest fella, which of course upsets the balance of the entire local criminal world and well – it gets intense as I’m sure you’d expect. This also happens to be one of the lushest black and white noir-ish movies you’ll ever see. Just a fantastic as well as being rarely seen. Another great Criterion release.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion Collection
One of the last great Kurosawa films finally gets the super deluxe Criterion treatment. In addition to a pristine print of KAGEMUSA the shadow warrior… You get a 40 minute documentary on the making of the film… then there’s the video interviews with Lucas and Coppola – who produced the film with Kurosawa and lent them all the help they could muster. Then there’s the part I’m dying for, which is a feature that reconstructs the whole film from Kurosawa’s paintings and sketches! Holy shit, I can’t wait to check that out!
THE THIEF
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
This is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. Ray Milland was only ever better in THE LOST WEEKEND, and in this… he’s amazing. There isn’t a single word spoken in the entire film. The plot concerns a dirty Commie Spy who had to kill a Fed and his guilty conscience haunts him to the core. This is a legendary film. Watching the film, checking out what director Russell Rouse will do without the attention crutch of that pesky stuff called “dialogue.” This is a fantastic film. Absolutely wonderful.
January 25th, 2005
BEASTMASTER (Special Edition)
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
When I was a kid, I think I watched this film each and every single time it played on HBO. I must’ve been 20 gajillion times. Before that I caught it at the drive-in with my parents a couple of times double-billed with SWORD AND THE SORCEROR. Don Coscarelli’s 80’s fantasy standard. There’s just something wonderful about the film. Can’t wait to see the little thieves again!
PINK FLOYD: THE WALL 25th Anniversary
I really can’t believe that Pink Floyd’s THE WALL has been around for 25 years. Cuz I remember when this sucker hit – and it blew my 8 year old mind. As a 33 year old, it still blows my mind. I truly love this film. This edition will have a 45 minute Retrospective with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie. There’s also a doc on the making of the film. It also comes with all sorts of extra treats. ALTHOUGH – it is noted that THE WIZARD OF OZ is not included as an alternated video track. Damn.
PREDATOR 2
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
Now here’s a movie that I hadn’t sat down and watched in a very long time. So long in fact that I’d begun listening to whiney fanboy bullshit about how it sucked. When, those whiney fanboys are who sucked, cuz this movie is badass. First off… it’s fucking Murtaugh vs Predator. Two – Alien skull. Three – Fucking Voodoo Magic Man. Four – BILL PAXTON! This crazy ass movie is incredibly violent… It is like PREDATOR directed by Pacino after a desk of coke. It’s unhinged. And Gary Busey is hilarious with his fog gun acting all tough and shit with the Predator… when everyone knows, it has to come down to a knife fight. The movie isn’t that perfect serious sci-fi action film that McTiernan made, but in the world of coked up L.A. Crime SciFi… this one reigns supreme! The disc has a good deal of documentaries, especially impressive is all the Winston studio stuff. Very cool.
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Perhaps my personal favorite movie of the year. Not the best mind you, but my personal fave. Sure, I’m making a movie with the guy, but the fact is… there’s a reason I am – and a big portion of that has to do with how much I love this film. This is a perfect movie, It succeeds completely in what it is attempting, which is to realize the dream of a period film with the playful fun of a Howard Hawks / Frank Capra flick with the dream of the old serials, the visual oomph of a King Kong and the innocence of a Wizard of Oz. It is a specified fetish film, one that was made on a far smaller budget than is publicized and that was a dream come true for it’s filmmaker, who broke a whole lot of rules to make it. A truly geektastic film. I, oddly, haven’t seen the disc yet, so I can’t comment on the extras – but dear god this better be a loaded disc.
The Warner Gangsters Collection ( THE PUBLIC ENEMY / WHITE HEAT / ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES / LITTLE CAESAR / THE PETRIFIED FOREST / THE ROARING 20’S )
Ok – now the last recommedation of the month… and the best. Goddamn, when Warner Brothers decides to step up to the plate and deliver a great fucking box… well this is what we get. The Gangsters Collection! Grapefruit in da kisser. Top of the world. Bogie, Cagney, Eddie G, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis… These films are godly. You’ll save your money for a fedora, a pin stripe and a fucking Thompson. There’s THE PUBLIC ENEMY, directed by William Wellman and gave birth to Cagney. Then ya got, WHITE HEAT at the other end of Cagney’s gangster career. The line, “Stuffy, huh? I’ll give it some air!” CLASSIC! Then you Bogie and Cagney in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES directed by my favorite director of all time, Michael Curtiz. This also happens to be the best film that the Dead End Kids ever made, before turning into the Bowery Boys as they got older. Next there’s the classic LITTLE CAESAR by Mervyn LeRoy. Is this the end of Rico? For many this is the defining role of Edward G Robinson’s career. For me, the great bookend and companion to this film is KEY LARGO… I love them as a double feature. Ok, next we have THE PETRIFIED FOREST which introduced Humphrey Bogart to the world as Duke Mantee – and cinema was forever changed. Being joined by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and just stealing every scene… Bogie was a god! Lastly in THE ROARING TWENTIES we have Cagney and Bogart. Raoul Walsh really does a great job with this one, which frankly is one of the best 30’s Gangster films.
Alright, that’s the end of the first month of 2005. Next month, I can already tell you what the jewel will be for me. Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, this brings together all of Ray’s early short films, experiments… tons of stuff, a treasure trove of very rare items. Sorry about being a few hours late – Holiday was a bitch, ya know?
