Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I’ve been a bad boy.
No other way to describe it, really. Sure, I’ve been busy, but lots of people are busy. That’s no excuse for the way I’ve let these DVDs stack up here at The Labs. Seriously... they’re like snow drifts at this point. Henchman Mongo spent a week lost in there when I sent him to grab the PRISONER box set the other night, and the only reason we found him was because he set LATHE OF HEAVEN on fire to keep himself warm.
And believe me... I’m grateful each and every time someone sends me something to review, whether it’s a new release or a catalog title. As I’ve said before, I’m just plain goofy in love with the DVD format.
So now that Thanksgiving is over, I figure I’d better finally get my ass in gear and tell you just exactly what I’m thankful for recently. I figure the best thing to do is to just start knocking these out, a couple at a time, and posting several reviews a day until I leave for Austin and the Butt-Numb-A-Thon next Thursday. So, with that in mind, here’s one of this week’s new releases, and a film that I thought went quite well with it...
WHICH ONE’S LIVE AND WHICH ONE IS MEMOREX?!
I can’t tell them apart anymore.
When a copy of New Line’s Infinifilm release of AUSTIN POWERS: GOLDMEMBER showed up on my doorstep, MGM was just getting started with hyping up their newest batch of 007 releases, and I couldn’t help myself. I picked up a copy of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, which was the first Bond I saw theatrically, and one of the few that I didn’t already own.
And god help me... I can’t see any significant difference between the franchises anymore.
Both started modestly. DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE are fairly stripped down spy movies, more about suspense and brutal close-quarters killing. Bond’s a cold bastard in those films. Nothing funny about him. GOLDFINGER stepped it up a bit, and in doing so, it created the formula that is still essentially being used each time out. Every other film in the official MGM series plays out as a variation on a theme, and as such, Bond fans find themselves arguing over what films manage to transcend this slavish devotion to what has worked before. Fans pick through each new release to find the bits and the pieces that work, the things they like, and they’re fairly willing to forgive the rest. AUSTIN POWERS was the same way. The first one was a modestly budgeted film with a crystal-clear eye for specific satire. The second film turned everything up as loud as possible, and now the new film is essentially aping the first two films, packed to excess with things that have worked before, and the fun of it comes from picking it apart to find the things that worked.
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME is one of my favorite of the Roger Moore era Bond films. I love it for a number of reasons. First, there’s the Carly Simon theme, a classic, even if the Marvin Hamlisch score is among the very worst in the whole series. Second, there’s the Lotus, one of my favorite of the Bond cars, and the thing that first made me appreciate the gadget-love of the franchise. When I was seven and I saw that thing hit the water and transform into a sub, I automatically determined that James Bond was the coolest mutha on the planet, and he had the best toys. And third, there’s Richard Kiel, who is one of the great bad guys of the series, even if they did bring him back and totally ruin him in MOONRAKER. It’s even a decent story, not half as silly as some of the Moore films. When you watch the documentary that’s on the disc about the making of the film, you realize that it was a bit of a turning point, a make-or-break movie for the Broccolis and MGM. There were legal struggles behind the scenes, and it was fairly urgent that they make a film and make it work. The script was one of the first that wasn’t allowed to use any Fleming source material, and inventing it from scratch was new for the producers. This was that moment that Warner Bros. will one day face when (and if) they’ve made that seventh HARRY POTTER film and they have to figure out what extra coin they can pump out of the series. The fact that the script for TPWLM is as good as it is exists as a minor miracle. The documentary also does a great job of laying out some of the stunts, including that amazing opening ski jump off the side of the craziest damn mountain you’ve ever seen. The story behind that moment is very entertaining and well told here.
Unfortunately, the commentary on that disc is the exact opposite. No disrespect intended, since Ken Adams is one of the greatest production designers of all time, but he sounds just slightly older than God here, and he’s not the world’s most captivating speaker anymore. This is complicated by the fact that there are no introductions as the various speakers begin to talk, so it’s confusing as hell. These aren’t exactly celebrities we’re listening to, no matter what Lewis Gilbert may have directed. And what’s with the five minute breaks in the commentary where it sounds like everyone just takes off to go get coffee or use the can? You’ve got at least four people speaking in places, but no one has anything to say suddenly? The documentary does everything better, like telling the story about how Stanley Kubrick was involved in the film (yeah, you read that right) or showing us the people we’re listening to so we know who they are.
AUSTIN POWERS: GOLDMEMBER, on the other hand, has an enormously entertaining commentary depending on your tolerance threshhold for Mike Myers. Personally, I’m entertained by the guy pretty much every time I see him or listen to him, and this is no exception. He and Jay Roach have a very funny relationship, and I like that Jay is just as vocal as Mike on this track. They’ve both got a lot to add as they talk about the supporting cast (they shower particular praise on the ultra-cute Beyonce Knowles and the painfully funny Verne Troyer), their work methods (they credit lines or gags that were contributed by friends, a generous gesture), and the one and only Michael Caine (the combination of awe and affection is obvious). More than anything, Myers and Roach make each other laugh. These are old friends, and the commentary is a lot like when you get Kurt Russell and John Carpenter together. Are they the most informative commentaries out there? No. But the personal nature of them is so appealing that you can’t help but enjoy the film itself more.
The documentaries do a nice job of filling out the material, and there are some real highlights. For example, I remember people who refused to believe that Josh Zuckerman and Aaron Himelstein did their own vocal work as young Dr. Evil and young Austin, respectively, but a six minute feature here shows the audition process, shows how they convinced Jay Roach not to use Mike Myers playing a younger version of his various characters, and how they were transformed by the makeup crew into remarkable likenesses of the original characters. I also really appreciate the brief glimpse at how Jay Roach has to deal with shooting scenes involving all the various Myers characters interacting, but would have loved to have seen more of it. Big, bright, pop mainstream comedies aren’t easy to put together if you want to actually build something worth more than a cursory glance, and I think Roach is one of the best guys doing it at the moment. When you see the environment he creates for the cast, it’s apparent why the films end up being so much fun. Yes, the documentaries are a bit of a love fest, with everyone saying how much fun Myers is and how great Roach is and how much fun the set is, but they back up all the back and forth adoration with things like the “Anatomy Of Three Scenes” section, where they walk you through the creation of three specific moments in the film. These really are sets where spontaneity seems to rule supreme, and where collaboration comes from all directions.
Both films are given excellent transfers in terms of sound and picture, but I’d complain that the GOLDMEMBER disc doesn’t even have English captions, much less alternate languages available. I’ve been paying more and more attention to the alternate languages available with titles recently, and the most confounding thing is how random it seems to be. Yes, I listen to the film and watch it in English, so it doesn’t directly impact me, but there are a lot of viewers who don’t, even in Region 1, and it would be nice to give them the choice.
I’ll be back a little later today with another group of reviews, as well as the winning entries in last week's PRODUCERS DVD contest, so I’ll see you then...
"Moriarty" out.
