Moriarty's DVD Shelf! THE HOSPITAL, JUGGERNAUT, HOLES, And CHEECH & CHONG!

Next week is packed. In fact, it’s a little crippling if you ask me. THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD is an absolute no-question must-have for me. I haven’t seen BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, but who am I to resist the sexiest tomboy beanpole on the planet? CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES had great festival buzz, but I never managed to see it. Blue Underground is releasing their CHRISTOPHER LEE COLLECTION, and I’m particularly looking forward to CIRCUS OF FEAR. If you didn’t see IFC’s A DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE (or if you did and, like me, thought it was a great look at one of cinema’s most exciting moments, a primer worth preserving), it’s worth watching and even rewatching. I am drawn to what is evidently a train crash in the form of DREAMCATCHER, if only to verify the magnitude of the mistake.

There’s that special edition of FARGO and even better, a special edition of RUDY. The big news in special editions for the day is SCARFACE, though. I just wrote about seeing that one in the theater in last week’s RUMBLINGS, but if you’re not in one of the few markets where Focus Features re-released it, you’ll definitely want to pick up a copy. Also, Warner Bros. is putting out collector’s sets for YANKEE DOODLE DANDY and THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, films I love for very different reasons, and totally different moods.

See what I mean? It just goes on and on and on. For some people, none of those are going to be their first choice. They’re going to pick up THE TICK: THE COMPLETE SERIES or they’re counting down the days until the release of the 25th anniversary edition of THE WHO: THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT. Or there’s something that’s not even on my list, and that’s the specific thing they’re salivating for.

And we’re just now entering the Golden Quarter, when the studios are given permission to pick your pockets weekly. They’re not even subtle about it. I count nearly 150 titles between now and the end of the year that I’m interested in. That means I’m in for a whole string of brutal new release Tuesdays in the weeks ahead...

... and I’m loving every second of complaining...

FROM THE SHELF

Since the last column, my viewing schedule went kerblooey. I was out and about, enjoying some time away from the Labs. Even so, I’m still watched a number of things, basking in that collision I was talking about earlier. Old and new, all jumbled together.

I reached the switch from disc four to disc five of the BABYLON 5 Season Three box set, and I reached the two-part episode, “War Without End.” If you’re familiar with the show, then you can probably understand how completely and utterly bitchslapped I felt by the episodes. Those two hours paid off all the time I’ve put into watching so far. Dear God... what a wild way to turn a series inside out. The moment between Londo and G’kar... you know the one I mean... paid off about ten different things at once in a magnificent mindfuck. Wow. Seriously. Wow.

Wish I could say that same sort of enthusiastic “wow” regarding MGM’s release of THE HOSPITAL, a wonderful Arthur Hiller film that featured one of Paddy Cheyefksy’s great angry screenplays about an institution out of control. I love the movie. Diana Rigg is just gorgeous in the film, all hippied up and sexy as hell, and George C. Scott summons his best bluster. They’re given able support by a cast of excellent character actors like Frances Sternhagen and Bernard Hughes and Richard Dysart and even a very young and chipmunk-cheeked Stockard Channing. If you’ve seen NETWORK, but you’ve never seen this one, then you definitely have to check it out. Patients and doctors are both turning up dead at an under-funded, under-staffed, over-regulated big city hospital. As always, Cheyefsky paints his characters with ferocious precision, emotionally eviscerating them for our entertainment. People talk in his films. And talk. And talk and talk. And somehow, it never slows the movies down. It’s not dry at all. Part of it is the really cold-blooded wit of his dialogue, and part of it is the way his screenplays are so theatrical that they somehow turn artifice into honesty. There was something divinely inspired about every element of NETWORK that still elevates it to a singular position on Cheyefsky’s filmography, but this is a great showcase for this great artist’s work, and the film itself has aged like a fine wine.

Of course, MGM doesn’t think so. Sure, they put the film out finally, but they totally assed up the transfer. Or at least, that’s what Jeffrey Wells claims. Read his column about the f’ed up transfer here if you’re interested. I don’t often see eye-to-eye with Wells, but if he dislikes a transfer on a DVD, he can be the squeakiest damn wheel I’ve ever heard, and that’s a good thing. It’s important that we speak up and tell home video companies exactly what it is that we like and dislike about their releases, and it’s doubly important that we follow up on those likes and dislikes with the way we spend our money. I watched the disc, and I paid close attention to the composition. It didn’t seem dramatically misframed to me, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a letterboxed transfer of the movie before, and I never saw it in a theater, so I’ve got nothing to compare it to. Now, if the transfer is as indefensibly wrong as Wells claims, then I think it’s important for people not to buy the film, not to support another half-assed transfer just because it’s a title we want. On the other hand, damn it, I think it’s important to support these great catalog releases in order to encourage the studios to keep flooding us with older titles. I’d love to talk with someone from MGM/UA Home Video about this or PRIZZI’S HONOR. I like the pricing on their titles. I want to support them in theory. They’ve got a hell of a lot of movies in their vaults that should see the light of day somewhere down the line. I remember when laserdisc was big for collectors in the early ‘90s. MGM/UA had an amazing reputation. They took good care of their titles. A guy named George Feltenstein was the guy in charge, and I had numerous conversations with him where it was obvious... he loved the MGM catalog. He loved releasing the films on laserdisc. He loved putting together great teams who produced beautiful discs. The catalog’s the same these days, but as a consumer, I’m finding myself increasingly irritated by even the most basic decisions on some of these films I’ve been waiting to buy.

To be fair, I really liked the discs they did recently for Cronenberg’s THE BROOD and the Dan Curtis high-camp BURNT OFFERINGS. The discs were well-priced, well-mastered, and they offer the best prints of the respective films that I’ve ever seen. I still love THE BROOD as much now as I did when I first saw it. It’s deranged and political and filled with images that are still creepy. On the other hand, I don’t still love BURNT OFFERINGS, which is a very, very silly film. Karen Black is at her cross-eyed craziest and Oliver Reed seems to have embraced his more feminine side in a performance that would make Hank Azaria in THE BIRDCAGE look butch. I think they both realized that Bette Davis, near the end of her life, had gone so far over the top that it would take a rocket to catch up to her. I guess there’s some freak value to be had from a viewing of the film. I can’t bring myself to listen to the commentary track by director Curtis, co-writer William F. Nolan, and Karen Black. If it’s even slightly self-congratulatory on a pile of dung like this, I’d end up laughing at it. I always remember the ending of this film as being very disturbing, but I was also six years old when the film came out. Seeing it now, it all seemed to ridiculous for words.

Of course, now I’m doomed to angry e-mail from legions of rabid DARK SHADOWS fans, but... then again... they’re DARK SHADOWS fans, so what does it matter?

For a non-horror title, I also thought MGM did a good job with JUGGERNAUT, a 1974 thriller directed by Richard Lester. This is one of those movies I always knew by reputation, but which I’d never seen. Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, and Anthony Hopkins all star in this story of a bomb expert (Harris) going head-to-head with a mysterious terrorist called Juggernaut, who sets bombs all over a British cruise ship. This is the film that SPEED 2 desperately wanted to be, and it’s still pretty tense and exciting stuff. David Hemmings, Shirley Knight, and Ian Holm are among the excellent character actors who fill out the passengers and the crew. Lester’s comic side is evident in the film’s first half, but once things get tense, Lester is smart enough not to undercut the urgency of things with out-of-place jokes. It’s a good-looking transfer, and thriller fans can probably find this as low as $9 new if they really go hunting for it.

IFC Films and DocuRama have both issued any number of good and worthwhile titles now, and there’s a section of my free screener shelf where I’ve got several of the oddball titles they’ve sent over just ready and waiting, just in case the mood strikes. The other day, it struck, and I ended up putting on BAADASSSSS CINEMA, directed by Isaac Julien. It’s a guided tour through the rise and fall of blaxploitation films, packed with clips from everything and interviews with everyone. I’m sure no one will be shocked to hear that Quentin Tarantino is one of those who gets interviewed. He’s just one of many, though, and Julien lets the people who were there tell their own stories. There is quite a bit of material about the social debates sparked by these films. We’re still arguing about the use and abuse of stereotype and caricature in films thirty years later, so it’s up to you if you can set the controversy aside and just enjoy these films for what they were... an explosion of talent that felt unfettered for the first time, able to tell stories about people they recognized, filled with details they’d never seen onscreen before. The crime genre was huge, and it’s fun to see Julien point out all the great things that made SUPERFLY or THE MACK or SHAFT so interesting and fresh. There’s some great rare footage here, like the actual recording session for the classic Isaac Hayes theme for SHAFT. The band looks EXACTLY like it sounds like they would look, cool studio pros who just cook when put together. If you have even a passing interest in the genre, this is a great primer, a collection of some of the best moments along with a close-up look at who these people are today. Maybe I’m just a sucker for Pam Grier. The clips from her films seem to have an entirely welcome focus on nudity, and if that doesn’t convince you to buy the disc, nothing will.

I picked up LAUREL CANYON used. I was curious while it was still in theaters. After all, I was quite taken with HIGH ART, Lisa Cholodenko’s previous film. I never really heard anyone wax rhapsodic about this new one, though, so it took the recent announcement that Christian Bale had been cast as Batman to finally motivate me to pick up a copy of this Columbia/Tri-Star Home Entertainment release. It’s a striking anamorphic transfer, and a particularly effective sound mix. Music plays an important role in this film, and this disc pays proper attention to making sure that music is practically another character in the movie. It’s proof that it doesn’t take an action film to show off the sound on a DVD.

Overall, I thought the film was decent, with a great appealing performance by Frances McDormand that almost single-handedly justifies owning the movie. Bale plays her estranged son, an uptight overachiever whose whole life seems to be a response to the nearly-controlled chaos that McDormand thrives on. She’s a record producer, and a fairly successful one, but her personal life is a shambles. Bale comes to LA with his new fiancée, played by Kate Beckinsale, and she’s every bit the uptight dork that he is at first. They’re an appropriate couple. Gradually, though, when they have to share a house with his mother and the band she’s working with, Beckinsale becomes drawn into their world. The lead singer of the band, played by FACE-OFF’s Alessandro Nivola, is a bit of a jerk, but he’s smitten with McDormand and her worldliness. Basically, all Kate needs is some good music, some good weed, and some kinky three-way action with her fiance’s mother, and it turns out she’s not nearly the dork she thought she was. Beckinsale is one of the most beautiful actresses in film today, but it seems like she’s still looking for “the” role, that showcase for everything she’s capable of. Until that comes along, she does interesting work in mixed bags like this and Matthew Bright’s TIPTOES, or she gets stuck in bland big-budget stinkers like PEARL HARBOR, stranded with nothing to do. Please... someone figure her out and make a great movie. Quick.

The alchemy of stardom is all about the right role and the right actor, and it’s always impressive when things come together just right. For example, Shia LaBeouf made a pretty big impression on me this summer in PROJECT GREENLIGHT, but I never felt compelled to get out to see THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS. Instead, I decided to wait and see his other film, also released earlier this year in theaters. Glad I did, too, because as first impressions go, Walt Disney’s HOLES is a sturdy, well-made family film that gives LaBeouf a chance to shine. Of course, when I went to play the film the other day, my co-writer Scott grumbled, “The only film called HOLES that I want to watch would star Hillary Duff and Alisha Klass,” and I understand his marked lack of enthusiasm at first. I thought the trailers for this film were terrible, and Andrew Davis has been sporadic at best lately. Like McTiernan, he made his name on action films, then branched out with decidedly mixed results.

He lucked out, then, this time around, with an adaptation of a Newberry Award-winning book by Louis Sachar. I’ve never read the book, but Sachar wrote the screenplay himself, and there’s a commentary track here where fans can listen to Davis and Sachar talk about how they adapted it, and the hard choices anyone writing an adaptation has to make. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the film as a whole, considering how there were many parts I had trouble with. I think it’s clumsy in places, Jon Voight is flat-out terrible in it, and it wraps everything up in a bow through a set of coincidences that push the envelope of what we’ll tolerate in the name of tidy conclusions. Despite that, it is entertaining, and LaBeouf steps up here and proves that all the hype surrounding him right now is entirely justified. He’s like a young John Cusack, a gifted and natural comic performer who manages to bring a reality to every moment. Get used to this kid. He’s going to be making movies until he’s 90. And as good as he is, he never overpowers the film completely. Sigourney Weaver does nice work with an underwritten villain role, and Tim Blake Nelson mines some real comic gold from his part. Of the other kids, Khleo Thomas is the obvious stand-out, a caramel-complexioned miniature version of Sideshow Bob from THE SIMPSONS. He and LaBeouf pretty much carry the middle of the movie, and how much you enjoy it will depend largely on how much you enjoy watching them. Some of the film is too precious for its own good, like the way every male in the Yelnats family is named Stanley “because it’s Yelnats backwards,” or the oh-so-cute nicknames for every one of the kids at Camp Green Lake. Still, the setup for the film is clever and presents a fun mystery worth unraveling. There’s some surprisingly adult material about racism in the film, and that extra li’l bit of honesty is what won me over in the end. HOLES is a solid effort and, if you’ll excuse the pun, I dug it. As is usually the case with Disney DVDs, the sound and picture is outstanding, and including both a cast commentary and a filmmaker’s commentary really boosts the repeat value on the extras.

I’m trying to figure out which disc annoys me more: the recent Warner Bros. 20th Anniversary Edition of NAT’L LAMPOON’S VACATION, or the recent Universal catalog release of CHEECH & CHONG’S NEXT MOVIE. I love both films, but when films get mishandled like this, it almost makes you wish they’d waited and done the job right later.

VACATION is a classic comedy. It’s a subject that millions of families can relate to, and we’ve all probably got scars and stories to prove it. The film is darker and dirtier than most people remember, and it pulls no punches in the way it paints the Griswolds. The reason this film is so much better than the sequels is because it understands... the Griswolds are victims. Fate is conspiring with circumstance and dumb luck to prevent them from enjoying their trip across America, and all Clark (Chase) wants to do is give his family an experience they’ll always remember. It’s easy to forget that at one point, Hughes was the Oliver Stone of comedy, a 900-pound gorilla of a screenwriter who crafted gem after gem with surprising ease. NEXT MOVIE isn’t quite as coherent as UP IN SMOKE, and it never quite hits the heights of NICE DREAMS, but all three of the early Cheech & Chong movies are easy to like and packed with gags. In both cases, these are films I’m pleased to add to my collection.

Frankly, though, neither disc is very good. VACATION boasts a number of extras, but the “all-new introduction” with Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, and Matty Simmons turns out to be lame, unfunny, and brief. This is the Chevy Chase we know today... bitter, with a barely repressed anger that seems to color every word he says. The audio commentary is frustrating. Where’s Beverly D’Angelo? Isn’t this supposed to be a track reuniting the Griswolds? D’Angelo is supposedly on the commentary for the upcoming CHRISTMAS VACATION disc, so why couldn’t she be on this one, too? It’s nice hearing Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron there, but Chevy doesn’t seem terribly interested in talking to either of them, and his attitude drags everyone else down. In fact, he’s downright condescending in several places on the commentary. Most irritating, though, is the total lack of extra footage. Harold Ramis explains the film’s original ending during the commentary, an alternate version where Clark cracks and takes Roy Wally hostage. If it was shot and Ramis is going to take the time to explain it, why couldn’t we see the footage?

Still, I’ll take the meager extras on VACATION any time compared to the bare bones edition of NEXT MOVIE> I’m so disappointed so far that no one has gotten Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin to sit down together to talk about the making of these films. Of course, it just got a little more difficult to schedule (FREE TOMMY CHONG!), and I doubt they’ll go back to fix these titles now, damn it.

If you’re a fan of the Groundlings or THE PEE WEE HERMAN SHOW or Phil Hartman or Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, it’s fascinating to watch the supporting casts in each of their films, looking for familiar faces. NEXT MOVIE marks the first film appearances anywhere by Pee Wee Herman (in the costume and with the name, and not just Paul Reubens) and the great Edie McClurg, who is hilarious here, funnier even than in FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF. I’d love to hear stories about the Los Angeles comedy scene in those days, anecdotes about people like Reubens and John Paragon and Cassandra Petersen and the beloved and much-missed Phil Hartman, all of whom show up. I’d love to hear about Cheech and Chong working within the studio system and even shooting on the same backlot streets where they made THE BURBS and LEAVE IT TO BEAVER. It’s hard to believe when you look at how cheap these movies were, but Cheech and Chong was an important franchise for Universal. I still remember the first time I read anything about them or their films. I was ten, and I had just discovered STARLOG. They published an article about Universal’s upcoming releases in SF/fantasy/horror, however tenuous the link. They wrote about THE NUDE BOMB, the Sam Jones version of FLASH GORDON, and NEXT MOVIE. I guess they included it because of a sequence late in the film where Chong and Cousin Red (also played by Marin) get scooped up out of a northern California pot field by a UFO, which gives Chong a big bag of “space coke” before dropping him off. Of course, STARLOG didn’t really go into detail about that, and somehow, their vague description made me even more curious than a detailed one would have. I saw the film a year later as part of a late-night cable double feature, and I didn’t get at least half of the jokes. Didn’t matter. Then, as now, I maintain that it’s not the drug humor that’s important in their first few films. It’s just a backdrop, like in the Three Stooges films. They didn’t make the Stooges plumbers because they wanted to make specific plumber jokes. Instead, it was an excuse for them to wreak their particular brand of comic havoc on a situation or a setting. Cheech Marin was hilarious in those early films, and Chong seems to take full advantage of that as a director in NEXT MOVIE.

It’s nice to see a letterboxed print of the film. I didn’t realize it was only in 1.85:1, and I’ll confess a touch of disappointment. UP IN SMOKE, directed by Gil Adler, is in beautiful 2.35:1, and the Paramount transfer is quite nice. I’d always hoped NEXT MOVIE and NICE DREAMS were also in scope, even though I’d only ever seen video prints. The transfer here is as good as anyone could ask for this particular title, and again... don’t get me wrong. I want to support this release so that they will get busy and put out NICE DREAMS. I just hope they’ll do better by us as consumers next time out and actually take care of the film.

Another case in point: THEY LIVE. It’s no classic, and it has three terrible minutes right at the end, so goofy and out of place that they almost derail any goodwill you’ve got going for the movie, but there are a hell of a lot of Carpenter fans that love the subversive SF premise of the film, and they’d definitely spring for a special edition. I know for a fact that Carpenter would be interested in doing commentaries and special features. A few years ago, a friend of mine took me to see the church in downtown LA where the uber-fucking-creepy PRINCE OF DARKNESS was shot. Later, when I mentioned it to Carpenter and his producer/wife Sandy, they asked me for the address so they could send a video crew to shoot new footage of the church for an eventual DVD release. Yet, thanks to the bizarre random nature of Universal’s home video department, there’s nothing at all on the new Carpenter releases. THEY LIVE is just the first one scheduled, and I’m willing to bet they do just as crappy a job with PRINCE OF DARKNESS. Yes, it’s a nice anamorphic transfer, and yes, the Alan Howarth score sounds awesome, but that’s all you get, and unless you find it used, like I did, it’s a steep price considering what’s being offered.

Capitol Records is also overcharging for 7 TELEVISION COMMERCIALS, a title I’d been waiting for, and it’s a shame. Normally, I’d just bubble and rant about the sound and picture quality of these seven remarkable music videos by Radiohead. I had to watch this on Thursday afternoon to keep from going crazy with anticipation. I love Radiohead, and I’ve tried to see them every time they’ve come to LA. This time, this tour, Thursday night, I finally got in and saw them at the Hollywood Bowl, thanks to the kind efforts of my manager, Aaron. You can imagine... all day, that’s pretty much all I was thinking about Thursday. One of the reasons I fell in love with the band right around the release of THE BENDS was because of their music videos. Jonathan Glazer’s “Street Spirit” and Jake Scott’s “Fake Plastic Trees” are beautiful, poetic, expert abstraction that connects emotionally. Magnus Carlsson’s “Paranoid Android” is unsettling and memorable, a great animated glimpse of the sick and the crazy. I have boundless respect for the conceptual simplicity of “No Surprises” by Grant Gee or “Karma Police,” by Glazer again.

The one that stands out above all the others, though, is “Just,” a wonderful piece by Jamie Thraves, the same artist behind this year’s marvelous “Scientist” video by Coldplay. It’s the one about the guy who just lies down on the sidewalk for some mysterious reason he refuses to disclose, to the mounting frustration of a growing crowd. The punchline to this one, combined with the exquisite build and release of the song, packs a punch no matter how many times I’ve seen it.

You should own this title if you have any interest in the band at all, or if you like music videos and want to see them done right. I just wish it was more reasonably priced. More than $10 for a title like this is unacceptable. You want to charge more? Give us more on the disc. Give us all the AMNESIAC and KID A and HAIL TO THE THIEF stuff now. Make it worthwhile. 34 minutes of content is a bitter pill to swallow if the price is wrong, and it’ll keep this otherwise exemplary title off a lot of people’s shelves.

We’ll be back with browsing and more reviews tomorrow, just in time to get the week started, and that should put us back in the groove for a full week of reviews ahead. Some of the stuff we'll be talking about includes THE SHAPE OF THINGS, A MIGHTY WIND, RUN RONNIE RUN and MR. SHOW: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON, AVALON, WILLARD, SINEAD O'CONNOR: GOODNIGHT, THANK YOU, YOU'VE BEEN A LOVELY AUDIENCE, THE COMMITMENTS, EDDIE IZZARD: CIRCLE, and much more. Until then, let's throw out a question for discussion. What artist's music videos do you think most deserve a complete collection that hasn't happened so far, and why? I look forward to your answers, and for now...