Hey folks, Harry here… This what’s coming out of interest today. As usual – the box art and the titles are clickable to Amazon – where you can learn more – and / or – purchase the film, with a small percentage going to support this column. Of everything in this month’s release – I can’t recommend you picking up JUSTICE LEAGUE – THE NEW FRONTIER enough… it is truly a masterpiece.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

BEOWULF (Unrated Director’s Cut)

While it is true that HD DVD has lost the battle – for a time here – we’re still going to be getting product that is exclusive to the HD brand – and who knows how long it’ll be till we see a BLU RAY edition. I’ve watched this Director’s Cut a couple of times now – and it’s difficult to say what exactly is different – but there seems to be a more solemn tone at times – and more innuendo of promiscuity – and the violence just seems more so. I have to say – watching the film in 2D form – actually seemed to make it more dramatic to me. This is a beautiful looking film – and I just have to say – I wish that Zemeckis would have chosen a subject matter for his next film in this format that would continue to push what we think of in Animated and Captured film.

JUSTICE LEAGUE – THE NEW FRONTIER

Absolute Greatness. I’ve seen this 7 times now. I absolutely can not possibly convey how much I love this film. It speaks to everything that the Silver Age loving kid in me has wanted to see in an animated Superhero epic. In BLU RAY – the images are crisper with absolute gorgeous perfection resulting in the animation. It’s funny to me how people seem to think that because it’s animation – you don’t need high definition – but brother… let me tell you – when you’re watching films 9ft by 12ft in 1080p – that lower res being up-res’d – well it is nice, but it’s so much better at the high resolution. If you love DC’s heroes and animation – this will blow you away! An absolute must own for geeks!

THE DARJEELING LIMITED

Not really sure why Fox isn’t putting this out in Blu Ray… the gorgeous design and beauty of rural India and the train itself should be given that sort of home video treatment. It seems there was a pretty large segment of the population that just felt this was a redundant effort from Wes Anderson – well – you know… I’m fine with Wes Anderson striving to make quirky intelligent emotionally guarded films about literate relationships and the obtuse barriers we put up around us. Maybe it is because I’m a weirdo myself, but I find the characters and the situations in these films perfectly acceptable as normality. On my best days, I want to be a character in his universe. This is a brief and wonderful journey with Wes and crew. Wonderful film.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT

This is nowhere near the most terrifying vampire film ever made. I found the last twenty minutes to be stiflingly retarded – everything that Hartnett does at the end of the film I call bullshit on. I hated it. That said – I love vampire films – and I love a lot of the look and weirdness and graphical quality that David Slade brought to the film. The film can be torn completely apart through basic logic and common sense – but while watching the film – I can suspend disbelief - I do, however, wish the film had been set in a different period and time – because a town disappearing today – I have problems believing. Especially one with phones, internet, relatives, etc. Anyway – the film has a pretty great setup and middle – it’s just towards the end that sucking begins to come in full force.

THE SMURFS: SEASON ONE, Vol. One

I feel that there is something cosmically wrong with the universe when I first saw ads for THE SMURFS appearing on my website. You see… ages ago with this sick and twisted show first appeared on NBC in place of untold greatness that it forced off the airwaves… I was horrified. I hated SMURFS – but I was compelled to watch them. I could not deny the attraction that the tease… Smurfette… had for me. Hot blonde blue chick? That they lived in Mushrooms and that Papa Smurf had a strange resemblance to my father disturbed me. But most of all I watched in the hope that Gargamel or Azrael or some other awesome figure of good would destroy the Smurfs forever. Not just in the realm of ink & paint – but from Television… forever. However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from life – it’s that you can not get rid of Smurfs. They will always be with us – tormenting our intellect, our sexuality and ultimately our sanity. Watch at your own risk… God only knows what path these devils will place you upon.

THE FUGITIVE – Season One, Vol. Two

The second 15 episodes of the first season of the original… brilliant season of THE FUGITIVE are fantastic. If you liked the Harrison Ford movie, you owe it to yourself to check out the second half of this amazing first season. In particular – the performances in this set from Telly Savalas and Carroll O’Connor are worth the price of the set alone. This is a truly great series of episodes. My fave is Taps For A Dead War… check it out!

THE LAST EMPEROR – Criterion Collection

A brilliant film… one of the BEST PICTURES – What you get… 4-Disc set with a gorgeous High Def transfer of the original film – as well as the Extended TV cut of the film. There’s commentary – 3 documentaries, a 30 minute interview with Bertolucci and much much more. Bertolucci’s THE LAST EMPEROR was easily one of the best beautiful films made. Watching the film is awe-inspiring. If you’ve never seen THE LAST EMPEROR – this is a beautiful film… an era perfectly captured. It’s great.

GOYA’S GHOST

I will never not buy a Milos Forman film. This is far from a factual biopic – instead. Maybe it’s the time I spent in Spain starring at Goya’s paintings… haunting and unforgettable – and this is a film that is impressionistic and beautiful. This is my second favorite film with Javier Bardem – but damn this is no second rate performance – and Portman is fantastic here. If you love art and artists – this is a film about one of the greatest.

THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK SCORPION

Every now and a again I discover a movie on DVD that I wonder… WHY THE FUCK WASN’T THIS IN FUCKING THEATERS. This was made two years ago – and never saw release over here, because it was acquired for DVD release domestically. Essentially – it’s HAMLET as a grand shift to an Asian setting. Zhang Ziyi is stunning as usual and the film is stunning. You get Yuen Woo-Ping choreography, amazing cinematography by Tony Yip. Finally we’re getting to see this film – but god damn it, this film should have been in theaters. What the hell!

THE VOYEUR

I love Tinto Brass. He has the perfect eye for a director making a film entitled THE VOYEUR. However – through the 90s – as America continued it’s chaste affair with sexuality. When sex became something to laugh and snicker at in our theaters – a few folks like Tinto Brass decided to continue to explore our most intimate stories… The stories of intimacy. THE VOYEUR is hot and bothered. It’s sexy as all hell and the film is done seriously. This isn’t a cutsie film of T&A – If American adult cinema was like this… it wouldn’t be relegated to being purchased only over the internet – or in sleazy locales. This is a legitimate artful film – beautifully shot with amazing photography. It’s fantastic.

THEM

Think of this as an intimate ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 – And it will scare the fuck out of you. THEM has only played a few film festivals around the country – and this is one that should’ve played all over. THEM is fucking scary, creepy and weird in the way that only fucked up weird as hell French filmmakers can. If Spanish horror is giving us haunted – emotionally bare horror… The French are reinventing and reinvigorating the severely violent realm of horror… the suspenseful nail-biting screaming hell of Horror. And the scariest part is this… they’re getting scarier and better. I love HAUTE TENSION – but THEM and still later you’ll see INSIDE – which is the most horrific yet. The French are doing great things with horror – and this is one of their best recent outings.

DAY ZERO

This is a film that I deeply wanted to have play at Fantastic Fest last year – but got veto’d on – not because the other programmers didn’t like it – they didn’t see it – they just didn’t believe the premise was “fantastic” - The basic idea is this… Imagine that John McCain wins the next election (this isn’t the premise – but merely how we could get to the premise in our reality) and decides to truly create a 100 year presence in Iraq. As everyone has figured out – we would need to possibly reinstate the Draft. This film takes place as 3 friends are spending their last day before being inducted into the military due to the draft. There’s protests – talks of running away and dodging – there’s talks of doing their duty and there’s fear of an uncertain future. The cast of Elijah Wood, Chris Klein and Jon Bernthal were outstanding. This film doesn’t place the blame on either party – it doesn’t deal with the politics – only the situation of what a country that had a draft – then ended the process – then reintroduced it to a new generation… How would that generation react – this is an exceptional film and an amazing performance from Elijah. You should seriously give this a look. Personally – I saw it as a scary futuristic film – one I hope we never see.

SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS

Directed by Aldo Lado – the man behind WHO SAW HER DIE? Which I recommended last week – and the wonderful film NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS. In this film you have a reporter that is found apparently dead… but he isn’t. He’s paralyzed and as his body is being taken to an eventual autopsy – he is trying to put the pieces together mentally as to why he wound up the way he is and what happened to his stunning girlfriend, played by Barbara Bach… hubba hubba hubba… Anyways there’s a great score by Ennio Morricone and the resulting film is really great. Thank you Blue Underground!

DISCOVERY OF ART: MAXFIELD PARRISH

Ok – now I recommend all sorts of strange things in my lists… there’s trashy grindhouse films, sometimes porn, sometimes cartoons and foreign films. Well Maxfield Parrish is a personal passion of mine. I love his artwork and I have every book I can find on him and try to find the old books that he did illustrations in. Brilliant artist – his sense of color… stunning. The blue skies he created are jaw dropping – and his golden light… unreal. This documentary isn’t brilliant work – it’s straight forward – but it’s the best thing I’ve seen on this legendary artist – and if you’re a Parrish fan… or if you are curious – this documentary could lead you to seeking out his art and his works – and that would be a very positive thing in anyone’s life.

That’s all for this week… Coming next week we’ll be looking at 101 DALMATIANS, INTO THE WILD, TCM ARCHIVES – FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD COLLECTION, VOL. 2 (THE SOUL, NIGHT NURSE, THREE ON A MATCH, FEMALE), ICE AGE – Blu Ray, 12 ANGRY MEN, THE SHEPHERD: BORDER PATROL, PISTOL WHIPPED, HORTON HEARS A WHO, AUTOMATON TRANSFUSION, MY KID COULD PAINT THAT, EN LA CAMA, BILLY WILDER GIFT SET, C.H.U.D. and more!