Hey folks, Harry here – I’m proud of me for getting this out – even though I’m in the midst of SXSW. There’s some great films on here – and a set that absolutely blows my mind, but you’ll discover that down below. As usual – the boxes and the titles are clickable to take you to AMAZON – where you can learn more – or purchase the title, where a tiny percentage will get kicked back to support this column, which I hope you all enjoy. Here ya go…

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Picture Winner – and one of the finest films from the Coen Brothers. I love this film and my support for THERE WILL BE BLOOD shouldn’t be taken as a slight at this film. It just ultimately – this film is basically just a story about chasing down a guy with a bag of money – with fantastic themes regarding the balance of good and evil as they exist today… and possibly forever. Shit, ok – it’s about a draw between the two films. Personally, my favorite performance in the film belongs to Josh Brolin, who is quickly becoming one of the best actors to look for in films. This is a must own. The extras aren’t overwhelming, but there’s 3 nice featurettes… but we’ll never see a commentary from these guys.

BEE MOVIE

This film was so much better than the marketing led one to believe. In advance of seeing the film, I thought it would be trash… pure garbage. However, Seinfeld’s humor from the perspective of a bee… and then the overall scope of the film… the fear of what happens if bees no longer have a need to pollinate… was at once hysterical – and frightening. Add to that the overall freaky disappearance of massive amounts of Honey Bees – this film could get creepier and creepier with time. That said, the movie feels like something from the old Fleischer Color Classics mold – alas if only it were as beautiful as those.

AUGUST RUSH

Here was a film that’s trailer interested me, but I felt that ultimately it would suck. I just didn’t trust the movie. The screener came – I looked at the box… to watch… or not to watch… and then the name… NICK CASTLE… screenwriter… lept out at me. I’m a huge Nick Castle fan. Sure – we all know he was the original Shape in Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN… but his screenplays and films like ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, THE BOY WHO COULD FLY, THE LAST STARFIGHTER,… fuck… SKATETOWN, USA was fun. So I put the film in – hoping to be swept away – but figuring it would possibly be one of those… oh wellssss… The movie kicks ass. It has that magic… an orphan boy whose parents were musicians that gave him up for adoption and then went their separate ways – is at the heart of the tale. The boy, with no musical training, goes on a path where he believes that if he can get the music in his head heard, his parents would find him and reclaim him. Sounds sappy? It is, but ya know – some sap is unbearable. Some sap becomes Maple Syrup on yummy yummy waffles… and this is that sort of sap. Robin Williams is fucking creepy in this. Keep him away from children. It’s a splendid little film – and made me want to put on AMERICAN POP – which is the best film ever made about the familial link of musical talent. But this ain’t bad either.

DAN IN REAL LIFE

This film also unexpectedly kicked ass. Steve Carell is an interesting performer. I want to like his films – but sometimes he ends up in shit like that Almighty sequel… He’s best in a film like this though… Here he plays an advice column writer who seems to know what is best for everyone but himself. He’s got 3 daughters – and his wife has passed away. He is up for syndication of his column – and there’s a family get-together with his extended family. While checking out a library in the small town where his parents reside – he flirts with and hits it off with an amazing woman played by Juliette Binoche – who turns out to be his brother’s latest squeeze. Meanwhile – through the weekend they become more and more enraptured with one another – and all his good sense is going out the window as the time with “the family” gets crazier and crazier. The result is a very heartwarming film that is as emotional as it is funny. Very strong work here.

INDEPENDENCE DAY (Blu-Ray)

Ah – the film that offers up more evidence that Macs are reverse engineered from alien technology… Some feel the mac ending is a plot flaw – I see it as a sign that my Mac came from the stars. I love ID4. Always have. Always will. Is there shit I don’t like about it? Yes… I can’t stand Bill Pullman’s President… but then, I’ve never been a Bill Pullman fan. He’s an actor that I can’t imagine being a manager at a Jack In The Box, much less President of the United States… but then we have a President that I feel looks like village idiot in an old John Ford film currently, so why the hell can’t Pullman be President? This isn’t a smart science fiction film… I never expected it to be. All I wanted was an Irwin Allen-esque Alien Invasion flick with tons of shit that went boom… and fuck it all… If there’s anything that Emmerich and Devlin were the best at… it was making shit go “boom” real good. And now that “Boom” sounds and looks better than it ever has before.

I, ROBOT (Blu-Ray)

Perhaps someday – we’ll get to see someone make Harlan Ellison’s screenplay for I, ROBOT - and I like to think of this film… not as I, ROBOT – but as iROBOT – since the robots all look like Apple designed robots. The main thing is – the film doesn’t in any way, shape or form resemble Asimov’s great book – and has been transformed into basically an action vehicle for Will Smith. That said – I like it… despite that it’s the worst film adaptation of a novel… pretty much ever. It does succeed as a work of entertainment.

GATTACA (Blu-Ray)

It’s so strange – I remember hating GATTACA, but as I watched the film last week, I realized that I believe that the circumstances in which I saw the film had to be exhausting – as there’s big chunks of this movie that I can’t remember ever actually watching. In fact, I’m betting that I arrived to the screening exhausted and that I was blinking in and out of existence whilst watching this film. Because GATTACA is a fantastic film – so incredibly smart… the exact opposite of the two previous Blu-Ray works of Science Fiction. This film is a tale about genetic elitism – where your blood qualifies you for success or failure. Blood hides and exposes a new caste system of the future – and this is a tale of one man trying to raise himself above such insanity – to go up amongst the stars… to rise to the heights of human accomplishments, despite the tragic tale his blood would tell. Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law are just fantastic here. If you never saw it, rediscover it now. The film is a low budget, albeit highly stylized work of Science Fiction that looks beautiful in Blu-Ray. Tons of extras – and the nastiest little extra scene ever.

APPLESEED EX MACHINA (Blu-Ray)

Haven’t seen this yet – but I’m definitely picking it up. Looks very very cool.

DANGEROUS CROSSING

This kicks ass! At the time in 1953 – this was produced as a Fox B-feature. A lower budget – B-talent flick to develop talent – and man is this a winner. The beautiful Jeanne Crain plays a young bride who’s husband disappears aboard the shp. Essentially – it’s the plot of that Jodie Foster airplane film with the missing kid. The doctor aboard is played by Michael Rennie (Klaatu) – and is fantastic. The film slowly but surely turns the screws, tightening the suspense with each and every twist. Exquisite little film.

DAISY KENYON

DAISY KENYON, while a great great film… one of the best Joan Crawford performances… it is, under no circumstances a Film Noir. This is a melodrama about a woman in love with a married man, who can not leave his wife – who then meets a new man – and she’s trapped trying to decide what to do – to give this new man a chance at her heart – or continue down the dead end path of limited love that the affair gives her? There is no plot to kill the wife. No revenge, nothing more than a story about a woman’s heart and how to follow it. With a cast including Crawford, Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews… you really couldn’t ask for more, but THIS IS NOT A FILM NOIR – merely a great melodrama.

BLACK WIDOW

This one doesn’t quite do it for me. It should – the cast is great… but it’s a little too slick looking. There’s a part of me that wishes it was square and black & white – because the widescreen Technicolor just doesn’t make it feel atmospheric enough for me. That said, there’s a fun little mystery here – strictly speaking, this is a murder mystery – but the look and style of the film doesn’t make this feel FILM NOIR. There’s rules to that term and strictly speaking, this doesn’t adhere to them.

DOGMA (Blu-Ray)

You need to see a shit demon in 1080p. You really do.

THE MOD SQUAD – Season 1, Volume 2

You either get THE MOD SQUAD or you don’t… it’s a special counter culture thing that those who have been exposed to its hipper than hip charm… well they sing its praises. For me, it’s all about Linc… he’s just a badass, through and through. Killer…

SLEUTH

It pales next to the original, but taken on its own – which is pretty impossible once you’ve seen the original – it would seem to be an “ok” thriller mystery. That said – there was no reason to remake this… at all. And the talents involved are all to stellar to waste on this

SOUTH PARK – Imaginationland

The award for one of the funniest fucking crazed things ever goes to… SOUTH PARK – IMAGINATIONLAND. The three episodes have been combined and added about 5% filthy extra to make this the closest thing we’ll get to a new SOUTH PARK movie. This is spectacular. If you somehow missed it on South Park – you owe it to yourself to pick this up – guaranteed to delight everyone that you will share it with.

FLETCH (HD-DVD)

Since nobody seems to understand that Jason Lee and Kevin Smith taking on this character would be sooper-genius… All we have is this wonderful Chevy Chase original. I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen this film… and yes, I’m aware that HD DVD is a dying format with a couple months of releases left – but I’m happy as hell to have FLETCH in pristine beauty. And I’m sure my fellow HD DVD brothers and sisters will delight in having one of the gold standard of 80s comedies in the beauty of HD.

Georges Melies: First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913)

Of everything hitting this week – this is the crown jewel. I’ve only seen a handful of Melies’ great films – Almost everything in this set… is either over a 100 years old or very nearly about to be. Melies was a magician, inventing the magic of a medium that still entrances the world. It’s definitely not realistic, but it is magical – and when you consider there were no books of instructions, no effects menus, no monitors to see if it works – this was a genius at illusion with a toy to experiment and create new delights in. I didn’t get a review copy of this – but with 173 Melies works at 13 hours of running time… I just can’t imagine what I’m going to get to discover here. If you love silent cinema – or mind melting films of the fantastique – this set is a dream come true.

BOBBY DEERFIELD

There’s a magic to 70s Pacino. I can’t really explain it, he’s just a perfect actor for the period and time that was the seventies. He’s one of the most alive actors in any given moment. Here – we have a bit of a tragic story, a ton of love and a good deal of levity to boot. Sydney Pollack did some of his best work here.

MAGIC BLADE

Discover Ti Lung, one of the best of the Shaw Brothers actors – and this is a very fun magical whimsical martial arts crazy violent opuses. I dig this sort of film. You just put it on and get captured. I like to think that the Shaw Brothers universe of films is somewhere that you can visit. That it is an actual real place – where gravity is optional, where arms come off easily, where revenge is a bitter existence that can be done in the end. THE MAGIC BLADE fits into that realm and is something special.

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

There’s a very strong divide on this film – those that hated it for not being “realistic” and those that dug its satiric look at the justice system… which Jewison and crew saw as pretty damn broken. This is grand, over-the-top Pacino chewing on the material like a hounddog on a ribeye steak… voraciously. The acting is easily the reason to pick this up and watch it, as almost everyone in the film is acting in tip top shape.

SACRILEGE

Oh – I love me some Nunsploitation and while this has rather long dialogue sequences – the sex scenes with nuns are awesome. This is a story about a man that gets a taste for nuns, then kills the financial advisor to the Nun’s nunnery – and then has his way with the beautiful and easy to seduce nuns. They’re just nympho nuns – cuz all nuns want sex – and when this man gets there… well, you can guess. Only – there’s a danger to fucking nuns… especially in a period film… and like all good fun Nunsploitation… there’s sex, violence and despair. My advice? Leave the nuns alone, it ain’t worth it… good fantasy material though!

That’s it for this week, next… we’ll be looking at Season 3 of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, ENCHANTED, ATONEMENT, I AM LEGEND, 4th season of WILD WILD WEST, SOUTHLAND TALES, UNTOUCHABLES SEASON TWO, REVOLVER, THE ICE STORM – CRITERION, ANTONIO GAUDI – CRITERION, PEBBLES AND BAMM-BAMM SHOW, MAFIOSO – CRITERION, AFTER DARK HORRORFEST 2, STEVE CANYON, BULL DURHAM, THE DRAGON PAINTER, and much much more…