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Harry's DVD Picks & Peeks - 1st wk of May - Ben Button, Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Dog Soldiers, End Of The Line and more!
Hey folks, Harry here… Sorry about the delay this week, I had some trouble writing Monday – and when the spirit did hit Tuesday, suddenly my internet connection went dead on me and didn’t return till tonight. Woo Hoo! So without further ado, here’s the customary - the images and titles are linkable to their titles over at Amazon where you can learn more on the title or purchase it, which would send a portion of the price to help support this column. So here you go…
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (Criterion Blu Ray)
Now this is how you do it. I love Fincher’s love for Criterion, I share it. They put an overall package together that is absolutely useless for a cinephile to resist. The 4-part documentary which details the evolution of the material, the amazing technology and film techniques that created the basis for this brilliant character. I love the story, but I’m gobsmacked by the technique that made that awesome lil old man Brad Pitt. The Blu-Ray is exquisite. You’ll also get an audio Commentary by Fincher – and well, lots more. If you’re a fan of visual effects – the docs on how that old man came about is amazing and completely worth the price of the discs. In addition to a great film.
TED.COM posted this:
That’ll give you an inkling of what you’ll learn
ENCHANTED APRIL
Here’s one of those great older Miramax titles, and probably my favorite Mike Newell film. Joan Plowright is fantastic in the film, but Josie Lawrence and Miranda Richardson are every bit as great. I love stories of this type – about a magical place that’s a shared bit between friends. This film has been tied up in a rights battle for a very long time now, but it has finally been released, this is a cause for celebration.
GREASE (Blu-Ray)
I know this will probably be hard to believe, but GREASE is not only the word, but it seems to be the last word in image quality. This transfer of GREASE is not only perfect – it feels like a portal into a parallel existence. It is the cleanest, purest image I’ve ever seen on my screen. No grain – just a clean perfect image. And I’m not the only one that has been utterly blown away by the image quality – Moriarty and Quint both have been going on and on about how unbelievably fucking amazing the image quality. Ok – then there’s this… IT IS FUCKING GREASE!!! And Grease is about as great as it gets. I watched this 3 times in a row, because I fucking love the film. Olivia Newton-John is amazingly gorgeous to watch in this film. Just radiating awesomeness that seems to transcend the perfection of 1080p and made it even more beautiful than usual. Filled with the extras that we’ve seen on other releases, but never so beautiful as on this release.
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (Blu-Ray)
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER is beautiful on BLU RAY – it isn’t the otherworldly clarity of GREASE, but it wasn’t shot the same way as that film. It has a deeper richness of blacks and vivid colors. The film grain looking magnificent on my screen. And the dance sequences, the bridge stuff… hell, John walking with that goddamn pail of paint… stunning. Another thing that I was struck with as I watched this film is this… What happened to this Travolta? He is so amazing to watch here. The subtlety of his performance, is amazing. Another jewel!
DOG SOLDIERS (Blu Ray)
I’m really fond of DOG SOLDIERS. For one – I love the design of their Werewolves. Second – I love this film. Sure – it isn’t as awesome as it could have been, had their budget and shooting time allowed for a bit more to the werewolf aspect, but this little movie kicks the living shit out of all those UNDERWORLD sewer pipes they call films. Many of you never had a chance to see this film theatrically – as it was a limited release. Here – you finally can have a look at what this film looked like theatrically – especially if you have the right set up.
FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (Blu-Ray)
Before watching this – both Quint and Mori had seen it and had stated that it wasn’t that big of an improvement in image from the previous Special Edition dvd – that may be so on a Plasma screen under 70 inches – But when you’re watching films the size of a wall, that up-res really shows the limitations of itself. I compared a bit – and the Blu-Ray is in fact a 1080p resolution. The film was shot mostly with the backgrounds washed out/blurry as opposed to the deep focus of a film like GREASE. BUT this looks a lot better than the DVD in my opinion. Still has all those extras. But for me – this disc is about getting this movie. I remember the summer it came out, I went to see it 7 times. And that was one helluva summer. Oddly enough though, I never skipped a day of High School my entire High School career.
DEXTER: Complete 2nd Season (Blu Ray)
How can you even begin to understand the blood splatters if you’re not watching in high def? This show is so fucking good. I love discovering the really good shows in these season sets, where I can just dive in. It’s even better when I can see them like this. If you haven’t caught on to our favorite Serial Killer – then definitely start on the first season, but know – this season is even better.
ROXANNE (Blu-Ray)
I love the Cyrano story. This is my third favorite version of that story, behind Jose Ferrer and Gerard Depardieu… there is Steve Martin’s C.D. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this. I never saw it in theaters – just a million times on HBO, but this and SPLASH and MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN made me love Daryl Hannah like a crazed monkey stacking bananas at the super market. But just to get to the fine point – Steve Martin is everything I could ever hope for in this role. His battle with the tennis racket is one of the most beautifully graceful duels I’ve ever seen, and it was crazy funny at the same time. This is one of my very favorite Steve Martin films. By no means the funniest or the zaniest, just one I happen to love.
RED CLIFF II (Blu Ray)
The culmination of a great two part film epic by John Woo. The first film was all about the land engagements of this epic war. This time, it is an epic naval engagement – and man – I’ve never seen anything like this. It is much better than the first installment, which I loved. I love the quest to gather 100,000 arrows. I love the spy’s friendship. I love where they get their inspirations in nature – and I love the relationships between the various characters. RED CLIFF 2 is beautiful on Blu Ray.
MUM AND DAD
Its an ok cheapy horror flick. It is all kinds of twisted and messed up and not always successful at pulling off what it tries, but if you enjoy disturbed indie horror you might find a soft spot in your heart. I didn’t really love it, but I didn’t hate it either. Give it a check if you think you may enjoy this sort of thing. This is most likely not for your mom and dad. Unless you have a wonderfully fucked up family.
GIGANTOR: THE COLLECTION, Vol. 1
Here you’ll have the first 26 episodes of the greatest giant robot series ever. Oh – I’m sure that’ll piss a few people off, but dammit, GIGANTOR is the shit! These episodes have been available before, but I do think that the transfer here is the best I’ve seen so far. This also has some pretty sweet extras like these: Interview with director/producer/writer Fred Ladd _Interview with anime historian Fred Patten from Animation World Magazine _Select audio commentary with Fred Ladd _Gigantor comic book issues 1-6 (DVD-ROM content) _PLUS 16-page companion guide with episode summaries and archival publicity materials
END OF THE LINE
This was one of the films that snuck up and delighted the fuck out of me at Fantastic Fest… I think 2 years ago now. This is actually a horror film about what… well, I’m not gonna say, but I found it awesome. Those creepy goddamn demon monster things on the cover…. They’ll give you the heebie jeebies. And it has the best subway scares you’ve seen in a long time. This film is frightening and very scary. I liked it a lot. The source for the horror in this film was surprising and nicely apocalyptic. This type of horror sadly does not come around enough in my opinion.
That’s it for this week, next has some really fun titles like TAKEN, the Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection (BLU), UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS (not a good one), THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY (blu), FARGO (Blu), Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, BIG (Blu), Wise Blood, MAJOR LEAGUE (Blu), THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (Blu), NORTHWEST FRONTIER, S DARKO: A DONNIE DARK TALE, TIME LIMIT, THE KING AND FOUR QUEENS, GALAXY QUEST, PASSENGERS, Best of Star Trek sets, Alexander Korda’s PRIVATE LIVES, FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE (Blu), The Reluctant Dragon, Wind In The Willows, WAYNE’S WORLD (Blu), CSI 1st season BLU, Tortoise & The Hare, KINGDOM, WAYNE’S WORLD 2 (Blu), YOUNG BILLY YOUNG, OF TIME AND THE CITY, BLACK SHEEP (Blu), THE FOG (Blu) and that’s about it. See you next Tuesday…
TED.COM posted this:
That’ll give you an inkling of what you’ll learn
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+ Expand All
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Like during the Laserdisc days?
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Showing y'all how it's done. Again.
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Sorry. It has been a very scary and frightening week
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of Se7en. I can't seem to get a firm answer on the differences between the New Line Special Edition or the Criterion laserdisc.I'm really salivating over the Criterion "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." This sounds epic.Hey Harry, after watching the 4 part doc could you resist watching the entire movie again immediately afterwards?
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Got it on DVD for ages, haven't watched it yet.
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Especially Criterions!!!
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hopefully its soon..harry any updates?
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i will pick you off one by one
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Find it hard to believe Harry dismissed it like that.
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I kinda liked it, but MUM & DAD doesn't need to be oversold. It's a small little production that isn't always as sharp as it could be, but does have people that like it quite a bit, like you. Just didn't do it all the way for me.
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Very disappointing film that is far too in thrall to its influences - Texas Chainsaw Massacre in particular. Often just distasteful for the sake of it, and rarely tense or scary. A shame, because Perry Benson is a great actor (see This Is England or Somers Town) and good British horror is always worth looking out for. I'd give this a miss. As for Benjamin Button - phew. Can't believe how much Fincher missed the boat with that one. 2h 45m and nothing to say.
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Does that make me a bad person? I see the trailer and the list of people involved and on paper this feels like a movie I shouldn't be able to resist ....... yet I just don't care.
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Even as you're watching it, you'll find yourself not caring.
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I couldn't sleep, so, I decided to see what there was to watch on the computer on Netflix. I finally watched Outland. I think it may be in my top 5 of all time. Loved it. Where are movies like this nowadays? I can't believe I never watched it before tonight. But I'm kinda glad too, cause there's nothing like the first time.
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Mum & Dad = Not so much
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May 07, 2009 7:07:43 AM CDT
Speaking of British Horror, anyone seen the trailer for...
by soylentmean
the upcoming film called Doghouse? AICN really needs a link to that, because the trailer was hilarious as hell. I'm really hoping that film makes it to theaters, because I wants to see it.
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on this list. I really love that movie, the werewolves are the best looking ones that I have ever seen.
There was talk of a sequel for a while but I think they scrapped that idea, which is probably for the best. Anyway, glad to see that others enjoyed this movie as much as I did. -
It's the only film out of the five that people are going to still be talking about in ten years. Slumdog was a bullshit, lets show awesomely PC Hollywood can be, win.
The only thing that would have been worse would have been for Milk to win. Also, after finally seeing the Wrestler I'm convinced that Sean Penn is somehow related to the devil (or the devil has got Penn's back) because there is no way in hell that there was a better acting performance by an actor in 2008 than that given by Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler.
It's just impossible.
Rourke got the shaft just like Robert Duvall got the shaft for his awesome as hell role in The Apostle. The Academy Awards are about as fraudulent as the voting system where we pick our head puppet (president), the people involved just happen to dress better. -
May 07, 2009 7:17:29 AM CDT
Doghouse looks good. Really interesting in that one.
by harryblackpotter
Noel Clarke (Mickey from Doctor Who) and Eastend geezer Danny Dyer team up for some zombie-splatterage whilst on a piss-up. Hopefully this will be more Shaun of the Dead than Lesbian Vampire Killers.
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Depends on how it performs on how it gets distributed elsewhere. Fingers crossed as it looks great from the trailer.
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They're fun popcorn flicks with some soap opera melodrama thrown in. They seem like distant cousins of some alternate universe Dark Shadows film trilogy.
I can't wait to make my Underworld trilogy complete next Tuesday, especially since Rise of the Lycans is a prequel (which means you watch it first). I challenge anyone to come up with a movie that had more werewolves onscreen, ever. Because I want to watch that movie too.
And Dog Soldiers is fuckin' awesome Harry, awesome! I thought you were well aware of film limitations due to budget and other variables. For what they had going in, Dog Soldiers is pretty much the Evil Dead of werewolf films. That's right, I just said that. -
at first I thought it was a trailer for that movie (which I still want to see, just for the title alone) but then I watched the trailer for Doghouse all the way through. Then I watched it again.
So June would be a good time to visit the UK, huh? I bet it's all touristy around then, but still, that movie almost looks worth a jaunt over the ol' pond. -
Everybody is just so happy, it's like a live action Care Bear movie. I also despise Care Bears.
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...having an overall message being, "remember girls, if you want someone to like you, CHANGE YOUR PERSONALITY AND LOOKS COMPLETELY FOR HIM."
Thanks. -
of End of the Line than I did. I saw it screened at the Philly film fest maybe 3 years ago. I won't say it's terrible but there were more than a few unintentionally funny moments in the film. What I remember the most was how good the ending scenes were and wondering why the rest of the film was nowhere near that same level.
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Love my country, just hate the c*unts running it. Lesbian Vampires was dire, DogHouse should be up there with Dog Soliders and Shuan of the Dead. You should also check out Severance - another horror comedy with Danny Dyer.
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Wasn't that released this week too?
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I liked it, I just remember wanting more from it. So the Lesbian Vampire Killers movie wasn't that good? That sucks. I still have to see it.
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that looks creepy as fuck. I read some stuff about it in Fango, and the images were messing with me. From a magazine for fuck's sake! That movie and Taken are the two I look forward to the most on 5/12/09.
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Bring on Torso, David.
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Wasn't Travolta trying to do the same thing during the entire movie? And he eventually letterd in track for her?
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Prepare for the onslaught of grain vs no grain arguments...
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It was on my list to see and I missed it when it screened here. I didn't know it was getting released already. Nice heads up for next week.
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God, that movie sucked. Big time.
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Why waste their time with something like that? Guess it pays the bills. It's a mediocre film that's nice enough, with one great part - the short story in the middle with Tilda Swinton. The rest of it is just David Fincher in a Forest Gump mask stalking the audience with a sledgehammer.
In any event, End of the Line looks really fun. -
I've said it before, but it bears repeating. If you're interested in Gigantor, be sure to check out Yasuhiro Imagawa's 2004 Tetsujin 28 (the pre-localization name of Gigantor). It's a spirited retro series, but also a moving look at the post World War II transformations that the giant robot symbolizes. the 26 episodes are available for $30.00 http://tinyurl.com/crg9he Highly recommended
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I'd call it one of the most important giant robot series ever. But before you call it the greatest, make sure you've seen Giant Robo (which is inspired by the complete body of Tetsujin 28 creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama's work), Gunbuster, New Getter Robo, Gurren Lagann and now you may have to add Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen to the list
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i'm my unsold script about a zombie dentist
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I have no real desire to watch it again anytime soon. Contrast that to the fact that I could watch The Wrestler over and over and over again.
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I have to say I'm against movies going directly from the cinemas to Criterion Edition. Aren't they suppose to be preserving classics? Don't they claim to be some sort of stamp of timeless taste or at least cinematic importance? I think there should be a period of a couple years where they let a movie sink in and decide whether it's really a classic or just something that got a lot of buzz at the time.I mean, really....The Life Aquatic? Come on guys.
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So, let me see if I've got this right... You watched a movie you've seen before several times, on repeat, another three straight times, thereby killing off about 5.5 to 6 hours? Why? I understand that you're enthusiastic about your movies, Harry, but that's an idiotic fucking waste of time.
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which makes it Criterion worthy immediately. Come on!
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Season 2 of Dexter is a must buy on Blu-ray.
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Surprised Harry left that off, it being a Fantastic Fest film and all. Great thriller. Kind of like WHile You Were Sleeping but really dark and messed up. Also, Wendy and Lucy this week. One of the absolute best films of last year.
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Kill me now.
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I love that show. Sometimes, going through life, I feel like Dexter feels. Just someone pretending to be human so he can disguise the darkness within. Oh and I still can't believe Mike Newell is in the Underworld movies. WEIRD.
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I think he was the first one go Direct to Criterion, I can't think of another filmmaker who got this treatment. And he's got a unique style, but I think Criterion should've just stopped after Rushmore and just said thanks but no thanks to releasing his other films. Life Aquatic is, at best, a deeply flawed movie. Criterion's resources are better used finding some dog food commercial Akira Kurosawa directed when was starting out and remasting that.
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for the same reason Armaggeddon's on Criterion- mutual promotion: Criterion gets to be exposed to an audience it otherwise wouldn't, and also gets some much-needed cash from the sales to fund its restoration of other more deserving titles, while Fincher and the studio behind it get to feel self-important because they got their movie released on such a prestigious brand (even though they bribed them to release it).
Movie was fine; a bit flawed (what was that whole, "I don't want to have to raise both of you" thing about? Brad Pitt was in his mid-40s when Blanchett's character said that...meaning he would have been in his 20s at the same time as his daughter. Just some nonsensical dramatic writerly trick). It was too homogenised to really be worth rubbing noses with the rest of the titles on its label. -
No Neon Genesis Evangelion?! I can't think of any logical argument that puts Gigantor above that one...well, other than you personally liked it more! But that doesn't count because I can't argue with it!!!
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But is Eva a real giant robot series? I personally feel it's something else entirely, just disguised as giant robot for the first 16 or so episodes... just a thought
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I didn't want to get into the whole "are Evas robots?" conversation and I intentionally veered towards super robots.
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... sorry, that's fat not GREASE!!
Couldn't resist it sorry, Harry. -
eat a dick
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but it doesn't speak to everyone. And I'm no Anderson apologist; I thought Bottle Rocket and Tenenbaums were just okay and didn't care for Darjeeling much at all. But the Life Aquatic worked for me in a big way. I guess I'm some sort of retard.
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YOU, SIR, ARE NO ROBERT SHAW
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His true self is most likely the boy she met during the Summer. He spent most of the time at school putting up a front for his friends and being a dick to her. Sure he lettered in track but as soon as she showed up in her leather outfit and teased hair that letterman sweater was off and in the dirt. She joined his world which allowed him to revert to his greaser persona. I guess you could say in the end neither was being true to themselves. They both went off, "happily ever after", living a lie as someone they are not.
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Paramount is STILL using the terrible 1998 re-release remix, which has numerous changes and some glaring errors. People have been complaining about this for years, over the course of 2 DVD releases. Come on Paramount, how hard would it have been to add the original 1978 soundtrack to the blu-ray?? This would not have been an expensive thing. I love the movie, but I can't stand the remix, it ruins the film for me. Glad to hear they atleast got the picture quality right.
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What else was he going to do? His internet was down.
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because THE LIFE AQUATIC hits me on so many levels I could watch it once a day. Great cast spearheaded by Bill Murray where Owen Wilson doesn't come off annoying in.....70's style oceanography (guess you had to be there).... the guy from DEVO doing the soundtrack almost completely on CASIO keyboard (as one poster said, the music for Ping Island is the greatest ever).... David Bowie music reinterpreted.... stop motion animation wildlife by Henry Selick....it's got this great Fellinisque feel to it as well. RUSHMORE I was bored with, I don't get the big deal, even Bill Murray wasn't worth watching it for.
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William Dafoe with a mohawk. 'nuff said.
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But I don't think it deserves the Criterion treatment and neither does Benny Button.
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I think what's amazing about the performance is that Pitt manages not to be outshone by all those dazzling effects used to alter his appearance. He really was the beating heart of this movie.
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OK, I guess that WAS a logical argument. Personally, I still think it's a giant robot series the same way Let the Right One In is a vampire movie- it takes the "genre," turns it on its head and improves it in every way, but they're still giant robots.
And to me The Life Aquatic is just like a hot cocoa on a cold night. Plus it helped sell bossanova/tropicalia to the West, so it's got that going for it. -
Good god, don't you have something else to do? I hope you just had it on in the background while you were doing real work or something... I mean, I'm a movie geek too, but I would never watch a movie 3 times in a row when I could be watching a NEW movie or something...
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—Please, PLEASE avail yourself. Absolutely stunning. Filled with design marvels, great action and some pretty sick cliffhangers.
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...any of the actors could act. It's a good idea, some good gore and some decent execution. But 95% of the performances are groan worthy.... so it falls flat.
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have the John Hughes commentary track - the only commentary he has ever done - that was subsequently removed from all other editions since he went Howard Hughes on us?
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And that sucks.
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Mad title: The Craptacular Case of Benjamin Boring
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...the best show on TV right now. It just gets better and better.
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I wouldn't put Wes Anderson's movies in the category of Criterion Sell Out movies like Armageddon and Chasing Amy because I don't think Anderson's movies are really that mainstream. I think they're cult comedy movies, but for most part just not ones I find all that good and once you've seen one, you know all Anderson's tricks.I get what you guys are saying about Criterion bringing in some extra cash through their more commercial fare but that Armageddon one was like $80.00. WTF? Are there many people out there willing to pay that? Or even better question: Even if the Criterion Edition of Armageddon were affordable, would anybody care? I get that there are people who want to own Armageddon on DVD, but even if the Crit Ed was only $3 more than the standard DVD would the fans of that movie shell out the extra couple bucks?There were a few others like this that are real headscratchers.
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Or are these columns getting shorter and shorter and less and less eclectic? I'm not one of those assholes who comes on to YOUR site to criticize and call you names, but this has always been my favorite feature and it just seems like you're not digging as deep as before and discussing old, obscure, foreign, independent or overlooked films like you used to. I always relied on this column to alert me to all these weird and wonderful films I missed, give me some adventurous Netflix picks. I love GREASE and SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (a much better movie than it's even given credit for), but is that where this feature is headed, just to talking about the picture quality on Blu-ray editions of classic films?? Cuz that could be a column of its own, but that's not why I loved THIS column. C'mon, Harry - you're the god of movie geeks, give us some forgotten oldies and neglected recent films. Get the thrill back, buddy - turn us on to some good stuff. I mean, I think it's great that GREASE looks better than ever (I always thought the DVD picture sucked), but how about talking about SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION, a vastly underrated film with Paul Newman and Henry Fonda finally released on Region 2?? That's cool to me! Doesn't everyone here have an all region player? If they don't, they're bad movie geeks. How about reviewing some of the WB archives films just made available, like ONE ON ONE or THE MAN WHO LOVED CAT DANCING, the two I just bought? I understand that the DVD catalogue releases have shrunk, but I know you can find more treasure out there? Don't let Blu-Ray emphasis on "perfect" blind you to what made us movie geeks to begin with, the MOVIES, the CONTENT, that ineffable something that cannot be reduced to a bit rate. C'mon, Harry...your greatest asset is your passion and enthusiasm for all types of film, don't become a reviewer of technology. People with a fraction of your knowledge can do that. Anyway, I do still appreciate you writing this column, just my two cents and something to keep in mind.
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Can we please stop overhyping that movie now? It sucked.
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May 07, 2009 2:49:51 PM CDT
dont complain about how you are fuckin busy
by supercowbell4therequestformorecowbell
harry. watching grease 3 times in a row? thats a fucking insult to us people who work for a living.
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1 & 2 were good...
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what a waste. hell forrest gump (BB part 1) was better. at least it was entertaining. Finchers 2nd worst (panic room)
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do you have any credibility at all harry? It's average.
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=3945&show=review
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hardly.
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Get an attention span you fistwank douches. Christ. Learn to walk before you run. Oh, don't worry, eventually you'll appreciate something like "L'avventura" after you emotionally invest and learn to focus on a movie without an obvious and rudimentary 3 act structure.
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Douche......
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Breaking Bad is the best show on television right now, followed closely by Lost (which is going downhill as of late). Dexter fell apart last season after blowing its load in the second.
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Contained one of the most amazing commentary tracks ever. The sheer pomposity and arrogance of Michael Bay must be heard to be believed.
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Soylentmean, Mickey Rourke got the shaft for THE WRESTLER.
Sean Penn sucked the shaft for MILK.
As for Benjamin Button.. why did he have to have such a wimpy name? It's like a committee said - we need a name 'like' Forrest Gump.
Fuck, if i met some parents who said weve called our son Benjamin Button i'd probably beat the shit out of them, on behalf of their newborn child for all the shit that name'll cause him. -
Like it says on all of their releases, The Criterion Collection is "a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films". 'Benjamin Button' certainly falls under the category of "important contemporary film"...due to its scope, its technology and (I think) largely in part due to its director continually improving on his skills. All in all, 'Benjamin Button' is simply a fantastic film in just about every aspect. SoylentMean was correct about 'Button' being the real 'Best Picture' and how no one will really remember 'Slumdog' down the road. Back to Criterion and their selection of films, sure...there are some I don't get, and even as much as I enjoy it, 'Armageddon' is definitely one of them, hell...same goes for 'The Rock'...sure they're both "contemporary", but hardly "important".
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BENJAMIN BUTTON is more important than THE ROCK?
To you, maybe bro. However, i've caught THE ROCK prob 3 or 4 times now and enjoyed it each go. I can say with hand on heart that I will never watch BB 4 times. So, don't presume some pretentious sense of importance automatically trumps entertainment. -
Benjamin Button is just overrated
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An amazing feat, no doubt. Other than BB being a totally uncompelling FX demo, I hate films with a passive protagonist. BB was nobody. If he aged normally instead of backwards the film would have been no less interesting. And what was the stupid thing about the lightning-guy? I ended up skipping through the last hour. What I saw of it was as bad or worse than what I had already watched. Easily one of the worst films I've seen in a very long time.
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Amazing feat, indeed! Passive, uncompelling protagonist. BB was basically an FX demo. And a boring one at that... In
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Uhm, the last hour is kind of important, dude. You're entitled to any opinion, but you have to watch the entire film to give an informed review. The movie worked very slowly on me, gathering momentum as it went - at first I wasn't really into it, but it built and built to what I thought was a very profound message about the fleeting nature of youth and of life itself and I found myself quite moved at the end. So, all the BB haters...sue me.
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I just checked out end of the line. After the first five minutes where I thought I had just wasted $4, the movie actually turned out to be pretty damn good.
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Maybe a petition? But, Nolan didn't do commentary for "Batman Begins" and the extra features aren't as extensive as Fincher's material.I don't hate "The Rock" (on the other hand "Armageddon" is just an offensive, stupid, brash mess, with great effects—it makes "Bad Boys 2" look like "Die Hard") but, I'll admit I was shocked when I saw the Criterion release.I'd have to disagree about Benjamin Button's “pretentious sense of importance…” that label is based on it's literary history and connection with F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film is fascinating, although not perfect.
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I'm totally with you on that Armageddon commentary, Michael Bay truely is one arrogant fucker "Making a movie is like going to war!" It's pretty funny too, like how Affleck remembers asking Michael Bay why they can train drillers to be astronauts but they can't train astronauts to be drillers and he was basically told to just shut the fuck up.
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Evangelion, Rahxephon, Argento Soma are all gold.
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It sounds like you recommend it but that poster art indicates the creatures look like shit. Is at least shot well like Dog Soldiers? Neil Marshall really knew how to make the most of his warewolves.
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each are loved equally...Button a little more so.
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How much this column takes to run?
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May 07, 2009 8:28:16 PM CDT
OMG! You fucking cried during 'Grease' didn't you, Harry!
by thebearovingian
Go ahead and deny it but we all know you're hiding something from us. C'mon man, you watched 'Grease' and you have NO disgusting sexual references at all? Nothing about Sandy's hymen? You didn't cream for Greased Lightning?
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are fucking kidding? it was a thoroughly enjoyable film....Course you did just call that blatant OSCAR grab Benjamin Button a "great film" so one has to wonder about your taste
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can put out anything they like, if that helps enable them to continue doing packages like VIDEODROME, BRAZIL, NAKED LUNCH, etc. and BENJAMIN BUTTON is one of the stupidest names i've ever heard
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The creatures are only in the film for about 30 secods. Having them on the cover actually ruins the ending of the film.
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It's the Pictures that got small.
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There are movies I absolutely LOVE that that I wouldn't dream of watching multiple times in a row. You NEED to take a breather from a great movie and allow it to simmer for a while in your imagination before going back for seconds. Aside from listening to commentaries, I can't think of ANY movie I've ever watched twice in the same day, or even week. I think Coraline was the last movie I saw twice in a compacted time frame, and there were still two weeks between my two viewings of it (and the second time was mainly to soak in the 3D one last time before the film hits DVD).Honestly...Grease, three times in a row? Christ.
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Button is dogshit. Don't waste your time defending it. At this point the only Fincher film I can stand is Zodiac, and even that stars the dullest young lead actor in Hollywood.
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You honestly think they "decided" on it? More like they needed to use at least the character's same name from the short story OF THE SAME TITLE on which the movie was... "based"
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May 08, 2009 12:09:47 AM CDT
harry cried during kingdom of the crystal shitfest
by supercowbell4therequestformorecowbell
and not from pain...what an ass
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Make mine a ponytail-having, skirt-wearing, little apple dumpling.
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will be based on Joe the Plumber, and here's the synopsis:
Joseph Willingham Forthright Bernard III was born under unusual circumstances, his troubled life took him around the world and tempered his understanding of the meaning of life and the passage of time itself. At one point in the film, he talks to Obama. -
Her voice was like someone pouring cottage cheese in my ear canals, "Mr. Kate he say..." Leave out all that hospital stuff. Leave out the New Orleans gimmick, keep it in Baltimore. Leave out Blanchett and the tepid romance - keep, I say, keep the hummingbird speech - that was one of the parts that was actually interesting.
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Why the fuck did I bother buying this when is came out like 4-5 years ago? Because it seemed like something that wasn't going to get fucking multiple releases. What the fuck really? This is why I've stopped buying DVDs, because its just a never ending cycle of shit that I only watch once and then put use to my awesome dust collection. Also how does a show like Gigantor get TWO releases while shows like Inspector Gadget isn't fully released and you have to buy like 30 dvd sets to collect all of TMNT? I will however one day get around to buying this awesome cartoon show. http://tinyurl.com/psjx7h
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Yeah that old lady voice was fucking annoying. I kept turning on the sub titles. At the beginning I was like, god hopefully we don't see her for the rest of the film. And then she kept popping up.
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I think Harry said that he watched There Will Be Blood 5 times in a row when it came out on DVD. That is roughly 15 hours of the same thing...... I wish I had that much free time.
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dull, but Bowie's hair in that is transcendent, so it deserves the Criterion treatment.
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...again?
Even Peter Jackson's cut of this film would have been shorter and smoother.
The hospital scenes in this movie are among the most painful minutes I've spent in a cinema. It's like, David, what the fuck are you doing? Are you rippin' off Titanic for storytelling? At least the granny in that marathon didn't act like she was a total ravin' retard.
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Now there's a great, if not contrast-a-riffic, night in.
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I subjected myself to halle berry's CATWOMAN yesterday. it was 6 bucks in the bargain bin at my local and a morbid curiousity in me wanted to see if it was as bad as i've heard/ good god. I'd have more fun sticking my balls in a blender. yikes. a triumph of awfulness and can't even describe, apart from the "blended testicle" analogy. off topic i know. but like a yucky pimple on your nose, you have to lance it and let out the pus to make it feel better.
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But the box art ruins the movie. those who have seen it know how it does.
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May 08, 2009 10:46:43 AM CDT
Hey Harry, Thanks A Lot For Recommending 'In The Realm Of The Se
by stabby
last week! That film has ruined Japanese women for me for the rest of my life. Talk about films deserving a Criterion Edition!
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Three hours of pure bullspit.
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Why couldn't the story just be told through Buttons own eyes? Do we really need those long dragged out scenes in the hospital with bad old age makeup? Funny how she looked so bad and brad pitt looks so good in the old age makeup.
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Always loved Grease, always will.
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And the ambiguous ending tramples over it's own established rules. The director even says in the commentary (sic) "I don't know what the ending is about." Some good moments, but overall vastly underwhelming.
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May 08, 2009 4:45:16 PM CDT
"Even Peter Jackson's cut of this film would have been shorter"
by white_vader
Ha ha, that's harsh man!
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Well, nobody had said it yet...
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Is the shit!
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Can we stop going on about how good the picture is on blu-ray now? It's like saying you'll hurt yourself if you poke yourself in the eye. It's blu-ray. Blu-ray = great pic and sound. Now, how about reviewing some films.
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we've had this black and white one for how many weeks now? (and to top it all off I have no idea what it's a reference to)
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that ben button ted thing was badass. i had no idea they went through so many changes to get that to the screen. amazing.
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The Devil and Daniel Webster (search for "TDADW 1" on youtube to see a great lost gem).
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Seriously, WTF do people see in it? It has the most dull, least compelling lead character in a film in a long time. And Roth Rip-offs his Forrest Gump script from 14 years earlier.
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Am I the only person who respects real horror? this movie is hack
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Superawesome silicon headsculpt/maquette? We all know Baker is a genius, and Tsuji's sculpting skill makes my head hurt.
Does anyone know if this is included on the disc in HD? -
May 10, 2009 4:15:53 PM CDT
Harry's gem of the week (hyperbole in lieu of good writing):
by thegreatwhatzit
"Joan Plowright is fantastic in the film, but Josie Lawrence and Miranda Richardson are every bit as great." Pretty profound...
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