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…