Hey folks, Harry here with the latest DVD column. Had an unusual snafu that resulted in very spotty materials to look at from Warner’s Blu Ray department this week, but still looked at a ton of material. Some nice stuff, I think you’ll agree. As usual, if you click on the pictures or titles you’ll be taken to Amazon where you can learn more or purchase the item, which would be much appreciated as a portion of that expenditure actually comes back to help keep the column going. Hope you enjoy…

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

FRINGE

I know next to nothing about this series, but I’m pretty much determined to pick this up and dutifully watch every episode because… well I have faith in the team behind this production – and I have very carefully not read anything by anyone about it. And I’m going to enjoy watching it. Or at the very least, hash down my first strike against the production team.

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (Blu-Ray)

A tremendously powerful cinematic sledgehammer to that sweet spot between the ears. I have been drunk on this film from the second I first laid eyes on it. Wrote a loving review to the power of it and how it was a deeply cinematic creation. The editing is a thing of beauty, the audio use and placement exquisite, the performances unsettling and the transfer is perfect. You can see just how much detail went into this stirring and powerful film about the power of ambition and addiction… a more powerful condemnation of the glamour of drugs that I’ve ever witnessed. Tremendous film! Great Blu Ray!

CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE

Amongst my favorite tremendous times I’ve spent in theaters this year was watching CRANK 2. This Blu Ray beyond the amazing whacked out crazy beyond all belief insanity… it is in this movie – but in addition, check out the crazy menu screen. Like that crazy SLEEPING BEAUTY menu screen, the weather, temperature and time come through – but even crazier is a newsfeed across the bottom of the screen with live news updates from the internet. Because – why not just leave the dvd in for hours – and rather than press a button or get your computer – just stare at the screen as information floods into your consciousness instantly!

FREDDY VS. JASON (Blu Ray)

A few people have asked me about my favorite non-BNAT event I’ve thrown and been a party to – and when I answer, I say CAMP HACK-N-SLASH – where a couple thousand horror geeks showed up to see the real Freddy and the real Jason duke it out – as part of an outdoor all night horror-thon… after a day of Horror Themed Summer Camp where everybody was in ‘summer camp outfits with color teamed tube socks. There was a swimming hole and so much more. FREDDY VS JASON was a fun movie – for me it is also an extremely fun touchstone to a memory of geeks at play doing what they do best… Geek out with wild abandon. There’s a feature on here about that event, and that was reason enough for me to acquire this Blu-ray.

BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS

This was my grandmother and mine’s secret film. One time, on Spring Break – I was staying with my grandparents for the time – and my Granny took me to see BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS but made me promise never to tell my cousin or anybody else that she took me to see it. For years, everytime we got together we talked about BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS… which has Nazi’s versus Ghostly Knights and assorted awesomeness. I love the film. A Live-Action Animated Disney classic with a Little Nemo-esque flying dimension traveling bed and… NAZIS?!?!? It was crazy fun. And my personal introduction to Angela Lansbury, who… as a result I can’t watch and not think of my Granny. But this story is essentially to communicate to you how this is that type of film. A film that the most awesome grandmother that I know held as a secret with a little boy – and it was a secret worth keeping, very much like this movie is worth keeping and sharing with your friends and family. But… Shhhh. Don’t tell anyone! Until the Blu-Ray in the amazing future that we can’t speculate about… This is a remarkably fun film. Like MARY POPPINS meets THE LION THE WITCH & THE WARDROBE… but with NAZIS!!!! Yeah. Pretty sweet!

CREEPSHOW (Blu Ray)

Due to some hiccup in the usually dependable Warner Home Video Promotions – I did not get this product for review. I do know that the original DVD was pretty damn lacking. From the packaging I’ve seen – there doesn’t seem to be any extras – which just feels like a shame. This is CREEPSHOW. Didn’t we all love this one? Surely they know we want the proper treatment given to this with interviews and commentaries and dammit, put Stephen King and George Romero in the same room and record a commentary. I’m sure the transfer will be excellent as I’ve seen the HD master in 1080i on an HD cable channel – and it was pretty damn sharp. Hopefully the change to 1080p will be even better. I hope.

THE POSTMAN (Blu)

Another missing review copy from Warners – of a film that I was one of the lone crazy sounding defenders of – back in those first couple of years of AICN. Boy did I get hate mail for liking this. I haven’t seen it in years, but I’m sure I will still like it. Apparently there’s some pieced together commentary from the “whole creative team” whatever that means, and a special on the early days of CG for this flick. Honestly, this has to come down to how much you like Costner. Me, I kinda like the guy.

SILVERADO (Blu)

A romp of a Western. Starring a cast that was so perfectly 1985… right? For those of us that saw this on the initial run, being of the right age to walk into the theater for this movie with the fairly new PG-13 label… This was a FUN Western. Yes, there’s sadness and tragedy here and there, but even though everyone has lost someone they care about – at the end there are smiles. I love that. That’s an attitude for the future. Found your dad’s body in a river… kill his killer later that day and you can smile, joke and be filled with good cheer. Is that reality? No, but it is fun. Movies like this one and my favorite film THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD are stylized films that offer forth a feeling of optimism in the face of dire straights. A best foot forward if you will. People don’t wallow in despair, the move on with their lives with seemingly no lingering psyche damage. It is swell, because they’re swell. The edition I got shipped was a BOOK version, and I’m fond of those. This doesn’t seem to be that version.

THAT HAMILTON WOMAN – Criterion Collection

Why did Criterion care about THAT HAMILTON WOMAN? Well, it starred the quality acting couple of forever in Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, and it was directed by phenom, Alexander Korda whose films at the very least were always brilliantly designed. But frankly – once you know that this was Winston Churchill’s films, there’s no longer any reason to fear. Right? Didn’t that get you curious? Me too. Great film!

DEAD CALM (Blu)

I did get this one weeks ago from Warners. I love DEAD CALM. There are, essentially 3 actors… two boats and an ocean. They come together, things get really tense… uncomfortably so and magnificently so. Nicole Kidman is such an awesome wife in this film. And Sam Neill? The single most determined character that I have ever seen. His determination to survive, brilliant. Nicole’s desire to return to him, heartaching. And Billy Zane is fucking scary insane and out-of-whack here! My favorite Phillip Noyce flick. Gorgeous transfer.

SPHERE (Blu)

Another MIA Warner release. I love Michael Crichton films, though they’re rarely as good as his novels. Very sharp writers like Kurt Wimmer and Paul Attanasio adapted this and Barry Levinson did a nice job with it. But it didn’t completely satisfy me initially. But I was curious to revisit it. Sometimes initial reactions to adaptations can change with multiple viewings. Hope to check this disc out soon. It has a commentary by Dustin Hoffman and Sam Jackson, plus a visual effects special feature. The former sounds curiously enticing.

THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (Blu)

Remember this? When the director of Evil Dead directed that movie that starred the girl that uncrossed her legs and the guy that asks about picking feet from Poughkeepsie? God it is weird looking at this from the perspective of Sam Raimi, the hugely successful director of SPIDER-MAN – and a cast that is just stunning by today’s standards – with only Sharon Stone as the odd person out. Watch Leonardo DiCaprio’s face through his last scene with Gene Hackman. FUCKING AMAZING work. Watch Russell Crowe when the tide is turning with that Rifle and pistol. He’s that emerging badass that the rest of us caught up with shortly thereafter. The pre-Jigsaw Tobin Bell. The voice of BATMAN. Keith David. Lance Henriksen. Gary Sinise. Lance Henriksen and Fay Masterson. Holy fuck, what a great cast! And the film is pure Raimi. Re-Visiting this film tonight on Blu Ray was a very happy thing. It made me smile a lot and take notice of how great Raimi is no matter the genre.

CATWOMAN (Blu)

Fucking awful. BUT – man. If you can just enjoy making fun of this with friends at home, that’s the only enjoyment you can get. Well, besides Halle being unbelievably hot, but a mere fraction of how hot Michelle was in BATMAN RETURNS. Still say they should have just done a flat out THOMAS CROWNE AFFAIR / TOPKAPI / TO CATCH A THIEF – Cat burglar escapade that starred an older Michelle, operating in some other city in the DC universe doing an impossible theft. That would have made me so happy. This. Not so much. I didn’t get this title, and I won’t seek it out. I don’t recommend getting curious. It hurts.

OVER THE TOP (Blu)

One of those films from the eighties that was all about Sylvester Stallone’s physical transformation and matching it up with the wacky crazy world of professional arm-wrestling. It is a fascinating experience to see this as a kid in a theater in the mid-Eighties – because this was an anticipated film. A new Stallone flick – and it came in the period where he was literally one of the biggest movie stars that there ever was. But the biggest movie star in the world was making a movie about professional arm wrestling that felt a bit too much like NORTH TO ALASKA, but nowhere near as fun. I never got my screener for this, but I can’t imagine not picking it up. It makes me giggle. A lot.

MAD MONSTER PARTY

I want all of these characters as toys. Especially the mod haircut Beatles-esque Skeleton Band! All your favorite monsters are here… Boris Karloff, Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Hunchback… everything, but the one that scares me most? Phyllis Diller. OH MY GOD! She’s the freakiest weird thing in this film filled with weird things. This was a Rankin Bass Theatrical Stop Motion feature – and I love it. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! That’s why I played a 35mm print at BUTT-NUMB-A-THON some years ago. Lionsgate has loaded the DVD with special features about the making of, the music, the stop-motion, 2 sing-alongs and more! The sadness. Its fullscreen, which wasn’t its original aspect ratio.

THE HUMAN CONDITION – Criterion Collection

This is an enormous film to watch and thoroughly rewarding. Technically made in 3 parts totaling nine and a half hours (on 4 stuffed discs), this is one man’s rather astonishing experiences as he goes from his job, to being a Japanese soldier during WWII and finally a POW held by the Soviets. Criterion pulled out the stops on this. A great transfer that up-res’ nicely. Filled with all types of typically great extras – but this is a marathon experience to absorb in a setting. Really great work. Highly recommended.

That’s it for this week, check out next week’s column where I’ll be checking out not Wolverine, DOCTOR WHO: THE NEXT DOCTOR (2008 Christmas special!), X-MEN volumes 3 & 4, the tremendous AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (Blu Ray), WAGON MASTER, VAN HELSING (Blu), ARMY OF DARKNESS (Blu), PHANTASM II, DEEP IMPACT (Blu), MISERY (Blu), HERO (Blu), FAME, FEAR ITSELF: The 1st Season, CHILD’S PLAY (Blu), ONE STEP BEYOND 1st Season, DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD, THE HANNIBAL LECTER ANTHOLOGY (Blu), DEADGIRL, VARSITY BLUES (Blu), WRONG TURN (Blu), LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER (Blu), THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI (Blu), SEX,LIES AND VIDEOTAPE (Blu), IRON MONKEY (Blu), TALL TALES & LEGENDS – Complete Series, NAUGHTY NYMPHS, KING KONG VS GODZILLA, THRONE OF BLOOD, ORGIES AND THE MEANING OF LIFE, I AM CUBA, KING KONG ESCAPES and much more!!!