Hey folks, Harry here with the latest DVD Picks & Peeks! Some jewels in this week’s column and I can’t recommend NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD enough. It is a film geek’s happy place. Really! As always, the pics and titles link you to Amazon – where you can buy & benefit this column and its continuation… or you can just learn more about the title in question. Thanks and I hope you enjoy this week’s column…

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (Blu Ray)

The most beautiful animated film transfer yet! The artwork has never been so beautiful, so vibrant. And the disc begins with a very creepy and “aware” Magic Mirror on your Wall menu screen that via the internet will load up telling you about the weather outside. Which is fucking awesomely creepy. Andrew Stanton introduces a look at the original Hyperion Studios where Disney made SNOW WHITE. But honestly – the transfer is the thing here. On the second disc, there’s a documentary showing how the release of SNOW WHITE heralded a new era of Disney at each juncture – no more so is it true with this Blu Ray release – which comes as Disney acquires Marvel, ushers in a new head of the studio and the seeming new era of Disney Animation under Lassiter. There’s also a look at the first 6 minutes of THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG – which looks really good. Can’t wait to see the whole thing. Nice to have Disney doing 2D again!

TRICK ‘R TREAT

Well – here it is at last. You can finally see TRICK R TREAT starring that gal from TRUE BLOOD acting all innocent, yet creepy. You can see ol Brian Cox’s way of handling trick or treaters… The film is a smaller film, but one that is drunk in love with Halloween and wants to play with the rules of Halloween in a style that sings the praises of CREEPSHOW and the other Horror Anthologies… Seems like we’ve been writing about this film forever – now you can join the conversation.

CONTACT (Blu Ray)

I’m really quite fond of this movie. For one, it is how I met Copernicus on the site. I love films that mark a time a friend came into one’s life. With this film it is a combination of the subject matter and the dreams of alien life that it fosters. Beautiful transfer, sadly this isn’t a crazy awesome extra-filled edition. But then the film isn’t widely loved, as I feel it should have been. Oh well. Back in the days of live-action Zemeckis. I miss those days.

TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams, Vol. 2 (THRILL OF A ROMANCE / FIESTA / THIS TIME FOR KEEPS / PAGAN LOVE SONG / MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID / EASY TO LOVE )

This set contains one of my all time favorite movies, MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID. I watched the film, countlessly. I was a swimming freak as a kid – and the story of Annette Kellerman thrilled me, especially when she got the backing of Busby Berkeley in a jaw-dropping musical water spectacle in the great Hippodrome. Here you’ll see some of Esther’s best. Like FIESTA where she’s Ricardo Montalban’s twin Bull Fighting sister. Or the Tahitian love story PAGAN LOVE SONG. But the Busby Berkeley ski number from EASY TO LOVE is about as amazing as they come. All films have shorts cartoons and other extras. Like VOLUME 1 – this is absolutely worth checking out!

YEAR ONE

Not nearly as apocalyptically awful as I heard, but still… a very clumsy and hit or miss comedy that isn’t nearly as sharp as it would like to be. Kept me moderately amused at best. A rental at best.

KARLOFF & LUGOSI HORROR CLASSICS ( THE WALKING DEAD / FRANKENSTEIN 1970 / YOU’LL FIND OUT / ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY )

1 great film. I love THE WALKING DEAD. Not only did it have one of the greatest Karloff 1 sheet movie posters in history, but it was atmospheric as all hell. I’m not a fan of FRANKENSTEIN 1970, but YOU’LL FIND OUT and ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY work on a kitsch level of fun. Make no mistake, these two films are not quality films, they are entertaining through the personalities they contain and exploit, but they are forgettable and as disposable as any modern film featuring a favorite actor that you wish had not been in a particular film that the actor committed to. They are… frankly, a bit embarrassing.

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947) Blu Ray

I can’t imagine that you’d really need me to tell you about this perfect classic Christmas tale. To me, there’s never been a holiday season, during which, I haven’t watched this film at least twice. I love love love this film. That said, I haven’t been sent this edition so I can not comment on whether there is a great new Black & White transfer – or the latest colorization. I will be picking it up.

AUDITION (Blu Ray)

This was my first dose of Takashi Miike. If you have never seen AUDITION – then you probably have no clue of just how tough a Miike film can be. In my opinion, this is his most restrained and brutal work. Only ICHI THE KILLER ranks higher amongst his films for me. This Blu Ray is perfect and it is unforgiving in its clarity. There’s a Miike commentary – and then there are interviews with cast members, albeit in standard def. Great film.

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (Blu)

Ok folks, here it is… the last time I’ll need to purchase A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS! I own animation cels from this production. I have Christmas ornaments for my Christmas tree from this film. And it is one of the purely most awesomely happy creations of and for humanity in general. God bless Schulz, Vince Guaraldi and Bill Melendez!

THE GATE

Starring an impossibly young version of the bad guy from the first BLADE movie, Stephen Dorff… Comes this movie that at many levels is just a goofy kids horror film – but ya know what… two days ago I watched this as the third part of a triple feature with my nephew and his mom, that began with SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS, the boy then wanted to see DRAG ME TO HELL, which scared the shit out of him, but he survived and decided he wanted to see THE GATE next. THE GATE absolutely terrified him. Those little demons, that big demon, that zombie corpse monster… the dog, the best friend.. the sister… and then the house. This isn’t some wussy film for kids, this is a full blown THE BEYOND style horror film – centered around and for kids… for whom it will terrorize and give nightmares to. But healthy nightmares. The sort that might prevent the kid from playing OUIJI boards or Heavy Metal records played in reverse on one’s iPod. Yup. This is a film that is all about what to do when the end times come for those kids alone in your home. BTW- all those glorious stop-motion demons... they came to life via the magic of 3 time Academy Award Winner Randy Cook - magnificent gleaming god that he is! WONDERFUL KIDS HORROR FILM. Let’s hope Guillermo’s Disney label delivers films as awesome as this!

CHINATOWN

It isn’t this site’s place to judge Roman on anything other than his work – and CHINATOWN is amongst his very best. That said, I can only recommend this DVD for those of you that haven’t seen CHINATOWN yet. I wouldn’t pick this up, because I can’t imagine it will be long till we get a Blu Ray on this title. It should be high on Paramount Home Video’s list. At least I hope so. CHINATOWN is brilliant. If you love L.A. CONFIDENTIAL – then there’s no way you won’t love this.

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (Blu )

I was just sent the live action version of this brilliant Seuss tale – and I have to say – it is worse than I remembered. That said, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS has continually delighted me from my earliest memories to yesterday’s memory of watching this. This is the best this has ever looked.

NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD

The best possible thing you can watch that you probably would not be aware of without the wondrous powers of the internet. For me –I have to say – I love and cherish this type of documentary. Did you buy, rent or watch THE Z CHANNEL documentary that I recommended a year or so back? Well, like that documentary – once you see NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD you will spend a good deal of time searching the world for the titles this film will introduce you to. In the year since I’ve seen this film, I’ve now watched nearly every title the documentary references and I have to say… I’m better for it. Ozsploitation is a superior form of –sploitation!!! I can not possibly recommend this film highly enough! A great film documentary! A must see for all fans of film.

WOLF (Blu)

Not dreadful, but not entirely satisfying. This was part of the trilogy of monster films that Sony produced to attempt to reinvent or rebirth the great Universal monsters. This film is a movie of moments and they are too few to recommend. Though I really do like Pfeiffer though – and having Blu Ray is important for all of her films.

MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN (Blu)

The last time Branagh played with lightning and thunder it was this horrid, miserable and excretable load of shit. And I’m generally considered a Branagh apologist. By the most part – Branagh has made mostly wonderful films. I feel that this is his greatest cinematic crime. He took a brilliant script by Frank Darabont and produced this rather unwatchable load of shit. I reexamined the film thinking that I perhaps overreacted in my youthful hatred for the film. I LOATHE THIS FILM! The 7 hour Vaseline wrestling match is exquisitely ridiculous and sharp on Blu Ray. But this film is best to watch with friends that will not hold their tongue as each atrocity is committed upon your screen. This is a MST3K film at best.

ASSASSINATION OF A HIGH SCHOOL PRESIDENT

A really wonderful independent film that it is a shame wasn’t seen by nearly enough people. But now that can all change – you have the ability to check this rather awesome, subversive blackly comic flick out now, so by all means do so.

THE THAW

An icky and gross film about prehistoric backboned bugs that will lay eggs in hosts that will quickly hatch, spreading the bug throughout one’s system and has a very aggressive bug that would spread faster than wildfire if it ever reached civilization. The problem with the movie is the ham-fisted MESSAGE about Global Warming that was layered as subtly as we reacted to the latest TERMINATOR film.

SEVENTH MOON

I really like this film. Directed by part of the team behind THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT – comes this very cool horror film starring the oh so yummy Amy Smart. The film is about a recently betrothed couple on an exotic honeymoon which – well, turns out it was pretty ill-advised. The film plays with Chinese Ghost mythology in a very scary and very creepy way. Think of it a bit like the original WICKER MAN, but more intensely scary and less musical.

MIRAGEMAN

This was the first Ernesto Diaz Espinoza directed film starring Marko Zaror film that I saw. Then I saw KILTRO – and the combination made me infatuated with the duo from Chile. That said, it was MIRAGEMAN that made me fall in love. This is a film about a guy who trains to become a superhero to reach his traumatized and semi-catatonic brother. But he isn’t rich. Isn’t well off. But he gives it his best shot and trains and designs his own costume and fights and fights and fights – and yes, he kicks ass and gets his ass kicked. This film is going to be remade for English audiences… and in 3D to boot. But now – it is time to keep your eye on MANDRILL… it is Ernesto and Marko’s latest and greatest! Wonderful little film.

Well folks – that’s it for this week! Next week we’ll be looking at Green Lantern with Sandra Bullock in THE PROPOSAL, Raimi’s DRAG ME TO HELL, the oh so dreamy “Edward” in THE HAUNTED AIRMAN, the fun as heck LAND OF THE LOST, HARDWARE (Blu), HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, SOUTH PARK The Movie on Blu Ray, FUTURAMA Complete Collection, NATURAL BORN KILLERS (Blu), EAGLES OVER LONDON (Blu), SCREWBALLS (Blu), THE CRAFT (Blu), SKIN IN THE SEVENTIES, EMMET OTTER’S JUG-BAND CHRISTMAS,