Hey folks, Harry here a combination of Halloween, increased Fall Film screenings, BNAT duties and some other work related issues caused me to not have my shit together - and I'm sorry for that. I'm attempting to get all 3 missing weeks up today. Each in their full intended glory. As usual the pics and the titles are linked to AMAZON where you can learn more on the titles in question - or if you feel the necessity, you can purchase which sends a portion of the money to help support the efforts of this column, which more often than naught - is up on time. Please accept my apologies and I'll get the others up today/tonight.... Enjoy... This first week was a HUGE one.

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA

This film will improve so much, if – and only if – the next G.I. JOE film more fully embraces the look and style of COBRA and the fun James Bond-on-steroids glee that the toys are played with. Because I hold this is still a good introduction film to the beginning of what becomes the awesome future that GI JOE gives us. Rewatching this on BluRay I remembered why I liked it so much. It is just plain unadulterated fun. It is silly, but more badass than I was expecting – and it kinda related more of G.I. JOE as my childhood remembered it, roughly. Now let’s turn it all up a bit. Make it all count more.

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS: THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE

It started off a little rough, but was always better than the initial movie they cobbled together – and later on it gets pretty goddamn good! Seriously. This is the 1st season, of 22 episodes – each with behind the scenes and all sorts of looks at future Star Wars stuff like the second seaso of CLONE WARS and The Jedi Temple Archives. Really interested to see the 2nd season now.

LOVE ACTUALLY

Usually I’m an absolute sucker for these films – and I know for a lot of ya – you just love it. This one just never had me sign aboard for. The transfer is lovely – so if you actually love LOVE ACTUALLY… well, it is worth picking up… if ya know… you like it and all…

Walt Disney Treasures: ZORRO – The Complete First Season

I love the Guy Williams’ ZORRO. Not as much as Tyrone Powers’… but then, nobody will ever top Tyrone Powers. That said, ZORRO has been a pretty damn good character for film. Be it Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, John Carroll, Reed Hadley, Guy Williams, Alain Delon, Frank Langella, George Hamilton or even Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas. George’s ‘gay blade’ not-withstanding – everything has been pretty much awesome. Very little suckage – and the serials are by far the most action packed. And the best swordfight with Zorro ever lays within Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone.

But what about the first season of Guy Williams’ ZORRO? It was black & white. A lot were directed by Norman Foster, who got his start back in the 30s directing Peter Lorre in the awesome MR MOTO series, he directed Sidney Toler in a few CHARLIE CHANs, he helmed the awesome Film Noir JOURNEY INTO FEAR – and then Walt Disney found him in the mid-50s where he kicked off DAVY CROCKETT for Walt. Then it came time to launch ZORRO, Walt turned to Norman again. After Zorro, Norman helmed some BATMAN episodes, a GREEN HORNET episode – and put the GREEN HORNET movie together. He didn’t direct all of the ZORROs, but a healthy bunch.

But ZORRO is exactly what it should be. Guy Williams gained additional fame as Professor John Robinson throughout the seasons he spent LOST IN SPACE. But it is his ZORRO that I love! This set also has ZORRO: EL BANDIDO and ZORRO: ADIOS EL CUCHILLO, each an hour long and hardly ever seen. 39 episodes! AND – volume two is next!

Walt Disney Treasures: ZORRO – The Complete Second Season

This show had no loss in awesome from season to season. The second season was again in stunning Black & White! This has all 39 episodes – plus ZORRO: THE POSTPONED WEDDING and ZORRO: AULD AQUAINTANCE which aired on Walt Disney Presents! But gathered here for our “Z” carving geeks!

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Blu Ray)

In my opinion the very best version of Chuck’s holiday tome. Alastair Sim is my Scrooge. And it looks as though that will always be the case. This Blu Ray is crystal clarity. Watching this you’re going to pick up on so much wonderful detail. And if it is possible to have a higher estimation of this classic – this release raises it. The detail is just stunning.

WINGS OF DESIRE – Criterion Collection (Blu Ray)

If you’ve never seen WINGS OF DESIRE, let’s keep that a dirty secret that I won’t share with the others. But seriously, before someone less forgiving finds that out, watch Wim Wenders’ masterpiece. Criterion’s transfer is perfect and as usual they load the disc all the way up. Take a look at what you get:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Wim Wenders with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack

• Audio commentary featuring Wenders and actor Peter Falk

• The Angels Among Us (2003), a documentary featuring interviews with Wenders, Falk, actors Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander, writer Peter Handke, and composer Jürgen Knieper

• Excerpt from: Wim Wenders Berlin Jan. 87, an episode of the French television program Cinéma cinémas, including on-set footage

• Interview with director of photography Henri Alekan

• Deleted scenes and outtakes

• Excerpts from the films Alekan la lumière (1985) and Remembrance: Film for Curt Bois (about the actor who plays Homer in Wings of Desire)

• Notes and photos by production designer Heidi Lüdi and art director Toni Lüdi

• Trailers

• New and improved English subtitle translation

• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Atkinson and writings by Wenders and Handke

And yes, it deserves every last bit of that attention. I actually watched this as a double feature with IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Awesome double bill, wildly different and yet not.

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 (2009)

For the better part of this project’s life I just loathed the concept of its very existence. I love the original. It is still vastly superior. But I came away from this film respecting it. First off – Brian Helgeland’s script and character work with our two leads was exceptional. I loved what he did. And then, I love what Travolta and Denzel did. They were not the obvious takes with the material – and neither attempted or even vaguely came close to being anything like the original characters. Instead, these are wholly different roles from the first time out. The only problem is something that often times bugs me with movies like these… the fact that I don’t buy the ending AT ALL. But that said, with the exception of a weak ending, I find this to be quite a watchable adaptation of the material. There’s separate commentaries with director / screenwriter & producer. A few other extras.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE – The Final TV Season

For those of you that have been picking these up over the last few years, your set is now complete. If you’ve held off for one giant collection, that’s next. But the great thing is… this season kicked ass just like the others. The gorgeous Barbara Anderson joined the team. Now – you super collectors are probably wondering about that 1988 season – there’s no word of it being released anytime soon – but that’s all that’s left, so they should release it, right?

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE – Complete Series

For a quick $188 you can have the complete original series in all its glory! Every beat of Lalo’s score, every fuse lit, every mission accepted and completed. I’m glad to have them all, this really was one of the great television shows. Such a high level of quality throughout.

G.I. JOE: RESOLUTE

For those wanting a more adult G.I. JOE story, this will have to do for a while. The good news is… it kicks all kinds of ass. The bad news is – it isn’t the big live action film’s model. I love both, but this definitely plays older than Sommers’ film.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (Blu Ray)

Hitchcock’s most POP movie – and a film that essentially refined a genre that he kick started all the way back with THE 39 STEPS. I love this film. I’ve seen it projected in the Cornfields that Cary Grant ran in. I’ve seen it projected at the base of Mt Rushmore itself. I’ve seen the film in movie palaces and on white sheets hung from a ceiling. Well, NORTH BY NORTHWEST is one of those movies that is always great, but it really doesn’t get better than this Blu Ray edition. In addition to the brilliant transfer you get:

Commentary by screenwriter Ernest Lehman
New 2009 documentary: The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style
Feature-length career profile: Cary Grant: A Class Apart
North by Northwest: One for the Ages: explore the movie's innovations and influences
Vintage 2000 documentary: Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest
Music-only audio track
Stills gallery
Theatrical trailers and TV spot

I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER

Sue me, I have an unhealthy obsession with Hayden Panettiere. I don’t really. It’s not nearly as bad as Yoko’s obsessions, but I’ve seen just about everything Hayden has done… and of her feature work, I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER… well it’s her best work for theaters thus far. Now, that isn’t a high complement, cuz she still hasn’t had a breakthrough theatrically. I liked it though. The young cast did a good job, Chris Columbus seemed to have a lot of fun with this. But it doesn’t quite take off. In ways it reminded me of 3 O’CLOCK HIGH or a slightly impotent version of RISKY BUSINESS. It is meant for the PG-13 set. And for a ‘sex comedy’ at that rating it is cool. R would have leant itself to so many wonderful possibilities though. Sigh.

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Blu Ray)

Superb Blu Ray. One of the great films, the sentimental favorite from both Capra and Stewart’s careers. While it isn’t my favorite in either of those categories, I’ve always felt this was the single most healthy choice that you could take on a desert island stay. If you somehow had magical electricity, 1080p monitor with Blu Ray capacity. The most amazing discovery? ZuZu’s petals? POTATO CHIPS! I’m serious, just look. Ok – so you’re concerned about the COLORIZED Version. With this edition you get 2 Blu Rays. One for the colorized – and then the original Black & White – and they put the extras on with the original print – which was beautifully handled. This release makes me very happy! Besides – it’s proof that God has created alternate realities and dimensions where versions of our reality are shifted ever so slightly. For real! God is a CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS geek. Yeesh! Or at the very least, He reads Marvel’s old WHAT IF…

HOWARDS END – Criterion Collection (Blu Ray)

I miss the hey day of Merchant Ivory. I actually made my feature debut in a Merchant Ivory production. But watching this film… it is just so elegantly told, so much patience, such economy, such grace. The film was based upon E. M. Forster’s classic novel, and then brought to life via the amazing performances of folks like Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson picked up an Oscar for her work here. Again, absolutely deserved. Criterion did a consistently awesome job on the Blu Ray. Here’s what you get…

• High-definition digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts, with uncompressed Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
• New appreciation of the late Ismail Merchant by director James Ivory
• Building: Howards End, a documentary featuring interviews with Ivory, Merchant, Helena Bonham Carter, costume designer Jenny Beavan, and Academy Award–winning production designer Luciana Arrighi
• The Design of: Howards End, a detailed look at the costume and production designs for the film, including original sketches
• The Wandering Company (1984), a 50-minute documentary about the history of Merchant Ivory Productions
• Original 1992 behind-the-scenes featurette
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic Kenneth Turan"

Ruby Spears SUPERMAN

I was 100% unfamiliar with this. It set around for a few days. And I stared at it, wondering what the hell it was. It came out back in 1988, when I was a Junior in High School. But I never saw it. I put it in, and in the first episode, DESTROY THE DEFENDROIDS – about the time Lois and Supes are flying hand in hand as hints of CAN YOU READ MY MIND play… I was a bit stunned. Marv Wolfman wrote these – and it is very interesting. It is almost like a hybrid between Byrne’s SUPERMAN revision and the Christopher Reeve film set-ups. Only… with wildly more whimsical storylines. You will see General Zod, Lex Luthor, Wonder Woman and The Prankster. Toward the end of each episode – after the conclusion of the main story – you get a flash back to the early origins of Superman. His home life with the Kents, how he got adopted by them, all the way to Clark’s first day in Metropolis. There’s only 13 episodes, that’s all they did. But I was surprised how much I liked this. I really enjoyed it.

Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics, Vol. 1 ( THE BIG HEAT / 5 AGAINST THE HOUSE / THE LINEUP / MURDER BY CONTRACT / THE SNIPER )

Give me films by directors like Fritz Lang, Don Siegel and Edward Dmytrik… starring folks like Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin, Eli Wallach, Brian Keith, Kim Novak and Adolphe Menjou and all for the greater glory of one of my favorite genres… The Film Noir… and I’m going to smile a lot. I’ve been waiting for a decent DVD for THE BIG HEAT for a long time. I’ve had the 1-sheet for this film for the better part of 20 years, having never seen the film… just cuz I trust Fritz Lang as a director. And I was right to. I also watched Don Siegel’s THE LINEUP… Great Fucking Movie! I haven’t gotten to the other three, but I’m looking forward to them. You’ll also enjoy the various special features with directors like Nolan, Mann and Scorsese commenting upon the genre of Noir. Nothing revelatory is spoken, but interesting extras. Makes me wish Nolan just stayed forever in this genre. Heh.

FRAGGLE ROCK: The Complete Final Season

So sad, yet so dang joyful! The last season of FRAGGLE ROCK. I’m hearing rumors that the powers that be are floating the idea, via tele-marketing about doing a CG sequel to DARK CRYSTAL (NOOOOOOOO) – and it just got me angry. For me, this completed the run of FRAGGLE ROCK that I have. Because sometimes – it ain’t a party unless you’re covered in felt and rubbing against your felt friends getting down with Fraggle Rock!

FRAGGLE ROCK: Complete Series Collection

Or maybe you’ve been holding off till you can get the whole series all at once. 47 hours of Henson puppet love! An excellent gift for a nephew or niece, a grandchild or your own kids. Smart original songs, not spoon feeding your kids the merch of the day, but of a day gone by! To me, kids brought up with Fraggle Rock will no doubt become absolute geniuseses like me!

SAY ANYTHING (Blu Ray)

Are you confused about how to be a cooler person as a guy? Need a good role model – a character to take notes from, to pay attention to, to get yourself the right girl, and so you can be an awesome man? Be LLOYD DOBLER and worship this movie. This is important guy shit, and girls… look for guys like Lloyd Dobler! Don’t reward the douches! Cameron Crowe nailed this. It isn’t a stylistic wonder, it’s shot straight forward, but the music, the fashion, the hair, the dialogue and the way the film plays out. It was the film I saw my senior year that I watched… a lot. Great Blu Ray!

FORREST GUMP (Blu Ray)

The Box of Chocolate edition. So imagine my joy as I opened the package with this in it. I opened it up, ripped open the cellophane and lifted open the box to find…. That life is like a box of chocolate… sometimes it is fake, sometimes the chocolate that you eagerly wish to possess… sometimes it isn’t chocolate, sometimes it is SCRATCH & SNIFF Cardboard chocolate. And they ask you to smell them all, but they’re all 100% the same fake chocolate smell. I thought some would smell like peanuts or coconut, but its all the same. That said, I love the Blu Ray – but frankly – if I were you – this edition isn’t worth it at all. The scratch n sniff is lame. The fact that there is no slip case for your discs and they just affix to the bottom of this oversized box. Well I found it a bit annoying.

The Claudette Colbert Collection ( THREE-CORNERED MOON / MAID OF SALEM / I MET HIM IN PARIS / BLUEBEARD’S EIGHTH WIFE / NO TIME FOR LOVE / THE EGG AND I )

I’ve loved BLUEBEARD’S EIGHTH WIFE for quite some time. And watching MAID OF SALEM, only to discover that some people thought Claudette Colbert was a fucking witch. Well it just got me angry. Claudette was too sweet to be a witch. Only jealous twits would accuse her. Claudette was one of the great classic actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Here you’ll see her with a young Fred MacMurray, Gary Cooper, Robert Young, Melvyn Douglas and others. I’ve only seen 3 of the films in the set thus far, and the two I mentioned above and THE EGG AND I were all excellent… and I have no reason to suspect otherwise with the other 3.

NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION Blu Ray

I did not get sent this for review, but I hope to pick it up at some point. Christmas with the Griswold’s is a must. Randy Quaid so own this film though. He’s amazing here.

BUCK ROGERS

I love Buster Crabbe’s BUCK ROGERS. I actually own the serial in 16mm film. Much of Coruscant from the Star Wars Prequels was lifted from BUCK ROGERS. This is a truly huge Serial. Technically the FLASH GORDONs had higher budgets, but some of the complicated model work… well, it was actually pretty darn amazing! And watch how quickly you end up falling in love with BUDDY the pre-Bucky boy sidekick adventurer. Really awesome though! In addition there’s a 1933 Buck Rogers feature – and a History of Buck Rogers.

Next week aka 2nd week of November is coming shortly...