Hey folks, Harry here with an on time DVD PICKS AND PEEKS! You know what that means? Yup, I’m caught up. So now I can bang out some film reviews I’m behind on – and I can start enjoying these Kurosawa films… well, you’ll see what I mean at the end of the column. As usual the Images and Titles will link you over to AMAZON where you can learn more – and if you care to purchase it via the link, you’ll have a small portion of your purchase price kick back to support this column. Now on time! Woo Hoo!!! SO – let’s jump in…

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

ANGELS & DEMONS

You know… I know this is a big A film release, but it feels like a serial. You have this adventurous Professor Robert Langdon, on another wacky and deadly serious adventure regarding the Catholic Church. This time there’s an antimatter bomb, a murdered pope, kidnapped Cardinals and a devilishly hidden secret path to each Cardinals’ killing site. There’s all manners of cliffhangers and outrageously big sequences – and I’ll be damned if I didn’t have fun. And I absolutely enjoyed it on Blu Ray. I love Ewan’s character – and while I absolutely didn’t buy a second of the plot, I loved the fantasy of it all. Can’t wait to see how it all wraps up with the next one!

FUNNY PEOPLE

FUNNY PEOPLE didn’t hit wide audiences the way Apatow’s other works have, but then this isn’t like his other films. Oh sure, there are familiar cast members, similar beats and sources to the humor, but in the midst of it all is cancer, a story of life and death, sexual affairs and… well, pretty universally loathsome characters that really tend to treat each other rather shitty. But that is exactly what sets this apart from his work and makes it his best feature, even if it isn’t filled beginning to end with the “ha-ha’s” Sandler is fantastic here. So is Seth Rogen, who is most definitely not playing himself. If you missed this theatrically, you really do owe it to yourself to check it out on Blu.

GHOST IN THE SHELL 2.0 (Blu)

You should steer clear of this. Oshii pulled a Lucas on this – and started replacing the gorgeous animation of the original with really dodgy at best CG – and it just loses the soul of the original. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.

GOMORRAH (Criterion) (Blu)

Scorsese really got behind this brilliant modern mob film from Italy by Matteo Garrone. Now, don’t go into this with the polished mob work of Francis. Also, don’t bring the sleazy awesome of Fernando Di Leo’s mob pictures. This is a very frank and documentary like approach – but what you get from that is a very very frank look at what the modern mob looks like. Brilliant film and Criterion did a bang up job with this Blu. The print looks like a window into a rather terrible reality.

Here’s the extras:

FIVE STORIES – A 60 minute doc on how they made the film. Outstanding.

New Video interviews with the director and his star, Toni Servillo.

An Interview with screenwriter Roberto Saviano.

A short video with Servillo, Imparato and Cantalupo.

Deleted scenes, the trailer!

As usual, a great job!

THE MONSTER SQUAD (Blu)

The Alamo’s Zack & Quint are planning a naked watch party of this at the High Ball THANKSGIVING night. I actually don’t know that, but it is something I suspect. You see, both of these kids worship the living fuck out of this film. Much like my sister. So on the first THANKSGIVING, on which they can give thanks for Lionsgate giving us this Blu Ray release – I can just imagine Zack & Quint kicking each other in the nards, whilst dancing naked. I have to tell you, this vision makes me giggle. It really does. But if you’d like to see it for yourself – I dare you to drive by the High Ball THANKSGIVING night, where I suspect these two will going at it. Seriously though, that probably won’t happen. Probably. It has the same stuff as the earlier standard def release, only the film is in 1080 p – which is why Zack and Quint are naked celebrating. These are scary men.

ANGEL HEART (Blu)

Often times people ask me what is a good title to show off the awesome of Blu Ray. If you don’t know why this film is perfect for that, you’re probably emasculated… or unfamiliar with the greater glory of ANGEL HEART. First off – you have Robert De Niro playing Satan. You’ve got Mickey Rourke acting his ass off. You have an Alan Parker directed film that is stunningly captured. Oh. And there’s Lisa Bonet. This is a Hall of Fame fuck scene with Lisa Bonet – and I remember when I snuck in to see this with 3 other friends, because we were sophmores in High School, that had all cultivated hard ons for Lisa Bonet for years on the Cosby Show – and when we heard she had her tits out in ANGEL HEART – we were unstoppable. Noone could have kept us from seeing this movie… repeatedly. It nearly melted our brains, and ANGEL HEART is a wonderful wonderful film, but no film is more wonderful than the amazing sight of Lisa Bonet boning in this film. It’s a moment in life worth revisiting in the particular perfection of clarity that Blu allows us. Seriously… How many wanked it in the 80s on Skinamax with this film?

THE GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION (Criterion)

I’ve only had time to watch one of the Episodes of this amazing set, but at $35 – the set is completely worth it for the rare 1956 Live Telecast of REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT – written for the small screen by a young writer named Rod Serling. It starred Jack Palance, in a role that Anthony Quinn played when this award winning telecast was turned into a feature. What is preserved on this Kinoscope is an astonishing performance by Palance. But what blew me away was the amazing performance from longtime Vaudville and Slapstick comedian Ed Wynn in his sole dramatic performance. It also features his son Keenan Wynn, who is also amazing in the piece. The lovely Kim Hunter of PLANET OF THE APES fame figures prominently in things – and look for Max Baer to play a role too! This is an amazing drama – tremendously well done, especially for a live production. If you click over to Amazon at the above links – you’ll discover the other titles that are a part of this set. They are uniformly highly regarded. And I look forward to working my way through them to discover unseen performances by the likes of folks like Cliff Robertson, Edmund O’Brien, Mickey Rooney, Mel Torme, Paul Newman, Julie Harris, Piper Laurie, Andy Griffith as essentially Gomer Pyle, and Rod Steiger. You have commentaries by directors like John Frankenheimer, Ralph Nelson and Daniel Petrie Sr. There’s also interviews with the casts. This is a really remarkable set. We’re lucky that Criterion put this baby out!

CUJO (Blu)

The reason I don’t have a really big dog. There’s a movie coming… that mines some of the territory of this film. I won’t give the title away just yet, as it is probably most likely part of my line up for BNAT1138. But don’t we all love CUJO. I love how utterly fucked this situation gets. I love how it is essentially the most fucked version of OLD YELLER ever – and it is a testement to the genius of Stephen King – that he thought this story out completely. And really… haven’t you been dying to see that drool in crystal clarity? Just put the family pets in the backyard. You wouldn’t want to give them any ideas.

FRAILTY (Blu)

Brilliant directorial work from Bill Paxton. I LOVE this film. It is such a simple premise. A pair of brothers living with their father. One day, dad comes in and says, “Sons, God has given us a purpose. We’re demon killers” At that point he comes back with a lead pipe, a pair of old gloves and a hatchet and tells you they’re magical weapons from God to kill the Demons. And then there’s suddenly a list of demons, but with human names. And yup, you, your brother and pops are gonna go capture and kill these demons in human form. You’re gonna build a killing basement with your dad! Aren’t home projects the best? This is a scary film. Because, what if Dad isn’t crazy, what if he’s telling the truth? LOVE THIS FILM. Beautiful transfer.

THE WAY OF THE GUN (Blu)

A fucking brilliant action crime film directed by the writer of THE USUAL SUSPECTS and VALKYRIE! Christopher McQuarrie pointed at the far wall and sailed this film over it – and the entire country was looking the other way. There are fantastic movies that just fly past the vast populace that enjoys movies – and years later an opportunity like… the film hitting Blu Ray happens – and you have a chance to discover a film that can become incredibly addicting. I LOVE THIS FILM! I did not get sent a screener of this – but this is the film from this week that I am getting tomorrow. THE WAY OF THE GUN is just scary great. The score, editing, sound design, writing and performances are universally great. Turn the sound up, and if you have the right Home Theater – this film will knock your ass in the dirt. Can’t wait to pick this Blu up!

SUPERMAN: THE COMPLETE ANIMATED SERIES

Frankly – wait. Even if this never comes on Blu-Ray, which it will eventually. You don’t want double sided discs? Right? I hate those things. Wonderful series, shame it gets treated like this.

NEW POLICE STORY (Blu)

It is hard to believe that the last completely cool Jackie Chan film was 5 years ago with this. I really enjoy this film – and getting it in Blu Ray is a treat. Yes, I know Jackie did KUNG FU PANDA, but I wouldn’t call that a Jackie Chan film. Also, he was very good in THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM, but that also didn’t feel like a Jackie Chan film, but rather a film that had Jackie Chan in it. NEW POLICE STORY is 100% a Jackie Chan movie – and he’s really really great in it. I like the story and the action – and he’s doing quite a bit with his character. Check it out!

ROCK AND RULE

Do you remember this crazy bit of awesome? It never got theatrical release in the United States – because somebody had their head up their own ass. Now don’t get me wrong, the animation is shoddy, some of it is clumsy – but dammit the music makes this other wise limp dick hard to fuck up. The soundtrack kicks ass with 4 songs from Deborah Harry, 3 songs from Cheap Trick, 2 songs from fucking Lou Reed, a song by EARTH WIND & FIRE, and a song by Iggy Pop. That… by itself… is the reason to have this incredibly bizarre and rocking film. How can you not want it? How many animated films with music by Lou Reed do you know?

That’s it for today! And I’m officially caught up. I’m working my way through Criterion’s huge Akira Kurosawa – 100th Birthday set:

AK 100: 25 Films Of Akira Kurosawa (Criterion Collection)

This doesn’t come out till the second Tuesday of December – but it has 4 Kurosawa films that have never been released in the United States prior to this. As I’ve been working on the column tonight, I decided to give one of these a peek… SANSHIRO SUGATA from 1943. The film is still missing 17 minutes of the original cut – and yes, it is Kurosawa’s first film – and you know what I’m discovering tonight? Kurosawa had it from the beginning. The thing that’s boggling my mind is the idea that during World War II, Akira Kurosawa was shooting a Samurai flick. And it is pretty damn good! I plan to watch all 25 films prior to the release of this set, but if you’re putting together wish lists for your family and friends to pick up for you – you should definitely put this on the list!

Come back next Tuesday when we’ll be truly irate about TERMINATOR SALVATION, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN – while praising things like LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS (blu), SNATCH (blu), MST3k: XVI limited edition, 5th Season of SNL, INTO THE STORM, THE MASK OF ZORRO (Blu), THE GREEN MILE (Blu), GIMME SHELTER (Criterion Blu), A CHRISTMAS TALE (Criterion Blu), PAPER HEART, SECONDHAND LIONS (Blu), SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT 3,4,5 box set, GREMLINS (Blu), THE JAZZ SINGER, FLAME & CITRON, DEATH WARRIOR, WHITE OUT and that’s about it.

See you in a week!