Hey folks, Harry here with the end of a very unusual night for me. Yes, the sun has risen and I have finished the DVD column, but this should’ve been finished about 6 hours ago, but damn did I get distracted by something that hopefully I’ll be able to share soon. For now, I must silently vibrate to myself – and finish up this intro to this week’s column. As usual, the pics and titles link over to Amazon where, like Peter Jackson, you can purchase the picks that interest you – which goes to support the ongoing attempts to perhaps bring you something you don’t know, but will love finding out about. Here we go…
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
NOSFERATU ( plus VAMPYR & LE VAMPIRE)
It somehow feels fitting that this is my top pick of the week. As I’ve said in quite a few articles, I’ve oddly been reflective this past week – and NOSFERATU was my first vampire. As a child, my parents had a 16mm film called MONSTERS WE HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED, narrated by Joseph Cotton, which was a 30 minute Television documentary that must’ve aired at somepoint in the mid-sixties. It tells the audience the history of classic horror – very literally like an issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND come to life. In the feature, it kind of begins with NOSFERATU. I still feel that Max Shreck’s Count Orlock is the all time scariest visage of the ‘vampire’. If you’ve never seen this… do yourself a great service. There is something otherworldy about the film. Something less real and more nightmarish. VAMPYR is also pretty amazing to watch, not taking from Stoker like NOSFERATU, but the CARMILLA story. Lastly, there’s the 9 minute short film LE VAMPIRE, which is about the vampiric critters which I was strangely fascinated by. If you don’t know the work of Murnau and Dreyer – it is a serious hole in your cinematic education and appreciation. These are not tired old things not to be watched – these are films that can teach you about what is possible with film. How film does not need realism to be intoxicating. How you don’t need sound or dialogue to burn your images into the permanent historical iconic realm of cinema. That can be done through camera angles, lighting, painted sets and shadows. Stop thinking like TV. THIS IS A PULSING VEIN OF CINEMA, tap it!
DEATH RACE 2000 (Blu)
Paul Bartel had no money, and made a film 1000 times more thoughtful, entertaining, visual and permanent than that remake. Here, there’s a grandness to the DEATH RACE. There’s an iconic point system that is irresistible to pick up and comment with your traveling companion while driving. I love that I’m extra points, because I’m in a wheelchair. And if in 40 years I’m still in this bitch, wheel me out for FRANKENSTEIN!!! Now – what’d Corman and crew give you on this Blu Ray? Here ya go:
* New Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) High-Definition Transfer From The Interpositive Film Element
* David On Death Race: Interview with David Carradine
* Audio Commentary With Roger Corman & Mary Woronov
* New Audio Commentary With Assistant Director Lewis Teague And Editor Tina Hirsh
* Playing The Game: Looking Back at Death Race 2000
* Ready To Wear: Interview with costume designer Jane Ruhm
* Designing Dystopia A detailed look at the design of the films now-legendary race cars, costumes and futuristic landscapes with members of the production, design and costume crew
* Start Your Engines: Interview with author Ib Melchior
* Killer Score: An all-new interview with composer Paul Chihara on the creation of the films eclectic score
* Leonard Maltin Interviews Roger Corman About Death Race 2000
* Theatrical Trailer
* Theatrical Trailer With Commentary By John Landis
* TV And Radio spots
* 12-Page Booklet
* New World Trailers
GREEN ZONE
I find Matt Damon one of the most compelling watchable actors of his generation. There’s a purposefulness to his acting that gives it a sense of urgency within the moment that constantly reminds you… He is thinking. And I like that. Add Paul Greengrass and a political conspiracy plotline and I’m hooked. I just wish this was a less fictionalized account and a more serious NAMING THE BASTARDS that deliberately mislead a nation and a world into a situation that has taken too many lives, treasure and good will from the world that we live in. That said, we have gotten some good movies out of it though, and this is one of them.
REMEMBER ME
I kinda love this utterly insane film. And it is only utterly insane for the last act, which… well, if you remember Massawyrm’s hilarious write up. Well, I kind of love the movie for going there. But then I’m a classic melodrama fan. I’m just shocked this didn’t do TITANIC business (LOL) - no, I don’t think this movie is genius. Instead, it is a dumbfounding work. Something absolutely watchable, but… insane. Amazon calls it, “REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE meets ORDINARY PEOPLE in postmillennial Manhattan.” And – um… yeeeeahhh, I can take off my glasses, squeeze lemon juice in my eyesockets and then clearly see that as an apt description. But damn if it works for me without some form of violation of the Geneva Convention.
AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER: THE COMPLETE BOOK 1
Repackaged to rerelease with the live-action film adaptation is this. You can buy the previous edition for 50 cents cheaper, there’s an extra disc of special features, some ‘collectibles’ – but nothing to make me suggest to any of you that ALREADY OWN season one, to make a bid for this. If you don’t know your Airbending and want to brush up real quick... well, this is a good option for doing that. And you’ll have a very lengthy version of what M Night is trying to tell in a single movie.
SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE
I apparently am a lamer because I absolutely and thoroughly reject this movie. First off, I find most of the humor to just be lowest form of humor. You know, the kind where ya don’t laugh? Also… Guys that think girls are “out of their league” are just fucking retarded. Because you’re stereotyping the beautiful woman and cockblocking yourself. If I thought about “my league” – jesus. That would mean I would never have dated, instead of constantly doing so till I met Yoko and settled down. The secret, take a swing in every league you can find. You might just fine your estimation of self is not shared. We each deserve the happiness that we put ourselves out there for. Fuck this guy’s friends, her friends and the writers. The only great thing is the HALL & OATES tribute band. But after saying, HALL & OATES tribute band… it just doesn’t go anywhere.
THE LAST STATION
A film starring James McAvoy, Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren and Paul Giamatti is an automatic GOTTA SEE for me. Plummer plays Tolstoy in his final days, Giamatti is his assistant, who hates Leo’s wife, played by Helen Mirren. McAvoy plays a secretary that gets thrown into the mix and is particularly peculiar in his own way that gives us some fun to be had. A really wonderful film, you should see this.
A STAR IS BORN (Blu Ray)
I’ve always preferred the Claudette Colbert version of the story to its two sequels – and for me… a fantastic James Mason performance aside… well, Judy just kinda scares me in this… you can begin to see the self-destruction on her face… and the sweet girl I love is gone. For some, that’s what empowers this version, to me… it just hurts. I don’t take enjoyment from watching it. Give me her earlier work. That said, the Bluray is gorgeous… and you get these awesome extras:
Alternate filmings of four musical numbers and one dramatic sequence, most new to this release
Hollywood premiere telecast and newsreel, exhibitor reel plus expanded post-premiere party footage
Audio-only bonuses: Original recording session music and vintage radio show
Trailers of all three A Star Is Born versions and much more
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (Blu-Ray 3D)
Here it is… NEW TECHNOLOGY… Like a portent of things to come it lays there in its box, without anything that I can play it on quite yet. And here I am needing a new Blu Ray player because my old one has decided to selectively allow me to view only the occasional Blu Ray… and it was the top of the line Samsung… and the first 3D Blu Ray player is a Samsung and I just don’t have faith in a multi-hundreds of dollars piece of Hardware that doesn’t last a year and a half. So for right now, though my projector can, my player can not, will not and is basically an evil bane of my existence. (7 days to PS3 ends my BluRay player griping. Although this is my 3rd one, PS3 will be my 4th – but then I do use it far more than the average viewer – putting probably 5 years of use in a year.)
This isn’t anaglyph (red/blue) this makes use of Shutter glasses. Yes, you’ll need to upgrade. But hold off till we start seeing actual experiences with the tech and this product. At $28 for a disc, I’m gonna need some feedback, and yes – as soon as I can get a non-Samsung player, I’ll be doing this. Can not friggin wait for high quality at home 3D for my projection set up! I’m committed. (feel free to make the looney bin jokes)
RED DESERT (Criterion Blu)
Michelangelo Antonioni’s first color feature is brilliant. I personally prefer his black & white work, but that’s because I love black & white. The other night, Yoko put on the BBC JANE EYRE, then told me I could put on whatever I wanted after about 20 minutes of it, and I just queued up the Netflix instant of JANE EYRE with Joan Fontaine, Orson Welles and Elizabeth Taylor and screamed about the brilliant use of black and white, framing and what not. Jeez I’m easily distracted. Anyway, Antonioni… The film is stunning to look at, Monica Vitti is, as always, the muse and beauty of Antonioni’s work. She’s amazing in this, but nothing tops her work in L’AVVENTURA, LA NOTTE and L’ECLISSE… and that trilogy is my favorite collection of works by Antonioni, but this is outstanding. What does Criterion give us besides a stunning transfer and print?
Audio commentary by Italian film scholar David Forgacs
Archival video interviews with Michelangelo Antonioni and actress Monica Vitti
Outtakes from the film's production
Original theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film historian Mark Le Fanu
An interview with Antonioni by Jean-Luc Godard
A reprinted essay by Antonioni on his use of color
And more!
RIVERWORLD
A complete abortion of Phillip Jose Farmer’s RIVERWORLD. But then it is SyFy’s attempt. Did you expect better? I watched this as Yoko was at a friend’s discovering FARSCAPE. I longed to be watching FARSCAPE the entire time. Seriously. I watched for what seemed like geologic time. And turned it off out of pure apathy. Read the book.
FUEL
You know – at one point, that image was ludicrous, but thanks to BP – what was unlikely commercial art has become… well a satellite image. Seriously though – this release is a must watch now. This is not just a bitch at the oil industry documentary, but a film with suggestions and examinations of the choices we have. A sustainable future that is both profitable and good for this slimey mudhole we call home.
CLOSE-UP (Criterion Blu)
It was Roger Ebert and the Austin Film Society that turned me on to Iranian cinema. The most significantly recognized filmmaker out of Iran is Abbas Kiarostami and if you love this, seriously check out TASTE OF CHERRY and TEN. I saw this film about 5 years after its release when the AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY did a IRANIAN series of features and they were revelatory. How? Well, as a Westerner we see the images we see on the news. These images are generally made up of dramatic civic unrest over something Western, or some manner of horrifying bloodshed in the streets type of thing, but this is their ART. Their film. And when you see it, you see the fierce intelligence and the camera’s unflinching eye capturing their drama. This is a film where all the players play themselves acting out what really happened, as a result the filmmaker was allowed to shoot the trial – and you see what you’ll see. It is something different. And powerful. Here’s what else Criterion gives you on this set:
Uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
Audio commentary by Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa and Jonathan Rosenbaum
The Traveler, a notable early feature by director Abbas Kiarostami
"Close-up" Long Shot, a forty-five-minute documentary on Hossein Sabzian
A Walk with Kiarostami (2003), a thirty-two minute documentary on the director
New video interview with Kiarostami
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Godfrey Cheshire
LE COMBAT DANS L’ILE (FIRE AND ICE)
60’s French New Wave is crack. This cool as fuck French Noir is all about an assassination attempt and it is just fucking outstanding. But I can’t help but not only watch this film, but then call up friends to come over to watch it. Call up Dad, “Pops, you HAVE to come over and see this” so in very quick succession, I’ve seen it 4 times, much like the future Criterion release of NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH – which I fucking adore! With Jean Louis Trintignant, Henri Serre and the oh so awesome Romy Schneider… plus the very powerful and crisp black and white… well, the movie does everything just right. Here are your extras:
- Gorgeous new high-definition transfer, supervised by cinematographer Pierre Lhomme
- France 1961 : A brand-new short film by Alain Cavalier, created especially for this release
- Rare behind-the-scenes photos, including images from the archive of producer Louis Malle
- An exclusive booklet with essays by the filmmakers, and more
That’s it for this very lite week, but that’s alright… the last week of June has a ton of stuff. First I’ll make my way through a second watch of PERCY JACKSON, may god have mercy on my soul… The new RUSH blu ray, the fantastic HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, the also great WHEN YOU’RE STRANGE , Breck Eisner’s very good remake of THE CRAZIES, The ultimate PREDATOR blu ray, NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH – fave vintage film I discovered for the first time this year thus far, Jet Li’s WARLORDS, THE WHITE RIBBON, a Criterion Blu of THE LEOPARD, the surprising CREATION, the complete LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, NEW YORK CONFIDENTIAL, EVERLASTING MOMENTS (Criterion Blu), NAVY VS THE NIGHT MONSTERS, THE ECLIPSE, STOLEN, SUICIDEGIRLS MUST DIE!, VICTORY AT SEA (Blu Ray), Seagal’s KILL SWITCH, some long awaited sleaze with TEENAGE HITCHHIKERS, VERSUS Blu!, RED BARRY, RETURN OF THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, IT CAME FROM KUCHAR, DAYS OF THRILLS & LAUGHTER, UNCLE SAM (Blu), LOVE GAMES, SUBMISSION OF A WOMAN and the unseen for 40 years, FOLLOW ME. At least all that will be yours and more, next week!
