Hey folks, Harry here with today’s column all ready for ya. Some fun stuff as always. Really can’t wait to pick up Criterion’s HEAVEN’S GATE release on Blu. It’s a real film geek’s jewel. Along with this Tarantino set! As usual, the images and the links take you to Amazon where you can learn more on the title, or even purchase it, which actually helps with the column quite a bit. Now let’s hop in…
Tuesday, November 20th, 2012
Simon West’s best film is this second outing of Stallone & his fellow Expendables. This time, the film is bigger, there’s less cameos of big names and more actual supporting roles. And that’s nothing but good. The film gets surreal and insane with Chuck Norris’ part. He really does feel like a hero from an entirely different plane of existence as everyone else. There’s a ton of extras, deleted scenes, gag reel, making of and interviews with everyone. Plus Simon West’s commentary.
You can pick this up right now for just $15 from Amazon and that’s a steal! This was never one of my top favorite Disney classics, but as I see it more and more, I appreciate it greater. I love the mice. The music, Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo is just too great. I was at the Disney Store this weekend with Yoko and couldn’t for the life of me think of LUCIFER’s name. Ya know, the cat. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say how much I love “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes.” Disney stakes on the extras and do an absolutely lovely job with this Blu! I just wish it had Betty Boop’s Poor Cinderella on here too, just because it is my preferred animated Cinderella telling. Betty is just too cool! Another great classic release Blu from Disney!
I love this box set of every feature that Tarantino has directed & TRUE ROMANCE, which he wrote – and is Tarantino’s favorite of the titles directed by other directors. His public dislike for NATURAL BORN KILLERS is also evidenced by its non inclusion in this rather remarkable box. Excellent extras on every film disc, but then there’s even more with 5 hours of stuff we’ve never seen before – and it even has a collection of DJANGO UNCHAINED trailers. This set celebrates the 20th anniversary of Tarantino upon cinema. He drenches his film in a word this site loves… COOL. This box is immensely cool. The art work on the multi-gatefold case is killer. Really beautiful. Lots of smarts went into every detail. I also just love the Siskel & Ebert shows being on here. The giddiness that those two with every new title. WONDERFUL! God, I can’t wait to see DJANGO UNCHAINED!
This disc did not come in time for review – so I’m picking it up today. Getting Cimino’s original vision of HEAVEN’S GATE preserved like this is a great thing for film lovers. Walken is to be seen in this! Can’t wait to check this out. The film has become identified as being the BLOATED AUTEUR EGO GONE INSANE, but from the vantage point of 2012, it’s hard to imagine that HEAVEN’S GATE was ever something that could sink a studio… There was more to it than that, but it is a great lesson in Hollywood, I highly recommend reading up on it. OR just check out Criterion’s Blu which is loaded with extras, as usual:
New, restored transfer of director Michael Cimino’s cut of the film, supervised by Cimino
New restoration of the 5.1 surround soundtrack, supervised by Cimino, in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray edition
New illustrated audio interview with Cimino and producer Joann Carelli
New interviews with actor Kris Kristofferson, soundtrack arranger and performer David Mansfield, and second assistant director Michael Stevenson
The Johnson County War, a video interview with historian Bill O’Neal about the real-life conflict that inspired the film, and its resonance in popular culture
Trailer and TV spots
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic and programmer Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan
A brilliant anti-war animated film by Isao Takahata. It will make you cry. Be assured. You will find you have a heart and a soul, both of which this film will torment like a piñata. Set in Japan, toward the end of WWII. The film focuses on a young fourteen year old boy and his 4 year old sister as they survive a fairly horrible firebombing that takes their mother – and it is just… a great great film. Great anime!
:This is the Season 1 Christmas episode of THE DANNY KAYE SHOW and Season 4’s Christmas episode. Together you get performances by Nat King Cole, Mary Tyler Moore, Peggy Lee, Wayne Newton and of course Danny Kaye himself! There’s something about old Christmas TV Shows that just feel magical and otherworldly. I think you’ll agree.
THE POINT: The Definitive Collector’s Edition
Got a kid feeling a tad disenfranchised. Alone. They seem alien to you? Sit them down and watch THE POINT. You’ll be all better. The story of ol Oblio and his round head in a pointy head world… I LOVES IT! Oblio and Arrow, necessary for all good souls. Harry Nilsson is awesome! I promise.
Andre De Toth directs this very strange Western. For one, I have a lot of trouble accepting Veronica Lake in a Western setting. She just seem crafted from the forties soooooo much. Then you have Joel McCrea, whom I usually want to laugh with in what is most definitely a Western Film Noir. I think McCrea had a much stronger Western turn in RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, but this film’s oddness is its strength. I couldn’t look away. Really is a Western Noir.
Wanna see a movie with GINGER from Gilligan’s Island? The film had Eastwood & Hitch’s magic Henry Bumstead designing the movie and it’s damn good! I love a good Richard Widmark movie. He made a lot of them. Bad guys and good guys. Widmark plays a mobster’s lawyer that returns to his hometown. Shit goes down. Thus THE TRAP title. Great title to check out!
THE PETE WALKER COLLECTION (HOUSE OF WHIPCORD, DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE, THE COMEBACK, SCHIZO) Blu Ray
Pete Walker was a British director in the Seventies that made some pretty fun horror flicks. From the set so far, I’ve just seen SCHIZO and it was a good bunch of fun. In Schizo you have a fairly basic Slasher movie plot – but I still dug the hell out of it. Next I’m checking out DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE, which stars Susan George of DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY and STRAW DOGS. She’s always pretty wonderful to watch on film. Love sets like these, they get you started on a director. Great transfer on SCHIZO too!
I haven’t seen this, but I want to. I love documentaries when they show us how our culture has migrated and what has become of it in the process. PUNK as a movement in China is just absolutely fascinating to me. Underground culture can transform the world. This bears watching.
That’s it for this week. Next, we’ll be looking at MEN IN BLACK 3, PARANORMAN, LAWLESS, THE DAY, THE APPARITION, RITES OF SPRING, THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND – and with it being a really light week that week, I’ll see about getting some of them catchup columns done too.
