Hey folks, Harry here… This pre-Thanksgiving Tuesday comes loaded to the gills with great stuff. Lots of goodies here. As usual – the box art and titles are linkable to their Amazon page, where you can purchase & a small percentage goes to support this column – or you can begin to compare and save finding the best deal out there. Also – you might just want to add this to your rental lists. Whatever, I hope you enjoy the list – which reflects my personal interests and recommendations. Enjoy…

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES – THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (HD DVD)

I don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely in love with the special editions of the Original Series. First off, this is the Original Trek. The Trek that you don’t have to feel embarrassed about being in love with because Shatner is a God here. Because Nimoy is the shit! When the episodes were goofy and stupid.. they still ruled, but in this first season… it’s all gold. The team behind STAR TREK was in full on brilliant mode. Ever since I got this set last week, I’ve been diving in and enjoying the hell out of it. Season One contains: arguably – the best episode of televised Trek ever… CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER written by Harlan Ellison and it was the first episode I watched. Trek in 1080 is astonishing. Shatner is impossibly young and Joan Collins’ eyes are just heavenly. Then there’s SPACE SEED – the prequel to STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN aka Greatest Thing Ever. Ricardo looks absolutely genetically superior in HD. It’s creepy! ARENA with the GORN is another favorite. And in the special edition – when the Gorn blinks – it freaks me the fuck out. I love it. Just a little thing, but it adds so much menace to a great old school costume. Other jewels are MUDD’S WOMEN, CHARLIE X, BALANCE OF TERROR, MIRI, MENAGERIE, THE CORBONITE MANEUVER and… well, they’re all classic in this season. The Box set has content in both HD and Standard Def – so you can play the episodes in either format. This is a really deluxe set!

In addition – you have a send off certificate in the box set to get a Classic Trek Phaser HD-A2 Remote!!! I love it. You’ll need a photocopy of your receipt for the box set and a HD DVD player purchased between 11/20/07 and 2/29/08.

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (2-Disc Unrated)

I haven’t seen the Unrated version of this film yet – and as usual Fox doesn’t send me any of their product to take a look at, but I will be picking this up eventually… probably as part of the DIE HARD Blu Ray COLLECTION with all 4 Die Hards in High Def. But I was very disappointed in the 4th DIE HARD film. Contrary to Bruce’s assertion that it was as good or better than the original… well, I’m afraid “The Bruce” was a bit hype’d on his own film. Its understandable. There is some insane stunt work in the film. I didn’t hate it for the Mac guy, I enjoyed the film… but I enjoyed it like I enjoyed the 2nd DIE HARD film. It was… well, just another sequel. In particular – I really disliked the character that Kevin Smith was playing. It just didn’t feel like anything bordering on reality. And I’m really sick of movies like this one and TRANSFORMERS – where the Computer Geek/Expert is always some half-crazed buffoon insane maniac. We Geeks are actually quite normal… excuse me, my HAM radio just went off. Brb.

THE SANTA CLAUSE 3 – THE ESCAPE CLAUSE (BLU RAY)

Wow – what a fucking glitter covered turd ornament! I watched this – the standard def version – and I know… what the hell did I expect? Well… I liked the first SANTA CLAUSE.. I’m a sucker for Christmas fantasy titles. And after watching FRED CLAUS – I came home in the mood to find a better Christmas film… I put this on and suddenly decided that FRED CLAUS was a BILLION TIMES better in comparison – and still unsatisfactory. Luckily I found that MUNSTER CHRISTMAS thing which washed the palette clean. This is only for folks that have no taste and shit for brains!

HAIRSPRAY (Limited Edition Giftset)

If you can get past your basic fear of John Travolta as a woman – this film is quite a bit of fun. The film is totally worth it for Walken, Pfieffer and Latifah. And the young lady playing the star of the film is pretty rock solid – if you love the film, this is the most fun package to pick up. However, for those of you with BLU-RAY – it is on that format as well

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE – THE 3rd TV Season

Now I like the first and second seasons of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, but the saying 3rd Times the charm is definitely apt for this series, cuz the third season was when MI kicked it into high gear. For example, watch THE MIND OF STEFAN MIKLOS and you’ll see one of the best Martin Landau performances hands down. It is pure intellectual suspense and amongst the best one hours that television has given me. There’s a lot of greatness in this third season – far better than anything the film series has given us thus far.

THE WILD WILD WEST – 3rd Season

When WILD WILD WEST turned 3, the world of the westerns had changed radically. The Spaghetti Westerns had come in and things got tougher in the West than they ever had before. Oddly, this series of WILD WILD WEST reflects that. This is never more clear than in the episode THE NIGHT OF THE VIPERS, which is a very violent episode… shocking for television at this time. As usual there is the fantasy and science fiction aspect, but damn – I’d love to see WILD WILD WEST done theatrically correct – and not terrible like Jon Peters produced. This season you can really really see the potential it had!

HEARTS OF DARKNESS – A FILMMAKER’S APOCALYPSE

HEARTS OF DARKNESS is one of the greatest film documentaries ever made about a single production. Too good to be an extra on a DVD and completely worthy of buying on its own. That said – this has been out on DVD before – the big EXTRA for getting this is the addition of a new documentary, CODA: THIRTY YEARS LATER – which follows Francis Ford Coppola as he makes YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH – and folks – I’m DYING to see this film after watching this doc. It isn’t the monumental documentary that is HEARTS OF DARKNESS – it isn’t as epic, but what it is… is a fascinating look at a towering filmmaker attempting to return to former greatness and wrestling with what the genius of his youth was – how to defy the conventions that he’d fallen into later in his career. How to unlearn what he’s learned and rediscover the magic of collaborative filmmaking. It is a fascinating. And watching these two docs on the same disc – is something of a treat.

RESCUE DAWN

Christian Bale has in the last 5 years become one of the most awesome actors to drop what you’re doing and see each and every new film of his as it comes out. Add to that… a film by Werner Herzog… and you have a film on paper that sounds like a must see. This is an incredible POW film – and the idea of teaming up Bale and STEVE ZAHN probably didn’t sound like a great idea, but holy shit… Zahn steps up with his absolute best performance in his career to date. This is Werner Herzog’s best film in years. Well… GRIZZLY MAN kicked ass too. But ya know – when you watch RESCUE DAWN, it makes you feel like it’s the best thing he’s down since his greatest years.

TEEN TITANS – 4th Season

I feel like I’m alone for loving this fourth season of TEEN TITANS. The 5 episode arc regarding Slade / Trigon / Raven are without a doubt my favorite episodes to involve this TEEN TITANS series. It’s always been a goofy show – and very fun, so when this plotline dealing with the apocalypse came in… it genuinely shocked me and made for a welcome dip into darker material than expected.

THE UNIVERSE – The Complete Season One

I love THE HISTORY CHANNEL – and specifically, I love THE UNIVERSE. As a science fiction geek – it’s natural to love hard science as it continues to supply further raw materials for Fictional story telling – as well as our own dreams about what’s out there. My good friend and contributor to AICN, Copernicus – is awesome because he’s one of the Astrophysicists that’s uncovering new things about the universe – and this show… with it’s gorgeous CG and explanations about how the Universe works is just a constant joy. Having the entire first season on hand is great for whenever I want to ponder… THE UNIVERSE.

THE BATMAN – 4th Season

I’ve never really been a fan of this series – preferring the brilliant version that was done by Timm/Dini/Burnett – and I really dislike the design and look of the show. This season saw a redesign of the Batman which is getting closer to Timm’s original design, but still not that cool. But this season was a solid step back into the right direction. And I thought it was nice to see them beginning to have better voice talent and beginning to finally open up The Batman’s universe. Let’s see where they go with a fifth season… if we ever see an end of this strike.

THE LADY VANISHES – Criterion Collection

I love THE LADY VANISHES – here you have the best transfer yet – as Criterion has done a high def digital transfer. You also get the film CROOK’S TOUR from 1941 starring Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne as their characters from THE LADY VANISHES. The film is fun, but definitely no LADY VANISHES. Probably my favorite extra are the few excepts of audio from Francois Truffaut’s interview with Hitchcock. It’s geek bliss. Again, Criterion does a knock out job on another fantastic title!

INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO: JOHNNY DEPP

With the Holiday Season coming up and shopping being so so very hard.. I figured I’d help all of you folks that know somebody absolutely drop dead in love with… Johnny Depp. Here’s 50 minutes of pure Johnny being Johnny and it’s a fantastic interview. James Lipton’s INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO is an absolute joy to watch and a rare look at Johnny relaxed and open.

TREMORS (HD DVD)

I love TREMORS – literally just finished watching this. The disc is a perfect transfer – with pretty much all the features that were on the collector’s edition that came out – but I think this is a new documentary, I may be wrong – I couldn’t find my old disc to do a comparison, think I loaned it to a friend… dammit, must stop being nice. Yeesh. Really wonderful movie.

SAWDUST AND TINSEL – CRITERION COLLECTION

One of Ingmar Bergman’s pre-Classic period – before THE SEVENTH SEAL and SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT. Personally – I’ve never much cared for it, though I do recognize its importance and can see how it foreshadows the themes and techniques that he later used to better effect. But this isn’t a film for the Ingmar virgins – but for a long time fan of Bergman’s work that would like to examine where and how he came to be the filmmaker he became later. That said, Criterion has done another fantastic job with a pretty obscure title.

NOSFERATU – Ultimate 2Disc Edition

Well – this is very definitely the best release we’ve had thus far on this title. You have a 5.1 stereo surround recording of the original score created for this in 1922. The transfer is stunning. There’s a near hour long documentary about the making of the film and how the filmmakers dabbled in the occult. Then – the real jewels…looks at these other films by F.W. Murnau including, JOURNEY INTO THE NIGHT (1920), THE HAUNTED CASTLE (1921), PHANTOM (1922), THE FINANCES OF THE GRAND DUKE (1924), THE LAST LAUGH (1924), TARTUFFE (1925), FAUST (1926 and TABU (1931). This is a fantastic set. It should be bought for the transfer on NOSFERATU… It’s great!

I AM CUBA: The Ultimate Edition

A joint Soviet/Cuba endeavor from 1964 – over 2 hours of breathtaking filmmaking adventure into the revolution as told through 4 different stories. The cinematography at play here is just stunning. The work that director Mikhail Kalatozov and his cinematographer Sergei Urusevsky brought to this film is, in and of itself, nothing short than revolutionary. To attest to that, we have Martin Scorsese being interviewed about the film – and an amazing documentary on the making of the film, which won awards in its own right. This is one of the jewels of this week’s list.

WALKING TALL

The start of the original WALKING TALL trilogy – featuring the man-god Joe Don Baker. This is basically just a rerelease – but given the original issue from 2003 seems to be sold out everywhere – this is how you get the original tale of Buford Pusser and the hillbilly & redneck bullshit he had to deal with. This is a classic Southern saga – and Joe Don is perfection as Buford Pusser!

GODZILLA COLLECTION

This set contains GOJIRA/ KING OF THE MONSTERS 2 Disc Set, GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN, MOTHRA VS GODZILLA, GHIDORAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER, INVASION OF THE ASTRO MONSTER and TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA and ALL MONTERS ATTACK. Those last two are the first times those titles have been on DVD – which is a big deal for us Godzilla fans. In addition – each disc has the American and Japanese version of the titles. There’s tons of Godzilla extras for you. This is a perfect Christmas present for the MAN IN SUIT geek you know!!!

ANGEL-A

A stunning new film from Luc Besson. If you love IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE and THE PROFESSIONAL and always though Clarence needed to be incredibly fuckable… then this is the movie for you. It actually a very touching and great film about a man at the end of his rope that has never really been able to do anything right – having a guardian angel that he falls in love with. Problem with Guardian Angels is… they’re only there while you need them, but how to hold on to one forever? That’s the rub. I absolutely love this film!

CHAPPELLE’S SHOW – THE SERIES COLLECTION

The collection of Seasons 1, 2 and the Lost Episodes. Nothing more than that really, but if you love Chappelle and haven’t picked any of the seasons up yet, here’s your chance to collect them all. Sad to think this is all there will be.

TALES OF TOMORROW, Collection 3

Before there was TWILIGHT ZONE and OUTER LIMITS there was TALES OF TOMORROW and frankly – of all the Science Fiction anthology series it’s my favorite. This set has a brilliant one with THE GREAT SILENCE starring a very young Burgess Meredith… or THE EVIL WITHIN with James Dean and Rod Steiger. If you love Science Fiction, this isn’t Schlocky Fiction, but the real thing!

STIR OF ECHOES 2: THE HOMECOMING

The original Kevin Bacon STIR OF ECHOES is genius… adapted from the great Richard Matheson source material and I watch it a couple of times a year. So – when I opened up a piece of mail and pulled this out of the package… I immediately smirked. STIR OF ECHOES 2: THE HOMECOMING, starring ROB LOWE. Now, once upon a time, Rob Lowe wasn’t a joke – and in this film, he really does try his best. Sadly – the film is a festering steaming pile of shit. It attempts to be a message movie about the fighting in IRAQ and AFGANISTAN and how that has bred domestic racism and violence – and how that has in turn created angry pissed off Islamic ghosts of innocent American Islamist. It’s as subtle as an anvil falling on your head…. And 5 times as unpleasant. Don’t let curiosity get the best of you. It will just be wasted time and energy and money.

THE KILLING KIND

Here’s a lost jewel of seventies horror filmmaking. Starring John Savage of HAIR and THE DEER HUNTER, Ann Southern (of the famous MAISIE series, BROTHER ORCHID and so much more), Cindy Williams (AMERICAN GRAFITTI & LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY) as well as Luana Anders, Ruth Roman and Sue Bernard. The film is about a paroled sex offender, who moves into his mother’s Hollywood Boarding house where every seems to be spying on everyone and people that did the parolee harm end up MYSTERIOUSLY dead. This is something that has long been needing to be released on DVD.

G-MEN VS. THE BLACK DRAGON

Directed by one of Quentin Tarantino and Mine’s favorite unheralded directors… William Witney, come this wonderful 15 chapter serial from 1943. Working with his long time low-budget Special Effects wizard, Howard Lydecker – you have a wonderful serial filled with torture chambers, robot planes and things to you’re your skull cap. If you love this one, check out Witney’s other Serial classics like THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL or DRUMS OF FU MANCHU or ZORRO’S FIGHTING LEGION or my personal favorite Roy Rogers film of all time, TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD which is the DESTROY ALL MONSTERS of B-Movie Westerns – and also one of the greatest obscure Christmas tales of ALL TIME! I’m completely serious!

QUEER FEAR ( OCTOBER MOON / GIRLFRIENDS / BAD MOVIE POLICE CASE #1: GALAXY OF THE DINOSAURS / SOMETHING TO SCREAM ABOUT / JULIA WEPT)

And now for the weird oddball pick of the week. A 5-pack of gay & lesbian indie horror films. I’ve no idea about the quality – but aren’t you curious what gay and lesbian horror films are? One apparently is about a straight man’s obsession with his gay boss becoming deadly… does that make the film… HETEROPHOBIC? Or GIRLFRIENDS is apparently about a pair of Lesbian serial killers preying on men. I know you’re probably not bi-curious… but doesn’t any of this make you buy-curious?

Well, that wraps up this week’s column – but next week we’ll be taking a look at FUTURAMA – BENDER’S BIG SCORE, WAITRESS, PAPRIKA, RETURN TO NEVER LAND, DRUNKEN ANGEL – Criterion Collection, BRATZ, HOT FUZZ 3-Disc Collector Super Edition, Lindsay Lohan’s I KNOW WHO KILLED ME, OLD SCHOOL HD, ANCHORMAN HD, THE OMEGA MAN HD & Blu Ray, SKIN WALKERS, VITUS, OUTLAND, Elvis’ Blue Suede Collection, DRAGON TIGER GATE, SOYLENT GREEN, HITLER’S JEWISH SOLDIERS and much much more!