Hey folks, Harry here – just got back from Minneapolis’s fantastic fan convention, CONVERGENCE and gosh – talk about re-energizing the geek batteries – that place is only 100 times cooler than San Diego’s COMIC CON. Sure – it doesn’t have an astonishing dealer’s room – nor the high end treatment from Hollywood – but what it is, is a convention that is run by fans for fans that is a party and an exploration of all things geek. I loved it. But even though I was crazy busy having way too much fucking fun – I decided – dammit – I should get my DVD column done, because all of you aren’t sharing the fun, and you should at least have me doing what I say I’ll do. Right? Right. As always – if you click on the box art or the titles you’ll be taken to Amazon where you can either learn more or purchase the item – and a small percentage will go to support this column. Well, let’s get to it – this isn’t a crazy long week – but there’s some stuff well worth checking out!!!

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

BATMAN BEGINS (Blu Ray)

I’ve had this in High Definition for well over a year now, thanks to HD DVD – and this is one of the films that makes that early adoption totally worth it. I love this movie and just as it was on HD DVD, so the title is awesome for BLU RAY. The cinematography is so tight, so lovely and the blacks – so deep. Is it better than the HD DVD? Frankly – my eye can’t tell and neither can my ears – but this is the format that won the war and Amazon is just hitting folks $18 a pop for the title. So that ain’t bad at all!

BATMAN – GOTHAM KNIGHT (Blu Ray)

Think ANIMATRIX but with BATMAN. Though that isn’t quite right either – cuz these stories all kind of touch on one another – and the end result is a quite impressive work of art. That said, NEW FRONTIER is by far the best animatd direct to DVD title this year. Anime/Comic fans will cream over this though. Top writers, wonderful animators – the styles range from the bizarre to the very amazing – the results make this one graphic animated anthology worth checking out.

THE BATMAN – The Complete Fifth Season

Batman with the Justice League. Not nearly as brilliantly fun as Bruce Timm’s take – but still fun. I’m just not a rabid fan of the design of the show – but I watch for the different take. There’s a lot of fun stuff here – I just want more Superhero stories told on more animated shows. I love the format.

TEEN TITANS – The Complete Fifth Season

Not sure if there is really a reason to own this season other than as some completist anal retentive desire. I’m not a TEEN TITANS hater, but I hated 5th Season. It just feels like a laborious going through the motions. For completists only.

THE RUINS

Gratuitous, exploitive, squirm-inducing and truly horrifying. Sick, twisted and unfuckingbelievably fucked up. And I love it. It isn’t just about the gore. Darius Khondji’s cinematography is superior – and the soundtrack – the sounds of the jungle, the plants and everything else is just fucking dead on. Everyone I know that gave it a chance was happy they did – and the people I know that told me they couldn’t stand it – were the pussies that don’t like horror in the first place. This is legitimate horror – fucking with your head, your dreams and your emotions. An astonishing ick factor – and a damn fine horror flick.

STOP LOSS

Kimberly Peirce’s second film is a success and I feel that after this war is behind us, if that day comes – and given a bit of distance this could be considered a fantastic and great film by a larger population. It isn’t anti-Republican nor is it anti-Democrat. It also isn’t about being Anti-War. It’s about a policy that creates and indentured servitude to the military past your natural term of service. It doesn’t propose solutions, only exposes the issue and the drama inherent to an unjust policy. This is one of the superior films of the year.

THE MUMMY (Universal Legacy Series)

This is another dip into releasing this gem of a film. Featuring a pair of the greatest make-ups that Jack Pierce ever created for Boris Karloff. What’s new on this two disc set? Well my favorite new feature is the “HE WHO MADE MONSTERS: LIFE AND LEGACY OF JACK PIERCE” which you can find on the second disc with two other new documentaries. On the first disc, the commentary by Rick Baker, Scott Essman, Bob Burns, Brent Armstrong & Steve Haberman is indeed worth it. And as a huge fan of the legacy of Universal’s classic Horror films – I couldn’t resist quadruple dipping on this title, I just don’t know how not to. New special features talking about The Mummy and Jack Pierce – the only shame is that there isn’t a Blu Ray release sync’d with this one. Oh well… Perhaps they’ll do that when the 3rd Mummy movie hits DVD and Blu Ray. Maybe.

MON ONCLE ANTOINE – Criterion Collection

The Greatest Canadian Film Of All Time? Well – there’s no doubt it’s an outstanding film – it has brilliant themes and importance stamped throughout… But it doesn’t hold a candle to VIDEODROME in my book – and yes… I know… I’m a fucking geek – but to me – Cronenberg is the greatest Canadian filmmaker. He’s an artist that transcends his boundaries and borders. But why should you see this? Well, because it’s brilliant. And it’s kinda awesomely fucked up, just not as wonderfully so as Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME. Join the argument and discover for yourself. Criterion has done a bang up job on this.

THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES

Because it’s one of the greatest psychotronic films ever made. Perhaps a cautionary warning about experimental drug use to expand one’s consciousness…. Or just a wonderful B-movie with an Oscar winning actor in Ray Milland playing a man obsessed with seeing more than anyone has ever seen before. The film is legend amongst those of us that love such things – and it has never let me down. For years, Tim Burton was attempting to remake it, to no avail. That could very well be for the best. This is a hard movie to make better.

PHILOSOPHY OF A KNIFE

This is not a horror film – this is a pseudo-documentary revealing horrifying medical experiments that took place via Japanese Unit 731 during the years it existed with wartime Japan. This also isn’t a documentary – but it is. It’s a docu-drama of such intensity and it strives to expose in unrelenting detail and recreations exactly what this shameful period in history did. WARNING – this is not like anything you’ve seen before – Really really really intense – watch at your own risk, some of this is very difficult to shake from your mind.

LITTLE GIRLS

Made in 1966… in France. This movie is kinda filthy… No no, I know it sounds like a Shirley Temple movie, but it really isn’t. This is pure sexploitation. All that said – the movie has twists that delight and are very much worth watching it all, which isn’t much – it’s barely over an hour. Think of it as two double shots of wrong, followed by a chaser of the little blue pill.

IMPACT POINT

I don’t know anything about this film… but it makes me laugh – that box art. I love the man running in the font, I love that Brian Austin Green is… ABOVE THAT TITLE!!! And I dig on the cheap seventies graphics. It’s R-rated it looks like a prime candidate for “SHIT MOVIE NIGHT” – don’t ya think?

Next week, we’ll take a look at BIRDS OF PREY: THE COMPLETE SERIES, THE BANK JOB, STEP UP 2 THE STREETS, PENELOPE, TRAFIC – Criterion Collection, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST – Blu Ray, Volume 2 of the SWAMP THING series, NEW ADVENTURES OF THE LONE RANGER/ ZORRO Vol 2, THE FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, SECRETARY, VOICE, HEAVY PETTING and more!!! See you then!