Hey folks, Harry here with this Tuesday’s DVD Picks & Peeks. There’s a lot of great titles this week, in one form or another – but it got me writing. God I love doing this column, so excuse me if I make this brief so I may go to sleep. As usual the images and titles are linked to Amazon where you can learn more and help the column out by purchasing a title or two through the links, thus giving the column a bit of support. Thanks to those of you who do, and to the others that go elsewhere or queue up for releases – I hope you discover some jules this week…
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
APOLLO 13 (Blu Ray)
I remember writing in Newsgroups about APOLLO 13 back before I created AICN and being contacted by one of the visual fx artist that showed me a shot he was working on that just fried my brain – it was a key cool moment. Remember when this was like the first film to be blown up for IMAX screens? I do. Well 15 years later – it has hit BluRay and looks and sounds fucking amazing. This is a perfect film about perhaps the greatest Heroic Fail that I can think of. Ultimately – they didn’t accomplish the mission they set out to do, but how they managed to get home was about as big a miracle as we’ve ever seen in the Space program – and that is something to be celebrated.
So how’s the Blu Ray? Phenomenal. The commentary features Ron Howard, the real Jim Lovell and his wife Marilyn. There’s a DATELINE story about the historic flight. A big ol making of doc. And a piece that goes over the last 45 years of spaceflight. Tons of language options and more. Really outstanding!
THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE
All that love GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE speak up! I love THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE. I loved it at the time, all the way back during my Sophmore year of High School. Sure, I preferred YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES (I wasn’t crazy) – But Vincent Price’s Ratigan was one of my fave modern Disney Characters in that shaky pre-LITTLE MERMAID days. But then, I also loved RESCUERS DOWN UNDER… I didn’t ever catch that Basil Rathbone was the credited voice of SHERLOCK HOLMES in THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE – but when I saw that when I screened this DVD – it made me so happy. There’s a lot about this film that makes me happy. Like the amazing Clockwork Action sequence – which is a wetdream of Guillermo Del Toro. For $12, it is a must. John Lasseter only knows when we’ll see it on Blu!
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (Blu Ray)
I didn’t see NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET at a theater – but caught it on HBO that following year. I was staying at my Great-Grandfather’s place in a neighborhood in Wichita Falls. It was like 3 in the morning, I was supposed to be asleep on the couch. The sound was on very low, as to not wake my namesake. And that’s how I first saw NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Scared of being caught, way up past my bed time, in a house that I’d never spent the night in before – and I was starting to get a bit sleepy – but I couldn’t sleep… You had to stay awake, so I did… Watching the film again, 4 nights ago… once again, 3 in the morning… it caught me all over again. This is THE Elm Street. The time that Englund played it disturbed, not cute. Here… it was downright scary as fuck. The teens seem like they really have problems, their parents are all manners of repressed and fucked up. I like the Dad that thinks the girl across the street is a bad influence on his son, JOHNNY DEPP and hangs up on Nancy. John Saxon – he’s for real in the film. He’s spooked by what he’s seeing – and he’s doing his job, but can’t really be the Dad. He tries, but there’s a killer on the loose that struck close to his daughter. I love how this film plays. I love that the visual effects are fucking evil scary nightmarish clown show style. It feels more surreal. Thus more dreamlike. I’m pretty sure I’ve never really seen CG in my dreams. But I have seen Freddy. And for that, I applaud this film. Freddy is the great Horror Icon of our generation. A mad invention of the great Wes Craven – and I have to say, I’m genuinely excited to see what exactly Jackie Earle Haley does with Englund’s quintessential character. I’m fascinated. The making of doc on the Blu Ray is great. There’s 2 commentaries, alternate endings aand more. I really and truly love this movie and I don’t believe I’ve ever met a horror fan that doesn’t feel the same.
PIRATE RADIO
This is a very fun little movie, with a cast of ‘favorite’ character actors accompanied by a bevy of period British groupies and one helluva fine soundtrack. The first Richard Curtis film that didn’t actually feel like one. As a result I liked it quite a bit.
TENDERNESS
What the hell is this? Has Russell Crowe, came out two years ago. At least that’s what the date says. I have the DVD. I’ve put it in 3 different DVD players at my house only to find it get stuck on the fucking menu screen. But seriously – what is this? Crowe plays a detective tracking a young man with a violent life that he believes is a serial killer. OK – so it is a Russell Crowe as a Detective hunting a Serial Killer film? And yet I am pretty sure I’ve never seen a trailer. The Amazon editorial guy uses the phrase, “Some flashes of David Lynch-esque eeriness provide some thrills.” I’m curious. What about you? If someone has seen this – please post in the Talkback below – I’m genuinely curious and altogether aggravated by this faulty disc.
DEFENDOR
Ok – you see that cover? You see how… bizarre it kinda looks? Now basically imagine a home-made superhero film without the slick holy wowness of the upcoming KICK ASS, but instead a quirky funky fun as hell version. This is a surprisingly fun film and if you look at the trailer I’ve embedded here – you can clearly see a certain flavor, now imagine the best case scenario with that tone – and that’s pretty much what you got. Woody is doing some interesting work, and he is good at quirky comedic weirdness. He has that down pat.
See?
THE SLAMMIN’ SALMON
I love the Broken Lizard films – and I feel everyone has a favorite. Mine is BEERFEST, yours may be CLUB DREAD or SUPER TROOPERS or THE SLAMMIN’ SALMON. Doesn’t really matter, they all make me laugh . I love the idea of a waitstaff comedy at a high end restaurant when suddenly Marx Brothers antics go spiraling far out of control, bleeding over into the realm of Three Stooges level of destruction and trauma. Yes, this is one of those films and I love it. I was lucky enough to host one event for this and went to see it a second time, just cuz I wanted to see it. I haven’t seen the Blu Ray yet, I’ll pick it up later today.
LOVE THE BEAST
I sort of love this film to a degree. Eric Bana is a geek, a muscle car geek, a racing geek and yes… a Mad Max geek. All that and more comes out in this film – and when the movie is about Eric explaining his love of the image of his favorite car, the way that specific car became his obsession, when he got it, how long he played with it, modified it and even raced it… it is an impressive thing. In fact – I was absolutely captivated throughout the scenes of Eric and his mates and family talking about Eric and his car. It is a truly endearing story. But there’s two things that keep this from being a great documentary. Eric fell into the trap of wanting to attach ‘greater understanding’ of his love for his Beast and what he should do… And the sad thing is, he goes to Jay Leno and Dr. Phil to have those conversations and it kills the flow of the narrative he had built. It literally feels like he’s inserting two Talk Show hosts into the midst of a very personal story that simply needed to focus on him and the BEAST.
I said there were two things. The second is the New Agey kinda floaty spiritual bullshit music that I really feel makes some of the most epic race stuff feel about as exciting as a Sunday drive to look at the wildflowers. Put a score that gets your pulse up a bit and cut out the TV Talk Show hosts – and this is very much at least the greatest insight into who Eric Bana is… and sadly, I think that includes the type of music on this. I just yearn for Lalo Schifrin to give this doc a whack. Heh.
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET Collection (Standard DVD)
Freddy has the best run of films of any slasher series. You can’t even really debate that point. Even when they began to parody themselves… it just worked. Englund took the role from creepy mutherfucker to funny mutherfucker and I just kept loving him. So much so – that even now in 2010… I feel really goddamn weird about someone else playing this role. But for $38 you can have them all in Standard Definition. If you don’t already own these films on DVD – I’d recommend not. This isn’t anything other than a cheap grab at some bucks – without the extras of the existing DVDs that at least I own. Hold out for BluRay or Netflix Instant.
Essential Art House: KAPO
If you’ve seen THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, KAPO is by the same director – years prior to that fantastic release. This is a film about a young beautiful Jewish woman in a Nazi Concentration Camp who abandons her True Identity for that of a Good German Warden from hell. This is not a happy movie. As you can imagine. It is, to put it bluntly, incredibly affecting and thoroughly emotional. My personal favorite thing that Susan Strasberg ever did. Well… until THE MANITOU and DELTA FORCE of course. Heh.
THREE KINGDOMS: RESURRECTION OF THE DRAGON
Gorgeous, filled with strong performances by Andy Lau, Maggie Q, Ti Lung and Sammo Hung. This is a film that takes place in the Three Kingdoms period that Woo’s RED CLIFF takes place – and while quite a bit cheaper – it absolutely entertained me. However, if you’re a student of the period – it isn’t really that much concerned with reality or history. Knowing that though… will perhaps render that point mute – as it was for me, knowing that coming into seeing this. I love these period Asian epics. Cheap or Expensive. I’m a sucker for em.
OH MY GOD
If Bill Mahr’s snarky pursuit of a hereafter rubbed you the wrong way, you’ll probably love this. Of course if you’re weird like me, you’ll like both – as both are great docs about struggles with the truth about God. There’s so many questions that even the notion of “WHAT IS GOD?” conjures that this beautiful and non-cynical approach to the question was all at once refreshing and curiously compelling. The visuals and beliefs talked about in the 23 countries – and through a ton of interviews that include folks like Ringo Starr, Baz Luhrmann, Dr. John Demartini, Seal and Hugh Jackman, to name a few. A very compelling doc.
Essential Art House: 8 ½
Infinitely better than NINE. I don’t know why I find that statement so funny – but I do. Fellini directed the best film about what it is to be a director that there will ever be. The neurotic doubt that creeps in, the trouble with finding one’s center or calm before a shoot, the hope for inspiration – and then there’s the infinite human needs, excesses and passions to sate. I love this film because in Mastroianni’s Guido you will find the soul of an artist captured for all eternity by the lens of one of the great masters of cinema. These Essential Art House dvds are good cheap ways of owning some of the greatest masterpieces of all time. Any serious movie geek should leap at an opportunity to discover any of these titles. Especially if you haven’t yet. I like this film accompanied by a rich spicy red wine. There’s something about it that complements the film. Try it. It is just right.
Essential Art House: BRIEF ENCOUNTER
To give you a clear understanding of these editions. They’re pretty much plane jane releases. If you want the true deluxe CRITERION Treatment at double the price, pick them up that way. But for $18 you can own David Lean’s BRIEF ENCOUNTER. David Lean is amazing. Truly amazing. His eye was simply extraordinary, his ability to get what he got out of his actors, just… perfect. The overall package that he crafted always came together perfectly and that is just something to know going in to any David Lean film. BRIEF ENCOUNTER isn’t as widely beloved as his most popular films. But as far as a story about two married individuals in a wrecked post-bombing of London by those pesky Nazis – that meet, quickly fall in love and that they truly are in love, but with the duties of their established families and lives – and how they resolve it. The film is an adult masterpiece, that doesn’t mean titties and fucking, it means you’ll find an exquisitely literate, emotional and beautifully crafted with a level of attention to detail that very few filmmakers in history could equal. There are sequences of this film that once you see, you will always see in your mind’s eye. They will help define the imagery you conjure around certain emotional situations. Much like Lean’s other films have always done for us.
If you’ve seen LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, you truly do owe it to yourself to discover the other works of David Lean. This is a great spot to start.
Essential Art House: FLOATING WEEDS
Do you know Ozu? It is entirely a different thing from Kurosawa. Kurosawa was primarily a novelist cinematically speaking. Ozu feels more precious than that. Ozu managed to create a look and a style completely unlike anyone I really know. In scene construction, narrative devices, musical score… his films are just different. They have a stillness and a perspective that feels extremely thoughtout – and the story telling is unique. He locks his cameras down. In fact, FLOATING WEEDS has a rare instance of Camera Movement in the entire history of Ozu’s color work… but what color. Beautiful. The story is about an aging actor returning to a town where sometime before he had fathered a son that was raised to believe that the actor was an Uncle, but not his father. Oh – and it is very – simply – perfect. Perfect in the way the Japanese can make perfect things. This is a perfect film, that doesn’t do anything like anybody else. In the Criterion full release you also get the original Silent version of this story – and it is fascinating to see the differences.
Essential Art House: LOVES OF A BLONDE
Ya, of course you’ve seen ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, AMADEUS, THE PEOPLE VS LARRY FLYNT , MAN ON THE MOON – perhaps you’ve also seen his amazing HAIR and the very interesting RAGTIME. But have you ever seen his first Oscar nominated film, LOVES OF A BLONDE? I’ve seen it before and found it to be pretty damn amazing. There is a sadness beneath the mirth and fun of the film – There’s a tinge of desperation to the Blonde’s search for love, but not overly so. Just the right amount. In some ways this is the most complicated emotional story that Milos has ever told and it is very much one of his very best films – which also helped get him out of Czech. A truly great film.
Essential Art House: JULES & JIM
Of all the films in the 5th Volume of the Essential Art House collection out this week, my very favorite is Truffaut’s JULES ET JIM, but then… I deeply love Jeanne Moreau. She is neither Jules nor Jim, but rather the Goddess that they love and desire, that rules their lives and torments them with her mania, her passion and her love. This is a story of friendships, complicated modern relations and the changes that life brings. The joys are so high. The sorrows so low. The fights bitter and well – you get the picture. This is a grand film – of high emotions and slap you in the face reality. Too often in modern romantic films – you would see the “Situation” given all the thought of the half hour of this film, stretched out over 2 hours. Here – you live with these characters – not for a day or a week or a month or a year, but for a long time. You leave this film knowing these people, loving that woman and hating her just a bit. When I discovered JULES ET JIM, it was for my FILM APPRECIATION class in college. I wrote a sonnet about my love for the film, its technique and that passion it contained and the love of Jeanne Moreau. While it is no longer my very favorite Truffaut, it is my first – and as such I’m a bit precious about it. The same way my wife is for Salinger’s FRANNY & ZOOEY. I think in a way it is because Moreau reminded me of the mother of my childhood… and the lost girl my mother grew up to die as. A beautiful spirit that burns awfully intensely. Jeanne Moreau’s Catherine is the sort of woman we kind of all fear of finding. The kind of love that could talk you into anything, but was as random as the wind before a storm. If nothing else in the column this week, enjoy this film.
Essential Art House, Volume Five ( BRIEF ENCOUNTER, 8 ½, FLOATING WEEDS, LOVES OF A BLONDE and JULES ET JIM)
And at a cheaper price you can just pick them all up in a bundle here for $75. The choice is yours. There’s not a weak title, these are all, to the last, great films!
And then things get crazy next week with:
AVATAR which is still in theaters, at least here in Austin. But there’s more than that. We also get CRAZY HEART, THE YOUNG VICTORIA, THE LOVELY BONES, MINORITY REPORT Blu, FIST OF LEGEND Blu Ray, VIVRE SA VIE (Criterion Blu), BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (Blu), SUMMER HOURS ( Criterion Blu), PEACOCK, BATMAN & BATMAN RETURNS (Blu), CHEECH & CHONG’S HEY WATCH THIS!, BEGINNING OF THE END, DEADLY IMPACT, 44 INCH CHEST, THE BASKETBALL DIARIES (Blu), FRONTIER CIRCUS, LOST IN SPACE (Blu Ray), 35 SHOTS OF RUM, UNCERTAINTY, ORLOCK THE VAMPIRE 3D, TALES FROM THE SCRIPT, A FORK IN THE ROAD, MAMMOTH, REEFER MADNESS 75th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition, CANNIBAL LOLITA: A LOVE STORY, THE TAKE and EX DRUMMER. And that last one is something, let me assure you.
See?
