Hey folks, Harry here... Tired of waiting for the summer films, and loathing what is currently in cinemas? Could you give a rat's ass about anything opening till X2, and that is continuing to feel like an eternity away? Yeah... me too. I find at times like these, there's only one thing to do. Get PRO-ACTIVE in my film entertainment. Seek out titles on DVD and just gorge on them.

You may notice that I haven't been reviewing much of anything that's coming out these days... That's cuz... well, I haven't been too happy with any of it. Instead of writing and spending another second on the current crop of crap, I've been burying myself in the joy of DVDs from around the world.

What's On My Desk Right Now?

Well, at the very top is THE SINGING DETECTIVE, actually that's what is still in the player at this moment. I'd never seen the BBC series with Michael Gambon till tonight and holy shit am I in love. So this is how Jon Amiel got work! This set arrived at my house today, if you get a chance, you should definitely check it out. I'm not all the way through it yet, but dear God I'm enjoying it!

ACCION MUTANTE, haven't put it on yet - saving it to watch when a friend comes back into town and we can share it. I've never seen Alex De La Iglesia's first film, but I swear by the rest of his filmography, and my sister feels this is his best film. So I'm very much looking forward to it.

X-MEN 1.5 -- This is part of my masochistic time spent in a prison of my own construction preparing for the impending drool-fest that is going to be X2. The only problem with the extras disk on this set is that it doesn't have X2... the feature film on it. Am I the only person that has a problem with the deleted scenes jamming up on my player when I have them set to come on automatically? Nice set, but calling this 1.5 is pretty deceiving... I was kind of expecting the footage to be mastered into the film.. and praying for Ottman to rescore it.... sigh...

FEMME FATALE -- I've watched the dvd for this about 4 times now and just absolutely love this movie. Everyone that comes over to my house, I ask if they've seen it, and then I show them the opening sequence at Cannes and then turn it off so they go out and buy their own copy. Drives me nuts that this film isn't more widely accepted.

BLOW OUT -- Ok, I admit, I'm doing a DePalma thing at the moment. But Travolta has never really been this good again. And the film is just perfect.

TITANIC -- I was revisiting it after watching GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS... the film really needs to be seen in theaters to appreciate. On DVD it feels small, the film and story are bigger than life, and should remain as such.

THE SUICIDE CIRCLE -- Unbelievably morbid cult cool freak flick from that area of the world responsible for BATTLE ROYALE. The mass suicide sequences are just startling, and I don't think I was prepared at all for the mystery aspect. If you're a twisted geek, YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE! It won't be coming to this country so track down the DVD!

IRON MONKEY -- Ok, so this is part of my masochistic fling regarding MATRIX RELOADED. Yes, I understand they are barely related in any form, but I don't care. IRON MONKEY makes me happy and though I've seen it perhaps a dozen times, I continue to watch it.

THE OUTER LIMITS: THE ORIGINAL SERIES -- I've slowly been making my way through all of these. My faves have been THE ARCHITECTS OF FEAR, DON'T OPEN TILL DOOMSDAY and THE HUNDRED DAYS OF THE DRAGON. This is just the first season, can't wait to get the next set.

BLUE SUNSHINE -- What a wondrously bizarre wonderful cult film! I'd never seen this sucker, but absolutely loved the premise of some progressive poison in a specialized strand of LSD that rots away at the brain till your hair finally falls out and you become psychotic! Not for everyone, but this thing is a wonderful paranoia drug flick. I think I was laughing as much as I was taking it serious.

NID DE GUEPES -- I wrote a full review of this a few weeks back, but it remains on my desk as a film that I show everyone that enters my room. Fucking unbelievable flick... Great DVD... tons of extras (in French) This movie is gonna be beloved by geeks.

CITIZEN TOXIE -- Had this DVD for weeks now, my little 2 1/2 year old Nephew loves it! Specially the Diaper Gang opening with all the "ouchies" as he calls them. In typical TROMA fashion this two disc set has approximately 5 quadrillion hours of entertainment. haven't been through them all, but there's ample tits and ass and blood and guts throughout!

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST -- love this movie, had to get the DVD... Love the Documentary on it. Nice solid DVD. Goes very well with THE SINGING DETECTIVE oddly. Maybe it is just me.

KING OF COMEDY -- I had never seen this till the DVD came out. I have a pathological hatred for Sandra Bernhard, and I forget who, but somebody was constantly telling me this was a bad movie, but I loved it. I really wish it had commentary by DeNiro and Jerry Lewis.

TEN TIGERS FROM KWINGTUNG -- a hole in my Chang Cheh collection that I was filling. Not my favorite of his, but definitely a very fun flick. That opening in the gambling house is classic bizarre cinema.... wish the print that was scanned in for this DVD was better, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose. Just glad I have it.

SHAOLIN MASTER KILLER -- Ok, I felt that while watching this that I was having a religious experience. I seriously was deluded by the end of the film that I could possibly be a master of the martial arts, just by watching the film. Gordon Liu... I've seen several of his films, but he just blew me away with this one. The entire time I was watching this, I just couldn't believe that I have actually met the god that I was watching on screen. God this movie rules!

SOMEWHERE IN TIME -- Watching this because I've been trying to perfect going back in time and fix a terrible mistake I made about a year ago. Too many shiny pennies to make it work though. I really wish Jane Seymour had only made this film and SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER. I really wish she had never made DR QUINN MEDICINE WOMAN... She and Christopher Reeve are so perfect in this film. The music is fantastic, and it just has a magical look to it.

Not DVDs, but still on my Desk helping to pass the time:

Softbound 30 DAYS OF NIGHT comic set.... Picked it up because of Raimi's acquisition and discovered that an idea I had for a vampire film about 11 years ago now is in comic form, soon to be a movie. See, this is what ya get for having a good idea, but being too fucking lazy to commit to seeing it through. Though, this thing is so much better than the idea I was doing, mine was comedic and this is just out and out brutal fucking horror. If you haven't picked this up, do so immediately.

Over-sized SECRET ORIGINS by Paul Dini and Alex Ross... Perfect in its simplicity. Literally should be the bible for Warner Brothers next decade of Superhero films. Each two page spread on these characters' origins should be the 3 minute pre-credit sequence for about 12 superhero films. Blissful in their simplicity and elegance. Absolutely perfect.

My Xanti Ant toy... Oh man do I love this bug just staring at me!

Banana Nut Bread scented Candle -- My room smells like baked Banana Nut Bread... It feels like heaven in here.

That's just about it. There's the silver age Supergirl figure that I believe is fine art - because I'm American and obviously shallow. There's the promo-dvd for CABIN FEVER which doesn't have the movie, but 4 different trailers and tons of behind the scenes goodies... Damn this one teaser kicks unholy ass. In about a week the dvds for FIVE DEADLY VENOMS, 5 FINGERS OF DEATH and MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE are arriving! They'll show up on my desk. Not sure if any of this is of interest to any of you. But like most of you that are trying to avoid the current crop of films (Except LEVITY, GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS and BETTER LUCK TOMORROW), I'm pretty bored and well... writing this was just another way of passing the time till X2.

I suppose in the interest of full disclosure, I should state that THE SINGING DETECTIVE, CITIZEN TOXIE, NID DE GUEPES and BLUE SUNSHINE were all review copies. The rest were bought via various online locales with my credit card. However, getting free DVDs isn't a reason to write a positive review, because if you get a shitty movie on DVD for free, it's a worthless piece of shit... free shit, but shit all the same. I also tend to buy... on average about 15 dvds a week, because I am addicted to DVD and love the format desperately.