Hey folks, Harry here with my April 2004 DVD Preview and Picks list. Sorry about the lateness… as many of you have written and surmised, the additional craziness regarding my little April 1st announcement made concentrating and being able to just sit down and crank through this, much harder than usual. So I apologize -- I still met my deadline of the first Tuesday of April – but barely. Once again, try to remind me in the future, it always helps – even if it takes a bit. This is a great month… let’s get to it!
April 6th, 2004
CHARADE – Criterion
Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in love and suspense in Paris… How on Earth can one not love CHARADE, in fact – How can you not already have a version of this classic on DVD – I do, but not the Criterion version. This has commentary by Stanley Donen and Peter Stone – a gorgeous new transfer and tons of extras. Finally getting an ace quality release of this has long been in the coming. Yippee!
FREAKS & GEEKS – Complete SeriesOk – admittedly I haven’t watched the show, but I’m wildly attracted to Velma in the suck ass SCOOBY DOO movies, and some friends told me I’d love her on FREAKS & GEEKS… I also seem to recollect some articles in Coaxial about the show not sucking at all… so I figure I’ll give it a look see. And when I mentioned to friends that it would be appearing on my list… they were ecstatic at me for putting it on here… so apparently it’s a good thing. I just hope there’s lots of scantily clad Velma – or just scenes of her reading a lot. Sigh…
GRAPES OF WRATH
An unbelievably brilliant film. To me, this and THE OX-BOW INCIDENT are my two favorite Henry Fonda films… I’m also really big on FAIL-SAFE and ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST… but we’re talking about GRAPES OF WRATH… Tom Joad – one of the great all time characters ever brought to life on cinema screens. This disc is loaded with extras. There’s commentary by scholars, Movietone news about the droughts of the Great Depression, there’s FDR acknowledging it, just extra after extra… truly treating the film as the jewel it so obviously is. Along with THE SEARCHERS and THREE GODFATHERS – its my fave John Ford flick. Just great. If you don’t get chills during the end monologue, then you’ve never lived a day in your life. Brilliant!
ILSA COLLECTION (She Wolf of the SS / Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks / The Wicked Warden)
Ok, I’m not gonna claim that these movies are particularly great… they are not, what they are though is a shitload of funky outrageous politically fucked up fun! I mean, you take the Ilsa character from HELLBOY – and ya just give her a non-stop sadistic trilogy of sadism and titillation. There’s funky nudity, wildly bad taste filled scenes of torture and degradation… but it all comes across as being fun. Fun because in this particular day in age of exploitation film making, audiences knew that it was a fringe film. A film – that wasn’t for everyone. However, I’d kill to do a NC-17 remake of SHE WOLF OF THE SS with Charlize Theron… That would just be the bee’s knees. If you liked SADOMANIA back a couple of months, then this set is for you!
MATRIX REVOLUTIONS
I love this film… Since getting my check disc set for this, I’ve watched it 3 times. Unapologetically I dig the hell out of this movie. The showdown between Smith and Neo kicks unholy ass… Smith’s dialogue delivery in the crater before a fallen Neo is classic. The exoskeleton fight versus the squiddies is killer and it is just a great wrap up and makes the pain and suffering from MATRIX RELOADED go away. I don’t own Matrix Reloaded… and I have no desire to ever buy it, HOWEVER – the second disc on this one is so jam-packed with coolness that I’ve just lost myself watching all the rigging for the aerial work that was done in this film. HOLY SHIT it is crazy. The stuff I just wrote off as CG was simply LIVE ACTION with wire and bar removal as they were turning on about 5 different points of axis. A wonderfully super cool geek must own.
THE PINK PANTHER FILM COLLECTION (The Pink Panther / A Shot In The Dark / Pink Panther Strikes Again / Revenge Of The Pink Panther / Trail of the Pink Panther)
I just got the script for the Steve Martin version of the Pink Panther, but haven’t set down to read it yet, but I plan to… then sit down and watch this 5 movie set and ponder the need for Steve to play the part. Peter Sellers is a God in these films. His comedy powers were at their peak… although I’ll argue THE PARTY and DR STRANGELOVE all day long up against BEING THERE. But that said, the Pink Panther films are great. It has been forever since I’ve seen them, and having the Freleng cartoons on here too… well that’s just the best. The Bonus disc that takes us through the history of the films and the cartoons… That’s pure gold. I must own this later today!
April 13th, 2004
BABYLON 5 – The Complete 5th Season
I had lost interest in the series by the 5th season and just cashed in my loyal days of watching, so I’ve always been curious what happened here. Though – I love the cry of “BABYLON 5 IS SHIT” from SPACED – so much that I’m thinking of just letting the series go. That being said, JMS was worshipped by me for many a night watching the first 4 seasons, I’ve always kinda regretted not chiming in for this one. And you B5 haters… Sorry – it kicks the shit out of a lot of terrible sci-fi tv in my opinion.
EATING RAOUL
Those in the world that don’t love EATING RAOUL – well they should all be flank steak, or see the film immediately. This is a great film from Paul Bartel and watching him and Mary Woronov do their thing in this film is just classic cult black humor. It’s in widescreen and only has a trailer. Unfortunately – we’ll never get what was sure to be a brilliant dry commentary by Bartel since he passed away several years back, but ya know… the film speaks for itself. It is one you can watch with friends both alive and in a nice wine sauce, but no matter the table setting, the film will fill you with glee. A must have for all cannibal film fetishists.
KILL BILL VOL 1
Yes, I’m pissed about this DVD. Ya know – when the fuck do I get my badass version with extras and deleted scenes out the wazoo? When do I get my Japanese edit? Where’s my overpriced American Collector’s edition with Hanzo Blade and Okinawa shirt? Come on, over-charge me, but don’t insult me with this fucking barebones no extra nothing fucking milked out cow for the zombie masses fucking edition! That being said, I’ll fucking buy it because I’m a fucking sheep – but it pisses me off to no end. This is not how to treat fans. This sucks diseased acne scarred ass!
TOKYO GODFATHERS
I love MILLENNIUM ACTRESS and PERFECT BLUE like very few Anime titles, but of Satoshi Kon’s feature work, this is my favorite film. The smartly influenced by John Ford’s THREE GODFATHERS film is wonderfully adapted. The beauty of the story, animation and character work is delivered un-marred by American dubbing – instead we get the original Japanese with English Subtitles and a making of featurette. Absolutely ideal. I never got to see this in a theater, which is a shame… but it is my own fault – I missed it when it played the art house here and only saw it on a video screener I was sent by the company. I look forward to the far superior mastering of this DVD.
April 20th, 2004
ABCD
Here’s a jewel I bet you’ve never seen. If you were reading the site many years ago, you’ll remember me going gaga about this wonderful film about cultural conflicts, romance, tragedy and anxieties here in America. When Kirk Honeycutt referred to the film as being reminiscent of early Wayne Wang and Ang Lee, well… he was nailing it right squarely on the head. Krutin Patel is firmly in their league – and in a post BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM world… well this is the better film, about the more adult less teeny bopper style stories that take place here in this country. Give it a chance, watch it on a date… It’s very good.
THE FLOWER OF EVIL
This is my favorite Claude Chabrol film. There’s nothing more fun than a film that starts with a dead body. It makes you wonder about every character introduced, the veracity of every line of dialogue. This is a film that is there with MULHOLLAND DRIVE and SHALLOW GRAVE in tone and execution. The less you know the better – It is in French, but if you liked SWIMMING POOL – you should love this…
A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA