JUNE DVDs Picks
Hey folks, Harry here with my picks and previews of the DVDs I recommend giving a peek in the month of June! Now this is a busy month at theaters and the beginning of a lot of vacations… But there’s some damn good DVDs hitting this month and a couple of collections at the ass end of the month that I’m just drooling to get my paws upon. Now remember, this is by no means a complete list, this is just the stuff I'm personally going after, have seen and endorse or that I'm curious about. As for why sets like SCTV, THE OFFICE, SOUTH PARK 4th Season or PUNKY BREWSTER aren't on this list - well, I don't watch those shows and never have. As for MYSTIC RIVER & COLD MOUNTAIN - not a big fan. Personally feel that both were terribly overrated & mediocre at best. As for the TRAINSPOTTING Director's Cut & the ENGLISH PATIENT SE & KILL CHIBA 3 dvds... I'm not all that eager to replace the discs I already have, that's a personal choice. Now let’s jump in & see what we got!
June 1st, 2004
THE CITY OF NO LIMITS
Here’s one of those little movies, the type that almost everyone overlooks… A nice little Spanish language thriller that is extremely well shot, acted and pulled off. Antonio Hernandez, the director, has pulled off a wonderfully written thriller, which picked up the GOYA (Spanish Academy Awards) for screenplay and for Geraldine Chaplin’s wonderful turn… and having seen this film & dvd, I can attest that they were well earned. This is a very unconventional mystery thriller, which only a cad would spoil for those that love the genre. Personally it enchanted me.
DAS BOOT: THE ORIGINAL UNCUT VERSION
One of the great films of all time! One of my favorite movies ever. This has the original 5 hour extended version which played on German Television as a miniseries. This DVD is loaded with extras and comes on 2-discs. If you have happened to somehow wander through life without having discovering this masterpiece… then by all means RUN to your nearest DVD retailer to pick this sucker up! I love flicks like THE ENEMY BELOW, RUN SILENT RUN DEEP, CRASH DIVE and ICE STATION ZEBRA, but this is by far my favorite submarine movie. Why? Well, first there’s just the gritty sweaty smelly look of the thing. Being stuck in a German U-Boat during the tail-end of World War II… losing faith and seeing the madness of the Fuhrer, the joy of blowing up an Allied ship, then the horror of the cries of your victims in the inky ebony of the smoldering sea doomed to die. The sound of sonar and the fear on the faces of all as the depth charges begin to pummel the sardine can these men are trapped in. GENIUS film! I have the Director’s Cut on DVD already, but the chance to have the original full length film as it ran originally in Germany… I wouldn’t pass this one up, no matter what!
FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR
A historic kids film and one of the first photorealistic CG effects movies ever made! I really dug this movie as a kid, and used to have it double-featured with THE EXPLORERS (which is a much better film, btw). I haven’t seen this one in forever, but I remember Paul Reubens being pretty bizarre in this. And I loved the spaceship… it just doesn’t have the outer space lunacy that THE EXPLORERS had, but it definitely is a great kids movie for kids!
THE GREATEST
Ok, so you didn’t really dig the Will Smith version of Muhammad Ali’s life story… and for some reason WHEN WE WERE KINGS has not graced your eyes, because you read that it was a documentary, but didn’t realize that it was actually the greatest Sports film in the history of mankind. Well, this is the life story of Muhammad Ali as performed by Muhammad Ali and Ernest Borgnine! While not as great as THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY, it is still fascinating to watch one of sport’s greatest athletes and one of the world’s greatest personalities of the 20th Century play his own version of his own history. Pretty cool!
HERBIE THE LOVE BUG COLLECTION (THE LOVE BUG / HERBIE GOES TO MONTE CARLO / HERBIE GOES BANANAS / HERBIE RIDES AGAIN)
Personally, I love the first three of this series, and I absolutely can not ever see a Volkswagon Bug and not think Buddy Hackett is in it. This is one of the best goofy series ever. There’s something about ol ’53 doing insane twists and turns, spitting gunk on people and then the noises ol Herbie made… If you have a family and never want to pay for the Disney Channel, this is a good set to pick up.
MONSTER
If you like your lesbians funky, brutal, mean and fugly… oh and homicidally insane with grotesque mood swings and just wacked totally out… then MONSTER is the film for you. Charlize picked up her Oscar for this, Ebert named it the best film of last year and I think it is an absolutely amazing film, one of the best true life serial killer films. Brutally honest and emotionally it’s like a razor blade across your heart… The physical transformation by weight gain and make up is truly remarkable, but not nearly as remarkable as Charlize’s performance itself. Great movie! The DVD has several features and making of extras.
THE SNAKE PIT
Olivia de Havilland is one of the great actresses of all time. I absolutely love her Errol Flynn films, where she played the woman that the coolest most debonair guy always went after and would die for. In GONE WITH THE WIND, I always thought that anyone going after that other bitch was insane, cuz her Melanie was the bee’s knees! However, if you want to see Olivia deliver an amazing performance. This is it. The director, Anatole Litvak had a history of coaxing great performances out of actresses… Check out Barbara Stanwyck in the utterly brilliant SORRY, WRONG NUMBER or Ingrid Bergman in his ANASTASIA! In this, Olivia’s descent into insanity and the realm of the disturbed is particularly intense and unsettling. Her performance is riveting. The film is often overlooked, but as a huge lover of de Havilland’s career, it’s a must have.
TALES FROM THE CRYPT: THE ROBERT ZEMECKIS COLLECTION
I like this collection… On this disc you get the three Robert Zemeckis directed TALES FROM THE CRYPT episodes based on William Gaines’ brilliant comic series out of E.C. Zemeckis only directed these three, and all three are jewels. First you have ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT with the homicidal Santa Claus (this would make a great opening act for the film night I describe later on my BAD SANTA dvd preview). Next you have YELLOW which was that episode starring Kirk Douglas as a blood and guts WWI general that discovers his son’s cowardly tendencies… and it gets really umm, unhappy at the end. Lastly, you get the stunt episode that Zemeckis did starring Humphrey Bogart in YOU, MURDERER. While it is the least of the three in terms of story, it’s my favorite, just due to the technical whiz bang of the episode, plus just the coolness of having Isabella Rossellini acting with Bogie… kinda. NOW – if I could get his AMAZING STORIES work! Hell, I want that whole damn series!
WINSOR MCCAY: THE MASTER EDITION
There isn’t anything on this edition particularly greater than the previous collected editions of Winsor McCay’s work… and the commentary is lame as hell if you decide to listen to it. BUT – If, perchance, you don’t own the collected works of Winsor McCay and you claim to love animation… then you should be put in toon jail. Winsor invented animation and his animated shorts are nothing short of perfection. They are all smart, clever and exquisitely animated. Winsor was the genius behind the highly influential comic strip featuring Little Nemo. He was also the primary inspirational force in Bill Watterson’s (CALVIN & HOBBES) life as a newspaper comic artist!
June 8th, 2004
CITY OF GOD
An absolutely brilliant film, that I wish I had seen in theaters last year. Unfortunately due to being out of country, I missed the window in which it played in Austin. Just recently saw it and would have easily thrown it into my top 5 films of last year. The film is so taut you’ll grind your teeth and clutch your fists while watching this one. I can not give this movie a high enough recommendation. Anytime you think bad thoughts about Harvey Weinstein, just remember… he spent a year reminding people this movie existed.. he kept trying to get as many of us as possible to see it, and managed to get it a helluvalot of Oscar nominations. Now you have your chance to remind yourself why Miramax can still be great!
THE DAY OF THE LOCUST
Ok, so you’ve just seen CITY OF GOD and you want something really different, but everybit as great and unknown… Pick up THE DAY OF THE LOCUST. This was made by John Schlesinger and set during 30’s Hollywood. About as opposite a time and place as the setting in the Brazilian CITY OF GOD, but this isn’t about the glitz and glamour, this is that seedy underbelly of 30’s fame… a blink and a wink out of HOLLYWOOD BABYLON and a great companion piece for L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. It stars Donald Sutherland, Karen Black and Burgess Meredith (who picked up a supporting acting nomination) and it isn’t at all the vision of the golden era of Hollywood that you’d imagine. Remember, Schlesinger is the director of MIDNIGHT COWBOY and tons of folks have never seen this film… or they’ve read reviews from a million years ago when critics lambasted it and Hollywood loathed it… But they were wrong… this is another of those great Sutherland films from the period in which he could do no wrong. GREAT MOVIE!
THE LEOPARD Criterion Collection
Perhaps Visconti’s towering cinematic achievement, THE LEOPARD features one of the great Burt Lancaster roles as a Prince stripped of his standing in post-revolutionary Italy. Personally I love Visconti’s THE DAMNED and prefer Lancaster’s role in THE PROFESSIONALS (that canyon fight with Palance is genius), but this is definitely Lancaster’s most nuanced and subtle performance. Though once again I love his film noir turns, but Visconti shoots Sicily so beautifully that you’ll find yourself touching your screen trying to get in. And that final ball… WOW, nobody working in film today would have the guts to do that. Just WOW!
PHANTOMS OF DEATH TRIPLE FEATURE (THE PHANTOM OF 42ND STREET / PHANTOM KILLER / PHANTOM OF CHINATOWN)
Ok, first – I have never seen a single one of these movies before. However, I’ve owned the one sheet for PHANTOM OF CHINATOWN and stared at that gorgeous stone lithography since the age of about 3 years old. I’m a huge fan of Keye Luke from the old Charlie Chan films and his work in Joe Dante’s GREMLINS. Also, I love old Pulp Detective fiction and films, especially from the thirties and forties. SO – while I can not vouch for the quality of the films, I am buying this set. One it’s cheap, two… I have to find out who the phantom of Chinatown is, and does he get his nostril slit open?
QUANTUM LEAP The First Season
I remember liking some of these episodes from the first season of Quantum Leap and liked the premise – just found that it was just way to formulaic in the long run to stick with. But I liked Dr Sam Beckett – but I still feel that GROUNDHOG’S DAY and that Episode with the exploding bank in THE X-FILES season 6 was better than this entire series. Of course, maybe that’s just me.
THE TARZAN COLLECTION (TARZAN THE APE MAN / TARZAN AND HIS MATE / TARZAN ESCAPES / TARZAN FINDS A SON / TARZAN AND THE SECRET TREASURE / TARZAN’S NEW YORK ADVENTURE)
UNGAWA THIS SET NOW! I’ve just gotten finished watching all 6 of the original MGM Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan and GOD I LOVE THESE MOVIES. My nephew just watched TARZAN FINDS A SON and TARZAN’S NEW YORK ADVENTURE, and he’s in the other room trying to laugh like Cheetah and keeps pointing at his Granpa and shouting, “UNGAWA!” Ahhh, great! Weissmuller babysat me when I was a little boy and I remember him as being a great storyteller and I’ve had a lifelong affinity with his films and the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs as a result. This set is the jewel of the June releases. In addition to getting the 6 best Weissmuller TARZAN films, you get a great documentary which reveals things like… One of the original Cheetahs is still alive in Florida at the age of 71!!! It also features some great footage of Maureen O’Sullivan and Johnny Weismuller Jr telling stories about the days of loin cloths and censor bureaus! Also – you have got to see Jimmy Durante in the short subject SCHNARZAN THE CONQUEROR… Jimmy Durante in a loin cloth is high up there in my unimaginable things, but lightning strike me if I didn’t laugh till I hurt. TARZAN AND HIS MATE is my favorite, but man… I’d love to see the long lost Bat sequence out of TARZAN ESCAPES! The nude underwater swimming sequence with Jane is just gorgeous, as is every scene of her in that gorgeous two piece loin cloth… and for my money, she looks way better than Raquel Welch in ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.! There’s something more sensual, honest and real about Maureen. Plus the animal training is superb and the matte paintings of the escarpment are truly gorgeous. It diverges from Burroughs’ books tremendously, but what many of you don’t know… is that was a stipulation from Burroughs. He didn’t want them adapting any of his stories. As a result, they invented Cheetah and the Elephant Graveyard storyline. Jane had a last name change and it became more of a romantic realm than anything. One of the great Hollywood Series ever made. For my money, it’s definitely the best Six Film Series made!
June 15th, 2004
50 FIRST DATES
Harry Knowles recommending a non-Paul Thomas Anderson directed Adam Sandler film? Yes, I know, the sky is falling and the Brooklyn Bridge is cheap, but having watched this sucker the other night… I liked it. Maybe it’s my never-ending crush on Drew Barrymore… or maybe just the sweet conceit of a guy trying to win the heart of a girl that can never remember the day before… every day. That she doesn’t get cured. Well, I like that a whole lot! Plus – the walrus rules! Best walrus since SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER!
DEAD LIKE ME: The Complete First Season
Got this set almost a month and a half ago and absolutely loved it! Apparently it airs on SHOWTIME, and I don’t know if there is a second season or not, but I really dug the show. My sister really loves it! The cast is really good and the white-hot Laura Harris comes on mid-season as a great sex tart! Yowza, to have been a 1930’s actor or director. Ahem. If you never paid for a day of SHOWTIME, I don’t know if they have anything else worthwhile, but this series is definitely worth a look. Check it out!
HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL!
My top four Teenage Rebel flicks are REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, THE WILD ONE, ROCK ALL NIGHT and HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL! This thing literally has every last single genre hallmark of the Teenage Rebel Film Genre! From the director of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON comes this fantastic unhinged story of youth… before it became the domain of Rav’s favorite director… Larry Clark! Here it is seedy with a beat, leather and hot rods… um, wait, that does sound very Larry Clark. Shit! Can you imagine his remake of HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL! It’d tear the world apart!
Johnny Legend’s Deadly Doubles Volume One (NAKED YOUTH / TEEN MANIA)
Ok – this DVD is worth it for Johnny Legend’s collection of Juvenile Delinquent Movie Trailers alone… But NAKED YOUTH is one of the great insane J.D. movies made. The class of flicks I mentioned in the HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL! Review is thrown out the window. This flick is vintage sleaze! There’s nothing better than a heaping spoonful of vintage sleaze to add a layer of film to film! Madge’s DT’s scene is a scream as is the stolen music from other classic films used throughout! It fore-shadow’s what Raimi does in SPIDER-MAN 2! You’ll see!
SIMPSON’S Complete Fourth Season
Is it just me or is Fox taking way too fucking long with these sets? C’mon man! There’s way too many episodes awaiting my DVD player! Also – I’d love sets that were collected by themes… like the Holiday Specials or the Treehouse of Terror episodes or… Ah, Hell man, I just want all of them NOW!
THE STEPFORD WIVES
Technically there’s other editions already out, but they’re reissuing it really damn cheap to capitalize on the title’s saturation due to the upcoming remake’s publicity… so this sucker is hitting like $10 bucks on this date! So – if the reviews for the new one are get this one, it doesn’t suck… or if you like the new one, see this one and realize… damn that new one sucks! Or watch it and realize that I’m full of shit! I haven’t seen this film since I was a kid, but I’ll be seeing it on the big screen very soon thanks to my favorite theater in the world!
TOUCHING THE VOID
Now this is a great Documentary / Docu-Drama / Film! In many ways this is nowhere near a documentary. It’s a recreation film narrated by the two guys that actually went through the ordeal. Harrowing doesn’t even begin to describe what these guys go through. If you think you ever struggled to survive anything in your life or if you think you’re going through hard times now… Check out Joe Simpson’s story as told in this film. From the documentarian that made ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER, which Steven Spielberg is turning into his next narrative feature… you’ll be blown away by this movie. The DVD is filled with looks regarding how they made this movie along with an interview with the two real guys that brings us up to date regarding their lives and what they’ve been up to since this amazing ordeal. A must see!
June 22nd, 2004
BADDER SANTA (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
Ahhhh – this is closer to the version I saw eons before the hacked down version that played in theaters. This one is cruder, ruder and better. Billy Bob recently revealed at Cannes that he was indeed 3 sheets to the wind during a lot of the making of this film. Getting wildly intoxicated to deliver a naturalistic performance unlike anything we’ve ever seen out of him before. I love this movie, & here there’s just more to love. The “FUCK ME SANTA” scenes just are so much better – and everything is just more naughty, as it should be. This, BLACK CHRISTMAS and A CHRISTMAS STORY will be my 3 Wise Men flicks for my wrapping sessions every Christmas! Oh – and THE GHOSTS WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS episode of the X-FILES, the Zemeckis Psychotic Santa TALES FROM THE CRYPT episode and that first Simpson’s X-Mas Special…. Oh and Jesus vs Satan Claus!
DEATHWATCH
Here’s a neat little British Horror film with a nifty performance out of Andy Serkis! Set during World War 1, this flick is about a unit that stumbles into the wrong fog bank… No, they don’t all shrink and fight kitty cats and spiders… However, it does take them on one helluva existential journey, in a way. The barb wire demons kick ass and this trench terror stuff just gives me the heebie jeebies. I really dig this movie. Nice little indie horror.
LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA
While I really dig LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA for what it is, it is a staged campy recreation of an era of film I truly love. However, it can never really touch a hair on PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE or DESTINATION MARS or TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE’s heads. The stuff actually made period will always just rule that extra 30%! That being said, this is pretty goddamn funny! Besides – Fay Masterson is ungodly hot, and she’s an amazing cook to boot! Now – had this film spoofed the classics of Doris Wishman, we could’ve seen Fay Masterson naked for most of the movie, & that would’ve just made it the greatest movie of all time! Unfortunately, that wasn’t the kitsch they were going for!
June 29th, 2004
BLAZING SADDLES (30th Anniversary Special Edition)
Ok – I never really thought I’d be buying another edition of BLAZING SADDLES, but this one is doing it for me. First off – the film is one of the hands down funniest & greatest comedies of all time. Period. Next there’s the commentary issue – this has some. Then there’s the documentary and the special thing on Madeline Kahn. The additional scenes all suck, but… they have a 1975 TV Pilot that apparently inspired the film entitled BLACK BART – and that I just have got to friggin’ see! I know nothing about BLACK BART, but if it inspired the film… I must possess!
EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD
Here’s a hardcore zombie sex movie! It is trashy, yet at times oddly atmospheric. The dry zombies coming out of the beach sand are just really genuinely creepy to me. Also – the real maggots crawling on the zombies rule! Plus there’s really lame sex going on in this thing- & there is a moment where zombie & sex meats and it’s classic funk cinema!
SPIDER-MAN: The 1967 Animated Collection
The complete 52 episode original series on 6 DVDs and swinging into my TV real soon! I’m almost more excited for this than I am for SPIDER-MAN 2, except I know better. Cause Raimi is going to own each and every one of us for the rest of our lives once we see SPIDER-MAN 2! This is a dream DVD set! Look out, here comes the Spider-Maaan!!!!
