James Franco's SATURDAY NIGHT is, as billed, a Maysles Bros.-styled documentary about the inner workings of Saturday Night Live. Apparently, D.A. Pennebaker approached Lorne Michaels back in the 70's about doing a documentary of just this type, but one would expect the backstage goings-on of the Belushi cast made him nervous about having a documentarian around.
When I found out the doc covers the December 2008 episode hosted by John Malkovich, two things came to mind. First, that this was the episode that included "J'Accuzzi" (one of the best sketches they've done in the last 10 years), and second, that it takes place during the last clutch of shows with Casey Wilson and Michaela Watkins, who were rather abruptly fired after that season.
There's a chunk of material focusing on Wilson pitching a sketch that bombs disastrously during the table read that was rather difficult for me to watch, as I've liked her work since she started on the show. The producer of the doc mentioned during the Q&A that there was even more footage from that which he'd have rather kept in but Franco cut in deference to his friend (Wilson). Going any further would have been beyond excessive.
Having a theatre and sketch comedy background, the pitch to table read to rehearsal to dress to final product process was engrossing, but I could feel others near me shift in their seats after around the halfway point. A healthy amount of cursing and riffing not seen in the live show kept everyone with it through the end, though. As a result, those who showed up because Franco's name was attached or out of their love of the current cast (Bill Hader in particular) got plenty of what they were expecting. Things start to drag a bit in the last third with a few bits with Hader that are funny, but are in there only because he and Franco get on so well and banter like old buddies.
Among my favorite bits were just about anything involving Malkovich. Watching him doubling up in laughter at various pitches, rehearsing the "The Lost Works of Judy Blume: Gertie", and committing so completely to "J'Accuzzi" just hit the spot for me. The moment that made the whole thing for me is where one writer is asking someone else which computerized fart sound comes off as the most realistic. She was stone cold serious.
One would assume that the doc already has some sort of distribution set up through NBC-Universal, but if not, it's due for a quick pick-up. It would be brilliant of NBC to air it uncensored and unedited in place of an SNL repeat during the summer, but that'd never happen, right?
Read MoreElectric Shadow
SXSW2010: Austin Asses Kicked
I had the benefit of having seen Kick-Ass in December at BNAT, and the moment that the announcement that it was opening SXSW 2010 got out, I started telling people to get there extra early. My advice turned out to be solid indeed, as from many observers' standpoint, it was the longest badge line for opening night they'd seen in the festival's history.
The Paramount Theater, where all the big premieres happen, seats 1200, and last night, they turned away people in the badge line. I don't recall that happening to as much of an extent as it did this opening night as it did for previous ones. Blame it on higher attendance or huge demand or both, but the place was packed. People got there an average of a couple of hours early, and they blew the roof off the place. This wasn't an audience of just geeks, as the BNAT audience was accused of three months ago.
To cut right to the chase, the movie isn't just for comic book geeks, nor is it only "festival-friendly". It's based on a comic, but it fits the ultra-vioolent R-rated action film mold more accurately. The shock factor of a ten-year-old cutting off heads, firing automatic weapons, and calling people "cunts" is going to drive wildfire word-of-mouth and carry Kick-Ass to huge return business. It's going to be the buzz machine movie of the pre-summer pack.
The movie's main character played by Aaron Johnson is only the focus of the film for the first chunk of the runtime, as he shares the narrative with arch-nemesis "Red Mist" (Christopher Mintz-Plasse leaving McLovin far behind) and daddy-daughter duo "Big Daddy and "Hit Girl" (Nic Cage and Chloe Moretz, respectively). Cage and Moretz own the movie, and you should expect to see plenty of father-daughter teams dressed up as the two of them for Halloween. More on this one later.
Read MoreTitans of Grain, The Neverending "Debate"
Warner's recently-released Blu-rays of Clash of the Titans (1980) and The Neverending Story are prime examples of the non-controversy that has reared its head a few times already regarding the graininess of Blu transfers. Regardless of where you stand on the Grain Monks Versus Grain Protestants argument that Jeff now considers over and done, this is a different thing.
I've seen multiple damning reviews that seem to come from the perspective that WB should have somehow jumped into a time machine and shot Clash on REDcam and had ILM do the effects shots. Both Clash and Neverending suffer from the quality of stock elements and effects available at the time.
When people cried foul at the transfer on Rocky, I wondered how recently they'd seen the movie projected, because that transfer looked spot-on to me. I just cannot wait to see what these geniuses say about TRON when it inevitably hits Blu by end of year.
Read MoreWhat's In the Box?
I just wish that people would properly relaunch a Twilight Zone/Night Gallery-inspired speculative fiction show. The Box could have been a killer 2-part, 45-minute-apiece season opener. The movie they ended up with had me right there with it for a while and off and on, but I became less and less hooked as things went on. Everything just felt undisciplined and indulgent rather than lean, tight, and suspenseful. There was a great deal of potential here that just evaporated.
With the exception of an interview with Richard Matheson, all of the extras are Blu-ray exclusive, following a trend. The director's commentary track with Kelly is worth a listen as are all the other ones out there that he's on. More interesting than the movie to me was The Box: Grounded in Reality, wherein he digs into his personal relationship with the material. The best part of the special effects featurette (Visual Effects Revealed) is the short bit on Frank Langella's CG-assisted disfigurement, which looks really solid, all things considered. The DVD edition includes the Matheson featurette and none of the other extras, so be aware if you're buying or renting, and make the right choice.
Read MoreGreenscreensploitation
Bitch Slap has a lot of the components of an exploitation movie, but the gigantic amount of green-scenery just mucked things up for me. You've got some revenge, ultra-violence, and women in extended, fetishistic slow-mo sequences littered with lousy dialogue and beyond ridiculous plotting. It's a movie by guys who enjoy exploitation movies but don't really understand them or how to carry on that spirit.
I really take great exception to the "creative team" celebrating "how big of a whore" one of their lead actresses is in the opening minutes of a commentary track. It's just unbecoming and ungentlemanly, and it would have put me off anything they do had I not already suffered their terrible waste of effort, resources, and lives. The comeback for criticism like that which I've put here is that the critic in question "just didn't get it," but that couldn't possibly hold here since the filmmakers don't get their own material at the most elemental levels.
The DVD includes two commentary tracks too many and a featurette. No joke, the 3-part, 99-minute Building a Better B-Movie featurette is hilarious, and vastly more enjoyable than the movie. A great option for rental if you really enjoy worthless wastes of time.
Read MoreInterlocking Gears
I'm not a gearhead and never was, but there's a piece of me that wishes I'd had some time working on cars growing up. The most popular show about cars on the planet, Top Gear, makes this inclination grow exponentially when my wife and I flip channels and come across it.
The 11th and 12th Seasons of the show hit DVD a few weeks ago. Season 11 is just the episodes, but Season 12 includes some commentaries and longer cuts of select episodes. The commentary tracks aren't terribly illuminating, but if you're a slavish fan of the show, it's more of what you get in the show itself.
Read MoreThe 11th and 12th Seasons of the show hit DVD a few weeks ago. Season 11 is just the episodes, but Season 12 includes some commentaries and longer cuts of select episodes. The commentary tracks aren't terribly illuminating, but if you're a slavish fan of the show, it's more of what you get in the show itself.
The Checkbox Not Taken
Here I thought I'd set a pile of little pieces to drop throughout the day, and in fact they're all just sitting there as drafts. It's been a full first day at SXSW for me, with some interesting things that have happened already. The day's intended content will be going up in rather short order. Again, my apologies.
Read MoreCurtain Peek
On Monday, we revealed a brand. Besides that brand (Electric Shadow Journal), all we really did was announce our sponsorship of B-Side's Festival Genius for SXSW Film and Interactive 2010. Aside from myself, we didn't even get in to who "we" is or precisely what we're doing. As I said previously, I'm not leaving Elsewhere, but doing something new in addition to this column. To explain where "Electric Shadow" comes from, I defer to the press release:
"In Chinese, the term for "cinema" literally translates to "electric shadow". The phrase conjures an image of the movies being a medium of poetic elegance that is full of energy and potential. We love the cinema in all its languages and genres. We love informed, engaging criticism and analysis. We love the unique atmosphere and excitement of a film festival. Are we a publication? That's one piece of it, but not the whole puzzle."
More as it happens.
Read MoreAll Will Be Made Clear
My posting has been far from regular or consistent over the last couple of weeks, and I thank everyone for bearing with me. The reason behind this is something I can't get in to until next week.
I'm not leaving Elsewhere or ending this column, but I've been working on something new and very interesting for a while. A sudden, perfect opportunity stared my team right in the face, and we're launching part of...something on Monday. Trying to explain much more than that will be needlessly vague or give it away. Monday morning, something cool is going to happen.
Read More505: Days After Tomorrow
After finally seeing Leo McCarey's Make Way for Tomorrow, I kept starting and re-starting this article to no avail. I wanted to have something in place last week, either in advance of or shortly after its release, but it just didn't happen. Nearly two weeks after I popped it into my DVD player, the movie is still at the front of my mind.
The next frame is "Honor thy father and mother"
My wife and I moved just after it arrived. As moves go, it was relatively easy and smooth. We're paying overlapping rent for a month due to the vampiric management company that knows we're paying more than the next tenants will. Regardless, while moving boxes and furniture that I shouldn't be lifting by myself, I couldn't help but think back to Bark and Lucy, the septuagenarian couple at the center of Make Way for Tomorrow, and how everything could be so much worse for Ashley and I.
Leo McCarey, who paired up Laurel and Hardy and directed the much better-known The Awful Truth
After an extended period out of work, Bark and Lucy are forced out of their home by the bank, and none of their adult children will take both of them in at a time. Over half a century before cell phones and cheap long-distance, they save all their pennies just to talk to one another. After a long time apart, they happen into something of a second honeymoon. Watching this section tightens that thing in your throat that makes your eyes water just like the "Married Life" sequence in UP. At one point, they talk about how, looking back, they wouldn't change a thing.
It made me think that with all of the hassle and logistical complications of married life, I really couldn't be any happier than I am coexisting with my wife. We're interdependent, but not in a way so as to feel trapped. Rather, we facilitate each other's aspirations and invigorate one another at every step. I don't pay attention to that nearly as often as I should, just as many of us don't stop to enjoy the mundane, "boring" things in life. One man's boring is another's inspiring, arousing, and breathtaking.
Marriage isn't for everyone. There are even some who would say that we're moving to a point that makes the social technology of marriage obsolete. Some would even go so far as to say that a film like Make Way for Tomorrow makes a case for this: the old is always in the process of going by the wayside.
I would counter that MWFT is instead a defense of marriage in all its evolving forms. It is actually an intensely political narrative about exposing the need for Social Security, as critic Gary Giddins mentions in a 20-minute interview on Criterion's DVD. I would go the step further that someone desperately needs to make a spiritual sibling about healthcare here and now.
The interview on the disc with Peter Bogdanovich (also 20 minutes) is his standard-issue, meaty storytelling and includes a short Orson Welles anecdote where he recalls that Welles told him that MWFT "is the saddest movie ever made." I disagree on that point, and will only go so far as to say that the movie diverges form the source book's ending. If anything, I think McCarey went with the most optimistic ending possible considering the story to be told.
Make Way for Tomorrow remains as relevant 73 years later as it was upon initial (failed) commercial release. It's not nearly as well-known as McCarey's The Awful Truth, but I'd argue that it's more unique. Can anyone remember the last time they saw a love story featuring 70-year-olds? Amazon has the MWFT DVD listed at $22.99, and as Roger Ebert attests, it's one of the Great Movies and is certainly worth owning.
Read MoreThe next frame is "Honor thy father and mother"
Leo McCarey, who paired up Laurel and Hardy and directed the much better-known The Awful Truth
Talent Untapped
The entire cast of Gary Unmarried is capable of more than they're given week in, week out on CBS. Watching it is no better than devouring fast food meals multiple times a day or week. If it only means that Jay Mohr and Ed Begley, Jr. get a solid paycheck and residuals, I'll occasionally order the double-processed, double-common, double cheese that is the show. I like Mohr as a comic
Jay Mohr and his little Yorkie
The best feature of the recently-released first season DVD is a featurette on Ed Begley's ultra-green house called Planet Begley. It plays like MTV Cribs: Green-ass Eco-friendly Edition. On top of that are a Blooper Reel, "day on the set" piece with Mohr, and a cast featurette. It's far from classic TV, but among the better of the deep-fried, same-old set of sitcoms.
Read MoreJay Mohr and his little Yorkie
Revenge of the 90's (and 1987)
Lionsgate dropped some catalog titles on Blu-ray the other week, and the most interesting to me was The Phantom. Most interesting not because it was an amazing movie or anything, mind you, but because it's from that nigh-mythic time when studios were making all sorts of pulp comic movies based on characters that kids were entirely unfamiliar with. It's a couple hours of chuckles to watch Treat Williams getting to twirl the mustache and Catherine Zeta-Jones playing a female henchman who could have easily been named Treachery McSlutbagge.
Wesley Snipes plays a duly-appointed federal marshall in Drop Zone, alongside Gary Busey and Yancy Butler, as well as the late Michael Jeter. It never was (nor will ever be) some sort of action classic, but it'll fit nicely into some bargain bundle by the end of the year.
Anyone remember when Slater was headlining action movies? People on Twitter keep talking about a game called Heavy Rain, and I keep mistaking their huge levels of anticipation as being for the Blu-ray release of Hard Rain, the Christian Slater/Morgan Freeman CG disasterfest from 1998. The all-CG opening is just unwatchable and embarrassing, and probably was 12 years ago as well.
Last but not least is The Running Man, a pre-1990 addition to the Arnold Schwarzenegger Blu-ray Library of Punching (I hope The Villain is next). The movie looks good and grainy, with the Republic Pictures logo really driving home the desired effect of making it feel like a theatrical-quality experience...of a terrible movie. It's been remade and re-imagined a few times, but never better than Series 7: The Contenders. The Running Man includes the only extras of the bunch, two commentaries and two featurettes. All four titles hit on 9 Feb.
Read MoreWhat's "Karate" Got to Do With It?
The last week has been a mix of my wife and I abruptly moving with nothing packed and being sick, so I apologize for my extended absence. The thing that got the blog engine going again is the below-embedded trailer for The Kung Fu Kid. I call it that because the movie about the Chinese art of Kung Fu, not the Japanese art of Karate.
Even though the movie appears to be a very similar remake of Academy Award-nominee The Karate Kid (for Pat Morita), there's not a lick of Karate in the trailer. Unless all of a sudden, the Big Competition is Karate-based and they throw out all the Kung Fu, the title is flat-out wrong and insulting. It's like making a movie about Japanese Emperor Tokugawa and calling it The Greatest King of China. That said, I still like the way the movie looks from this trailer and plan to watch it, but this really, really bothers me.
Read MoreMarried to the Service
While watching a documentary on Iraq War II widows, I didn't expect to find a friend from high school as one of the main characters. I've been as sympathetic as I think I can be to those I know who have friends or loved ones enlisted, but there's no way to honestly know how they feel. The Lifetime network show Army Wives has been on the air for three years now, and it comes off as a nighttime marriage soap that happens to include the backdrop of living in the armed services. The third season hit DVD a couple of weeks ago, and I asked for a copy to give it a test-run, but it just isn't for me. Give me the marital strife in The Hurt Locker and I'm good. The set includes bloopers, deleted scenes, webisodes, and a couple of featurettes.
Read MoreNew Collection on the Block
I took a personal day away from writing yesterday because Ashley and I found ourselves suddenly moving a few weeks earlier than anticipated. As a result, the below thoughts on the StudioCanal Collection titles released today (16 Feb) are much less thorough than I had hoped, but I'll hit the important stuff right out of the gate. Ran looks better than ever (but...), Contempt looks excellent (but...), and The Ladykillers should stand as the standard for the Ealing films to come on Blu-ray. I honestly miss some of the Criterion extras on the prior two.
I was initially unimpressed by the transfer on Akira Kurosawa's Ran, but after further comparison and consideration of other opinions, I'm giving it a qualified recommendation. The color and clarity are far better than any of the DVD versions that came before it. The hang-up I've got is that it isn't as breathtaking as Criterion's work on Kagemusha, which replaced Ran on their Blu-ray release calendar when the Ran rights lapsed. The question is whether it actually can look any better or if guys like me are curling up their noses at "the would-be Criterion".
Ran is five years younger than Kagemusha, and one would assume that better quality original elements would be available for the newer movie, but that may not be the case, as DVD Beaver's Gary Tooze reveals. I have never seen the film projected, but there is apparently a newly-struck print making the rounds as we speak, so I hope to have my eyes on it at some point this year.
The biggest disappointment, for me, is that most of the Criterion extras are entirely absent. In the supplements department, this would be an absolute failure if not for the inclusion of A.K., the hour-plus doc also on Criterion's 2005 DVD set. I know that better extras exist, and I know that Criterion could have released their remastered, cleaned-up Blu-ray if not for the existence of this edition. I tried watching the new extras that the folks at StudioCanal put together, but I was bored by their very elementary "this is Samurai culture" tack.
I wish I could say more than "this Blu-ray is the best option that still exists for watching and learning more about Ran." That being said, the picture is the best available, and Kurosawa completionists can still find the OOP Criterion set marked up all to hell if they simply must have the brilliant, note-perfect extras. Unless something big changes, this is the best home presentation of Ran that one will be able to get for some time to come, and it's far from an aberration (it simply could have been much more). It's the lowest-priced of the three SCC titles at $22.99.
Contempt really looks wonderful, on-par with my recent viewing of the going-OOP Criterion Blu-ray of Godard's Pierrot le fou. Repeat the above refrain of being glad some supplements are retained, but add that the newly-added extras aren't all disposable. The French folks (I assume) who run StudioCanal may just have more cultural commonality with one of the greatest of their great masters, which results in a collection of extras that comes much closer to the Criterion release that preceded this Blu. The Blu-ray is a bit steep at $25.99, but if you love the film, the transfer c'est magnifique.
The Ladykillers benefits greatly from not carrying with it any potential for Criterion baggage. The problem is that the transfer is just terrible. Screenshots make it look worse than it is, but there is a disgusting amount of red-shift in the picture. The supplements are the reason to rent (do not buy) this. Lionsgate had nothing to do with the transfer, as it's identical to the European StudioCanal release. Welcome to what we all feared.
The intro from Terry Gilliam is perfect, and the bunch of interviews are wonderful. On top of that, the Forever Ealing documentary produced for TV is extremely informative and clips along nicely. Holding this Ladykillers disc against other catalog Blu-ray releases, I must admit I would actually consider the $25.99 that Amazon is asking reasonable for someone who loves the film if only the picture wasn't so absolutely unacceptable. For those who are interested but have never seen it, I'd give it a rental and a think.
Read More504: Hunger for Liberty
Most Americans, myself included, do not have much if any familiarity with Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) or the Maze Prison hunger strike of 1981. We certainly don't naturally possess enough investment to react very intimately with the events of Steve McQueen's Hunger (Criterion, 16 Feb). What I find marvelous about the film is that over the course of 96 agonizing minutes, we are driven to feel how close to us all the Hunger Strike was. I mean "agonizing" in the productive, "it hurts but it's good for you" way.
Many have already remarked that Hunger is difficult to watch, more so than the most gruesome horror films. A friend said as much to me the other day, and it reminded me of the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. This isn't because I found them hard to watch, but I had a classmate in high school, a hardcore peace activist, who recoiled while our senior History teacher made all of us watch it on VHS.
Hunger likewise makes so many of us squirm because we aren't accustomed to living in a society where these kinds of violent political movements touch our everyday lives. This film takes us outside of our bubble and shoves our face into the shit and piss and grime of the outside world beyond our homogenized borders. I can imagine some undergrad from a small-town seeing Hunger this past fall during their first semester away from home and having it irrevocably change their life and perspective.
Watching the progression of decay isn't what one would consider thrilling entertainment, but the 22-minute ideological duel between Sands and a priest is positively thrilling. Were the whole film not an effective deconstruction by way of decomposition, this scene would still pop through. Acting teachers should queue up that scene, let it run, and after ward say, "that's what lived-in is." and call off class for the rest of the semester.
Criterion's forthcoming release on Blu-ray and DVD includes a pair of interviews with McQueen and Fassbender that run about 13 minutes each and don't wear out their welcome. A 17-minute Making of Hunger piece covers additional ground and includes McQueen/Fassbender, actors Liam Cunningham (the aforementioned priest), Stuart Graham, and Brian Milligan along with writer Enda Walsh & producer Robin Gutch. It covers additional ground not touched on in the interviews and flows nicely by watching in-between them. The movie (McQueen's feature debut) speaks for itself without a commentary track with the inclusion of these extras and the 45-minute episode of the BBC's Panorama from 1981 that dealt with the strike, titled "The Provos' Last Card?". The booklet tucked inside features an essay by critic Chris Darke that is thorough and thoughtful. Amazon lists the Blu-ray for $26.99 and DVD for $29.99. It's a tough sit, but it's worth it.
Read More502: Bittersweet Revanche
In Gotz Spielmann's Revanche (16 February), tragedy is clumsy, brutal, and blind to class and circumstance. The unrelenting pressure of post-traumatic stress permeates the film from beginning to end, with brief breaths of catharsis sprinkled throughout, but only sparingly so. The movie commands one's attention unlike most films of the last few years in any language. Criterion will release Spielmann's fifth film (the first to be distributed in the States) on Blu-ray and DVD this coming Tuesday, 16 February. The Blu looks stunning, as one would assume.
Johannes Krisch as Alex
Ex-felon Alex (Johannes Krisch) has fallen for one of the prostitutes at the brothel he works for, and he aims to "save" her by robbing a bank and taking her far away. The bank robbery goes wrong and rapidly unravels the worlds of two couples: Alex and Tamara as well as the responding policeman and his wife.
The progression from the city to the country sees the tension gradually diminish, but we are not left with any substantive sense of ease until the closing seconds of the film. Spielmann, his actors, and crew string us along beautifully, keeping the tragedy from overpowering our sympathetic attachment to the protagonists (all four of them) and the story. Revanche is one of the best films that far too many people missed last year.
The supplemental materials on the Criterion DVD & Blu may look minimal, but as usual, they are substantial in quality while being few in number. The video interview with director Spielmann is satisfying, and a thorough portrayal of who he is as an artist. He feels predominantly fascinated with absolute precision when it comes to portraying human nature behavior as authentically as is possible.
Further detail about the director's sensibility is revealed by his award-winning short film, Foreign Land, which features a recently-recorded introduction form Spielmann. Yet more fascinating is The Making of Revanche, a half-hour featurette shot on-set that allows us into the inner circle of Spielmann's work. It's one thing to hear someone talk about their craft, but another entirely to see it in practice. The US Trailer is included, as is a booklet with a very solid appreciation essay written by Armond White. Many hate him, but they would be wise to give the essay a shot, as it's really rather perfect. Amazon has the Blu-ray for $26.99 and the DVD for $29.99.
Read MoreJohannes Krisch as Alex
HD in River City
The extras from the most recent DVD of The Music Man are retained on Warner's Blu-ray, which hit the street last Tuesday (2 Feb). The picture quality bump is noticeable, but more than that, every last word and lyric is clear and crisp for the first time for me. My first viewing of the movie was on a fresh-from-the wrap VHS. The colors have never popped so well.
Yes, this image has nothing to do with the Robert Preston-starring movie. I found it amusing that Jeff Goldblum played Harold Hill back in 2004 in Pittsburgh, so sue me. I would have paid good money to see that.
Read MoreYes, this image has nothing to do with the Robert Preston-starring movie. I found it amusing that Jeff Goldblum played Harold Hill back in 2004 in Pittsburgh, so sue me. I would have paid good money to see that.
Journey Man and Wife
The premise of The Time Traveler's Wife interested me in part due to my great affection for the now-cancelled NBC series Journeyman. In it, Kevin McKidd plays a print journalist who abruptly starts traveling through time as an adult, drawn to different precise moments in history to "fix" something. Eric Bana's Henry in Time Traveler's Wife doesn't have the luxury of changing anything, as in his narrative, everything is fated to end up a certain way. Everything is "written".
Henry first travels as a child, during the most traumatic event in his life. He meets Claire (Rachel McAdams, his destined wife) as a child, and utters the line, "I know you when you are a lady." (paraphrased). Hearing that in the trailer made my wife say, "That looks creepy. And terrible."
She was right that the movie has its share of creepy moments, but it isn't altogether terrible at all. There is plenty that reminds me of the lovely and somewhat forgotten Somewhere in Time, but I was never entirely comfortable with the rather pedophiliac nature of the love story. Middle-aged Henry gives teenage Claire (who has worshipped him since age 6) her first kiss past the midway point in the film, and it was flat-out uncomfortable for me.
The movie is based on an American bestseller*, and I'm certain that most of my discomfort comes from not having that "European" sensibility. Call it a flaw or just who I am, but I just can't get behind the idea of a semi-omniscient adult male psychologically and physically taking advantage of a girl for most of her life. They have a big argument about this, but the only sort of ameliorates the lingering ick for me. Then again, The Phantom of the Opera is considered a great romantic hero, but even in the softened Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical, he's a stalker and creep of the first degree.
My major philosophical disagreement with the film beyond that is that everything is fated, destined. It reinforces the idea that one should never really try to break free of what they feel are their restraints, whether in their home, work, or creative lives. It's an imprisoning ideology, and not one that I find there being a silver lining to at all.
Both DVD and Blu-ray editions of the movie include The Time Traveler's Wife: Love Beyond Words, a 20-minute piece that covers the "why/how everyone got involved and how the book was adapted" ground. The Blu-ray includes the 26-minute An Unconventional Love Story, an exclusive featurette not found on the DVD. Unconventional spends more time trying to explain and justify the movie they made and the deletions they made from the book. I do agree that removing the part where Henry has sex with himself was a good idea. The Blu-ray and DVD hit the street this Tuesday, 9 February.
*CORRECTION: I got this way off, having trusted what I remembered a friend telling me, since I never read the book nor had paid any attention to it whatsoever. An otherwise unhelpful, unstable commenter corrected me on this. I initially referred to Time Traveler's Wife as having been adapted from a German novel, which is obvious to anyone who hits up Wikipedia. That said, the only thing changed in the above article is "The movie is based on a German book," I stand by the "European sensibility" line. Clare confronts him and asserts herself, but still goes passive/submissive in the end, justufying his creepy-pedo thing.
Read MoreOOP Watch: Disappearing Criterion Update
Amazon has adjusted some of their prices on the soon-OOP Criterion titles, going up on eight of them and down $3 each on The Fallen Idol and Forbidden Games. They brought Pierrot le fou's Blu-ray price up to match the Criterion Store. I've updated the original post to reflect the new prices. Below are the titles that shamefully, opportunistically, went up in price $1-3 to even higher than Criterion sells them for:
Alphaville
Coup de torchon
Orphic Trilogy
Peeping Tom
Pierrot le fou Blu
Port of Shadows
Tales of Hoffman
The White Sheik