Flash Gordon is alive and full of Digital Noise Reduction Botoxification. The colors are bright, and the resolution boosted, but the new Flash Gordon Blu-ray lacks that celluloid look even more so than the recent Spartacus burn job. I really wish that things weren't so hot and cold when it comes to Universal's Blu transfers of late.
On the other hand, Darkman looks pretty good...in places. It honestly looks like each reel is from a different print. One reel is super-dirty and grainy, while another is soft. Honestly, it's more likely due to the quality of the original elements than scrubbing. I say this because the grain is still there, and am assuming therefore that the blatant DNR of Flash Gordon is not at fault. I wouldn't shell out for either one. Two for $10 maybe, but full price? No way.
I didn't expect When in Rome to be particularly good, but it ended up being a perfect example of how Hollywood has lost its capacity for glamourous gloss. You look at movies like Three Coins in the Fountain or Roman Holiday, and you wonder how hard it really is to at least put a little spunk into this kind of story. A romantic comedy generally works best if you leave out most of the forced "comedy" and just let the romance flow.
It's coming on 26th October this year, and it's touted as a "newly restored" 25th Anniversary release. Hopefully, this means that the various issues people had with the DVD trilogy release from a few years ago have been fixed. I cringe at the thought of the kind of digital over-scrubbing that we saw on Flash Gordon and other titles recently. It's worth mentioning that the guys at BTTF.net have Robert Zemeckis on the record promising that they've done a ton of dirt cleanup but preserved the original film grain "so they still look like movies should look".
I spent last Friday afternoon luxuriating in the glow of the Criterion Blu-ray of The Red Shoes (20 July). Shoes happens to be one of my favorite films, so take my bias into account when I say that this is one of the few 2010 Blu-rays that really shows the format off handsomely.
Image swiped from DVD Beaver's review of the BFI disc
Last week's Showgirls 15th Anniversary Blu-ray features one of the most ingeniously smutty disc art concepts I've ever seen. I gave the opening fifteen minutes or so a quick spin, and the transfer looks like it's up to par, for all of you Nomi Malone fans. I love that this movie has such a dedicated following while at the same time featuring a sex scene that looks more like the female lead is having a seizure than a good time.
Have disc spindles ever doubled as nipples before? Dare I rate this a "game-changer"?
The only added extra compared to previous releases is a bit on the pole-dancing exercise craze that's sweeping trendy gyms.
Il deserto rosso (Red Desert) was Antonioni's first film made in color. Desert is a forceful (if at times melodramatic) audiovisual treatise on loneliness and alienation in the post-industrial world. Antonioni seems to argue that all of the automation in daily life only serves to drive us further from our humanity. I took the film to imply that technology does not merely refer to the machines we build, but the routines that we construct mentally.
I've never been more uneasy and terrified in my entire life. In taking a quick inventory of times when I've felt doomed and helpless, including when my father had a stroke 18 months ago, I realize that I've also never felt this bleak.
They found a growth that measures 3-4" in diameter inside my younger brother's chest, in addition to some other complications. He goes in for examination and (it's expected) a biopsy later this week. He's 24, autistic, and lives with my parents. He's overweight thanks to a lifetime of medications that do all sorts of bizarre things to your glands and hormones. He's one of the most genuinely nice and funny people you'll ever meet. I lost a very dear friend to brain cancer in early 2009. I'd like to think that the only benefit from that is I have acquired some sort of superhuman emotional stamina, but I know that isn't the case.
I already put this info out on Twitter, and even though I'm not begging for it or anything, the sympathy has helped. For those who wonder aloud to me "how can you associate yourself with Jeffrey Wells?", you probably wouldn't believe that he's actually provided some of the best comfort out of any of my friends who know.
I've spent most of the last week figuring out how to financially miss as many days of work as I will soon, regardless of diagnosis. For those who don't already know, I don't make my living by writing for Hollywood Elsewhere.
That said, I don't plan on altogether dropping off the map, but posting will be erratic at best. The Ozu series will get caught up, I'm going to be on The CriterionCast as a guest this week, and I'm not going anywhere. I'm just asking for a little understanding. Thanks in advance.
The Cry of the Owl is a good example of where the DTV stigma comes from. A lousy, progressively worsening "thriller" based on a novel by a writing legend (Patricia Highsmith). Paddy Considine and Julia Stiles are plenty entertaining, just not in this movie.
A soon-to-be-divorced guy (Considine) moves to a new area, where he stumbles into stalking/peeking in on a woman who lives out in the woods (Stiles). He doesn't watch her get naked or anything, just preparing food and so on. The story doesn't so much twist regarding who is hunting and being hunted, but swerves a few times. I dug the angle of questioning who was being stalked (and consequently, who was doing the stalking), but it all just came out uneven and unnatural.
Mystery Train lives in a whole different universe from movies like Crash and Babel. Those movies' use of intersecting narratives as a device is so calculated as to deflate any true suspense or engagement. Mystery Train preceded them both, and did it right all those years before. Dennis Lim's essay in the booklet agrees with me and the rest of the sane world on this point.
The Japanese rock tourists, the widow, the sister, the ex-girlfriend, the brother, the ex-boyfriend, the barber, the accomplice, and the hotel clerks all behave like human beings in something closely resembling the real world. To name all the actors would be tremendously boring, but I'll note a couple of things: Youki Kudoh has since done a lot of work, where she was basically unknown here, and many musician friends know this movie because Joe Strummer from The Clash is in it.
The city of Memphis is the slow-moving, decomposing beast covered in kudzu that these various organisms inhabit, for whatever length of time. The final product of this layover between various points of departure stands as one of the prime examples of what "independent cinema" really means, or rather, what it meant.
We've spent all the hard cash and borrowed debt that words like "indie" once had. Five years ago, when I started this column, I declared war on the word "quirky", which, until today, I wasn't aware that Jarmusch held in similar contempt. When you find yourself using that meme, ask "what am I really trying to say?" before cursing yourself with the connotations of one who calls the eclectic "quirky", or the emotionally complex "dark".
Today's Criterion Blu-ray/DVD release of Mystery Train filled a notable hole in my Jim Jarmusch viewing history. I was first introduced to him by Ghost Dog, which I found to be at once both beautifully spare and fresh. In my teens, it represented a freedom from convention that I yearned for in homogenized suburban Texas.
Throughout the rest of high school, college, and the years since, I've made my way through as much of his earlier stuff as I've been able. I'm going to hit the last two that I haven't seen (Permanent Vacation and Stranger Than Paradise) once I've finished off my series on Ozu (sometime in July). It's convenient that they're both bundled in Criterion's Paradise DVD release.
Since receiving my review copy, I've both watched the feature and listened to the Q&A With Jim (over an hour in length, he answers written-in questions) twice. I borrowed a friend's MGM DVD of Train to compare the transfers, and the previous edition is a joke. I couldn't disagree more with anyone who decries the few number of extra portions included. Anyone who thinks that a Criterion edition has to have a commentary track is either new to this game, doesn't know much, or both.
The mini-doc crash course on Memphis and retrospective look at the locations in the present day runs under 20 minutes, but is dense with critical detailing. An excerpt of I Put a Spell on Me, the 2001 doc on Screamin' Jay Hawkins. The reason they specifically pulled that bit was twofold: to contextualize the info that was relevant to this movie, but also (I'm speculating here) because the full license cost would have been more prohibitive. Behind-the-scenes snaps of unspecified origin (I may be misremembering that) and photos taken by on-set photographer Masayoshi Sukita complete our journey. This release is another sterling example of how in the age of multiple studio bankruptcies and fire sales, Criterion knows how to make a feast out of simple, spare ingredients. Not too much, not too little, but just right.
The hotel that serves as the intersection point for the three narrative threads no longer exists. It was demolished a year after the movie was made. In its place is now an outdoor music stage. Most (if not all) of the other locations have survived in almost identical condition, as if Memphis itself lives on an island outside of time.
I realize that Criterion now has all of Jarmusch's pre-1995 feature output, which is a goddamned great thing. On that note, I know there are more people than just me who would buy a box set of Dead Man, Year of the Horse, Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, Coffee & Cigarettes, Broken Flowers, and The Limits of Control. It would go on my top shelf, next to Ozu.
Mystery Trainsets you back $30 on Blu-ray, but as a bonus, you might just see Elvis' ghost.
Fans of Luis Bunuel are the most-impacted by Criterion's just-announced wave of titles going Out of Print at the end of the month. This leaves only three Bunuel titles in the Collection: Viridiana, The Exterminating Angel, and Simon of the Desert.
As much as I really like Magnet's lineup of extremely diverse genre and foreign films, I do find myself worrying. I worry about how easily they can be discovered by others who don't watch for every release announcement. There is such a thing as a non-obsessive follower of foreign action films, who does not check Tony Jaa's every move on specialty blogs that translate Thai tabloids. There are guys like some of my college theatre pals, who love Asian martial arts movies, but, as recently as 2006, had no idea that Ong Bak existed.
These are the guys who stand to benefit most from a line of value DVD double features that are cropping up from more and more studios at lower price points and in bigger stores. Magnet's recent crop is by far better than the last decade's selection of Walmart shrinkwrapped 2/$20 or 2/$15 choices. The biggest reason is that they were chosen based on complimentary value. The one that finally made it my way after delivery snafu after another coupled Johnnie To's Exiled with Dynamite Warrior. Getting both for Amazon's $15.49 asking price is quite preferable to paying around $20 for each individually, and is far more likely to see impulse sales.
Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a Disc Wanted article on the 1983 Pirates of Penzance, which starred Kevin Kline, Angela Lansbury, and Linda Ronstadt. I've gotten official confirmation from Universal this morning that it is coming to DVD on the 14th of September this year, with 2.0 Stereo audio (as originally recorded) and an anamorphic widescreen transfer. No extras are specified, but I'm sure we'll know more soon enough.
One of my favorite contributions to H-E has been the Most Wanted on DVD and Blu-ray listings found on every page of the site. It's a blessing and a curse to update, thanks to the explosion of studio Manufacture On-Demand programs. The most prominent, of course, is the 550-title-strong Warner Archive, which has its own subsection on WB's WBShop site. MGM and Universal "Vault" titles are found exclusively on Amazon. If you're a regular reader and notice something has come out that I've missed removing, please email me at the link in the Most Wanted box.
Non-English Release of the Week Power Kids Colleague and friend William Goss is quoted (after some editing) on the cover of this violent Thai movie with Muay Thai-trained children going after terrorists. Mr. Goss is correct to use adrenaline-laced terms to describe the movie. It's a sharp, thrilling little 77-minute thing really gets cooking after the requisite Thai melodrama setup. It truly belongs right next to Ong Bak and Chocolate on my Blu-ray shelf. This movie is one of the reasons I love that Magnet/Magnolia is around. These movies would find no buyer that'd get the movies seen in the US. Here's the trailer, and I defy you to not be interested:
Release of the Week - New Shutter Island I liked Shutter Island very, very much, and when I reviewed it after BNAT last year, I invoked the name of HItchcock for a very specific reason. The style of filmmaking evoked that era, and more specifically, the very best of that era. Likewise, the twisting plot echoed those films. Even knowing where it ends, the movie can be enjoyed thoroughly if you can just give in to your trust and doubt everyone and everything at the same time. That is sadly a very difficult thing for modern moviegoers to do. We spoil everything: good, bad, and in-between. Everyone in the Information Age is in a knowledge arms race to appear more aware of more things to others. It became commonplace in the less-connected era to hear "what a twist" about a hit movie. Now, you hear "dude, I saw that coming from a mile away, and never before has a movie relied so fucking much on a twist."
The Blu-ray looks and sounds scrumptious (to be expected) and includes a couple of longish featurettes that total almost 40 minutes. The first is about the adaptation and characterization, and the second is about the real world of psychiatric care in the 50's. That latter piece thankfully talks a fair amount about how itchy a trigger finger docs had to perform lobotomies.
Release of the Week - Catalog Movie New to Disc Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives This now 30-year-old documentary was the first to really talk about the experience of being homosexual in America. The movie is an interesting cultural touchstone in that it really comes from the infancy of not merely what is considered "queer cinema", but the portrayal of homosexuality on film whatsoever. These days, we have gay main characters on sitcoms and dramas that aren't over-the-top, flaming queens. We've come a long way.
The good folks at Millarium Zero (Milestone Films' sister company) have issued a DVD of the UCLA remastering of the landmark doc, complete with a very interesting Word is Out Then and Now: Thirty Years Later documentary that runs just over 25 minutes and revisits the film's 26 subjects. A couple of additional reflective bits in the extras run about nine minutes each, and a quick bit with the Executive Producer is just two minutes long. If you're curious but don't want to outright buy it, then add it to your Netflix queue or ask a local video store (they do exist in some places) to order a copy.
Release of the Week - Catalog New to Blu Caddyshack The AV upgrade here is solid, with appropriate grain level throughout and solid detail in the picture. This looks about as good as I think the movie can on this format, considering that style and era in which it was shot and the very celluloid-y look on display here. It's soft in places, but mid-budget comedies from this time period just have those minor telecine flaws. Those few spots are brief and barely noticeable.
All supplemental materials from the previous edition are carried over. The only added extra is an 80-minute Bio Channel documentary on the making of the movie. It's good, though the various "recap after commercial" bits show off just how much regurgitated info we see on TV these days. Today also marks the movie's On Demand/Digital Download premiere.
Release of the Week - Catalog TV (tie) Ghost Writer Season 1 Family Matters Season 1 Growing up, both of these shows meant a lot to me in that they represented the real USA that I saw all around me growing up, and not the otherwise whitewashed one found on almost all network TV of the 80's and 90's (and even today...look at NBC's mostly-white "More Colorful" lineup). Ghost Writer's premise is kinda weird for a PBS show: a group of kids can communicate with a ghost by writing with special pens. They solve mysteries and all sorts of things. It encouraged those in my generation who saw it to write and be creative, which was wonderful. PBS in Dallas, unfortunately, regularly re-ran the same ten episodes or so all the time.
This is the first time I've seen the original, longest version of the opening. The shorter one everyone remembers is far superior. Family Matters wasn't originally "The Urkel Show" that it became. Jaleel White's annoying neighbor character became ultra-popular in the middle of the first season. Hence, the sitcom saw the family that was supposed to be the focus moved into the background, ironically (or not) portrayed on the cover of the first season DVD. Reginald VelJohnson portrayed one of TV's most indelible father figures of any color as the principled and caring Carl Winslow.
Also notable is that a different actress played little sister Judy in the first episode than the rest of the series. That character went upstairs in a later episode and was never heard from again.
Music Release of the Week Not The Messiah I don't really cover music/concert discs, but the Monty Python connection here brought this onto my radar. Imagine Monty Python's Life of Brian put to music in the style of Handel's Messiah. This is well worth a look for opera dorks and Python fans alike. I never thought I'd hear "Biggus Dickus" uttered in the Royal Albert Hall. The extras include a decent "production week" behind the scenes mini-doc.
Movie New Releases Shinjuku Incident (DVD only) Doubt Jackie Chan or slander him as you will, but check this out and get ready to eat a feast of crow. I would have liked to see a Blu-ray from the company that invented the technology, but oh well.
From Paris With Love Bugfuck movie with Travolta and Rhys-Meyers. Worth a rental for the craziness of Travolta's near-Battlefield Earth wacky performance, but it's not a standout in much of any respect.
IMAX Horses A disc for this one is on its way, and I'll cover it as soon as it arrives.
180 South: Conquerors of the Useless
Direct to Video The Cry of the Owl Based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, this movie answers the question "where did Julia Stiles go?". I'm watching it tomorrow and will report back on it later in the week.
The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It This is one of those amalgam "spoof" movies. You know, the ones that have been terrible for almost all of their history. The opening few minutes are full of dildo gags (one literal) and a dig at Sarah Silverman that is so misplaced that it feels like an inside hate-on. I didn't make it all the way through the movie after a bit, just skimming forward.
Lead Bryan Callen was most recently seen by the masses as the Wedding Chapel owner in The Hangover. He's probably best-known from his stint on MadTV. He's a solid comic, and a good guy from those I know who know him or have worked with him. I also remember him as one of the most notable one-off guest stars on Frasier. He was "The Chicken", a shock jock DJ that showed up in the "Radio Wars" episode.
Noureen DeWulf was the best part of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, and I unfortunately missed her in The Tacqwacores at SXSW. Strand picked up Tacqwacores, so I'll get to see it eventually. She and Callen are really talented people that rise above the Apatow Mashup Spoof material as much as is possible.
Catalog Movies New to Disc TCM Spotlight Charlie Chan Collection (DVD only) Dark Alibi Dangerous Money The Trap The Chinese Ring I covered this one here just earlier today.
Animation Express This includes all the following shorts: Madame Tutti-Putli, Spare Change, Forming Game, The Spine, Hungu, The Man Who Slept, Rosa Rosa, How People Got Fire, Rains, Robes of War, Retouches, Drux Flux, Subservience, Sleeping Betty, Invasion of the Space Lobsters, The Necktie, Sainte Barbe, Come Again in Spring, Paradise, HA'Aki, Vive la Rose, Here and There, Land of the Heads, Flutter, Runaway, Engine 371
Bob Hope Thanks For the Memories Collection (DVD only) Thanks for the Memory The Cat and the Canary The Ghost Breakers Nothing But the Truth The Road to Morocco The Paleface
Catalog New to Blu Happy Together The reactions of people who I trust make me feel good about this one.
The Illusionist Yeah, yeah, it isn't fair to compare this to The Prestige. Life isn't fair, folks. I didn't hate the movie at all, but it felt very much like a Saturday afternoon rental/cable movie then and it does now. Part of what put me off was the Americans-doing-European-accents thing, which I'm on record hating. I'll update this if/when my review copy arrives.
Reissue/Repackaging Cinema Pride Collection The Children's Hour La Cage Aux Folles My Beautiful Laundrette The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert The Birdcage Bent The Object of My Affection Boys Don't Cry Kissing Jessica Stein Imagine Me & You More on this release and a similarly-packaged Elvis set later this week.
TV New Releases Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7 Nip/Tuck (Final) Season 6
UK TV New to Region1 BBC Earth's Oceans (DVD only) Why in the world any BBC nature doc would go DVD only astounds me at this point.
Catalog TV The A-Team Complete Series This comes in a van-shaped box.
TCM has collected the final three Sidney Tolan Charlie Chan movies and one with Roland Winters in this week's Charlie Chan Collection. All four see their DVD debut here, leaving only a couple Chans unreleased. The movies are entertaining, in an absurdist context in addition to as a relic of a more oblivious era. It is good that we saw actual Asian actors cast as his sons.
The steely eyes of Hopkins and Baldwin face off in an extended game of mental chess. The movie is filled with subtle, private looks and tells. The Edge is one of my very favorite films of the 90's.
The Tobolowsky Files is a podcast that I can recommend to every person I know who is aware of what a podcast is or how it works. I find "The Files" miraculous in that it stands apart in the world we live in today. Everything else out there is so impatient, rushed, and frankly unpolished that the careful craft of Stephen's storytelling is just elevating.
Release of the Week - Catalog Movie New to DiscCharley Varrick (DVD only)
We've seen a fair number of Walter Matthau work hitting DVD in the last year, and that makes me really happy. For years now, very little of his filmography could be found on DVD. Most of what was available was made up of his later-life comedies.
