Daily Grab 81: Red Carpet

They knew red carpet events were a joke 60 years ago.

Daily Grab 80: Crime Alleys

A disc I'm sorry to just now be catching up with is last year's Blu-ray of Dick Tracy. It came out when I was a kid. I had one of the toy communicator watches. I was hooked by the marketing, and didn't quite understand everything going on in the rather-violent movie.

I'm sure I wasn't the only kid disappointed that it didn't spawn four sequels and an animated series.

Even absent extras, much like the sadly barebones Rocketeer disc, it looks and sounds great. It's leagues better than the old DVD. It's included in my 2012 Best of Blu-ray lists, coming soon.

Criterion 50% Sale Until Noon EST Tomorrow

Use the code FLASHY at checkout.

Recent Blu-grade Recommendations: this week's Sansho the Bailiff, Kurosawa's Rashomon, Gilliam's Brazil, Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, Ozu's Late Spring, Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love...all of which are on the pending Best of 2012 Blu-ray list.

Act very, very quickly, because they sell out fast on these.

Warner Announces Mad Max Trilogy Blu-ray

I cross-posted this news at AICN.

On June 4th, 2013, all three Mad Max movies are being released in a 3-movie, "limited premium tin" edition package.

The press release leaves out whether any or all of the films are being remastered.

The old MGM master of the first one was not perfect, but far from awful. The Road Warrior, however, is long overdue for a fresh transfer. The 2007 disc lacked lossless audio and the color is undoubtedly off. Nor have they said anything regarding extras: new ones, old ones, anything.

Single-movie editions of all three will be available. Beyond Thunderdome is making its Blu-ray debut.

I hope at the very least that, unlike the MGM disc, the new menu loop video for Mad Max no longer spoils the climax of the movie. When I showed my wife the movie on her first viewing, she said "oh, so [a specific person] dies, huh?"

Daily Grab 79: Covert Action

With a title like that and Argo's Best Picture win, you'd assume this installment would be from that movie. Instead, a brief look at one of the best among the movies Soderbergh has produced (and which Clooney directed).

Daily Grab 78: The Perkis System

I'm in the process of re-dedicating myself to a workout and general health regimen in the mold of Tony Perkis's comprehensive Perkis System. It includes regular self-degradation and dehumanization, which I think is reasonable because--HOLY CRAP LOOK AT THOSE GUNS!

Daily Grab 77: Magic Hour

A pair of these were intended for this past weekend. I swear to God I'm going to figure out this stupid scheduling feature someday.

Who would think there's a shot this gorgeous in a movie like Heavyweights?

Would you believe it if I told you that the little kid on the right turned into some hardbody hunk on Gossip Girl?

The Blu-ray of this thing is more packed with extras than some Criterion releases, including a recently recorded commentary (led by writer Judd Apatow) that is immensely satisfying and entertaining.

Daily Grab 76: Hope

Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, as an actor in Heavyweights. I think this is the sense of abandon and investment and inhabitation that one should attain using the Meisner technique.

Daily Grab 75: Contender

I still have more to sift through, but On the Waterfront opens 2013 as a leading contender for one of the best collector's sets of the year, just like Criterion's Godzilla did in 2012.

Daily Grab 74: Headroom

This frame from the 1.66:1 version of On the Waterfront shows off the definitive one out of the three aspect ratios included in Criterion's outstanding new Blu-ray release.

Don't trust any "reviews" that lack evidence that the reviewer watched all three versions. Likewise, trust no one who declares 1.85:1, aka "fill my whole HDTV screen ratio" the definitive way to watch. All who do are charlatans, fools, and rank poseurs.

Daily Grab 73: Know When to Run

We all agree that it's gonna win at this point, right?

This was to have gone up yesterday, but I somehow mishandled the scheduling feature, or it didn't work, or something.

Donald Richie: 1924-2013

Donald Richie is the reason that Westerners know directors like Ozu and Kurosawa in the manner that we do. He passed away in Tokyo today. The New York Times piece is also worth a look.

He recorded the lion's share of the truly great commentaries on Japanese movies, including one I listened to recently for A Story of Floating Weeds, a true masterpiece that is often overshadowed by its color sound remake. His book OZU is, for many, the starting point for Western analysis of Japanese cinema.

I cite David Bordwell's Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema as my primary source text for Discovering Ozu, but I would not be writing the series without Richie's work, which is repeatedly cited by Bordwell throughout Poetics. Discovering Ozu is designed to be an evolving, dynamic series, which will be (and already has been) updated over time.

My friend Ryan (of CriterionCast) very generously sent me a copy of Richie's book a while back, an act of generosity that was a direct motivator for overhauling and re-working what was Cinema Ozu (now deprecated) into Discovering Ozu.

I had no delusions of ever getting to talk to Richie, let alone interview him, since I've been aware he was ailing for some time now. Like Ozu, I know his work from a distance. I may delve further into it. He lived a very interesting life. From first experiencing Japan in the army during post-WWII 1947, be went on to become the leading Western authority on Japanese culture by way of cinema.

I had already planned an appendix article on Richie some time soon, but now...I need to spend more time on it.

The photo of Ozu featured on the cover of Richie's OZU

Akira Kurosawa in the classic, director-pointing-a-camera pose

Daily Grab 72: McDoakes

The original Hard-Luck Kid, as portrayed by the great George O'Hanlon.

Juan of the Dead Wins Goya

Independent Cuban cinema is a thing now. Cuban zombie movies are a thing now too, thanks to Juan of the Dead, a movie that is much more than "a Shaun of the Dead ripoff in Spanish". It's got political commentary built in, features uniquely Cuban humor, and is pretty fun all-around.

Now, it's won a Goya Award, Spain's Academy Award.

Daily Grab 71: Kihachi

A grab I didn't use in tomorrow's Discovering Ozu 7: The Kihachi Cycle. Takeshi Sakamoto cameos in A Mother Should Be Loved.

Daily Grab 70: The Call

One of the best parts of Argo's runaway success is found in John Goodman's wonderful portrayal of real-life makeup genius John Chambers (Star Trek: TOS and the Planet of the Apes series among many others). His role in saving those American diplomats can't be oversold, and it's a lovely bonus that more of the masses will now know who he is beyond knowing just his work.

Daily Grab 69: Trafficking

The next installment of Soderberghopolis should be up in the morning. The director's three-movie run from 2000-2001 represents the period of greatest mainstream and financial success that he's had in his allegedly-soon-to-end career.

Traffic is a great example of Soderbergh's pseudonymous photography of his own movies as camera sage Peter Andrews, who generally receives "Photographed by" credits.

It'd be less than completist if I didn't do some sort of Appendix article about his cinematographic style, right?