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.
Metal Man
A 2008 movie that is, sadly, not all about the Mega Man 2 villain with a buzzsaw on his head.
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.