Hey folks, Harry here with the latest double set catchup column of the year. This one was caused to some work I had to do in Los Angeles which took a working week out of my life. Sorry about that. Just trying to get some cool stuff that I can tell you about eventually. Very exciting excitement I assure you. Anyway, There’s a lot here. I’m beginning FANTASTIC FEST activities tomorrow – so I’ll get back to ya soon enough with updates of a Fantastic variety! As usual the pics and titles link to Amazon where you can purchase or gain additional knowledge of all the titles below. If you do pick something up, it goes to help support this column which I’ve been doing semi-consistently for nearly a half decade now. Jesus that’s a long time. Here ya go…

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

1.5% of the franchise’s potential is revealed in this movie. Those are the moments that make you smile and hear the word cool in your brain. Sadly, those moments are few and far apart in this atrocious limp dick of a Wolverine movie. Only for those that can stomach shit.

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (Blu Ray)

As great a film as AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON is… is how great the transfer is – and just as importantly is the inclusion of the feature length documentary BEWARE THE MOON. Fucking Awesome! This was a fan made documentary that was so good, Universal bought it for the Blu Ray and folks… talk about obsessive attention to detail… dude. They interview The STEADICAM OPERATOR! Seriously! And it’s cool! It pains me that nothing has topped this film since 1981. For that perfect mix of horror, comedy, gore and beauty. The film is perfect. And one of those titles that makes you happy home entertainment exists!

VAN HELSING (Blu Ray)

I have a soft spot for VAN HELSING. It’s Saturday Morning Cereal accompaniment with a swingin’ Frankenstein Monster! Crazy hot vampiric harpie bitches. And some crazy gas powered crossbow that would have been the most badass thing in existence at this time. Gorgeous transfer, and a lot of fun to watch with kids.

ARMY OF DARKNESS (Screwhead Blu Ray Edition)

Awesome! Just Awesome! While it is my least favorite of the 3 iterations of Evil Deadness – mainly because it is more hokey than all the others – but in terms of quotable lines – this fucker is king! Crazy awesome dialogue for Mr Campbell to chew and spit. It’s really damn great!

WAGON MASTER

One of the great John Ford films. But because it doesn’t have Wayne or Fonda – it isn’t as popular. Nevermind the fact that it is widely regarded as one of his greatest films. Well, now… at long last it comes to DVD. Rejoice and discover.

PHANTASM II

You know. Putting together a complete run of PHANTASM films isn’t easy – what with the various distribution rights, but I believe this completes the run on DVD. I think I have them all now. And the only way to watch the series is in a lump! Because they all beautifully tie together… with an increasing size and scope that is unique in horror series filmmaking. Absolutely love them! Wish this was a Blu Ray.

DEEP IMPACT (Blu Ray)

The film that predicted a Black President would bring cataclysm to America – long before Fox was banking on it. This is the one without the oil riggers, but instead with Tea Leoni. Pick your poison. I’ll revisit this on Blu Ray. But I didn’t get a screener of this disc.

MISERY (Blu Ray)

The true story of my marriage. Heh. Just kidding. Yoko doesn’t keep hobbling me to type at a keyboard. It’s to provide her with constant adulation and worship on a minute to minute basis. So it isn’t all the nightmare that Stephen King makes it out to be. And she’s way hotter than Annie Wilkes, though she is a fanatical fan of a crazy silly romance pop novel series… And it’s only 3 times a year she breaks out the beam and the sledge – but she loves me, I know it. Its true love, and love hurts… I learned that from the Moroder release of METROPOLIS. Anyway – this was another that I did not receive a screener for. So no comment. Hope it rocks though.

HERO (Blu Ray)

One of the infuriating releases today with a shitty option for the original audio, but the featured treatment for the god-awful dub. Great movie, fucked over by a shitty release on a beautiful format.

CHILD’S PLAY (Blu Ray)

The best of the more seriously scary versions of Chucky. But soon, they’ll remake this with Jeff Mahler in the overalls. I know he’s a bit short to play Chucky. But he is a mean jig dancer. This Blu Ray is excellent. TONS of extras:
Disc 1: Widescreen Feature Film Blu-ray

**Audio Commentary with Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks and "Chucky" designer Kevin Yagher
**Audio Commentary with Producer David Kirschner and Screenwriter Don Mancini
**Select Scene Chucky Commentaries
**Chucky's Thoughts
**The Advantages of Being Chucky
**Chucky on Filmmaking
**Up close and personal with Chucky
**Evil Comes in Small Packages
**The Birth of Chucky
**Creating the Horror
**Unleashed
**Chucky: Building a Nightmare
**A Monster Convention
**Vintage Featurette
**Introducing Chucky: The Making of Child's Play
**Chucky's Back Bitches
**Designer Toy

GRACE

For every set of new parents there is a perfect horror film. Are you expecting, know somebody that is expecting or thinking of having a kid. Then look no further for your shower gift than this absolutely perfect “worst thing ever”! Seriously. Once you begin to actually get the movie – it just nose dives into icky fuck fuck that’s disgusting ewwwwwwwwww prank call fuck me they didn’t holy ACK! Seriously – it’s that fucked up. It’s like catching your mother masturbating with the Sybian. That’s right. You just can’t look away. It is mesmerizing. And the sort of shit you’ll tell friends about as they go… “AAAAAAACK! NO NO NO NO SHUT UP! YOU’RE FUCKING DISGUSTING!!! EWWWWW!” So in otherwords, it’s kinda perfect!

DEADGIRL

One of last year’s delights from FANTASTIC FEST – about a hot Zombie you keep chained up to fuck with your friends. Yes, it goes there. And they discuss the hygienic issues intrinsic to that dumbshittery. More ruleage!

THE LEGEND OF THE DRUNKEN MASTER (Blu Ray)

DRUNKEN MASTER 2 is a work of unbridled genius. This release is DOG SHIT! It only has the U.S. dub. Seriously. And the U.S. Dub hate shit for soundtrack, music, etc. This is a fucking travesty of epic proportions. DO NOT PURCHASE! Shit like this shouldn’t exist in this format.

THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI (Blu Ray)

While the audio is nowhere near as good as it should be, they at least have the original audio. This disc is passable. Which is actually a way of saying the other two releases thus far were so badly handled that I’d say this ain’t so bad. Great movie though. Love me some blind Kitano.

IRON MONKEY (Blu Ray)

The best of the Asian releases this week. IRON MONKEY is a stunningly wonderful lyrical martial arts film that is actually magic. I remember this was the first film I watched with Guillermo Del Toro at his house and he asked me if I wanted to masturbate. I did, but I told him no. I think had I masturbated, he’d never have left Austin. But he’s gone now, and I cry for hours everyday. When I watch IRON MONKEY on Blu Ray – you don’t need to pull it out. The film is better than masturbation. It’s purely genius!

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION Motion Picture Collection (Blu Ray)

This completes your Theatrical STAR TREK collection, until the new film hits soon enough. The Next Generation films widely vary in theatrical quality. BUT – it is a must have. I kinda like the first two, I’m in-different to the third and NEMESIS is the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL bad. I look forward to digging into this set on the otherside of FANTASTIC FEST!

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES: SEASON TWO (Blu Ray)

I’ve gotten through the first 2 of the 7 discs of this set – and man. It is so good. Watching AMOK TIME in 1080p. Well, it’s crazy awesome on the big screen. Hell, I was watching that episode with Apollo and realized that Kirk is definitely Christian. There’s a line that proves it. I’m just starting to explore the discs, but there’s like 20 hours of awesome on this Blu Ray set – and some of the best episodes and some of the most deliriously wacky episodes. But just getting through these first two discs have me dying for JJ’s on Blu.

GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST

An unredeemable horndog is visited by the ghosts of three girlfriends on the eve of his brother’s wedding – to show him his past, present and miserable future in an attempt to make him love love more than any man could ever love love. Sniffle. A heart breakingly original film. I mean, it’s amazing. How’d they come up with the device, the story beats. It’s truly humbling. BTW – I’m kidding. This is a pretty damn mediocre waste of existence. Avoid.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD (Blu Ray)

Brilliance. This is a happy film. The sort of film that makes things better. A desert island flick. Can’t wait to revisit this disc in October with some friends. Because this is a movie to watch with friends and to delight in.

WALLACE & GROMIT: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION (Blu Ray)

All 3 of the original, oscar-winning, brilliant AARDMAN Wallace & Gromit shorts of A GRAND DAY OUT, THE WRONG TROUSERS and A CLOSE SHAVE. Well… in addition, they have a new Wallace & Gromit short called A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH, which features our heroes as epic bakers. Trust in Aardman and realize that in Blu Ray the quality is UNREAL. Just beautiful and tactile. I love it. I also love how adult and pervasive these films are. Now, if Dreamworks Animation would just release the Wererabbit on Blu! That’d be amazing!

HOT FUZZ (Blu Ray)

I love this film. And there’s never an end to the extras – it literally feels like it goes on forever and that’s a good thing. Exhaustive and beyond. Gorgeous treatment of a movie I love. HOT FUZZ may not have zombies, but it has an evil secret society. This film feels like a live action Wallace and Gromit in many ways. Which is another way of saying it is perfect!

OBSERVE AND REPORT

One of the year’s overlooked jewels. It amazes me that we still exist in a world where quality black humor is just sadly not as popular as my own hunger for it. But I will tell you this – if you get it, you’ll love it. If you don’t… there really is nothing that can be done for you. You’re pretty hopeless. Entire realms of laughter are seemingly closed to you. Jody Hill nailed this – as did Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Anna Faris, Michael Pena the Yuan brothers and everyone else! It’s great! This will be seen often in this household.

PIERROT LE FOU – Criterion (Blu Ray)

If you do not know Jean-Paul Belmondo – click on the above and just go ahead and take the leap. Then, you’ll be tracking down a hard to find jewel of his career called LE MAGNIFIQUE – which is the PERFECT double feature for PIERROT LE FOU by Jean-Luc Godard. Jean Paul plays a married man, torturously bored with his life – so he decides to run off with the babysitter, always an excellent plan, and they decide to live an incredibly whimsical life where they begin a series of lives where they start with nothing and live according to some magical genre change. There’s action, laughs, romance and more. The cinema on display is riveting and the film rose 5 levels of awesome by me watching it on Blu Ray. GORGEOUS transfer. As is the norm with Criterion thus far. So check out the last romantic couple!

THE COMPLETE MONTEREY POP FESTIVAL – Criterion – Blu Ray

D.A. Pennebaker’s amazing documentary recording the amazing performances from the MONTEREY POP FESTIVAL has been given an incredible treatment by the film lovers at Criterion. With electrifying performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding and a numbingly brilliant performance by Ravi Shankar… this is a truly great release. So – what did Criterion do for this release? Here ya go:

* High-Definition Digital Transfers of All Three Films
* Soundtrack Featuring 5.1 Mixes by Eddie Kramer
* Presented in Dolby Digital and DTS-HD Master Audio
* Two Hours of Outtake Performances
* Audio Commentaries by Pennebaker, Lou Adler, Charles Shaar Murray, & More
* Video Interviews with Adler and Pennebaker, and Phil Walden
* Audio Interviews with John Phillips, Derek Taylor, Cass Elliot and David Crosby
* Photo Essay by photographer Elaine Mayes
* Original Theatrical Trailers and Radio Spots
* Monterey Pop Festival Scrapbook
* Essays by Critics Armond White, Michael Lydon, Barney Hoskyns, and David Fricke

BATTLE FOR TERRA (Blu Ray)

I’m not a fan of the animation style, but I can still say the story does it for me – as does the great cast led by Evan Rachel Wood, Luke Wilson, James Garner, Danny Glover, Mark Hamill, Ron Perlman and David Fucking Cross! Some people are adding this to the heap of material they think Cameron stole from. I just keep remembering that I read Cameron’s treatment around 1998 or 1999. So unless this and that other flick were sending their plotlines around – I doubt seriously it is anything other than the fact that world creation is more easily played with in a computer – and initial contact conflict stories are most likely the route to go. Which in us folks, we relate to the discovery of America. Because… well, the culture the world found their was unlike any other on the planet. Anyway – this is a solid film, very entertaining – I just wish the style was different.

GOJIRA (Blu Ray)

I love GODZILLA – and I find it amazing that this DVD is running around with the title GOJIRA, as it makes me so proud of the advances in American culture that the Japanese way of saying GODZILLA is gaining marketing status here. Our world must be changing. If you’ve never seen the original Japanese film, the version with no Raymond Burr – then you have missed out on seeing a very serious version of the Giant Monster film genre. GOJIRA is an amazing 1954 creation of Ishiro Honda and his team. This Blu Ray is absolutely exceptional! Highest recommendation!

PAUL NEWMAN: THE TRIBUTE Collection

Unbelievably great set. This is a great sampling of some of the best of Paul Newman’s career. Here’s what you get:

Disc 1: The Long Hot Summer
Disc 2: Rally 'Round the Flag Boys
Disc 3: From the Terrace
Disc 4: Exodus
Disc 5: The Hustler - Collector's Edition Disc 1
Disc 6: The Hustler - Collector's Edition Disc 2
Disc 7: Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man
Disc 8: What a Way To Go!
Disc 9: Hombre
Disc 10: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Collector'sl Edition Disc 1
Disc 11: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Collector's Edition Disc 2
Disc 12: Towering Inferno - Special Edition Disc 1
Disc 13: Towering Inferno - Special Edition Disc 2
Disc 14: Buffalo Bill and the Indians
Disc 15: Quintet
Disc 16: The Verdict - Collector's Edition Disc 1
Disc 17: The Verdict - Collector's Edition Disc 2

That said, much of this has found its way on DVD before, so if you have them, you won’t find additional extras and bells & whistles – but if for some insane reason you haven’t dove into the career of Paul Newman, this is an excellent set – that comes with 136 page book with images and quotes from Paul Newman along with quotes from his movies. It is a very handsome and worthwhile set to discover or revel in the extraordinary life of Paul Newman!

That’s it for the past two weeks. Again, I apologize on the tardiness of these two columns, but I’m also letting you know that there’s a good chance that next week’s column will be late due to FANTASTIC FEST duties and attendance. But when it does happen, I’ll be talking about the amazing WIZARD OF OZ Blu Ray, MONSTERS VS ALIENS, CELEBRATION: THE VIDEO COLLECTION, the 2003 TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE BluRay (with my head in 1080p!), SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES which is great!, the wonderful AWAY WE GO, ULTRAMAN: Complete Series, LABYRINTH (Blu), THE DARK CRYSTAL (Blu), HE-MAN: The complete series, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, SNAKES ON A PLANE (Blu), THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS complete collection, THE NEW YORK RIPPER (Blu) which is just awesomely foul, 42nd Street Forever 5: The Alamo Drafthouse Edition, THE HANGING WOMAN, HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (Blu), DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS, LUCIFERA: DEMON LOVER, THE STORM RIDERS and more!