Hey folks, Harry here with this week’s DVD PICKS AND PEEKS. I hope you enjoy the column this week, I enjoyed putting it together. As usual, the titles and images link over to Amazon where you can learn more about the titles in question. Any purchases help to contribute to the life of the column and are greatly appreciated. So let’s see what you can get this week!

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

DRAG ME TO HELL

Sam Raimi returns to Horror with a vengeance with DRAG ME TO HELL! I got this Blu Ray 2 weeks ago now – and I’ve watched with 3 different groups of folks. It is still scary. Still thrilling and absolutely funny! The Unrated Director’s cut features a bit more “pussy” gore – which was all but excised from the Theatrical cut, but to you folks that saw the film at SXSW’s amazing screening… it was in that cut. There’s probably more than that, but that stuff is the most obvious difference. Upon additional viewings I find the character that I most love in this film is that Apple guy. He’s just such a solid boyfriend. Sure he doesn’t believe in most of the shit that’s going on… but his character has the greatest transformative experience in the film… and while this fantastic film was utterly screwed by the movie going public in theaters… and Universal missed a bet by not rereleasing it into theaters during this weakass horror month… I wish it succeeded enough for us to have a sequel called DRAG HER OUT OF HELL – which would be about Justin Long’s character diving headfirst into the occult to barter with the devil over the soul of Alison Lohman. But alas… most likely ‘thank God’…. That will never happen. Still… I will repeatedly drag myself to hell for this movie!

THE PROPOSAL

I loathe Sandra Bullock’s character. And I kinda love Ryan Reynolds’ character. Except – why on fucking Earth is he interested in this just horribly self-absorbed witch of a woman. Meanwhile, with every twist, Ryan Reynolds’ character fleshes out and becomes someone that you’re desperate to steer as far away from her as possible. It’s pretty much one of those relationship built on lies, but guess what… the more they fight, disagree and get to know one another – they fall in love. You know – people want to know why so many marriages end in divorce… it is because, in a way, of bullshit role model romantic pap like this. No – building a lasting relationship doesn’t come from lying to each other, or based upon a relationship built on fighting. At least not in my experience. Albeit I’m just 2 years into the institution – but we don’t fight, that isn’t what we like to do, or work to do. There is very little romantic weight to anything in this film. The only reason to watch it is for Ryan Reynolds, who is quite good in a rather exhaustingly unsatisfying flick.

THE HAUNTED AIRMAN

I genuinely feel bad for Robert Pattinson. He’s preternaturally hot to the female species to such a degree, that every man on the planet wants to summarily dismiss anything featuring him as complete and utter crap. But, Pattinson is actually pretty damn good as a performer. He did this back in 2006, it’s creepy, moody and honestly… a nice little ghost story. That the company putting it out has decided to sell it upon the magical sell sell sell of making it look like a prequel to TWILIGHT. Well, all those TWILIGHT fans will be surprised to find a film better than TWILIGHT and featuring a performance by Pattinson that is actually more than just poses and long stares. So, if you were on the fence about checking this out, because of the cover – do realize. This is a good WWI ghost story and Pattinson’s best work to date.

LAND OF THE LOST

Here’s a film that feel is criminally misunderstood due to a really lacking and off base marketing campaign that aimed this as a big FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT film when that was the last thing that it was. Scratch that. It wasn’t even the last thing, it was absolutely NOT for families. This was a COLLEGE to mid-Forties film. ReWatching the film, I couldn’t help but marvel at how much fun LAND OF THE LOST was. And even though this was quite a bit of a financial disaster for UNIVERSAL – they’ve really done a great job on the Blu Ray. For example… check out the nearly 90 minute documentary on the making of the film! Or the almost additional hour of extras, not counting the commentary. Frankly, this is a comedy for people that like to get a bit wasted with friends and have a hoot with something FUN. Remember FUN. There’s images that just bitch slap the mind that appear throughout this crazy film. Just a shame it didn’t find its audience, it will now.

THE STEPFATHER

SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE REMAKE! Locke as a psychopathic step-father is something that every LOST fan owes it to themselves to check out this Halloween. This is a late-80s film that came out around the time I was a Sophmore at High School – and it was about this time that my mother re-married to a creepy, stumbling, alcoholic pool hustling STEP FATHER – and man… I could totally see this shit happening. This movie scared me. Made me watch my StepFather closer and closer. Turns out, he didn’t want to kill me, but teach me how to play pool like a god. Thus was born, Round Timbers Fats. Anyway – this is a huge relief to finally have on DVD. This is a big deal.

HARDWARE (Blu Ray)

My second year out of High School, Richard Stanley’s HARDWARE came out to Raves from the reviewers of the day… at least here in Austin. So I was incredibly anxious to check it out. PIECE OF SHIT! I fucking loathed it. This became a joke with my father, anytime somebody said, “The next TERMINATOR” talking about a low-budget Sci Fi film, and we’d say, “like HARDWARE” and give each other a pained expression. So when this arrived on Blu Ray – I put it in. Actually, I put it in right after NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD – which had me all rearing to go for Ozsploitation titles… And man, about 40 minutes in, I just didn’t need to see anymore. I hate this film. I hated it nearly 20 years ago and I still hate it. That said, lots of people think this shit is brilliant. Decide for yourself, but don’t say I didn’t warn ya. As for the Blu Ray – transfer is great, it has lots of extras including some of Stanley’s short films – including a Super 8mm version of HARDWARE that I preferred to the feature.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Ok - This has the original score!!! Whew!!! A few years back it was released with a really lame, not the real score, but this edition totally rectifies that! The film itself is pretty good, at least that is my late night cable memories. I haven't gotten a chance to put this DVD in yet.

SOUTH PARK: BIGGER LONGER UNCUT (Blu Ray)

One of the greatest animated musicals of all time. Definitely the funniest. Definitely the raunchiest and wrongest. Well… except maybe LIVE FREAKY, DIE FREAKY…. But you’ll have to track that down on your own. It is hard to believe this is 10 years old now. I want straight to Blu Ray sequel features! In addition to the seasons. Because, this show is awesome. And the film was even better. How many of you know the songs by heart? The only extra I really wish they had was a Sing-A-Long Feature with a follow the bouncy ball feature to accompany every song. Like GREASE!

FUTURAMA: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

Here’s what you get:

Comic Con Exclusive includes all four volumes of Futurama, as well as 4 feature-length adventures: Bender´s Big Score, The Beast With A Billion Backs, Bender´s Game, Into the Wild Green Yonder all contained in a limited edition collectible Bender Head with a numbered letter from Matt Groening and David X. Cohen.

But if you’re a hardcore FUTURAMA fan, you probably have most of that – and some of it in Blu Ray already. That said, you get nearly 2000 minutes of entertainment, and if you have a pesky friend that hasn’t given themselves over to the joy and wonder of FUTURAMA… well… here’s the gift set you’ll be getting them. Right?

Dr. Seuss’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

I have conflicted feelings about this film. I loved being on set in Whoville surrounded by dozens upon dozens of Who-actors on all sides. Seussian architecture. All that Rick Baker make-up – but the film is such an overall failure. This centers upon Jim Carrey’s performance as the Grinch, who would have been so much better if played by Ian McKellen or Christopher Lee. Ron decided to direct the film as a cartoon, rather than as an earnest Seuss tale. That was the mistake. The film is riddled with inappropriate and dated pop culture references that have no place in Seuss. This goes on my Rick Baker shelf – to show how it has to be more than just his work, but his work is worth buying even bad movies for.

NATURAL BORN KILLERS – Unrated Director’s Cut (Blu Ray)

Entertainment Weekly declared it the Best Film of the Nineties. In terms of foretelling what Media Culture would become in the wake of this film, NATURAL BORN KILLERS is eerily prophetic. Truly a masterpiece of sardonic black humor, a satire of the highest form. And one day, I predict someone is going to remake NATURAL BORN KILLERS as a straight adaptation of Tarantino’s original script, which the film barely resembles… and then there will be a great divide over which version is the best! Personally, I’d love to see Quentin do it and make his NATURAL BORN KILLERS. Just because, I feel the world would be amazing if it had Stone’s version and QT’s.

Anyway, enough masturbation. NATURAL BORN KILLERS is an all out assault that makes for an amazing film to watch on Blu Ray. This edition has a new featurette, a new intro by Oliver Stone – and a host of extras. And the film? Still as in your face as ever!

PETS

From 1974 comes PETS, the film that pretty much perfectly describes my domestic situation. Here’s the trailer:

Now this is the first time you’ve had the opportunity to see PETS on DVD – and it’s pretty much worth the wait. Also, for the man that has everything, you’ll learn… you can always have more. Just don’t let them off the leash. That’s important.

THE CRAFT (Blu Ray)

I have a huge soft spot in my heart for THE CRAFT. It was probably the first cool thing I ever did on my computer for my sister. When I got my passes for the advance screening, the first year of AICN btw, I scanned them into my computer – and digitally replaced the heads of all the leads with those of my sister and her friends – all of whom were already fans of the look, prevalent in this film. I had also picked up enough passes for her and her friends. I was a very cool brother when this movie came out. Flash 13 years later and my wife is also a HUGE HONKING CRAFT GEEK, though she isn’t at all caught up in any of the style of the film. That said, the number one thing that she and I can agree on is that Fairuza Balk was born for this role. The Blu Ray is crazy pretty. Not a lot of extras. But this film has an army of cool girls that love it. Trust me on that!

MARVEL ANIMATION: 6 FILM SET ( HULK VS, NEXT AVENGERS, DOCTOR STRANGE, IRON MAN, ULTIMATE AVENGERS, ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2 )

If you’ve been buying the Lionsgate released Marvel Animated films – you have everything here. There are no new extras – this is just a Holiday pack, priced at $36. This is one of those things they hope gets gift wrapped and placed under a Christmas tree in the not to distant future. If you haven’t picked these up – and you don’t mind Standard Def… they’re actually pretty good films. The most surprising being NEXT AVENGERS, which is shockingly pretty damn good!

SKIN IN THE SEVENTIES ( BLUE SUMMER, TEENAGE DIVORCE, SOMETIME SWEET SUSAN, SUMMER SCHOOL TEACHERS )

I watched BLUE SUMMER – which was pretty forgettable. SUMMER SCHOOL TEACHERS is much better, but the best is SOMETIME SWEET SUSAN – which features Harry Reems and is pretty darn good – even if it is the softcore cut. But check out TEENAGE DIVORCE to see George Takei in a Love Commune flick! Seriously!

SEX AND ZEN

I love this. If you like Chinese comedic erotic weirdness – SEX AND ZEN is exactly what you want. This is as hilarious as it is hot and it is both of those in spades. But there’s nothing I can say that would get you to get exactly what I’m talking about. Instead – check out this trailer – and if it looks like something you want more of, and you’d have to be dead not to, then check it out! It’s outstanding:

THE LOVE STATUE LSD EXPERIENCE

This is a very weird film. As you would probably guess. That said, it was the first feature to tell the world about LSD. This is historic exploitation, that just makes you think… REALLY? Is that really what a Greenwich Village LSD Sex Party looked like? I don’t know, but damn it is weird. And the two LSD scare films are also really choice films in their own right. I found a trailer for this on YouTube, for this release. Check it out:

BTW – GiGi Darlene was amazing in BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL – and she’s everybit as hot here. Very trippy as you would hope and very kitschy too. Fun cult experience.

Next week, I’ll be looking at the TRANSFORMERS 2 Blu Ray, Michelle Pfeiffer’s very hot CHERI, Costner’s WATERWORLD Blu Ray, a PEANUTS 70s collection, BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE, SUMMER STORM, PLASTIC MAN, MONSOON WEDDING Criterion Blu Ray, HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET complete series, ICHI THE KILLER on fucking BLU RAY!!!!, EASY RIDER Blu, TRANSFORMERS: 25th Anniversary Matrix of Leadership Edition, The William Castle Film Collection, SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE ARCHIVE COLLECTION, MOON IN THE GUTTER, THEY KILLED SISTER DOROTHY, SUMMER CAMP NIGHTMARE, WICKED WIFE, TEENAGE DIRTBAG, BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE, WITHNAIL & I Blu and more!