There are a couple of very, very notable titles this week.
Alice’s Restaurant | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Chi’s Sweet Home – The Complete Season 1 | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Comments | Slice of life anime series about a stray cat which is adopted by a family living in an apartment which technically doesn’t allow cats. Each episode is 3 minutes long, and the first season features 104 episodes. | ||||||||
Cries and Whispers (Criterion Collection) | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
The Dario Argento Collection | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Comments | Includes The Cat O’ Nine Tails, Deep Red, and Inferno. Alex: Of the films on in this set, we have one part each of two trilogies. The Cat o’ Nine Tails is part of Argento’s “Animal Trilogy” (along with Four Flies on Grey Velvet and Argento’s first film – The Bird with the Crystal Plumage). Inferno is part of Argento’s “Three Mothers” trilogy, along with his classic Susperia and The Mother of Tears. | ||||||||
Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission / Fatal Mission | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Comments | Blaine: These are the sequels, not the original. | ||||||||
Facts of Life | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Comments | The Lucille Ball / Bob Hope movie, not the TV series. | ||||||||
Gingitsune: Complete Collection | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Comments | Urban/suburban fantasy anime series about a girl who takes care of a Shinto shrine. | ||||||||
Gravity: Special Edition | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Harlock: Space Pirate | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Comments | CGI anime film directed by Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed, Starship Troopers: Invasion). Originally licensed for streaming by Netflix, now finally getting a DVD release. | ||||||||
Hoop Dreams (Criterion Collection) | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
The Imitation Game | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Interstellar | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Lovejoy: Series 5 | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Lovely Complex – The Complete Series | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Comments | Re-release of the slice of life rom-com anime. | ||||||||
The Lucio Fulci Collection | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Comments | Includes City of the Living Dead, The House by the Cemetery, and The New York Ripper. Alex: This set has 2/3rds of Fulci’s “Gates of Hell” trilogy. The missing film, The Beyond is available separately. | ||||||||
Miss Marple: Volume 2 | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Mortal Kombat Conquest: The Complete Series | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Outcast | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Sankarea: Undying Love (Complete Series) | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Rightstuf | |||||||||
Comments | Creepy and squicky romantic-drama series. | ||||||||
Shanghai Story | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Silicon Valley: Season 1 | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
VEEP: Season Three | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Wild | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Without a Clue | |||||||||
Amazon | |||||||||
Finally, the picks of the week. Blaine says, “I haven’t seen anything particularly compelling this week, but Gravity, Imitation Game and Interstellar are all on my must see list.” Alex says, “Pretty much the same as Blaine’s list, though I might pick up the Fulci & Argento sets later, after the price has gone down a bit, as possible candidates for reviews come Halloween.”
I eventually want to see Interstellar, and probably The Imitation Game. I saw Gravity and … didn’t care for it. I didn’t see what people thought was so great about it.
Two of those three titles we reviewed here…
What’s not to like about Gravity? You have to admire the people who went “I know it’s in space but can we have Sandra Bullock do an underwear scene?”
That said, I did enjoy it. It’s not an edge-of-your-seat action movie, but it was well-made. I enjoyed Interstellar, too. I think one thing both have in common is someone actually paid attention to actual science, for a change.
I enjoyed both films too, and found the ideas they explored and some of the visual imagery and parallels to be really cleverly done; scientific accuracy though? Not so much. They were both also positively riddled with bad science and other factual errors with what were really just a few areas where they nailed it; “some*one*” is right. I found some of the errata a little forgiveable when they were necessary for the plot to work, but others – like Interstellar’s use of a huge booster to get off Earth yet a simple lander/shuttle being enough to escape the higher gravity planet around the blackhole – really grated by comparison. With a little more thought I’m sure a more scientifically accurate “solution” that was no less dramatic could have been found in many cases, but what is done is done.
They are still great for showing off your home cinema setup and promoting the consumption of popcorn though. :)
The worst part was a movie claiming to be so science-based getting so many things just plain wrong (like cruising between all those places with just an MMU, and in that short amount of time) … I can understand some things were there just for plot/effect but at least with me, it fell flat. It sure looked pretty, though.
I have held off seeing Interstellar out of similar fears, and some different fears.