Another week of DVD picks. November 29 will see many
good items out, but December 6 will likely be the
biggest release week of the year when it comes to a
variety of major studio titles.
First, the genre releases:
- Ah!
My Goddess
– Love Plus One (Vol. 2): For the anime fans. - Essential
Silent Film and Early Talkies Collection: This is
an Amazon.com
exclusive packaging of a variety of Kino Video
releases. If I didn’t
already own so many of these, I’d be picking it up.
You’ll find more
information on it in the “Pick of the Week”
section. - Frighteners
(Unrated Director’s Cut): Thanks to a little
series known as
Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson can now
exert some creative
control over the movies he makes. - Great
Muppet
Caper – Kermit’s 50th Anniversary Edition: The
first of several
Muppet releases this week, and likely the best of the
bunch. - Jurassic
Park
Adventure Pack: Includes the (first?) three
Jurassic Park
films. - King
Kong
vs. Godzilla / King Kong Escapes: I can’t tell
which edition of
KKvG this is. In the American cut, King Kong wins,
but in the
Japanese cut, Godzilla wins. - The
Mummy
Collector’s Set: This includes the three recent
Mummy movies with
Brendan Fraser and The Rock. - The
Muppet
Christmas Carol – Kermit’s 50th Anniversary
Edition: This is the
Muppet movie out today that I couldn’t get
through. - The
Muppet
Movie – Kermit’s 50th Anniversary Edition: This
one was an
entertaining film. - Muppet
Treasure Island – Kermit’s 50th Anniversary
Edition: This is the
one I didn’t see. - Sky
High:
A superhero high school. - Timeslip
– The
Complete Series: I hadn’t heard of this before,
but it looks to be
interesting family sci-fi stuff. - Tremors
Attack
Pack: The first movie was fun. I haven’t seen the
other three in
this set.
Now, the non-genre releases:
- C.S.I.:
Crime
Scene Investigations Season Five: This 7 DVD set
is the item I’m
buying this week. Somehow, it’s considerably cheaper
in
Canada, where it will be released on December 13,
according to
Amazon.ca. - Deuce
Bigalow
– European Gigalo: Did anyone even watch this? I
had no interest
in it. - Family
Guy
Vol. 3: This 13 episode collection includes the
first few episodes
of the series’ resurrection. - Film
Noir
Collection: Like the collection below, this is a
grouping of Kino
Video releases only available through Amazon. This
film noir
collection includes The Hitch-Hiker,
Hangmen Also
Die, Strange Impersonation, Sudden
Fear,
They Made Me A Fugitive, Railroaded,
The Long
Night, and Behind Locked Doors. - Havoc
(Unrated
Version): This was a well reviewed but little seen
film. - Legends
of the
Fall (Deluxe Edition): I worked at a theater when
this came out.
It made quite a bit of money, but after the first
week, the audience
was mostly made up of small groups of women, with
virtually no men.
On their way out, they were talking about Brad Pitt,
and not about the
plot, characters, production, etc., so I don’t know if
there’s
anything here but the eye candy. - March
of the
Penguins: I don’t think anyone expected this to be
the box office
draw it was, given the subject matter. - Mr.
and
Mrs. Smith: This is likely the reason so many
deluxe editions of
Brad Pitt movies are out this week. I haven’t seen
this version, but
the Alfred Hitchcock film from 1941 was quite
entertaining. - A
River Runs
Through It (Deluxe Edition): Unlike Legends of
the Fall,
I’ve seen this one myself, and wasn’t impressed.
(This came out
before Pitt made 12 Monkeys and Fight
Club, a pair
which have since earned him the benefit of the doubt
for the rest of
his career where I’m concerned.)
Finally, the pick of the week. The Silent and
Early Talkies
Collectionhas some excellent material in it.
There’s no text
listing, but the image of the set includes:
- L’Age D’Or – which I haven’t seen
yet. - Birth of a Nation – the first truly epic
film. It’s a
bizarre study; the technical aspects were astoudning
in its time, and
it showed how effective film could be as a means to
deliver a
message. However, the message of this Civil War film
is clearly “the
good guys lost.” It’s an exercise in racism that
makes for difficult
viewing. In fact, I’ve heard that the Klu Klux Klan
was all but dead
in the early part of this century, and then this film
brought it
back. - The Blue Angel: Have you ever heard the
term “blue
movie?” This is where that term comes from. - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: The first
and foremost
german expressionist film. It’s a decent movie, great
in the context
of its time. Tim Burton fans should definitely check
it out to see
where Burton derives his inspiration. - Counsellor at Law
- Diary of a Lost Girl
- Foolish Wives
- Intolerance: This was created by the same
director as
Birth of a Nation. Ironic, no? I’m tempted
to watch it just
to see what he considered to be intolerant. - The “It” Girl: Another movie that
launched an entire linguistic
expression. - Love Me Tonight
- The Man Who Laughs: A Murnau
classic. - Man With A Movie Camera: I can’t tell you
how many times
I’ve almost bought this. This was an attempt to
create a film in a
universal language. There’s no story, no script, and
no characters;
it’s just people going about their daily business, yet
it’s strangely
enthralling. A worthwhile experiment. - Metropolis: The Fritz Lang classic, with
all available
scenes completely restored. A very nice package. - Our Hospitality and Sherlock
Jr.: A DVD with two
Buster Keaton movies. He’s my favourite comedian from
this era, and
is well worth checking out. - Die Nibelungen
- Nosferatu: The first on-screen adaptation
of
Dracula, directed by F.W. Murnau. Of course,
they didn’t ask
permission to adapt it, and were sued by the Stoker
estate. It seems
that changing the names of the characters wasn’t
enough to avoid
copyright infringement. This is the movie Shadow
of the
Vampire was about. This edition is also vastly
superior to
others I’ve seen. It’s the most complete cut of the
film I’ve found,
and includes over 20 minutes of footage not present in
other
editions. - The Old Dark House
- The Penalty
- Peter Pan
- The Thief of Bagdad
Kino does a great job with their DVDs, and they’ve
picked some
excellent movies. This is well worth considering.
tremors
I must hace seen this movie at least 5 times, never on purpose.
Muppets
I know you disagree, but I really enjoyed The Muppet Christmas Carol—it’s my favorite of the bunch.