Monday, March 28, 2011

New Release Tuesday (3/29/11)!!!

Must Buy DVD of The Week!


SOYLENT GREEN (BLU RAY):  Soylent Green is about more than it's much quoted climactic revelation.  It's a fantastic science-fiction dystopia as iconic and badass as anything found in The Road Warrior or Blade Runner.  Future cop Charlton Heston and his neckerchief investigates a grisly murder with the aide of Edward G Robinson's snarky professor that quickly plunges a rotting society deeper down the rabbit hole.  Classic SF folks, and I can't wait to see the color on the Blu.

Buy!


SCREAM TRILOGY (BLU RAY):  I grew to hate the Scream films after their initial release (thanks to the onslaught of teenie bopper slasher crap like I Know What You Did Last Summer that they spawned), but you really gotta appreciate the QT-like reference glee Kevin Williamson's script had for the horror genre and Wes Craven threw in several great scares.  Part 2 is a better-than-expected sequel (plus you've got an early crazy performance from Timothy Olyphant!), and Part 3...well, that one is hard to defend.  Still, gotta check out these Blus before Part 4 hits the big screen.


THE SECRET OF NIMH (BLU RAY):  Here it is, my all time favorite animated film.  Yep.  Sorry Disney, I gotta go with Don Bluth every time.  Absolutely gorgeous animation with some great moments of animated terror that rival anything found on Pinocchio's Pleasure Island.  Apparently, it's nothing like the book so you get some people hating on it for snobbish reasons, but I get as emotional today watching Mrs. Frisby fight for her children as I did when I was a lad.  


TEEN WOLF (BLU RAY):  Yeah, okay, this is kinda crap...maybe.  I don't know.  I loved it the first time I saw it and I still get a kick outta Wolfed Out Michael J Fox dunkin' on the Basketball court.  80s Cheezy Goodness.



THE TERROR (BLU RAY):  Yeah, Roger Corman gets the director's credit but big chunks of this film were actually shot by Francis Ford Coppala (The Godfather!), Monte Hellman (Two Lane Blacktop!), Jack Hill (Coffy!), and Jack Nicholson (The Two Jakes!).  Sure, it's not my favorite Roger Corman classic but it's a perfect example of his style.  A great cheapie that's been available on DVD before but never as classy as this blu.  Very exciting.


CAPONE:  Another Roger Corman release.  But I've never seen it.  So, why does it go directly on the Buy! list?  Well, cuz it stars Ben Gazzara as the tough as nails gangster, Sly Stallone as his right hand man Frank Nitti, and it has bit parts from John Cassavetes and Dick Miller.  'Nuff said.



Rent!


BLACK SWAN:  I definitely enjoyed this film, but not as much as others.  Natalie Portman probably delivers her strongest performance and there is some really cool direction here from Aronofsky, but I thought the more fantastical elements were completely unnecessary for the rest of the film, and if you separated those bits out from the picture than there really wasn't much there to begin with.  Sorry.


THE BLACK FOX TRILOGY:  Um, I don't know nothin' about this and I'm guessing it's not that good, but-Superman and Candyman in a Western!!!!  I am so there.


TANGLED:  Another one I missed in the theater, but I'm told by my wife that it was excellent and I was told by a coworker today that she considered it the best Disney film to come around since the 2D classics.  Okay, I guess I'll give it a go even though the original trailer kinda grated on my nerves.


TREME:  A new show from the creators of The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Street?  Uh, of course we need to at least rent it if not immediately own.


THE RESIDENT:  The second film from the new & (seriously doubt it) improved Hammer Films, The Resident is another flick about spooky happenings in an apartment complex.  So what?  Well, I am definitely becoming quite the fan of Jeffery Dean Morgan (Supernatural, Watchmen, The Losers) and I am always there for a new role from Christopher Lee.  AND I really want this new Hammer Films to work out.






THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (BLU RAY), CHARLTON HESTON PRESENTS THE BIBLE, MOTHER LODE, AND ANTONY & CLEOPATRA:    Soylent Green is obviously the big Charlton Heston movie of the week, but it certainly is not the only one.  We've got four other flicks to pick over and I haven't seen a single one.  The Ten Commandments has never really interested me before, but thanks to Matt's annual HestFest, I'm addicted to Chuck and I've got to see every movie he's ever done at this point.  And now I'm excited to see his Bible documentary series.  Dorkdom is a great power.  But it's Mother Lode I'm most interested in.  Directed by Heston himself, it involves Kim Bassinger delving deep into the British Columbia Wilderness in search of her husband and discovering Heston's mad prospector.  Fingers crossed for great Heston Madness...


--Brad

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