11/5/04
Weekly Release Roundup
Whaaa... two columns in a row from me, Todd M. Doogan!?! To quote
the bard Flavor Flav, "Yeaaaaaaah, boy!"
Bass? How low can you go?
First alphabetically, and first on my list of must haves for the
week, it's...
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Animal
Farm: Special Collectors Edition
Home Vision pulled this one out of their ass. In a good way.
I've always known about this one, but have never seen it. Not
for lack of trying. Produced by a little known animation house
in Britain, known more for commercials and propaganda films,
Halas & Batchelor, Animal Farm
is a very lovingly crafted version of Orwell's satiric novel of
the same name. When the barnyard folk of Manor Farm decided
they've had enough from their drunken brute of a farmer, they
overthrow him and put the pigs in charge that make no haste in
becoming just like him. It was the Who who sung, "Meet the
new boss, same as the old boss." Animated in original
fashion, Animal Farm is
easy on the eyes and brilliant. For a lost toon, Animal
Farm looks amazing on DVD. It's a full frame transfer
with vibrant colors, hard blacks and only a few moments of age
shining through. Sound is a serviceable mono that does its job.
Extras include a commentary by historian Brian Sibley which is
nice, but pales next to the Down on
the Animal Farm featurette originally done for
British television. It's a wonderfully informative and
entertaining piece that goes so well with this presentation on
DVD. If you love cartoons and animation history, you need this
disc in your collection. |
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Castle
Keep: Widescreen Edition
We
complained that this film wasn't on DVD and Columbia
listened: a beautiful anamorphic widescreen edition of Castle
Keep is on the shelves this week and I say to you...
see, if we complain in a civilized fashion, the studios will
listen. |
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Dazed
& Confused / Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Ultimate Party
Collection
Sure you can buy these discs separate, but why? Especially when
you can get the super sweet Ultimate
Party Collection. Yeah. Uhm, well, if you don't own
either of these films on DVD, it's your chance to get them
because they are worth owning. There are widescreen and full
frame versions available, and both look gorgeous. Fast
Times features the same extras and transfer as the
original special collections edition released in 1999, but adds
both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 punching up the score to a
new level. The original 2.0 is still on board. Dazed
and Confused benefits a bit from the upgrade, giving
us a cleaner transfer, new Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 sound
fields and adding nine unassuming deleted scenes, a silly fake
educational filmstrip and two vintage 70s PSAs. Silly extras,
but extras nonetheless. At least the video and audio are better
than the previous release. If you don't own either of these
films, you can't go wrong with this set. |
 |
Dr.
Strangelove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb:
40th Anniversary Special Edition
We love Kubrick, you love Kubrick and we all love this
brilliant film. I've got nothing more to say about the film, but
you can review
our
reviews of the previous editions on DVD here. As for this
new version, the video is jacked up to the highest degree
possible. It looks superb, and that's not an understatement. The
anamorphic widescreen presentation gets rid of the differing
aspect ratios that Kubrick originally intended for the film, a
format accurate to the negatives and maintained in the original
DVD releases. It gives the film an overall more cinematic feel
for home viewings, and it is worth seeing, but I wouldn't get
rid of the original DVDs because they honor Kubrick's original
vision. Audio is also kicked up with both Dolby Digital 5.1 and
DTS 5.1. There are limitations to both of these tracks, but for
the most part, they sound quite good. For purists there is also
the original mono. Aside from killer video, this new release
also gives us two new documentaries. The first is a discussion
with various experts on the film, its realities in the face of
farce and its relevance today. We get Fog
of War subject Robert McNamara, Spike Lee, Roger
Ebert and Bob Woodward doing the talking. It's a very
informative and fun piece. Also on board is a new documentary
about Peter Sellers. There's also the making of documentary from
the first special edition, a biography on Kubrick also from that
set, trailers, photos, the interviews with Sellers and George C.
Scott used to promote the film (also from the original SE) and
the extended interview with Robert McNamara new to this set. Oh,
and there's also a goofy booklet inside the box case. All in
all, fans of Kubrick will not want to be without this. Just keep
the original version next to it on your shelves. |
 |
Even
Cowgirls Get the Blues
This will go down as the only film in my life I EVER walked out
of. Granted I was on a date and she was really, really not into
it. But still. Coming back to it on DVD, I have to say that it's
a bit more watchable, but not that much. Based on Tom Robbins'
book of the same name, Cowgirls
follows Sissy Hankshaw (Uma Thurman), a former model who travels
the United States hitchhiking. She's a master, elevating it to
an art. It doesn't hurt that she has enormous thumbs that may
hold a certain magic. Recruited by her former boss, The Countess
(John Hurt) a transsexual of sorts who has a deadly fear of
women's nether regions and their, uhm, smell, Sissy is sent to
the Countess' ranch to do a photo shoot for her newest douche.
There she meets Bonanza Jellybean (Rain Phoenix) the leader of a
rouge group of cowgirls bent of overthrowing The Countess.
There's more, but I'm running out of room. The film is surreal,
wacky and bold. It's written and directed by Gus Van Sant and
falls into the same hole Gerry
falls into. The DVD looks and sounds great with anamorphic video
and 5.1 sound. There's not a lick of extras, but I didn't really
expect any. |
 |
Philadelphia:
Anniversary Edition
Hanks and Denzel rock the house in this really well made and
important film. Hanks plays Andrew Beckett, a young on the rise
attorney who contracts the AIDS virus and is fired from his job
at a high powered firm. Denzel is Joe Miller, an ambulance
chasing lawyer who is just about the only guy in the world who
would take the case. Was Beckett fired from his job because he
had AIDS and can Miller prove it? Released in 1993/1994 before
Hollywood (not the more daring “independent” Hollywood
mind you) really embraced any aspect of the gay lifestyle, it
was a revelation to film fans. It gave us a look at Tom Hanks as
serious dramatist, it showed that Jonathan Demme wasn’t
just a quirky genre filmmaker and it made it okay for two men to
hug and kiss on movie screens in Middle America. The video and
audio presentation is spot on and looks brilliant and sounds
just as good. But it’s the extras you’ll really want.
Director Demme and writer Ron Nyswaner discuss the film in-depth
on a well produced commentary track and proves to be worth
listening to every second of the way. As this is a super duper
special edition, there’s a second disc filled to the
digital gills with featurettes and documentaries. There are
making-ofs, interviews, a documentary on AIDS patients and their
individual stories, some deleted scenes and of course
Springsteen’s video for the film’s title track (shot
by Demme). This is a really good set for a really good film.
Pick it up. |
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Proof
Hugo Weaving plays a blind photographer... uhm, wait. Let me
read that again. Blind. Photographer. Huh. Anyway, Weaving plays
Martin, a bitterly blind man who replaces his sight with
photographs he takes of random people and situations. He soon
meets Russell Crowe who honestly reveals the subject of his
photographs to him and Weaving learns to trust someone other
than himself. That is until his housekeeper, who has a
diabolical crush on him, grows jealous of his relationship with
Crowe and sabotages it. It’s a really good movie, and the
best words to describe it would be “witty,” “quirky”
and “brilliant.” The video and audio are both top
notch, no complaints. Extras include a sparse commentary with
Weaving, a more informative commentary with director/writer
Jocelyn Moorhouse, the trailer and an album of photos Martin
takes during the course of the film. |
 |
The
Rapture
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel anything
but fine. That should have been the tag line for this acclaimed
film. Mimi Rogers plays Sharon, a swinging bisexual 411 operator
("Hold for your number please") who, along with
co-swinger and mullet haired David Duchovny, finds God. Two
people finding God in this world makes for only the beginning of
a story though, so what follows are several spiritual
reawakenings. Sharon must put together the pieces of an old
life, a new life and a promised life after death in order to
make decisions. It doesn't help that the four horsemen are
slowly galloping toward her. As told by first-time director
Michael Tolkin (writer of Robert Altman's brilliant film The
Player), The Rapture finds a series of characters in
extraordinary situations making choices that real-life people
would make. New Line did a fine job on the anamorphic transfer.
Sound is equally good. Extras include a very fun commentary with
Tolkin, Rogers, Duchovny and actor Patrick Bauchau that was part
of the original laserdisc release. |
New
TV on DVD this week:
Mutant
X: Season 1 Set,
Rainbow
Brite and the Star Stealer,
The
Simple Life 2,
The
Simpsons Christmas 2,
Star
Trek: The Original Series - Season Two,
Three's
Company: Season Three,
Too
Close for Comfort: The Complete First Season,
Traffic:
The Mini-Series: Director's Cut and
The
West Wing: The Complete Third Season.
  
Also this week:
Ali
G Indahouse: The Movie,
Around
the World In 80 Days,
California
Split,
Celsius
41.11,
Festival
Express: 2-Disc Special Edition,
A
Home at the End of the World,
The
Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 2,
Mulholland
Falls,
Pirates
of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl - Special Edition
(with bonus disc) and
Three
Coins in the Fountain.
  
Oh... and on Friday for some reason, look for
Shrek
2.
It’s amazing. Two weeks in a frickin’ row. Will I make it
to three? Stick around and find out next week.
Stay gold Pony Boy.
Todd Doogan
todddoogan@thedigitalbits.com |
