This are the DVD picks among the October 5 releases.
It’s a large list this week.
Genre releases include:
Probably the highest selling release of the upcoming
week, followed by
Fahrenheit 9/11
Werewolf in London / Cat People: This two DVD set
includes the
1980s Cat People release.
Best of
Fox Sci-Fi: This set includes The Day The
Earth Stood
Still, Donnie Darko, Alien
Collector’s Edition,
The Abyss, and the 1968 Planet of the
Apes
of
Sci-Fi: This Warner Home Video collection
includes
Batman, Blade, Blade
Runner, and 2001:
Space Odyssey
Cabinet of
Dr. Caligari: This is the great Kino
International edition,
currently on sale. I highly recommend it. I almost
used this as one
of my entries in the Halloween Countdown, even though
it’s
reviewed,
just because this edition is so much better than the
Madacy edition I
reviewed. The 20 minute difference in runtime makes
a huge
difference.
Impact: This came out around the same time as
Armageddon. Coincidence?
Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde: Like The Cabinet of Dr.
Caligari, this is a
sale priced Kino International release of a movie I
reviewed in
its Madacy release. I almost rewrote a review for
this, too, since
the Kino edition once again seems like a completely
different
movie.
Seuss’ How
The Grinch Stole Christmas / Horton Hears a Who:
These are
animated, with nary a Carrey in sight.
The
Series: This is a two disk set of a short lived
TV series.
Ed Wood
Box: This includes Glen or Glenda,
Jail Bait,
Plan Nine From Outer Space, Bride of the
Monster,
Night of the Ghouls, and The Haunted
World of Ed
Wood.
The
Complete Fourth Season: Just in time for the TV
movies. We hope.
Fearless
Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are In
My Neck: With
a title like that, how can you go wrong? Directed by
and starring
Roman Polanski.
the
13th – From Crystal Lake to Manhattan: This is an
eight movie box
set.
Winter Wonderland / Twas the Night Before
Christmas: Twas the
Night Before Christmas may be my favourite
Christmas special of
all time. It’s the one with the mice and the
clock.
Horror
Classics Collection: This includes
Nosferatu (in our
lineup), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,
Waxworks, and
The Golem, all of which are Kino releases,
all of which are
on sale, as is the boxed set. I’ve only seen the
first two, but I’d
recommend them.
Golem:
This is the individual release of this German horror
classic.
Horrors Vol. 1: A collection of 8 really bad
horror movies for
very low cost.
Horrors Vol. 2: And a collection of 8 more.
Hunger: A vampire movie with David Bowie and
Catherine Deneuve
Death:
The Motion Picture: I’ve heard of it, but not
seen it.
Kombat
- Deception: This looks like a direct to video
sequel. As if the
second wasn’t bad enough.
The
Vampire (1922): The Amazon.com year for this is
wrong. This is
another exceptional Kino product. I’m glad I hadn’t
reviewed the
Madacy edition before I saw this one. The review
will be up this month.
The
Complete Second Season: The title pretty much
says it all.
Kubrick Collection: This is a rerelease of a
fantastic set. It
contains one of the movies you’ll be seeing in our
Halloween
countdown, as well as several others you should
see.
King’s
Cat’s Eye: Drew Barrymore stars in this one.
Lesbos: Gee, I wonder what this is about?
Tales
Holiday Double Feature: I’m not particularly
interested in this
title, but I was amused to see that it showed up in
Amazon’s listings
right next to Vampyros Lesbos.
The fourth individual Kino International german
horror film release.
Non-genre releases include:
Comedy
pack: This Warner home video release includes
Caddyshack,
Austin Powers, Blazing Saddles,
Vacation,
and Dumb and Dumber. The Musicals and
Leading Lady
collections don’t list the contents on their
Amazon.com pages.
of Fox
Action: This set includes Master and
Commander, Fight
Club, Last of the Mohicans, Die
Hard, and
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
of Fox
Comedy: This includes Office Space,
There’s Something
about Mary, Raising Arizona, The
Rocky Horror
Picture Show, and Young Frankenstein.
(Watch for two of
those in our Halloween Countdown this month.)- Box sets for the best of the
and
Best
Picture Winners.
Chaplin
Collection Vol. 1: Contains Modern
Times, The Great
Dictator, The Gold Rush, and
Limelight, this
had been released before, but this edition features a
price drop.
9/11: The Michael Moore movie
Jean Luc
Godard Collection: He’s a well known auteur and
avant garde
pioneer. I’ve only seen his Weekend, and I
wasn’t that
impressed.
Michael
Moore Limited Edition DVD Collector’s Set:
Includes special
editions of Bowling for Columbine and
The Big One.
and the
South: The Complete Collection: This miniseries
was made when
Patrick Swayze was still getting work.
Shawshank
Redemption: This got shafted at the Oscars that
year. It’s a
fantastic movie, and it’s held up over time far
better than Pulp
Fiction
Vacation Collection: All of the Chevy Chase
movies.
Untouchables: All I’ve seen from this is the
Odessa steps homage,
shown in both of my film studies classes, along with
the original
sequence in Battleship Potempkin and the
homage sequence in
Naked Gun 33 1/3
Lady Death DVD
I saw a preview for this at comic con (which was about 45 minutes of the film). If you’re a fan of the comic, or just a fan of cartoons geared for adults I highly recommend it. I plan on picking this one up
I was in one of those!!
seriously…I was an extra for Deep Impact. I might have to pick up the Collector’s edition just because one of the extras is “making the perfect traffic jam” – which was the scene I was in!
I was in high school at the time, working as a lifeguard, so the pay for being an extra was WAY over what I was making. plus we worked all day, so we got time & a half…VERY cool. not to mention the fact that I strapped a bright red canoe to the roof of the van I was driving, which is JUST distinctive enough that I can find me on the screen!
Non-Genre Purchase
Damn. I’m not usually one for the movie packs (they invariably contain at least one movie I already own) but the Fox comedy pack looks excellent. My only question is whether all the movies in it are 16:9 optimized (anamorphic, if you must) or not. One of the reasons I don’t own TSAM and Office Space is that they were released as 4:3 letterboxed and, since I own a 16:9 TV and a 4:3 HDTV, I’m a bit of a snob about getting all the resolution I possibly can.
Of course, it also points out one of the really annoying things about Fox and its DVD releases. For example, their action pack contains Die Hard – Die Hard is therefore available in at least five versions now that I’m aware of (original non-16×9, “enhanced” version, as part of a non-16×9 pack of the trilogy, as part of the “enhanced” pack of the trilogy). Similarly, while trying to find out the answer to the question above, I find that Office Space will be in three two-fer packs, the pack above, plus widescreen and 4×3. AGGGH!
BladeRunner
Anyone know if this is a new version? The Director’s Cut again? The “Theatrical” version (that I only ever had on VHS)? Or perhaps a new version that had been rumored about, oh, 3? 4? years ago that had even more footage including Deckard going to visit Holden in the hospital?
Re: BladeRunner
This will be the existing DVD edition. (There’s only one that I know of, and that’s the Director’s Cut.) Scott and Warner Bros. both want to make a 2 DVD special edition that makes Scott’s interpretation of the character even more obvious, but that’s not going to be out sooner than summer 2005. I will, of course, be mentioning it in one of these columns.