Week of January 6 to January 12, 2007

Saturday, January 6, 2007
Hard Candy - 2005

Well, this doesn't happen very often, but I gave up on this movie after a half hour. Too much talk, talk, talk & nothing happens. It's not horror, its a psychological drama. This is another example of Netflix's description making it sound like something it's not. Pass.

Dr. Chopper - 2005

Never has a movie had so many hot women and shown so many bras and so little boobage.

Father. Sure. Who didn't see that coming? Ooops, that's a spoiler. Like anyone would care after sitting through this flick. And the music is WAY to over the top - in fact, the whole thing is over the top/overdone/over dramatic. But not enough gore or boobage to really push it over the top. The music promises a lot more than the movie delivers.

Sunday, January 7, 2007
Forbidden Planet - 1956

This is, perhaps, my most favorite movie of all time. I consider it excellent. Special affects by Disney (before there was a ILM). I got the Ultimate Collector's Edition for Christmas (mostly to get the Robby the Robot figure as seen here:
http://www.amazon.com/Forbidden-Planet-Ultimate-Collectors-Pidgeon/dp/B000HEWEEY/sr=1-1/qid=1169156332/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6714507-6512632?ie=UTF8&s=dvd). But this is a new transfer, and a bunch of extras, so I'm as happy as a clam. The only thing missing is a commentary with anyone surviving cast or crew members (both Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen are available, hint hint).

Extras include deleted scenes, alternate voice over, deleted dialogue, lost footage, a couple of previews featuring Walter Pigeon from his TV Show "Captain Courageous", and an episode of The Thin Man featuring Robby.

The Invisible Boy - 1957

It's funny that the movie that was made later is in B/W, while the earlier movie is in color. And this is certainly the simpler, more "50's" SF flick. This is a wonderful family flick (I watched it with my 8 year old son, and he really enjoy'd it). And the link to Forbidden Planet is very subtle and cool (I think, at least).

The only extra on this disc is a very excellent documentary "Watch the Skies: SF, the 50's & Us". Very nice.

Tripping the Rift, Season One - 2004

When this series first came out, I was really excited, as I loved the animation that was originally on the Internet (you can see it now on YouTube. Adults only need apply, but here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpQzc1UDtSQ ). However, as you might expect, I was disappointed with the watered down version that finally showed on Sci-Fi Channel. So I never watched the show. Of course, now I never watch TV anyway, so when DeepDiscountDVD put these box sets on sale, I bought 'em anywho. They are funnier than I remember. Not as dirty, but pretty funny nonetheless.

I originally wrote down the episode titles, but then realized, what the hell am I doing? Who cares. So I watched a bunch of these episodes. They're funnier than I expected. They slam a lot of current stuff, so I like that. So tonight, I watched a bunch of episodes.

Monday, January 8, 2007
Ilse, The Wicked Warden - 1977

Dyanne Thorne, Jesse Franco, and Lina Romay (Mrs Franco)! With a cast like this, you can understand why I put the Tripping the Rift show on hold to watch this. And it's a true WIP (Women in Prison) movie, as there are all the required scenes:
Shower Scene (within the first 2 minutes, and a second later on)
Lesbian scenes (2)
Torture scene (ahhh, that poor breast)

Tons of nudity, and the final scene features cannibalism. What a great flick. And there's a commentary, featuring Dyanne Thorne and her husband Howard Maurer (who is also in the movie) and moderated by "humorist" Martin Lewis (who I've never heard of, and isn't very funny, but he does keep it moving).

This was originally not meant to be a "Ilse" flick, and in fact is called by several aka "Greta" names. It was a one month shoot (which is pretty long for a Jesse Franco movie). Dyanne and Howard were married just after the movie (Jesse gave them a wedding present of telling them the good places to go in Europe!) It's a great commentary, and they sure talk nice about Jesse, which is pretty unusual.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Snakes On a Plane - 2006

Yeah, okay, I broke my own rule, and jumped this to the front of the queue. I was really excited to see this flick. And I was initially really disappointed. The first half is poor. CG is fakey, and kind of absurd. The "snake vision" is dumb. I sometimes think the nudity was inserted to keep you interested until things get good.

The second half, however, picks up. Action parts are well done, the reason there is one of every species of poisonous snake (which I initially thought was really dumb) is actually believable, and kind fixes so of the problems of the first half. AND there were subtitles.

There is a commentary by the director (David R. Ellis), special effects supervisor, producer, and Sam Jackson. It was not too bad; funny, a little technical, not too shabby.

Other extras include a making of called Pure Venom, Meet the Reptiles, VFX Featurette, and Snakes on a Blog. Pretty good. This is a great rental, certainly worth a watch.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tripping the Rift - Season One, the remainder

Some of these are pretty funny. I especially liked Love Conquers All.....Almost. The little Yoda guy who grabs a titty and then gets eaten by Chodd is hysterical. And The Devil and a Guy Named Webster had a great Exorcist rip.

There were a couple of extras on the third disc, but none very impressive.

Thursday, January 11, 2007
Masters of Horror: William Malone - Fair Haired Child - 2006

Ahhhh, don't cha just love a happy ending?
This one was not too shabby. Much better than the last couple.

Commentary with writer Matt Greenberg (Halloween H2O and Reign of Fire) and director William Malone (House on Haunted Hill and FeardotCom). Some VERY technical discussions, nice!

Other extras is the usual double handful of stuff. Actually, the Working with a Master documentary was far better than many. We learn a lot, it features Jeffery Combs (in both HoHH and Feardotcom). AND we learn that Bob Burns owns the original Robby the Robot!!!(if you don't know who Bob Burns is, buy It Came From Bob's Basement here:
http://www.amazon.com/Came-Bobs-Basement-Exploring-Science/dp/0811825728/sr=1-1/qid=1169158064/ref=sr_1_1/103-6714507-6512632?ie=UTF8&s=books)

The Face of Fear - an interview with Bill Malone is another excellent featurette. We learn here that HE did the original Halloween mask, which is William Shatner?!?! And behind him, on a wall of masks he made (worked for years at Don Post Masks) is the mask from Phantom of the Paradise. He has made a couple of small budget movies (one I have; Creature, featuring Klaus Kinski, who he admits is insane!).

There is also the standard collection of interviews with major actors and Making of Featurette.

Friday, January 12, 2007
The Covenant - 2006

PG-13?!? Why did I rent this? You know there's not going to be anything juicy.

Well, I have to admit, this was better than I expected. A nice, full mythology and I like that they don't explain everything up front. There was lots of CG, but it was well done. And there was subtitles! Yeah!

Commentary with director (Renny Harlin, director of Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Die Hard 2, Exorcist: The Beginning, and Mind Hunters) only, but it is very good for a solo effort. Good tech details, if he had more variation in tone of voice, it would be great. As is, don't listen late at night, or it's "nighty night".

For some reason, this guy's story about the spider wrangler at about 10 minutes in really struck me as funny. And some of the things that he reveals are digital is really amazing. The movie cost $20M, grossed $23M before DVD.

Only other extra is a Making of Featurette. There's a very nice scene here where the director says that he'd never ask an actor to do something he's never done, so we get to see THE DIRECTOR doing wire work before the actors do. Very cool.