Week of March 14 through March 20, 2008

Friday, March 14 through Monday, March 17
Carnivale, Season Two - 2005

Coolest series I've seen in a long time. Dark, intriguing, and complicated. You're gonna think I'm nuts, but its beautiful in its filthiness. Much more detail would ruin it. Trust me and watch it. It's very good.

Commentary on Episode 9 features actor Nick Stahl (Ben, the hero), director Rodrigo García, series creator Daniel Knauf, and executive producer Howard Klein. Alas, this commentary was not very impressive. Kinda dull, actually.

Commentary on Episode 12 features actor Clancy Brown (Brother Justin), director Scott Winant, creator Knauf, and ExProd Klein. This one was a little more technical, and better than the first.

Other extras on Disc 6 include a discussion with cast and creators. Not too bad, 30 minutes of questions and answers. The questioner was a fool, but the answers were good. Also included was Magic & Myth, a behind the scenes.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Running Time - 1997

I bought this DVD solely because it's got the great Bruce Campbell in it. But I knew I was in trouble when the perfect opportunity presented itself, and they didn't show any boobage.

Black and white, all steadycam, shot to look like one long continuous real time shot. At only 70 minutes, it was short, but interesting. Bruce really carries it, but then, I guess that was the point.

Commentary with writer/director Josh Becker and Bruce Campbell. Josh has a history with Bruce, having done a couple of the Jack of all Trades (see earlier entry) and Alien Apocalypse. Movie was shot in 10 days. Commentary was very nice, lots of technical details, but not dry. Excellent!

Tragic Ceremony - 1972 (Spain)

Bring your reading glasses, as there's no English, just subtitles. And if the leading lady looks familiar, that's because she is Camille Keaton, who played Jennifer in Day of the Woman (aka I Spit On Your Grave).

They bunch all the gruesome special effects in one scene in the middle of the movie, and it's all downhill from there.

Only extra is Camille's European Adventures - Camille Keaton featurette that was pretty interesting.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
I Am Omega - 2007

Yep, another cheap rip off from Asylum. Guess of what movie.

Actually, this one is not hideous. The main guy (Mark Dacascos) has all the acting chops of Van Dam. And STILL no boobage! I gotta do something about this dry spell. Where's a sexploitation movie when a guy needs one?

Commentary has director Griff Furst (yep, that's the son of Babylon 5's own Stephen Furst), actor/writer Geoff Meed, and the wooden Dacascos. Very little detail, almost as dull as Dacascos himself.

Other extras include a behind the scenes featurette Dead Against One, which was short but good. And a blooper reel that was too short, but funny.

Thursday, March 20, 2008
Gabriel - 2007 (Australian)

Basically, we have the Matrix meets Dogma in a Max Headroom world. But they whisper too much. Thank god for subtitles, else I'd be screwed. This is interesting and unique. A little long, a little slow, and too damn soft, but well worth the watch for those who are looking for something different than the usual Hollywood dreck.

Other extras include deleted scenes (without subtitles, so no idea what they're saying) but none will be missed.There is also a 1.5 hour long behind the scenes featurette that covers every aspect completely. Really don't need a commentary with this thing. Well done and interesting.

Justice League: The New Frontier - 2008

Interesting, darker than you'd expect. Much better story than Doomsday, or is it because I didn't read the graphic novel on which it's based, so don't know what's missing/changed?

Commentary #1 - Filmmaker's commentary. Fairly interesting, lots of details on why they did what they did. A little too much "Oh, I love this scene".

Commentary #2 - Comic book writer & artist/creator Darwyn Cooke. An interesting perspective.