1408 - 2007
Goddamn unskippable commercials and trailers! I HATE the Weinstein Group. Every one of their DVDs does this shit. Them and Dimension are the WORST. If I wanted to watch commercials, I'd watch TV. If I want to see the trailers, I'll go to that menu option. Making those things unskippable does nothing except ENSURE that I will NOT view or buy whatever I'm forced to watch. Get a clue, asshats. I don't appreciate having things rammed down my throat.
As for the movie, all I can say is WOW, it's every bit as good as I had hoped it would be. Very atmospheric, and everyone does a great job. It's not gory, so those looking for a good creepy movie that can't stand gore, this is your flick. Oh, and Samuel Jackson doesn't drop an "F" bomb.
Other Extras include 2 alternate endings. One that's not as good, and one that's very similar, but not nearly as effective. Also, there are two webisodes, both very short, but interesting. One is John Cusack on 1408, the other Inside Room 1408.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Malpertuis - 1971 aka The Legend of Doom House
In what has to be the ultimate "Why the hell did I ever put THIS in my queue" moment, we have a two disc set of a movie starring Orson Wells in a French mind "f" movie. Truly, this is a David Lynch movie before David Lynch. You will sit the the entire time thinking "WTF?". Unfortunately, it's not very interesting. You watch the whole thing pretty much to see if in the end, they explain anything. And to be fair, yes, they do. And I absolutely promise it's nothing you'd ever expect. (don't cheat and read anything on IMDB now, just to prove me wrong!)
There is a commentary with the daughter of the producer (who's name I couldn't understand) and director Harry Kümel . It was fairly technical, but hard to listen to through the accents (they are French, so I guess I should be thankful they even bothered to speak English). Since the movie's over two hours long, it's a real test of your endurance.
Other Extras on disc one are Orson Welles Uncut - interviews with cast members. No one seemed to like Orson very much. Maybe that's because he was such a primodona and general asshole. Yea think? The only other extra was an interesting featurette on how one actress played three parts. I hadn't even realized, she had done such a good job.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Malpertuis - Disc 2
There's a different version on this disc, one shown at Cannes, I think. Sorry, but I'm just not interested enough to watch.
Other Extras include Reflections of Darkness - Film Historian and Journalist David Del Valle interviews director. LOTS more detail than I care about. AND it's over an hour long. Also, Jean Ray / John Flanders interview with the original author, who is quite advanced in age.
Welcome To The Jungle - 2007
I see we are back to making movies filled with nothing but people that I hate. Why is it that everyone who goes into cannibal land are assholes? See Cannibal Ferox. It is funny to see a modern movie this is in the classic cannibal movie style. As cannibal movies go, it's pretty good. The fact that the group splits up due to a fight, and the end is two separate cameras is a nice touch.
Commentary with director Jonathan Hensleigh. Fairly technical, an exercise in true guerrilla filmaking. Eight member cast & crew, and a $200K budget. Pretty good commentary for a solo effort.
Other extras include Into the Wild - Making of. Pretty good too. And a single deleted scene.
This was actually better than I expected.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Cannibals - 1980 aka Barbarian Goddess
Continuing our cannibal festival, here's a classic one by Jesse Franco! And it features Al Cliver , who was in Fulchi's Zombi and The Beyond. This movie has the world's worst dubbing. I especially like the fake southern accent.
Wow, this is cheap even by Jesse Franco standards. Cannibals are OBVIOUSLY not natives. The guts-eating seen only in closeup or from the side, because there's no special affects of folks being riped open. And we have serious time issues. The little girl ages 10 years, while the Dad is not a day older.
Only other extra is Franco Holocaust - 20 minute interview with Jess. This is subtitled, thank god, as Jess' english she no good. And here we learn why the natives don't look right. They're all gypsies. Interview more interesting than the movie.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Day Watch - 2006
Beautiful, in a grimy, ugly sort of way. Awesome CG. Alas, it is utterly unfollowable. Yet, in spite of that, it's AWESOME. Nearly 140 minutes wizzed by. Subtitles were greatly appreciated.
Commentary is too slow and too hard to understand. Other extras include a subtitled Making Of, which has both behind the scenes and cast & crew interviews.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Double Doom - Double Feature
Doomsday Chronicles - 1979
This is dumber than a box of rocks. It's the An Inconvenient Truth of 1979. No science, lots of conjecture. Anytime you pull out Nostradamus, you know you're in trouble. "Doomsday by 1999". Well, he missed that one.
What a load of bullshit. "By the year 2000, we will have pumped every drop of oil, it will all be gone". Huh, strike two.
Ozone layer depleted by 16% by 2000. Strike three, you're out of here. Like AIT, it's all "facts" cherry picked to match their presumptions. Yet, all the countering facts (like we go through this every 100,000 years. What caused the last one, dinosaur farts?)
Death: The Ultimate Mystery - 1975
Cameron Mitchell narrates a VERY boring exploration of beliefs about death. Man, is this one dull. It's dull even by Documentary standards. And Cameron's narration could make a detailed description of an orgy sound uninteresting.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Grindhouse: Planet Terror - 2007
Now this is what I'm talking about. You remember the complaints about DeathProof? Well, this movie suffers from none of them. First off, there's not a dull second here. Second, it's a gore hound's wet dream. Third, there are these wonderful performances by Bruce Willis (as a bad guy), Tom Savini as a bumbling incompetent cop, Michael Biehn as the sherrif. It's all good.
Only one commentary, but it's by Robert Rodriguez by himself. Very interesting. First, we learn that he wrote the music first, then the movie. I bet THAT doesn't happen very often. Next, there are LOTS of nods to John Carpenter, which is always nice. The only bad thing is that he keeps talking about an extra (10 minute film school) that isn't on the disc. Guess that's a part of some 2 disc set that Netflix can't carry. I may have to go to Best Buy and pick this one up. It's that good.
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