Twitch

Which version of the PRISONER would you want to take with you to your forced island encampment? Why THE COMPLETE SERIES BLURAY of course! But you'll have to take a number.

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:42:51 -0500

If you've never seen The Prisoner do so. This was simply one of the most compelling and interesting episodic TV shows ever. A man quits his job as a government operative and is drugged just as he is about to hit the road to freedom. When he wakes he's on on island with other people like himself, assigned a number, cared for in every possible way.... and a prisoner. Escape attempts bring him face to face with impossible technologies and as he tries to unravel the mystery of where he is and how to get free the audience is host to a wild and ambitious satire/critique of social issues and ethics.

The sound has been remixed in 5.1 but you still have the option of the original mono. A feature length production doc called Dont Knock Yourself Out offers tons of interviews and insight and a pair of featurettes The Pink Prisoner and You Make Sure It Fits pick up some of the slack. This is more about the show than anyone needs to know. You can also watch the original edit of Arrival with the option of Wilfred Josephs abandoned soundtrack, the original edit of The Chimes of Big Ben, and enjoy production commentaries on 7 of the episodes.

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A nice place to visit.... again.... and again.... and again- FAWLTY TOWERS REMASTERED

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:28:47 -0500

I've seen every single one of these episodes too many times to count. Doesn't matter a bit. This is timeless inventive, stuff. The kind of thing that you feel obligated to introduce to the unitiated and invite friends overt o watch and rewatch. The fact that the character of Basil Fawlty is based on a real person makes the show all the more rich. Like Seinfeld and other programs that expertly replicate human pettiness and folly Fawlty Towers is so cathartic that watching it leaves a viewer both lighter and enlightened.

There's a ton of new material on here and the series has never looked better. You get a new set of exclusive commentaries by John Cleese, brand new 2009 extended interviews, including exclusive interview with Connie Booth, John Cleese, Prunella Scales, and Andrew Sachs and Series One and Two directors commentaries with John Howard Davies and Bob Spiers as well as outtakes and other assorted ephemera.

Things I would like to see soon from BBC? The Goodies, a new release of Red Dwarf and The Vicar of Dibley.

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If GONE WITH THE WIND is celebrating it's 70TH ANNIVERSARY isn't it 'bout time you actually watched it?

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:15:50 -0500

This is really only for GOTW geeks. If you are one don't be ashamed. Me too. This lavishly mounted, relentlessly watchable melodrama, is everything that we associate with old world Hollywood glamour. It will probably be around as long as people watch movies. So will this sturdy red velvet box. Generally speaking I'd rather have a a multi disc set rather than special packaging but this has both and GWTW is worth it. Now if we could only get a Chariot Edition of Ben Hur or a Holy Tablet version of the Ten Commandments (10 discs natch).

You get 5-Discs in LIMITED and NUMBERED packaging containing the movie the in hi-def plus more than 8 hours of extras, including the new doc "Warner Bros. Home Entertainment presents 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year," "Gone with the Wind: The Legend Lives On" featurette, and all the extras previously released on the four disc version. Collectibles include a 52-pg Hardcover Photo and Production Art Book, ten (10) 5"x7" frameable Watercolor Reproduction Art Prints, Bonus CD Soundtrack Sampler, and Reproduction of the Original 1939 Program. Available in DVD and Bluray.

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Will there still be DVD's in a LIFE AFTER PEOPLE?

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:55:04 -0500

A computer simulated TV show that takes us on a time journey to see what would happen to mans history if man suddenly vanished? If you hate CGI stay away but Life After People manages to explore this idea in a calm scientific fashion. True it's pretty broad, and there is some conjecture but most of what the show talks about is hard to ignore. The basic point is that if man were to vanish tomorrow the things that will remind anything else in the universe we've been here will slowly degrade, decay and disappear. The process of how that will happen forms the basis of each episode. What would happen to our pets? To our homes? Our monuments? Great gosh a mighty?! WHAT ABOUT MY DVD COLLECTION?!! Each facet of human life and influence is dissected and tracked to its eventual extinction. You get 10 episodes on 3 discs totalling about eight hours. No extras. This stuff is seriously addictive.

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Is having your Black Adder Remastered as painful as it sounds? Turns out it's wonderful!!

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:43:39 -0500

Actually this is titled the Ultimate Edition. But in any case I finally have a copy of the Black Adder! Wherever you stand on which of the four incarnations is best, funniest etc. there is no doubt that Black Adder is a Crown Jewel in the British Comedy Pantheon. Not only does this contain all four series but also every other Black Adder special. This is a program that was graced with the presence of an astonishing array of talent. Rotating through the episodes are notables like Jim Broadbent, Hugh Laurie, Ralph Richardson, Tom Baker, Stephen Frye, Brian Blessed and Helen Mirren. Brit-philes will find even more.

Add to that the enormous amount of supplemental material including new interviews, commentaries with all the principles etc. and this has to be one of the best sets of the year. 6 Discs in very easy to handle elegant packaging

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History Channel involved in far reaching Conspiracy?

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:34:08 -0500

When I was a kid there was a program, a wildly popular documentary program, called In Search Of.... Narrated by Leonard Nimoy it offered viewers the chance to explore all sorts of speculative and paranormal phenomena. Bigfoot, Nessie, UFOs, disturbing disappearances, all got the sonorously serious treatment sending school kids back to the playground week after week to debate and opine. This is also around the time that books like Strange Stories Amazing Facts, In Search of Dracula, Chariots of the Gods, and scads of UFO and Ghost related paperbacks offered up paranormal topics as info-tainment. This show is entertaining enough even if it does tend to tackle timeworn topics. But even the newer topics it does tackle bring up an interesting question.

This weeks announcenment that Oprah is retiring her TV show made me wonder? Did we wind up with Geraldo, Donahue, Sally Jessie and O herself because of the way our hunger was stirred by the above?! Talk about conspiracies! In all seriousness Bigfoot and Nessie and UFOs are one thing but the death of Presidents? Princess Diana? TWA Flight 800?

Is our hunger for conspiracy so great that we would rather ignore the real life heartbreak of these incidents and the incredible impact they've had on our society and the world so that we can laze away at the tellie for one more hour? I opt for a larger conspiratorial worldview wherein we are constantly distracted by such "investigations" while more important quetions go unanswered. You get the whole show, 13 episodes on 3 discs.

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How universal is it? The Universe Collector's Edition Megaset

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:24:12 -0500

When they say the Universe they aren't kidding. This massive 14 disc set contains the History Channels The Universe Season One, Season Two, The Planets and How The Earth Was Made plus two bonus documentaries Inside The Volcano, and Beyond The Big Bang. Add on a bunch of featurettes and additional footage and you have one stellar package. What i want to know is why the history chanel has never done a program on why theories are presented this way in the first place. What is it about saying "we just don't know" that freaks us out so badly. I could stomach the whole History Channel approach better if their scientific stuff tackled the tension between the quantifiable and the unquantifiable a little more effectively. Still I wouldn't have passed this monster up on a long shot.

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DVD Review: TORA-SAN Collector's Set Volume 1

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0500

2009 has been a great year for the release of vintage Japanese films on North American DVD. One of the more unique and unexpected Japanese releases of the year is AnimEigo's four disc collector's set of the sentimental Tora-san comedies from Shochiku. Although these films are generally unknown to Western audiences, AnimEigo's immaculate box set should turn many skeptics into converts.

Volume One of the Tora-san collector's set covers the first four films: Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp (1969), Tora-san's Cherished Mother (1969), Tora-san, His Tender Love (1970), and Tora-san's Grand Scheme (1970). Unbelievably, forty-eight of Tora-san films were made. Each film stars Kiyoshi Atsumi, who played the smash-faced yakuza drifter named Torajiro Kuruma (aka Tora-san). Yoji Yamada directed all but two of the films. Torajiro Kuruma is a two-sided character. On one hand, he is a bumbling tough guy whose non-stop banter about farting and peeing are a constant source of amusement. In addition to being a comical character, Torajiro Kuruma is also a tragic one whose clownish antics hide loneliness and his desire to connect with other people. The dual nature of the character matches the overall tone of the films, which reliably alternate between comical and sentimental moments.

In Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp, Torajiro Kuruma wanders back to Shibamata neighborhood in Tokyo decades after running away. Upon his arrival, he reunites with his younger sister Sakura (Chieko Biasho), his aunt and his uncle. Torajiro Kuruma tries to blend in but his constant bullshitting and stubbornness gets in the way. When his uncle can't accompany Sakura to her omiai,Torajiro Kuruma goes in his place. Of course, he mucks up everything up and splits town in embarrassment. While in Kyoto, he stumbles across Gozen-sama of Taishaku-ten Temple (Chishu Ryu) and his daughter. Torajiro Kuruma quickly falls for the monk's daughter, and heads back to Shibamata with a new crush. Things work out for Sakura. However, Torajiro Kuruma's romance is mostly in his head, and by the end of the film, he drifts away again.

Describing the plots of the other three films isn't so useful because each film follows the exact same progression. Each film has a short introduction, which is followed by the same title sequence. Like a human boomerang, Torajiro Kuruma swings into Shibamata near the beginning of each film. He then starts raising hell, mucking up family business, and getting rejected by women. By the end, Torajiro Kuruma leaves Shibatama. Variations occur in the central plot, sub-plots, supporting characters and settings, but the films are very similar.

Even though the Tora-san films rely on a predictable formula, it is easy to tell why Shochiku cranked out so many of them: the formula works. The stories are light and breezy, the characters are sympathetic and Kiyoshi Atsumi's comedy is pretty funny. In a sense, Tora-san is reminiscent of episodic television, which isn't too surprising since the film series was actually preceded by a television show. Yoji Yamada's direction recalls the formalism of television: scenes are usually staged in confined spaces (offices, homes, restaurants) with an emphasis on ensemble acting. Whenever the films shift to outside locations, direction shows a bit more flair, turning the films into vivid travelogue that captures the beauty of the natural landscapes and the bustle of the cities. One gets the sense that part of the goal of the Tora-san films was to allow audiences to vicariously experience life in different parts of Japan.

AnimEigo went to great lengths to provide the best possible presentation of these films. The Tora-san films were shot in in 2:35:1 Cinemascope; the DVDs are in anamorphic widescreen with thin vertical black matting at the left and right side. One thing worth noting is that the curvature of the lens tends to jump out in the cinematography. This seems to be inherent in the way the film was shot. Its not really an issue, but sometimes the framing is so wide that the lens distortion becomes apparent at the left and right edges (e.g., people at the edges look squashed).

The English subtitles are delivered in a interesting way. First, when multiple people are talking on screen, the subtitles for each speaker are given a different color to help differentiate the dialogue. Second, annotations are provided in white text in the top part of the frame. For instance, dialogue, scenery or situations that may be lost on non-Japanese speakers are explained in the annotations. Since the annotations and subtitles, which are in a big typeface, occur within the frame, the image can get crowded at times.

The level of context provides in the supplemental materials is impressive. A twenty-eight page booklet includes essays by Yoji Yamada, Donald Richie, and others. Stuart Galbraith IV provides an audio commentary for Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp. The other films do not have an audio commentary. Each DVD contains program notes that further explain the locations and specific cultural references. Interactive maps of Japan allow the viewer to follow Torajiro Kuruma's drifting patterns throughout the series and see where locations in the films are in relation to each other.

In spite of the cliches and formulas, the films hold up quite well. Additionally, AnimEigo's exceptional presentation transforms these light breezy films into a detailed reference guide for a bygone era of Japanese cinema and culture.

Fox Joins Na Hong-Jin's 황해 (Murderer)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:30:49 -0500

Few directors have had as big an impact with their debut film as Na Hong-Jin of 추격자 (The Chaser) had last year, convincing critics that we might have a major talent on our hands, but also selling over five million tickets, which in this atmosphere is quite a feat. It was inevitable, then, that his sophomore effort would raise some eyebrows no matter what, particularly as Na decided to recast the duo which made his first film so enjoyable, super-talented Ha Jung-Woo and Kim Yoon-Seok. But now it seems like the hype will increase even more, as 20th Century Fox Korea (the Hollywood major's new entry into the territory) is about to sign on as co-investor, alongside main investors Wellmade Star M. The two sides are still ironing out the finer details, but it's expected the partnership will be announced shortly, before the film enters principal photography early next year.

Wellmade is a pretty established talent agency in Korea, with top stars like Ha Ji-Won and the Kim Seung-Woo/Kim Nam-Joo couple under their roster, and will provide half of the 10 billion won budget for the project, tentatively entitled 황해 (Murderer), while Showbox, IM Pictures and Fox will take care of the rest. Murderer tells the story of a killer for hire from the Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian, who sets sail for South Korea for a hit which will (possibly) help him pay back all his debts. Of course, things don't exactly go as he first planned.

[Daum News]

Evokative Films and Fantastic Fest present 'Adrift in Tokyo' in Austin, TX!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:38:47 -0500

Well this is just... just... well it's just FANTASTIC news coming from our friends at Evokative Films. Together with Fantastic Fest they will be having their first ever US theatrical release in Austin, Texas early in December. the film? You might have heard about it around here. Adrift in Tokyo!!! Do not miss this opportunity to catch this absolute gem of a film that is clearly a favorite of us around these parts.

The film will be screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz theatre in downtown Austin, Texas, as part of the Fantastic Fest Signature Series. On December 1st there will be one free screening at 7pm for Fantastic Fest 2010 badge holders, to be followed by a regular run on the week-end of December 4th, 5th and 6th.

Tim League, Director of the Fantastic Fest, said "In 2008, we tried desperately to bring to Fantastic Fest one of my favorite films of that year, ADRIFT IN TOKYO. Hot on the festival circuit at the time, there was no print available for our fledgling festival. Now the film has finally found a home in Canada with our pals at Evokative Films. Since we're such huge fans of the film and want to support it any way we can, we've arranged to ship the Canadian print down to Austin. We'll start it off with a free screening for 2010 Fantastic Fest badgeholders and then open it up to the general public. I think you will be as charmed by the film as I was."

You knows what this means. Tim, I'm bringing down TWO bottles of ice wine next year because of this. Steph, you're coming down to Austin next fall to get drunk with us.

Trailer for CG Animated Short THE MOUSE THAT SOARED

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:15:11 -0500

Directed by veteran animator Kyle Bell, The Mouse That Soared is a six minute CG animated short with themes involving adoption, blended-families and nature vs. nurture. Its produce from the crew that worked at Laika Entertainment, the studio behind Coraline and Moongirl.

Step right up and behold the harrowing and hair-raising aerial adventures of a flying circus mouse! Witness the rise of our orphan foundling as he learns valuable lessons in life and flight from two well-intentioned adoptive songbirds! Fasten your safety belts as our little faux-feathered hero reflects on his unlikely beginnings on his flight path to becoming a coveted circus sensation! Come one, come all to this high-flying tale of overcoming adversity and beating near-impossible odds!

Check out the official site to view the concept art. You'll find the trailer embedded below.

Poster Alert! Gremlins, Alien LA Exclusives!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:57:14 -0500

The peeps over at Mondotees.com are hosting a show in LA tonight at Gallery 1988 and are releasing a few prints as LA Exclusive.

The prints that are going to get people all hot and bothered are for Gremlins by newcomer Rhys Cooper and another Alien poster by Ken Taylor. Those who got his Alien Egg poster released a few months back will have to get their hands on this beauty.

Appearing at the show tonight are three artists who will be on hand, doing artwork and shoot the shit. Skinner will be selling his Medusa head print which he printed in 40 copies and hand colored each one.

Kevin Tong will release his Alamo Drafthouse love letter, where various people and characters are watching a certain movie. He will also have a blank version where he will draw which ever movie scene you want in there.

Then Harry Diaz will be there silk screening his new movie themed T-Shirts.

The Event will take place at Gallery 1988, 7020 Melrose Ave, from 7-10 pm tonight only. So if you are in the area get your asses down there and snatch up these sweet deals.

Check out these sweet posters below in the gallery section.

Making-of Video for CG Animated Short MEET MELINE

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:40:25 -0500

Back in late March, a trailer for Sebastien Laban & Virginie Goyons' animated short Meet Meline caught my eye and I became immediately captivated by its charm and magical wonder while leaving me wanting to see how the story develops when the little girl finds the mysterious creature. Although the full short is not available online yet unfortunately, a 12-minutes making-of featurette has been unveiled today that contains some behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with the director on the story/characters/environments and an in-depth view on the process of completing the short. I can only imagine the road to getting the project off the ground is long and arduous but its also clear that alot of heart and passion was put into it. A definite must-see for any aspiring animators wanting to learn how to start their own short film.

You'll find the making-of video and the trailer embedded below.

Test Footage From Argentine Sci-Fi EL ETERNAUTA

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:38:25 -0500

Without a doubt the largest and most anticipated science fiction film ever produced in South America, there are rumors of dischord circling the film adaptation of Hector German Oesterheld's El Eternauta. There is recent chatter that original director Lucrecia Martel - always something of an odd fit, really - is off the project but I don't expect that a change of directors will be enough to derail this alien invasion tale. And, really, if Martel is gone the directors should be hopping on the next flight to Uruguay to sign Panic Attack director Federico Alvarez.

But I digress. El Eternauta is a sprawling tale that begins with aliens sending a toxic snowfall onto humanity, a devastating attack followed up by their unleashing of bizarre, remotely mind controlled creatures to mop up the survivors. Survivors, who, thanks to the damage wrought on the environment, can now only venture out doors in specially constructed bio-hazard suits. And though the film is far from complete earlier this year a reel of test footage was prepared to demonstrate how it could be executed. The effects are obviously not complete - the texturing and shading need work - but still are quite impressive for test work. Check out the reel below.

DougTenNapel Says GO SUKASHI!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:30:43 -0500

New from Doug TenNapel - still best known as the creator of Earthworm Jim, though his credits go well beyond that at this stage of his career - and Shoko Nakagawa is Go Sukashi! An English language masked hero web series produced by TenNapel and based on characters from Nakagawa's Sukashikashipan-Man manga the results are so exciting that they've left Nakagawa ready to go and eat one million pieces of the bread! That's power! Episode one lurks below!