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07.19.08 by ScottC @ 4:36 pm
Demon Seed. Dr. Harris (Fritz Weaver) is justly proud of his creation, the super computer Proteus IV (voiced by Robert Vaughn). However, Dr. Harris doesn't anticipate that a learning thinking machine might develop a will of its own. What a shock. Indeed, Proteus wants to do what any life form wants to do, procreate. Of course Harris and the company who 'owns' Proteus aren't anxious for Proteus to grow fruitful and multiply. But Proteus, being a million times smarter, has found a way. Dr. Harris' wife, Susan (Julie Christie) lives in an automated house designed by the good doctor. Proteus hacks the house and turns it into a cage that Susan can only escape by becoming Proteus' baby mama. This cult classic is a heady mix of Oedipus, Frankenstein, and exploitation cinema. Click here to buy it from Amazon. Masters of Horror: The Screwfly Solution. A new plague has reared it's microscopic head. But this bug doesn't cause nausea or a fever. No, it changes the brain chemistry of men so that, when aroused, instead of getting signals to mate, they get signals to kill. Scientists Alan Alstein (Jason Priestly) and his colleague Barney (Elliot Gould) are desperately trying to a cure or treatment. As the plague worses, Alan's wife Anne (Kerry Norton) takes their daughter to hide but Alan, now infected, has needs he must satisfy. Can Anne survive when any man she meets, even her husband, is a potential killer. Included in the DVD is a commentary from guest director Joe Dante and writer Sam Hamm, two behind the scene featurettes, and a photo gallery. Click here to buy it from Amazon. Categorized as: Headsup
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07.13.08 by Widge @ 11:47 pm An ongoing attempt to make sense of the onslaught of new swag that people want you to buy. Should you? I'll try and help.
Batman: Gotham Knight is what happens when anime meets the Bat. It's six stories, with not only different anime artists but also different writers, with folks like Greg Rucka, David Goyer, and Brian Azzarello. And Kevin Conroy is back to voice Batman, so that's got to be pleasing. And the sticker on the front proclaims it's the first-ever PG-13 Batman animated movie--which I guess means they're splitting hairs and saying that Return of the Joker was a Batman Beyond animated movie rather than a Batman one. Whatever. They sent us the one-disc version, which features commentary by DC exec Gregory Noveck, former Batman editor Dennis O'Neil and Conroy. If you're going to buy it, then get the two-disc version as it comes with two bonus featurettes that between them are just about equal in length to the main event. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.) Categorized as: Headsup
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07.07.08 by Widge @ 11:57 pm
Tchaikovsky is a BBC production that mixes dramatic recreations of the composer's life with conductor Charles Hazlewood trying to seek out what the man means in Russia. He does this by providing commentary and interviews, which can be a little jarring since the cover would make this seem to be a straight up biopic of some sort. Instead you get two hours of essentially a primer, which should get you setup to learn more should you choose to. The disc comes with a single extra--"Who Killed Tchaikovsky?"--which covers the controversy of his death. Music lovers should consider renting. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.) John Cusack surprises no one by being excellent in Grace is Gone, the story of a man at home with two daughters while his wife is deployed in Iraq. Then he receives the word that his wife has died--and has to figure out a way to break the news to his kids, not to mention tell with the loss himself. I don't suppose I need to point out that this isn't going to be a film you watch to make yourself feel peppy and happy and light, right? But that's okay--strong performances, good story = good release from The Weinstein Company. The features are scant--a short batch of interviews, a featurette on a Marine who lost his wife, and more. Worth a rental, but only when you feel like crying for a while. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.) Categorized as: Headsup
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07.06.08 by Widge @ 11:55 pm An ongoing attempt to make sense of the onslaught of new swag that people want you to buy. Should you? I'll try and help.
Season Four of Hawaii Five-O hits with all of the action, all of the drama, and all of the mad Hawaiian 70s fashion that you've come to expect. Jack Lord is here as badass McGarrett. The series' Moriarty, Wo Fat, returns in this season. And Buddy Ebsen shows up as a villain at one point. Six discs, twenty-four episodes, plus episode promos are what you get here. The set will run you $35 on Amazon as I write this, so it's about $1.50 an episode. And I can't tell if it's airing in reruns at the moment. So if you're a fan, I'll tell you: this is probably as good as it gets, friends. So the fan should snag. This is out from Paramount. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.) The Streets of San Francisco, besides being thought of as riddled by hills and trolley cars, was a series in the 70s starring Karl Malden and a rather young Michael Douglas. Malden is the senior cop, Douglas is the green cop (and back then, "green" meant rookie and not "environmentally friendly") and together--they fight crime! This is part one of the second season and comes with eleven episodes. Again, I don't know if this is airing anywhere either, so fans will want to snag this because again, unless we can get Malden and Douglas back to do a commentary (and wouldn't that be cool), this Paramount set is about as good as it gets. Douglas fans will want to snag it just because the youngish ones probably didn't know this existed. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.) Categorized as: Headsup
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07.03.08 by Widge @ 11:58 pm An ongoing attempt to make sense of the onslaught of new swag that people want you to buy. Should you? I'll try and help.
Well, this is the first season of Burn Notice, and I'm going to give you full disclosure up front: it's got The Bruce in it. So you know that by law, we have to be pleased with that. Just so you know where we stand. Jeffrey Donovan was the lead in USA Network version of Touching Evil, but he appears to have a better shot with this one mostly because it--*cough*--got renewed. In this series he's Michael Westen, former intelligence operative who's been exiled to Miami trying to find out exactly why he's been taken out of the game. This a four-disc, eleven episode job from Fox, and if you like the show you're going to be seriously tempted by this, because the array of features isn't bad: scene-specific commentary by creator Matt Nix and the cast, including Donovan and The Bruce, a gag reel, audition footage and more. I would say a fan should rent first to see if they want to buy--the shows are in repeats on USA at the moment, so you're not lacking for episodes. And the features, while decent, aren't a must-buy. And at $35 on Amazon, it's definitely up to you: rent first, then buy if necessary. How The Bruce getting a paycheck enters into that equation is something for you and your conscience. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.) Journey to the Far Side of the Sun is not, as it might sound when you hear the title, a Rick Wakeman album. Instead, it's a sci-fi film from 1969 that I didn't realize at first was produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Yes, they of the Supermarionation. Anyway, there's another world on the opposite side of the sun. And a space mission is sent out to find out if the Squadron Supreme live there. Or something like that. Anyway, you might imagine there are models involved, being an Anderson film, and you might imagine, being from the late 1960s, that it's a bit wacky. And you might be right. It's a bare bones release from Universal, replacing the 1998 version which didn't have anything else on it either. Worth at least a rental or if you're an Anderson completist, go ahead and snag it. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.) Categorized as: Headsup
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