August, 2010 Archive
Chris Cummins | New Releases This Week
This week's new DVD and Blu-ray releases are dominated by TV shows. Regardless of what types of programs you like, there's probably something here that you will enjoy. So what are you waiting for? Let's see if any of your Boob tube favorites are dropping this week!
Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season
Well, it's all over. We're you pleased with the way with the way everything turned out? Upset about the magical cave of magical light? Sad about how Ben found redemption? Regardless of your feelings, Lost is over and now you can relive every moment from the final season with this box set that is highlighted by several special features--including the 12-minute epilogue "New Man in Charge" that answers some of the series' lingering mysteries. Is that enough Lost for you? If not perhaps this will cure your fix for the show...
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guest-blogs | FanFare Guests
Guest blogger DJ Heinlein writes:
If you have read the review I had published for Shutter Island, there is a particular section in the article where I cover the topic of cameo appearances. It can be tremendously distracting for me if I recognize too many familiar faces appearing in bit roles. Are you ever the same way about watching a movie with an excessive amount of familiar faces appearing within it? There are certain instances when the minor appearance is acceptable and I will shrug it off without much thought or further consideration. Any given comedy film is the single most acceptable excuse for an excessive use of the cameo performance, because the desired intention would be to provoke a laugh. However, a dramatic film is not necessarily the case unless the cameo appearance by a recognizable face is coherent to the story itself. An acceptable example of a dramatic cameo appearance that I am willing to overlook would be the appearance of Hunter S.
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Jason Marcewicz | Staff Notes
Hot rods and muscle cars, all tricked-out and built for speed: There’s plenty of articles out there about them. This article is not about those. The cars listed here are the antithesis of cool. Be they drab, junky, clunky, burned-out, broken-down or plain ‘ol kooky looking these are the cars that are… well, frankly embarrassing.
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Jay Steinberg | This Week in Film History
August 28, 1912: "King of Comedy" Mack Sennett leaves Biograph and forms Keystone Film Company with two former bookies.
August 27, 1917: The first feature to be directed by John Ford, the Harry Carey-Hoot Gibson western Straight Shooting, opens.
August 23, 1925: With its premiere at the Century Theater in New York, Fritz Lang's Siegfried introduces the synchronized, sound-on-film process.
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Brian Sieck | Staff Notes
OK, yours truly has covered sex and drugs in this column, so it’s only natural that I tackle rock ‘n’ roll movies to complete the triple play. Sure, there have been plenty of “rock” movies made throughout the course of film history, but what I’m really talking about are movies “about rock ‘n’ roll.” I’m not talking about musicals like The Who’s Tommy. Nor am I venturing to discuss concert films like Woodstock. I’m also not willing to include documentaries such as Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz. It would be much too easy to just throw the aforementioned movies on a list and call it a day. That’s just not fun. Besides, it has been done numerous times before. I’m talking about actual scripted movies about rock music and rock history that also include great music. When one uses such criteria to narrow down the best of the bunch, the options dwindle considerably. Furthermore, many of the fun films from the ‘50s and ‘60s dealing with the topic such as The Girl Can’t Help It simply aren’t available.
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George D. Allen | Staff Notes
Roger Moore once described his approach to the part of James Bond by remarking that 007 was a fellow who didn’t like killing, but was glad he did it well. Moore’s outings as the debonair superspy, for the most part, are more concerned with pure entertainment and humorous escapism than any of the series’ entries before or since. That may be a source of disappointment to some Bond purists who revere the character's literary heritage, but it’s no accident that the oft-quoted tagline “nobody does it better” originated smack in the middle of the Moore era.
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guest-blogs | FanFare Guests
Guest blogger Donna Hill writes:
Whomever said overt violence on film is a sad reflection on the effects of modern technology and overexposure to violence in video games has never seen Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery released in 1903. Plenty of violence and plenty of bodies for a film that runs less than 12 minutes.
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Irv Slifkin | Ask Movie Fanfare
Q: Could you tell me if WB is ever going to release more Spencer Tracy films, in particular, A Guy Named Joe, The Seventh Cross, Cass Timberlane, Keeper of the Flame and The Sea of Grass?
Also, with all of the classic films on DVD, it seems that Debbie Reynolds has been forgotten! Any chance that such films as I Love Melvin, Give a Girl a Break, Bundle of Joy, This Happy Feeling, Say One For Me, The Gazebo, It Started with A Kiss, The Pleasure of His Company, My Six Loves, or Goodbye Charlie will make it to DVD in the near future?
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guest-blogs | FanFare Guests
Guest blogger ClassicBecky writes:
I don’t like baseball, but I love movies about baseball. You see all the good parts without the long, boring stretches. The same may be true for many people regarding ballet. Even if you would not spend an evening at the ballet, there are three movies about ballet that I believe are movie-making at its best.
The Red Shoes (1948) is probably the most famous of ballet-themed movies. Starring prima ballerina Moira Shearer, it is a story of conflict, love and tragedy. The Hans Christian Andersen tale about a girl who covets a pair of red shoes, only to find that they will never stop dancing, is mirrored in the story of ballerina Vicky Page (Shearer). Her love of dance and fascination with Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), the ballet impresario who is a thinly disguised version of real-life ballet producer Diaghilev, collides with her wish for normal love and life with composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring). This conflict is portrayed on a melodramatic and epic scale.
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Chris Cummins | New Releases This Week
There are a few films making their way to DVD and Blu-ray this week, but the biggest and best releases are all TV shows. Here's what's in store for you to watch now. Happy viewing!
Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete Season 4
We pull the fourth season of Jay Ward's classic toon out of our hat with this two-disc set that includes the complete adventures "Painting Theft," "The Guns of Abalone," "The Treasure of Monte Zoom," "Goof Gas Attack," and "Banana Formula"--along with episodes of "Aesop and Son," "Dudley Do-Right," "Fractured Fairy Tales," and "Peabody's Improbable History."
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Jay Steinberg | This Week in Film History
August 18, 1925: MGM settles on the winner of a fan magazine contest to rechristen contract starlet Lucille LeSeur, and adds "Joan Crawford" to the lexicography.
August 16, 1926: Up-and-coming starlet Clara Bow inks a deal with Paramount, but refuses to sign the customary "morality" clause.
August 21, 1939: RKO Pictures contracts with theater/radio wunderkind Orson Welles, allowing him to produce, direct, script and act in two projects of his choosing.
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