Tag: David Lynch

In Praise Of… DUNE (1984)

In Praise Of… DUNE (1984)

As all good geeks are well aware, 1982 is considered a high water mark for genre films. It may not have translated into box office mojo, but that year gave us an unbelievable string of classics: Tron, Blade Runner, The Dark Crystal, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, E.T., The Thing, Poltergeist, and, yeah, OK, The Secret of Nimh. But I like to remember another special year of Hollywood Science Fiction and Fantasy, one that gets a little short changed in light of that roster of beauties, but holds a special place in my heart: 1984. Orwell’s signature year gave us Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Gremlins, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, 2010 and David Lynch’s much maligned box office bomb, DUNE.

Now, once again, I’m not here to go into the full history of trying to bring Frank Herbert’s epic science fiction masterpiece to the silver screen. I’m just here to tell you why I love it. Besides, there’s plenty of info out there to find, and it’s all pretty fascinating. (Let’s just say it’s a blessing and a shame we never got to see Jodorowsky’s version. Salvador Dali may well have been a genius, but his insistence on playing the Emperor while sitting on a huge gold toilet may have been a sign of the muse waving goodbye.) There are many who’ve always thought that the book was best left alone, that it was an impossible thing to translate into a motion picture. I disagree, they’re different animals, and with the proper care a “difficult” book can make the transition well. The same was always said about Watchmen, and I happen to think that Zach Snyder did an amazing job. It’s a miracle to me that he got to make an uncompromising version of the story, with R rated violence and non-heroic characters, all with studio money. Lynch was in over his head, no doubt. But I can’t imagine the insanity that must have gone on at the studio before, after and during the production of DUNE. And what came out the other side was probably as good or better than could have ever been expected.

None of that was on my mind when I went to the theater that day back in December of 1984. I’d known about DUNE mainly through my mother, who was an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy from the time she was in her teens. I’d always gathered that it was probably too cerebral for me, and was probably more concerned with mythology than slam bang action and adventure. Earlier that year, around early May, I picked up a copy of the magazine “Fantastic Films”, and it was dedicated to the summer of ’84 movies and beyond. I used to pore over its pages every other day, I read every article and obsessed over the many photographs in the features. I was busting to see Temple of Doom and Ghostbusters, but DUNE was a close third. It was the last article in the magazine, and the pictures really did my head in. They seemed to be depicting a world I’d never seen before in a sci fi movie, and really captured my imagination. Plus, it had Sting in it, which I thought was pretty cool. (Come on, he was alright in The Police.)

When we walked into the theater, we were each handed a standard 8 1/2 x 11″ sheet of paper. I figured it was like a mini program, a flyer that told a bit about the film. (This is a now legendary piece of movie memorabilia, never before or since attempted. Talk about the people at Universal shaking in their boots!) When we got to our seats, we had a better look at it, and realized it was a glossary of terms used in the DUNE Universe. And it was double sided. Crap, I thought, this is just what I’d feared; this movie’s going to be too damn smart for me. I was 14 at the time, and was, ya know, an above average 14 year old. (I have two older brothers, there’s a nearly 10-year gap there, and consequently I grew up pretty quickly.) But with this one promotional item I was sure I’d be lost for the next 2 or 3 hours.

And then something amazing happened. A young Virginia Madsen showed up on screen, and speaking directly to the camera, gave us a quick history of the universe we were about to enter, it’s feuding houses, and most importantly, the Arrakis born spice, Melange. And then, from the moment the DUNE logo hit the screen and Brian Eno’s theme blared out at us, I was hooked. This was a different kind of story, a different kind of science fiction. This was epic, with characters and settings that truly were like nothing else I’d seen in a movie. I was as obsessed with the Star Wars galaxy as every other kid in the world, but by the time we got to the end of Return of the Jedi, it was so familiar and so often emulated in other works, that it became sort of “old hat” for me. This thing I was watching was taking me someplace else entirely, and it would seem, at just the right time.

Now, here’s where I’ll get side tracked a bit to give some peripheral information, and then I’ll get back to the reasons I like the movie so much. In hindsight it’s clear that Universal were obviously hoping for a Lucas-like franchise with this thing, especially as there is a series of books that Herbert had written about these characters, but god knows why. I mean, there was a bit of a merchandising bonanza for DUNE, which I find as intriguing as the mechanics of the film. It’s simply bizarre to me that so many companies wanted on board the DUNE wagon. There were coloring books, activity books, action figures, model kits, trading cards, story books, tee shirts, stickers, toy guns and best of all a big rubber sandworm toy, which is unintentionally hilarious. As my friend Brian Heiler of Plaidstallions.com is so fond of saying, “I can’t believe the studio thought Baron Harkonnen was going to be the next Darth Vader.” This was most definitely NOT a kid’s movie, which would appear to be just one of a dozen ways it was doomed from the start.

If you’ve never read the book, I can tell you, it IS dense. It’s something akin to The Lord of the Rings in that Herbert created a language and mythology that went back thousands of years. It’s also very long. Trying to make a commercial blockbuster out of it while retaining the qualities that made it legendary to begin with would have been headache number 7 on that “doomed” list for Lynch. It’s written so that characters are constantly talking to themselves in two and three page long inner monologues. A lot of information is conveyed this way, so the film script would have been never ending. Lynch’s solution was to let us hear the character’s thoughts as scenes played out, which was jarring for audiences. But I think they were lost long before the first monologue played out. There is an awful lot of information to keep track of.

So, back to the film. I’m not gonna say it’s a stone cold classic. It’s not a “great” film. It’s not in my Top Five, or Top Twenty. The effects are a bit dodgy, some of the acting and writing is “wooden”| for certain, and the climax is so rushed you can practically hear the studio accountants ripping huge chunks out of the script. But there’s something about it that I absolutely love. It’s kind of bat shit insane (one of many reasons I’m obsessed with Flash Gordon. That article will be coming soon, oh don’t you worry…) Let’s start with the producer, the legendary Dino De Laurentis. The prolific Italian is better known for his failures and questionable choices than he is for quality, but no one could accuse the man of a lack of passion. The set and costume design is mind blowingly good, starting with the Emperor’s throne room and the meeting of the Spice Guild Navigators, who’s leader, the Third Stage Guild Navigator, is a giant slug like creature floating in a tank, with a mouth shaped like, well, a vagina. (This is the first “proper” scene in the film, and god knows what weird movie people thought they’d wandered into.) But let’s get to the main cast: the whole story rests on the capable shoulders of then unknown Kyle MacLachlan, but he handles the burden nicely, and is fortunate to be supported by the likes of Jurgen Prochnow, Jose Ferrer, Kenneth McMillan, Patrick Stewart, Max Von Sydow, Francesca Annis, Brad Dourif, Linda Hunt, Sting, Richard Jordan, Dean Stockwell and Sean Young. (And if you look closely, you’ll even catch David Lynch himself making a cameo as a Fremen spice miner.) Holy crap! It’s like A Bridge Too Far for nerds! Clearly this was meant to be “event” movie making.

Obviously hoping to replicate some of Queen’s soundtrack success for Flash Gordon, Dino got pop group Toto to handle the chores. (Eh, let’s just say they’re no Queen.) The previously mentioned costumes were designed by Bob Ringwood, who a few years later would dress the Batman for Tim Burton, and every set seems to be made of marble and brass. But I’m not doing any of the dressing justice; everything is just different. Nothing in this universe looks like anything we’d seen before in a science fiction film. The guns look like rectangular bronze and black “boxes”; Feyd and Rabban’s outfits are like S and M meets rock star; the ships are in Moebius territory and put most sci fi vehicles to shame; and the sandworms (though effects wise are incredibly dated) were designed by the great Carlo Rambaldi, responsible for Elliot’s best friend, E.T.

With a script adapted by Lynch himself, (with many “Lynchian” moments snuck in; the Baron getting the pus extracted from his facial blemishes, fondling and then murdering a slave boy comes to mind), and the peripheral character actors in the film are extraordinary, very Fellini-esque, there’s no way any of the above should work at all. It’s like a bunch of great athletes from different sports got together and decided to start playing jai lai professionally. But it DOES work. This dense, epic story translates into a 2 hours plus movie with style. It’s compact when it needs to be, and it earmarks the key moments of the book just fine, and if you’re on the ride with it, it never drags. It never feels like all out escapist fare, but then again the source material wasn’t. The mistake anyone would make in going into it (as Universal must have been hoping), is thinking it’s going to be another good guys vs. bad guys adventure like Star Wars, or Avatar. It will take you to other worlds, but it’ll make you think while you’re on the trip. I know Sci Fi Channel attempted to improve on Lynch’s vision by making mini series out of the first two Herbert books, but, while not awful, they’re hopelessly studio bound and clearly “made for TV”. A re launch has been in the works for years, with director after director jumping ship, due to “creative differences” and studio madness. Frankly, I think people are finally catching up with the Lynch film, and trying to figure out how to attempt anything better than what we’ve already been given. If this is the only version of DUNE we get, as far as I’m concerned, it’s THE version of DUNE. And I love every spiced up, Eno sound tracked grain of sand in it. If you’ve never given it a chance, or hated it years ago and have dismissed it, I beg you to give it another spin. For me, it’s as unique a vision of science fiction and fantasy as anything George, Ridley or Peter have come up with, and I think it’s time David was let in from the cold and joined their club. Be seeing you…

– Jason Lenzi

June 21, 2010
Soapbox: The Allure Of So-Bad-It’s-Good

It’s Such a Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever

Friday night, I fulfilled one of my cinematic dreams: to see The Room live with its director, writer, producer and star, Tommy Wiseau. That this wish ranks somewhere with seeing a true 70mm print of Tati’s Playtime in a theater and meeting my favorite director, Martin Scorsese, strikes even me as odd. By my count, this was my eighth or ninth time seeing the film, and the second in a theater. Each time, I watched it with a different group of friends or a few converts as we spread the Gospel of Wiseau around the Southeastern United States setting up churches devoted to the vaguely Teutonic Jack-of-all-trades (or fight clubs; people react to The Room in different ways).

For those who somehow found this page on a geek-oriented web site and still don’t know what The Room is, I don’t know that words can help you. Clearly meant to be a personal, maybe even psychological, drama about a man whose life falls apart before his eyes, The Room features such bad acting, such inexplicable dialogue and such unnecessary special effects (such as using CGI backdrops of the San Francisco skyline despite being filmed in San Francisco) that even its creator began to sell it as an intended dark comedy when the first reviews hit publications. The only way to assign any meaning at all to the film is to argue facetiously for its stance as an auterial work of hidden layers, as I once did for a laugh.

Wiseau certainly figured out his role in the inevitable snowball of bad-press-as-good-press long before he showed up in Atlanta last night to present the film in-between negotiations with Cartoon Network for a new show. Not only does he sell that bullshit about the film’s “intentional” comedy; he also appears in the flesh – for lack of a better term – to bask in the dubious love of crowds of hipsters who have come not to praise Tommy but to bury him.

After a meet-and-greet, Wiseau held a half-hour Q&A, during which he insulted some questioners, hugged others, led a singing of “Happy Birthday” and even dumped plastic spoons – the faithful will understand – onto a willing fan. When Wiseau deigned to answer a question, his answers only heightened confusion and uncertainty, each response an ouroboric, self-annihilating cycle of incoherent logic and halting English. He responded to one individual’s question of the significance of cancer in the film by promising to “educate” the young lad, only to spiral into unexplored lingual territory before finally telling the kid to just Google “cancer” to get the answer. Then, a guy asked what it was like to work with Jessica Alba on some small project, to which Wiseau creepily and mysteriously replied, “Which Jessica Alba, the real one or the funny one?”

The crowd ate it up, paying more attention to him than their high school and college (if more than 10 percent of the people in the theater were old enough to be out of college), and the actual screening was an uproarious experience, the usual electricity of a live show amplified by Wiseau’s presence. Seasoned pros had dialogue and action down to the second, engaging in spot-on countdowns and shouting the lines as they were said, while neophytes basked in the mad insanity of it all.

As I sat near the front, pelted by plastic spoons thrown with wild abandon and screaming and laughing my head off, I devoted some time to wondering, as I always do when I sit down with The Room, why I do this. We’ve moved firmly into the summer block of movie releases now, a time of year only slightly improved over the cinematic wasteland that is the first financial quarter of the year. I spend my summers at the movies typically setting aside the five or six big releases that I get some measure of entertainment out of – from passive enjoyment to the one or two releases I rave about – from the wave of derivative franchise films and failed attempts to launch new franchises that stem primarily from a source material or from so many clichÅ½s and tropes that the word “original” does not automatically come to mind.

Why then, spend my time with films that go beyond the unremarkable and passively offensive detritus of the mainstream into the realm of true tastelessness? There are plenty of great films being made in this country, to say nothing of the rest of the world, on a yearly basis, and I could be devoting more time to tracking down limited distribution and belated DVD releases than returning over and over again to the casual misogyny of The Room and Manos: The Hands of Fate or the staggering inanity of Night Train to Mundo Fine. What grabs me?

Well, for one thing, I’m not typically disposed toward tearing apart independent artists*, as everyone deserves the chance to mess up and learn through error at first, particularly those working outside the studio system. With the term “indie movie” having taken on the same meaning as “indie rock” – that is to say a definable aesthetic over a true lack of mainstream distribution – the ambition it takes to go out and raise the money and the crew oneself should be acknowledged even if the finished product should be put in a safe and then dumped in the sea.

But that does not account for why I can so ardently get behind these movies. The most obvious reason, and the most perversely poetic, is that these bad movies**, hallmarks of everything cinema shouldn’t be, bring back a communal sense of the theater. The practice of shouting out lines, be they jeers or made-up dialogue, stretches back to the medium’s beginning, when patrons of silent films would make up conversations between title cards and vociferously offer their opinion of the movie as it unfolded. Now, long after cinema has established itself as the seventh art and produces masterpieces and moving baubles for cheap consumption, the embrace of pure, unmistakable garbage somehow brings the medium back to the nexus point of its divergence between entertainment and art.

As such, nearly everyone who attends something like The Room in a live setting enters with the intent to watch it “ironically,” to cheer and jeer before leaving with an ego boost, assured that even the poorest life decisions won’t turn out that bad. But those same people leave with a genuine, however twisted, appreciation of the film. As sarcastic as it may sound, the film really does bring people together, a deliriously fun experience that even the quality blockbusters cannot elicit. It’s no wonder, then, that midnight movies take up residence at arthouse theaters: they engender an earnest cinephilia, linking the intellectual, the pretentious and the mundane into one hollering carnival.

Edward D. Wood, Jr. The King of Crap

Also, to return to the independent angle, a number of these films show a passion lacking in “proper” movies. Take the most famous example of bad-good filmmaking, Ed Wood Jr. Wood’s initial work ethic and optimistic ethos, immortalized in Tim Burton’s biopic on the director (and his most human work), believed in the power of movie making. Wood wanted to make it, to be sure, but the excitement evident in his films, seen most clearly in his satisfaction with every first take no matter what mistakes occurred, gives the impression that the simple act of making a film gave him such pleasure that critical and commercial success could not have elevated it a great deal. (Only after people got wise to how bad he was and shut him out did Wood give in to a more bitter and defeated outlook.)

I would venture to say, though, that Wood’s films contain more than just passion,; many have surprisingly progressive ideas, especially in the push for acceptance of alternative lifestyles put forward by the transvestite director. The stiff acting that mars his films grates on the nerves, but it also breaks from the more melodramatic delivery of contemporary film. Bunny Breckinridge’s performance in Plan 9 from Outer Space, in which he was ironically the only professional actor (save the footage Wood took of Bela Lugosi before his death), is so brilliantly deadpan that he practically opened the doors for anti-comedy in the movies. Hell, he could have fit in the early films of Michelangelo Antonioni, whose ennui-filled art movies stand at the opposite pole from Ed Wood’s sandbox. Burton clearly understood this by casting Bill Murray, one of the great deadpans, to play Bunny in Ed Wood, allowing audiences to see just how thin the line separating Wood’s ineptitude from talent really was.

Perhaps this is all an effect of the majority of cinema falling almost by definition in the middle, the sheer mass and size of the average obscuring the extremities into one horizon. But I can recite more of The Room’s script than I can of any of my 10 favorite films, and both of my live viewings of the film (and some home screenings with friends) trump any other theatrical experience for sheer pleasure. Ultimately, in a country*** increasingly typified by mediocrity, from its entertainment to its government, there’s something appealing about trying and failing spectacularly. None of these people made a film with tax write-offs in mind; they put everything on the line to do something they loved. Regardless of how terrible (and terribly funny) the finished product is, who can’t respect that spirit?

*The second main criterion of bad films taken as comic brilliance is that the film cannot be intended as a comedy. Comedy cannot fail and be subsequently taken as comedy, at least not without a cavernous sense of schadenfreude. This also explains why The Room almost certainly could not have been originally a comedy.
** The original midnight movies – the anti-Western El Topo, David Lynch’s debut Eraserhead, John Waters’ pictures and The Rocky Horror Picture Show — all had darkly comic moments and a tastelessness that attracted audiences of dubious character, but each of these films contains working elements, and some of them could be taken as high art, separating them from the bad dramas working their way through cultist hands today.
***Cult films do tend to be a curiously, though not exclusively, American province; only recently has The Room ventured outside the country, and even the British rock opera Rocky Horror enjoys more success here (though a theater in Germany is modeled after the film).

–Jake Cole is a 20-year-old journalism student at Auburn University who hopes to become a critic. He constantly updates his blog, Not Just Movies, where he garrulously spouts about film, television and whatever else strikes his fancy. In his considerable free time, he wonders what it would be like to know how to talk to women.

May 24, 2010
Weekend Shopping Guide 5/7/10: Big Blue Bridges

The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

(Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)

The epic films of David Lean are an essential part of any cinematic library, and the first to make the transition to high definition is the sweeping Doctor Zhivago (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP), and it looks and sounds absolutely incredible. Just to add icing to the cake, it’s packed with bonus materials, including an audio commentary, a new retrospective, a making-of documentary, vintage featurettes and interviews, the theatrical trailer, and a sampler CD of Maurice Jarre’s score.

Robots are cool. So is brushing your teeth. Go with me on this… When you combine a toothbrush and a tiny little motor, you get the uber-cool BristleBot Toothbrush Robot ($7.99), which you can race against each other (after personalizing it, of course). It’s small, it’s cheap, and it’s fn. Ace.

I’m always leery of a new take on Hamlet (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP), but when it was revealed that the young Dane would be played by David Tennant and Claudius would be played by Patrick Stewart, well, I knew I’d have to give it a spin. And it is worth a viewing. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and a making-of featurette.

It’s been a few months and the new series has been hitting our shores, so hat means it’s time for another clutch of classic [Doctor Who] DVD releases. This time, we get a pair of Jon Pertwee adventures – The Monster Of Peladon (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP) and The Curse Of Peladon (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP). The 3rd release is a Tom Baker outing, The Masque Of Mandragora (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), and all 3 are packed with bonus materials including audio commentaries, interviews, featurettes, and much more.

Using the Poppinsonian maxim of a spoonful of sugar, Paramount has dipped into their catalogue for a trio of new-to-Blu-Ray releases, the first of which is the aforementioned sugar – Saving Private Ryan (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). [Ryan] looks & sounds better than any previous DVD release, and the 2-disc special edition contain an introduction from Spielberg, making-of featurettes, historical featurettes, and a documentary on WWII combat photographers. The medicine is a pair of less than stellar flicks – Harrison Ford in K-19: The Widowmaker and Kurt Russell in Escape From LA (Paramount, Rated PG-13/R, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP each). [Escape] is featureless, but [K-19] carries over an audio commentary, a making-of, and a trio of featurettes.

Presented by Sir John Gielgud, Six Centuries Of Verse (Acorn, Not Rated, DVD-$69.99 SRP) is an epic exploration of English-language poetry through the centuries, featuring performances by the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Julian Glover.

While the new Blu-Ray edition of Tombstone (Hollywood Pictures, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP) retains the making-of featurette, trailers, storyboards, and TV spots of the most recent DVD special edition, the high-def debut of Armageddon (Touchstone, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP) is barren compared to the bonus-heavy Criterion edition of yore, giving us only a music video and trailers. Such a shame.

The comedy isn’t terribly nuanced, but there is a sucker punch level of laughs to be had from Leigh Francis’s grotesque creations in The Complete Bo’ Selecta! (Channel 4, Not Rated, Region 2, DVD-Â£29.99 SRP). The box set contains all 3 series plus the holiday special, filled with the likes of Keith Lemon, Avid Merrion, The Bear, Craig David, and more. Also available is the tribute special Cha’mone Mo’ Fo’ Selecta: A Tribute To Michael Jackson (Channel 4, Not Rated, Region 2, DVD-Â£12.99 SRP).

Universal dips into the vaults for the latest in the Backlot Series, The Barbara Stanwyck Collection (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). The 6 films included are [Internes Can’t Take Money], [The Great Man’s Lady], [The Bride Wore Boots], [The Lady Gambles], [All I Desire], and [There’s Always Tomorrow].

You remember [The Santa Clause]? Where Tim Allen assumes the mantle of Santa Claus and family-friendly, heart-warming hilarity ensued? Well, replace Allen with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and make the former wrestler the titular mythical creature of Tooth Fairy (Fox, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). Yeah. You heard me. The 3-disc set contains an audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and a standard DVD copy of the film.

Their marriage may not have been the happiest, but there’s no doubt that both Carole King and James Taylor knew how to write a song, which is evident on their recent reunion concert disc Live At The Troubadour (Hear Music, $19.98 SRP). And, because you know you want it, there’s also a bonus DVD of the concert, for those who want to see all of the water under this ex-couple’s bridge.

The films are good, but Universal’s new Blu-Ray/DVD flipper discs are still an unwelcome abominations – which is a shame, since the trio of catalogue titles – Out Of Africa, Traffic, & The Jackal (Universal, Rated PG/R/R, Blu-Ray-$26.98 SRP each) – deserve better treatment than this. Each film ports over the bonus films featured in the previous standard DVD editions (but [Traffic] is lacking the extensive materials found on the old Criterion release).

Recently re-released as a Blu-Ray special edition, the Colin Firth version of Pride & Prejudice (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP) makes its standard DVD debut in a 2-disc edition featuring the same bonus featurettes found on the high-def version.

David Lynch’s adaptation of Dune (Universal, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$26.98 SRP) is one of those glorious, overblown, disastrous fantasy flicks that seemed to come fast and furious in the 1980’s. The new high-def transfer is certainly impressive, and while the film is tedious at best and certainly off-putting, the new edition should make fans happy, as it ports over the deleted scenes and featurettes from the standard DVD special edition.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world where technology has failed and mankind is living by a thread after a plague sweeps the land, Survivors (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$79.98 SRP) was creator Terry Nation’s take on an oft-told tale, but a well told take nonetheless. This new box set contains the complete run, plus a documentary and photo galleries. It’s gotten a release because the modern day remake is hitting DVD with Survivors: The Complete Seasons One And Two (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP), a slicker, if not better, update. Bonus materials include featurettes and profiles.

Featuring rare footage from his own personal collection, Andy Kaufman: World Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion (Microwerks, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) is a documentary about the most controversial – and some say professionally destructive – period of the late comedian’s career. Regardless, it’s an interesting look into the mind of an original.

In the mood for a mildly entertaining romantic comedy with likeable actors that won’t cause upset and will quickly wash off after it’s all over? Well, then It’s Complicated (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$36.98 SRP) is for you. Starring Meryl Streep & Alec Baldwin as a divorced couple on good terms who begin to rekindle their romance – which is rather awkward for his young wife and Streep’s new beau (Steve Martin). Bonus materials include an audio commentary and a making-of featurette.

Remember that surprisingly chilling horror film a few years back about a team of female spelunkers who are hunted by subterranean creatures during an expedition gone wrong? You know, [The Descent]? Well, now it all gets a bit naffer with The Descent Part 2 (Lionsgate, Rated R, DVD-$28.98 SRP), which finds the survivor of the original film forced to go back into the caves, by the local sheriff, on a search mission for her missing companions. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, and a storyboard gallery.

I’m not a fan, but there are plenty of kids who adore the little red monster and will probably happy tap along with Sesame Street: The Best Of Elmo 2 (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), which contains almost an hour’s worth of the furry bastard. Now where the DVD release of Kermit’s best bits?

A surprising and welcome arrival on DVD is the second volume collecting On The Road with Charles Kuralt (Acorn, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP) – the Emmy-winning travelogue that featured Kuralt, a motor home, and destinations and personalities across the breadth of the United States. The 3-disc set features 18 episodes, plus updates.

While not as funny as some of their previous television incarnations, there’s still plenty of fun to be had in the second season of Tracey Ullman’s State Of The Union (Eagle Media, Not Rated, DVD-$19.93 SRP), which finds her playing 53 different characters rooted in American life. Bonus materials include deleted scenes, featurettes, sing-alongs, and more.

Cross Doo Wop with [The Sunshine Boys] and you have The Dukes (E1, Rated PG-13, DVD-$24.98 SRP), a pretty fun little caper comedy about a down on their hells Doo Wop group who decides to stage a comeback – only this comeback involves stealing 35 pounds of gold. The cast – Robert Davi, Chazz Palminteri, & Peter Bogdanovich – are clearly having fun. Bonus features include an audio commentary, interviews, and deleted scenes.

It’s a bit disconcerting as you try and process the age difference in the 70’s-filmed [Honeymooners Specials], which brought the cast back together for one last spin as The Kramdens and The Nortons, but once you get into it, the old magic is there. The Second Honeymoon (MPI, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP) finds Ralph and Alice renewing their vows on their 25th wedding anniversary, while Valentine Special (MPI, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP) is pretty self-explanatory. Both discs also contain rare parody skits.

Translated from its smash Broadway run and bringing Andy Griffith and Don Knotts together on screen for the first time, No Time For Sergeants (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) is one of those comedies that I’ve been waiting eagerly for, and this remastered edition is a welcome arrival.

With Memorial Day right around the corner, Warners has dipped into the archives for some manly men classics to release as part of their TCM: Greatest Classic Films Collection. The first, TCM Classics: Westerns (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$27.98 SRP), contains [The Stalking Moon], [Ride The High Country], [Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid], & [Chisum]. TCM Classics: War (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$27.98 SRP) sports [Battle Of The Bulge] , [The Dawn Patrol], [Gunga Din], & [Operation Pacific]. I just wish both releases weren’t on those damn flipper discs.

By the time we reach the Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1980s collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP), we’ve pretty much reached the border between nostalgia and embarrassment, as the offerings on hand in this 2-disc overview of the decade’s animated offerings includes the likes of Mister T, Chuck Norris, Ed Grimley, Thundarr, and The Biskitts. At least there’s a little featurette on the history of Thundarr.

Tony Stark becomes a teenage superhero in Nickelodeon’s Iron Man: Armored Adventures (Genius, Not Rated, DVD-$29.93 SRP), which I assume is a change meant to appeal to kids – although why one would think they couldn’t identify with a 30-something multibillionaire arms manufacturer, I’ll never know. The 4-disc box set contains all 26 episodes, plus storyboards and original sketches.

See a man do some incredibly foolish things to his body in the name of adventure in Man Vs. Wild: Season 4 (Discovery, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP). The man in question is crazy survivalist Bear Grylls, and the 3-disc set contains all 13 episodes, plus extended scenes and a preview episode.

It’s another quarter of episodes to entertain the kiddies with Go Diego Go!: The Great Panda Adventure (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP) which – in addition to adventures with pandas, lemurs, koalas, and beavers – also features a pair of videos from the Fresh Bat Band.

It seems like there’s been a couple hundred editions released, but the new special edition of Dirty Dancing (Lionsgate, Rated PG-13, DVD-$29.98 SRP) sports a brand new, damn spiffy video transfer that makes the film look better than it ever has in any previous release. Bonus features include audio commentaries, featurettes, documentaries, a tribute to Patrick Swayze, outtakes, interviews, music videos, and much more. A Blu-Ray edition ($34.99 SRP) is also available, with identical bonus materials.

So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…

-Ken Plume

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May 7, 2010