I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
In this episode, I have a chat with actor Darin De Paul, about J. Jonah preaching, tasty vocals, bagel offices, theater magic, Reinhardt-at-Law, voice dandy, Disney rubberheads, Burt Reynolds, Charles Nelson Reilly, broken glass, Adventurer’s Clubbing, zombie starbursts, Union Squared, toy stories, pandemic promises, and storytelling.
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…)
Hey! Not only is Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (Shout Factory, Rated PG-13, Blu-Rsy-$29.93 SRP) finally available in high definition, but the fine folks at Shout Factory have managed (yet again!) to do what was once seen as an impossible fulfillment of fan wishes by including the mythical deleted host segments from the film (Storm shelter! Original ending!), as well as bonus riff sections of This Island Earth. The inclusion of a new making-of featurette, a spotlight on This Island Earth, and the original EPK featurette is just icing on the cake.
While the 12″-scale premium figures from Sideshow and Hot Toys are reliably impressive in their own right, there’s something downright stunning – in both quality and size – to the brand new arrival in Hot Toys’ Avengers figure line: The Green Goliath himself, The Incredible Hulk ($299.99). Standing over 18″ tall and featuring an incredible bulk, the figure has the distinction amongst the other characters in the line of having plenty of visible flesh present – meaning joints can’t be easily hidden behind clothing. So what did they do? The covered the arms and torso in a flexible rubber skin, all expertly sculpted and painted. And yes, it also features a damned fine likeness to the hulked Mark Ruffalo, plus their adjustable PERS eye system. Overall? This figure is truly incredible.
I’ve become almost a broken record when singing the praises of the high definition restorations Disney is doing for the Blu-Ray releases of their classic animated titles, but they remain consistently top-notch, and such is the case with the positively great-looking The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh (Walt Disney, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$36.99 SRP). It just looks… well… GREAT. Bonus materials include mini-shorts, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a music video. I can only hope they’re giving the same care and attention to a nice new edition of The Black Cauldron.
To praise the beautiful lyricism of a Studio Ghibli film seems almost to be a bit redundant, especially when it’s always consistently true – case in point being the latest import to the US, From Up On Poppy Hill (New Video, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$34.95 SRP). Set against the backdrop of Yokohama, Japan’s 1963 preparations to host the Olympics after its post WWII recovery, a burgeoning friendship between a pair of high school students is threatened by a secret from the past. Suffice to say, just see this. Bonus materials include both the original and US audio versions, featurettes, a music video, TV spots, and trailers.
I know the wait has been painful, but you can get your John Luther fix with Luther 3 (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP), as Idris Elba’s cop is called to another case just as members of his own team want to take him down. Add a vigilante killer into the mix, and all morality starts slipping into gray. Bonus materials include a making-of featurette.
Fans will have to wait a bit longer for the next complete season set, but you can make the wait a bit easier with Regular Show: Fright Pack (Cartoon Network, Not Rated, DVD-$19.82 SRP), which brings together 8 complete episodes plus a special villains gallery.
It’s taken me a few years to get warmed up to Parks And Recreation (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) – in fact, it’s taken until the 5th season. I’m not entirely sure why the show had never really clicked for me… Perhaps it was its awkward Office vibe at the start, or that it finally seems to have come into its own. Regardless – Now? Tis great. Bonus materials include extended episodes, deleted scenes, webisodes, promos, Patton Oswalt’s filibuster, and en epic gag reel.
Combine magicians and heist movie tropes and you’ve basically got a nice little weekend’s entertainment in Now You See Me (Summit, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), which combines the aforementioned illusionists on a spectacular crime spree with a hidden agenda. Plus it has Morgan Freeman. You can always watch Morgan Freeman. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, and deleted scenes.
It’s always sunnier when another season of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) arrives, and the 9th season is just as weird and wacky as one would hope, as the Paddy’s Pub gang get into more of their usual odd adventures. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, featurettes, and a gag reel.
A genre classic makes its long-awaited high definition debut with the arrival of the original version of The Fly (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP), which looks and sounds pretty damn good, and comes with an audio commentary, the Biography episode on Vincent Price, a retrospective special, and Fox Movietone News.
The folks at Mill Creek prove once again that they are wizards at providing the most entertainment for your limited budget with another quartet of their multi-film collections – the 12-movie American Horror Stories, the 12-movie The Best Of The Worst, the 12-movie Dawn Of The Immortals, and the 12-movie Taboo Tales (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP each).
To try and sum up the many, many things wrong with Star Trek Into Darkness (Paramount, Rated PG-13, 3D Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) may seem an exercise in extreme pedantry, but I choose to believe it’s just a case of profound disappointment. While I still believe JJ Abrams has no real clue how to do a Star Trek film, the far more annoying problems with this film are mainly to do with a lazy, insipid script that manages to cut corners through plot holes aplenty with a seemingly delighted cluelessness. Sad, really. So very, very sad. Bonus materials include a bevy of featurettes.
I’m sad to say, but I’ve never been more happy for a show to end than I have been for The Office (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$59.98 SRP) to close. What had started as a pale imitation of the UK original and managed to make itself into a sparkling comedy in its own right devolved from about season five into a sad, simpering, gurning imitation of a comedy, that seemed to be existing on the memory of fumes. So yes, glad and sad to see it go, but it’s in a better place now. Our memory. Bonus materials include audition tapes, cast farewells, deleted scenes, the finale table read, a behind-the-scenes panel discussion, and a blooper reel.
Heya, music fans! How about this week’s soundtrack roundup? You’ve got the compilation of songs and score from Kick-Ass 2 (Sony Masterworks, $12.53 SRP), Daniel Hart’s score to Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (Lakeshore, $9.99 SRP), Shigeru Umebayashi’s score to The Grandmaster (Lakeshore, $14.91 SRP), Jeff Danna’s score for the first season of Continuum (Lakeshore, $19.99 SRP), a newly remastered version of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music (Masterworks Broadway, $ SRP), Bear McCready’s score to Europa Report (Sparks & Shadows, $14.98 SRP), Rob Simonsen’s score to The Spectacular Now (Lakeshore, $19.99 SRP), and Ludwig Goransson’s score to Fruitvale Station (Lakeshore, $21.03 SRP). Whew!
It’s rather fitting that you can actually spend an actual Friday the 13th watching the high definition debut of all 12 films contained in the Friday The 13th Complete Collection (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$129.95 SRP), almost half of which have never been available in the format previously. Most of the bonus materials have been carried over from previous DVD and Blu-Ray releases, and it also sports a collectible booklet and a Camp Crystal Lake Counselor patch. The only real disappointment is they didn’t use the occasion of this release to give Part 3 a proper 3D release, which technology now allows.
And if watching that new season of Luther has you primed to watch some more of the BBC’s patented character-based crime drama, try giving a spin to Aftermath: An Inspector Banks Mystery (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), starring Stephen Tompkinson as the titular tenacious Chief Inspector faced with a deadly crisis situation at a murder scene.
Hey, sure, let’s turn Leonardo DaVinici into a sexy warrior for the forces of truth and enlightenment in a dark age. That’s basically the premise of DaVinci’s Demons (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$54.99 SRP), which casts Leo into a turbulent, soapy actioner with polish and just enough crazy verve to make the series watchable. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, featurettes, and deleted scenes.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier, the fifth season of Sons Of Anarchy (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$69.99 SRP) proves that yes, things can get crazier. Decidedly crazier. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, extended episodes, deleted scenes, featurettes, and a gag reel.
If you’ve been smurfing to see some classically animated smurfs, then the Halloween themed The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow (Sony, Rated G, DVD-$6.99 SRP) is for you, as it features the big-screen 3D smurfs telling a campfire tale that is brought to life in the 2D way 80s kids like me remember fondly.
The long, tragic, and often bloody road traveled by Starz’ original sword and sandals series finally comes to an epic conclusion with Spartacus: War Of The Damned (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$59.95 SRP) as Spartacus’s rebel army continue their war with Rome. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, extended episodes, and featurettes.
Sometimes you get the sense that the BBC is willing to try just about anything to get an ongoing genre franchise going, which is probably why the first season of their take on Sinbad (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP) has a hard time finding its sea legs, swerving from Game Of Thrones drama to Hercules: The Legendary Journeys camp. It needs to pick a direction and commit. Bonus materials include a clutch of featurettes.
Set in the transition from the stratified Edwardian class system to the societal breakdown and chaos of WWI, Tom Stoppard’s Parade’s End (HBO, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP) stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a wealthy nobleman who marries a manipulative socialite but finds his loveless marriage undermined by a young suffragette. Bonus materials include an interview with Stoppard.
From the high concept, low payoff folks at JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions comes Revolution (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$69.97 SRP), in which the entire world is suddenly plunged into a reality devoid of any working technology, from phones and lights to planes and cars (yeah, go with it), and the world reacts by going completely insane and ruthless. So it’s up to small band of rebels to make everything right, because power to the people. Bonus materials include featurettes, webisodes, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and the Paley Fest discussion.
Sports, suburbs, and comedy collide once again in the fourth season of The League (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), and somehow it all works, even if you don’t care about sports. Bonus materials include extended episodes, deleted scenes, a podcast, a gag reel, and more.
It’s always interesting to see where a show goes when it’s expanding from source material, particularly when Stephen King is the source. Based on The Colorado Kid, by its third season, Haven (E1, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP) has proven to be its own beast, and a much more entertaining one than the shaggy dog Under The Dome. Bonus materials include webisodes, audio commentaries, featurettes, interviews, an d a blooper reel.
There’s something sublimely elegant in Matt Jeffries’ design for the original U.S.S. Enterprise 1701 (Diamond Select Toys, $59.99 SRP), and it remains so even nearly a half-century after the creation of Star Trek. The fine folks at Diamond Select Toys have done a superb job of capturing the screen-accurate look of that original model in their electronic “Starship Legends” series, featuring accent and nacelle lighting, plus a selection of original sound and dialogue clips from the show. As with all of the other ships in this series, you have the option to either use the display base, which connects to a hole on the bottom of the ship, or swap out that hole-bottom plate for a hole-less version perfect for hanging up in aerial display.
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…
I’m a comic fan. Despite what I think of the emaciated, dying industry as it exists today, I’ll forever hold fond memories of my comic book reading childhood.
And if you’re a child of comic books and Saturday morning TV (like myself), then Stan Lee is instantly recognizable as the creator (with artists such as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, & Don Heck) of Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, the Avengers, Daredevil, X-Men, and many, many more.
If that list reads like a story out of a Hollywood trade magazine, it’s because all of those properties have gotten – or are about to get – the big screen treatment.
As with many of my interviews, I got a hankering to chat with one of my childhood idols, and went out and did it. When chatting with Stan, you’re instantly aware that his mutant power is sheer, unbridled enthusiasm. He has been, and remains, a dynamo of boosterism.
And a fun guy.
Also, despite his claims that he has a bad memory, many a gem will slip from that forgotten treasure trove if the circumstances are right.
What follows are two of the interviews I’ve done with Stan, the first of which was while he was having huge success with the internet media start-up Stan Lee Media – which would end the year under a dark legal cloud (through no fault of Lee’s) that would decimate the company.
The second interview followed about 2 years later, and was mainly me taking a promotional opportunity just to chat with him again.
And on a quick tangent, here’s a bit of fun I was able to arrange to celebrate Halloween last year, after joking about it with him in one of my interviews – Stan Lee reading Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven…
And now, without further ado, delightful discourse with the dandily dignified (and definitely dear) Stan Lee…
KEN PLUME: If you were to sum it up, what was your introduction into the comics industry?
LEE: Well, I applied for a job in a publishing company… I didn’t even know they published comics. I was fresh out of high school, and I wanted to get into the publishing business, if I could. There was an ad in the paper that said, “Assistant Wanted in a Publishing House.” When I found out that they wanted me to assist in comics, I figured, “Well, I’ll stay here for a little while and get some experience, and then I’ll get out into the real world.” In those days, it just didn’t seem like comics was the kind of field that anybody would want to make a career in. They were the absolute bottom of the cultural totem pole. Nobody had any respect for comic books in those days.
PLUME: So this is, what, the early 40’s?
LEE: It was either 1939 or ’40 when I started… I can never figure out which year it was.
PLUME: You described it as a temporary job…
LEE: I thought it was at the time…
PLUME: So what exactly were your aspirations at the time?
LEE: I just wanted to know, “What do you do in a publishing company?” How do you write… How do you publish? I was an assistant. There were two people there named Joe Simon and Jack Kirby – Joe was sort-of the editor/artist/writer, and Jack was the artist/writer. Joe was the senior member. They were turning out most of the artwork. Then there was the publisher, Martin Goodman… And that was about the only staff that I was involved with. After a while, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby left. I was about 17 years old, and Martin Goodman said to me, “Do you think you can hold down the job of editor until I can find a real person?” When you’re 17, what do you know? I said, “Sure! I can do it!” I think he forgot about me, because I stayed there ever since.
PLUME: And it was Timely Comics at the time, wasn’t it?
LEE: Yeah, it was Timely Comics.
PLUME: What did the position of editor entail at Timely?
LEE: I was responsible for all the stories, either writing them myself or buying them from other people. In comics – in those days, anyway, and always when I was there – being the editor meant being the art director too, because you can’t just edit the stories without making sure the artwork is done the right way so it enhances the stories… And the stories have to enhance the artwork. They have to go hand in hand. So I was really the editor, the art director, and the head writer.
PLUME: So you were a jack of all trades?
LEE: Yeah.
PLUME: The 40’s and 50’s have always struck me as a very nebulous time at Timely… What exactly were the events that led up to the boom of the early 60’s?
LEE: Well, what happened was that – until the early 60’s – I did everything the publisher wanted, and his way of publishing was to follow the trends. Whatever was selling at the moment – he would publish books in that genre. For instance, when it looked as though Westerns were hot… we added a lot of Western titles. When Romance stories were doing well… we published a lot of Romance books. Then we did a lot of War magazines. Then Horror. Then Crime. Then the Animated-type of characters… The Terrytoons-type of things. We did Teenage titles. We never were leaders in the field – we always followed the trends. In those days – until the early ’60’s – comic books were very cyclical. There were trends… One year, Romance books would be hot… One year it would be Horror stories…whatever… and we just went along. We were like a production house – we just kept producing whatever was hot at the moment.
All during that time, I kept wanting to quit, because I felt, “There’s no future in this.” I’d say to my wife, “I’m going to give it another few weeks and then I’m getting out of there.” Then I’d get a raise, or we’d add some new magazines, and I’d get a little bit interested in them and I’d figure, “Well, I’ll stay a little bit longer.” Somehow, the years just kept falling away and, before I knew it, I’d been there for 20 years.
It was now 1960. By now, I really wanted to leave, because one edict that my publisher had was that the stories had to be geared towards young readers – or unintelligent older readers. We weren’t supposed to use words of more than two syllables, and we had to have simple plots – no continuing stories, because he felt our readers weren’t smart enough to remember from month to month where they had left off. It was really boring.
In either ’60 or ’61 I said to my wife, Joanie, “This time, I’m really going to leave.” She said, “Well, if you’re determined to leave, why don’t you first do a book or two the way you wanted to, no matter what the publisher says? The worst that can happen is that he’ll fire you. You won’t care, because you want to leave, but at least you’ll get it out of your system.”
It happened that – at that time- my publisher had been playing golf with Jack Liebowitz, who was one of the bosses at DC comics – which in those days was called National Comics. Jack Liebowitz had told him that he had a magazine called The Justice League, which was selling very well, and it was a group of super-heroes. So Martin came to me and he said, “Hey Stan… Why don’t you do a group of super-heroes?” Again, this business of following the trend.
I figured, “All right, but this time I’m going to do it my way.” Instead of the typical heroes that have secret identities and nobody knows who they are, I did The Fantastic Four – where everybody knew who they were. And instead of the girlfriend who doesn’t know that the hero is so-and-so, I had the girl in the series actually be engaged to the hero, and she was a heroine – she was part of the team. Instead of the typical junior sidekick, I had a teenager who was also the brother of the heroine – and the hero would soon marry the heroine, so they would be brothers-in-law. The fourth member of the team was a monstrous-looking guy, called The Thing, which was not a typical super-hero type in those days. I also tried to give them fairly realistic dialogue, and I didn’t have them wear colorful costumes. I always felt that if I had super-power, I wouldn’t immediately run out to the store and buy a costume. Somehow or other, the book caught on. We had never gotten fan mail up until that point… Sometimes we might get a letter from a reader that would say, “I bought one of your books and there’s a staple missing. I want my dime back.” And that was it. We’d put that up on the bulletin board and say, “Look! A fan letter!” Suddenly, with The Fantastic Four, we really started getting mail… “We like this… We don’t like that…. We want to see more of this.” That was exciting! So I didn’t quit. Then we did The Hulk, and that did pretty well…. And then the rest is history.
In the western world, in the culture of Hollywood, we have made films the apex of a property’s existence. When any creative, artistic or entertaining endeavor reaches a certain level of popularity, respect, profits or prestige we turn it into a film, or possibly threaten to turn it into a film, if its isn’t already a film itself. So we’ve grown up salivating for certain things to come to fruition. Impossible things. For better or worse many of those things in my generation, due to new technology powered by James Cameron’s ego, have come into being as live action romps of varying degrees of success.
Well as far as “things” go, The Avengers is most certainly one of those “things” for me. The good news being that I went completely ape-“fecal matter” for the movie. I sang the praises of Sir Joss Whedon in my Cabin In The Woods review not long ago, and here I’m not even sure that singing is going to do him justice. The man is having a good year, so good in fact that his career is probably going to take a different path from now on. Avengers most certainly has the potential to skyrocket him into the big leagues of Hollywood Event Filmmakers like Michael Bay or Stephen Sommers, but the good news for us is that, unlike those guys, Whedon makes sure to take care of character and story first. However, once those are locked he will let loose on the action spectacle with the best of them. He has the potential to be, and I apologize for saying this, a “thinking man’s Michael Bay.” If you remove all the storied history of the characters involved with the Avengers that is what it boils down to: a Bay film where you actually care what happens amidst all the silliness and explosions. Joss Whedon: Man of Emotional Explosions.
Unlike Cabin though, Avengers is “A Joss Whedon Film,” written and directed in full. I’ve been yapping to everyone who would listen that my main satisfaction with this movie is that it truly feels like a comic book script, as in, a script written with the intention of being drawn, inked and printed for Marvel to distribute. It’s very comic-book-like. What exactly do I mean by that? Well, I don’t know really. I suppose if my hand is forced to explain I would say that is has that ever so sacred balance of comic book reality, physics, logic, and tone without ever delving into being stupid or silly. It’s not cynical of its own source material, this movie is proud to be sopping wet with comic book mythology and atmosphere. At no point does it shy away from the exaggerated world of comicdom. It’s as big, awesome, and faithful to the source art form as Joss Whedon is a fan of that art form himself.
The reason Avengers fires on all cylinders is balance. Whedon is no stranger to the group dynamic in his writing and it most certainly shows here. Thor, Banner, Cap, Stark, Hawkeye and Black Widow all share the screen with things only slightly tipping towards Iron Man. However, that isn’t a problem, this is Iron Man’s film and it makes perfect sense. Cap is still reeling from his 70 years under the ice, his rise to leadership is not cemented especially considering this is an “origin” story of a team. Not to mention, that as far as the public is concerned Tony Stark and John Favreau’s triumphant first Iron Man film is responsible for this whole gargantuan undertaking in the first place. It’s impossible to deny Downey’s presence as well, with a character as “large” as his version of Stark on screen it’s going to take at least two films for the cream, or in this case the Captain, to rise to the top.
It’s an impressive achievement on Whedon’s part as well that Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow not only have presence in the film but actually prove themselves useful and interesting in the face of being over shadowed by a super soldier, a demi-god, a genius billionaire, and the ultimate engine of destruction. Tom Hiddleston proves once again that he was perfectly cast as Loki, at every turn, even when he’s losing he is deep in character without flinching. Chris Evans gives a convincing take on a recently unfrozen and confused Captain America. Chris Hemsworth probably has the most unsung hardship of the entire group as he succeeds in playing Thor with an undercurrent of shame and disappointment in his adopted brother Loki and the horrors he is bringing about on earth. Fans might complain that Thor doesn’t get as much time to strut his powers this time around, but he is mentally focused on his brother and the plot unfolds as such. I think once we get a Loki-free Avengers flick we will truly see Thor cut loose. (Also, I still say that Hemsworth is quite possibly the best casted superhero role ever. The guy just exudes Thor at every turn. Just my opinion.)
Oh, and Sam Jackson knocks it out of the park playing Nick Fury as”¦well”¦Sam Jackson.
There were two huge standouts of the film for me. First is Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson. His screen time isn’t long but the little he gets he sells hard, going so far as to give his character a lot of heart and a lot of balls. Second is Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk. Now, I admit right here and now that I am a lifelong Hulk fan. The comics, the TV show, the movies, I love the Hulk in all his forms, always have. As a credit to Whedon and Ruffalo I would go as far as saying that with the exception of Bill Bixby, Rufalo might be might favorite live action Banner ever. This is the first time in this new era of cinema tech we get to see the green guy “smash” as a hero instead of a menace and it is incredible (sorry.) That is especially a compliment considering Ruffalo did all the motion capture himself. When Hulk is unleased in this film, especially in the last third of the movie, it takes the “awesome” to a whole new level of incredible (sorry again.) However it isn’t just the smashing that wins me over, it’s Ruffalo as Banner. Much like Bixby, Ruffalo is playing a Banner who was been to hell and back and has begun to live with the curse instead of trying to fight it, this movie particularly furthers that very narrative. Of course all the buzz Hulk is getting from audiences and critics for Avengers is due to the smashing, I’m just saying for the rest of us who love the character this movie has other things to offer as well. Hats off to the design team too, the green guy has NEVER looked more accurate, and just plain perfect, to the source material than he does here.
Thanks for reading and for the love of Thor: STAY AFTER THE CREDITS!!!
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…)
Cut down in its prime by a network that didn’t understand the greatness it was letting slip away (Hello, BBC!), The Peter Serafinowicz Show (Channel 4, Not Rated, Region 2 DVD-£19.99 SRP) was fully appreciated by its dedicated fans (I’m one of them) and has since become an internet viral phenomenon as its sketches have been globally disseminated. In fact, it was via Twitter that the ‘net put pressure on Channel 4 to accelerate a DVD release, which is what any comedy fan in their right mind can now pick up, which also sports commentaries, deleted scenes, a documentary, and the Christmas special. Get this DVD set. Get it now. GET IT.
I love musical instruments. I have absolutely no talent for learning or playing them, but I do love to own and tinker with them. The Bliptronic 5000 LED Synthesizer ($49.99) is one of those rare instruments that I can tinker with and feel that I’m accomplishing actual acts of creation – it really is as simple as digital pressing one and off of tones on the LED button keypad and adjusting the sequence and frequency. It’s just fun.
Time to wrap up the tenure of the 10th Doctor (played by David Tennant) with the release of the final two specials – Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP) & Doctor Who: The End Of Time (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP). Mars features the behind-the-scenes Doctor Who Confidential, while End Of Time is loaded with Confidentials, commentaries, deleted scenes, a video diary, Christmas Idents, and Who at Comic-Con. If you want to get the whole kit in one swoop, there’s Doctor Who: The Complete Specials (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP), which contains all four specials plus the bonus features of the individual releases. A Blu-Ray edition ($59.98 SRP) is also available, with identical bonus materials.
The releases have been heavily delayed and the wait has been difficult, but the 6th season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) is finally on tap – which means we can all own a pristine copy of one of the finest sitcom episodes ever made. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you must rectify that glaring oversight post-haste by picking up this set and watching “Chuckles Bites The Dust”.
If you were unable or unwilling to pony up the cash for the deluxe edition of The Godfather Trilogy on Blu-Ray, now’s your chance to pick and choose either The Godfather or The Godfather Part II (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP each) – no Godfather Part III yet. Granted, you won’t be getting all of the bonus materials from the multi-disc set, but both films do have the Coppola commentary tracks. The restoration on these two films – particularly the first – is truly stunning, so if you’ve been waiting to pick them up, stop waiting and snag ’em.
Much like DC’s direct-to-video adaptations of their comic book story arcs, Marvel has leapt into that pool with an animated adaptation of Planet Hulk (Lionsgate, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), which finds Big Green exiled to outer space, crash landing on an alien planet, sold into slavery, forced to become a gladiator, and finally becoming a freedom fighter. Get all that? Bonus materials include audio commentaries, making-of featurettes, and previews of upcoming animated flicks. A Blu-Ray edition ($29.99 SRP) is also available, with identical bonus materials.
Returning with her second HBO special and her A game direct from the nation’s capital, Wanda Sykes: I’ma Be Me (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) is full of everything we’ve come to expect from Sykes – smart, sharp commentary on everything from coming out and mother hood to pirates and having a black president.
A staple of my late-80’s Nick At Nite viewing, I’m delighted that the goofily fun Mister Ed (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$39.97 SRP) has made it to a complete 2nd season release – as I feared it might stall with only the first season under its belt (as many classic sitcom DVD releases have). The 4-disc set contains all 26 episodes, including Studebaker car commercials and an audio interview with Alan Young & the late Connie Hines.
I think we’ve just about completed Terry Gilliam’s catalogue transition to high definition with the release of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$26.98 SRP), leaving on Fisher King and Jabberwocky to go. Sadly, this is not the jam-packed Criterion edition – just the standard Universal take, with deleted scenes and a vintage featurette. So hold onto that special edition.
Granted, the contestants are long gone, but if I’m roaming the cable channels and happen across the Game Show Network, I’m often sucked into watching games shows that were recorded up to a half-century ago. If you’re like me, then you’ll probably want to pick up The Best Of The Price Is Right (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), The Best Of Password (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), The Best Of All-Star Family Feud (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), The Best Of Match Game (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$ SRP), and Game Show Moments Gone Bananas (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP). Who will win? The same people that already won decades ago!
The transition to the big screen isn’t wholly successful, but there’s still much to love in the high-definition debut of Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man (Warner Bros., Rated G, Blu-Ray-$28.99 SRP), starring Robert Preston in the title role as the con man who finds that love may upset his careful plans to swindle the small town of River City. Bonus materials include an introduction by Shirley Jones, a making-of featurette, and the theatrical trailer.
It’s a big, messy, ensemble love letter to the city that never sleeps, and like any patchwork film made up of numerous director’s vignettes, there’s some good and some bad to be found in New York, I Love You (Vivendi, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$27.99 SRP). It’s a star-studded affair, and as a novelty piece, it’s certainly worth a spin. Just know that it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Bonus materials include director interviews, additional segments, and the theatrical trailer.
Warners continues its budget-conscious TCM Greatest Classic Films Collections with a trio of new additions to the roster – The Marx Brothers, Sci-Fi Adventures, & Romance (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$27.92 SRP each). The Marx collection brings together A Day At The Races, A Night In Casablanca, Room Service, & At The Circus. The Sci-Fi set contains Them!, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, World Without End, & Satellite In The Sky. Finally, the Romance set’s got Splendor In The Grass, Love In The Afternoon, Mogambo, & Now, Voyager.
Of his recent flicks, Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$28.99 SRP) leaves me cold, despite its emotionally charged subject matter. Still, it’s worth nothing its arrival in high-def, with an audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, Charlie Rose interviews with Eastwood and the cast, and theatrical trailers.
I don’t really get the appeal of the Air Bud series, but there’s certainly enough of a demand that Disney is releasing a special edition of Air Bud: Golden Receiver (Walt Disney, Rated G, DVD-$29.99 SRP). The new edition adds an play-by-play track from the puppy Buddies. You know, for the kids.
Yeah, the writing is on the wall in the penultimate 9th season of Beverly Hills 90210 (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP) that perhaps the teens of Beverly High were getting a bit long in the tooth. It’s always awkward when the hairlines start receding. The 6-disc set contains all 26 episodes.
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…
Money Shot (Wikipedia): provocative, sensational, or memorable sequence in a film, on which the film’s commercial performance is perceived to depend.
Buck Shot: moments on which a film’s cheese-factor is based, often underlining the tone of the entire production and providing the viewer with the opposite effect intended.
No Holds Barred (1989) ““ HULK HOGAN PONDERS A FAMILIAR SCENT
Tag Lines:
No Ring. No Ref. No Rules.
The battle of the super tough guys.
Who would have thought that only 19 years after No Holds Barred that a celebrated filmmaker, Darren Aronofsky, would take the subject of wrestling and make an Oscar worthy piece of art along side one of the greatest comeback performances in the history of cinema? The end of 2008 has brought us a film, The Wrestler, which proves that no genre is too silly or maligned to not only be salvaged, but perfected to the point of beauty. However, in no way does this take any of the joy out of watching a genius piece of camp like No Holds Barred, easily Hulk Hogan’s greatest screen performance (right above Suburban Commando of course.)
NHB, as it’s called on the streets, is one of those glorious titles that is made up of almost 100% Buck Shots. This is due to several competing factors. Hogan’s plethora of skin tight, rainbow tinted, spandex outfits worn through out the film to Tiny Lister’s extremely heavy breathing every second he is in frame to the great Kurt Fuller playing an evil fight promoter that calls everyone a “JOCKASS,” this movie is brimming with endless moments of pure delight. All of this is complimented by the awesome 80’s fight scenes, the rouges gallery of silly contestants, the title of the film’s fight competition: THE BATTLE OF THE TOUGH GUYS (yeah, no joke) and the single greatest “poopy scene” of the entire decade. The plot is simple. Hulk Hogan, showing his acting range, plays the world wrestling champion named Rip. His catch phrase is, you guessed it: “RIP “˜EM!” He is challenged to a NO HOLDS BARRED fight by an ex-convict named Zeus, played to hardcore perfection by Tiny Lister (best known as Debo from Friday, or the President from TheFifth Element.) Rip initially refuses to fight him, but eventually gives in due to various factors and they have an all out brawl in which no holds, NONE, are barred.
Hindsight is 20/20, and it is easy to look back on movies like this and laugh, but I will admit that I unabashedly love this movie in all its zany, kick ass, and slightly homosexual tension. It might be because of the camp, it might be the nostalgia, but I love it. Sue me. I even own the VHS and One sheet. You need to have a firm grasp on crap to know the opposite of such, and there is a lot of crap that is truly great”¦No Holds Barred being that very crap. So as someone who knows every inch of this Rocky 3-rip-off-cheesy-wrestling masterpiece I can safely say that the following scene is the greatest moment of its run time. Here we have Hogan, LITERALLY, explode out the top of the top of the limo in which he is being held captive. The heavy guitar starts up, Hulk begins throwing bad guys left and right. He tosses two full grown men completely over the limo, then one into the windshield, then back-punches a guy through the passenger window, followed by stuffing another bad-dude into the roof hole. The violent rage is just too much for the driver, as he sits in fear of what the Hulkster will do next. Hogan pulls the driver out of the car”¦and”¦well”¦one of the greatest dialogue exchanges of all time then occurs between them. The actor playing the limo driver has the edge here for most “buck-shoty,” but Hulk’s use of breathing and overblown eye movements keep him right up there as well. It’s one of those “How did this make the cut and what were they thinking?” moments. Watch:
R.O.T.O.R. (1989) ““ R.O.T.O.R. vs. BOB’S COUNTRY BUNKER
Tag Line:
Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
R.O.T.O.R. or, more specifically, the Robotic Officer of the Tactical Operations Research unit is probably the best example of the sheer glut of uninspired low budget dreck that was churned out during the VHS boom all those centuries ago. No part of this movie is even remotely original. The poster, as admittedly awesome as it is, is completely stolen from Mad Max. The plot is completely ripped from Terminator, sans the time travel. The only reason one can’t rag on it for stealing Judge Dredd‘s tagline is that it was released prior. Also, the title is excessively annoying to type due to the damn periods.
I was lucky enough to stumble onto the destruction path of R.O.T.O.R. through the miracle of Cinemax circa 2000. My friend, I shall refer to him as Pie, caught it around the same time and both of us marveled at how downright awful it was. Luckily the video store I was managing had a VHS copy so I could spread the joy among the unenlightened. It’s mostly (mostly…not totally) boring, incompetent and completely devoid of coherence. As Pie pointed out, the entire film seems to be completely over dubbed with separate audio, and upon further viewings it became exceedingly obvious that the editors chucked out some underlying story lines which culminated in the main character getting shot in the back while walking to his car AFTER the R.O.T.O.R. was dead and gone. I’ve watched the movie all the way through about three times and still don’t understand why exactly that happens, but it makes it all the funnier.
The plot is a tale as old as time. A “special unit” laboratory creates a police robot to fight crime, something goes wrong, robot malfunctions, robot drives away on it’s motorcycle and begins murdering innocents that don’t realize he is, in fact, a robot. If only all Sci-fi characters would heed the words of Jeff Goldblum: “your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” However they don’t heed those words and this is what happens”¦a robot with a mustache punches them in the face.
As boring and uneventful as the film is, there are at least 3 solid Buck Shots to be found in it, so expect for this title to pop up again in a future entry. The scene I have chosen is easily my favorite of the whole movie, when R.O.T.O.R. attacks the diner. The obvious cheapness displayed in this clip gives you a feel of the whole production. Things to pay attention to are the constantly looping synthetic music, the shiny bald eagle sticker on R.O.T.O.R.’s helmet and the cook’s painfully fake front teeth and country accent, perhaps the only sign that the movie was laughing at it self (or was it?) The best moment is of course when the super strong R.O.T.O.R. tries to attack a waitress, but is hindered by the featherweight tables. As she runs away, three “good ole boys” mosey on in, each of them prepared to take down the evil cop in their own fashion. The first guy is the ignorant redneck brawler, who sexually harasses the waitress as she panics in fear, then immediately tries slugging the Robot whom he addresses as a “Faggot city cop.” The second guy, surprisingly, knows karate”¦which of course is no match for the likes of the R.O.T.O.R. Then of course, the third dude steps up to the plate. He stands around 6 feet tall with a hair helmet and a 3 inch thick mustache. He proudly questions the R.O.T.O.R. “How about a real man now, asshole?” He then proceeds (I’m giggling as I type this) to rip off his pre-torn shirt, give a huge bicep flex display, then grabs the R.O.T.O.R. in the most sexually tensioned “are they going to make out?” manner possible. It’s quite the sight. Also, all of this is done in one master shot, only cutting away once”¦very artistic, almost documentary style (I will admit that the slow move-in shot on the Robot in the doorway is pretty bad ass, I’ll give them that.) I think that the slo-mo at the end of the clip works wonders here:
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