A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
Source:
DVD TrashTime for an update on Cecchi Gori's upcoming Italian DVD release of
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin: with a running time of 95 minutes, it sounds as if the release will be cut.
The master is supposedly PAL, which confuses me slightly, since, if it's genuinely a native PAL master rather than a standards conversion from NTSC, then at 95 minutes it would mean that it is not the same cut as Media Blasters' release. The US "Schizoid" cut in the Media Blasters release runs for just under 96 minutes, which would be more like 92 minutes in PAL. Likewise, the fullscreen uncut version in the Media Blasters release, which is a standards conversion from an Italian PAL video, is approximately 97 minutes. In other words, there are three possibilities: (1) the stated running time is wrong, (2) it's a standards conversion of the cut US version, or (3) it's a different cut from either of the versions in Media Blasters' release.
If this release is indeed cut, then I'm extremely disappointed but glad to get the news before shelling out for it.
Orders a-plenty
I ordered the recently released score to
What Have You Done to Solange? from
DigitMovies.
I'm also doing my best to get a hold of books that will be useful for my dissertation. Today I bought Marcia Landy's book
Italian Film from the university bookshop, and I ordered a mint copy of Xavier Mendik's book on
Tenebre (entitled, originally enough,
Tenebre) from
ABE Books, a great source for picking up rare, out of print books.
Alice the Vampire Slayer
The long-mooted movie adaptation of
American McGee's Alice, a PC game from 2000 and surely one of the most inspired interpretations of
Alice in Wonderland, seems finally to be on course for release, judging by
the IMDB. This is a film I'll definitely be very interested to see, although I'm far from confident that they'll succeed in capturing the mood of the game. Two pieces of information, in particular, give me cause for concern. One, the director is Marcus Nispel, Michael Bay's little stooge who helmed the thoroughly uninteresting remake of
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Two, they've got Sarah Michelle Gellar playing Alice.
What the heck? Gellar is a lot of things, but she's no Alice. For one thing, she's nearly 30, and the Alice in the game is supposed to be around 16 or so - and even accounting for age, she simply isn't the right physical type. The news that they've cast
Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the title role also makes me concerned that they've decided to go down the route of having Alice delivery peppy one-liners rather than remaining true to the personality in the game. I'd much rather they'd cast someone like Angela Bettis (
May) or Emily Perkins (
Ginger Snaps), who have the right frail sort of look and enough of the requisite weirdness. Posters on the dreaded IMDB forums have also suggested the likes of Alexis Bledel and Emma Watson, both of whom I'd take over Gellar.
Oh, and no doubt it will be filled with CGI - which is a shame, given that, in order to capture the off-kilter vibe of the game, you'd really need to do animatronics and puppets for the inhabitants of Wonderland.
Still, we'll see. Who knows - maybe I'll end up eating humble pie when it comes out in July 2007?
Profondo Rosso essay added
I've added my essay on the camera and subjectivity in
Profondo Rosso to my
Essays section.
Have a look at it and tell me all the mistakes I've made that it's too late to fix.
Hangin' out with Orson
It's a little overdue, but I've finally uploaded my new picture for
Orson.
I love these pens, by the way. I've ordered a new 12-pack, since this one's sure to run out before too long.
The New York Ripper comparison updated
Thanks to Tolpol, I've now been able to update my
comparison of
The New York Ripper to include the R0 Dutch release by Italian Shock Entertainment. The source used for its transfer seems to be the same as or very similar to the one used for the Australian release. It's darker and less saturated, and is non-anamorphic, but judging by the screenshots is still better than the French release. Obviously, because I haven't seen this DVD for myself, I'm not going to asign ratings to it, but as far as I can tell the Australian release still comes out on top.
PS. The Dutch release also misses out the scene with Davis and his secretary, as well as the misplaced one that appears in the final scene on the French release.
Uno Bianca
Ultimately, the three-hour running time seems to work against Soavi. Had the script been pared down to a more reasonable 90 minutes or, at a stretch, two hours, he could probably have delivered a taut and involving thriller, and shaving off some of the more mundane aspects of the investigation could have given it the sense of drive it so urgently needed. The end product is intermittently engaging, but it is unremarkable and, at this length, simply requires too much investment for a film that doesn't offer anything special. It's great that Michele Soavi has made a comeback after so many years away from the limelight, but those expecting a natural progression for his obsessions with gothic horror, love and death will be sorely disappointed. All things considered, Uno Bianca is probably more a case of him keeping his hand in the jar rather than pursuing his own vision.
I've
reviewed NoShame Films' recent release of
Uno Bianca, a 2-part, 3-hour TV movie helmed by Michele Soavi (
The Sect,
Dellamorte Dellamore) and based on true events. The 2-disc R0 US set features a disappointingly non-anamorphic transfer, but boasts solid audio and some informative extras.
Vomit
The Omen remake trailerThis represents everything I loathe about the Hollywood remake engine. Needless to say, I will be having nothing to do with this execrable little movie.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 2, Episode 3: School Hard
Teleplay by David Greenwalt; Story by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt; Directed by John T. Kretchmer
Buffy episodes at this stage seem to alternate between pretty good and pretty bad. The premiere was very good, the second episode was weak, this episode is good, the next is garbage... This episode is special, because it introduces the one character who, more than any other, would come to define the tone of the show from now on. This ended up being both good and bad, but, at this stage in the show, Spike was a great character. The difference between the annoying pomposity of the other vampires and his nonchalant take on the whole mythology, ably demonstrated in the scene immediately after the opening titles, is incredibly refreshing, and the frying of the Annoying One at the very end must have resulted in cheers from viewers the world over when the episode originally aired. Small wonder Spike went from being a villain to one of the good guys (it was the only way the writers could justify keeping him around, I suppose).
By the way, of all the episodes of
Buffy David Greenwalt wrote before moving to
Angel, this one was probably the best.
8/10Next time:
Inca Mummy Girl. Oh, god.
The New York Ripper
I've added a comparison between the Australian and French releases of
The New York Ripper to my DVD Image Comparison section. While I was rummaging through the discs, I noticed some rather strange discrepancies:
For some bizarre reason, two copies of the film are included on the French disc, one running for 1:31:06 and the other for 1:33:06. The shorter version omits a scene in which Dr. Davis has a brief conversation with his secretary that takes place between Williams' interview of Jane's husband and the raid on Mickey Scellenda's landlady's apartment. The longer version is played when you select the audio commentary, the shorter version for English, French and Italian audio - despite the fact that the longer version actually contains the audio tracks for all three languages. The scene is completely missing from the Australian disc.
A further discrepancy shows up in the form of an extraneous shot of Dr. Davis that, on the French disc, is for some bizarre reason spliced into the middle of the final scene, breaking the continuity. This shot should have appeared much earlier in the film, at around the 44 minute mark, when he and Williams have left the hospital. On the Australian DVD, it is completely absent.
Anyway, see the results for yourself
here. I think you'll agree that the Australian transfer is much nicer, although I'm fairly sure its colour values are wrong.
O Buffy, where are thou?
Today's regularly scheduled screening of
Buffy had to be postponed today as I was out, first seeing my supervisor about my dissertation (she didn't want to borrow my copy of
The New York Ripper, but I did manage to foist the atrocious
Strip Nude For Your Killer on her), and then attending a guest lecture on portrayals of prostitute trafficking in film and television. My mini-review of
School Hard will go up tomorrow instead.
The Australian New York Ripper is ripper, mate!
Well, not quite, but it's pretty good. It arrived this morning, and I immediately gave it the once-over. Unlike the French 2-disc release that I own, this transfer is progressive, taken from a proper PAL master, and shows substantially more detail. There is a new-found crispness to the image that wasn't there before. On the other hand, there is a rather unsightly brown tint to the image (which I must admit might have been intentional - can anyone confirm?), and at times the black level seems slightly off. There is also quite a bit of film damage in the form of white specs, but as you probably know by now I don't mind that sort of thing half as much as edge enhancement, filtering, standards conversions and the like, all of which plagued the French release something rotten.
Look out for a full comparison soon.
Hilda gets a makeover
I decided that the old colour model of Hilda that I uploaded on Sunday wasn't particularly great, so this evening I redrew it. This time round, I found a really nice pen - a Pentel Stylo JL30 fountain pen, which was probably being used for crosswords and the like - which gives variable line widths and is generally much smoother to draw with than the 99p Woolworths pens I've been using for these drawings. I've got to get me some more of these.
Anyway, head over to my
original post to see the new and improved Hilda Beaumont. A revised drawing of Baby Orson will follow, as will Jemima.
Announcing Dying Feathers
The Pretentious Entertainers' new album,
Dying Feathers, goes on sale today! If you're in the San Diego area, be sure to stop by the exclusive coffee maison Life 21 to get your copy signed and shake hands with the band.
You can also befriend the Entertainers on
MySpace. They already have many admirers already, including Dork, who were featured on the soundtrack for
American Pie: Band Camp - clearly men of taste!
The future's bright
Ah, the one remaining hope for the Beaumont dynasty! With Richard unlikely to amount to anything and Jemima destined to be given away to the highest bidder when she becomes of legal age, it looks as if Baby Orson is the clan's only hope for survival.
Because he is only an infant, not much is expected of Orson. If Abraham and Hilda were a little more perceptive, however, they would realse that to say he was below average intelligence would be an understatement.
Wouldn't the world be a better place if we were all this stupid?
It's Hilda Beaumont, the mother of Richard, Jemima and Orson and the wife of Abraham!
This one took me ages to get right, and I'm still not all that satisfied with it. Hilda (or Dinah, or whatever she ends up being called) is, for some reason, much harder to draw than anyone else in the Beaumont clan. Perhaps it's because she's tall and skinny, whereas Richard and Abraham are short and fat, or maybe it's the ridiculous hair (a carry-over from the 3D Movie Maker days). Either way, now that I've got the toughest character out of the way, I can look forward to drawing and inking the comparatively simple Jemima and Baby Orson.
To underscore her status in the Beaumont household, I gave her a ladle (at least that's what it's meant to be).
RIP Alida Valli
Source:
Horror DVDsAlida Valli, co-star of various horror classics, including Georges Franju's
Eyes Without a Face, Mario Bava's
Lisa and the Devil and Dario Argento's
Suspiria and
Inferno, has died at the age of 84.
Opera
It's yet another of my patented DVD image comparisons! This time, I've taken a look at the US limited edition and UK releases of Dario Argento's
Opera, one of my favourite films. While neither edition is ideal, they are both good in their own separate ways.
Take a look!
Major victory in the "violent porn" consultation
Source:
Melon FarmersPlans to make the viewing of so-called "violent pornography" have, it would seem, met with substantial opposition. The Home Office apparently received more than 400 responses to their consultation, the majority of which were against their proposals. They have also had meetings with key organisations such as the BBFC and the BDSM community, the outcome of which has been that "any plans to criminalise the viewing of extreme pornographic imagery will be much less far-reaching than had been indicated in the Government's consultation paper".
This legislation, the result of an ill-judged campaign spearheaded by the opportunistic family of the murdered Jane Longhurst, will surely go ahead in some form, but it looks as if the most outrageous proposals have been nipped in the bud. The notion of imprisoning someone for simply seeing an image is, to me, completely unfathomable, but we can be thankful, at least, that the bill will receive the now-customary watering down it rightly needs.
Who is this moody bastard?
Why, it's David, the inseparable companion of Richard Beaumont!
The Höekvision influence is still there, although, to my surprise, when I dug out some of my old drawings of the character, dating back to the days before I'd even
heard of
Ren & Stimpy, let alone seen it, I found that the design looked much the same as he does now. He's developed a bad posture over the years, gained big, round Ren-ish eyes and lost a lot of hair, but essentially this is still the character as I designed him, so I don't feel like quite as much of a rip-off merchant any more. He does look a lot older than I intended when he's coloured and inked... although I guess that probably has a lot to do with the cranky pose and facial expression I drew.
New Lizard in a Woman's Skin release coming soon
Source:
DVD TrashBig news in giallo-land: Cecchi Gori Home Video is planning on releasing Lucio Fulci's
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin on DVD in Italy. As most Euro cult fans will probably know, the only other DVD release, by Media Blasters in the US, is hardly ideal, presenting viewers with two options: a widescreen, film-sourced but censored print, and a cropped, video-sourced but uncut print. There's currently no word on the state of the version Cecchi Gori will release, but it would be absolutely superb if they managed to get their hands on a completely uncut film print to use. (And if they did, there would certainly be egg on the faces of John Sirabella at Media Blasters!)
I'll be watching the developments regarding this release very closely.
Abraham Beaumont: the cericel
Who is this strapping gentleman? Why, it's Abraham Beaumont, the father of Richard!
Despite my earlier statement regarding my intense dislike of inking and colouring, I've done another in the space of a few hours, and indeed I'm considering doing one for each of the principal cast members of
Richard Beaumont, so that people know what they look like. It's alright for me, since I have these colours in my head, but everyone else has to make do with my crude black and white scribbles, so I'm making a point of doing these finished drawings, basically so I don't have to do them at a later date (like when people start asking me if Richard's hat is green or yellow).
Anyway, stay tuned for Hilda, Jemima, Orson, David, and perhaps even some of the secondary characters I haven't introduced you to yet, such as the lovable bartender Bino and the perpetually big-nosed Mr. Queens.
By the way, you might notice a bit more volume to the lines this time round. Varying the line thickness is what gives cleaned-up drawings like these a sense of depth, and a feeling that the character is not simply flat. This is something I find really hard to do, but I'm going to practice, and who knows? Perhaps by the time I've got through my entire cast of characters, I'll be able to do halfway decent inking.
Richard Beaumont: the cericel
You're not going to see too many full colour pictures on this site, largely because I'm useless at colour and inking. However, I thought it would only be fair to give my loyal visitors some idea of the colour styling for Richard Beaumont, so, just for you, I painstakingly inked this drawing of the delirious buffoon and then painted it in Photoshop. I even did an extremely lame imitation of a sponge-painted background and added a drop shadow to make it look a bit like a cel setup.
I may do similar setups for the other characters at some point, but I'm not going to promise anything. I'm much happier just drawing my impoverished scribbles instead of having to worry about putting together a finished piece of artwork. I promise you one thing, though: you're not going to see any crummy airbrushing jobs here. What I mean by that is that they may be crummy, but they certainly won't be airbrushed.
Movie madness
I watched
The Mephisto Waltz and
Four of the Apocalypse over the space of the last couple of days.
As I suspected,
The Mephisto Waltz wasn't quite as good as I'd remembered it, although, somewhat surprisingly, I still found myself creeped out by parts of it, especially the hallucinogenic dream sequences. That almost never happens with me, so I'll give the film credit for managing to unnerve me. Elsewhere, Jacqueline Bisset is sublime, but none of the other actors make anything like the same impression. There are also some real problems with the script, not to mention the fact that the death of Bisset's daughter is only mentioned glibly in passing, several scenes after the event is supposed to have taken place, simply doesn't ring true.
Meanwhile, I was very impressed by
Four of the Apocalypse. Like
The Mephisto Waltz, it has script problems - "disjointed" is the word that immediately springs to mind - but the film has a real edge to it, as well as being quite touching at times, which took me aback given that human emotions are not something Lucio Fulci seems to be all that great at portraying. Watching this film affirmed for me how cool Fabio Testi and Tomas Milian are, while Lynne Frederick was wonderful too, even if her faux Southern accent was all over the place. This is one of the few Spaghetti Westerns I've seen, but I enjoyed this one enough to consider seeking out some more. I should probably start by going the way of Sergio Leone.
It all starts with a storyboard
Above are some thumbnail scribbles from a new
Richard Beaumont story I'm working on,
Colony of the Beaumonts. For cartoons, you don't use scripts, you use storyboards, so the whole process requires a lot of drawing and redrawing. The best way, I've found, is to do very quick, rough scribbles like the ones you see above, so you can work out the staging, the plot and the dialogue without having to worry about creating finished drawings. I just scribble down the ideas as they come to me, often spending no more than a few seconds on each picture. Then, afterwards, I can draw a proper storyboard.
The basic concept of the story is that Abraham walks out on the rest of the family, and we see how they cope without him (not very well, of course). In this key scene, he comes home from a night of drinking and is confronted by an irate Dinah (whose name I am considering changing to Hilda, which is why, on the first page, you can see the letter "H").
As always, click the small images for larger versions. These boards read down the way rather than across the way, but all the frames are numbered, so you shouldn't get too lost. Sorry about my illegible writing.
Richard's Aussie Adventure - storyboards
Here are the storyboards for an exciting scene from
Richard's Aussie Adventure, a
Richard Beaumont cartoon I came up with a few years ago.
The boards for this sequence are a bit more polished than the ones I posted from
Richard in Love. There are two reasons for this. One is that I actually animated quite a lot of
Richard's Aussie Adventure a few years ago in Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, an extremely primitive program that lets you create horrendously clunky animation, so basically I knew how this scene was going to play out and wasn't simply scribbling down the drawings before I forgot what I wanted to do.
The other is that I boarded it in 1.78:1 widescreen rather than Academy (1.33:1) ratio, and as of yet I've not found a convenient way of fitting three 1.78:1 storyboard frames on to a sheet of A4 paper. If I put three on one page, there isn't enough vertical room to draw comfortably, but, with only two frames per page, the individual drawings become much larger, which means I automatically seem to spend more time drawing them carefully. To be honest I prefer the scribbly approach - these drawings have more life to them and I think capture the moment a lot better. Still, with the ones I've posted here, it's probably more easy for people to tell what's going on.
As always, click the small images to see larger versions. I reformatted the boards to the standard "three per page" variant in order to save space and make the action flow a bit better.
Check back later and I'll post some of the story for this episode.
Oh, and here's a layout I drew this morning for one of the scenes from
Richard in Love I posted earlier. The blue outlines indicate the starting pose, while the black (lead) lines are for the end pose. I don't know if that's how the professionals do it, but I find it quite effective.
More Richard in Love
Here are some storyboards from another scene in
Richard in Love. Here, Richard tries to give Wanda a flower he has stolen from a nearby garden, but she doesn't want to know.
The rest of the Beaumont clan
There are three other members of the Beaumont household that I didn't mention in
yesterday's post. They are very much secondary characters, but they do show up from time to time, and sometimes even get a storyline or two. Here they are.
Delia Beaumont is the mother of the household. Because the Beaumonts believe that a woman's place is in the kitchen, she stays at home and cooks, looks after the children and generally acts in a clueless manner. Delia is very happy with her situation, because she is so brainwashed that she actually thinks she's getting a good deal out of life. So ignorant is she to the goings-on in the outside world that she believes Richard is the worst child on the planet and that David is a saint.
Jemima Beaumont is Richard's younger sister. She always does as she is told and, as such, is the favourite child of the family. The main reason for her doing everything she is told to do is because she is too stupid to think for herself. She frequently rats Richard out when he gets into one of his hair-raising adventures, but most of the time she just stands there, wall-eyed, and watches as the more interesting members of the family get up to their wacky antics.
Finally, there's
Orson Beaumont, the baby of the family. Orson is the child in whom Abraham and Delia are putting all their hopes, since Richard has turned out to be such a phenomenal disappointment (and they can't expect much from Jemima, except to pawn her off to the richest suitor when the time comes). No-one has noticed, however, that, inside Orson's head, the lights are on but nobody's home. Too bad!
Richard in Love - story and storyboard sample
Above are the storyboard panels from a key sequence of
Richard in Love, a
Richard Beaumont cartoon I first came up with back in the late 90s. I recently finished boarding the whole thing and will probably upload some more samples at some point. For now, click on the images above to see full size versions, complete with dialogue.
Here's how the story goes:
One afternoon, David arrives at the Beaumont manor to discover Richard jumping about like a loony. David asks what he's doing, and Richard proudly explains that he's playing a game of
hopscotch by himself. David is mistified. He knows Richard lives in a world of his own, but this is just too much.
Later, on the bus, David realises the reason for Richard's insanity: he doesn't have any friends. He puts this to Richard, who is absolutely mortified - because it's true! He bursts into tears, but suddenly his eyes light up as he spots a young girl walking down the street. He jumps through the window, shattering it, and races after her. He causes a massive pile-up, but he doesn't care. As he squirms about in the wreckage, he proclaims his love for the girl, whose name is Wanda.
That night, Richard can't sleep. He goes downstairs to make himself a bowl of gruel to soothe his heart, but he makes a terrible mess, and his mother, Delia Beaumont, comes to see what's up. Richard pours his heart out to his dear mother, explaining to her that he intends to marry Wanda. Delia tries to dissuade him, but it's no use: Richard is blind to logic.
The next day, he emerges from a hedge near Wanda's house and offers her a flower, but she doesn't want to know. Wanda's father, shotgun in hand, drives Richard out of the area.
Later, Richard hits on a fine idea: if he can't earn Wanda's love with flowers, he'll buy it. He offers to purchase an ice cream for her, and she's won over at once. However, he doesn't have enough money to pay for it, and the vendor calls the police. Richard is overpowered with the help of a tranquiliser, and he is put in jail.
The papers are full of the news that Richard has been arrested for ice cream theft. Abraham Beaumont destroys all Richard's possessions, while Wanda's father forbids her from having anything to do with the felonious Beaumont boy.
Richard is eventually released from jail, and he immediately goes to seek out Wanda. He announces that he intend to make her his bride, but she is having none of it. She socks him in the groin and runs off, leaving him squirming. The final frames are tinged with sadness (and comedy) as he pursues her through the city, wailing: "Come back! Come back I say!"
The End.
Introducing... Richard Beaumont
One of my favourite pastimes, in addition to watching movies, writing reviews and generally complaining about things, is drawing crappy little pictures to amuse myself. For as long as I can remember, I've done this, but because I don't spend nearly enough time at it, my "style", if you can call it that, tends to pretty much be a crude imitation of whatever animation I happen to be enjoying at any point. Back in the early years, I suspect this was something of a "Disney plus Warner with a dash of MGM" blend, while I also went through a period of trying to make my characters look like the cast of the
Asterix books and movies. Right now, the
Ren & Stimpy influence is more than a little too obvious (you'll see what I mean in a minute, if you haven't already), but I can't help it. I'm a thieving nogoodnik.
This strapping young lad is
Richard Beaumont. I created him back during a boring summer holiday in France when we had nothing else to do. Young Richard is the boy everyone loves to hate - full of himself, overly smart but completely ignorant of the facts of life. He has a knack for getting himself into all sorts of awkward predicaments, generally because he doesn't stop to think about the consequences. So far in our stories, Richard has been to Australia, been blasted into space, been committed to a mental asylum after telling everyone he was shot by Nazis, destroyed the computer of his only friend, and, in a story I'll be sharing with you in a later post, been smitten by a young lady who will never return his advances.
Richard has a father,
Abraham Beaumont. Abraham is a professor, but he's even less clued in to how the world works than his young son. He is a toymaker by trade (he owned the company Beaumont Enterprises until it was bought out by exectuvies), but also dabbles in scientific experiments. Abraham is very strict, but he does everything with Richard's best interests in mind. He sometimes joins Richard on his wacky adventures, but more often than not he stands back and shakes his head sadly as the poor boy puts his foot in his mouth yet again.
See what I said about the overly strong R&S reference? This is
David, and his character design has slowly evolved into a knock-off of Ren Höek that I can't for the life of me shake off. Anyway, David is Richard's only friend. He wouldn't admit this, of course, and he doesn't hang about with Richard voluntarily, but he goes with him on almost all of his adventures. Often he is quite mean to Richard, but that's because Richard can be a tactless buffoon! Some might say David is the voice of reason, but the truth of the matter is that he isn't particularly reasonable at all.
Stay tuned, because I'm going to post a few samples from my storyboard for
Richard in Love soon!
Confounded Criterion cavalcade
My orders from
Deep Discount DVD, containing the Criterion releases of
Walkabout,
Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages and
I am Curious, as well as Anchor Bay's
Four of the Apocalypse, arrived this morning. Excellent service, and very well packaged too. Provided they continue to live up to their name, I'll almost certainly be ordering from them.
I also received something very unusual for me: a VHS tape. Yes, a video. Videos, as you probably know, are things that I don't buy unless I have absolutely no choice, so this was very much an unavoidable situation. The film contained on the tape is
The Mephisto Waltz, a 1971 horror movie from 20th Century Fox that bears the distinction of being the only film the studio made in 1970. It's essentially a
Rosemary's Baby rip-off, but it was one of the first horror movies I ever saw, and back when I was an impressionable young lad it gave me quite the fear, so I'm looking forward to watching it again to see if it still has the same effect on me (I'm guessing not).
Hey, Rupert Murdoch, listen to me. Get your goons to release this on DVD ASAP!
Oh yeah, and my scanner came too. More on that in a bit.
Essay done
Well, my Screen Bodies essay is now finally in the can. The deadline isn't until Thursday but I'm going to hand it in tomorrow since I'll be going out to work anyway. Of course, I'll end up kicking myself if I suddenly think of something else I need to add to it tomorrow night...
Ren & Stimpy clips
John K has put clips from
Altruists and
Stimpy's Pregnant, two of the cartoons on the upcoming
Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes DVD, on his blog. Be sure to check it out, all you appreciators of good drawings and fluid animation.
This is definitely my most anticipated DVD release of the year. Although I've seen all the cartoons on the set, in one form or another (a thank-you present from John K to my brother
Lyris, who has been working on the upcoming Ultimate Edition box set in the form of a timecode painter-outer and censorship ratter-outer), I still can't wait to see them in DVD quality. It pains me that animation of this quality is so hard to come by, with people spending all their time praising eyesores like
American Dad and
South Park.
Go and visit
John K's blog post to see what's on offer, and then head over to your favourite R1 DVD supplier and pre-order yourself a copy of this delightful package of merriment.
A spanner in the works of the Blu-Ray machine
Remember how, recently, I've been pledging my undying support for the Blu-Ray format, leaping aboard its bandwagon and saying "no chance, hard cheese" to its rival, HD-DVD? Well, I'm now very strongly considering retracting that support. A
post by Synapse Films head Don May Jr. at the Mobius Home Video Forum points out that Sony, who has approval power over all titles released on Blu-Ray, has already vetoed certain more adult-themed titles such as
Thriller: A Cruel Picture (a film I am strongly considering picking up in HD format).
This is bad news however you look at it. Whether or not you have any interest in so-called "adult" titles (and I can easily see this being extended to other non-mainstream releases that Sony decides they don't like), you can't deny that having a single company able to decide what can and cannot be released on a certain format is an extremely bad situation to be in. It's generally agreed that one of the main reasons for the failure of Sony's BetaMax format was their reluctance to allow adult material on it, and it looks like the same thing could end up happening here. Newsflash, Sony: the entertainment industry thrives on dirty videos. Why do you think VHS and DVD were so successful?
I'll wait a bit to see what ends up happening, but Toshiba may have found themselves an unexpected late convert to the HD-DVD camp.
Asterix and the Vikings clips
Allocine has posted a bunch of videos from
Asterix and the Vikings, including the first 3 minutes of the film, trailers and a bunch of interviews. It's hard to determine what the film will be like based on these brief snippets of material, but once again I am extremely impressed by the animation - better than its predecessor,
Asterix Conquers America, by leaps and bounds.
Somersault
Somersault is an undeniably beautiful film with some magnificent performances, but I can't help thinking that it's not really deserving of the lavish praise heaped on it by so many critics. Metrodome's DVD, however, is a thoroughly satisfying affair, with a nice transfer and some revealing extras.
I've written another of my occasional series of Whiggles.com DVD reviews, this time covering
Somersault, an Australian film that has swiped numerous accolades and yet is nothing like as profound as it thinks it is.
Full review
here.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 2, Episode 2: Some Assembly Required
Written by Ty King; Directed by Bruce Seth Green
Ouch. After the season's promising start
last week, this episode was a real letdown. It's not bad, just incredibly mediocre with some embarrassing parts. Ty King wrote two episodes of
Buffy, and I find it quite amazing that the other was
Passion, perhaps one of the strongest episodes ever. This was clearly intended to fill the schedule, and as such it doesn't feature any meaningful progression for the characters, while the main storyline, involving a couple of students digging up the dead bodies of girls to create a partner for a resurrected football player, is not only incredibly silly (not in itself a disaster) but also incredibly badly executed (which most certainly
is a disaster). This feels more like a Season 1 episode than a Season 2 one, and I'm glad this format doesn't continue for too much longer.
4/10Next time:
School Hard, the introduction of a certain William the Bloody.
Asterix Conquers America
Holy bermuda shorts, Batman! It's yet another DVD Image Comparison!
This time, I take a look at
Asterix Conquers America, a decidedly mediocre adaptation from 1994 of
Asterix and the Great Crossing. (That said, I still find it infinitely more watchable than
Pocahontas, which came out only a year later and also featured Red Indians.) I've owned three DVD copies of the film, all of them guff, but now have only one: the R2 German version which features an obnoxious redub by two German whiggers called Erkan and Stefan. Obviously, there's not much fun in comparing a disc with itself, so I dug out the old French LaserDisc and decided to see how they stacked up. The results are... interesting.
See the festering crap for yourself!
Titanic 2: Jack's Back
http://www.totallycrap.com/video/titanic_2_jacks_backYet another bogus movie trailer for the gallery, and this one could be the funniest and most professional to date.
Amélie
Yes sir, it's another DVD image comparison! This time I've taken a look at the R1 US and R2 UK releases of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's
Amélie, one of the best films of the decade so far and pretty much the only romantic comedy (although such a description comes dangerously close to selling it short) I can bring myself to sit through.
Anyway, you can view the comparison
here.
The Movies expansion set coming soon
Lionhead Studios is currently working on an expansion set to their excellent tycoon/moviemaking game
The Movies. This one really caught me unawares, which really shows that I need to keep up with developments in the wonderful world with gaming, but in any event, it sounds as if it will feature a number of much-needed additions to the current game. The changes focus mainly on the actual moviemaking side rather than the tycoon aspect, which is good news, since that part of the game, while fun, is currently hamstrung by some unneccessary restrictions.
Anyway, check out
Total Video Games for a 3-page interview with project lead Brynley Gibson, who describes all the exciting new tools that have been added, including bluescreen and greenscreen modes, free camera angles, miniatures, pyrotechnics, stuntmen and loads more.
The Movies: Stunts & Effects is currently scheduled for a Q2 2006 release. Take a look at
the official site for more info.
PS. While you're at it, check out some of the
movies I've made. They're not exactly great, but most of them were done during my first few days with the game. I'm going to hold off creating anything particularly ambitious until the expansion is released, because I fully intend to make use of its new tools.
Casualty: Series 1
Variable in quality and always very rough around the edges, the first series of Casualty is certainly not perfect, but possesses a sort of bare-faced honesty that makes its flaws seem almost appopriate. While the show would go on to bigger and better things, the original 15 episodes serve as something of a time capsule, and arguably accomplish the series' aims and objectives more successfully than any subsequent series.
I've checked in at Holby City Hospital's A&E department with a fractured femur and a severe case of puffer fish poisoning to
review Casualty: Series 1, released as a 4-disc box set containing all 15 episodes by 2 Entertain/Cinema Club.
Amazon affiliates
My corporate sell-out shenanigans continue. I've added Amazon affiliate links to all my
DVD image comparisons and Whiggles.com-based
reviews.
Captain Whiggles purchases a scanner
I can't remember whether or not I bothered telling you, but my scanner broke last year, and, frankly, I was beyond caring so I didn't bother replacing it. I didn't have much need to, given that there wasn't much that I particularly wanted to scan. Recently, though, I've found myself missing having the ability to throw a sheet of paper into the tray, press a button and have it magically appear on my computer screen.
This afternoon, I decided to finally do something about my lack of scanification and buy a new one, so over to
Amazon I went and picked up a
Canon Lide 25 for £35. Of course, everywhere seems to be shutting up shop for the Easter holidays (apparently someone died or came back to life or something), so I probably won't see it till later on next week.
If you too would like to buy exactly the same scanner as me (and earn yourself a place aboard the HMS Whimsy) be sure to click the link. You see, I've sold out and become an
Amazon.co.uk Associate. Hopefully they won't kick me out like Google did.
What Have You Done to Solange?
Source:
10K Bullets ForumDigitMovies will be releasing the score to Massimo Dallamano's excellent giallo
What Have You Done to Solange on CD on April 26th. This remains one of Ennio Morricone's best ever giallo scores, and is one that I've wanted to get my hands on for some time.
At the movie's release time no record was issued excerpt from this OST neither on 33 rpm format nor 45 rpm format. A 33 rpm vinyl LP (RCA SP 8062) was released only in 1986, with 13 selected tracks and prepared for an album that never saw the light of day in 1972.The same material was then re-issued on CD RCA Records 74321-49904-2 (OST 135) in 1997. Our new CD was made possible thanks to the collaboration of M° Morricone who has given us the permission to enclose eight extra tracks found on the original stereo master tapes of the '72 session.
More information can be found at the
DigitMovies web site.
The dilemma regarding cut films
I consider myself a relatively fortunate film fan in that, thanks to the magic of the multi-region DVD player and the credit card, censorship is rarely an issue for me since, unless a title has been released cut in
every territory, picking up a complete version of every film I want to own is not an issue.
As many of you probably know, one of my favourite directors, if not my absolute favourite, is Dario Argento, and I am pleased to say that I own completely uncut copies of all of his films (including strange cases like
Trauma and
The Stendhal Syndrome, where the Italian domestic versions feature material not found in the export releases). For a number of people, raised on butchered American prints of his films, the advent of DVD and the release of classics such as
Profondo Rosso,
Tenebre and
Phenomena was cause for jubilation. Myself, I've never seen a censored Argento film, and part of me is now wondering if I should seek some out.
The most famously mangled Argento films are
Profondo Rosso and
Phenomena, both of which lost around 25 minutes of their running times for their respective US releases. As it happens, the shorter versions of these films are both available on DVD -
Profondo Rosso in the UK as part of a 2-disc set also containing the full-length Italian version*, and
Phenomena, under New Line's ghastly title
Creepers, in Australia.
The big question, though, is whether or not I would really want to pay for these butchered editions. Personally, I wouldn't mind paying a couple of bucks for curiosity value, but I draw the line at paying the £6
Atlantic DVD are asking for
Creepers! For the time being, therefore, I'm going to say "no cheese" and stick with my uncut, director-approved copies. Still, colour me curious. I'd love to see
Creepers one day, so I can see if New Line really did edit it to make the monkey into the killer.
* This version is not actually full-length in the UK release, as it loses a shot of a lizard pinned to the ground, supposedly due to animal cruelty legislation. The same shot, however, can be found in the shorter version, so either the BBFC decided that the lizard scene was faked (which I suspect it was) or they're just incredibly incompetent. If the former is the case, then, if you ask me, they should have admitted their own error and reclassified the international version free of charge!
Lifestyles of the rich and bankrupt
Source:
GamasutraOne of the funniest true-life disaster sagas I've read in a long time, and one that should put a smile on the face of anyone who predicted disaster for the
Gizmondo.
Rayman 4 this winter
Source:
GamasutraUbiSoft has announced that they plan to ship the latest
Rayman game,
Rayman 4, in time for the 2006 holiday season. After taking a break to work on
Beyond Good and Evil (which I really must dig out some time soon) and the
King Kong movie tie-in game, co-creator Michel Ancel is said to be back at the helm, so hopefully this will be better than the less than impressive
Rayman 3. And is it too much to ask for them to go back to the gleefully whimsical "gibberish" dialogue of
Rayman 2 rather than calling on the talents of (shudder) Billy West again?
The New York Ripper
I ordered myself a copy of the R0 Australian release of Lucio Fulci's
The New York Ripper this morning. It's apparently the best-looking of all the releases of this film to date, and at any rate is bound to look superior to my French NTSC to PAL standards converted copy.
Incidentally, I rewatched the film recently and felt compelled to add an extra half-star to my overall rating. Although I initially criticised the film's rather cheap, crummy look, a repeat viewing has made me see that its visuals are entirely appropriate to the subject matter. Furthermore, some use of colour and framing, which I didn't notice before, have made me think that it's nothing like as poorly shot as I initially thought.
Music mania
My
Asterix and the Vikings CD arrived today. It contains a total of 21 tracks, 7 of which are pop songs (many of them of the Europop variety), so there are essentially 14 decent (i.e. score music) tracks.
Overall, it's a pretty good, if unremarkable, score. The track titles are vague enough for it to be unclear exactly which parts of the story they correspond to (and, in any event, I get the impression that the plot has been substantially altered from the book on which the film is based,
Asterix and the Normans), so I can't really comment on how appropriate it is to the film until I've actually seen it. I do get the impression, though, that there is something of a jarring gap between lighthearted, jolly themes and music that has a more sinister tone to it. Ah well, we'll see. I just hope the film gets released before too long, if not in UK cinemas then on DVD with some form of English audio options.
eBay censors
Source:
Melon FarmerseBay recently removed an auction for a copy of Anchor Bay's recently released
Box of the Damned DVD, a collection of former Video Nasties such as
Tenebre,
The Evil Dead and
The Last House on the Left, despite the fact that the set has a valid BBFC classification and can therefore, as the Melon Farmers point out, be sold in the likes of Virgin and HMV.
According to eBay, however:
Even if an item is given a rating for general sale in the UK by the BBFC, this does not exempt such an item from eBay policy.
Under our policy, eBay does not allow items or descriptions that graphically portray violence or victims of violence, and lacks substantial social, artistic or political value. For example, eBay will disallow sales of explicit crime scene or morgue photos and videos, the type often found in this series.
As useful a service as eBay provide, I must say that I find them to be a rather disreputable bunch of crooks, with their secrecy, lack of accountability and seemingly arbitrary rules. I also find it quite amusing that I have frequently sold non-classified DVDs using their service and not been shut down. Why they think they have anything to gain by forbidding the sale of certain goods beggars belief. It's clearly not a legal issue, so I can only assume that it's down to good old-fashioned puritanical snobbery. These items don't conform to the moralistic outlook of some high-ranking moneyman at eBay, so hey presto, you can't sell them. Just because.
Lost-lost Martino giallo coming to DVD
Source:
DVD Maniacs ForumAustrian DVD company Sazuma Productions has announced a new line of giallo DVDs, with the first release being
Morte Sospetta di una Minorenne (
Suspected Death of a Minor), a little-seen giallo-poliziesco hybrid from 1975, directed by Sergio Martino. I wasn't aware that Martino had made a sixth giallo-styled film (I assumed that the five available on DVD constituted his entire giallo output), so I'll be quite curious to pick this one up. I don't own any other Sazuma releases, but they seem to be serious about delivering a good product, transferring the film from its original negative and so on.
You can read more about this release in their
blog entry.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 2, Episode 1: When She Was Bad
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
What a great season premiere! On the
Buffy scale it rates very highly, and I can't for the life of me understand why it gets such a bad rap. Okay, there are a couple of lines from both Willow and Xander that sound completely out of character (and are we really to believe that Xander can't spell "bitch"?), and some completely lame product placement for some band the writers were obviously thrilled to have snagged, but I'm willing to overlook these issues, considering how enjoyably dark and well executed this episode is. (Joss Whedon has clearly learned a thing or two about directing since his debut on the previous season's finale.) The change in tone between the two seasons is immediately apparent, and it's a change for the better, if you ask me: more angst and emotional turmoil, but still countered by enough of a sense of humour for it not to be overbearing (*cough* unlike Seasons 6 and 7 *cough*). Some nice music by Christophe Beck, too, taking over from Walter Murphy in the previous season.
9/10Next time: the throwaway
Some Assembly Required.
Criterion sale
Today is the last day of Deep Discount DVD's
Criterion Collection sale. They're offering titles with as much as 45% of their usual prices, so if there are any Criterions you've wanted to pick up but haven't got round to buying, hurry up before it's too late!
The Movies
I "completed"
The Movies today. I put "completed" inside quotation marks since, as is so often the case with sim games, you never really finish the game per se but simply keep playing until you get bored of it. Now, I'm one of those people who likes games to have a sense of finiteness: to have a goal to work towards - a finishing like, if you like. Thankfully, therefore,
The Movies does have a conclusion of sorts - a fairly half-hearted one, but a conclusion nonetheless.
Basically, once the year 2005 ends, you receive a screen of scrolling text congratulating you for your accomplishments, the credits run, and then you are asked if you would like to quit or continue playing.
Like I said, it feels a lot like a last minute addition - there's certainly no ludicrously bombastic FMV sequence - but at least I can say that I "played"
The Movies, unlike something like
Theme Park, which just keeps going on and on and on. I did pretty well, too, consistently churning out movies of a 4-star rating and providing my stars and directors with a positive work environment. When the game ended, my studio, Mad House (naturally), was ranked #1, although on various other occasions it slid to as low as #4.
Anyway, great game. The moviemaking aspect is of limited value, and it's not particularly well integrated into the rest of the game, but if that's not your cup of tea you can safely ignore it and concentrate on the sim aspect. Overall the game is a hell of a lot better than Bullfrog's previous effort, the fetid
Black & White. I don't normally give games ratings, but having experienced it (pretty much) from beginning to end, I feel reasonably qualified to put a number on it.
8/10
Discount DVD jamboree
Deep Discount DVD, the online DVD supplier with a cartoon shark as their mascot, are having a right old hootenanny and selling a whole bunch of titles in the notoriously expensive Criterion Collection at reasonable prices (stop press!). Always one to make use of a bargain, I decided to order a few discs that I'd been interested in but shied away from due to cost prohibitiveness:
Walkabout,
Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages and
I am Curious (contains both
I am Curious: Yellow and
I am Curious: Blue). It's an eclectic collection of films to be sure, and since I've not seen any of them (apart from
Walkabout, the first half-hour of which I saw at school) it's anyone's guess whether or not this rash expenditure will prove to be worthwhile. I must say, though, that it's good to splash out and make some impulse purchases once in a blue moon.
Because I ordered all three titles separately (to keep me under the customs limit, natch), I took the liberty of adding to my order of
Walkabout (the cheapest of the three titles) a copy of Lucio Fulci's
Four of the Apocalypse, a highly regarded spaghetti western that I've been curious to see ever since reading about it in Stephen Thrower's book
Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci.
Click
here to see a full list of the titles they have available.
Essay update
Well, I managed to write my 1,200 word article this afternoon. Essentially, it turned into a rant on remakes, especially horror remakes, but, as our tutor told us on several occasions, it's important to have an opinion about what you're writing on. No-one wants to read a completely objective article, after all!
I suspect I'm going to take tomorrow off (barring reading - gawd, Carol Clover's
Men, Women and Chain Saws: Gender in Modern Horror Film is a chore!), and then on Monday I'm going to have to crack on with the bloody Screen Bodies essay.
Into the valley of death I go...
Howl's Moving Castle
If you took a look at my
DVD image comparison for
Howl's Moving Castle, you probably noticed that the UK release had the best image quality of the three different editions I compared. I had only borrowed the UK release, so a few days ago I ordered a copy of my own through
HMV, who were offering a very nifty release with a limited edition cover and three postcards, for only £12.99. It arrived this morning.
I'll be punting the US release on
eBay during my next DVD clear-out. The Japanese LE, however, I'll hang on to - for the time being, at any rate. I predict that one day it will sell for a boat-load of cash, particularly since I have one of the glass-encased film frames that were included with the first pressings of the release.
The Fifth Cord
A masterfully executed giallo, The Fifth Cord may not boast the solidest of plots - indeed, the script is perhaps too convoluted for its own good - but it does showcase magnificent cinematography, and serves as an excellent star vehicle for the ever reliable Franco Nero, who shines in his only giallo role. It's too bad neither he nor Bazzoni made any more gialli, since both could easily have become legends in the genre.
My coverage of Blue Underground's March 2006 giallo releases comes to the end with a
review of
The Fifth Cord, a masterful effort by Luigi Bazzoni, very much in the Dario Argento vein, and featuring an intense performance by the inimitable Franco Nero.
Dellamorte Dellamore US cover art and release date
Source:
Dark DiscussionThe Horror Channel have posted the cover art for Anchor Bay's upcoming US DVD release of
Dellamorte Dellamore (as "Cemetery Man"), as well as a release date: June 13th. I have to say that the art they've used is not good at all (as Lyris put it, they've made it look like
Voodoo Academy or something), and, coupled with the
apparent lack of the Italian dub or the Michele Soavi/Gianni Romoli audio commentary from the Italian release, has pretty much sealed the deal for me.
No sale.
By the way, judging by the specs it looks as if Rupert Everett is not involved in any of the extras. Hardly surprising, given that he apparently doesn't think much of the film. As Ian Jane said over at
DVD Maniacs, it's a bit of a shame that he hates the only decent movie he's ever been in.
Essay update
I finally finished the first draft of my Film Journalism essay (on the critical reception to
V for Vendetta) this afternoon. It's due in on Monday the 10th, which will hopefully leave me with enough time to do any last minute revisions, and to write that 1,200 word piece that needs to be submitted along with it. I suspect I'll write something on the deluge of remakes and sequels that have been infesting cinemas in recent years - that should be fairly straightforward.
Casualty DVD update
Source:
Holby.TV Forums (login required)
It looks like Series 2 and 3 will both be released on DVD this summer.
Reviews in print
Ever since DVD companies started using quotations from reviews of mine, I've become increasingly aware of their ability to employ selective editing to alter what I've said. Back in
August, I noticed that, on the cover for Anchor Bay's release of
The Card Player, my positive comments regarding one stand-out scene were turned into a glowing appraisal of the entire film. Then, in
March, I was baffled to find, on the cover of Blue Underground's
The Black Belly of the Tarantula, a generic quote that bore practically no resemblance to anything I'd written (to piece it together, you'd have to stoop to the level of taking individual words from my review and rearranging them).
Today, while visiting
NoShame Films' web site, I noticed that they had taken quotes from some of my reviews of their releases, removed the parts where I am critical of their work, and used them as ecstatic commendations of their releases.
My original:
The Emilio Miraglia Killer Queen Box Set is NoShame Films' most ambitious undertaking to date, and the end result should please all fans of European cult cinema. While the transfers are still not of the same quality as their Italian counterparts, the gap between the two versions is considerably smaller than with previous releases from the studio, and the abundance of bonus materials, not to mention the extremely nifty Red Queen figurine, should make this an essential purchase for anyone who enjoys the jauntier, campier side of the giallo genre.
Version on NoShame's site:
The Emilio Miraglia Killer Queen Box Set is NoShame Films' most ambitious undertaking to date, and the end result should please all fans of European cult cinema. the abundance of bonus materials, not to mention the extremely nifty Red Queen figurine, should make this an essential purchase for anyone who enjoys the jauntier, campier side of the giallo genre.
My original:
NoShame have clearly gone to a great deal of effort for this release, and in all fairness, these DVDs both look somewhat better than the most recent set of giallo releases from Blue Underground. They're clearly a very small outlet and don't have access to the kind of resources that the likes of Anchor Bay have; however, effort alone is ultimately not enough, and the fact remains that, in terms of transfers and overall aesthetics (the menus are extremely amateur, and the cover art is tacky in the extreme), they leave a lot to be desired. That said, both films are highly entertaining, and the inclusion of English subtitles and a bonus CD makes this release an overall more appealing option than its Italian variant.
Version on NoShame's site:
NoShame have clearly gone to a great deal of effort for this release, and in all fairness, these DVDs both look somewhat better than the most recent set of giallo releases from Blue Underground both films are highly entertaining
Tsk, tsk.
They've also
linked to my
The Red Queen Kills 7 Times DVD image comparison, despite the fact that it hardly shows them in the best light. How very odd.
More giallo releases in the pipeline
Source:
DVD Maniacs ForumFrench DVD distributor Neo Publishing, who gave Fulci's
The New York Ripper and
Seven Notes in Black lavish (if variable) 2-disc special editions last year, is releasing two more giallo titles soon: Duccio Tessari's
Puzzle (also known as
The Man With No Memory) and Sergio Martino's
The Case of the Scorpion's Tail.
By the sounds of it,
Puzzle will not feature any English-language options, so I suspect that instead I will go for the
Scandinavian version due for release at some point this month. Still, the French release does sound like a nice package, featuring interviews with writer Ernesto Gastaldi and Luc Merenda.
As far as
The Case of the Scorpion's Tail goes, I'm tempted to pick it up. Apparently it will have an English audio track, and I would very much like to replace my grotty standards converted US release from NoShame.
The Omen SE update
Cover art for the upcoming R1 Special Edition of
The Omen has been posted at
The DVD Forums. Looks good, although the tag-line ("He's the beginning of the end") is awful.
The Omen Quadrilogy, containing the 2-disc SE of the film, its two theatrical sequels, and the supposedly horrible TV-movie sequel, has also been announced, with a release date of June 16th (see
Play.com for the R2 release). The sequels are very much inferior to the original, but listening to Jerry Goldsmith's scores for
Damien: Omen II and
The Final Conflict has got me in the mood to see them again... and in any event, as an
Omen fan I surely owe it to myself to see the TV movie, if only to see just how low the series could sink. I might end up buying the "Quadrilogy" if I come across somewhere offering it for a decent price.
Asterix and the Vikings review
Joris at Animation Nation has posted a brief
review of
Asterix and the Vikings. It's very mixed in tone, praising the animation and clean-up but criticising the lack of investment in the characters and (as I feared) the "overkill on pop songs".
I'm still looking forward to the film, but at the moment it sounds like it's basically
Asterix Conquers America with better art direction. And, regardless of the pop songs, I think I'll pick up a copy of the score CD, composed by Alexandre Azaria.
Amazon.fr have put samples of the tracks on their site, and it sounds pretty good.
The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh
Yet another new DVD image comparison has been added to the collection! This time I've taken a look at the R1 US and R2 Italian releases of
The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh. An early NoShame Films release, the American transfer features standards conversion artefacts and contrast boosting. NoShame really ought to hire someone who actually knows what they're doing! With tools freely available online, anyone with an ounce of experience could create a far better transfer than these supposed professionals did.
View the damage for yourselves
here.
Anchor Bay Dellamorte Dellamore update
Source:
FangoriaSo it's not cancelled after all, then. Anchor Bay have announced specs for their upcoming US DVD release of Michele Soavi's masterpiece
Dellamorte Dellamore (under the thoroughly hideous title of
Cemetery Man). Features will include...
...a new anamorphic 1.66:1 transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. Supplements include the Death Is Beautiful: The Making of CEMETERY MAN featurette including all-new interviews with Soavi, female lead Anna Falchi and others, a Soavi bio and trailers.
It looks like they've decided not to port over the audio commentary from the excellent
Italian release. I've said it before and I'll say it again: unless they include the superior Italian dub of the film (which robs Rupert Everett of his real voice but ensures that everyone else sounds much more sincere), I for one will not be buying this. At the rate they're going, this is going to be a downgrade rather than an upgrade.
Run Windows on a Mac
Source:
BBC NewsRemember how,
back in August, I reported that some clever chaps had figured out how to get Apple's MacOSX to run on a PC? Well, it seems that Apple too are willing to bed-hop, and have released software that will allow Macintosh users to run Windows XP on their fruit-boxes.
Called Boot Camp, the system requires that users own a copy of Windows XP and Intel-based hardware. According to BBC News,
By releasing Boot Camp, Apple is hoping to cash in on the interest generated by its iconic iPod music player. The dual booting system could let users run Windows to play games but use Mac applications for everything else.
I'll stick with my PC, thank you very much.
Yes, I am a Casualty fan
There, I came out and said it. It's often derided for being a poor man's
ER, and maybe it is, but
Casualty got there nearly a decade earlier and has enjoyed 20 years of success. Of course, the show has taken a real nose-dive in quality over the last five or six years, but I still watch the show religiously, as I have done ever since I was subjected, as an impressionable child, to its ludicrous accidents and extravagant display of gratuitous blood and guts. (Personally, I thought Series 5 through 12 were the "golden age" of the show, with 16 through 19 being pretty dire - although I must admit that, over the last nine months or so, it's come close to getting back on track.)
Anyway, a DVD of the first series is being released on April 10th (see the announcement at
DVD Times), and I received check discs today for review. From what I've heard, Series 2 and 3 are also in the pipeline, and future series may be released depending on sales.
Whew! Felt good getting that off my chest.
Death Carries a Cane
I've been playing catch-up with my DVD image comparisons recently. This evening, I added
Death Carries a Cane to the collection, comparing the R2 German and R2 Austrian releases. In some ways, there's probably not much point in this comparison, since both releases are now out of print, and the film is not up to much anyway - one of the dreariest, least involving gialli ever produced, although the amount of female flesh on display might draw in some admirers.
Anyway, check the thing out
here.
New John K interview
There's a new interview with John K in the
Toronto Star which dicusses his
blog, current projects and philosophy on TV, executives, animation schools and so on. There's nothing in here that veteran Spumco fans won't know already, but it's worth a read at any rate.
New(ish) DVD image comparison: The Card Player
This evening, I finally got round to adding Anchor Bay's Region 1 US release of
The Card Player to my comparison, which already featured the R2 Italian and Czech releases. However, I decided to completely redo the comparison, with brand new screen captures to better illustrate the differences. The full comparison is now available
here.
PS. I've added the UK release to my
Blockbuster rental list and will add it to the comparison when I get my hands on it.
All aboard the rollercoaster ride of doom!
Source:
DVD TimesNew Line have announced the R1 DVD release of
Final Destination 3, with a release date of July 25th 2006. Features are as follows:
Disc 1:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, DTS 6.1 ES and Stereo Surround 2.0
- English subtitles and Spanish subtitles
- "Choose-Their-Fate" Interactive feature
- Feature commentary by director and co-writer James Wong, co-writer Glen Morgan and director of photography Robert Mclachlan
Disc 2:
- "It's All Around You" animated short: a look at death statistics
- "Dead Teenager Movie" featurette: a look at the teen horror genre
- "Kill Shot: The Making of Final Destination 3" documentary
- "Planned Accidents" featurette
- "Police Station" deleted scene
- Theatrical trailer
Thankfully it doesn't say "a rollicking rip-roaring rollercoaster ride" on the packaging anywhere... Although we haven't seen the UK Entertainment In Video version yet, which I'm sure will contain the requisite Paul Ross quote (and wasn't he responsible for that phrase in the first place?). In any event, I'll be picking up a copy of this. Too bad I missed it at the cinema, as
Final Destination 2 on the big screen was a Schitty Movie™ laugh riot.
String up those censors!
Source:
DVD Times (thanks Just Passing Through)
As an adjunct to the recent
news of the BBFC's decision to deface
The Ren & Stimpy Show, it would appear that the same vandals have now
taken the scissors to yet another animated show, the 18-rated
Paranoia Agent by Satoshi Kon. One minute and twenty seconds of cuts have been inflicted to a scene of "a child attempting to hang herself, and accompanying subtitles". The cuts, so they say, were "in accordance with the Video Recordings Act 1984".
It seems that the censors are now cutting hanging scenes (and non-comedic ones, by the sound of it) from material aimed at adults, which makes something of a mockery of their previous claim that they cut
Ren & Stimpy because of children being "potential viewers", as well as of all the previous films they classified that include hanging (and "joke hanging") scenes. What is with these people? Do they now simply feel the need to cut
something just to justify their existence? I wonder if hanging scenes are the new chainsaws.
If you want to discuss this matter with the BBFC, who deface art for a living, I suggest you send them an email.
One thing's for sure, I'm losing more and more respect for these individuals by the day.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 1 (1997)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 1
Season 1 reviews:
-
Episodes 1 and 2: Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest 6/10-
Episode 3: Witch 5/10-
Episode 4: Teacher's Pet 3/10-
Episode 5: Never Kill a Boy on the First Date 5/10-
Episode 6: The Pack 7/10-
Episode 7: Angel 6/10-
Episode 8: I Robot, You Jane 4/10-
Episode 9: The Puppet Show 5/10-
Episode 10: Nightmares 7/10-
Episode 11: Out of Mind, Out of Sight 6/10-
Episode 12: Prophecy Girl 8/10Judging by my calculations, that gives Season 1 an overall average of
6/10. I don't like giving out ratings determined by numeric formulae, but on this occasion it pretty much fits my overall opinions of this season. A
6, in my rating system, is "good", or, to be more specific, "more good than bad". And that pretty much sums up the first season of
Buffy: it doesn't fulfill its potential, and it has some really cringeworthy moments, but the great bits make up for the awful bits.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 1, Episode 12: Prophecy Girl
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
The first season finally comes to and end. It's had some ups and downs, but at least it ends on a high note. Indeed, it's actually the strongest episode of the season, and its strengths lie in the ways in which it hints at the developments, both in terms of character relationships and in the impending darkness of tone, that would come to characterise the show in its second season. Giles and Buffy get to express some genuine human emotions, which, until this episode, hadn't really happened, at least not to any great extent. I also like Willow's turning down Xander when he asks her to go to the dance with her because she doesn't want to be his second choice - it's these little character moments that make the show so rewarding.
My one real complaint about this otherwise solid episode is the incredibly cheesy moment in which they set the show's theme music to video-edited footage of the recently resurrected Buffy walking towards the school. Yeesh.
Oh, and this time round I noticed what sounds suspiciously like foreshadowing of Willow's impending conversion to the wonderful world of homosexuality. Perhaps it only appears that way with the benefit of hindsight, but if it was indeed intentional, then it suggests that that particular development was planned more than three years in advance.
8/10Next time: getting right into Season 2 with
When She Was Bad, an episode that has seemed to divide fans, but which I think is a pretty good opener.
The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion
"Are they pornographic photos?" "Yes, but good ones." This particular exchange more or less sums up The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion. It's trashy and not particularly substantial, but well-made and enjoyable. The films of the Ercoli/Navarro/Andreu team, while not as well-known as their most obvious rivals, the Sergio Martino/Edwige Fenech/George Hilton gialli, are in my opinion significantly more entertaining. All those involved would later go on to bigger and better things, but this serves as an excellent starting point.
Continuing my coverage of Blue Underground's March 2006 giallo releases, I've
reviewed The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion, a languid but enjoyable effort from 1970 directed by Luciano Ercoli and starring Dagmar Lassander, Simón Andreu and Nieves Navarro.
Updated spaghetti horror ratings
It's about time I posted an updated list of Italian horror films and thrillers that I've seen, given that a few more have crossed my path since I put together my
previous list back in February.
Dario Argento1.
Suspiria (1977)
10/102.
Opera (1987)
10/103.
Profondo Rosso (1975)
10/104.
Inferno (1980)
9/105.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1980)
9/106.
Tenebre (1982)
9/107.
Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
8/108.
The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)
8/109.
Phenomena (1985)
8/1010.
The Card Player (2004)
7/1011.
Non Ho Sonno (2001)
7/1012.
The Black Cat, segment of
Two Evil Eyes (1990)
7/1013.
The Cat O' Nine Tails (1971)
7/1014.
Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005, TV)
6/1015.
Trauma (1993)
6/1016.
Eyewitness, episode of
Door into Darkness (1973, TV)
6/1017.
The Tram, episode of
Door into Darkness (1973, TV)
4/1017.
The Phantom of the Opera (1998)
4/1018.
Jenifer, episode of
Masters of Horror (2005, TV)
3/10Lucio Fulci1.
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)
9/102.
The Beyond (1981)
8/103.
Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)
8/104.
Seven Notes in Black (1977)
8/105.
The New York Ripper (1982)
7/106.
The House by the Cemetery (1981)
5/107.
City of the Living Dead (1980)
3/10Mario Bava1.
The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)
9/102.
Blood and Black Lace (1964)
8/103.
Lisa and the Devil (1973)
7/104.
Bay of Blood (1971)
7/105.
Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970)
6/10Aldo Lado1.
Short Night of the Glass Dolls (1971)
9/102.
Night Train Murders (1975)
8/103.
Who Saw Her Die? (1972)
8/10Michele Soavi1.
Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)
9/102.
Stagefright (1987)
8/103.
The Sect (1991)
7/104.
The Church (1989)
7/10Sergio Martino1.
All the Colours of the Dark (1972)
7/102.
The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971)
7/103.
The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (1971)
7/104.
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)
6/105.
Torso (1973)
6/10Umberto Lenzi1.
Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972)
6/102.
Spasmo (1974)
2/10Miscellaneous1.
What Have You Done to Solange? (1972, Massimo Dallamano)
9/102.
Death Laid an Egg (1968, Giulio Questi)
9/103.
The Fifth Cord (1971, Luigi Bazzoni)
8/104.
The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974, Francesco Barilli)
8/105.
The Cursed Medallion (1975, Massimo Dallamano)
8/106.
The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971, Paolo Cavara)
8/107.
Death Walks at Midnight (1972, Luciano Ercoli)
8/108.
Almost Blue (2000, Alex Infascelli)
8/109.
Occhi di Cristallo (2004, Eros Puglielli)
8/1010.
The Bloodstained Shadow (1978, Antonio Bido)
8/1011.
The Pyjama Girl Case (1977, Flavio Mogherini)
7/1012.
What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974, Massimo Dallamano)
7/1013.
Baba Yaga (1973, Corrado Farina)
7/1014.
The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1970, Luciano Ercoli)
7/1015.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972, Emilio P. Miraglia)
7/1016.
Death Walks on High Heels (1971, Luciano Ercoli)
7/1017.
Plot of Fear (1976, Paolo Cavara)
7/1018.
The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971, Duccio Tessari)
7/1019.
The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971, Emilio P. Miraglia)
7/1020.
Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye (1973, Antonio Margheriti)
6/1021.
The Vanity Serum (2004, Alex Infascelli)
6/1022.
Autopsy (1975, Armando Crispino)
6/1023.
The House with Laughing Windows (1976, Pupi Avati)
5/1024.
Death Carries a Cane (1973, Maurizio Pradeaux)
5/1025.
The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972, Giuliano Carnimeo)
5/1026.
Strip Nude For Your Killer (1975, Andrea Bianchi)
5/1027.
The Cat with the Jade Eyes (1977, Antonio Bido)
4/1028.
Crimes of the Black Cat (1972, Sergio Pastore)
3/10
Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes officially announced
Source:
TV Shows on DVDAfter what seems like an eternity, Paramount have
finally officially announced the DVD of
Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes, as well as a release date: July 18th. They've also provided a list of bonus features:
- Animatics - 17 APC animatics
- Pencil tests - 3 APC pencil tests: Naked Beach Frenzy
- APC model sheets and background art - tons!
- Rough cut - Ren Seeks Help
This, I'm guessing, is in addition to the artist introductions and interviews that John K spoke about on his
web site and on the
MOTLOS forum. At least, I
hope these are still on the cards. I'm slightly disappointed at the lack of commentaries, but still, finally getting to see these episodes in DVD quality is what counts. This could end up being the Number 1 DVD release of the year for me.
Tenebre commentary
Right, okay, here's my promise to you: tomorrow, during breaks from writing my essays, I'm going to get back to work on my
Tenebre commentary. I
have been working on it at various points over the last couple of weeks, but I haven't made nearly as much progress as I would have liked. This morning I listened to the 12 minutes and 6 seconds I'd already recorded, and decided to do a small amount of editing, snipping out a handful of brief asides that didn't really go anywhere and adding in a couple of new observations that occurred to me while I was rewatching the beginning of the film this morning. (Believe it or not, it took me until now to notice that, in the scene in which Peter Neal is changing in the bathroom at Kennedy Airport, he hides a crucifix under his shirt.) The track, as it stands now, runs for 11 minutes and 47 seconds, and, as luck would have it, starting tomorrow, I'll be getting into the juicy territory of Tilde's interview with Peter.
By the way, I've decided that I probably won't be referring too much, if at all, to Chris Barber and Stephen Thrower's essay on the film from
Art of Darkness. I flicked through it the other day, and have come to the conclusion that, if possible, it's even more guilty of over-analysis than Xavier Mendik's
notorious essay. With his talk of Freud and Lacan, Mendik certainly strays into the territory of attaching meaning to the film that probably don't actually exist, but Barber and Thrower go one step further, attempting to claim that the name "Peter Neal" (a) has childlike associations (e.g.
Peter and the Wolf) and (b) indicates subservience (Neal, kneel). Yowza.
PS. I'm not trying to belittle either of these articles. There are many good things about them, and both of them certainly helped to crystalise my thoughts on
Tenebre to some extent, but I'm not convinced that the brand of in-depth textual analysis they carry out is all that useful. In any event, I seriously doubt that my dilligent commentary audience wants to hear me wittering on about Slavoj Žižek. I'm not smart enough for that!
April Fools!
I hope you all enjoyed my little
April Fools' Day prank. I myself did not, because I had to attend a wedding, which is really not my idea of how to spend a Saturday afternoon. Out of respect for the bride and groom (who at least had the good taste not to subject us to a church ceremony) I'm not going to rail on the whole affair in the way that I once would have, but can I ask a serious question: does anyone actually
enjoy these things? Not to put to fine a point on it, but if I ever got married (which isn't going to happen, so don't worry), I would feel rather low for subjecting people to such a carry-on.
PS. Remember, the Pretentious Entertainers may no longer be on my main page, but they have not gone away. They can now be found
here.
Ho hum
http://www.whiggles.comWhat day is today?
