Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Just arrived...

10:26 PM / Blu-ray / DVD / Comments12 Comments

DVD

Left Bank (DVD, IFC, Region 1, USA)

BD

Max Manus: Man of War (BD, Revolver, Region ABC, UK)

Left Bank, described on the front cover as "as important as Left the Right One in" (whatever that means), is the first film I've bought on a standard definition DVD this year. (I've bought a handful of TV shows on DVD and received a couple of review copies, but that's it.)

 
12 Comments

1. Todd S. Gallows said:

I enjoyed Let The Right One In and all, now I feel great to know that it was an important movie...

These adjectives used in blurbs... What makes a movie, especially a work of fiction important?

(Posted on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 10:49 PM)

2. Todd S. Gallows said:

And is Man of War more than just a war film?

(Posted on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 10:50 PM)

3. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Max Manus is, as far as I can tell, a true story about a Norwegian resistance leader during the Second World War. The "Man of War" subtitle was added for the UK release and is, I suspect, not particularly fitting, as it suggests an action movie, which I don't believe this is.

As for "important", God alone knows, and he isn't even real, so I guess we're not going to get an answer any time soon. I suppose it's possible to see it as important in the sense that it's one of the few modern vampire movies that isn't ridiculously camp, self-absorbed emo pornography, but that's just my take on it.

(Posted on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 10:53 PM)

4. Sound Designer Dan said:

Michael,

What are you thoughts on people like film critic/blogger Jeffrey Wells talking crap about films with a "grainstorm"?

Here's his thoughts here on Gone with the Wind: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/11/gone_with_the_w_1.php

(Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 7:25 AM)

5. Sound Designer Dan said:

Here's another Wells article on film grain: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/09/somewhere_over.php

(Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 7:27 AM)

6. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

Speaking of vampire flicks, I saw Thirst recently, and it was downright phenomenal. Really unique take on the vampire story, and is a love story of sorts (wouldn't wanna spoil anything) but is in no way fruity. Kind of an oddball movie in the amount of genres it covers.

(Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 10:45 AM)

7. Todd S. Gallows said:

Yeah Max Manus looks more like a drama/thriller over anything else. And I guess the answer really will remain a mystery, but yeah, by your definition Let The Right One is far more important than Twilight and its millions of clones such as Vampire Diaries, Vampire Academy, House of Night, etc.

Christopher, where did you get to see Thirst?

(Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 2:07 PM)

8. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Thirst is the new Chan-wook Park film, right? I definitely want to see that. The newly re-established Tartan is releasing it on BD in the UK in January.

(Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 3:26 PM)

9. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

Yeah, Park's latest. I saw it at a midnight showing in Minneapolis last week. It was supposed to actually play in the nearby Lagoon Cinema for a week, but it got canceled, and wound up a few months later being a midnight thing for a weekend at the run-down Uptown Theatre a block or so away. (The two theaters are managed by the same people.) So, yeah, seems any theatrical showings are extremely limited.

Comes out on DVD here in the States this upcoming week, but I think I'll hold out for a Blu-ray release. If one doesn't come out here, hopefully then the UK BD will play in Region A players.

Also, this doesn't really apply to vampires (although the movie's a bit vampire-esque), but I reeeaaally, really love the 1977 Nobuhiko Obayashi movie, House (a.k.a. Hausu). It's a delightful bit of fun that I think any fan of horror would enjoy. Janus Films/Criterion are currently touring a 35mm print around the US and will be releasing a DVD (and hopefully a BD) in the future. They also just released a totally great shirt for it, ha. http://thecriterioncollection.createsend1.com/t/r/l/hkliik/vhukidlt/tj

Dunno if any of this interests any of you, but the fact that Janus are taking good care of it has totally got me stoked, and I hope it plays here in Minneapolis at some point. For the longest time it's only been available on DVD-R sites.

Here's a trailer for it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN0HVJ5tkIM

Total must-see, if you ask me.

(Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 9:45 AM)

10. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

And even more unrelated to vampires, and even horror altogether but related since it's a blaxploitation spoof: Black Dynamite is playing in a few cities around the US. http://www.blackdynamitemovie.com/

Totally pumped to go see it next week, ha ha.

(Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 9:47 AM)

11. Todd S. Gallows said:

House looks intriguingly deranged. I'm surprised something so bizarre came out in Japan and during that decade. I thought the more extreme horror films started surfacing in the 80s. I will have to definitely watch that one.

As for Black Dynamite I've been anticipating that one almost all year. It looks pretty funny and authentic.

I'm not sure if you heard of it, but you might also like House of The Devil. It does the same sort of thing, being a throwback to 80s haunted house horror. Be it, the movie takes its time in delivering the terror.

(Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 2:45 PM)

12. Christopher D. Jacobson said:

First time I've heard of The House of the Devil, but it looks interesting enough. I'll have to check it out when it comes out on video.

(Posted on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 12:28 AM)

 
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