Full Article Text
DVDs: Lawrence of Arabia Still
Dazzles With Intelligence
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA 50TH
ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR'S
EDITION ($99.95 BluRay boxed set or
$26.99 BluRay; Sony) -- It was two in themorning and I just wanted to check outthe picture and sound quality of this newrestoration. Almost against my will, I wasmesmerized once again by one of themost intelligent, complex and fascinatingdepictions of an historical figure on film.It helps when that historical figure is sucha rich and contradictory fellow asLawrence of Arabia and helps even morewhen he is captured in lightning flashes ofwit and anger and equal parts of self-
delusion and self-awareness by Peter O'Toole in one of the great film debuts. The filmitself remains one of the champs and this restoration is a stunner, an immediate additionto the short list of "demo" BluRays, those titles you pull out when you want to show offyour system. The standard Bluray release has two discs while the deluxe set has even moreextras and a soundtrack CD. It's the film itself that demands the most attention but theextras are strong. But this elaborate boxed set -- it's handsome and grand, of course, witha hardback book filled with striking photography and a "still" from the film as well as allfour discs of content and score. But again I ask, does anyone who designs these thingsever actually take them home? If the film Lawrence of Arabia is the center of your life, Iguess you'll be happy to have a boxed set so bulky it won't fit onto most bookcases withoutjutting out. You might dominate a coffee table or build a new table specifically to show itoff. Even taking the hardback book out doesn't help -- that, too, on its own sticks out over
the lip of my rather deep library shelves. It's so big and heavy it's almost designed not to
fit anywhere practical. What's the point? If you're like me, you'll take out the Bluray set,
put it on your shelf and store the rest in a closet or basement with all the other ungainly
boxes that studios think make a Bluray release special.
BRAVE ($39.99 BluRay combo; Disney)
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN($40.99 BluRay combo; Sony)SAVAGES ($34.98 Bluray combo;
Universal) -- It's Pixar's fault. Only their
April 29, 2014
This is the print preview:
Back to normal view »
Posted: 11/30/2012 3:47 am
high standards could make anyone see
Brave as a disappointment, even for a
moment. In fact, it's a solid, entertainingfeature with sharp animation and adistinctive heroine who, for a nice change,isn't pining for a guy or trying to win thelove of her father but paired off with her
mother for much of the action. it doesn't
quite deepen on repeated viewings like
the best Pixar films, but it does hold up.
Andrew Garfield's stint as Spider-Man
gives me the feeling you get when
someone is repeating a joke you've heard.
It might be a good joke, but you can't
help holding up your hand and saying,"Wait, I know this one." Seriously, the
Peter Parker origin story? We do not need
to hear that retold every ten years. (Ditto
Batman, folks!) I'm a big fan of Garfield
and dig the movie's '70s vibe, but it's just
too soon. They needed to either castmuch younger and make Peter a trulybelievable teen as opposed to a movieteen or not redo the origin story or just,you know, wait a while and make usactually want to see Spidey again. Hebarely left. At least Oliver Stone is havingfun, Natural Born Killers -type fun with
his new movie Savages . That's been a
while and Salma Hayek in particular iswith him every step of the way.
THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW
COMPLETE SERIES ($349.98 BluRay;
Image)THE INCREDIBLE MEL BROOKS($89.93 DVD; Shout)ENTOURAGE THE COMPLETE
SERIES ($249.99 DVD; HBO)
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GRIZZLYADAMS SEASON ONE ($29.93 DVD;
Timeless)
SUPER BOWL COLLECTION 1-XLVI
($249.95 DVD; Gaiam/NFL)HOUSE THE COMPLETE SERIES
($199.98 DVD; Universal) -- A number ofactors have been on two hit shows, butfew have been in two genuine classics.But that's what Mary Tyler Moore didwith her own show in the 1970s and TheDick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s. It's a
smart, funny, warm and above allintelligent sitcom that raised the bar forevery show that followed. It "only" ran forfive seasons, but that includes 158episodes, so they quit just in time. Thisset looks great on BluRay and is jam-packed with extras. An ideal set of alandmark series. Even more astonishingis the Mel Brooks collection Shout pulledtogether. It's like a dream list of every oddand end in Mel's incredible career: TVspots, commercial, HBO specials, talkshow appearances, songs, episodes of Get
Smart, new original intros and
documentaries about his film work,
specials from the UK and elsewherefocusing on everything from his days on
Your Show Of Shows to the birth of The
2000 Year Old Man routine. If there's
anything they missed in this scrapbook of
hilarity, I can't think of it. Entourage was
never quite an HBO signature series (it's
a little second tier behind Sex and theCity and The Sopranos ) -- but it's the
sort that keeps that channel humming:the people who like this series love it andthere's nothing else quite like it on TV.The gang gets a very classy boxed setindeed with all eight seasons intact. TheLife and Times of Grizzly Adams , on the
other hand, is a minor 1970s series in theLittle House/Waltons vein that had a
rather checkered history. It gets a veryrote release on DVD with untouchedvisuals, a very muddy soundtrack makingit hard to hear dialogue at times and discsthat don't even bother to number
themselves so you have to guess which
ones come first. Strictly for hardcore fanswho wore out their VHS tapes; no onenew will get caught up in the show underthese minimal conditions of presentation.The Super Bowl boxed set looksimpressive and is at least relativelycompact, so it can fit on a book or DVDcase longways. But it duplicates thecontent of earlier Super Bowl collectionswithout including most of the bonusmaterial. Normally, fans who collect
individual sets and then see a boxed set
fear they may have to buy it all over again
to catch some new bonus feature. Herethe reverse is true: fans who waited for
this megaset will look longingly at the
earlier releases. House is in the record
books and while the doctor here would have advised fewer seasons and a strong arc for
House throughout, the show still has a distinctive anti-hero and a great performance by
Hugh Laurie. Lots of fun in its heyday and nicely if straightforwardly collected here with
all eight seasons in one neat box.
RASHOMON ($39.95 BluRay; Criterion)
THE NIBELUNGEN ($34.95 DVD;
Kino)SUNSET BOULEVARD ($26.98
BluRay; Paramount)FILM NOIR COLLECTION VOLUMEONE ($89.99 BluRay; Olive)
THE OTTO PREMINGERCOLLECTION ($69.95 BluRay; Olive)
WE CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN ($34.99
DVD; Oscilloscope) -- Rashomon is a
landmark of cinema, the endlesslyintriguing fable about reality and
storytelling and perception -- though on a
more basic level, it's just a fascinatingmystery. Director Akira Kurosawa would
go on to make many more, many better
movies, but this is where he laid his
marker. Criterion, as always, does fulljustice to the movie's image and sound.It's loaded with extras, including a newone that's a 68 minute documentaryabout the movie including interviews withcast and crew. Fritz Lang's eye-poppingsilent epic telling the story Wagnerturned into The Ring is tremendous fun. I
feel kind of cheated I didn't get to see TheNibelung in a movie theater first, but
Kino has done a solid job on thisrestoration including a 68 minute (!)documentary about the making of thefilm. Sunset Boulevard is a perennial
champ. Just as New Yorkers love to moanabout their city but would never dream ofleaving, Hollywood loves to embracepoison pen love letters to its industry andfew are as acidic as this Billy Wilderclassic about a silent film star entombedin her mansion and her legend.Collections of noir (like collections of
westerns) always make the films in them
seem better by their surroundings. These
four movies are pretty good to solid --Union Station, Appointment with
Danger, Dark City, Rope Of Sand -- but
somehow they seem sharper, savvier in
one set. But with friends like the Otto
Preminger Collection, who needs
enemies? You could create a great boxedset of Preminger's best work. This ain't it.Hurry Sundown is meh, Such Good
Friends is just a little better and Skidoo is
just a surreal, horrific disaster of a movie,literally unwatchable, especially if youactually like Preminger. Yikes. Just as badis Nicholas Ray's glorified home movieWe Can't Go Home Again. He messed
around with this lackadaisical studentproject for years (Preminger cast kids inhis film class, mucked about for a whilewith the footage and probably knew itwas a goof). Sure it played at Cannes butthere's a reason we haven't seen it foryears. It would make a dull extra for aproper Ray film on DVD. On its own, it's
just nonsense, a tired bit of miscellany to
an important career. I feel bad for thestudents.
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS ($40.99
BluRay combo; Sony)
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL($26.50 BluRay; Disney)IT'S A SPONGEBOB CHRISTMAS($14.98 DVD; Nickelodeon)THE SANTA CLAUS MOVIECOLLECTION ($49.99 BluRay; Disney)
SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT
DOUBLE FEATURE ($14.98 DVD;
Anchor Bay)
SILENT NIGHT ($29.99 BluRay;
Anchor Bay) -- If you're looking for a new
movie that could be a holiday perennial,
trust me and check out Arthur
Christmas , the animated film in which
Arthur tries to make sure the one child
missed this year by Santa doesn't gowithout a gift. It's a very clever andcharming tale (the premise is that Santasretire and the job is taken over by theirsons so keep this in mind with littleones). I named it one of the best moviesof the year and think people will catch upsoon and dub this a holiday classic. TheMuppet Christmas Carol is celebrating its
20th anniversary as the best of theoriginal Muppet movies after the first,thanks to that durable Dickens plot and amarvelous performance by Michael Caine(he deserved an Oscar nod). It's ASpongeBob Christmas is just one episode
of that goofy series, but it's done in stop-
motion animation and the result is a treatfor nostalgic adults missing Rankin-Bass.One of their best in years. Sure, threeSanta Claus movies is two too many, but
can you blame Tim Allen for relishing hisfilm success and the chance to don the
red suit? I can still remember the
controversy over the low rent Silent Night
Deadly NIght with its rampaging Santa
horrifying town elders everywhere. Theeven lower rent sequel is embraced by
cultists for its wacky sense of humor (they
knew they were making a pile of dreck)
and the commentary track by everyone
involved that beats MST3K to the punch.
There's a remake of the original in
theaters this weekend starring Malcolm
McDowell; they all come out on DVD or
BluRay on December 4.
*****
Most titles listed here will be available in
multiple formats and in multiplecombinations, including DVD, BluRay,digital download, video on demand,streaming and the like. The format listedis the format provided for review, not allthe formats available. It is often the mostexpensive version with the most extras.Do check individual titles for availabilityin all their various guises and pricepoints.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the
co-host of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly
pop culture podcast that reveals theindustry take on entertainment news ofthe day and features top journalists andopinion makers as guests. It's available
for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz athis website and his daily blog . Download
his podcast of celebrity interviews andhis radio show, also called Popsurfingand also available for free on iTunes.
Link to him on Netflix and gain access to
thousands of ratings and reviews.
Note : Michael Giltz is provided with free
copies of DVDs and Blu-Rays with the
understanding that he would beconsidering them for review. Generally,he does not guarantee to review and hereceives far more titles than he cancover.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Dazzles With Intelligence
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA 50TH
ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR'S
EDITION ($99.95 BluRay boxed set or
$26.99 BluRay; Sony) -- It was two in themorning and I just wanted to check outthe picture and sound quality of this newrestoration. Almost against my will, I wasmesmerized once again by one of themost intelligent, complex and fascinatingdepictions of an historical figure on film.It helps when that historical figure is sucha rich and contradictory fellow asLawrence of Arabia and helps even morewhen he is captured in lightning flashes ofwit and anger and equal parts of self-
delusion and self-awareness by Peter O'Toole in one of the great film debuts. The filmitself remains one of the champs and this restoration is a stunner, an immediate additionto the short list of "demo" BluRays, those titles you pull out when you want to show offyour system. The standard Bluray release has two discs while the deluxe set has even moreextras and a soundtrack CD. It's the film itself that demands the most attention but theextras are strong. But this elaborate boxed set -- it's handsome and grand, of course, witha hardback book filled with striking photography and a "still" from the film as well as allfour discs of content and score. But again I ask, does anyone who designs these thingsever actually take them home? If the film Lawrence of Arabia is the center of your life, Iguess you'll be happy to have a boxed set so bulky it won't fit onto most bookcases withoutjutting out. You might dominate a coffee table or build a new table specifically to show itoff. Even taking the hardback book out doesn't help -- that, too, on its own sticks out over
the lip of my rather deep library shelves. It's so big and heavy it's almost designed not to
fit anywhere practical. What's the point? If you're like me, you'll take out the Bluray set,
put it on your shelf and store the rest in a closet or basement with all the other ungainly
boxes that studios think make a Bluray release special.
BRAVE ($39.99 BluRay combo; Disney)
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN($40.99 BluRay combo; Sony)SAVAGES ($34.98 Bluray combo;
Universal) -- It's Pixar's fault. Only their
April 29, 2014
This is the print preview:
Back to normal view »
Posted: 11/30/2012 3:47 am
high standards could make anyone see
Brave as a disappointment, even for a
moment. In fact, it's a solid, entertainingfeature with sharp animation and adistinctive heroine who, for a nice change,isn't pining for a guy or trying to win thelove of her father but paired off with her
mother for much of the action. it doesn't
quite deepen on repeated viewings like
the best Pixar films, but it does hold up.
Andrew Garfield's stint as Spider-Man
gives me the feeling you get when
someone is repeating a joke you've heard.
It might be a good joke, but you can't
help holding up your hand and saying,"Wait, I know this one." Seriously, the
Peter Parker origin story? We do not need
to hear that retold every ten years. (Ditto
Batman, folks!) I'm a big fan of Garfield
and dig the movie's '70s vibe, but it's just
too soon. They needed to either castmuch younger and make Peter a trulybelievable teen as opposed to a movieteen or not redo the origin story or just,you know, wait a while and make usactually want to see Spidey again. Hebarely left. At least Oliver Stone is havingfun, Natural Born Killers -type fun with
his new movie Savages . That's been a
while and Salma Hayek in particular iswith him every step of the way.
THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW
COMPLETE SERIES ($349.98 BluRay;
Image)THE INCREDIBLE MEL BROOKS($89.93 DVD; Shout)ENTOURAGE THE COMPLETE
SERIES ($249.99 DVD; HBO)
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GRIZZLYADAMS SEASON ONE ($29.93 DVD;
Timeless)
SUPER BOWL COLLECTION 1-XLVI
($249.95 DVD; Gaiam/NFL)HOUSE THE COMPLETE SERIES
($199.98 DVD; Universal) -- A number ofactors have been on two hit shows, butfew have been in two genuine classics.But that's what Mary Tyler Moore didwith her own show in the 1970s and TheDick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s. It's a
smart, funny, warm and above allintelligent sitcom that raised the bar forevery show that followed. It "only" ran forfive seasons, but that includes 158episodes, so they quit just in time. Thisset looks great on BluRay and is jam-packed with extras. An ideal set of alandmark series. Even more astonishingis the Mel Brooks collection Shout pulledtogether. It's like a dream list of every oddand end in Mel's incredible career: TVspots, commercial, HBO specials, talkshow appearances, songs, episodes of Get
Smart, new original intros and
documentaries about his film work,
specials from the UK and elsewherefocusing on everything from his days on
Your Show Of Shows to the birth of The
2000 Year Old Man routine. If there's
anything they missed in this scrapbook of
hilarity, I can't think of it. Entourage was
never quite an HBO signature series (it's
a little second tier behind Sex and theCity and The Sopranos ) -- but it's the
sort that keeps that channel humming:the people who like this series love it andthere's nothing else quite like it on TV.The gang gets a very classy boxed setindeed with all eight seasons intact. TheLife and Times of Grizzly Adams , on the
other hand, is a minor 1970s series in theLittle House/Waltons vein that had a
rather checkered history. It gets a veryrote release on DVD with untouchedvisuals, a very muddy soundtrack makingit hard to hear dialogue at times and discsthat don't even bother to number
themselves so you have to guess which
ones come first. Strictly for hardcore fanswho wore out their VHS tapes; no onenew will get caught up in the show underthese minimal conditions of presentation.The Super Bowl boxed set looksimpressive and is at least relativelycompact, so it can fit on a book or DVDcase longways. But it duplicates thecontent of earlier Super Bowl collectionswithout including most of the bonusmaterial. Normally, fans who collect
individual sets and then see a boxed set
fear they may have to buy it all over again
to catch some new bonus feature. Herethe reverse is true: fans who waited for
this megaset will look longingly at the
earlier releases. House is in the record
books and while the doctor here would have advised fewer seasons and a strong arc for
House throughout, the show still has a distinctive anti-hero and a great performance by
Hugh Laurie. Lots of fun in its heyday and nicely if straightforwardly collected here with
all eight seasons in one neat box.
RASHOMON ($39.95 BluRay; Criterion)
THE NIBELUNGEN ($34.95 DVD;
Kino)SUNSET BOULEVARD ($26.98
BluRay; Paramount)FILM NOIR COLLECTION VOLUMEONE ($89.99 BluRay; Olive)
THE OTTO PREMINGERCOLLECTION ($69.95 BluRay; Olive)
WE CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN ($34.99
DVD; Oscilloscope) -- Rashomon is a
landmark of cinema, the endlesslyintriguing fable about reality and
storytelling and perception -- though on a
more basic level, it's just a fascinatingmystery. Director Akira Kurosawa would
go on to make many more, many better
movies, but this is where he laid his
marker. Criterion, as always, does fulljustice to the movie's image and sound.It's loaded with extras, including a newone that's a 68 minute documentaryabout the movie including interviews withcast and crew. Fritz Lang's eye-poppingsilent epic telling the story Wagnerturned into The Ring is tremendous fun. I
feel kind of cheated I didn't get to see TheNibelung in a movie theater first, but
Kino has done a solid job on thisrestoration including a 68 minute (!)documentary about the making of thefilm. Sunset Boulevard is a perennial
champ. Just as New Yorkers love to moanabout their city but would never dream ofleaving, Hollywood loves to embracepoison pen love letters to its industry andfew are as acidic as this Billy Wilderclassic about a silent film star entombedin her mansion and her legend.Collections of noir (like collections of
westerns) always make the films in them
seem better by their surroundings. These
four movies are pretty good to solid --Union Station, Appointment with
Danger, Dark City, Rope Of Sand -- but
somehow they seem sharper, savvier in
one set. But with friends like the Otto
Preminger Collection, who needs
enemies? You could create a great boxedset of Preminger's best work. This ain't it.Hurry Sundown is meh, Such Good
Friends is just a little better and Skidoo is
just a surreal, horrific disaster of a movie,literally unwatchable, especially if youactually like Preminger. Yikes. Just as badis Nicholas Ray's glorified home movieWe Can't Go Home Again. He messed
around with this lackadaisical studentproject for years (Preminger cast kids inhis film class, mucked about for a whilewith the footage and probably knew itwas a goof). Sure it played at Cannes butthere's a reason we haven't seen it foryears. It would make a dull extra for aproper Ray film on DVD. On its own, it's
just nonsense, a tired bit of miscellany to
an important career. I feel bad for thestudents.
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS ($40.99
BluRay combo; Sony)
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL($26.50 BluRay; Disney)IT'S A SPONGEBOB CHRISTMAS($14.98 DVD; Nickelodeon)THE SANTA CLAUS MOVIECOLLECTION ($49.99 BluRay; Disney)
SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT
DOUBLE FEATURE ($14.98 DVD;
Anchor Bay)
SILENT NIGHT ($29.99 BluRay;
Anchor Bay) -- If you're looking for a new
movie that could be a holiday perennial,
trust me and check out Arthur
Christmas , the animated film in which
Arthur tries to make sure the one child
missed this year by Santa doesn't gowithout a gift. It's a very clever andcharming tale (the premise is that Santasretire and the job is taken over by theirsons so keep this in mind with littleones). I named it one of the best moviesof the year and think people will catch upsoon and dub this a holiday classic. TheMuppet Christmas Carol is celebrating its
20th anniversary as the best of theoriginal Muppet movies after the first,thanks to that durable Dickens plot and amarvelous performance by Michael Caine(he deserved an Oscar nod). It's ASpongeBob Christmas is just one episode
of that goofy series, but it's done in stop-
motion animation and the result is a treatfor nostalgic adults missing Rankin-Bass.One of their best in years. Sure, threeSanta Claus movies is two too many, but
can you blame Tim Allen for relishing hisfilm success and the chance to don the
red suit? I can still remember the
controversy over the low rent Silent Night
Deadly NIght with its rampaging Santa
horrifying town elders everywhere. Theeven lower rent sequel is embraced by
cultists for its wacky sense of humor (they
knew they were making a pile of dreck)
and the commentary track by everyone
involved that beats MST3K to the punch.
There's a remake of the original in
theaters this weekend starring Malcolm
McDowell; they all come out on DVD or
BluRay on December 4.
*****
Most titles listed here will be available in
multiple formats and in multiplecombinations, including DVD, BluRay,digital download, video on demand,streaming and the like. The format listedis the format provided for review, not allthe formats available. It is often the mostexpensive version with the most extras.Do check individual titles for availabilityin all their various guises and pricepoints.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the
co-host of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly
pop culture podcast that reveals theindustry take on entertainment news ofthe day and features top journalists andopinion makers as guests. It's available
for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz athis website and his daily blog . Download
his podcast of celebrity interviews andhis radio show, also called Popsurfingand also available for free on iTunes.
Link to him on Netflix and gain access to
thousands of ratings and reviews.
Note : Michael Giltz is provided with free
copies of DVDs and Blu-Rays with the
understanding that he would beconsidering them for review. Generally,he does not guarantee to review and hereceives far more titles than he cancover.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz