Sorry I haven't spoken to all those people out there who are not even listening because they couldn't care about me telling no one about all of the crap DVD releases for the past XX weeks. Perhaps you would like to (or are even right now) browsing through Harry Knowles list which is probably at least one week behind, not like me who is XX weeks behind.

Region 4 DVD releases for week ending 1st August 2008

Very very little this week. A whole stack of interesting looking westerns (many with Glenn Ford) are coming out this week, but I know nothing about them. The Mummy remakes and sequels are getting another re-release but I'm only interested at this point if they blurayfie them. Below is a very scant (but interesting list).

The Mummy (1932) The original and the best, and I've never seen it. The shame. The shame. A more elaborate special edition than the last time they released all the classic Universal monster movies it seems to have all the original extras plus some new cool stuff - interested to hear Rick Baker talk about it.

Cloverfield (Blu-Ray) Some how I completely missed the (very brief) hype over this JJ Abram's production. Curious to see it though, especially in light of having now seen Diary Of The Dead, another horror apocalypse done with from a first person POV.


The Fugitive Season 1 Vol 2 Don't buy this under any circumstances. You are subtly being screwed over. They've changed much of the original source music because the studio couldn't be bothered to obtain the rights.

No Country For Old Men (Blu-Ray) Despite some bizarre and typical Coen sequences and an incredibly frustrating final scene, this is a first rate thriller that should look fantastic on Blu-Ray. As is typical for the Coens also, however, is the screwing over in the extra features department.

Region 4 DVD releases for week ending 25th July 2008

It's been a big week this week, Dark Knight, Wicked. Well, not that big?!
Another slim week on the DVD front. That's not to say that these titles aren't interesting and worthy. It's just that there's sooo feeew real quality titles. Everything is kiddie or manga-e or just plain reality tv on dvd. **Sniff**

The Doors - Perception
A nice looking box set which includes all of The Doors studio albums (remastered one presumes?) plus a whole bunch of oddities. One for the fans.

Led Zeppelin - Live At Earl's Court Vols 1 & 2
Methinks this is some cheap release and not on a par with that title a few years back (which you could probably find quite cheap now) that had several polished and shined feature length performances. But I could be wrong. Something about the cover strikes me as cheap Photoshop job.

Get Smart Seasons 1-3
Now this is more like it! The full 15 DVD bundle out locally, and although unconfirmed, I believe it does have all the Time Life extras on them. At $140 you want them to be! Assuming this is complete this is the title of the week (and one of the titles of the year).

Kurt & Courtney
I knew this was out there but have never seen it. A Nick Broomfield documentary, this looks fascinating and certainly supports certain theories.

My Life Without Me
A Sarah Polley double bill. Thank you Palace Films (even it is a re-release). This is a great film and needs to be seen by all. However, I must take a stand at a generally followed trend lately and that is to keep changing the bloody covers. I understand it might be because the market is swamped by so many variations on the one title, so it's reasonably easy to differentiate between the 2 disc version released in 06 and the 3 disc version released in 07 but man, do they do some shit covers sometimes! The above cover is NOT the cover of the Oz release where Polley is more of the lying down variety with her hand to her face.

The Sweet Hereafter
The other Sarah Polley film, another re-release and a real classic this one. Possibly Atom Egoyan's finest moment, this is an exceptional film with excellent performances from Polley and Ian Holm and a compelling, heartbreaking story. This is title of the week (if we got screwed on Get Smart) even though it has been released before as well as the fact that we don't seem to get any of the great extras (commentary, Charlie Rose Show interview etc.) on the Region 1 disc.

Region 4 DVD Releases for week ending 18 July 2008

Rock n roll, here we go (can you tell I'm in a better mood?)...
No 6 this week is Pedro Almodovar's Live Flesh. A re-release - it appears that the rights have reverted from Madman to Roadshow, hence the much less offensive cover - this is one of the few Almodovar film's I haven't seen so it is on my list. Like most Almodovar films, this appears to have no extras.
No 5 this week is The Darjeeling Limited. I would have liked to have seen this in the cinema but never got round to it. If it's as half as good as the rest of Wes Anderson's filmog then I'm there. Can't tell you if it has the sublime short film, Hotel Chevalier, that Anderson made to act as a prequel to this, but if and when Criterion get their hands on this title, I'm sure it will. How bought in highdef Criterion? Might even buy it...

No 4 is yet another title that I've haven't seen but was recommended to me. Mister Lonely played at last year's MIFF and wait for it, is about a Michael Jackson impersonator that befriends a Marilyn Monroe lookalike and they go to her home in Scotland which is populated by celebrity impersonators! Oh, and Werner Herzog plays a priest in it. Nuff said.
WTF?! Another one? At number 3 is another !@#$ Evil Dead release. This is one of the most constantly rereleased titles there is. Anchor Bay have released at least 3 seperate editions in the States and 5 in the UK. It has been released previously locally by Big Sky and now Beyond purport to be releasing the 'Ultimate Edition'. Yeah, and chainsaws might fly. It appears that we are still behind the rest of the world as the extras list mirrors older releases and the most recent releases in the US and UK appear to be more comprehensive in terms of extras. Given the quality of previous transfers locally I wouldn't expect much either.

No 2 is a title which has been around a while in DVD and HD-DVD formats but I've never given it much thought. Re-released in a flash new Blu-Ray edition is DVE - Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics (that's a mouthful!) which in a nutshell lets you reconfigure your display device to its maximum HD potential via a series of onscreen tests. Probably only for the 100% certified geek.
No 1 title of the week for me is Billy Joel's The Stranger in a 30th Anniversary re-release which includes the remastered album, a second CD with a previously unreleased live show at Carnegie Hall from '77 and a DVD of performances from The Old Grey Whistle Test (gotta love that title!). Oh, and Joel is touring Oz at the end of the year (despite not having released an album for 15 years!).

For those in the know...

Region 4 DVD releases for week ending 11th July

Ugh, a very dull, slim week. Absolutely nothing worth purchasing and most of these are simply curiosities that I've scrummaged through all the Rambo dross.

Mala Noche (Directors Suite)Gus Van Sant's first film - other than that I know very little about it. A curiosity definitely, has a strong reputation.

My Spy (aka My Mom's New Boyfriend)
A direct to the shelf film? I think. There seem to be so many. And then there are film's that seem to play less than a week in theatres and are then forgotten. Directed by George Gallo (who wrote Midnight Run) it has a decent middle of the road cast, including Antonio Banderas, Meg Ryan, Colin Hanks and Selma Blair. I hope they didn't change the title because of 'Mom'?

There's Always Tomorrow (Directors Suite)I couldn't find a cover for this but above is a still - it sounds like the most interesting release of the week. A Douglas Sirk film from 1956 in stars Fred MacMurray, it seems like ripe Sirk material and something other than Double Indemnity that MacMurray could sink his teeth into. It grabbed my attention though, because it has a commentary by John Flaus and Adrian Martin. Wow! Brings back memories of the old Film Buffs Forecast days! Definitely a rental.

Run Fatboy Run
Everyone is going to rent this, other than those that will buy it so I don't need to say anything else.

Feast of Love
Yet another straight to video flick (I think?) with an A grade cast (Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear). Obviously there are just too many films being made. Or there are not enough cinemas? Or there are too many? Or my head's about to explode!

The Hunting Party
Another straight to video (?). I liked Richard Shepherd's The Matador so this will probably be a rental as well at some point, although it looks like a more straight forward actioner than that idiosyncratic flick.

Region 4 DVD releases for week ending 4th July 2008

Another week, another 12 gadzillion DVDs on to an unsuspecting public. I'm still seeing those freakish few that seem to show up at JB Hi-Fi and just slob all over the new releases and walk out with a stack of DVDs you could use for a house stump.

Doctor Who - The Invasion of Time
More great remastered Tom Baker Who-ness. At some point I will catch up with all this - yet another case of reliving my childhood. Loaded with a truckload of loaded extras.

Mental As Anything - Live In Concert At The Basement (DTS)
Yet another Aussie music DVD. Yet another 80s band back from the dead. But I like the Mentals - at least their earlier more ironic material such as Nips Are Getting Bigger. Once again, Shock have nicely included a couple of extras.

Sherlock Holmes (1984) - Vol. 3: Collector's Edition
Man, Shock seem to release a gigantuous amount of material each month. But this is more essential stuff - Jeremy Brett is possibly my favorite Holmes - I haven't seen this since it was first broadcast back in the mid eighties. You shouldn't t really call it a Collector's Edition though, no extras to speak of. Still, valuable stuff.

The Twilight Zone - The Original Series: Seasons 4 & 5 - Collector's Edition
One of the releases of the week for mine. But for shame, Shock (do you detect a thread here), for shame - NTSC? I'd just gotten used to so many NTSC releases in PAL land, when I actually started to see the difference in quality between NTSC and PAL. I'll just wait for the hi-def version! Yeah, right.

Harry And The Hendersons /In The Mouth Of Madness
I bundle these two together as they are examples of local distributor's (Universal and Reel respectively) where they are not including special features available in other regions (a common complaint, check out DVD Compare for as definitive a comparison as you will probably get). Harry Region 1 includes a director's commentary, deleted scenes and featurettes. Madness Region 1 includes a director's commentary - in this case it's a different distributor so I'll give them some leeway, and then take that leeway away as the frickin' film isn't even widescreen. For shame, Carpenter creates compelling widescreen images and he just gets screwed over big time in Australia (Assault On Precinct 13 being another example).

Get Smart - Season 1
Not 100% confirmed, but it appears that all of the award winning special features from the award winningly overpriced Time Life sets are going to be completely missing from the local retail releases. I'm not feeling so well...

Zodiac - Director's Cut (Blu-Ray)
Ahhh, that's better. The release of the week is alphabetically also the last. One of the best films of last year, given the best possible treatment in the best possible format. What more could you want? It's also slightly more reasonably priced than some Blu-Ray and I'm sure you could pick it up in one of those 2 for 1 sales!