On the TV front, it’s According to Jim S1. This is a great day for all mankind.
Those in less taste in comedy might, I supposed, be more interested in The Office S4.
CSI Miami S6; It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia S3; Legion of Superheroes Vol 3; Medium S4; Smallville S7; To the Manor Born Complete Series; Ugly Betty S2; Wings S7.
The big release of the week, one of the biggest of the year, in fact, is the long awaited release of Rodan in widescreen. That would be awesome enough, but you ALSO get the never before released War of the Gargantuas. This is Classic Media’s last schedule Toho release, and they’ve got an amazing track record on this stuff. Each film is presented in the original Japanese version and the English dub version, and commentaries and documentaries are included. If you haven’t picked up Classic Media’s Frankenstein Conquered the World release, now’s your chance. War of the Gargantuas is a weird-ass sequel to that film.
Fox Horror Classics Vol. 2 Following last year’s absolutely great set of three John Braham-directed suspense flicks (Undying Monster, The Lodger and the really immensely good Hangover Square), Fox follows up with another set of nifty obscurities. Actually, Fox thought itself too tony back in the day for horror movies, so there’s really only one ‘horror’ film here, Dr. Renault’s Secrets, a Dr. Moreau riff with George Zucco and J. Carrol Naish. However, we also get Chandu the Magician, with a villainous turn by Bela Lugosi, and Dragonwyck, a gothic with Vincent Price. So it’s all good in the hood. Documentaries and commentaries included. Not a bad package for $14 at Amazon.
Essential Art House Vol. 1: Rather than buy the separate editions from Criterion, Janus is now offering sets of all-time great films, albeit in editions that presumably lack many extras. Still, it’s hard to argue with somebody giving you Grand Illusion, Beauty And The Beast, Lord Of The Flies, Wild Strawberries, Knife in the Water and Rashomon all for about $60. That’s a great starter kit for people just starting a great films library. Stay away from Amazon, though, as they sell it at a very small discount.
Child’s Play is out in a new 20th anniversary edition with new extras, etc.
Fist of Legend is out in a new 2-disc “ultimate” edition. In any case, it’s probably Jet Li’s best movie, and so an essential buy if you don’t have it already.
Speaking of Jet Li, his enjoyable team up with Jackie Chan, The Forbidden Kingdom, is out this week in various editions, including Blu Ray.
Uwe Boll’s infamous House of the Dead is now out in a ‘funny’ edition. Since this is supposed to be funny, the odds are overwhelming that it will inspire far few laughs than the ‘serious’ version.
Pumpkinhead, a great little horror flick that deserves more fame, is now available in a 20th anniversary edition. Looks to have a commentary and lots of documentary stuff.
