DVDs this week (03/08/11)…

Updated on March 8, 2011 By Ken Begg 15 Comments

Some great TV this week:

Doctor Who: Seeds of Doom Boy, until they (if ever) put Terror of the Zygons out (and with Pyramids of Mars long available), this is one of the ones I’ve most wanted to see. Tom Baker’s Doctor, in his prime, with Sarah Jane at his side, fighting Quatermass-esque giant plant-guy monsters. You can’t beat that with a stick.

Doctor Who: The Ark An adventure of the very first Doctor.

Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol The newest Doctor take part in one of the program’s now annual Christmas specials.

Walking Dead Season One Haven’t seen it yet, but by all reports some top-notch zombie stuff.

On the movie front:

Birdemic: Shock & Terror Everything you’ve heard about this is true. It’s astounding. Also available on Blu-Ray (!).

Speaking of Blu Ray, Fans of a Certain Age will be excited to learn that John Boorman’s Excaliber is now out in that format.

The fine folks at Code Red release two new double feature Exploitation Cinema discs:

Supervan/Jailbait  ‘70s sexploitation stuff

Where Time Began / Encounter With the Unknown The second is a laughably horrible Twilight Zone-type deal (sadly actually narrated by Rod Serling just before his premature death). The first story of the three, about a modern witch who curses the guys who caused her son’s death, is such a favorite of mine that I showed it at T-Fest several years ago. The other movie is a Spanish Jules Verne dealie, and thus probably quite boring, but really, that’s just a toss-in on a disc you should be buying for Encounter.

The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu Comic horror film honoring old H.P. The reviews at Amazon are good, for what that’s worth.

DTV Genre
Abducted
Zombie Farm

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  • Ericb

    I’m annoyed that Netflix has been lax in getting the recent old Doctor Who releases. Haven’t seen any of the last two batches.

  • Ericb

    The second story in Encounter with the Unknown, the one with the Hell hole, I found quite disturbing as a child. I’m guessing that it won’t have the same effect now.

  • That would be my guess, as well.

  • monoceros4

    I can’t recommend the Christmas Carol Doctor Who episode highly enough. It’s not just a great episode (and the only superlative Christmas special since the return of Doctor Who) but even dares to critique the original story in places.

  • alex

    I think the second Encounter With The Unknown story still holds up quite well despite the poor production values. Too bad Dan Curtis wasn’t in charge of this, it could have been a minor classic.

  • Rock Baker

    Where Time Began! Really? Scope? I can’t wait! More rubber dinosaurs and giant monsters than any other movie I can think of! And a Rod Serling movie too? Bonus!

  • Ericb

    Oh, regarding Lovecraft, the Del Toro Mountains of Madness project is officially dead:

    http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/guillermo_del_toro_confirms_at_the_mountains_of_madness_is_dead/

  • Based on Rock’s excitement, I hereby alter my dour expectations of Where Time Began.

  • Rock Baker

    I guess I should point out that I was maybe eight the last time I saw Where Time Began, so it may very well stink. I just remember it served up more monsters than anything else I’ve ever seen, so it was almost an overload for a monster kid like myself. I remember very little about the actual movie!

  • fish eye no miko

    I second the recommendation of DW: “A Christmas Carol” You might wanna watch Eleven’s first season first, though.
    “Christmas Eve on a rooftop, saw a chimney, my whole brain just went, ‘What the Hell?'”

  • Seeds of Doom is the bomb. One of the best alien monsters, and an excellent human baddie. Every good stuff.

  • Petoht

    I like how that article seemed to imply that it was a huge shock the Green Zone bombed. I mean, there have been so many successful movies based on the Iraq war and the events around it. Movies like… um…

    um…

    Well… there was the Hurt Locker… and um… um… er…

  • Toby Clark

    I just started watching The Seeds of Doom (in spite of being halfway through The Robots of Death) and it’s off to a good start.

    A Christmas Carol was just plain perfect. Highlight for me:

    The Doctor: Have you ever seen Mary Poppins?
    Kazran: No…
    The Doctor: Good. Because that comparison would have been rubbish.

  • On a different note; Birdemic (Hey, you brought it up!)

    I’m torn on whether to review this or not. See, I’m almost convinced that the ineptitude is sly viral marketing to get out their real message. (The Global Warming superstition)

    If one reviews, they either draw attention to it, or get drawn into the unwinnable debate they’re baited into. Unwinnable as 1; you cannot argue science with histrionic cultists, and 2; you will be accused of “bringing politics” into pre-existing propaganda. (Sound familiar, Ken?)
    The other option is to ignore the film’s “thesis” and focus on the jokeyness, which is like reviewing ‘Jud Suss’ and focusing on bad editing.

    Any thoughts?

  • Petoht

    re: reviewing Birdemic.

    I saw half of a video review by an internet critic about this thing, and you seem to be right about how outrageously heavy-handed it is with it’s message (“What a great movie we just saw, an Inconvenient Truth”). It seems the director could only be less subtle by screaming “GLOBAL WARMING!” into the camera for 90 minutes.

    Which, in a way, makes your job easier. Pointing out or complaining about a subtle message is difficult, as it runs the risk of you looking like you’re nit-picking or bringing politics in where they don’t belong. When a movie is this blatant and, frankly, egregious about it, you almost can’t ignore it. So, you can simply mention that the director insists on beating the audience over the head with said pet cause and rip into the film over how the blatant preaching leads to out of place signs (ie: the poster in the couple’s room) or horribly clumsy and awkward dialogue (as above).

    When a director is that painfully obvious, it’s offensive to anyone watching, regardless of their political affiliation. Bad, forced dialogue is horrible whether it’s saying something you agree with or not. You can leave off views on climate change entirely, because the director’s an unsubtle tool.

    Now, if you want to get into the actual politics of what he’s yammering about, I think the best way would be as an aside. Preferably one that’s easily skipped so that if a reader disagrees, they can simply gloss over it.