Sunday, April 08, 2007
dvd stuffs
Wait long enough and everything hits DVD.
Variety reports that the T.A.M.I. Show will be released on May 15th. This is a 1964 concert film featuring possibly the best filmed footage of James Brown at his peak. It also features the Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Berry and others. This was out for a very short time on VHS more than 20 years ago, then pulled as people argued over the rights for 20 years.
Also coming out in May is a boxed set of 3 Alejandro Jodorowsky films, including the uncut version of El Topo. I remember going to see this visionary metaphorical western on a Friday night and coming out feeling as if I'd just done mescaline. The following Monday, at 9 AM, the scheduled film for our film history class hadn't arrived, and since the class was held in the theater that was showing El Topo, it was screened for us again. El Topo. 9 AM Monday morning. If you've ever seen this movie, imagine watching it at that time of day!
And Criterion is releasing If ..., the first part of Lindsay Anderson's brilliant trilogy that went on to O Lucky Man and concluded with Britannia Hospital. This tale of a young boy leading a revolution at his proper English boarding school was Malcolm McDowell's feature film debut.
Question of the day is WTF is up with Amazon's DVD listings? This is a problem they've had for a long time and it's really bugging me today. When you do a search and get the listings screen, they totally mess up on the "stars" in the short description of each title, listing 2nd or 3rd tier actors instead of the stars. Examples below are complete listings as they appear:
WKRP in Cincinatti - Sylvia Sidney
The Odd Couple Season 1 - Janis Hansen, Monica Evans, William Woodson, and Carole Shelley
(no Tony Randall or Jack Klugman)
Alpha Dog (HD) - Shera Danese, Lukas Haas, Alex Kingston, and Vincent Laresca
while
Alpha Dog (Full Screen, SD) - Bruce Willis, Matthew Barry, Emile Hirsch, and Fernando Vargas
That Thing You Do - Obba Babatunde, Bill Cobbs, Paul Feig, and Howie Long
The Road Warrior - Harold Baigent, Tyler Coppin, Dog, and Max Fairchild
(so they'd rather list "Dog" than Mel Gibson these days?)
Donnie Brasco - Gerry Becker, Johnny Depp, Paul Giamatti, and Zach Grenier
(where's Al Pacino?)
Little Britain Live - Matt Lucas, Samantha Power, Paul Putner, and Tom Baker
(Walliams must be thrilled)
Dirty Dancing - Kelly Bishop, Jane Brucker, Max Cantor, and Charles "Honi" Coles
The Waltons seasons 1-5 - Ronnie Claire Edwards, Nora Marlowe, and Richard Gilliland
Pirates of the Caribbean - Christopher Adamson, Lee Arenberg, Josie Dapar, and Johnny Depp
The Rockford Files - Noah Beery Jr., et al.
(goodbye James Garner)
Wings Season 4 - Farrah Forke, et al.
The Third Man (Criterion) - Nelly Arno, Leo Bieber, Hedwig Bleibtreu, and Martin Boddey
(never mind Orson Welles or Joseph Cotton)
Pan's Labyrinth - Doug Jones, Eusebio Lazaro, Federico Luppi, and Lina Mira
If ... - Ben Aris, Robin Askwith, Sean Bury, and Geoffrey Chater
The Frighteners - Trini Alvarado, John Astin, Jake Busey, and Jeffrey Combs
The Fountain - Lorne Brass, Ellen Burstyn, Patricia Dal, and Mark Margolis
(no one knows who Hugh Jackman is)
The Untouchables - Peter Aylward, Mike Bacarella, Patrick Billingsley, and Richard Bradford
(Kevin Costner, Sean Connery and Robert DeNiro ain't such big stars these days)
I'm sure anyone can find thousands of examples like this. But if the point is that you're supposed to click on the listing and view the disc details and order it, are you gonna do it when they say that Trading Places stars Don Ameche, Paul Austin, B. Constance Barry, and Ralph Bellamy instead of Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis?
Variety reports that the T.A.M.I. Show will be released on May 15th. This is a 1964 concert film featuring possibly the best filmed footage of James Brown at his peak. It also features the Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Berry and others. This was out for a very short time on VHS more than 20 years ago, then pulled as people argued over the rights for 20 years.
Also coming out in May is a boxed set of 3 Alejandro Jodorowsky films, including the uncut version of El Topo. I remember going to see this visionary metaphorical western on a Friday night and coming out feeling as if I'd just done mescaline. The following Monday, at 9 AM, the scheduled film for our film history class hadn't arrived, and since the class was held in the theater that was showing El Topo, it was screened for us again. El Topo. 9 AM Monday morning. If you've ever seen this movie, imagine watching it at that time of day!
And Criterion is releasing If ..., the first part of Lindsay Anderson's brilliant trilogy that went on to O Lucky Man and concluded with Britannia Hospital. This tale of a young boy leading a revolution at his proper English boarding school was Malcolm McDowell's feature film debut.
Question of the day is WTF is up with Amazon's DVD listings? This is a problem they've had for a long time and it's really bugging me today. When you do a search and get the listings screen, they totally mess up on the "stars" in the short description of each title, listing 2nd or 3rd tier actors instead of the stars. Examples below are complete listings as they appear:
WKRP in Cincinatti - Sylvia Sidney
The Odd Couple Season 1 - Janis Hansen, Monica Evans, William Woodson, and Carole Shelley
(no Tony Randall or Jack Klugman)
Alpha Dog (HD) - Shera Danese, Lukas Haas, Alex Kingston, and Vincent Laresca
while
Alpha Dog (Full Screen, SD) - Bruce Willis, Matthew Barry, Emile Hirsch, and Fernando Vargas
That Thing You Do - Obba Babatunde, Bill Cobbs, Paul Feig, and Howie Long
The Road Warrior - Harold Baigent, Tyler Coppin, Dog, and Max Fairchild
(so they'd rather list "Dog" than Mel Gibson these days?)
Donnie Brasco - Gerry Becker, Johnny Depp, Paul Giamatti, and Zach Grenier
(where's Al Pacino?)
Little Britain Live - Matt Lucas, Samantha Power, Paul Putner, and Tom Baker
(Walliams must be thrilled)
Dirty Dancing - Kelly Bishop, Jane Brucker, Max Cantor, and Charles "Honi" Coles
The Waltons seasons 1-5 - Ronnie Claire Edwards, Nora Marlowe, and Richard Gilliland
Pirates of the Caribbean - Christopher Adamson, Lee Arenberg, Josie Dapar, and Johnny Depp
The Rockford Files - Noah Beery Jr., et al.
(goodbye James Garner)
Wings Season 4 - Farrah Forke, et al.
The Third Man (Criterion) - Nelly Arno, Leo Bieber, Hedwig Bleibtreu, and Martin Boddey
(never mind Orson Welles or Joseph Cotton)
Pan's Labyrinth - Doug Jones, Eusebio Lazaro, Federico Luppi, and Lina Mira
If ... - Ben Aris, Robin Askwith, Sean Bury, and Geoffrey Chater
The Frighteners - Trini Alvarado, John Astin, Jake Busey, and Jeffrey Combs
The Fountain - Lorne Brass, Ellen Burstyn, Patricia Dal, and Mark Margolis
(no one knows who Hugh Jackman is)
The Untouchables - Peter Aylward, Mike Bacarella, Patrick Billingsley, and Richard Bradford
(Kevin Costner, Sean Connery and Robert DeNiro ain't such big stars these days)
I'm sure anyone can find thousands of examples like this. But if the point is that you're supposed to click on the listing and view the disc details and order it, are you gonna do it when they say that Trading Places stars Don Ameche, Paul Austin, B. Constance Barry, and Ralph Bellamy instead of Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis?
Comments:
Links to this post:
<< Home
It looks for the majority of the DVDs at Amazon that they are just listing the names alphabetically..
# posted by 
: 4/08/2007 9:22 PM
: 4/08/2007 9:22 PM
"Wait long enough and everything hits DVD." Yeah, usually just after I've spent time and money hunting out a bootleg copy (as with the T.A.M.I. Show, Performance and Sir Henry at Rawlinson's End). And if I splash out for a rare LP on eBay, the long overdue CD inevitably comes out just afterwards (Dory Previn's 2 Warner albums).
I was surprised to find Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man" on a local VCD recently. Since I doubt that Hong Kong audiences have suddenly become fond of quirky cult German film directors, I can only assume this is accounted for by the local love of dangerous wild animals (as evidenced by the frequency with which nature documentaries featuring them appear on local TV).
Post a Comment
I was surprised to find Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man" on a local VCD recently. Since I doubt that Hong Kong audiences have suddenly become fond of quirky cult German film directors, I can only assume this is accounted for by the local love of dangerous wild animals (as evidenced by the frequency with which nature documentaries featuring them appear on local TV).
Links to this post:
<< Home
